True L̶o̶v̶e̶ Story (38 page)

“Yes.” I divert my eyes because he’s staring me down like he wants to devour me. I can’t take the intensity.

Over supper we have a surprisingly calm, enjoyable time. Sprinkled throughout all the other topics we cover, I find out that Ian has started a center for troubled teens and spends a lot of time with them. As if I needed to hear something that heartwarming about him. He doesn’t drop it into conversation for my benefit either; in fact, throughout the night, he evades being the center of attention at all costs. When Tessa finally gets pushy to find out where Ian Sterling has been spending so much of his time, we get a couple reluctant answers out of him. The teen center is one; the fact that he’s still writing songs like a madman is another.

He wants to know all about how things have gone with my book. He read it, even though he isn’t really a big reader, and thought it was brilliant. I don’t let it go to my head since he doesn’t really read much, but I must say that the fact that he’s a writer does make it flattering.

All evening, he devours everything I say. I don’t say much because I have become a nervous stuttering mess, but even when I’m listening, he’s watching for my reaction and gauging my thoughts. He knows me so well. I just know that he does.

When we reach the hotel, Jared walks Tessa up to the room, and I linger with Ian to give them a minute alone. At least, that’s what I tell myself.

“Can I see you tomorrow?” he asks.

“Tessa has a spa day planned for us.” I twist my fingers together as I say it. My hands itch to touch him, so I have to keep them busy.

“Tomorrow night? I will be with Elliot tomorrow, but can work around whatever your plans are,” he says.

“We’ll see. I don’t know yet what’s happening tomorrow night.”

“Okay,” he says with a smile. “Thank you for tonight. It meant … everything to me.” He reaches out to touch my cheek, and I don’t pull away.

One facial, massage, pedicure, manicure, a blowout, and three glasses of champagne later, I feel like a new woman. After a whole day of pampering, I was concerned that all I’d want to do is go to bed afterwards, but I feel
good
.

“We need to go dancing while we’re looking this hot,” Tessa says. “Jared said we should just have girl time, but I told him he didn’t need to miss seeing me like this. Even if he only dances for a few minutes, he needs to see my HAIR!” She laughs and gives her head a toss. She’s feeling a little champagne happy herself.

I do a snort laugh at her—she always brings them out of me—and zip up the back of my dress.

Tessa goes still when she sees me. “Oh no. No, no, no. You better
hope
we don’t run into Sterling tonight. He will be
on you
,” she sings the last two words and then giggles at herself. She shakes her head, still laughing as we walk out of the door.

We sit in the lounge as we wait for Jared, and of course, there he is. This time he’s with another man—I think it might be J. Elliot, but I’m not positive. Ian sees me right away, and I see him gesture to the man to follow him. They’re in front of us within moments.

“Sparrow Fisher, it’s sinful to have a body like that,” Ian says with a smirk. “You sure know how to fill out a dress.”

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?” I ask, tilting my head to the side.

“Hell, yes.” He laughs. “You know it is. Sparrow, meet J. Elliot. J, I’d like you to meet Sparrow Fisher, the love of my life.”

My eyes go wide as I shake J. Elliot’s hand. “I can’t believe you just said that,” I say to Ian, even though I’m looking at Mr. Elliot.
Focus, Fisher.

They both laugh and Elliot says, “Miss Fisher, I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time. I needed to see the girl who turned Ian Sterling around.” I study Mr. Elliot then and try to read how much he knows.

“Hello, Mr. Elliot,” I reply.

“No ‘Mister’, please. Call me J … or Elliot. You know what? I’ll answer to anything you say,” he says smoothly.

Ian introduces Tessa, and she quickly takes the pressure off of me.

“We’re going dancing!” she says with excitement.

“Is that right? Well, let us take you—no need to get a cab, right, Ian? We were about to head out on the town ourselves.”

I wonder what mischief they were about to get up to … on second thought, no, I don’t want to know.

Jared walks in just then, saving us once again.

With the three of them chatting around us, Ian touches my elbow. “Sparrow? I’d love to be wherever you are, but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. Will I? Can we be together tonight?” Ian asks it innocently enough, but my mind goes to all the nights we’ve had and it’s far from innocent.

When I go purple, Ian smiles a wicked grin and leans down by my ear, his breath tickling my neck and sending chill bumps all over my skin. “I’ll behave,” he whispers.

“You don’t know the meaning of being ‘have’,” I whisper back. It’s amazing how easily we fall back into our lusty banter.

The Maison 508 is going strong when we get there. Tessa and Jared start dancing immediately. J sees a musician he knows and gets engrossed in a conversation.

Ian stays by my side, not touching me, but no more than an inch away at all times.

“Dance?” he asks.

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“Okay.” He nods, as if I’ve said something very intelligent.

“You know what? I do want to. It’s been a long time since I’ve danced.”

He lights up and holds his hand out for me to take.

It’s a strange feeling after you’ve known someone so intimately, to maintain any sort of distance or to pretend that you don’t know their body better than you know your own. When Ian pulls me in and his body makes contact with mine, the currents pulse through us both. I know what he feels without looking at him. I know if I touch the small of his back like this or slightly rub my chest against his just so, it will drive him wild. He knows that my neck is sensitive and that I love it when he pulls my back against him. We try for about ten minutes to avoid these triggers, but the rhythm picks up in the room and the impulse is too strong. He swipes my hair off my neck first to say something in my ear, I rub my chest against his, lightly touch his back, he whips me around and presses me against the front of him.

Like dominoes falling one by one, our pretenses fall away and we dance.

My hands say what my mouth cannot. I look in his eyes and see the love I feel gazing back at me.

He touches my face, my hair, my shoulders, my heart, my back, my thighs. I get lost in it. I move into him, matching him touch for touch. It’s intoxicating. His hands on me feel like finding water after years in the desert. It fills me up, as only he can do.

