Spoiler Alert (Spoiler Alert #1)(37)
As she spoke, her lips brushed his earlobe, and her hot, moist breath caressed his bare neck. He inhaled sharply. Relaxed his fingers on her shoulder one by one, before their bite into her cotton-covered flesh became too possessive or painful. Slid that hand between her shoulder blades and down to the small of her back.
The two of them had an audience as they rode out their simulated earthquake, and he didn’t give a fuck anymore. He gripped the rail beside him more firmly, feet spread apart for balance. Enough balance for two, as necessary.
With a single, deliberate shift of his sheltering arm, he fitted her against him front to front, heat to heat. Her lips parted in a silent gasp, and their thighs tangled. As the world shuddered around them, she braced one hand against his chest for balance, the other still reaching for the rail by his ass.
The shrieks of the children in the room disappeared, muffled by the buzz in his ears and the rocketing thump of his heart.
She didn’t shift away. Instead, her warm palm skated slowly, slowly, down his chest, rubbing back and forth a bit with each jolt, stopping just above his jeans, fingers spread wide, and she wasn’t watching the room anymore. Neither was he.
He bent low. Ran his nose along the pretty, pale curve of her ear, and that shiver shifting her body against his wasn’t from the damn simulator.
“May I?” he breathed into her ear.
She nodded. Turned her head and looked up at him, eyes heavy-lidded, then fisted her fingers in his henley and—
The lights came on. The room stopped moving, even as his personal ground continued to shake.
They didn’t move, didn’t speak, didn’t look away.
The recording cheerfully informed them that the real quake would have lasted three times as long, and goddamn the museum for not properly valuing historical and scientific accuracy, because he wanted that extra minute of stomach-pitching chaos. Wanted to taste that plump, rosy mouth and trace the bow of her upper lip. Wanted to use his teeth and tongue until she gasped and trembled again and used her hold on his shirt to bring his body closer, closer.
But some people were shuffling out of the room, chattering noisily, while others were still documenting every second of this private moment occurring in a much-too-public place.
They both deserved better than this.
He drew back, removing his left hand from—well, it had evidently moved at some point, settling just microns above the tempting swell of her ass in those tight, tight jeans. Then he let go of the rail too and offered her his right hand, which wasn’t entirely steady.
She took it. “The planetarium next?”
He nodded, too overwhelmed for words. Fingers interlaced once more, they left the exhibit and walked toward the planetarium.
Would kissing her there work better than in the earthquake simulator? They’d have dim lighting, and maybe an isolated cluster of seats, and stars wheeling overhead, and if he slid his hand under her tunic, maybe—
Okay, the thought of what they could do in a dark theater wasn’t helping his current situation.
“Tell me more about the Loma Prieta quake on the way there.” His voice had turned raspy, and he cleared his throat before continuing. “If that’s okay. I lived through it, and I should understand how and why it happened.”
“Really?” She raised a skeptical brow. “Because you don’t need to humor me. I’m not offended if you don’t want to hear more about geology right now.”
“Really.” Casting aside his public persona, at least for the moment, he dug deep and let the right words—the true words—emerge. “I, uh—I’m interested in lots of things, actually. I listen to nonfiction audiobooks all the time, especially when I travel.”
Stupidly, his cheeks had gone hot.
He had never, never known what to say. Who to be. How to act.
How not to disappoint.
But he had to give her something, something real and true, since appearances alone didn’t interest her. Even their undeniable sexual chemistry wouldn’t be enough to keep her, not if she didn’t see anything in him worth keeping. And maybe their years of online friendship weren’t enough to entrust her with a career-destroying secret, but they were enough to entrust her with this little hidden corner of his heart.
So he forced himself to continue. “One of my favorite things about what I do”—his tongue was so damnably thick all of a sudden—“about—about acting, is how it pushes you to learn new skills. Like, this one terrible pilot taught me the basics of sailing.”
In his peripheral vision, he could see her face turned toward him. Her absolute attention focused on him and him alone.
“The series was supposed to be called Crime Wave. Because I was a crime-solving dude on a boat? It wasn’t the world’s best concept.” No network had wanted to touch that pilot. It had rightfully sunk beneath the surface of television history without a trace—except when it came to his sailing skills. “A complete flop of a rom-com helped me learn how to handle a chef’s knife and chop like someone who knew his way around a professional kitchen.”
“I saw that!” she exclaimed. “Julienned by Love, right? And your love interest was actually named—”
“Yes. Julienne. Julie. My plucky sous chef, who thought she was dying but wasn’t, and who eventually became famous for her jambalaya-cheesecake fusion dish.” He winced. “I apologize. I’m more than happy to refund your money personally.”