by Watts, Janna
“You’re right. It’s not my business. You just look weird.”
She raised her eyes and he saw the challenge before she even spoke. “I’m wearing a skirt.”
He swallowed and dropped his gaze to her legs. The ones he wanted wrapped around his head so he could bury his face in her pussy. Suck on her. Drink her. “You are.” He slid his thumb over his bottom lip. Her eyes followed his movement. His groin tightened. She wanted him too. Christ, it was going to be on him to maintain self-control.
She bent over to grab her computer out of her bag and he swallowed a groan. Her ass was a miracle. He could see the outline of her thong through the skirt and it took everything he had not to reach out and trace it with his fingers. To slide his thumb under the crotch and feel the moist heat of her. Listen to her moan as he caressed her sex…
She handed him the computer, snapping his brain back into a subtle amount of control over his body.
“I found this choreography move online last night. I think we should add it to the show. Pull up YouTube and look for Sutton Foster’s performances.”
He nodded and placed her laptop onto the piano. He pulled up the internet browser and started to type YouTube. Auto recall filled in the YouPorn URL. He looked up at her with a smirk.
“YouPorn?”
She shut her eyes for a second, but then opened them and lifted her chin. God, she was fucking gorgeous. And so much less innocent than he suspected. “Yeah, so?”
He shrugged. “It’s just interesting that you and I surf the same internet porn site.”
She scanned him from head to toe and he shifted. His balls were so tight, he thought he might explode. Imagining Avery watching YouPorn, touching herself, had every nerve in his body on edge. On a fucking perfect edge. One he was about to rip her clothes off and fall off of.
“Yeah. Did you know that they have a lot of piano player porn?” She licked her lips.
He took a step back before his self-control waned enough for him to fuck up everything he’d worked for. “You’re gonna need to stop.”
She nodded but didn’t look away from him. He was so close, but he couldn’t, wouldn’t fuck this up. The memory of Isabel reeled him back to earth.
“I can’t get involved with you,” he said. His voice was dry and scratchy.
“Were we getting involved?” The mixture of innocence and seduction in her voice nearly felled him. He wondered if she’d scream when she came or if her voice would scratch and be breathy against his neck.
“I don’t date singers.”
Her eyes dropped to her feet. “I wasn’t asking for a date.”
Dan could feel her rejection as if it smacked him upside the head. He stepped forward and grabbed her hand. “If we didn’t work together. If I’d met you somewhere else. But I can’t go back to South Carolina. I need this and…”
“Sex will mess things up.” She nodded. “We’re… You’re my piano player.”
He heard a slight breathiness when she said my but he ignored it. He had to ignore it.
She shifted away and sat on the stool behind the piano, far enough from him that he could no longer smell the dizzy mixture of mango shampoo and sex that permeated from her. “So, YouTube.”
***
“It’s not right. Try it again.”
Avery blew a piece of hair out of her face. “What do you mean, it’s not right?”
“It’s too obvious. Is That All There Is has been done so many times before that we need to make it special. You’re going for sexy and it’s not working.”
Avery put her hands on her hips. “I’m not sexy?”
Dan shook his head. “Sweetheart, you know you’re sexy. But that’s not what makes you special.”
Avery’s breath caught in her throat. It had been too long since someone called her special. “It isn’t?”
Dan walked over to her, his hands tucked in the pocket of his jeans. “What makes you special is the unexpected sexiness. It’s your innocence combined with your absolute willingness to break every rule in cabaret. It will draw your audience like a moth to a flame. But you can’t hold back. You have to be you.” He shoved his hands even deeper in his pockets and she willed herself not to stare at his bulging crotch. Not to imagine what the hardness of his cock would feel like in her hands, her mouth…between her legs…
Avery nodded, forcing herself to focus on the number. On the show. She understood what he was saying. A part of her had held back on the song because she was afraid of what the New York Times reviewer would say. But she hadn’t gotten as far as she had by playing it safe. She needed to let herself go.
