Surprised by his omission, with her arms around his waist, Fallon squeezed him offering support. “I’m not interested in him, Jase.”
“Mmm…good.” He licked up her throat to her ear and suckled on the lobe. A pleasurable shiver scaled her body. “You’ve got a unique style of dance that’s hot as hell.”
“Are you trying to get in my panties, Jase Collins?” She meant the question in a teasing manner, but the idea of him in her panties notched her voice to a husky tenor.
“Not yet.”
“Why?” She knew he wanted her, so why’d he continue to wait?
“I’m not ready.” She frowned at his response as his thumb slithered up her spine, and he lifted his head to peer at her. His hair was a mess of tangles around his face. “I’m gonna make love to you the next time, and I’ve never made love to a woman before.”
She put her fingers through his dark-brown strands, detangling the locks. “There’s a difference between what we did and what you want to do?”
“Yes.”
He looked so serious, but sex was sex. It didn’t matter what it was called because it was still the same act regardless of the label. Right?
“You look unconvinced.” The thumb slid down her spine once more, but instead of repeating the action like before this time he cupped her bottom with his palm and positioned her so that his knee slid between hers, and his thigh rubbed against her pussy. Her eyes widened as he rocked against her in the same action she’d seen Fang and Sam perform.
His other hand lifted to trace her eyebrows. “You’re sexy when you frown, too.”
Fallon rolled her eyes trying to play it cool, but the friction of his body against her toyed with her desires. Sexy was his go-to statement for everything she did. “Do I do anything that’s not sexy?”
My voice sounded all wrong, a little too breathy.
“Nope.” A grin twitched at the corners of his mouth, and she struggled to stay focused. “You probably even fart sexy.”
Nothing like the mention of bodily functions to snatch her out of her mounting arousal. She giggled. “You’re ridiculous.” And now I know he’s teasing.
“Maybe. But I know what I want and what I feel. What I feel for you is so strong it makes me realize how causally I used you the first time.” Oh, fuck he’s getting serious on me. “Won’t fucking happen again, Fallon.” The fingers tracing her eyebrows shifted into her hair and he tugged her head back just enough to trap her gaze with his. “I’m too emotionally invested not to make love to you next time. I’m not promising you forever”—thank God! I’m not ready for that from him—“but I can safely say I’ve never felt this way about a woman before.”
Her breathing stuttered, and her heart was in real danger of thumping itself out of her chest. Yeah, she loved him, but she wasn’t ready to open herself up for that type of pain. Not yet. And if he told her he loved her, she wasn’t sure she could trust he really meant it…or that he even knew that the emotion was real. Jase was a rash kind of guy, and love wasn’t a rash emotion. It implied a commitment just liking and lusting after someone didn’t give. They’d both experienced a lot since she’d introduced him to Faith, and she didn’t want him to confuse his love for Faith, with love for her. Fallon couldn’t bear it if he said he loved her and then decided later he’d been wrong.
“Wanna ditch this lame party with a hot rocker?”
Thank God for the topic change! She wasn’t fool enough to miss the unease in his eyes, but she wouldn’t ask him why it was there. No, she wouldn’t, because she was too scared of the answer he’d give her.
Fallon made an overstated spectacle of looking around the room, even going onto her tiptoes to peer over his shoulder. “Do you see a hot rocker somewhere, because I don’t?”
With a chuckle, he said, “Damn, woman. Platitudes are good for a man’s ego, ya’ know?”
“Your ego doesn’t need boosting.” She gave him a soft kiss. “Thanks, Jase.”
“For?”
For not pushing the conversation into further intimate territory. “Just…thanks. I had fun tonight.”
Jase was disappointed when Fallon disengaged from his embrace.
She smoothed her hands down her hips and tugged downward on the hemline of her dress. “I guess we should get Fang and Sam?”
Jase palmed her lower back as he guided her off the dance floor. “That was worked out before we left. They’re both drinking, so Omega’s gonna have his driver take them home.”
