The List Series

by Rhonda James

  She gave her head a little shake. “No, but the way I desire you does.”

  I kept moving until I reached the edge of the bed. “Desire is a good thing…a really good thing…not something you should fear.”

  “I have a history of becoming too attached. I’m afraid of repeating past mistakes,” she admitted before peering up at me with those beautiful green eyes of hers.

  Like a predator, I stalked her, bringing one knee level with the mattress and joining her on the bed. I pressed my hand on her chest and eased her back against the mattress. Her dark hair contrasted sharply with the shirt she was wearing, which was way too big—I believe she stole it from my closet—and it fell open, leaving everything on display for me to appreciate. And, boy, did I appreciate it. From the swell of her breasts to her dusky pink nipples, erect and begging to be suckled. Just knowing my clothes were that close to her skin did something to me I couldn’t quite explain. Her face had been scrubbed free of any makeup, and she had the faintest smattering of freckles that danced across her nose and the apples of her cheeks. I liked her this way best. Naked and natural and best of all—in my bed.

  Resting on my forearms, I lowered my mouth to hers and whispered, “Wasn’t that the point of the list? To have fun and let go of the past?” She nodded and smiled against my lips. “Let go, Victoria.”

  Our mouths crushed together in a passion-filled kiss. Tongues tangled in sloppy desire. Her fingers threaded through my damp hair, mussing it up, holding me in place, ensuring the kiss wouldn’t end too quickly. We broke apart, panting, and she stared at my mouth as if she wanted to do it again and again.

  “I’ve been dreaming of doing that ever since I saw you on stage tonight,” she admitted sheepishly.

  “Really?” I rolled a nipple between my fingers. “I’ve been thinking about that mouth of yours all week.”

  A blush spread across her gorgeous face. “Get out of here. You’ve really been thinking about my mouth?” Her hand brushed over my chest before dipping lower. “What about it?”

  “Oh yeah,” I hissed as her fingers traced the outline of my erection. “All the things I’d love for you to do with it.”

  “Well,”—she slipped a hand inside my boxers—“there is one item on my list I’ve been dying to try.” She formed a circle with her fingers and slid down and back up, repeating the pattern again and again. “But you’re going to have to tell me what you like. I haven’t had a lot of practice.”

  I groaned and collapsed beside her on the bed, convinced that Michael had to be the dumbest fucker on the face of the planet. All this time he’d had a woman like V in love with him, and he couldn’t find it in him to return that love? Fucking idiot.

  She leaned in and kissed the front of my boxers as she curled her fingers around the waistband. As she wiggled them down, my dick sprang free and bopped her in the nose. She let out a yelp that was followed by the cutest little embarrassed giggle.

  “He’s eager to get started.” I smirked, wrapping my hand around the base of my shaft and giving myself a few slow strokes, showing her what I liked. She watched with eager eyes as I pumped my hand, coming up to cup the head with my palm before sliding back down and circling the tip with the pad of my thumb. “See this area right here?” I traced the space just below the head. “That’s called the frenulum. When you tease that with your tongue or fingertips…it feels really fucking good.”

  I wanted her to see just what I was talking about, so I bent my knees, letting them fall toward the bed. Slowly and deliberately, I teased the tips of two fingers back and forth for a few minutes, keeping my eyes closed. Even without looking, I knew she hadn’t taken her eyes off me. Knowing she was watching turned me on even more. The sounds of my own breathing echoed in my ears, and a moan worked its way through my body and out of my mouth. Pre-cum seeped out of the tip, and V dipped her head and lapped it up with an eager tongue.

  “Fuck,” I hissed through my teeth as my eyes rolled back in my head.

  “That was so hot,” she admitted breathlessly.

  My hands fell to my sides when she took over, mimicking the same movements I’d just shown her. She inched closer, teasing the head of my cock with a flattened tongue, and then I watched myself disappear inside her beautiful mouth. Her head bobbed up and down a few times before she focused the tip of her tongue where I’d instructed her. It wasn’t long before I felt the orgasm start building.

