“It’s effective.”
“Bastard.”
“Bitch.”
“Asshole.”
“Witch.”
“Really? That’s the best you can do? Pretty lame, dude. Are we competing for who’s got the best swear words?” I want to know.
Alexis looks into my eyes. “If you feel like it,” he replies, his voice suddenly rumbling and husky.
Shit! Why am I not wearing a bra? My nipples instantly react to the sound of that voice, hardening and perking. I can only hope that he doesn’t notice.
“Are you cold?”
I drop my head on the keys, eliciting a dissonant twang. “Of course I’m cold! What did you think, that you’re hot enough to make my nipples scream for you?”
“Is that a rhetorical question?”
“Shut up,” I interrupt him and raise my head again. “I don’t want to know the scope of your arrogance.”
He laughs. “It’s pretty far-reaching alright, but even I get tongue-tied in the presence of a beautiful woman sometimes.”
“That’s hard to believe. What kind of woman are we talking about here?”
“Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum … I wouldn’t get out a single word.”
I snort. “I’m a perfectly average woman; what about the simple girls like us?”
Alexis cocks his head to one side. “You’re anything but average.”
My eyebrow arches of its own account. “I am?”
“Nope. You immediately caught my eye in the bar, and I can’t get you out of my head, Honor.” His words sound like velvet and suede, so sexy … so seductive. He reaches out and puts his hand on my naked shoulder.
Okay, why exactly was it that I thought it a good idea to wear a spaghetti-strap top? “I was singing and dancing, it was hard not to notice me.”
“And I spotted you right when we walked into the place. Mike and I didn’t want to go out at all, but Jayden insisted we needed to hear the waitress who’d break into spontaneous song whenever she’s in the mood. And once I laid eyes on you, I hoped he was talking about you.” His eyes literally burn into mine. “The singer with the raven-black hair and the light blue eyes,” he murmurs, lifting my chin with his fingers.
I swallow. “So he’s been there before?” I’d never noticed Jayden before that evening, but that might have been due to the fact that I hadn’t worked a lot between finals and the graduation outing.
“He shows up there occasionally, yeah.” He leans closer. “And he told us that your voice is priceless. That’s why you’re a part of this now.”
I lean back, away from him. “What are you doing?”
“Let me kiss you, Honor.”
I inhale sharply. “No.” Then I slip away to the side and get up from the stool. “I should go to bed. It’s been a long day.” I pick up my iPad and notebook, but when I straighten, I flinch.
Alexis is standing too close to me. “Are you really this shy?”
“No, I’m really just trying to be professional here.” I turn away. “Good night, Alexis.” He follows me as I start to leave the room.
“I honestly don’t get why you’re running from me now. You were the one sending all those signals when I took you home that day.”
I walk faster. “We all make mistakes.”
Alexis catches up with me before I reach the door to my room. “You’re trying to tell me it was a mistake letting me get close to you?”
I heave a deep breath. “Yes.”
He puts his hands on me and turns me around to face him, pressing me back against the door, but not in a painful way. He takes my face into his hands. “Okay, if we all make mistakes, now it’s my turn.”
When he moves in to kiss me, I turn my head, but he is quicker and puts his lips on mine first. A choir explodes in my head. The ‘Ode to Joy’ is the most fitting piece my inner voice can think off. Alright, nine out of ten times my inner voices are belting that one out, while the tenth insists that it’s a grave mistake to give in to him, but I decide that democracy and majority are good concepts all around. To make this short: I return the kiss.
His tongue caresses my upper lip, demanding admittance, and I concur. I sigh as the tip of my tongue circles his, and when I put my hand against his chest, I hope that my knees won’t buckle. But then he pulls away again. “Good night, Honor.”
“Sleep well,” I reply automatically, my voice high and shaky, my hand groping for the door knob.
Alexis winks at me before letting go of me and walking over to his room.
I watch him disappear inside, utterly confused.
