Dirty, Dark, & Dangerous: A Contemporary Romance Boxset

by Luciani, Kristen

  He let out a loud groan and fell backward. “Fuck. Everywhere!”

  “Do you think anything’s broken?” Her hand squeezed his and for the briefest of seconds, the presence of his very intense pain faded, replaced by Sara’s compassion, worry, and genuine concern. Somebody actually cared. That hadn’t happened in…shit, long enough that he couldn’t pinpoint an amount of time. It felt nice. Until the agony crashed over him again like a tsunami.

  Sitting up was a struggle, but dammit, he was already hovering on the brink of being a complete and total pansy ass. Ignore the pain. Find out what happened with the boyfriend. Even a fall like that couldn’t quell his curiosity. He had to know, even if he was going to be in traction and unable to do anything about it for the foreseeable future.

  “Am I allowed to ask what happened?”

  A look of shock flitted across Sara’s face, quickly followed by a snicker. “Wow. Your focus is impressive, even with four potentially broken limbs.” Her playful tone couldn’t mask her nerves, though. She toyed with her ponytail again, normally bright green eyes darkening. “I walked in to find Laney riding him like she was competing for the Triple Crown.”

  “Horse racing fan?”

  “Yeah, we have a horse farm back home. Raised several thoroughbreds. I always loved to ride.” She averted her eyes, but not before he caught a glimpse of what she’d been trying to shield.

  “Where’s home?”

  “Minnesota.” She sat back on her heels, eyes still guarded. Conversation over. “So, what do you think? Are you able to hoof it back to the buses?”

  “Eli is a fucking idiot.”

  A slow smile brightened her flushed face. “Agreed.” She held out a hand. “Come on, let’s see if those legs still work.”

  “Are you gonna carry me if they don’t?”

  “You don’t pay me enough.”

  Gritting his teeth, he pulled himself to his feet. “Christ, I feel like I’ve been run over by a freight train.”

  Sara snaked an arm around his waist, hoisting him against her. “Take it slow, okay? You said you liked that.”

  The scent of citrus wafted into the air between them. So delicious, like a fruit salad. How could she still smell so good after that run? “Yeah…I figured you’d use that against me soon enough.”

  “Can I ask you something?”

  “Looks like we have lots of time to kill before we make it back to camp. Shoot.”

  “What happened last night? Who was the guy?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.“ How the hell did she even know?

  ”I’m sure your little groupies love the coy act, but I’ll pass.” She cocked an eyebrow. “Daxton, I’m part of your PR team. It’s my job to know everything that goes on during this tour. Sean from security told me someone approached you. I can’t do damage control without all the facts. Who was he, and what did he want? Or, maybe a better question might be what does he know?”

  His face twisted into a grimace with each step. The buses weren’t even in sight. With any luck, they’d make it back by lunchtime. “You ever feel like you’re suffocating? That there’s air all around, but you just can’t breathe it in? Like your body resists what it needs to survive, and you feel like you’re constantly drowning? That’s how I feel most of the time. The air, everything around me – what people see, what they want to believe, judgments they make based on half-truths – it’s all toxic. Better not to inhale. The lesser of two evils, but either way, I’m fucked.”

  She nodded, her hair tickling his shoulder. “I do know what you mean.” Her voice was soft, sad. There was something beneath that snarky exterior, something he was desperate to uncover, but her demeanor begged him not to press.

  They walked for a few silent minutes that seemed to stretch into hours. He clenched and unclenched his fists as waves of pain assaulted his ankle. “Shit, that hurts.”

  “I don’t think you should push it. Let me call Merrick.“

  “No.” He stopped, teetering on one leg. “Please. Not yet. Can we just sit down for a minute?”

  “Of course.” She eased him to the ground and sank onto the pavement. “Is there anything I can—?”

  “The guy from last night said he knew my mother.” Daxton held his head, expelling a deep breath. “She disappeared after my brother died last year, without a trace. Without a warning. One day, she was there; the next, gone. With her clothes, car, jewelry. Everything…gone. My dad made a half-hearted attempt to find her, but I was too angry to try. I’d just lost my best friend, and my mother picked that time to bail. We should have been there for each other, but she didn’t care enough to even say goodbye.”