  “Fuck yeah, just like that,” I moaned, burying my fingers in her hair to guide her movements. I gripped the back of her head, keeping her there as I shot my load inside her warm and perfect little mouth. My heart hammered in my chest, and my legs felt like limp noodles. I couldn’t stand now if my life depended on it.

  V rose to her knees, brushing her mouth with the back of her hand. A tentative smile formed on her lips as she cocked her head and asked, “So…that was good… Right?”

  I covered my face with my arm and started laughing. Laughing because I truly believed she had no idea just how ‘good’ that had been.

  “AAAHHHGGG,” I screamed through my hands before dropping them to stare at her cute face. “Good doesn’t begin to describe what that was. My God, woman.” I reached up to pull her against me and claimed her mouth, tasting myself on her tongue. “I’m officially calling you Master from here on out.”

  I swallowed her laughter with another kiss, and then I pinned her beneath me and returned the favor—multiple times.

  CHAPTER 20

  V

  Sin worked the stage like a seasoned rock star. Wearing only black pants and a matching suit vest, he displayed many of his intricate tattoos. He bounced around the stage full of energy, jumping from the amplifiers and dancing around with the microphone stand. Putting on one hell of a show for tonight’s crowd.

  Word of Chaos Rising’s talent had gotten around, and Devil’s Playground had been filled to capacity for three nights straight. Blade was beside himself. He had to call in extra staff to help cover the demand, but I’d never seen him smile so much. This band was crazy talented, but if I had to venture a guess, I’d say it was their sex appeal that kept people coming back.

  People being women. Scads and scads of women.

  My gaze swept over the room, trying to gauge just how many women were present. It was safe to say that women outnumbered the men by double. If you were a woman who came here looking for a hookup, then you were going to have a lot of freaking competition.

  Good thing I wasn’t in the market right now.

  I stuck close to the bar, opting to steer clear of the mosh pit that had formed in front of the stage. While I thoroughly enjoyed the nights I’d spent standing in front of the stage, staring up at my favorite tattooed singer, I also appreciated the view from where I currently stood.

  “Hey, there, darlin’. How’s that rock star treating you?” Blade asked as he leaned over the bar and gave my forehead a kiss.

  “Hey, Blade. No complaints yet.” I winked and then caught his hand and gave it a squeeze before he settled back behind the bar.

  “Well, that’s good.” He laughed. “His momma would be happy to hear that. She always did worry about that boy. I used to tell her to give it time and he’d grow out of that wild side. Even back then, I knew he’d turn out alright.”

  “You were close with Dylan’s Mom?” I inquired.

  A look of deep sadness passed over his face before he nodded. “Knew her since we were teenagers. Annie was my soul mate. Tried to convince her to marry me, but she turned me down both times.”

  My hand immediately went to my chest and I made a face. “Blade, I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine any girl turning you down.”

  “She sure as shit did.” He laughed. “The first time, we were young and the band just finished recording our first indie album and we were heading out on tour. Annie had just graduated high school, and her parents thought she was too young to get married. Looking back, I guess I can see their point. I was a nineteen-year-old kid without a pot to piss
in. But I loved her, and at the time, I thought that was enough.”

  This was all news to me—then again, Sin and I hadn’t really talked much about family. Come to think of it, we hadn’t done a whole lot of talking. All we’d really been doing was having sex. Lots and lots of rock-my-world sex.

  Maybe that was for the best—no attachment that way.

  “What about the second time?” I asked, intrigued and yearning to know more about this man and his love for the woman who had raised the man I’d been spending much of my time with.

  “Well, by that time, she’d already been married and divorced. One night, I just showed up on her doorstep. Out of the blue—no phone call or warning of any kind—and she let me in. Dylan was probably ten at the time, and he followed me around like a lost puppy. He’d sit for hours, watching me play guitar and listening to me talk about my days on the road. He asked me to teach him how to play. I knew that kid was a natural the moment he held that guitar in his hands.” He threw his head back and laughed. “Annie hated it, said she didn’t want that kind of life for him. Even back then, I knew that kid was going to follow his dreams. I guess I thought by us getting married, I could convince her that it wasn’t all bad… Guess she thought otherwise.”

