“Dom,” she whispered, and I leaned in.
I kissed her again, deeper this time. She kissed me back with hunger that didn’t match the tension from earlier. Her body pressed into mine, her lips parted beneath mine as I backed her toward the dark edge of the backdrop.
She moaned into my mouth, her hands gripping my shirt like she needed me as much as I needed her. I slid my hand up her back, fingertips trailing over the exposed skin of her neck. She shivered and arched into me, pressing herself against me. Her hips ground against mine, sending a jolt of electricity straight to my core.
I slipped my hand under her dress, tracing the contours of her thighs, inching higher and higher, and I felt her shiver. Savannah moaned into my mouth as my fingers found the lace of her panties. Her hips bucked forward, silently begging me formore. I obliged, slipping my index finger beneath the fabric to find her hot and wet for me. She gasped, a broken sound that only spurred me on.
“We have to be quick,” I cautioned, and she nodded furiously as she started undoing my belt.
I groaned low in my throat as she freed me from my pants, and my mouth found hers again, kissing her with a desperation that had been building for weeks. Her tongue darted out, teasing mine, and I growled against her lips. My hands were everywhere, caressing her curves, memorizing the dip of her waist and the swell of her breasts. The silk of her dress sliding against my fingers was intoxicating, but it wasn’t enough.
“Please,” she whimpered, pulling on me, guiding me to her center. I raised one of her legs until she wrapped it around my hips, and I lined myself up to her core. She pulled her panties to the side and held them there while her fingers pressed and rubbed on the swollen nub hidden in the thick moisture.
I slid inside her with one long, slow thrust, feeling her strong hot muscles enveloping me. She grunted, her hands grabbing onto my biceps as she arched her hips to meet mine. I could feel the evidence of how much she wanted this too, her body clenching around me, drawing me in deeper.
“Jesus, Savannah,” I growled, my self-control hanging on by a thread. “How do you make me so hard?”
She responded with a breathless moan, her hips circling against mine in a primal rhythm. I braced my hands on either side of her hips, keeping us connected as our bodies moved together in a desperate dance. Her dress hiked up around her waist, baring her thighs as her head bounced on the wall behind her.
I picked up the pace, my hips slamming into hers with a force that made the entire set shake. Savannah’s moan of pleasure only fueled my desire more. I could feel her walls clenchingaround me, her body on the verge of orgasm, and I wanted to be there with her. I wanted to experience this together.
“Come for me, Savannah,” I growled in her ear, brushing my lips along her neck. “I want to feel you come apart in my arms.”
That was all it took. With a sharp cry, she arched her back, her body tensing as she came undone around me. Her walls squeezed me tightly, milking every drop of pleasure out of me as I followed her over the edge. We both jerked and spasmed, and I held her up as she unwound.
We stared at each other, panting and breathless, as our heartbeats slowly returned to normal. Savannah was the first to break the silence. “We can’t…we can’t keep doing this,” she said, her eyes avoiding mine.
I pulled out, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and let the pressure out of my chest. She shimmied her skirt down while I reached for a tissue from the prop desk. Thankfully, there were a few in the box.
Handing it to her, I said, “Don’t you think we should talk about what this is instead of just dismissing it?”
She took the tissue and bunched her skirt back up to wipe herself clean, as she spoke. “Dominic, my father is demanding that I speak to him. The fake relationship thing is bad enough. I just can’t…” Someone knocked on the door, but thankfully, I had my back turned.
Scurrying, we both redressed, and when I stood by the door, I glanced back to make sure she was decent before unlocking. The moment the lock clicked open, the crew spilled back in with renewed urgency. The photographer strode ahead of them, pointing toward the rig without missing a beat.
“Swap the lens. Give me a 70 mm—this next sequence needs to feel tighter, more intimate.”
He barely looked at us as he walked past. “Dominic, you’re going to anchor from behind. Wrap her up like she belongs toyou. Savannah, I want you in his space—chin tilted, eyes soft. Think surrender.”
A stylist touched up Savannah’s hairline. Someone else adjusted a panel, and I tucked in behind her just like he told me to. “I think we need to talk,” I whispered in her ear.
“Later,” she said, and I could tell it was through gritted teeth feigned as a smile, though I couldn’t see her face.
The photographer turned back to us. “You ready? Good. Hold her waist like you mean it. Savannah—touch his hands. Look in love.”
“And when is later?” I whispered, pressing a kiss to her ear.
“Christ,” she breathed, so I didn’t push her further.
I let the bossy publicity team order us around while I tried to keep a calm expression.
Vanessa appeared at my elbow just as the crew began packing up the lights. Her tablet was in one hand, and her mouth was already tight.
“They’re moving the vote up,” she said without greeting. “Hopefully less than a few months now. But if we get hit with another leak, Dominic, they’ll walk. They’ll kill the whole thing.”
I didn’t answer right away. My attention stayed locked on Savannah across the room. She stood by the makeup station, dabbing her cheek while a stylist said something that made her laugh. It was soft and unguarded, the kind of laugh I hadn’t heard from her in a long time. The way she tilted her head back, the ease in her shoulders—it didn’t look like an act. That smile looked real.
It reminded me that the closer she let me get, the harder it would be to keep the personal stuff from bleeding into everything else. The merger, I might still survive. But this scheme—I wasn’t so sure I would.