Justin spotted us first. He rises up and announces like he has a megaphone, “Ladies and gentlemen, Jason is in love!”
“You suck,” Jason calls out to his twin. “I haven’t told her that yet! You’re ruining the surprise!”
My face goes bright red, and everything tingles. He loves me?
Justin shouts through cupped hands, “As if they can’t see it on your face.”
With a lot of laughter people rise up to meet me. As Michael Cocker, the family patriarch, approaches, I want to run and hide. He’s the epitome of dignity. And Jason’s mom, Nancy, is clearly high-society. If they knew some of the things I’d witnessed chasing down my brother, or the smarmy boyfriends my mother brought home, they would not be impressed.
But as they shake my hand and smile, I feel no judgment from them, only friendliness and acceptance in their welcoming smiles. I relax immediately, smiling back as Jason beams.
“So nice to meet you, Sarah,” Nancy Cocker says with genuine enthusiasm. “I wish I had your hair color!”
“I hated it, growing up,” I confess.
She makes a face. “I hated mine, too. I had a friend named Gretchen who was strawberry blonde. Gorgeous. God I was so in love with her hair.”
Grinning, I nod. “I know that feeling.”
A very handsome, very well-built man in his mid-to-late twenties with brown eyes and dark hair steps forward with his hand out. “I’m Jake. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, too. And I just saw your photo inside.”
“Not me on the pony,” he groans, looking at Jason.
“No, I only showed her the first one, of us all together when we were little kids.”
“Thank God,” Jake smirks. “I hate that pony photo. This is Drew. My wife.” He presents a pretty, dark-haired, blue-eyed woman with a sweet, Southern drawl.
“I heard about what you did for Bernie. So nice to meet you.”
My eyes light up. “I’m so happy to meet you, too. Is she doing well?”
“She passed the twenty-eight day mark and she’s still there so I’m hopeful this is it. Thank you.”
“It wasn’t my doing,” I say, but Drew’s face says she thinks I’m being modest.
A rugged man with suntanned skin and emerald eyes steps forward, his deep voice and calm demeanor cluing me in to who he must be before he even says, “I’m Jaxson.” He shakes my hand so firmly my whole body feels it. “And this is my fiancé, Rachel.”
A clear-eyed, pretty woman with sandy-brown hair, extends her hand. I’m starting to feel too professional with all the handshakes, so I just go for it and open my arms. She grins and hugs me. “Nice to meet you, Sarah.”
“You too! Jason told me about what he did for you guys. So romantic.”
“Oh, at the last BBQ?” she grins, taking Jaxson’s hand. He leans down and gives her a soft kiss.
Jason’s grandma shouts, “What about me?” with a twinkle in her eyes, waving me over from a chair with two cushions while the others have one.
Thankfully the party is small, so she’s the last person I have to meet. Jett and Jeremy I knew wouldn’t be here, and also Jason’s cousins couldn’t make it because of the impending hurricane — they were afraid of being stuck for several days, unable to return to Savannah in time for work.
Jason rests his hand on my lower back and guides me over to meet his grandmother as the family takes their seats. He says loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Be careful, Sarah. This is the final test. Grams is a hard ass.”
Everyone yells at the same time, “Language!”
Grams said it, too, and she throws them all a dirty look. “That’s my line!”
There’s a lot of laughing, and then May Cocker gives me a scrutinizing gaze. “Well, you’re a sight for old eyes.”
“Hi Mrs. Cocker. I’m Sarah Daly.”
She nods, humming, “Mmhm Mmhm,” looking me up and down. “You’re cute as a button!”
Blushing I glance to Jason. “You hear that? She thinks I’m cute.”
“She doesn’t know you,” he winks to me, and to his grandmother he fake-whispers, “Grams, she’s making my life miserable.”
Her smile grows and she nods with approval. “Good. My Jerald did the same to me, bless his soul. You’ll never be bored.”
