I want You Deeper

Now that he wanted to see Vanessa, there was no way to do it.

The realization hit Heath as he pulled up to the gate outside his house and input the access code. Vanessa was in L. A. Who knew when she’d come back, if ever. He could text or call her, sure, but he didn’t want to contact her that way. He wanted to work things out face to face.

His house was too big. He’d always known one person didn’t need nearly this much space. But the real estate agent had talked him into it as an investment, assuring him that as rapidly as the Bay Area was growing, this house would earn him more than any stock market investment ever could.

But when you were all too aware of how alone you were in the world, there was nothing worse than coming home to a huge, empty house.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Sighing, Heath headed straight to his kitchen, where he tossed his phone on the counter and grabbed the remote to turn on the TV in the corner. Odd, but he now realized that TVs were the key to feeling less alone in this house. He tended to keep one on in whatever room he was in. The constant noise helped this place seem less vacant.

“Will Jodi choose Chase or Matt? We have the scoop after this.”

Frowning, Heath looked up at the screen. Whatever he’d been watching the last time this TV was on had now trapped him with some entertainment news show. And these days “entertainment news” was all about reality TV shows, and not even the one he was on. These were of the single-guychoosing-from-twenty-women variety. Not his thing at all.

But he didn’t mess with the remote. He’d had a light lunch at his desk while trying to smash out a few proposals to stay on deadline. That meant he was now starving. Luckily, he always kept a few microwavable meals in the freezer. The last thing he felt like doing was cooking.

While he stood in front of the microwave, watching the seconds tick down, Heath tried to shut off the sound of the man on the screen, giving the show’s version of “entertainment news.” Normally, he could easily ignore whatever was coming from the TV. It was all background noise. Things had changed, though. Now he’d been on a reality show himself and had seen what happened when thousands of complete strangers voiced an opinion of you online.

As the microwave reached the two-minute mark, he laughed to himself. At least he wasn’t being covered as “news” on some evening entertainment show. He couldn’t imagine being a teaser as the news anchor tossed to a commercial. After this, we’ll tell you all about-

“Today, the nation is talking about Heath Hardcastle.”

The sound of his own name pulled Heath out of his thoughts. Had he imagined it? He turned and looked at the screen, sure he had. They couldn’t have possibly mentioned his name on a nationally-syndicated entertainment show that had been on the air his entire life.

“If you’re like us, you have Heath and Vanessa on your mind. They’re reality TV’s latest super couple. Our Lydia Linley has the scoop on the nation’s sexiest billionaire.”

“The nation’s sexiest billionaire,” Heath repeated out loud to himself as the show cut to footage of him and Vanessa kissing at the banquet. For what seemed like the zillionth time, he was standing there, watching her pull away from him with a look on her face he had a hard time identifying. The first time he’d seen it, he saw it as disgust, but now…

Was it forced will? As in, she was making herself pull away when she really didn’t want to?

No, that had to be wishful thinking. Justin had said she’d left town to get away from him. He could read that either way, too, which was what had him so confused. If she’d been disgusted with the kiss, escaping would be a way to keep him from possibly trying to take her on that date he’d mentioned. But if she’d forced herself to pull away from the kiss, maybe she’d left because she felt as if he’d rejected her.

But Justin had specifically said she had it bad for him. He kept telling himself maybe Justin and Brooke had misunderstood. But the thought that maybe she wanted to be with him had haunted him…

Vanessa appeared on the screen, smiling and looking amazing as always. There was sadness in her eyes despite her smile, though. She was talking about her parents and how they’d never given her attention. They still hadn’t given her attention, even though she was a national news item, apparently.

Maybe they’d notice her now.

The show cut to another clip. This one was of him and Vanessa, standing together in the booth, talking. It was clear as day from his expression that he was into Vanessa, but now that he watched it, it was pretty clear she was into him, too. Unless that was an act.

The microwave beeped behind him, causing him to jump. The food needed to rest a minute or so, anyway. He stared at the screen, unable to look away from Vanessa.

Then they cut to that interview again. “I think I messed everything up with Heath,” Vanessa said to someone off-camera. “I don’t know. I have to go back and fight for him. I guess I spent so much time trying to get attention, I didn’t realize that wasn’t what I wanted.”

The camera then cut to a shot of the reporter-Lydia Linley, they’d called her. “It sounds to me like some matchmaking is in order. So, Heath, if you’re out there, there’s a woman who wants to be with you. If you feel the same, give her another chance.”

The show cut back to the news anchor, who made some comment about the show playing matchmaker before going on to their big story. Some guy and some woman on some reality show had broken up. Heath grabbed the remote and cut off the TV. He needed to think.

Instead of grabbing his dinner from the microwave, he walked over to the counter and picked up his phone. A couple of calls later, he had Vanessa’s dad’s assistant’s phone number. It would be a reach to accomplish what he wanted, but he had confidence in his ability.

He was, after all, a salesperson.