Page 20 of Beneath the Fame

Eyebrows raised, I met her eyes on screen until again, she looked away. “Van…what’s up with this conversation?”

“I don’t know!” She shrugged. “I just…couldn’t sleep because I have questions, and my mind won’t stop trying to figure them out.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Inappropriate ones,” she was quick to reply. “The kind we…already decided it was probably a bad idea to try to answer.”

“You don’t think it’s a bad idea anymore?”

“Oh, it’s definitely still a bad idea, but…I can’t help wondering. And today, uhh…piqued my curiosity even more. Like…a lot.”

I…had no idea how to respond, to any of this. My dick was certainly still begging for attention though, and the late-night rasp of Vanessa’s voice wasn’t exactly calming it down.

“What are you saying?” I asked, watching her pull her lip between her teeth as she stared at the screen, eyes low.

“I’m saying…my fingers are in my panties right now.”

Goddamnit.

It took everything in me not to end the call.

I couldn’t do the teasing shit with her.

“Van…”

“Yeah, Alec?” she whispered, eyes closed now.

“What the fuck are you doing right now?”

She laughed as she peeled her eyes open to look at the screen. “I’m fighting my mistrust of cameras to try to get you to engage in some harmless mutual self-pleasure with me,” she answered, and I pushed out a deep sigh.

I can’t.

That was what I wanted to say—what my brain was telling me was most likely in my best interests.

But then Van let out this whimper that wentstraightto my groin, and my hand was wrapped around my dick again before I could even think about it.

“This is dangerous,” I said, more to myself than her—but it didn’t keep me from maneuvering my way into my bottom bedside drawer for a long-abandoned bottle of lube all the way at the back.

“It is,” she admitted, making a show of licking her fingers on screen before returning them to a place that was only for me to imagine. “But isn’t that half the fun?”

“What’s the other half?” I asked, forcing myself to take it slow as I fisted my dick.

“Imagining what’snoton camera. Thinking about…what if thiswasn’tjust pretend?”

Shit.

Just like before she called, it was way too easy to envision her hand instead of mine. Slightly more complicated to squeeze a little tighter now that I was lubed, and imagine it wasn’t herhandat all, but somethingso muchbetter.

“I wanna hear it,” I told her.

Because I still had my eyes open, I watched the surprise at that request play across her face.

“Alec,” she huffed, and I was quick to explain?—

“I’m not sayingshow it to me,” I assured her. “I get why you wouldn’t want to do that, but?—”

“It’s notthat.” She giggled. “It’s just…I wasn’t expecting that from you, it’s kinda…bold.”

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