I’m lying in my bed and am woken up by a sound and someone cursing softly under his breath. When I open my sleep-heavy eyes, I realize that Alexis is sneaking into bed with me. He doesn’t say a word, but puts his lips against mine, drowning any possible protest of mine, and then he kisses me like no man has ever kissed me before. His hands slide down my body, pull up my shirt, and then his fingers tug on my erect nipples. I moan loudly, and he seizes the opportunity to push his tongue into my mouth. My hands start to explore his glorious body, find his boxers, and pull them down. Oh god, I’m going to sleep with him now. There’s a sweet ache spreading all over my body, because I yearn to feel this man inside me.
A loud thud.
I wake with a jerk, sitting up quickly. I look around my bedroom, feeling disoriented and cold with sweat.
“Alexis, is everything okay with you?” I hear Ms. Cunningham call in the hallway.
There is no answer. I jump out of bed and hurry from the room. “What’s going on?” I ask her.
“I heard a noise coming from his room, and I wanted to check on him, but the door is locked and he doesn’t answer.”
I walk over and knock on Alexis’s door. “Hey, is everything ok in there?” Then I look at Ms. Cunnings. “Could you maybe get me a hairpin or a small screwdriver, and some sort of ID or another plastic card?”
She gives me a perplexed look but nods. “Of course.”
I didn’t think I would ever need this particular skill again. Thanks to my dad, who’s a locksmith, I know how to open most regular locks without damaging them. When I was younger, I sometimes used that knowledge to sneak out at night. I was grounded far too often, and I couldn’t climb out of the window, since we lived on the twelfth floor.
“Here are the things you asked for, Miss Prescott.”
I take the items she hands me, and proceed to pick the lock. “Whatever we are going to find in there, please try to stay calm, okay? We don’t want to agitate Alexis any more than he already is.”
“I am calm, I am calm,” she answers, but her voice falters.
I sigh, turn the small screwdriver and listen for the familiar click. “Got cha, you little son of a bitch,” I talk to the lock. Then I open the door and my breath catches. Alexis lies on the floor, motionless. I rush inside, drop to my knees and then turn him over on his back, very gingerly. “Alexis? Hey!!” I slap him hard, and he flinches, but he doesn’t wake up, so I try it a few times more.
Finally, he opens his eyes, lids threatening to flutter shut again. “What … What happened?”
“Do you know how you ended up on the floor?” I ask.
“I’m going to fetch a glass of water,” Ms. Cunnings pipes up.
He shakes his head. “No, I was on the phone with a friend of mine, and then all of a sudden everything went black.”
I pull him up into a sitting position. “Try to get up slowly, and then get into bed and lie down. And please don’t collapse again, because I really don’t feel like being buried underneath you right now, okay?”
His lips twist into a mischievous grin. “You don’t? But I like being on top.” The weakness in his voice is totally incongruous with both his words and his leering expression.
“Come on.” I help him stand up, and together we move towards the bed. “Easy now.”
“Okay,” he replies in a small voice, leaning heavily on me, which makes it hard not to stagger.
“Thank you, Honor,” he murmurs when I help him climb into bed.
“No big deal. Do you feel okay now, or should I call a doctor?” I inquire.
Ms. Cunnings hands me a glass of water. “Am I supposed to call Mr. Young?”
I shake my head. “No, I think we don’t need to worry him right now. He doesn’t have to know what happened. You can go back to bed now; I’m going to stay with Alexis.”
“Please don’t ever scare me like that again, Alexis,” she addresses him.
“I’m very sorry, Ms. Cunnings. I feel much better now, and you can go back to bed,” he replies.
She nods and bids us good night. I hope that she doesn’t change her mind and call Mr. Young. It’s much better if I take care of that in the morning. No need to wake him up in the middle of the night. Or better yet, I’m going to call Jayden, who is not just Linden’s brother, but also Alexis’s physician.
I hand him the water. “You need to drink something.”
He takes the glass, raises his head and takes a few sips. “I didn’t mean to freak out anyone.”
“It’s okay.”
“How did you get in? I thought I’d locked the door.”
