Christopher had fallen asleep with Melanie in his arms, but she had to leave before he could wake. It was six in the morning when she gathered her clothes scattered around his suite and quietly dressed. She couldn't risk being heard, so she picked up her heels and tiptoed across the room to the door. Once she had made it out into the hallway, she didn't care whether or not her absence would disturb him. Allowing the door to shut on its own behind her, she bolted for the elevator and impatiently waited for it to take her away.
Her night with Christopher Coleman was officially over, and she had experienced her first successful one night stand. Although it hadn't done anything to heal her, it was enough to allow her to move on with her life by doing as she pleased.
Driving back to her apartment early in the morning with the traffic felt like a long trip she didn't want to make. But when she pulled up into her reserved parking space, she breathed a sigh of relief and then made her way to the building. She had to be at work in less than an hour, and she was starting to regret staying out past midnight. Perhaps one night with a movie star wasn't worth losing sleep over.
She had just made it to her front door on the first floor when she felt a hand on the small of her back. She yelped in terror, but the large hand covered her mouth to stop her.
"Melanie," the voice behind her ear said, "it's just me, babe."
She quickly turned to face him and dropped her jaw in shock. She had already recognized the voice, but having a face to go along with it only brought out the bitterness in her heart. "What — How did you find me?"
"I assumed you had gone back to your apartment, but you changed your phone number on me and left without saying anything."
She laughed, but there was no humor in their conversation. "Was I supposed to tell you that I was leaving you? I thought you got that when you couldn't reach me, Eddy."
He gave her a once over and clicked his tongue in dismay. Her hair was a mess, and her makeup was smeared. Her shirt wasn't even buttoned up. "I hope you haven't been drinking."
"Why am I not surprised that you showed up to criticize me?"
"I'm not criticizing," he said in defense of himself. "I spent the last month trying to look for you so I could bring you and our baby home."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't you remember?" he asked her. "You showed up to my office to surprise me with that pregnancy test. I saw it, Mel."
She had been so distraught the last time she saw him that she had completely forgotten about that pregnancy test. She wasn't even concerned about what had happened to it when she returned to his house that day to move everything back into her old apartment. "If I hadn't walked in on you and that naked woman, you would have been very disappointed to find out that it was a false positive."
He frowned. "I'm finding out now, and I'm still very disappointed."
"What a shame," she said unapologetically. "There's no baby, Eddy. So, you can leave me alone for good now."
"No," he said with the shake of his head. "I came here to bring you home. I want you back, and I swear I will make it up to you."
"I spent the last month trying to forget you. You can't just show up at my door and try to fix things."
"I would have come sooner if you hadn't cut me out of your life," he told her. "Next week is supposed to be eight years. We can still celebrate it together."
"Am I just supposed to pretend that you didn't throw seven years of our lives away for another woman?"
"It was a mistake that I'll have to live with everyday, but we can still have those seven years plus more."
She shook her head in disbelief. "You shouldn't come back." With those words hanging in the air, she opened the door to her apartment and walked inside, slamming it shut behind her.
"Melanie," Eddy called from the other side. "Please just let me fix this."
She had loved him so deeply at one point in time. She wanted to open that door and give in, considering his love was all she'd ever known, but every time she thought about him, all she could see was another woman's hands on his body.
She was a fool to believe that first loves lasted a lifetime.
When Christopher woke up some time in the late morning to an empty bed, he wasn't surprised. During his shower that morning, he had come to the conclusion that his mystery woman had either left for work or snuck away during the early hours. He decided that the latter had occurred when he saw the pair of black panties hanging from the corner of his bed. In her hurry to get away from him, she must have forgotten to search for her undergarment.
He tucked the panties into the back pocket of his jeans and walked out of the suite. He had an entire day ahead of him since production wouldn't continue until nightfall. Just as he approached the elevator and prepared to step on, an unwelcoming voice called out to him.
"Chris, I've been looking everywhere for you," Jay said, hurriedly chasing him onto the elevator. "You just disappeared last night, man. What the hell was that?"
"I was just trying to spend a night by myself without all the fuss about my last movie," he explained, pressing the button down to the first floor.
Christopher had known Jay since the very first movie they worked on together back in their freshman year of college. They were the lead actors in the comedy packed action film and had remained friends since. They occasionally collaborated on screenplays like the one they had written together for their current film.
The two of them had bonded over the fact that they came from the same streets and experienced the same daily struggles. It was their talent and recognition that got them out of their situation, placing them and their immediate families above the poverty level. Christopher liked to believe they had achieved the American Dream, but no one told him it was a false narrative on American culture. The Dream didn't exist, and most of his family was still stuck in the same streets that killed the majority of his loved ones.
"Mateo is looking for you, so if you want your alone time, then you better explain to him why you missed your own party."