“Oh.” She gave him a perplexed expression, and he guessed she tried to recall when they’d worked out that arrangement. “We should tell Omega goodnight and thank him for the invite.”
“No-fucking-way am I gonna act civilized toward that fucktard.”
“Jase, that’s rude! You can get away with bad manners. People expect it, but I cannot.” She stumbled a bit when she attempted to pilot back to the dance floor in search of the birthday boy. Somehow Jase managed to stabilize her balance by encircling her waist with his arm, and he continued their hasty exodus from Omega’s birthday celebration.
I have no problem being rude to him. “We’ll send him a bouquet of flowers with your heartfelt apology.”
Silence from her, and she allowed him to lead her out the door without further protest.
Once they were buckled in and he’d begun to ease the vehicle down the driveway, she spoke, “I think pink roses would be best.” Frowning, he glanced at her wondering if he’d missed a transition into a new conversation. She wasted no time clarifying, “For the apology bouquet. It should be pink roses.” Her green eyes sparkled with devilry, and his cock banged against his zipper in a sudden hard-on that quite possibly gave his dick whiplash. “I wish I could see his face when he receives pink, girly roses.”
She giggled, her merriment infected him, and he chuckled. Shit, but this woman did him under. Yeah, he wanted to dive into her body with his cock and make love to her all night, but he wanted so much more from her than hot and sweaty sex. At the top of his list was figuring out how to coax her into falling in love with him as much as he already loved her. No…he’d settle for her loving him one-tenth of what he felt for her.
At the end of the driveway he stopped the car. He caught the back of her head and pulled her toward him, meeting her in the middle. Just before he sealed their mouths together, he paused to capture her gaze with his. He hadn’t intended to turn it into a wet kiss, but he had no self-control where she was concerned. One minute he’d been kissing her and the next fucking her with his tongue. When he realized she clenched his shirt, kissing him back with as much zest as he gave her, he halted the smooch. Fallon peered at him through her lashes. Her moist lips glistened from the streetlights.
“I hadn’t planned on doing that.” Even though he’d wanted to from the moment he’d had her in his arms on the dance floor.
“I’m glad you did.”
He combed his fingers through his hair. “We should get moving.”
After a few minutes of driving in silence, she reached over and laced her fingers with his free hand. Pleased she’d taken the initiative to hold his hand, he glanced at her and smiled, giving her fingers a little squeeze. He couldn’t believe how fast he’d fallen in love with her. Or how much it’d been obvious she didn’t want to hear it on the dance floor. So he’d changed the topic and watched the relief spread over her face. His heart had broken just a little. Then she’d thanked him. That galled him. And he’d been relieved when she dismissed her thanks without an explanation.
He knew so little about love, women, and relationships, and feared each step he executed with her was the wrong one. But he couldn’t pretend he was someone else or felt differently than he did. Putting on false airs wasn’t in his nature. Besides that, he wanted her to fall for him and not someone he pretended and thought she wanted. Maybe he asked too much of her. Women wanted him for his money and celebrity status, but not Fallon. How good a chance did an asshole like him stand of getting a remarkable woman lik
e her? He feared his chances were next to nil.
“If I’m not mistaken, this isn’t the way to your house, so where are we going?” She said when he made a left-hand turn.
“You’ll see.” Two turns later he parked in front of Cursed Ink. His tattoo artist owned the placed, and he was the only one Jase trusted enough to ink him and the woman he loved. He turned to face her. “I don’t expect you to follow through, but if you still want that tat, I still wanna pay. I talked to Curse—”
“Curse?”
“My tattoo artist. He owns the joint.” He slanted his head toward the brick establishment. “He’s prepped and ready to do my tat tonight, yours too if you want it. Either way I want you to at least be a part of my new ink that rejoices the birth of our daughter.”
“It’s the least I can do. We created her together, I should be with you when you honor her.”
He chuckled. That was one way to look at it.
