Breaking All the Rules (15 page)

              Her face lit up, “What’s the idea?”

              “Well…,” Ryan looked away. The rest of the band mocked his motions.

              Cautiously, Mia asked the question again, “What’s the idea, Tyler?”

              His eyes met hers, “I may or may not have recorded you dancing around the apartment yesterday, and I may or may not have showed it to the director who may or may not think we need to have a video where you dance around the band while they play.”

              Mia wasn’t sure whether to be angry or flattered, so she settled on both, “You took a video of me?” Tyler nodded. “And showed it to people I work with?” Tyler nodded again. “And now want me to be in your video?”

              “I tried telling him we should get a video girl or something, but he wants you, Mia. He says it won’t be the same.”

              “You may just leave here with a bloody lip after all, Abbott,” Mia threatened, her finger wagging. “How could you?”

              “We won’t do it if you don’t want to,” Colin cut in. “It’s just… you’ve been such a big part of our success and all, we want you to be in the video too.”

              She tried to flash him a doubtful look, though she couldn’t help the creeping smile on her face, “That sweet talk gets you a lot of ladies, doesn’t it, Colin?”

              “Not working on you, huh?” He flashed a pearly smile.

              “I’m flattered, guys, but I don’t know if legally I’m even allowed to and what kind of dancing would I even be doing? Because I’m sure I looked like a psycho last night.”

              “A sexy psycho,” Tyler grinned. She was glad he was back to his old self, at least a little. “The production team said it would be okay and someone named Maya Dover said she’d be emailing you today.”

              “I know Maya,” Mia nodded. “So explain to me, again, the concept?”

              “We wanted to keep it simple since it’s our first video and Pierre-”

              “Pierre Bisset?” Mia interrupted. “He’s a good director.”

              Tyler nodded, “Yeah, Pierre said that would be a good idea since we’re still trying to define our creative presence or something. I showed him the video and said it would be cool if they were in an abandoned warehouse or a really fancy theater or something just playing and you were dancing. He loved it- said something about showing friendship and playfulness. I just thought it would be hot.”

              “You’re not helping your case, Tyler,” Mia pressed, her voice a flat line.

              “Please?” Cap clasped his hands together in front of him and shook. He repeated himself, this time Ryan accompanied his beg. By the thirteenth cry, all five of the boys were singing the word, and Tyler had even taken to falling to his knees.

              Mia was dealing with a bunch of five year olds. A bunch of persuasive five year olds. She caved, “Okay! Just shut up.” They erupted in cheers. “Yeah, yeah. Now get out before I change my mind.”

              As they said goodbye and shuffled out of the room, Mia made sure to tell Tyler she’d be busy all weekend and not to be bothered unless it was urgent. He looked as if he was going to press her and ask, but he dropped his head and shook, his messy hair flopping from side to side. He left, the door clicking behind him and easing the room into an unsettling calm. Mia opened up her email waiting for a notification from Maya. In the meantime, she grabbed her phone and texted Max, accosting him for his behavior. By the end of the workday, Maya’s email still hadn’t arrived. She had only worked with the woman directly once or twice, but she remembered her being tardy and unorganized. Mia rolled her eyes as she gathered herself and left the building. She had more important things to do than worry about the email. The most important, of course, was preparing for her night with Lora.

Chapter Seven

              Mia was thankful for Victor’s presence after work. She decided against pizza and needed to stop at a market before heading home. She strolled through the store gathering ingredients for fajitas, making sure to grab a giant tub of mint ice cream – Lora’s favorite, as well. Knowing her booze stock was alarmingly low; Mia added a bottle of wine and a case of beer to her cart. A few frozen meals and snacks later, Victor was helping load the bags into the back of the Bentley. Once at her apartment, he even helped carry the load of groceries up to her apartment. He wished her a good night and then headed out.

              Victor both scared and comforted Mia. He was an older gentleman, sporting a head full of grey hair. It looked nice with his dark skin and chocolate eyes. His posture always made Mia wonder if he was ex-military. She felt safe when he was around, but she also felt like he could snap her neck at any moment. That was probably why Benson liked the man so much.

              After unpacking the groceries, putting away what she wasn’t going to use, Mia slipped into a pair of yoga pants and a black spaghetti strap tank top. She put in a load of laundry, forgetting that the night before she had attempted to do some before Benson had arrived. With her hair in a tight ponytail and a playlist of her favorite songs floating through the air, Mia began preparing dinner. Halfway through cooking, she cracked open a beer and danced over to her phone while the steak cooked.

            
 
Having a party tonight without me, precious?

            
 
Mia smiled. She imagined Benson’s eyebrow cocked and a smirk on his delightfully delicious face. She texted him back:

            
 
Lora’s coming over for a girl’s night. Apparently her date with Zach went well. I miss you.