“I might just have a few hidden talents I haven’t shared with you yet.” I set the glass down on the nightstand when he hands it to me. “I’m going to stay here with you until I’m sure that you won’t faint again. Then I’ll go back to sleep.”
“I don’t want to keep you awake.”
I smile at him. “Too late, I’m already wide awake.” Then I rise and shake up the duvet, tucking him in. “Now it’s pretty obvious that you’re not feeling as fine as you say you do.”
“Burnout syndrome.”
“I’m not sure it’s that bad, Alexis.”
“Lex; most people call me Lex,” he says.
“And most people call me honey,” I smirk as I sit down again. “And now try to get some sleep.”
“I will, honey.”
“I was kidding, please stick with Honor, that sounds much better if we are supposed to work together,” I giggle.
Alexis puts his hand on mine. “Thanks for helping me.”
I wrap my fingers around his hand. “Any time, Alexis.”
Chapter 6
“Oh shit,” I mumble as I open my eyes. I’m lying in bed next to Alexis, snuggled up against him, but at least I’m lying on top of the duvet, which tells me that nothing happened. I don’t even remember lying down next to him, but I know that it wasn’t a good idea. I carefully pull away from him, but of course he wakes up.
“Good morning,” he mumbles sleepily.
“Morning.”
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah, I wanted to get up.”
He rolls on top of me. A far cry from the weakened man I saw last night. “I’d love to stay in bed for a while longer.” He doesn’t even have the usual icky morning breath. How unfair is this world? The guy is devilishly handsome, doesn’t seem to suffer from morning breath, he’s a seductive asshole … oh my god, he’s perfect. Cocky, sexy, witty. You’d have no idea that’s what he’s like if you merely read or watched the interviews, saw the performances.
“I told you I didn’t want to end up buried beneath you.”
“That’s too bad.” The tip of his nose nudges mine. “I want to feel your warmth for a while longer. I haven’t slept this well in a long time.”
I take a deep breath, as deep as possible with his weight pinning me down. “We can stay in bed a little longer, but only if you let me breathe.”
He rolls down off me and pulls me close. “I’m sorry if I misbehaved yesterday.”
“It’s okay, Batman.”
He chuckles. “You can’t prove that that’s my secret identity.”
“You’re wearing Batman boxers, so it’s obvious that you truly are Bruce Wayne.”
His chuckle becomes a rumble of laughter, and I join in. “Then who the hell are you?”
“Let’s see … I’ve always had a thing for Arrow, but I can’t be him, because my beard just won’t grow,” I laugh.
His hand moves up to my face, and his thumb touches my temple. “I don’t want to be a superhero.”
“Because you already are, for a lot of girls?” I probe.
“I wouldn’t say they see me as a superhero, but what I meant was … imagine me in tights, come on.”
“Yeah, you’d look just as ridiculous as I would look with a beard.”
We both burst into laughter.
When we calm down again, he starts to caress my temple in a soothing rhythm. “Why are you single, Honor?”
“Because I wanted to focus on the essentials, and there was no room for a man … There’s still no room for a man in my plans,” I profess. “And what about you? Why are you not dating anyone?”
“Try finding a woman who can handle the way I live my life. I’m always on the road, my fans start screaming when they recognize me, and I don’t even have the time to really get to know a woman,” he explains pensively.
I roll over onto my stomach and lean on my lower arms. “Do you feel lonely?”
“Yes.” He gazes into my eyes. “And I don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon. I’m not cut out for a monogamous relationship. I realized that the first time I went on tour with my friends. I immediately gave into temptation, even though I had a girlfriend at home.”
I nod. “You cheated on her.”
“I’m not proud of it. She broke up with me, and I never started anything serious with anyone else after that. I prefer the casual hook-ups, because that way you don’t expect anything from the other beyond great sex.”
“Oh,” I blurt.
“Might come with the territory of being a fucked-up asshole,” he says dryly.
“I don’t think you are as fucked-up as you claim. And you’re not really an asshole either. Just a little cocky and macho,” I tell him with a smirk.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of the cockiness, and the macho in me is purely for self-preservation. Not allowing feelings to enter the game means that no feelings can be hurt.” He sighs and then kisses the top of my head. “I don’t want to be hurt, that’s what it comes down to.”