“Okay, let’s do it again.”
She hopped up on the piano and closed her eyes. Dan’s music circled around her and she started the song, leaning toward him without even realizing it. When she was finished, she opened her eyes and looked at him. He wore a stunned expression.
“Good?” she asked, her voice soft.
He nodded and swallowed hard. “Yes. That’s how you should do it.”
She slipped off the piano and he stood up. He took a step toward her and her breath caught in her throat.
The door to the rehearsal space banged open and Avery squeaked. A tall, light haired man stared at the two of them with a cocky grin.
“Am I interrupting?”
Avery cleared her throat. “This is a private rehearsal space.”
The man’s eyes lingered over Avery and she shivered. She hated her body’s auto response to good-looking guys.
The man walked toward Avery with his hand out. “I know, darlin’. I’m Nick, your bass player. Nelson told me I could find you here. He thought we should go over the show.”
Avery noticed his calloused fingers and her stomach clenched. She’d hooked up with a bass player in college who could play her body like nothing she’d ever experienced. Add to that the good looks and the New Orleans’ drawl, and Avery was an embarrassing pool of goo. Nick wasn’t a permanent part of the show, just a temporary one. Maybe not even off limits…
Avery felt Dan step behind her. Her body was zigging from the two alpha males surrounding her. Nick gave Dan a slow casual glance then trained his eyes back on Avery. He was smooth jazz to Dan’s classical intensity. He was a tightly packed one-night stand and he knew it. Avery felt Dan’s hand on her back and pool of moisture formed between her legs. Holy fucking hell she was in over her head with these two.
Avery laughed nervously. “Of course. Sorry. I’m Avery. This is Dan. Thanks for helping us out tonight.”
Nick took her hand and pulled her toward him, dropping a casual kiss on her cheek.
“Oh.” Avery raised her hand to her face, feeling suddenly so girlish for all the dirty thoughts that had been running through her head.
Nick winked at her. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Dan snorted from behind her. “I’ll bet,” he mumbled.
Nick gave him an easy smile and took a step back, his eyes darting between the two of them. “So let’s see your play list.”
***
“I got your text,” Dan said when he walked into the dressing room of Hugo’s Supper Club that night. “What do you need my help with?”
Avery wore a silk robe, her pale skin peeking out in a way that made Dan instantly hard. An hour of YouPorn had done nothing to satiate his desire. Every girl became Avery pinned beneath him, riding on top of him, sucking him off. His hand stroking himself became her hand tugging him until he came all over himself. Twice.
Still it wasn’t the same as being with someone. Being surprised when their hand found the perfect rhythm, their tongue massaged the perfect spot on his cock. No. He looked her up and down again. It definitely wasn’t the same.
Avery offered him a shy smile. “My brother couldn’t come tonight.”
“And?”
She bit her bottom lip. God, that mouth. “Well, he normally helps me with my costume. It’s complicated. It’s got all these hooks up the back, because the bodysuit looks
sort of like a man’s shirt, only it closes in the back, and...”
“You need me to help you with your costume?” The woman was going to kill him.
“Well, it was either you or the bus boy or Nick.” Her eyes shifted down when she said Nick’s name. Asshole.
“That guy wants to fuck you.”
Her brow furrowed, then she blinked innocently. “The bus boy?”
He shook his head and smirked instead of punching something like he wanted to do. “Don’t be cute. You know who I’m talking about.”
She laughed. “Nick? Give me a break. He wants to fuck everyone. He’s a lick-a-stick of sex. He’d probably jump you if you gave him a chance.”
“I don’t think so. That guy would eat your for breakfast if you gave him half a chance.”
Avery shrugged and turned back to the vanity table. Her hands moved over the make-up and hairspray bottles. “Maybe it would help,” she said in a low voice.
Dan gritted his teeth. She was right. It probably would help, but damn if he was going to advocate her hooking up with some Harry Connick Jr. wannabe. “Where’s your costume?”