             
I miss you too, Mia.

            
 
Knowing Benson missed her sent a swarm of butterflies through her system. As she set her phone back on the dock and turned on her most danceable tune, she bounced back to the kitchen. Mia felt like she was on cloud nine as she used her hips to close drawers and utilized wooden spoons as makeshift microphones. She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so happy- so
giddy
. When the doorbell rang, Mia danced over, throwing it open and pulling an unsuspecting Lora into the studio. She kicked the door shut and then spun into her best friend, smoothly taking her messenger bag and dropping it off at the neglected dining room table.

              “Are you drunk already?” Lora laughed as she took her shoes and jacket off.

              “Not even close,” Mia grinned after turning the volume of the music down.

              Lora sniffed the air and licked her lips, “What are you making? I thought we were getting pizza?”

              “I had an urgent craving for fajitas,” Mia was back in the kitchen. “There’s ice cream in the freezer, too.”

              “Mmmm,” Lora moaned in culinary excitement, throwing the freezer door open and seeing her holy grail of ice cream. “You seem better today.”

              “Enough about me. Tell me about your date with Zach,” Mia wiggled her eyes.

              Lora blushed briefly before starting her story. While she spoke, Mia combined the meat and the cooked vegetables in one pan, and then finished up the last of dinner.

              “We went to the botanical garden in Brooklyn. How have I never been there before? It’s seriously gorgeous. Not to mention Zach has an adorable knowledge of flora. He’s a history guy and he knows flora, Mia! Flora! We didn’t get to stay long because they were closing, but it was so sweet. He said the garden reminded him of me and he wanted to go, even if just for a few minutes, so he could show me.”

              “You sound lovesick,” Mia teased. She passed Lora a plate. “Here, dinner’s up.”

              She crafted her food and Lora continued a few seconds later, now standing next to her, “After that we ate at this delicious mom and pop BBQ place and went to Bridge Park. We rode the carousel and he kissed me.”

              Mia nearly spit out her beer, “This Zach guy knows how to please a lady.”

              “He’s so sweet, Mia,” Lora smiled, the flutter in her heart plastered on her face. “He pulled a blanket out of his backpack and we laid in the park just talking about everything. We held hands and listened to some kid play crappy music on his guitar and…” Lora sighed. “It was just perfect.”

              “Crappy guitar music, huh? Sounds like
my
kina of date,” Mia giggled, grabbing her phone and settling on the couch with her plate in her lap. “Did you sleep with him?”

              “I wanted to. I actually invited him upstairs for coffee.”

              “And he said no?” Mia quirked a brow, her fajita inches from her face.

              Lora picked up the remote and flicked through the channels, “He kissed me really hard and passionately and said he doesn’t want to mess things up with me.”

              “How chivalrous of him,” Mia couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she sank into her food again.

              “It was sweet. I mean, I get it. I don’t necessarily want to take things at a snail pace, though,” Lora settled on a reality TV dating show- her guilty pleasure. “We’re going out again this weekend. You think you can cook something for us?”

              Mia looked over at her teasing friend and shook her head, “No thank you. I’ve got plans, anyway.”

              Lora proceeded with caution, “Such as?”

              “Benson is going to stay the weekend.”

              “As of yesterday evening you two weren’t talking to each other and now he’s spending the weekend with you? Did I miss something?”

              “He came over last night,” Mia proceeded to tell her friend about the entire evening, sparing no detail. Much to her surprise, Lora didn’t bat an eye over Benson. Her queasy stomach was targeted at Mia’s conversation with her brother.

              “You should just change your number. I can’t believe he still calls you.”

              “I did change it,” Mia reminded her. “And he’s my brother. He went through a lot with me. We both got fucked up pretty bad, but unlike me, he didn’t turn into a psycho.”

              “You’re not a psycho, you were abused as a child,” Lora reminded her.

              Mia had heard the speech dozens of times in her life, yet it never made her feel any better. “Sucks for you, though. Your family will never get rid of me at Thanksgiving. Want another beer?”

              Lora followed her into the kitchen and rinsed her plate, “My family loves you, Mia. How about that ice cream instead?”

              They returned to the couch, a beer in Mia’s hand and the gallon of ice cream in Lora’s. They found a rerun of
Dirty Dancing
. Over the course of the movie, Mia polished off a few more beers and Lora made herself sick eating half the tub of mint ice cream. They swooned over Baby and Johnny, making small jokes about their own love lives.

              Mia wondered what a movie of her and Benson’s relationship would look like.
Porn. It would look like porn
. She kept her snicker to herself and cozied deeper into the couch. It wasn’t too much to ask for fantastic sex and a sound relationship, was it? They made it look easy in the movies and books. They made it seem like someone with a messed up past could find love. Johnny and Baby did it, after all, and they were completely different people.

