Rescue Me (6 page)

She watched him approach, her stomach knotting at the sight of his
bronzed, glistening torso and his thighs straining at the seams of a pair of
indecently snug running shorts. Seth tugged his sunglasses off and gave her a
weak smile as he eyed her, his expression wary. Maya guessed she couldn't blame
him for not entirely trusting her.

"Hi. Sorry to yell at you like that. I was just surprised to see
you this far up the coast."

"I thought I'd take advantage of my day off to see more of the
island." Seth took a seat beside her at the bar and gestured for a beer.
The bartender leaned towards him and muttered something discreet about the bar
being for hotel patrons only.

"It's okay, I'm a guest." Maya fished her card key out of her
bag and showed it to the server. "Please put it on my tab."

"Of course, Miss Franklin.
I apologize for the misunderstanding."

Maya put the card away and gazed down at her drink, reluctant to look at
Seth again, aware he was staring at her. Her bikini suddenly felt way too
small, despite the fact she'd tied a sarong around her hips and her hair hung
in damp ringlets around her face, still wet from a dip in the hotel pool.
Eventually he spoke, and she couldn't avoid looking at him any longer or he'd
know something was up.

"You're staying here?"

"Yes. Nice, isn't it?"

"Sure is. You must carry some weight with the studio if they'd lay
out for a place like this."

"They don't know I'm here. Nobody does.
Besides
you, of course.
And I'd appreciate it if you didn't say anything."

Seth frowned.
 
"Why didn't
you stay down on the south coast with the rest of us? Did you come all the way
up here to avoid me?"

"No, well not really."

To her surprise, he smiled, and this time, it was genuine. His eyes
glittered with some emotion she couldn't put her finger on that made her
insides flip.
 
Any temporary
embarrassment she felt at admitting too much disappeared.
 

"Can I ask what you find so amusing?"

Seth took a slug of his beer and turned to check nobody was listening,
then
moved closer. "I'm not amused. I'm intrigued. Just
who is it you don't trust, Miss Franklin? Is it me or you?"

Somehow, she managed to raise a laugh, and she hoped it sounded genuine.
"I can assure you, Mr.
Coulter, that
you are in
no danger from me."

Seth's smile faded. "Well you didn't need to move five miles up the
coast to avoid me. You made it clear you weren't interested. I don't need
telling twice."

She grabbed his forearm. "Please let's not argue anymore. Can't we
at least be friends?"
 
For a moment,
she thought he might tell her to go to hell, but he didn't.

"Yeah, sorry about that.
I don't know where my sense of humor's gone these
days."

Maya filled the silence by finishing her drink and ordering another but
this time, without alcohol. Everyone had warned her that the punch was lethal,
and she'd meant to sip it slowly but Seth's sudden arrival had made her forget.
The rum had given her a gentle buzz, and, even though it was pleasant, she
couldn't risk getting any more lightheaded.

"How are you getting on with Alice?"
 

He smiled at the sound of the woman's name.
 
"She's great. We get along really
well."

"So you're not still mad at me for pushing for you two to be paired
up?"

"I'm not mad. I just didn't understand how things work around here.
Now I do."

"The show's online fan forum is full of speculation about you two.
The audience loves you as a couple. We're very happy with how you're being
received, Seth."

He gave her a long, measuring look then turned to stare out at the
ocean. "I'm glad you're pleased. Maybe me and Alice can really give the
viewers something to flap their gums about over the next few days, huh? Would
the studio like that, too?"

Seth's tone sent a chill down her spine, despite the humidity of the
afternoon. He was obviously still very angry. Maya decided not to rise to the
bait, or show him how much it hurt her to know she'd robbed him of his trust.

"Do what you must, but don't go too far. We're aiming for the
teenage demographic. They're the ones who phone in to vote more than any other
age group. We're going for PG, not an R rating."

She laughed to show him she was kidding, but it sounded just as false
and dishonest as everything else she'd said.

Seth slammed his bottle down on the bar and got to his feet, shoving his
stool back so hard it scraped across the ground. "You really don't give a
damn about me, do you? You actually think I should whore myself out in order to
win this show. I don't give a fuck what the studio think of me, but I expected
more from you."

Maya felt the tears prick her eyes, and she was glad she had her glasses
to hide behind but she couldn't control the tremor in her voice. "I
thought you wanted to win?
 
The first
time we met, you practically chastised me for not understanding how much the
money would mean to you and the reasons why. Has that changed?"

"No. It's still just as important. But it's my problem, not yours.
Besides, that's not the reason you've been pushing me away, Maya. I know you
want me, so don't bother denying it.
Seems to me you'll
sacrifice anyone's happiness, including your own, for your career."

"That's not true. You know nothing about me except what you learned
that night in LA. How dare you assume you know what I want?"

Seth moved closer and placed one hand on the back of her stool, the
other on the bar. "Deny it then."

His voice was soft and hoarse, a sound she remembered only too well. The
last time she'd heard him speak that way, his hands had been inside her and
he'd been telling her how many times he was gonna make her come, before that
phone call had come through and changed everything. The truth was
,
she had come for him many times since. He just hadn't been
there.

The memory of the endless nights she'd spent thinking about him, and
touching herself while aching with need for him, made her gasp in pain. She
could do nothing to stop a sob escaping her restricted throat, and she knew she
had to get away before Seth saw more than she could afford to reveal.

Maya shoved at his chest to get him out of her way and turned to flee to
the safety of her room. She heard him call her name and the sound of his
footsteps behind her as she turned the corner and climbed the steps leading up
to her beach front apartment.

"No!"

