She kisses me softly, slowly, as if we have all the time in the world. Her tongue darts out, tracing my lips, and—knock knock.

“Fuck off!”

Knock knock.

Frustrated, I sigh/grunt loudly and reach for the door.

Reece quirks an eyebrow after peeking into the room. “Wow. It’s been what? Two minutes and she’s already got you on a tight leash?”

Becca pulls my shirt from around my neck and hands it to me.

“What do you want?” I ask, my tone clipped.

“Team meeting after the signing. Remember?”

Fuck. I’d agreed to have the meeting in my room because Becca wasn’t supposed to arrive until later. Without an invitation, Reece enters the room, now joined by Ry and Nico and Chris, while I replace my shirt and hide my excitement. Becca grabs her laptop out of her bag and points to the door but Chris stops her by saying, “You need to be here, too.”

I’m glad he says it because I was about two seconds away from throwing her over my shoulder, dropping her on the bed, and tying her down so she won’t leave my side. I restrain myself, obviously. After taking her hand, I lead her to the bed where I sit next to her, my arm around her waist, annoyed and frustrated and why the hell can’t they just leave us alone?

“You brought your camera, right?” Chris asks her.

Becca nods, a genuine smile crossing her lips.

“Good.” He pulls out some papers from his folder and hands them to her.

“An NDA?” I ask incredulously. “Really, Chris?”

He shakes his head. “Becca and I discussed her being the official photographer for the skate park tomorrow. Those are the release forms and payment contracts.”

Becca reaches into her pocket, pulls out her phone, then types, her words relayed through the speakers, “I don’t want to be paid. I’m happy to do it.”

“Take Chris’s money,” Reece says.

“Yeah,” agrees Nico. “Take it.”

I look over her shoulder as she flips the pages, pausing when she sees the amount she’ll be paid. $300. I glance at her just in time to see her eyes widen and her thumbs working franticly on her phone.

That’s way too much! I can’t accept—

She doesn’t get a chance to play the message before I grab the phone and toss it across the room. I take a pen from the nightstand, add a zero at the end and tell her, “Initial here.” I point to new amount, followed by the blank space waiting for her signature. “Sign here.”

She looks between Chris and I, but Chris gives her nothing. He’ll pay her the three grand, even if it comes from me.

Becca shakes her head. “I can’t,” she mouths.

“It’s called negotiation,” Chris tells her. “And clearly Josh has been around Daniel too long.”

“Daniel?” Becca mouths, raising her eyebrows.

“My manager.”

She takes the notepad from the side table and writes: I thought your mom was your manager?

“I’ll explain later.”

“Is there a reason for this meeting?” Reece huffs.

“Yeah. Is there?” I ask, my question aimed at Chris while I tap on the paper to refocus Becca’s attention. “Just sign it.”

Becca does what I tell her, though clearly hesitant, before handing them back to Chris who simply says, “I’ll pay you in cash tomorrow.”

We spend the next fifteen minutes discussing the plan for tomorrow—a meet-and-greet/fun skate at a local skate park—and then the media and demo shoot agenda for the following day. All things I know about and all things I wish I could back out of because Becca’s here. She’s here and she’s real and the second the guys are out of my room, I let her know with my lips, my hands, my physical worship of her presence, just how much I appreciate that she is.

Being intimate with Becs on any given day is a blessing, but being with her after months spent apart is something else. I feel like I’m moving through a haze in a dreamlike state… like my hands grasping hers while she writhes beneath me is nothing more than a fantasy. In the past, I’d caught myself laughing, thinking about the way I’d be, the way I’d act when she was finally in this position. I’d expected her to be naked within seconds, and me finishing a few seconds after that, but that’s not what’s happening. Instead, we take our time, removing clothes one after the other, our breaths merging, warming our bodies until I’ve worked up a sweat and she’s done the same. It’s not until I reach for the condom in my wallet that she comes out of her daze “Pill,” she mouths.

“Bill? I don’t know who the fuck this Bill guy is but I’m Joshua Warden. Remember me?” I jokingly tap my knuckles on her forehead.

She slaps my chest while silent laughter bubbles out of her.

“I miss you like this,” I tell her, leaning up on my forearms, my fingers lacing through her hair.

She spreads her legs, welcoming me, and when the warmth of being inside her infiltrates my entire being, I remind her of how much I love her. How much I need her.

25

—Becca—

We spent the entire afternoon, evening, and night holed up in Josh’s hotel room, only making contact with the outside world when we got hungry and ordered room service. His phone ringing wakes us the next morning. He mumbles an apology before shifting me off of him to reach for it in the pocket of his discarded jeans sitting on the floor. “It’s Tommy,” he says, his voice scratchy from sleep. “Video call.”

I lift the covers over my bare breasts and try to get out of the bed, but he holds me to him, refusing to let me go. Tommy’s face lights up the screen and the speakers crackle with his squeal. “My Becca! Nanni, look! My Becca’s with Daddy!”

Josh chuckles while I hide my smile against his chest.

Tommy waves, his smile from ear to ear. “Hi, Becca!”

Josh runs his hand slowly up and down my arm while his mother comes into view on the phone. “Morning, Becca.” She waves.

I smile and wave back.

Ella says, “Sorry for calling so early. I forgot the three-hour time difference. Tommy wants to tell you his new joke.”

“Let’s hear it, bud,” Josh says.

“Ready?” Tommy asks, his blue eyes bright.

“Go for it.”

“Why did the roll of toilet paper roll down the hill?”

“Why?” Josh asks.

“To get to the bottom.” Tommy’s cackle warms my heart. He adds, “What was it saying as it rolled down the hill?”

“What?” Josh replies.

Tommy throws his hands up. “Weeeeeeeeee!”

Josh shakes his head. “That’s really funny,” he tells his son, looking at him with love and adoration I no longer envied. “Hey, it’s really early here, buddy. Becs and I need to get back to sleep but I’ll call you as soon as I finish breakfast, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy!”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, and I love Nanni and Ma’am and Mommy and Justin and Aunt Kimmy and Uncle Robby and Aunt Chloe and Uncle Hunt, and most of all, I love My Becca.”

Josh smiles at him. “Bye bud,” he says, before hanging up and throwing the phone across the room. He flips to his side and wraps his arms and legs around me. A moment later, his eyes are closed and his breathing’s even, and I try so hard to settle my mind so I can join him, but I can’t. All I can think about is Tommy. I treasure his voice, his laughter, his excitement in seeing me.