“Tell you later,” I mouthed, and he went back into the bedroom.

“Weren’t you the one who told me you couldn’t believe it when I said Jack and I hadn’t had sex yet?”

“Grace, let me just—”

“Get on that stick I think were the actual words you yelled at me in front of a shocked Starbucks, in fact,” I teased, loving every second of this.

“Oh, suck it, asshead.” I could tell she was still smiling.

“But you like him?” I asked, thinking back on how long we had all been friends. I never would have put those two together, but in my mind, he was always in my past, not hers as much. Yet there was something to be said for being friends as long as they had.

“I really think I do.”

We both sighed.

“If you haven’t slept with him, how do you know he takes Cheerios?”

“He fell asleep here one night a few weeks ago when we were watching a movie. That’s all. I may have slept on the couch next to him.”

“How cute! Anything else happen?”

“Not really. We’ve kissed, but that’s about all.”

Holly never took this long to pounce on anyone. This was different.

“So are you officially an item?” I asked, trying to get more juice. She wasn’t having it.

“Okay, back to business. Just have Jack call me as soon as he’s out of the shower?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I fibbed. I’d let him at least put pants on before he had to face another firing squad.

“And heads-up, I’ve got a call with the producers tomorrow about your paparazzi session last night. I’m sure they’ve got some thoughts.”

“Great.”

“That’s my job. You let me worry about it.”

After we hung up, I sat on the couch for a bit, coffee now cold.

What would the producers want to talk about with Holly?

That your personal life is exploding all over the Internet?

Oh yeah . . .

That day started tense and ended lovely. Jack and I lazed around the house all day, watching TV, drinking coffee, doing laundry, just having a day where we didn’t have to do a thing. It was nice. Toward the end, we talked about going out for dinner but realized that eating somewhere in public was not the kind of thing we were up for, not after last night. We ordered in Chinese, ate it at the dining room table off my new dishes (a splurge after I saw what Holly had negotiated for me), and then decided to take a drive. Bryan had already brought my car back from the parking garage.

It was risky, heading out in a car we knew was easily recognized, but I didn’t want to be trapped in the house, and I could tell Jack was getting antsy. At night, it wouldn’t be as obvious who was in the car, and if we kept the top up during most of the trip, we decided it was worth that very risk.

Jack drove our favorite drive, Topanga Canyon all the way to PCH, pulling over at a little canyon store for hot chocolates and to drop the top. With the tunes on, the night breeze in my hair, and Jack’s hand on my knee, I could finally relax in my favorite city in the world. As we turned right onto the coastal highway, the ocean scented the air. The moon hung low in the sky, and while the stars twinkled over the water, my star relaxed as well. He squeezed my knee as the music switched to an old favorite, “Into the Mystic.” I smiled to myself as I thought of the first time we’d taken a drive like this, this song and this man next to me making for a very sweet memory. I chuckled, letting my hand drift out of the car and into the night, rolling it along imaginary hills and valleys. I sang softly along with Van Morrison, Jack’s voice joining in on the chorus. My left hand dropped down to his on my knee, and I nestled my fingers in his.

In this moment, in this car, on this stretch of highway, we were a couple in love. We were not an older woman and a younger man, Jack wasn’t the Sexiest Man Alive, but he was the sexiest man in my world. I wasn’t an up-and-coming actress who’d been asked about the size of her boyfriend’s dick the night before by a total stranger, I was a girl in a convertible in my pajamas, holding hands with the man I was in love with.

And for the record, it was perfectly sized.

Word.

“What are you smiling at over there, Crazy?”

“How can you see me smiling? It’s almost pitch-black out here!” I laughed, this part of PCH was all curves and cliffs.

“I can tell when you’re smiling. I don’t need to see it to know it’s there. What are you thinking about?”

“You. Us. The first time we went for a drive. I was totally falling for you by then.”

“I was falling for you the moment you pushed your boobies in my face, even with the sparkle.” He laughed, untangling his hand from mine as he turned off into a scenic overlook.

“Parking? How Beach Blanket Bingo!” I laughed as he turned off the engine.

Now I could hear the surf, not too far below us. Van Morrison, waves, and my Sweet Nuts. We sank back into our seats, faces turned up to the Milky Way. We talked and laughed, held hands and sighed into the night. We really were so far removed from anything Hollywood, only the barest hint of light from Santa Monica Pier was noticeable in the distance as the highway curved back in on itself.

I leaned in and stole a kiss. Soft, gentle, lips and mouths caressing and pressing each other in quiet affection.

Another car pulled into the overlook, headlights breaking our bubble and reminding us where we were and what we were doing. Another couple had the same idea we did. Checking them out, we backed away, leaving them to their passionate necking.

“Home, or drive on?”

“Take me home, Jack,” I answered, stealing just one more kiss.

He held my arms above my head, teasing my body with his tongue. I arched up underneath him, writhing to bring me closer to his mouth, to him. Naked, under the man I loved more than anything else in the world, I whispered to him, telling him how much I adored him, how much I needed him.

“Soon, Crazy, soon,” he chided, letting his mouth envelope my right nipple as my hands strained to touch him.

My skin was on fire. His good weight pressed down on me as I longed to wrap myself around him, in every way possible. As his teeth nipped, his lips spoke to my skin, told me I was beautiful, I was sexy, I was his. I could feel him, heavy and wanting between my twisting legs. I tried to bring him inside, inside me, where I needed to reach him the most.

He released my hands but slid down my body, head nestled between my legs, prodding me open with his hands, nudging me with his nose, laughing into my warmth, and biting down hard on my Hamilton Brand, making it stronger, indelibly marking me once more. He licked and sucked patiently, persistently at me, and I came hard on his tongue, sent above and beyond by his sweet smile once more. The scruff on his head roughed more than pleasantly at the inside of my thighs, making me so sensitive to his every touch. His strong hands held me still, pushing my hips down into the mattress, meeting my thrusts with gentle but intense pressure, covering my sex with his face and his mouth, nibbling and humming through me, causing a chain of orgasms that made me call out his name over and over again.

Crashing up my body to join me again, his mouth now assaulted my own, my taste and his tongue joining with mine. He flipped me quickly, positioning me to straddle his hips as I rose above him.

“Brilliant,” he chanted in the moonlight, watching me as I sank down onto him, taking him deep inside me, nothing between us, nothing else existing in the world except for the exquisite feel of him. His hands spanned my waist, thumbs dipping down to circle just above where we were joined, applying pressure as we spun out of control together. I rode him hard, like he loved me to, squeezing him inside and out, touching my own breasts the way I knew he wanted to, bouncing and letting my head tip back, my hair tickling his thighs as I felt him growing impossibly harder inside me.