- 31 -

Jared and Tessa are long gone. Elliot left before them. Ian promised to take me to the hotel as soon as I said the word, but his look also pleaded with me to not stop this—whatever this is that’s happening.

We close down the club and get a cab to the hotel. Ian is awkward with his hands now that we’re not dancing. He keeps touching me somehow, but stopping when he realizes what he’s doing. He is full of nervous energy. In the elevator, he studies me.

“Talk to me?” He reaches out and grasps my hand in both of his and holds it up to his chest as he waits for my answer.

I nod.

Air whooshes out of his lips when I agree.

It’s silent as we climb up, up, up. When we get off the elevator and wind around the floor, the only sound is our feet padding on the carpet. It’s when he shuts the door behind us—I lean my back against the door and he stretches both arms on either side of me—that I realize I won’t be able to talk at all. I look at him and all I see are his lips, so close that if I move even slightly, I will bump into them. I rest my head against the door to get some space, but then I can see the desire in his eyes.

“Tell me you don’t still love me, Sparrow, and I won’t touch you. Tell me you don’t still need me, that your body doesn’t still ache for mine. Tell me,” he whispers urgently.

I close my eyes and turn my head away. He draws me back by taking my chin and straightening it again. “Look at me, Sparrow,
please.
”

I open my eyes and a tear rolls down my face. I’m weary of fighting it.

He kisses each tear that falls.

“Aren’t you worn out from running?” His lips follow a tear down my neck, and then he brushes my face with his hand. “I don’t want to live without you
another day.
I’m begging you for another chance.
Please
.”

He’s holding his hands on my cheeks now, his eyes searching. He waits for me to say something, but for now, I’m unable to speak. I don’t want to talk. I just want to be with him—without having it all figured out or knowing the future—I need to be with him one more time.

He sees the shift in my eyes. That’s how well he knows me.

“Are you sure?” he asks.

I give a faint nod.

“Little Bird,” he says softly as he comes in for a kiss. It begins as gentle as a sunrise, but quickly gains ground as the urgency of all the feelings and heartache and pain and years of anguish collide. I open my mouth to him and he groans as his tongue meets mine. I clutch his hair, pulling his head harder into me. There is not a breath of space between us, and still, I cannot get close enough. Ian feels the same because as he’s kissing me, he’s also picking me up and carrying me to the bed.

He lays me back carefully and touches my face softly before crushing my mouth again. I want to feel skin. He’s being so cautious with me. I unbutton a few buttons of his shirt and then pull it over his head, taking the opportunity to look at him. His chest looks even more defined than it did before. Maybe he’s upped his weights routine. I approve.

He grins. I sit up and trace my tongue along his skin, his neck, his pecs, his tiny nipples that are puckered from my touch. He moans and unzips my dress and pulls it over my head.

He reaches out and cups my breasts with reverence and then with a slow and deliberate touch, he rubs my nipples through my blue lacy bra before reaching around to undo it altogether. When it drops, his pupils dilate with lust and he pushes me back and follows with his head. His tongue flicks around and around my nipple, and then he grabs it in his mouth and sucks until I can’t think straight. Now that my bra is off, his hands are everywhere. His fingers push aside my panties and he strokes me there, teasing: in an out, in and out, until I’m gasping.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispers.

And then he’s ripping my panties off, and I’m un-doing his pants and pulling them off as fast as my hands will let me. His briefs and pants come down at the same time and he leans over me, holding himself up with his arms, staring at me.

“I love you, Sparrow Kate,” he says. I pull his mouth down to mine, and show him how much I love
him
. He kisses me back hard and then leans back. “I haven’t done this—with anyone—since you,” he says and then he slowly eases inside of me. I’m so ready for him. I’m processing what he just said, but I can’t focus on that right now. I’m so ready that I don’t wait for him, I wrap my feet around and push him the rest of the way in, until he’s in so deep, my eyes blur and roll back in my head.

We begin to move, unable to go slow or take our time or wait one second longer.

I start to moan first and then, when I can’t take it any more, “IAN!” rushes out of my throat in a ravaged wail.

The tears pour out of me while my body shudders. Ian slows, but as my body comes down from the high, our pace picks up again. He drives in me deep, all the way out, in deep, slowly out, deep, DRAGGING out, IN, out. And just when I can’t take anymore, he drives in again. Hard. It sends me over the edge. Ian lets out a hoarse groan and the pulses overtake us both. And then he’s kissing my face. He searches my eyes when he realizes my face is wet. He slowly pulls out of me and holds me tight, wrapping his arms around me and bringing the blanket up to my face.

“Baby?” His hands wipe the tears and they just keep coming. “Are you okay?”

I’m not.

I feel as if my whole chest has been cut open and laid bare. My body feels content and sated, but my mind has just woken up after a long sleep. I start shaking uncontrollably.

Ian lets out a choked cry. “Sparrow, baby...” He kisses my hair and pulls my face back to look at me. His eyes are terrified, and I wish I could stop, but the flood-gates have opened and there’s no stopping it now. His tears drip onto my face and he tries to wipe them off. He leans his forehead to mine. “Talk to me, please, Sparrow. Anything, please say something.”

“Why?” It gushes out, sounding foreign through all the tears. “
Why
, Ian? What did she have that I didn’t? Why wasn’t I enough? How could you take my feelings and just toss them aside like trash? I
lived
for you.” I’m choking now and making horrific, gasping sounds, but I can’t stop. “I believed you loved me. I trusted you. I thought what we had was beyond any love I’d ever seen. Why did you throw it away? Again and again?” I sit up and the blanket falls around my waist, I yank it up quickly, uncomfortable now with my nakedness. I rock back and forth and try to shake off the tremors.