Justin runs up, grabs and flips me over so that I have to hold my sweater in place to stay modest. “What? I don’t get a hello? Am I invisible or something?”
“Oh my God! I hate twins!” I groan. “You’re way too alike. Put me down!”
Justin goes and hands me off to Jason like I weigh less than a glass of water or something. “I believe this is yours.”
“Why thank you. I’ll take that.” Jason sets me down and gives me a quick, happy kiss before we join the table.
I steal a lot of glances around as they all talk easily. Jason keeps his hand on my leg the whole time, laughing often as the brothers throw tons of verbal jabs at each other.
There’s a warmth growing in my chest as the evening goes on. I’m beginning to feel like I could belong here.
We serve ourselves, buffet-style. When I taste Nancy’s chili I close my eyes in heaven. “Mrs. Cocker, this is the best chili I’ve ever had in my life.”
Nancy smiles with pride. To Jason she winks, “She really means that.”
“You’ll never catch Sarah lying, Mom.”
“Well, then she can stay.”
I’m grinning, but then Jason’s face falls. “Whoa! Wait a minute! Stop everything!”
Everyone goes silent and looks over.
“Where’s the ginger ale?” he demands.
With her fork full of chili, Grams informs him, “There isn’t any this time.”
“None of Mom’s fresh ginger ale!?!” Jason cries out. “That’s the first BBQ we’ve ever had where you didn’t make any, mom!”
“Sorry, Jason. I wasn’t in the mood,” Nancy explains with a bored look.
His jaw drops. “You weren’t…in the mood? What?” Looking around the table, he asks, “How are you all okay with this?”
Everybody shrugs.
Jake reaches under the table and produces a hidden pitcher. “Gotcha.”
Loud laughter ripples through the party, but Jason looks like he might explode. “Fuck you, Jake.”
“Language!” Grams yells, before she mutters, “Ha ha, beat you to it,” with self-satisfaction glinting in her eyes.
When we all settle down and people go back to their conversations, Jason pours his cherished ginger-ale into my empty water glass. “You should feel honored I’m sharing this with you. I’ve been known to hoard it and drink it all.”
I can’t even talk, I’m so happy as I gaze at him.
He glances over and says in a quiet volume just for me, “What are you smiling at, shrimp cake?”
“I love you.”
He freezes and puts the pitcher down to cup my chin and look into my eyes, his voice deep. “I love you, too, Sarah.”
Sarah
Just over a year later.
“I don’t care if you think it should be orange! Simone hates orange lights on her! They wash her out. Now change it to hot pink, with red and yellow accents, for variety.”
The lighting engineer mutters, “Sorry, Sarah,” running back to his station while I take quick strides backstage in the other direction.
We’re at the Staples Center’s concert hall in Los Angeles, and when I drove up in the Porsche Simone rented for me, fans were lined around the block.
Flying into her dressing room I discover her cross-legged on the floor in meditation. She opens one eye. “Calm down, Sarah. You look very stressed out.”
“Calm down!? Over thirty-thousand people are here, most of them wearing a t-shirt with your face on it!”
“So?”
I start laughing like an insane person. “And the fucking engineer wanted to project orange lights through the gobos!”
With a voice of pure se
renity she offers, “And you stopped him, because that’s what you do.”
I stare at her, face going blank. “I liked you better before you went all Zen.”
She cocks an eyebrow and closes her eyes, facing front and holding her gorgeous neck long and centered. “Well I didn’t. Now let me get back to meditating. I have twelve minutes.”
On a half-laugh, I mutter, “Okay, do your thing,” and head outside, closing the door a little too loudly. “Sorry!” I call through it and head off, checking my phone for how long it is before she goes on.
She was right, it was twelve minutes. And now it’s eleven. But how she knew that is beyond me because she removed the clock from her dressing room saying it made her focus on the wrong things in life.
Because I’m not looking where I’m going I run right into Jason. “Hi!”
My head flies up and my jaw drops. “What are you doing here?”
He smirks, “Surprise!”