Once they were inside Curse joined them and shook his hand. “You ready to do this, Jase?”
“Yeah.”
Before he could introduce them, Fallon said, “How do you get your hair to stay like that?”
She ogled his blue Mohawk with apparent fascination.
“Thick paste basically.” Curse bent his head forward closer to her. “Want to touch it?”
A spark of jealously ignited as she ran her fingertips over the edges of the Mohawk. It was so stiff it didn’t even move when she touched it.
“That’s…I don’t have words for it.” A little giggle escaped her lips. “But I am impressed.”
“I’m Curse. You must be Jase’s new girl?”
“Sorry for my rudeness.” She offered him her hand. “I’m Fallon.”
Instead of shaking her hand, Curse kissed her on the cheek. “She’s hot, Jase.”
“I’m not sharing her.” Jase didn’t miss the question in her eyes when she turned her focus on him. He shrugged without giving her an affirmative or an explanation. She wanted to know if he truly shared with Curse, she’d have to ask.
“Go ahead on into my room. You know the way. I’ll grab the stencil and be right there.” Curse walked into the back part of the place.
He waited until Curse was out of earshot before he admitted to his biggest transgression. Even as he told all, he wasn’t sure why he fed her the knowledge about the worst of his deeds. At the heart of his tell all was his hope that she’d accept all of him and not just the man she thought he was.
“I was with a man once.” Getting the confession out warred with his need to present her with the whole truth about himself and his worry she’d want nothing to do with him afterward. “Well, a transvestite actually. But I knew Candy was a guy when I brought him back to my room.” Stalling, he pulled his shirt over his head, trying to beef up his courage to handle her disgust when he looked at her. Instead of disgust or shock on her features, he couldn’t gauge her thoughts. “Ready to call it quits on me after that?”
“No.” Her answer seemed to surprise her as much as it did him. “No, I’m not. I know you’re wild, a bad boy to the core. I used to mock girls who liked guys like you. Seems I’m not as indifferent as I thought. But this new revelation….” She shrugged. “It doesn’t really surprise me. Doesn’t matter to me either. And it doesn’t change the person you are.”
Jase gave her a quick, hard, fast kiss as a thank you, but since Curse picked that moment to enter they fell silent, but he could hardly believe his luck that she was this accepting of his bi-moment.
He sat in the tattoo chair, and Curse showed him the mock-up. Faith’s handprint from the day she was born—Fallon had given it to him when he asked to see it a couple of days ago—along with her name. It’d go over his heart because that’s what his baby girl had stolen.
With a nod, he handed the design to Fallon.
“So that’s why you wanted her hospital handprint.” Fallon pulled a chair up beside him on the other side as Curse prepped the location on his chest. “Should I hold your hand for support, Jase?”
Curse chuckled.
Jase presented her with his hand.
“Pussy,” his tattooist goaded.
“Any excuse to hold her hand.” He winked at Fallon and she smiled. “How does it look?” he asked after Curse applied the stencil to his flesh.
“Like Faith’s already got her daddy wrapped around her pinky.”
“Guilty and proud of it.”
Fallon watched as Curse used the needle on Jase, inking their daughter’s one-day old handprint permanently into his skin. Every so often he swiped cloth over the spot to wipe away the excess ink and blood. It must not hurt because Jase’s grip never tightened, and his features never grew grim.
After Faith’s handprint was inked into his skin, Curse paused for a brief break while Jase inspected the ink in the mirror.
“You happy with it so far, Jase?” Compared to the photo in her grasp, she thought it looked just like Faith’s handprint. She was impressed by Curse’s skill.
“Yeah. It’s my favorite tat.”
The tattoo artist watched them like he attempted to gauge their relationship. “Jase said you might get one.”
She looked over at the owner of Cursed Ink. “Don’t know.” She brushed invisible lint off the hemline of her dress. “A little scared.”
“Virgin.” Jase shot her his panty-dropping grin, reminding her that he enjoyed ridding her of her firsts.
