Crazy on You

by Crystal B. Bright

  “What made you think I didn’t get along with him back then?”

  “You seemed a little upset about him making you go on a diet. I remember when we talked about food, you had gotten a little uptight about the conversation and mentioned that your father had put you on a diet.” She couldn’t fathom the thought of her family not loving her unconditionally and putting restraints on her like dieting.

  “Wow, you remembered that? Yeah, he could be a little tough.” Hyde peered at her before nodding. “He used to say that I am a reflection of him, and if I wanted to do well in the business, then I had to look a certain way.”

  “Asshole.” Tassia’s inner thought blurted out before she could stop herself. “You’re talented. That should squash everything else.”

  “Says the gorgeous woman who can stop traffic even without a stitch of makeup.” Hyde put his hand to the side of her face and dragged his fingers down to her chin.

  “Thank you, again. The problem with looking this way, though, is no one takes you seriously.”

  “I believe in you. I’m taking you seriously.” He shook his head. “My dad is all about making appearances. He never wants me to stop. Ever.”

  “Not even on your birthday.” Tassia’s heart ached for Hyde. He truly had no one in his corner.

  “Coming down here, sneaking away from him, has been my only break for as long as I remember. Now that I’ve gotten some notoriety behind my name, he’s using my celebrity status to get into clubs and stuff. He’s on the red carpet for events and premieres more than me. He’s still using me.”

  “Oh, wow. No wonder you didn’t want to work with me when you were presented with this project.” She squeezed his thigh. “I’m not doing this to use you. I want this to be a partnership.”

  He smiled at her. “I know. You’re an independent woman who can cook her ass off.”

  “I’ll take that compliment.” Tassia finished her breakfast shortly after Hyde.

  The man must have been starving.

  Hyde held his hand out to her. “Come with me.”

  Tassia put her napkin on top of her plate. “Where? I should clean this up first.”

  He waved his hand over it. “We’re vacationing.” He must have noticed her mouth open to dispute his remark. “And working. I want you to hear something.”

  She put her hand into his large, warm hand. He wrapped his fingers around hers and led her to his music room. As she followed behind him, she admired the wide planes of his back, his strong shoulders, and his lean waist. In an instant, she wanted this man again.

  When they arrived to the music room, Hyde sat down at the piano and patted the seat on the bench next to him. “Sit with me.”

  Tassia did. The cool wood met the back of her thighs, but his leg warmed the side of her leg. To get even more of the heat, she moved in closer to him.

  “I want to play you another song.” He placed his hands on the keys.

  “When did you have time to write this one? The last one you wrote took you a couple of days.”

  Hyde’s smile widened. “Trust me. This took longer to write.”

  He started singing about having a crush on a girl with pigtails. From this grown man, it sounded creepy. Maybe her initial dig at him at their first meeting held some merit.

  He ended the song and turned to her. “What did you think?”

  “Um, the melody was nice. I don’t think this song would work on the album, and it would make you come off as a bit of a creep.” She rubbed her hand across the back of her neck.

  “What if I told you I wrote that song years ago…about fifteen.”

  Tassia stared at him and started doing the math. “That day we were talking and you wouldn’t show me your song…”

  “I was writing this song. ‘Pigtails and Snickers’ is what I had called it. I wrote it about you and never recorded it or showed it to anyone. Truth be told, I had never played it before today. I made the melody up on the fly.”

  She put her hand to her chest to control her breathing. “At eleven, you wrote a song about me?”

  He nodded. “I didn’t know then how to tell you how I felt. I didn’t know what I was feeling inside at the time. And I, um…”

  Tassia turned to Hyde and straddled the bench to get closer to him. “What?”

  “All of my dad’s talk about my personal appearance and what I knew about my part on the show, I never thought you would like me, not in that way.” He sat up taller. “After you left, I started to take an interest in my appearance. I got serious with my diet and I exercised like a fiend. My hope was that one day, I would find a woman who would look at me the way I used to look at you back then.” He brought his attention to her. “I can’t believe fate brought us back together again.” He leaned toward her and brushed his lips against hers.

  No matter how long she lived, she would always remember how great Hyde’s lips felt against hers, firm yet soft.

  Hyde held her chin as he kissed her before breaking it and trailing his lips down her face to her neck. “If this is a dream or merely temporary, I’m going to enjoy every bit of you first.”

  He slid off the bench and lowered himself to his knees as she continued straddling the bench.

  “What are you doing?” Tassia looked down at Hyde as he pulled her legs forward toward the edge of the bench.

  “Taking a closer look at your panties.” He hooked his fingers in the sides of her undergarments and pulled them down.

  To accommodate him, Tassia raised herself from the seat to make it easier for Hyde to remove the pink garment. He eased it down her legs, tickling her flesh before he deposited the item on the floor. Then he spread her legs open.

  “That’s it.” Hyde kissed up her inner thigh. “Getting my dessert.”

  Tassia’s heart pounded hard until he swiped his tongue up from her vaginal opening to her distended clitoris. She arched her back and put her hand to the back of his head.