Avery crossed the room and pulled out a large garment bag. “I just need help with the bodysuit.”
Dan swallowed. “Okay.”
“If you could just…” Avery signaled him to turn around.
He blinked at her. She rolled her eyes and twirled her finger again.
“Really? I’m snapping you into this thing and you aren’t even gonna let me see you?”
A light pink blush appeared on her neck. “I think we both know that’s not a good idea.”
Dan stared too long, then finally nodded and turned around. Not that it mattered. His eyes honed in on the long mirror to the left of him. His body froze as he watched her drop her robe and reveal herself in nothing but a thong. Smooth bare legs. No bra. She leaned over to shimmy into the body suit and his groin tightened further. She was more perfect than he imagined. Small chest, but deliciously red nipples, a tiny waist that flared into curvy hips and the most unbelievable ass he’d ever laid his eyes on. Dan’s hand moved down to his cock, aching for relief. He closed his eyes and grabbed himself through the denim of his jeans. He swallowed a groan at the same time Avery sucked in a breath. His eyes snapped open to meet hers in the mirror. She looked at his hand. He adjusted himself and stepped toward the door.
“Uh. I need to warm up,” he croaked.
“Dan,” she said, her voice low and sultry.
Don’t turn around. Leave. Now.
“Dan,” she breathed again.
He turned around. The smell of her assaulted him.
“My costume.” She pointed to the gaping back. “Just the snaps.”
“Right,” he mumbled. He flexed his fingers and slipped behind her. Her skin was incredibly soft. It took everything he had not to slide his hands around her waist, lean her into the wall and rub his cock against her glorious ass. His hands shook as he started to work at the small of her back.
“Okay?” she asked.
“There are buttons on the front, so I’m confused…” Mostly his body was near shaking with need for her.
“Unbuttoning the front is too expected,” she explained.
After the fifteenth snap, and the thousandth time he’d tried to stop the shaking, he started to laugh. It was absurd.
She looked back at him. “What’s so funny?”
“This fucking costume. It’s a nightmare. How many snaps are there? My fingers are starting to go numb and I don’t even want to sink myself into you anymore.”
She inhaled sharply. “You wanted to sink yourself into me?” Her voice slid over him and right down into his pants.
He sighed, which turned into more of a groan at the thought of her. The tightness of her wrapped around him as she sat on his dick, or as he hovered and slide into her… “I’m a guy. I pretty much want to sink myself into any vagina that will take me.”
She laughed. God, she had a great sense of humor. So unapologetic. “Classy, Danny Piano. Very classy.”
“Danny Piano?”
She gave him a saucy grin. “Yep. I’ve given you a nickname: Danny Piano.”
“Does that make me Nicky Bass?” a voice said from behind her.
Avery spun around and the smile she gave Nick lit up the room. Nick grinned back and looked her up and down appreciatively.
“I guess it does,” she said. “I’m almost ready. Do you want to practice a few numbers before the show?”
Nick winked at her. “Whatever you need, darlin’.”
Dan wanted to punch the smirk off his face. He swiveled Avery back around and fastened the last of her snaps while Nick leaned casually against the doorjamb with his arms crossed. It was going to be one long unbearable night, which he already knew wasn’t going to end the way he wanted it to.
-5-
The bar was packed with people—standing room only. Avery had never played a show with Scott where people lined up outside to get in. Nelson had a seat at a small table on the right of the stage. A group of girls sat to the left, laughing and catcalling for Nick. Cocktail waitresses roamed the darkened room, taking orders. A table full of guys whistled when Avery stepped on stage, flooded in red and blue light.
None of it mattered. The moment Avery started the first measure of Mad About the Boy, the only other people in the room were Dan and Nick. The way they played off of each other brought out the best in Avery. Nick’s easy bass rhythm and casual winks had Avery dancing and laughing around him. Then Dan would pound out a powerful melody on the piano and she would slide next to him, leaning against him with her entire body. She sang, she fantasized about hands and tongues and how the two men would handle her. Want swirled between Avery and the men and rested over the audience.