I jump into his arms and he swings me around, kissing me like crazy as he slides me down his body. “Oh Jason, I’m so glad you came!”
“Usher wanted to see the show so we paused working on his album and flew over…wait for it…in his private jet.”
“Oh my God, you lucky bastard!”
“Plus he wanted to see his dancers do their thing.”
“It was very nice of him to refer them to us since he’s not touring.” Just as I say that, Rue and Jenna come running over in the cutest red-leather pants and grey halters, plus Converse sneakers made with special grips for sliding on the stage.
“Sarah! Thomas is puking,” Rue blurts out, then, “Hi Jason.”
Jenna explains, “He got drunk before the show. I’m so sorry.”
“Fuck,” I groan, searching for a solution since we’re moments away. “Okay, tell all the girls to adjust the formation to make up for his absence. Have Becky do her backflip on the left side of the stage where he was supposed to be. Hell, maybe it’s better this way since he was the only guy.”
“Okay!” they say in unison, taking off.
Turning to Jason, I demand to know, “Why can’t things go smoothly?!”
“When it’s chaos backstage, the show is great.”
“Right. Thank you. Okay. I’ll go get her.”
I turn for Simone but the door opens and she glides out looking more like a star than ever, hair and makeup perfect. Tiny leather dress that’s hot as fuck. Heels that might kill her. Everything is as it should be.
“Katy Perry, watch out,” Jason smiles.
She grins at him with the first sign of true excitement shining from her. “Damn straight. Let’s do this.”
We stand back and let her pass us for the stage, following her. While she waits out of sight, her gaze remains on the floor.
My heart starts pounding like a motherfucker. Jason and I grab hands as we have on many occasions since her album exploded, two songs hitting number one. Just For Me stayed there for eleven weeks!
The male announcer’s voice booms through the speakers, “And now…Simone. Ross. TAYLOR!!!!!”
Deafening applause and screaming erupts. Simone lifts her head and steps out onto the stage.
I can’t stop shifting my feet.
As the dance beat picks up speed, dancers cartwheel and backflip onto stage. Hot pink, red and yellow lights flash over them at the right time. Behind everyone on a huge white screen is a close-up movie of Simone’s performance for the people in the back of the auditorium to see her better.
Jason smirks, “See?”
I whisper back to him, “Nobody likes a know-it-all.”
With everyone partying in the larger of the two greenrooms after the show Jason motions for me to follow him. I excuse myself from talking to two men from Simone’s label and quietly exit the room.
“What’s up?” I smile as I walk up to him.
He’s on me so fast I gasp, pulling me behind curtains and slipping his fingers under the hem of my skirt. It’s hitching up on my legs and we’re so close to everyone I can still pick out some of the conversations. “Jason, stop,” I moan, as he bites my neck and growls into my flesh. “Someone might come.”
“The only person cumming is gonna be you,” he murmurs in my ear as his fingertips slide under my thong. “Fuck, you’re wet already.”
“With the way you’ve been watching me, how could I not be?”
“You feel so good,”
I lace my fingers into his hair, moaning, “I’ll never be able to show my face around these people again if they find us.”
“Bullshit,” he growls. “No one gives a fuck. I just have to touch your pussy, Sarah. It’s driving me crazy.”
He always says he loves seeing me in action when I’m working. He calls my quick-thinking hot and sometimes throws impossible problems at me to see if I can come up with a solution.
I rub my pelvis against his dark blue jeans, feeling the heat of his bulge and lifting my chin for a kiss. Our tongues slip on each other as he strokes my swelling folds. The ache becomes a throb when he groans in my open lips. Glancing behind us quickly, he pushes the curtain and finds it’s got a wall behind it. “Good,” he growls, pushing me against it, hiking up my skirt and unzipping his jeans.
“Holy shit, we can’t!” I whisper, eyes hooded with lust as he slides two fingers inside me.
Panting in my ear he rasps, “I’m going to fuck you backstage, Sarah. With other people right over there. Can you hear them?”