"You'll cover for me, right?" Christopher asked him as the doors opened up again. "I got errands to run, and I just need a couple hours."
"I'm not covering for you again, Chris," Jay said, rapidly shaking his head. "Mateo is your fucking problem."
"Thanks, Jay," he called to his friend as he sprinted toward the entrance.
Christopher knew exactly where he was going as he got into his rental car. It was one of the few good ones the production team had rented out to the cast to get around. Although he was only allowed to use it to get to and from the set, he figured the crew wouldn't mind that he was making a short trip around the city's corner.
He had seen Gregory Beaumont's office multiple times as he cruised along the streets of downtown at night. The twelve story building only had two hundred signs up around it. He was fortunate enough to find an empty parking meter right by the front entrance and pulled into the spot. He quickly retrieved his ticket at the machine and then hurried into the building in search of his princess.
"Welcome to The Pivot Plaza," a woman said from the reception desk. She gasped when she looked up at him and covered her mouth with her hand. "Chris Coleman, I knew you were shooting a movie here, but I had no idea you were so close to the cities. I love your work so much."
Christopher held a finger up to his lips to shush her and cautiously approached her desk. "I'm only here on business. Can you point me in the direction of Gregory Beaumont's office?"
"Well, do you have an appointment with him?" she asked, running her hands down her sides to collect herself.
"I don't, Celine," he said, glancing at the nameplate on the desk. "But maybe you can tell me where his director's office is instead."
"She's up on the third floor," Celine told him. "I don't know if Mel's accepting drop-ins today, but you can ask someone when you get up there."
"Thank you, sweetie," he said with a smile. "You've been very helpful."
She would have fainted if he had stood there any longer. Thankfully he had already rushed off to the elevator landing.
Christopher was surprised that so many people were running around or occupied with a task on the third floor. He had thought it would be a peaceful environment, and spotting his princess would be an easy job for him, but he was wrong. Everywhere he looked was a flustered man of woman on the line, possibly with registered voters, or someone else vigorously typing away on their computers. There wasn't even a single person at the front desk to greet him.
"TJ, I have a six page fax coming in with very sensitive information that could help Beaumont. Make sure you bring those to my office."
Christopher knew that voice. It was the same one that had whispered his name over and over again through the night. He followed it down a hallway leading into a much quieter space. There were three different doors, two of which were closed with the blinds drawn, and the third at the very end of the hallway was opened.
Behind the mahogany desk stood the beautiful princess with her long, wavy hair falling over her delicate face as she looked down at the manila folder in her hands. She was in a white button down blouse and gray skirt with stained dark purple lips. He wanted to see how that shade of lipstick looked wrapped around his cock.
Smirking at the thought of being buried inside her once again, he approached the office and then shut the door behind him, catching the woman by surprise. She opened her mouth to speak, but when she finally recognized the man standing as dark and handsome as he was in front of her, she closed it.
"You forgot something," he said, cutting through the silence in the room. He grabbed the panties tucked away in his back pocket to present to her. "I wouldn't mind keeping them as a reminder, but I figured I'd return them in case you needed them back."
"Chris—"
"As good as it sounds to hear my name coming out of that pretty mouth, I do have to say that I'm offended you left so soon."
She frowned at him. "It was only supposed to last one night."
He chuckled, but his laughter was dry and humorless. "I'm not a one night kind of guy."
She raised a brow at him and set the manilla folder down on her desk. "Do you search for every woman who leaves your bed in the morning?"
"I've never had to because I'd usually wake up in theirs."
She rolled her eyes. "And I'm supposed to feel special because I was invited back to your place."
"Well, does it make you feel special to know that you've been the only woman thus far to be invited back to my place?"
She shook her head in response to his question, but it was more out of disbelief. "You have to go. I have a lot of work to do today."
"At least join me for lunch today as a way to thank me for returning this." He dropped the panties on her desk and leaned over it to kiss her cheek. "You shouldn't have left without telling me first."
Her eyes fluttered closed with his lips so close to hers. She could still taste him in her mouth. So much for her successful one night stand. "Christopher—"
She was cut off again when his lips met hers, sealing them with a kiss that served as a reminder of their night together.
"Funny how I still never got your name, and hearing everyone else call you Mel doesn't quite satisfy me."
"It's on the door, which you can leave open on your way out."
He laughed at her stubbornness and walked around the desk to stand next to her. "Melanie Rivera," he said, picking up the nameplate by her computer. He placed it in a more visible spot on her desk and then looked up to meet her dark eyes. They were just as captivating as he remembered. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again. "You can't give me a taste of that pussy and expect me to never eat again."
She shuddered. His hands moved to her hips and then over the curve of her ass as he breathed her in deeply. "Just lunch to thank you for making the trip to return my underwear."
He grinned. "Just lunch, pretty princess."