Maya tried to slide the glass door shut behind her, but Seth's hand
stopped it dead and she couldn't budge it. She gave up and stormed through the
lounge area to the bathroom, managing to slam that door before he could stop
her.

"Maya, please come out. I didn't mean to upset you."

"I'm okay. I just need to be alone."

"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong. I didn't mean to
make you cry, honey."

The kindness in his voice brought a fresh wave of tears. Maya splashed
cold water on to her face, aware that the best way to get rid of him was to
pull
herself
together. She opened the door a few
seconds later, steeling herself for the sight of him. But it didn't matter how
many times she tried to prepare herself for the impact seeing him would have on
her, he still took her breath away.

The concern etched into his features made her stomach knot with shame.
Maya had done nothing but insult and reject him since the day they met, yet he
wouldn't allow her to push him away.

"None of this is your fault, Seth. I'm so used to being in control
of everything—my job, my life, even my emotions—and it scares me when I'm
not.
 
That's why I lash out at you, but
you don't deserve it.”

Seth wrapped a hand around her wrist and tugged her forwards, enveloping
her in his arms. She hugged him back, her sadness forgotten for the moment at
least, unable to think of anything but how it felt to hold him and be held by
him. Maya tightened her grip, pressing her body harder against his, needing to
feel more of him.
 

She felt his cock begin to harden against her stomach, and the sensation
both aroused and scared her. Maya knew she should end the embrace before things
went too far, but she just couldn't make herself let go.

Seth made the decision for them both and shifted away a little until she
could no longer feel his erection pressing into her, but Maya closed the gap
between them instantly, turning her face so her lips grazed the crease of his
neck. Her hands drifted lower, shaping around the columns of hard muscle in his
back.
 
She heard him groan as he tangled
a fist in her hair and forced her to look up at him by tugging her head back.

"You'd better be sure this is what you want. If this goes much
further, I won't have the strength to stop."

"I don't want you to stop, Seth. Not this time."

Chapter Seven

Maya held Seth's gaze as he stared down at her without speaking, and his
hand twisted a little tighter in her hair. She saw his lips part as he blew out
a long, steadying breath, and her mouth opened in anticipation of his kiss. He
groaned and brought his lips down to meet hers. His mouth barely grazed hers,
and she strained to deepen the kiss, desperate to take more of his tongue but
unable to move closer with the hand buried in her hair forcing her to stay
still.

Seth tugged on her head, forcing her to turn to one side and lean into
him. He kissed her hard, his mouth locked over hers as his tongue caressed her.
His free hand stroked over her hip to her abdomen, kneading and pressing her
flesh with the pads of his fingertips. Maya grasped at his wrist, dragging his
hand upwards until it closed around her breast.

He stroked her aching nipple through the fabric of her bikini then
slipped his hand inside to rub his palm across the engorged tip. She gave a
moan of protest when he moved away and was about to beg him to touch her again
when she felt him pull at the tie at the back of her neck. He thrust the bikini
out of his way as he released her mouth so he could suck on her nipple.
 
Maya grasped at his head, pressing him closer
as his lips pulled at her flesh and his tongue rasped across her again and
again.

He scooped her up into his arms and carried her from the hall into the
bedroom. Seth dropped her on to the bed without finesse, and she fell back to
watch when he kicked off his running shorts. He gasped as he stretched the
fabric away from his body and thrust the spandex over his hips, releasing his
cock.
 
Maya's pussy convulsed at the
sight of Seth's long, thick penis, and she couldn't wait to wrap herself around
it.

She crawled to the edge of the bed and stopped him lying down beside her
by grabbing at the shaft of his cock and sucking the tip into her mouth. She
groaned at the taste of him and took more of him in. Seth stood over her, his
gaze fixed on her lips as she slid up and down on him. Maya reached around to
grab his ass and increased the tempo, sucking what she could take of him in and
out of her wet mouth as his stomach and thighs clenched and trembled in response.
 
He thrust his hands into her hair again,
using it one more time to force her to stay still. Seth took over, pushing his
dick between her lips in slow, measured thrusts, drawing out almost to the tip
then sliding in halfway, careful not to go too deep.

His head fell back exposing the hard cords in his neck and his clenched
jaw, and she saw him bare his teeth seconds before he pulled out of her without
warning and took a step away.

Seth smiled and trailed the pad of his thumb across her lips.
"Sorry. I can't handle any more of that right now."
 
Maya pressed a kiss into his palm and reached
to pull him down beside her, but he resisted. "Please tell me this is the
kind of hotel that provides free condoms. I'm not exactly prepared for this,
Maya."

"It's okay. I've got some in that vanity case over there on the
dresser."

"Thank God."
 

Seth laughed and crossed the room to get them. Maya watched him walk
away and smiled at the sight of the dimples in his butt she'd noticed almost
the first time she met him. She shrugged off the rest of her bikini and tossed
it on the floor, then slipped between the sheets to protect her warm body from
the chill of an overly efficient air conditioning system.

"Suddenly shy?"
 
Seth put the
box of condoms on the bedside table and kneeled down beside her.

Maya grinned. "No.
Just cold from the air
conditioning."

"You want me to turn it off?"

"Please."

He slid into the bed seconds later and turned her in to his arms to kiss
her. His hands worked over her flesh, as if trying to touch everything at once.
One of Seth's massive thighs nudged its way between her legs and forced her to
open them wider.
 
He didn't wait to cup
her mound and press the heel of his palm against her clit with a firm yet
gentle pressure. His tongue flicked in and out of her mouth, tracing the edges
of her lips as his finger probed at her pussy and he pushed the tip inside.