I moan into his neck and bite him hard. He hisses through his teeth, lifting me up to straddle his narrow hips. One of my feet hooks around his tight ass, the other around his thigh. Rock hard he enters my wetness, hoarsely whispering against my lips, “Fuck you feel so good. So tight. See how hard I am for you right now? How much fucking you in secret is turning me on?”
I moan and accept his tongue while he starts thrusting, stretching my walls as he dives deeper inside me. We’re trying to be quiet, keeping our panting as low as we can.
Two voices get louder as footsteps exit the greenroom. Jason freezes and we go very still. Then he starts to move really slowly in and out, as the voices head past us. If whoever that is turned right and looked behind this curtain they’d see us.
The fear heightens my pleasure, I start undulating a little faster.
Jason locks eyes with me, and I can see it’s the same for him.
We smile a little at each other as the people stop walking, arguing about food.
“There are a ton of taco places. I want authentic Mexican food.”
“No, burgers tonight! I need iron.”
The tingles drift through my pussy as Jason keeps fucking me in silence while they’re right over there.
“There are burger places within walking distance. The Yard House is right there!”
“Do they have tacos?”
I almost start laughing, but then Jason’s cock thickens and he looks at me in such a way that brings me to the brink.
The footsteps pick up again and off they go. “I know for a fact that they have tacos. And french fries.”
“Ooooh, I love french fries.”
Grinding my hips into Jason, he’s deep as he can get.
I throw my head back and explode on his cock.
He locks his teeth onto my neck, his body jerking as he cums inside me, fingers clawing into my ass and thigh.
We move together, drawing the orgasm out until it’s over.
Deeply kissing me he carefully sets me down and pulls a tissue from his pocket.
On a low, sex-filled chuckle, I whisper, “You came prepared.”
“Excuse the pun.”
“Oh, that was terrible!”
He laughs under his breath, “It really was.”
Sarah
No one has a clue what we just did as we return to the party and separate, socializing once more.
Jason throws me many looks that make me ache for more.
Our sex life is stronger than it was when I first moved in.
We experiment. That’s part of it. But I think the real reason is we make each other laugh.
Even when we fight — which we do pretty often since we’re both strong personalities — the battles often end with us cracking up because someone is being too dramatic or arrogant.
It makes for a very interesting relationship. Grams was right — it’s never boring.
And I’m able to travel when Simone needs me. I’m not at all the shows, but I’m at most. A lot of the work I do remotely.
I’m paid a lot better than I used to be, that’s for sure.
Simone walks up, glowing and slightly intoxicated. She touches my arm to interrupt my discussion with Mark. Then she calls out to the room, “Everyone, can you all follow me, please? I have a surprise for Sarah.”
“What? No! I don’t need anything,” I blush as she pulls me out of the room toward the stage.
Singing and dancing and pretty drunk as a whole, the dancers follow us.
Usher and Jason are together, talking heatedly about something I can’t hear but I know is music-related.
The record executives have their ties loose, their eyes on the dancers.
The engineers aren’t with us, so they must have been the tacos vs. burgers people.
Thomas is the only one not with us because he passed out on a couch and is snoring.
Simone walks me to the center of the stage, which is exactly where I don’t want to be.
“Simone, stop it. You know I hate being in the spotlight.”
As if on cue, one ignites, lighting me up and blinding me. I squint against it and look around nervously as the party gathers in a semi-circle so they can all watch.
“What are you doing?” I whisper to her.
She steps back and Jason steps forward into the spotlight. He gets down on one knee and pops open a small velvet box with the most beautiful diamond ring in it. I clamp my hands over my mouth in shock. A hush falls over the stage as tears jump to my eyes.
Jason struggles against his own emotion as he begins, “Sarah Daly, I’ve never laughed before as much as I do since you came into my life. You drive me crazy, like really fucking crazy…”
Cocky Romantic: A Hot Romantic Comedy Stand Alone (Cocker Brothers of Atlanta Book 4) Page 17