“If you are truly in love with someone, you don’t hurt the other or yourself.”
He exhales loudly. “Maybe you’re right, but I’m still convinced that I’m not the type for a steady relationship. And in my job, it’s much better to stick with the casual stuff. I see how difficult it is for Linden, who spends most of his time away from his girlfriend, and then I see Gavin, who works with his girlfriend, and that’s often a pain in the butt. No, thanks, I prefer to be lonely.”
“So, all you want is nobody to get on your nerves?” I ask, incredulous. I can’t help giggling sheepishly.
“Exactly. And I don’t want to be hurt, because I’ve had that happen before, so I know how it feels.”
“Okay.” I want to pull away from him, but Alexis doesn’t let go of me.
“Where do you want to go?”
“I need a shower.”
“Can we have breakfast together afterwards?”
“Sure. I’ll be downstairs in half an hour.”
He let’s go of me, sits up and then pulls me up with him. “Alright, see you then.” Alexis kisses my forehead, before getting up and disappearing into his bathroom.
With a sigh, I put my finger on my forehead, where his lips were only a moment ago, but then I straighten and leave the bed, retreating to my own room. So he doesn’t want anything serious, because that could mean hurt and heartbreak. Flawed logic, but I guess that’s men for you. On the other hand, I guess everyone can understand this attitude. I, for one, am wary of letting anyone get too close to me because I want to focus on my career. But Alexis wants to protect his own heart. I hope I will never get the hotel room next to his once we go on tour, because I imagine it could get very noisy when he gets down to business with his casual hook-ups. I walk into th
e bathroom, undress and step into the shower. It’s an understatement to say these fittings are tricky; they are the assholes in this house. You need a degree to get the shower going. You need to play with all manner of knobs and levers to get the water going, it’s ridiculous. When I lather up, I close my eyes and immediately imagine Alexis’s hands gliding up and down my body. I sigh heavily as I rinse my hair. “Why does this man get under my skin so easily?” I gripe to myself, before switching the hot water off, and turning up the cold. I don’t care if I’ll freeze, but I need to put a damper on this arousal, stat! “Oh fuck!” I scream, when the icy water runs down my back. I quickly turn it off and grope for my towel.
The door flies open. “Are you okay, Honor?” Alexis’s alarmed voice asks.
I wrap the large towel around my body and step out from the shower. “Yeah, I’m fine, but the water got very cold suddenly.” I feel the heat shoot up my cheeks, contrasting violently with my shivering body.
He looks me up and down slowly, and I do the same with him, noticing the sheet music in his hand. “Okay.”
Our eyes lock in a fiery duel. It feels as if the sparks are flying between us, the air sizzling with static.
Alexis swallows. “Alright, I’m going to leave you alone …”
I nod, but instead of turning away, he curses under his breath, throws the sheet music over his shoulder, and comes for me. I can’t slip away quickly enough, since he already has his hands around my back and my neck, and his lips on mine. I’m glad I’m standing on the bathmat, because I’m sure I’d have slipped on the tiles with the force of this surprise attack. Alexis pushes me backwards, lifts me up and sets me down on a cabinet, before pulling the towel away from my breasts. I moan loudly when he puts his fingers around my nipples and twirls them. He seizes the opportunity and pushes his tongue into my mouth. The tips of our tongues duel with such abandon that I gain some confidence, and put my hands on his body. His muscles are firm under my fingers, moving under my caress when I explore his torso. He pulls the towel away from my lower body and pulls me closer to the edge of the cabinet. I pull down his shorts, and then he closes in, pushing my legs further apart, his hard length already pressing against my center. Do I really want to be fucked here on this dresser? He breaks the kiss and I lean forward, kissing his throat, which elicits a low growl from him. My fingertips slide down his back. My tongue strokes the heated, sensitive flesh on his throat, but when I reach his collarbone, he pushes me back.
Alexis: In love with a rockstar (The Hamptons Series Book 2) Page 8