Her phone rings and she motions toward the living room. "Excuse me a minute."
River nods and stands up, his gaze locking on mine as he strides toward me and mouths, "Missed you."
Smiling at him, I take a deep breath and try to push my argument with Grace from my thoughts.
His gaze travels up and down my body before settling on my face. Then his lips are on mine and his arms circle my waist and I feel better already. "You were gone a long time. Everything go okay?"
I can smell the alcohol on his breath and know he's been drinking. "Yeah, it was fine." I really don't want to discuss what happened with Grace in front of Ellie.
Pulling back, he outstretches his arms and leaves his hands on my hips. "You sure?-because you don't look like everything's fine."
I nod and lean against the counter.
"Want anything? There's plenty of pizza left."
"I think I'll just have a beer."
He grabs a glass for me and fills it with ice then opens the refrigerator to retrieve a bottle. Twisting the cap off he takes a swig and I watch the way his throat moves as the cool liquid goes down.
"Hey, that's mine," I tease.
Grinning, he pours the beer into the glass and hands it to me. "What, you don't share?"
I smirk back and before I can answer his warm breath is on my skin. When his parted lips kiss my neck and his tongue teases my flesh, I grip my glass tighter and ask, "You're working late. Are you almost done?"
Ellie responds for him. "Well, you know since he," she says, pointing to River in case I don't know who she means, "is so hard to pin down, I have to take advantage while I can."
For some reason her tone bothers me, but I still shoot her a glad he could be of service smile. Then I tell River, "I'm really tired. I'm going to take these boots off and lay down for a bit."
He presses a kiss to my cheek before sliding his tongue to my ear and whispering, "Wait for me and I'll do that for you, just let me wrap this up."
Ellie quickly interjects, "River, we're not finished yet," and I wonder how she could hear us over the music and why she was even listening.
But I'm not going to stick around and argue with her. Kissing River one more time, I head to our bedroom.
Moments later, I'm chewing some ice and standing at the window in front of my hope chest, just blankly staring at the Hollywood sign when I feel his hand at my waist. He swipes my hair to the side with his other hand. Closing my eyes, I lean into him. He moves his hands to my stomach and presses his body against mine. "What do you say we take off more than just the boots?"
I laugh. "Are you drunk?"
"Who, me? Why would I be drunk after I had to spend the day discussing the ins and outs of every stage at every stop? I still don't get why Xander couldn't have taken care of all that."
I stretch my arms around his neck and tilt my head to the side. "Well, I think that would be because Ellie wanted you to help take care of it."
He pulls me flush to him and I can feel his hard body against every part of me. "She doesn't bother you, does she?"
"No, not really. Why would you think she bothers me?"
His fingers are inching inside the waistband of my jeans and his mouth moves up and down my neck. "I don't know, because she bothers me," he laughs and I join in.
His other hand untucks my shirt and then moves up to slip inside the lacy cup of my bra. His hand fits perfectly around my small breast. He murmurs against my ear, "Do you want to talk about your lunch with Grace now?"
"Not when you're drunk, I don't," I say, angling my head so that his lips can find mine.
"I'm not drunk, I only had two beers." I'm not really listening as his lips travel down my neck and place openmouthed kisses along my skin.
He gently bites down on my lower lip. A quiver of sensation washes through my body when his lips lock against mine. Turning around, I wrap my arms around his neck and look into his eyes, which are blurred with desire. "I thought we could talk later," I purr as I slide my hand down the front of his jeans.
With the stereo on, the only other sound in the room is his low but unmistakable growl as he pushes me toward the bed. Falling on it, he hovers over me and I crawl back on my elbows and he follows on his palms, his knees sliding up the sheets. My hands glide up his flexing back and I relish the feel of each and every muscle. His mouth covers mine and we drink each other in.
Suddenly, the door opens. "Hey man, let's make like Linda Lovelace and blow."