“Guessed as much. Ready whenever you are.” He indicated the chair. After Jase repositioned himself, Curse said, “Jase and I’ll get you through your first time if you’re interested.”
On the tip of her tongue was that Jase had already gotten her through her first time, but she just did manage to bite back the comment. Instead, she teased, “You’ll hold my hand, Jase?”
“You bet I will, darlin’.”
Jase and Curse fell into easy chatter afterward as he put Faith’s name on Jase’s chest. They discussed Curse’s business, his upcoming shows, and the tattoo artist award he’d recently received. Jase mentioned Hot Wired worked on an album he was excited about, as well as the upcoming benefit concert, and the award the band would receive at the Chart Toppers.
When it was over, Jase admired the tattoo in the mirror. “As always, great ink, Curse.”
“It looks really good,” Fallon agreed, eyeing the fine line of his back and the fallen angel tattooed there.
“You up next, hot momma?” Coming from Omega she might’ve gotten irritated, but something about the way Curse said it, she knew he simply teased without any flirtation.
Plagued with a sudden case of nerves, she chewed on her bottom lip. She knew both guys waited on her decision as she contemplated the question.
Curse began to break down the tattoo machine. “Think it over while I sterilize my machine and get it ready for you.”
“But I might not get one.”
He shrugged. “Needs to be cleaned either way.”
Jase knelt in front of her. He clasped her hands with his and gave a slight squeeze. “You can sit in my lap, darlin’, while he inks you up.”
“Girls with tats sexy to you too?”
A slight grin, but it was no answer. “Only if you want it. You need to be sure because it’s forever. No pressure from me either way. You are sexy either way.”
“I do want it. It’s just…” She exhaled raggedly. “I’m just scared how much it’ll hurt.”
She’d heard differing opinions from her sorority sisters. Some were so terrifying she questioned her pain tolerance, but she’d gone through thirteen hours of labor alone and no epidural, surely she could withstand this.
“If you allow fear into your head, it’ll rob you of all your dreams.”
Wise words from a man who’d probably been terrified of his dreams, but followed them anyway. “You’re right. I want to do this. I shouldn’t let the idea of a little pain scare me away.”
It’d be even more special doing the tat with Jase in honor of
their daughter. They’d created her together and they’d do this together too.
She explained to Curse what she wanted…a red heart that connected to a heartbeat with the heartbeat transitioning into Faith.
He nodded and grunted. “Easy enough. Where do you want it?”
“My wrist.” She held out her left arm. He placed paper over the area and marked the width of her wrist on it.
“What you want is pretty simple. Give me a second to draw it up.” Using the same sheet of paper, he freehanded her design and showed it to her.
“Perfect.” I’m really going to do this! Her belly rolled.
“May I make a suggestion?”
“Of course.” He was the artist after all.
“Allow me to ink this in all black, even the heart. Then I’ll put paint splotches around it. With your skin tone, yellow, pink, green, and blue will look best, and those colors will make the design pop even more.”
And that’s why he’s the artist. “I like that idea.”
“Be right back to pop your cherry.” Curse winked at her, putting her at ease with his crude humor.
Jase had been sitting in the tattoo chair quiet while they conversed, but Curse’s latest comment prompted….“Stop flirting with my girl, Curse.” In spite of his bitching, she could hear the amusement in his voice.
“Can’t promise that, she’s a hot momma,” the artist teased back as he departed the room.
“Don’t be nervous, darlin’.” He clasped her hand and brought her wrist to his mouth. He kissed the delicate skin there, the same skin that’d be sporting new ink in a few minutes. “You’ve never told me what labor was like.”
He never asked.
She shrugged. “Like labor, I guess.”
“Was it fast or long?”
“Thirteen hours. I don’t know if that’s normal or not, but it felt like an eternity.”
“Thank you, Fallon.” She made a face and he must’ve realized she had no idea why he was thanking her, because he explained, “Thank you for loving her even though she wasn’t planned.”
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