“Even? Tell me when I inflicted this kind of pain on you without finishing you off!”
I thought about the first time he made my body tingle. “The morning when you played your song on my guitar. I definitely, definitely had an unsatisfied moment there.”
“Really? Interesting! I would not have guessed that. It’s good to know, though. You sort of had the same affect on me the other night,” Ryan admitted.
“When?” I asked, surprised to hear that.
“Monday night when you played. Why do you think I took the guitar out of your hand so quickly? I couldn’t think straight anymore!” He laughed.
“I almost tore the guitar out of your hands that same night! I was thinking about chewing on your neck,” I whispered seductively.
“Okay, so you have to talk about something else because I am not in good shape right now,” he groaned.
“That’s debatable.”
“Stop!” he pleaded.
I tried to come up with benign conversation. It was difficult as I was walking through a lingerie store filled with naughty, frilly things.
“You sound exhausted,” I breathed.
“I am. It’s been a long day already and we’re filming night scenes tonight.”
“Crash in your trailer for a while,” I suggested.
“You read my mind,” he whispered. “Sometime between three and seven I’m turning my phone off to sleep.”
I spent quite a few dollars on silk, satin, and lace in different hues. It had been a long time since I felt inclined to, for lack of better terms, dress to impress, so I got carried away while shopping - for him. My mind wandered over our conversation, and picturing that he was aroused because of it provided a lot of incentive to buy even more.
I also spent more than I would have liked to on two simple but tastefully adorable cocktail dresses: one was black satin sheathed in black lace and another in a unique shade of sapphire blue, just in case. My wardrobe seriously lacked formal wear as there was never an occasion to get dressed up, nor had I ever entertained the thoughts of going out in public with a man like Ryan. I also thought about meeting his parents. That would definitely be an occasion to look my best. I bought myself a lot of new things so I’d have new wardrobe options.
That night, Marie flipped the television back to the entertainment news, much to the dismay of several of my male customers who were enjoying watching the sports highlights. My heart sank when I heard tonight’s headlines.
“Ryan’s steamy Manhattan hook-up” was all I needed to hear to send my emotions into a downward spiral. Pictures of him dressed in a suit with his arm around some girl were flashed all over the screen. She was young, attractive, and there, with him, in pictures. And then I felt the extreme burn of jealousy roll through me as my phone rang.
“Hi. What?” I answered. My voice definitely sounded perturbed.
“Taryn? What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you okay?”
“No, not really,” I grumbled.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Marie turned on Celebrity Tonight,” I muttered.
“I should have warned you.”
“It doesn’t matter.” The damage was already done.
“Yes, it does matter!” he breathed out. “You can’t believe anything you see or hear about me. Please! You promised! The girl in the picture is the daughter of the producer. I told you he brought her to dinner.”
“No, Ryan - stop. Just stop… please,” I whispered.
He breathed out a heavy sigh. “Then why are you so upset?” he asked point blank.
I just huffed in frustration.
“You asked me to trust you. That goes both ways.”
“Ryan, stop. That’s not why I’m mad. I just hate how the media embellishes the truth with lies. I wish they wouldn’t say that kind of stuff about you,”
I sighed. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him the true reason I was upset.
He laughed softly. “Tar, you know it’s not true.”
I knew why he didn’t want me exposed, but at the same time I wanted to be by his side, supporting him. Maybe if the world knew he had a girlfriend they wouldn’t speak lies. Maybe if it was me in those pictures… maybe if he just announced on the morning show that he was dating someone instead of denying it… “I know it’s not true. I’m trying. It’s hard not to be a little jealous when you’re pictured on TV with someone else,” I murmured.
“Well if you’re done being upset,” he said, unruffled, “I was wondering if you might like to put on one of your new dresses tomorrow night.”