By the time Avery got to Is That All There is, she could have heard a pin drop. She rested atop the piano, legs draped seductively over the side, eyes shut. She heard the bass stop, leaving just her voice and Dan’s haunting piano notes. Then, she felt a hand slide up her leg. She looked up to find Nick kneeling at her feet.
As she sang, “Let’s break out the booze and have a ball, if that’s all there is,” Nick leaned forward and kissed the inside of her knee. The audience erupted in applause. Nick gave Avery a little wink and helped her off the piano. Dan was at her side a minute later, his hand grabbing hers in blatant possession. Nick chuckled from her other side and the three of them bowed.
A gaggle of girls followed them to the dressing room, but Avery heard Nick tell them in his unconcerned drawl he’d catch them later. She turned on the two men as soon as the door shut behind them.
“That was amazing,” she gushed. “I’ve never performed like that before.”
Nick dropped his suit coat jacket, loosened his tie and rolled up his shirtsleeves. The fine blond hair on his arms captured Avery’s attention and he raised an eyebrow at her. She smiled and looked away knowing his one-night stand offer was solid. Dan snorted.
Nick came up behind her and dropped his hands on her shoulders. “You owned that stage tonight, darlin’.”
His fingers began to work her muscles and Avery bit back a moan. Musician hands were so good for massages. Her eyes met Dan’s.
She licked her lips. “Do you think we’re ready for the Carmichael?”
Dan stared at her too long before nodding. “I do.”
“The last song worked,” she said, leaning further back into Nick’s magical hands.
He smirked. “Yes. You played it just right. And Romeo here brought it home.” Dan squinted at Nick then shook his head. “I need to take off.”
“Already?” Avery squeaked, her chest panicky at the thought of him going. “Why don’t you stay? Maybe we could get a drink.” Nick’s hands, Dan’s pained face…
His eyes darkened. “No. I’m going to walk Nelli. I need to burn off some of this energy.”
Avery swallowed. Was he going to meet up with another woman afterwards? She shouldn’t care, but
she did. Way too much. She was ready to blow off steam with Nick and didn’t want Dan to do the same… Avery was definitely in way too deep with the guy to screw it up with sex. Damn.
Nick’s hands moved to her neck and she tilted her head, giving him easier access to her tight muscles, even though her eyes never left Dan’s.
“Okay,” she whispered. “I’ll see you tomorrow at rehearsal.”
He nodded and picked up the bag at his feet. He still wore his rented tux, but had loosened the tie and unbuttoned the top two buttons. Avery couldn’t help but stare at the tanned column of his throat. Wonder what it would be like to undo the buttons, revealing more of him. His chest. His abs, all the way to his—
“Yep,” Dan said. “See you.”
He slipped out the door just as she felt Nick’s fingers undo the top hook of her body suit. She released a deep breath. He leaned into her and nipped at her neck. The energy from the night flooded into her core and she closed her eyes and leaned her head forward. His tongue slid up her neck to her earlobe. She needed this bad.
“You need to burn some energy off too, don’t you, darlin’?” he whispered.
She nodded. A twinge of guilt coiled inside her stomach, but she knew her body well enough to forgive it. Too much money spent on therapy sessions taught her that shame didn’t do her any good. She liked sex. And even if the hands that unfastened her body suit weren’t the right hands, she still needed the release.
Nick peeled the thin fabric from her body slowly. His fingers traced patterns along her spine and her nipples hardened with the need to be touched. Avery kicked the costume aside and let Nick lead her to the vanity table. She caught his face in the mirror and smiled. Everything about him was easy. If she didn’t feel the hardness of his cock against her the back of her legs as he placed her hands on the table, she wouldn’t have guessed he had any reaction at all to her.
His fingers made their way to her breasts and she pushed herself into his hands, backing up until his dick pressed into her ass. He chuckled, but then pinched the hardened pebbles of her nipples.
“Yes,” she whispered. “More of that. But harder.”