  “I’m so sorry.” Sara grasped his hand. Her skin was so soft against his calloused fingers. It was an occupational hazard for a guitarist.

  “I don’t want to have anything to do with her. She abandoned her family. Things between her and my dad were never great, but what the hell did I ever do to her?”

  “So you had security get rid of him.”

  “People always have an angle, Sara.” He raised his eyes to see the empathy reflected in her gaze. “I can’t trust anyone because everyone has an agenda. They want to know what I can do for them, how much I’ll pay to keep something from happening, what they can hold over my head in exchange for things they want. Even if this guy is telling the truth, I’m not willing to listen because nothing comes without a high price tag. Toxic. But the problem is, even though my body tries to protect me by resisting the urge to inhale the poison around me, I want to live, to be whole again, free from all this useless anger and resentment. I need to breathe.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I just can’t remember how.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  CAMERA FLASHES WERE BLINDING AS shutters clicked and whirred, the medic wheeling a very bruised and bloodied Daxton into the back entrance of the arena. It was near impossible to stand down and watch Sara fawning over him when being wrapped in Daxton’s muscular arms was the only place—

  Goddammit! He’d chosen Sara. Again. What the hell did he see in her? Skin-tight spandex, slut-ass clothes, no ability to assert herself. She couldn’t possibly satisfy him. She’d probably never even seen a dick before, much less sucked one. No, Daxton needed more. So much more…

  The urge to yank Sara by the hair and claw out her stupid Bambi eyes was overpowering. But that would screw up the plan, tempting as it was. No, patience was a necessity. In the end, true love would always conquer all.

  Daxton is mine. It’s only a matter of time until he realizes it, too.

  Chapter Eighteen

  SARA PACED THE MAIN AREA of the green room, her stomach in knots. Scrapes and scratches were nothing compared to her own inner turmoil stewing below the surface. Hearing Daxton’s words, laced with pain, seeing the dejection on his face…good God, it was heart wrenching and shocking to witness, considering how the world, including her, had judged so harshly without knowing him at all.

  She drew in a deep breath, a futile attempt to calm her pulse. Stop thinking about his naked, soaped up body, and find the first-aid kit! A frantic tear through the room confirmed the only alcohol available was in glass bottles. And a few shots of whatever the heck it was might be necessary right then.

  A loud ping sent her stumbling into the couch. Darn it. It was Kat, the record label’s social media director. Sara had barely exchanged two words with the woman since they started back up in Houston. Kat was a master at online damage control and spent most of her time on a mobile device of some sort. What the hell happened to Dax? Do you have a press conference scheduled?

  Really? A flipping press conference? Jesus. The guy hadn’t even finished showering. The press really was relentless. The world just could not get enough of Daxton Cole, and any story was newsworthy, including a fall in an arena parking lot.

  The running water stopped. Her stomach clenched. He was naked, alone, and wet. Sweet Lord, she was going straight to hell with the X-rated thoughts wallpaper
ing her mind.

  A loud crash followed by a string of expletives made her jump, yanking her from the private porno on permanent loop. “Dax?” She crept toward the bathroom door, chewing her lower lip. “Are you okay?”

  “The word okay is relative.”

  “Do you want me to get someone?”

  He let out a deep sigh. “No, but can you help me? Don’t worry, I’m decent.”

  Too bad. She rolled her eyes. What was wrong with her? The door creaked open. Daxton stood in front of the white pedestal sink, squeezing a deep red-stained towel around his left hand. Her eyes widened. “Oh my God! You’re bleeding. What happened?”

  “Damned shelf collapsed and the jar of cotton shattered. I sliced my finger when I was picking up the pieces.”

  She grabbed a box of Band-Aids from a nearby cabinet. The gash wasn’t deep. A few Band-Aids and a little Neosporin, and his hand was good as new.

  “Thanks.”