              Johnny had spilled his guts on the screen, talking about women throwing themselves at him. She always giggled when he said they smelled good. It had been one of her favorite parts growing up. Her life had been a cluster of bad timing and horrible situations, but she also had good times, curled up on the couch with her mom and Eddie watching movies or the news. Unfortunately, the bad times took precedence over the good times. Mia watched with bated breath as Baby accused Johnny of using women, then let the air out in an exhausting exhale when he countered back saying the women were using him.

              Was that how it was with Benson? Successful and sexy, he had no shortage of women. She had seen the pictures of him and attractive arm candy. She tried to think of the pictures. She’d been nursing a bottle of wine that night and couldn’t remember anything clearly. Coolly, she slid her phone off of the table and typed in his name on Google, clicking over to the images tab. Among the covers of business magazines and expose pictures were ones from galas and events. Pictures of Benson and pretty blondes outside restaurants and on the street. Mia looked closer and she wasn’t sure if her heart swelled or broke.

              Benson Ward never looked at the women. They were an accessory, a necessary part of his life. But those women looked at Benson like the chiseled god he was. They clung to him like glue. Maybe they had gotten a whiff of his cologne- a musky mix of leather and wood. That smell made her want to drop her panties every time he was near. Mia gazed at the expression of woman after woman. She looked at Benson like that. But as Mia put her phone away and returned her attention to the movie, she realized he looked at her like that, too.

**********

“Me? I’m scared of everything. I’m scared of what I saw, I’m scared of what I did, of who I am, and most of all I’m scared of walking out of this room and never feeling the rest of my whole life the way I feel when I’m with you.”

              There was a pause on the other end of the line. A quick beat before, “Are you okay, Mia?”

              Lora had left shortly after ten, insisting she go home since Mia had to work the next morning. After the movie had ended they watched an episode of a true crime show, which didn’t seem to bother Lora as she hugged Mia goodbye and headed to the city’s streets at night. Mia and Lora both lived in safe neighborhoods, but at times it seemed like nowhere in New York was safe. Mia waited until she got a confirmation text from Lora that she was home before dialing up Benson.

              She had missed his voice all day. One night with him had spoiled her. She wanted him constantly. If she couldn’t be with him physically before bed, she at least wanted to hear his voice. And for some reason when he cooed ‘
precious
’ into the phone, Mia recited the well memorized line from
Dirty Dancing
. When Benson spoke her name again, she snapped back to reality.

              “It’s from a movie,” She shook her head as if he were sitting next to her, thankful he wasn’t because she was blushing. “It reminds me of you.”

              “What movie?” He asked curiously. When she told him there was a pause while he thought. “Huh. I’ve never seen it.”

              “I watched it a lot growing up. We watched it tonight. I just… thought of you a lot.”

             
There you go, Mia. Sound needy and desperate. It’ll really help your cause.

              As if he could read her mind through the airwaves, Benson chipped in, “I thought of you too, precious. About using those leather cuffs in your bedside and locking you to your bed so I could lick every inch of your sweet body.”

              Mia moaned his name, “Benson.”

              “I love how you say my name” He growled.

              She was wet and in need of an orgasm or five, “Come over. I need you inside me.”

              He groaned, “I’m working still.”

              “You’re at the office still?” Her voice was doubtful. “It’s after ten.”

              “I’m home. Don’t use that tone of voice with me, precious.”

              She huffed, “You work too hard, then.”

              “I can’t come over,” He said sadly, and then his voice lowed to a seductive purr. “But I can make you cum. Touch yourself, Mia.”

              Breathlessly, she complied. She dipped her fingers below the waist of her leggings and found her budding nub. She moaned as she touched it, causing Benson’s breath to grow ragged on the other side.

              “What are you wearing, Mia?”

              “Does that matter?” She questioned. “Just tell me what you’d be doing to me if you were here.”

              “It matters,” He growled.

              “Leggings and a tank top,” She sighed, her fingers slowing. “See, not sexy.”

              “Very sexy. That tank top probably hugs your tits and bunches around your nice, hard nipples. And those leggings surely sculpt that tight ass. Just thinking about your body, Mia,” Benson paused and inhaled. “You’ve got me sitting at my desk stroking my cock wishing my hand was your tongue.”

              Mia moaned his name and dipped her finger down to her swollen, wet lips. She plunged in and pretended it was Benson whose fingers were inside her. He was speaking to her, though she could barely hear him. She was beating an erratic tattoo of pleasure. Nothing compared to his touch, but knowing he was on the other end touching himself to the thought of her made her crazy. She caught bits and pieces of him through both of their groans.