  My heart ached for him because I could tell just by looking at him that he was still in love with her. Even after all this time.

  “You still love her, don’t you?”

  He smiled and stared at the stage. “True love is something you never get over, Victoria. If you do, then you know it wasn’t meant to be. Annie was my first love and my forever love. We just missed our time.”

  I looked over at the man performing on stage and couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride for the way he’d turned his life around. “Do you think Annie would be proud of her son?”

  “I know she would be,” he responded before turning to serve a long line of customers.

  I moved aside to allow a group of girls to place their drink orders and ended up getting shuffled further down the bar as more and more people crowded it. Before I knew it, I was at the other end of the bar, which was closer to the stage. The energy in the room was contagious, and soon I found myself dancing in place, drawn purely by the pull of Sin’s voice—unable to resist the spell he’d put me under.

  Yeah, I was definitely in trouble.

  They were halfway through Nine Inch Nails’ Closer, and Sin hadn’t taken his eyes off me the entire time he was singing. The first time he hit the chorus…when he started thrusting his hips every time he said the word ‘fuck’…I almost lost my shit. But he wasn’t done. Not by a long shot. The lyrics to the song were downright filthy, and the longer the song went on, the raunchier his moves became. Judging by the impressive bulge I saw inside his pants, he was just as turned on as I was. I brushed the back of my hand down my neck, my breaths ragged.

  Good God. Is it hot in here? I fanned my face with my hands.

  Sweating. I was sweating.

  It’s hard to put into words what this man did to me, but everything below my waist was on fire, and when he cupped the front of his pants and started grinding into his own hand… I lost all ability to think clearly. Air fucking? Seriously? A moan fell from my lips, and I quickly cleared my throat, trying to cover it up.

  “Oh my God! Right?” The girl standing next to me exclaimed, startling me out of a daze. To my chagrin, she’d probably heard me moaning like a porn star. If she had any idea how he’d made me moan the other night… A shiver ran through me.

  “He is so fucking hot. I love the whole vest-with-no-shirt look he’s got going on,” she droned on. “I just want to throw him down and trace his tattoos with my tongue. Right? I mean, I can tell you totally get what I’m talking about. My friends are so stupid. They like the lead guitarist. He’s cute and all, but not as lickable as that one,” she said, pointing a finger at my man. “OH. MY. GOD!” She grabbed my wrist and squeezed. “Do you think his dick is tattooed? I’ll bet it is!”

  I wanted to tell her it was definitely not tattooed.

  I wanted to tell her to shut the fuck up because she was annoying the crap out of me.

  I wanted to tell her to back off and find her own damn man.

  I wanted to knock her on her ass.

  But I said none of those things. Instead, I smiled to myself and ripped my arm from her ironclad grip, never taking my eyes off the stage.

  “I think the mystery of not knowing makes things more exciting. Don’t you?” My voice dripped with sarcasm, but Dreamer Girl was too dense to catch it.

  “Uh… No. I need to know. I am so going to find out! He’s been staring at me since this song started. My friends have been waiting for these drinks, but I just don’t want to move,” she gushed.

  I almost felt sorry for her.

  Almost.

  Sin’s ‘air fucking’ had resumed, and all around me, women were screaming their damn heads off, including the dreamer beside me. He raised the hand not holding his dick and pointed a finger directly at me while giving his hips a double thrust. Then the sexy bastard winked at me! My panties were a soaked mess. The song ended, and he tossed the microphone aside, announcing to everyone that he needed to take a quick break. He jumped off the stage and made a beeline straight for me. The girl next to me screamed something about him coming for her, but his eyes were clearly set on me. It was as if the crowd parted for him to get to me, and when he reached me, he placed both hands on my ass and lifted me off the ground to plant a sloppy, tongue-teasing kiss on my lips that made women around us sigh and caused Dreamer Girl to curse and stomp off in the other direction.