  “Maybe you need a new PA after all.” Tiny shards of glass were scattered across the tile floor. “Come on, I’ll help you get out of here. Let’s at least try to keep your feet intact.”

  He let out a groan. “Can this day get any worse?”

  “You’re still alive, so you haven’t exactly hit rock bottom yet. And I need to organize a press conference to announce your status to the world, according to Kat. Evidently, the Internet is already blowing up.” She slid an arm around his waist. “Be careful. If you slip, you’ll take us both down.”

  “Would that be a terrible thing?”

  Warmth spread throughout her core. Mmm, no. Not at all. His arm tightened around her. She tensed, twisting toward him. God, he smelled so good, soapy clean and manly. Good enough to lick. Oh shoot, what was happening? He was sad, upset, and needy. She couldn’t…wouldn’t be that girl; the stupid one who thought this might actually mean anything to him. But his dark-eyed gaze held her captive, rooted to the spot, and made her tingle in all the wrong places. Running was simply not an option.

  “Sara…” He pulled her close, his pepperminty-scented breath tickling her cheeks. It was impossible to think; the sound of her thundering heart drowned out all conscious thought. His lips crushed against hers - demanding, hungry, desperate. They were so soft, so perfect, and better than she’d imagined. A delicious ache between her legs grew more intense with each passing second.

  The sensations coursing through her could make her swoon on the spot and he’d barely touched her. No, this was wrong. So wrong, on way too many levels. They had to stop. She raised her hands, knowing she needed to push him away, but her body wouldn’t obey.

  But, mmm, his devilish tongue had other ideas, more salacious ones that told a very carnal story in which she played a key role. It coiled around hers, devouring the fledgling doubts cropping up in her mind. Wrong, but so flipping good.

  She ran her fingers through his damp hair, trailing them down his muscular arms, and over his perfectly chiseled torso - a god in every sense of the word.

  “Dax! You in there?”

  Sara swallowed a yelp, stumbling backward into a wall. Her breaths came in short gasps. “Shoot, what just…oh my God…I can’t believe—”

  He silenced her by laying a finger over her mouth. “Q, I’ll be out in a minute.”

  Silence. Sara’s heart almost stopped. If Merrick had come in and found her in here, her big shot would come to a screeching halt. He’d send her packing before lunch. A reluctant response followed. “Okay. See you in a few.”

  Daxton tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “What’s wrong?”

  Her eyes popped open wide. “Are you seriously asking me that? We just kissed, and you—”

  “Really enjoyed it.” A smirk lifted the corners of those scrumptious lips. He leaned into her, evidence of his enjoyment grazing the inside of her thigh. “Didn’t you?”

  “Does it matter? It was completely unprofessional. I shouldn’t have let it happen. You shouldn’t have done it!” She backed away, gnawing at her thumbnail. “Why did you do it?”

  “Please tell me that’s a rhetorical question.”

  “You didn’t mean it. You’re upset, you needed someone to comfort you, and I was here.“

  “I don’t need anything, Sara.” His eyes frosted over. “Especially pity. If you have to ask why I kissed you, then I obviously made a mistake.”

  A strangled sound made its way out of her mouth. “It was a mistake,” she whispered.

  “Then maybe now’s a good time to walk away. So we don’t make any more.” Cold, detached, hollow. It was as if any emotion that had come bubbling to the surface receded when she didn’t fall back into his waiting arms. He yanked a t-shirt over his head, slipped on two different colored ankle socks, and slid his feet into a pair of sneakers, no longer acknowledging she was even in the room.

  “You’re exactly what everyone else sees. I can’t believe I thought for a minute you might be different.” She was that pitiful girl, much as she hated to admit it. Caught in his complicated web, believing he might have the capacity to care after all. But he didn’t. And he never would. Life was a game to him, and he was on a perpetual quest to win at any cost, never considering there might be collateral damage along the way.

  He pulled open the door, pausing long enough to stifle her with a glare that made her blood run cold. “Yeah, well, life is just full of disappointments, isn’t it?”

  The door slammed, shaking the walls, and shattering her heart like the glass jar in the bathroom.