  Hyde used his fingers to spread her nether lips before he licked her again. He massaged her labia before licking her again and again.

  Tassia felt her legs trembling while she steadily tried closing her thighs around his head. When his mouth covered her clit and he pressed the tip of his tongue against it, she broke.

  “Yes!” She curled her toes and drew her legs up. “Driving me—uh.” She nodded. “So good.” Her body relaxed against the bench. “Please tell me you have condoms on you.”

  Hyde chuckled as he sat back on his haunches. “No, I don’t. Maybe we change the rules a little.”

  “How’s that?” Tassia kept her head back and her eyes closed as she spoke to him. She could barely move her body.

  “No sex until we write a song. Write a song…”

  Tassia lifted her head. “Get rewarded.” She smiled and winked at him. “That’ll encourage me to work faster.”

  “That’s if you still want to work with me.”

  She sat up straight. “What do you mean?”

  “There’s something else I need to tell you.” Hyde’s cheerful demeanor vanished. “I promised you after I brought you here that I would always be honest with you.”

  “Yeah?” She cocked her head. “If you tell me you have frozen Snickers, I am going to have sex with you right here and now.”

  Hyde laughed. “You haven’t looked in the freezer?”

  Tassia’s mouth dropped open as she whipped her head around to the kitchen area. After the Now and Later surprise last night, she should have expected Hyde to surprise her with her other favorite treat. She would have to check it out to see if he told her to truth. To see his now sour expression, she suspected he had planned on laying something heavy on her.

  He took a deep breath before he continued. “There is a phone in the house. You can call your dad.”

  Chapter 16

  Hyde rose to his feet as
he revealed his secret to Tassia. He wiped her intimate juices from his lips and selfishly thought about pleasuring her again. Hearing about her close relationship with her father reminded him of his own relationship with his grandfather. How could he withhold her connection with him for the sake of his peace or work?

  Hyde couldn’t help himself, though, after eating that incredible breakfast, he wanted to give her something to satisfy her. The way she looked at him now, he suspected she wanted to run again.

  “What?” Tassia stood from the bench and drew her T-shirt down over her cleanly shaven vagina. “You told me that our phones couldn’t dial out of here, that there was no cell phone connection.” She snatched her pink panties from the floor.

  He watched her anger simmering below the surface. Hyde had to douse that potential fuse before she exploded. “Cell phones don’t have connections out here. I have a corded phone in my bedroom. I keep it for emergencies.”

  She cocked her head as she regarded him. “I was in your room. I didn’t see one.”

  “I keep it in a cabinet near the bed.” He took a couple of steps back. “If you want to come up and use it, I can—”

  He couldn’t finish his statement before Tassia zoomed by him and darted up the steps, taking them by twos. Hyde followed her as fast as he could. By the time he reached the bedroom, he found Tassia looking around the room. He spotted a wadded pink ball on top of the corner of his Oriental rug. She must have wanted her hands free to look in every location possible.

  Tassia started at his dresser.

  “It’s not—” Hyde started to stop her search until she reached up to an upper cabinet door, which raised her T-shirt and exposed her rounded ass.

  Come on, man. Keep it together. Don’t look at her body.

  Hyde walked over to a short cabinet and opened the doors in front. “It’s here.” He pulled the phone out and placed it on top of the short, wooden furniture. “I see Pepper left it unplugged. She’s normally better than that when she opens my house for me.” He plugged in the black phone, which illuminated a red light meaning he had a message or two…or more. More than likely from his grandparents.

  Tassia dropped down to her knees in front of the cabinet and grabbed the receiver. Her finger hovered over the keys, and she hesitated.

  Hyde glanced over his shoulder and grabbed a large, plush chair to put it next to the cabinet. “You might be more comfortable here. I’ll give you your space.” He started to leave when he felt her clutching his hand. He turned back to her.

  “Wait.” She pulled him. “Sit.” She nodded toward the chair.

  Hyde obliged her request. “Why would you want me to stay?”

  “Because I need to say something, and I want to make sure you hear me.” She took a deep breath. “This is strike two for you. I’m angry at you for not telling me about this.” She hung up the receiver as she shook her head. “You still have this need to control the situation, and you don’t trust me.”

  He shook his head. “Not true. I should have told you when I brought you here. I was afraid—”

  “Of what? Afraid I would call the police or something?”

  He shook his head. “Afraid that the peace I created here would have been interrupted.” He released her hand. “After all these years of being concerned about myself, I’ve become selfish. I’m recognizing that now. You didn’t deserve to have this information withheld from you. I’m sorry.”

  “Yes, you are sorry, and you’re tired.” She wiped her hand over her face. “After what we’ve done and what we’re doing—”

  “That’s the reason I’m telling you about the phone now. I realize that—”

  “Too little, too late. I’m tired of being treated as an accessory and being lied to.” She rocked back and rose to her feet.

  Her final concern worried him. Hyde should have told her that besides coming to his home as an escape, he had planned on ditching the duets project. Since that decision, he had had a change of heart. Why mention it now? At this point, not revealing the concealed phone had to be his worst offense. He had been honest about everything else.