  All around us, people called out to him, but he ignored them all and carried me down the hallway, back to where Blade’s office was located.

  “What are you doing?” I murmured when the door closed and he began peppering my neck with kisses as his hand crept inside my shirt. “Did you lock the door?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he rasped and drew me further into the room.

  His shirt was damp with sweat yet somehow, he still smelled incredible. My fingers found their way into his hair while his lips kept moving, kissing down the front of my shirt and back up to meet mine.

  “Your fans are waiting. You need to go back out there,” I said, moaning when his hands slipped under my skirt and brushed across my ass.

  “You feel this, baby?” He pressed his arousal between my legs and dropped ghost kisses at each corner of my mouth. “Need to be inside you.”

  “The door?” I asked again.

  With a sweep of his arm, he cleared the desk and pushed me back against it. I stopped caring about the damn door after that.

  ***

  “Tell me something about your childhood.”

  His chest rose and fell with a heavy sigh. “What do you want to know?”

  Everything, my heart whispered.

  It was Sunday evening, and we’d already spent most of the day together. After breakfast, we’d taken a long walk on the beach. On our way back, it started to rain. In no time at all, the rain was coming down in buckets. We ran toward the house, laughing the entire time. We’d almost made it home when out of nowhere, Sin grabbed me by the hand and spun me around to face him. His hands cupped the sides of my face as he crushed his mouth to mine and kissed me in the middle of a goddamn rainstorm.

  Best. Kiss. Ever.

  We spent the remainder of the rainy afternoon on the sofa watching a movie with the guys. After dinner, Sin had whispered in my ear, suggesting we head up to his bedroom. His laptop was propped open on the bed with a bad porno movie looping in the background. We’d given up watching long ago.

  While sex was against the rules of the list, making out with few clothes on was totally allowed—and we’d taken full advantage. Now we were lying in the center of the bed—Sin on his back with one arm curled protectively around me, and me on my stomach, cheek resting on his chest while my finger traced one of the many tattoos decorating his skin.

  In all my
life, I couldn’t remember ever feeling so content.

  “Whatever you feel like sharing. Do you have a favorite memory?”

  He peered down his chest at me and smiled a beautiful smile. “Cookies.”

  “Cookies?” I giggled.

  “Yeah. See, my Mom was an amazing cook, and she made all these elaborate dinners—even when it was just the two of us. She just loved cooking. But her favorite thing was baking, and her specialty was chocolate chip cookies. I don’t know what she put into hers to make them so good, but I’ve never eaten one that came close to hers. When I was a kid, I’d come home from school, she’d be at work, but there would be this huge plate of chocolate chips cookies on the counter with a handwritten note beside them,” he said as he stared off in the distance—lost in the memory—and then he laughed. “She’d come home from work and find a plate filled with half-eaten cookies.”

  “You’d seriously take a bite out of each one?” I laughed. “Why?”

  “I was trying to see which one had the most chocolate chips,” he answered with a childish grin.

  I shook my head and snuggled closer. “What would the note say?”

  “Each one would be different, but she always signed them I Love You More Than Chocolate Chip Cookies.” He lifted his shoulder in a shrug, as if it wasn’t important. “It was just a silly thing she used to say.”

  I tightened my hold around his waist and lifted my chin to look directly at him. “It’s not silly at all. I think it’s a beautiful memory. Your Mom sounds like an amazing lady. I’m sorry I never got the chance to meet her.”

  Silence stretched between us before he twined his fingers with mine. “She would have loved you.”

  “Why? Because I’m irresistibly sweet?” I tugged playfully on his hand.

  He chuckled and pulled me closer until my face hovered above his. “You are sweet. And you’re definitely irresistible,” he admitted as he nipped at my bottom lip before kissing me. “But I think what she’d like the most about you is the way you look at me.”

  I drew back, surprised. Surprised and curious. The way I ‘looked at him’? What did that even mean? I didn’t look at him in any special way. Did I?