  What had she done?

  Chapter Nineteen

  “WHY ARE YOU WASTING YOUR time with her? She can’t give you what you need.” Gia’s breathy voice made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as he stormed into the desolate arena corridor.

  Daxton gritted his teeth, his pride as bruised as his shins. “Mind your own business, Gia.”

  Gia sidled toward him, puffing out her ample chest, her high heels clicking on the concrete. How she was able to breathe with those tits poured into such a tight top was beyond him. She ran her fingertips down his arms, the sensation making his stomach roll. He wanted Sara’s hands on him, but she RSVP’d a big fat no to that party. Fuck! If he didn’t know better, he’d have thought he clocked his head on a rock out there in the parking lot. Inside out over a girl who wanted nothing to do with him, and unable to get hard for a chick who couldn’t get enough of him. “I know what you need. Let me give it to you. Forget the choir girl.” She backed him against the wall, her puckered lips poised to attack. They were deviously determined, and he was teetering on the brink of disgusted. She palmed his cock and…nothing.

  He swatted her hand away. “Cut it out. I’m not in the mood. I have to get to sound check.”

  “No, you don’t. They just switched the schedule and we’re up first. We have plenty of time. I need you, Dax. We’re so good together. I love the way your cock feels inside me.” She gripped his hand, forcing it under her obscenely short denim skirt. “Don’t you feel how wet you make me? You want that. I know you do.”

  “Gia, stop.” He pulled away. The hallway was quiet, but for how long? The last thing he needed was for anyone to see him finger-fucking Gia in public. “It was fun, but now it’s over, okay?”

  Gia’s eyes narrowed. She pushed against his chest with the force of her body weight, sending him stumbling backward. A sharp pain exploded down his leg. Damn, this girl had a lot of pent-up rage. “So, that’s it? You decided fucking me isn’t worth your time anymore, and now you’re done? I don’t get a say? I just have to accept being kicked to the curb?”

  “You knew this was never going to turn into anything serious. We agreed to that before we started. Besides, I told you last time we were done.” His eyes darted up and down the hall. Still empty. He needed to get the hell away from Fatal Attraction and fast.

  “You’re a real fucking piece of work, Daxton. You don’t give a shit about anyone but yourself.” She pounded her fists on his chest again and hissed at him. “Y
ou idiot. Don’t you have any idea who you’re dealing with? Or are you just too pretty to be smart?”

  He grabbed her wrists and flipped her around so her back was pinned to the wall. “Let me make this very clear. We’re done. Stay the fuck away from me, Gia.”

  Her eyes flashed with a malice that chilled the blood in his veins. “You can’t stop what’s meant to be, Dax. Remember that.”

  Chapter Twenty

  DAMN HIM FOR LEAVING! HE just stalked out of the green room without so much as a backward glance, like the hard, unfeeling jackass he was reputed to be. And here Sara was in his wake, wondering, yet again, if she was doomed to be the girl collecting the jagged pieces of her life after yet another person had shattered it.

  She pulled out a piece of grape Bubblicious from her running shorts and popped it into her mouth. It wasn’t a Popsicle, but it was her best option. Thank goodness for the tiny zippered pocket. Her supply was dwindling, and she needed that juicy grape flavor like a crackhead searching for a fix. Some people drank; she chewed and popped. Except this time, it couldn’t repair the gaping hole in her heart.

  “Sara.”

  She blinked back the tears pooling in her eyes. “Merrick, I’m sorry. I should have called you, but Dax--”

  “Stop. I’m not here to argue.” He let out a sigh, averting his eyes. “I know I’ve been acting like a prick toward you.”

  She furrowed her brow. “Okay, thanks for the acknowledgement.”

  “Look, that’s just who I am, so don’t take it personally.” He folded his arms.

  “Merrick, is this supposed to be an apology? Because I’m missing the part where you actually give a crap.”

  He snickered. “I don’t do apologies. Remember? I’m a prick. I just wanted to let you know I’m going to leave you alone from now on. I’ll get the PAs to handle the laundry and packing, okay?”