  Tassia shook her head. “But you need to now respect my wishes. I need to get out of this house.”

  Hyde started to open his mouth when the thing he feared happened: the phone rang.

  Damn.

  He glanced over at it. “Our peace is over.” Hyde looked at the Caller I.D. screen and cursed under his breath.

  “What?” Tassia tiptoed to the phone to peer at the screen.

  “My grandparents.” Hyde picked up the receiver. “Hey.”

  The screeching from his grandmother forced him to pull the receiver from his ear.

  “You’re here in town and I have to hear that from Pepper and not you?” Grammy Love’s words cut through the phone and drove through his heart.

  “I’m working.” That hadn’t been a lie.

  “No excuse. You get over here today, right now.” His grandmother huffed. “Have you eaten?”

  Hyde glanced at Tassia and quickly recalled what he had done to her before he revealed the phone. “Yes, ma’am, I have.” He wiped his hand over his mouth again and caught Tassia’s fragrant aroma.

  “What did you eat?”

  His grandmother’s question took Hyde off guard. “Trust me. It was a full meal.” He glanced at Tassia and saw her cheeks turn a bright pink color.

  “Fine. Get over here right now, Hyde Love.”

  Hyde knew if he had a middle name, his grandmother would have used it.

  Hyde turned his back on Tassia. “That’s not going to be easy. I—”

  “If you don’t come here we’ll come to you.” Then the call ended.

  Hyde returned the receiver to the cradle and then looked at Tassia. “You’re getting your wish. We’re going out, just not where you expect.” He walked toward the doorway. “But I would suggest you go ahead and call your father.”

  “Why is that?” Tassia stared up at him from her position on the floor.

  “Because I’m pretty sure my grandmother is going to kill me. If she does, she may not let you leave.” He laughed a little, but he knew he would have a lot of explaining to do to the people who helped raise him. “I’m going to get dressed. After you finish talking to your father, I really want you to move your stuff up here.”

  “Still trying to control this situation?” Tassia cocked her head. “What part of me being angry with you are you not understanding?”

  “I know you’re angry. I know I messed up.”

  “Again.”

  He sighed. “Yes, again. Nothing will get resolved if we’re apart. We need to be on the same team.”

  “I’ve wanted that from the very beginning. I wonder about you, though.” She plopped down on the chair. “You think you can control me, control this whole situation?”

  Hyde removed his shorts, revealing his nude body. “Nope. Just making a suggestion.”

  He watched her scanning his body from his face down to his feet and back up again, stopping around his midsection. Her look alone had blood pumping in all areas of his body. He had to play this cool.

  “The more we’re together, the more work we could get done.” Hyde opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of boxers. “We could write songs all day, then record, and then—”

  Hyde had to stop talking when he watched Tassia removing her T-shirt. Then she sat in the chair he had moved over next to the telephone cabinet. Talk about not playing fair.

  “You’re right. I’m going to call my father and then get dressed after I take another shower. Someone got me dirty again.” She crossed her long legs.

  “What do you mean? I licked you clean.” He winked at her.

  That reminded him that he needed to take care of his own hygiene needs before he saw his grandparents. As much as he enjoyed tasting Tassia’s sweet saltiness,
he had to get his mind back on the task at hand. They would be visiting his grandparents.

  “I’ll decide after the call if I’ll move to your room or just go directly to the airport.”

  * * * *

  Tassia sat seething as she thought about Hyde’s behavior. The entire time she had been in his home, he never revealed that he had a phone, a way for her to connect to the outside world. She didn’t know what she hated more, a man who didn’t care what she did or one who tried controlling her.

  After all this time, she needed to talk to a man who had never let her down. To respect Hyde’s privacy, she enacted the feature to block his number.

  “Dad?” Tassia heard a click after one ring.

  “Baby?” Her father sounded almost panicked. “Where are you? Are you hurt? I haven’t heard from you in almost two weeks. I started to call the police.”

  “I’m fine.” She curved her foot under her naked backside.

  She couldn’t believe she got so brave to sit naked in front of Hyde, and then call her father, not that the man could see her. If he did, he would admonish her brazen behavior.

  “I told you I was working.” Tassia didn’t know that her work would involve having sex with a sexy if not infuriating man.

  “I know, but even when you were on tour, you called me every day.” The more Burt Hogan talked, the more relaxed his voice sounded.

  With his renewed comfort, Tassia’s shoulders eased down and her breathing slowed. “I’m working in a remote location, you know, kind of like what Meatloaf did when he recorded Bat Out of Hell.” She knew bringing up one of her father’s favorite albums would strike a chord with him.

  “Are you someplace where you can’t call?” A pause lingered. “Why are you calling from an unknown number? What’s going on?”

  “Dad, I’m okay. I promise. I’m in Tennessee.” She swung her leg back and forth as she spoke to her father.

  “Tennessee? Why aren’t you recording in Virginia Beach?”