FascinatingRhythm

by Lynne Connolly

  “Riku is watching. Watching me fuck you. No mercy now. He’s holding your breasts. I’m lying on the bed, you’re on top of me now and he’s behind us, touching you. Put your other hand down there now. It’s him. Can you feel him?” When she did as he said, it did feel like someone else. Two hands helped.

  “Me in you, Riku touching your clit, working it increasingly hard.” He was working his cock along with her strokes, pumping it hard. She’d never owned a sex toy, too shy to go into a store and ask for one. For someone who lived in Sweden, that was one pathetic excuse. Not that she’d ever tell him. This was the most daring she’d ever been in her whole life.

  Her fingers were slippery with her juices. She could feel the heat of the big Japanese-American behind her, fingering her, grunting his approval into her ears. Because in this fantasy, she could hear.

  Her fantasy, so she could have it however she wanted it.

  “Go, sweetheart, work me, let Riku work you. Feel it. He’s past talking now, can’t think straight, he tells me. You’re so fucking sexy he can’t focus. You’re soft and wet and so, so hot. After we’re done, he wants to eat you out so he can taste both of us. Because you ought to know, I’m not wearing a condom. We’re doing this bareback. He’ll suck and lick until he’s taken every part of us into himself, then you’ll be ready to take him. I’ll watch, but then my cock will harden again and I’ll want you. Have you ever had a man take you from behind?”

  Her first instinct was to say “Yes, you have,” but he didn’t mean that. “Do you want to do that?”

  “I don’t know. I want every part of you though. I want to play, experiment, see what we both enjoy. Sometimes I’ll do exactly what you want and sometimes I’ll take you so selfishly, I’ll have to make you come after I’ve finished.”

  “Oh God.” She moaned, caught her breath, afraid she’d been too loud.

  “Let me hear you, sweetheart. Keep going. Keep working, thrusting and pinching. I’m watching, finding out what you like.”

  Heat spiked inside her with a suddenness that made her lose her breath. She lost herself, lost everything except the climax rocketing through her, pushing out all thoughts, all sensations except this. Her working Hunter, Riku waiting his turn, caressing her into another climax. She came violently, would have fallen forward over her laptop except that she instinctively put out her hand and saved herself.

  And all the time she’d kept her eyes open. Watched him, his big fist clenching around his cock, working with strong, even strokes until he too came. His pearly essence spurted and he cried her name.

  He recovered faster than she had. He’d closed his eyes when he came, and although she hadn’t, her sight had been blinded by the intensity of her orgasm.

  He chuckled, smiling, his throat working, then he reached out and came back with a handful of tissues. Without self-consciousness, he cleaned himself roughly and dabbed at something in front of him. “Just missed the laptop. I would have trashed it rather than explain to the repair man what happened.”

  That made her laugh. Shaky but there, recovering fast. She still sat with her legs splayed, keeping her balance now. He winked at her. “Fun, eh? Maybe we’ll do it some more. But not tonight. Close the laptop and climb between the sheets now. Sleep. I’ll call you in the morning.”

  When she closed the laptop, he was still there, watching her. She fell asleep thinking of him touching her, holding her. He was always so tender in the aftermath of passion.

  Chapter Ten

  Hunter hurtled through the doors of the university hospital, drawing the attention of everyone in the reception area. Fucking great. Nothing like sneaking in. But it was done, so he crossed to the map on the wall and found her ward. Then checked his watch. He was cutting it too close.

  They’d probably stop him if he ran, but he lengthened his stride, and since he was over six feet tall, he could walk as fast as some people could run. Recalling the map, he turned right and, instead of waiting for the elevator, took the stairs. Only two floors, then he was out and into the hallway that led to her ward.

  The nurse at the station glanced up at his approach, then did a double take. He was used to that by now because of the band’s increasing fame, but it still unnerved him sometimes. Like now. He gave Sabina’s name, she checked the list. “Ah yes. You just caught her.”

  Sabina was sitting on the bed in a private room fully dressed, a dark-haired woman by her side. At his entrance, they both looked up and he caught the glimmer of tears in her eyes.

  “What is it?” In an instant, he stood by her other side.

  “Nothing much, really,” she said. “Just they’ve canceled the operation.”

  The older woman growled. “They didn’t cancel it. You’re Hunter Ostrander?” Her English was more heavily accented than Sabina’s, but still fluent and clear.

  “And you’re…” He paused.

  Her eyes crinkled, although she didn’t actually smile. “I’m Sabina’s mother. Call me Adela. When I went to school in France nobody could pronounce my first name, so they used the second one.”

  “I can,” he said. “Danheiður. But I’ll call you Adela if you prefer.”

  “I’m used to it.”

  He recalled what she said. “What did you mean, they didn’t cancel it? In that case, who did?”

  She met his eyes, her own steely. “Your mother. She called yesterday.”

  His mouth dropped open. “I knew nothing of this, I swear.”

  “I know,” Adela said. “Sabina said you didn’t. If I thought you did, you wouldn’t be here.”

  “I’m sorry.” He turned his anguished gaze to Sabina. “Can I do anything?”

  She shook her head. “It’s a shame I couldn’t get hold of you before you left. It’s a journey wasted.”

  “No it’s not.” He slashed his hand in the air, furious with his mother. “I’ll talk to her. What gave her the right?”

  “Nothing.” Sabina shrugged. “She said she was my mother and they didn’t check properly. My mother never keeps her phone charged up.” She threw her mother an exasperated look that was so typically daughter to mother that Hunter might have laughed in different circumstances. “I got here today on time and they told me they’d offered the slot to somebody else. But they advised me to wait, to see if they couldn’t straighten it out.” She sighed. “There’s a waiting list a mile long for subjects. This operation is out of beta, into controlled experimental. People want it. I wanted it.”

  He sank down on his knees in front of her and took her spare hand, the one not curled up in her mother’s. As always, the contact thrilled and relaxed him, spoke to him at a deep level. “Can they do nothing?”

  Sabina shook her head. “They said they would keep me on the list, but I would be at the bottom. So my only chance is to wait here.”

  “I want you to come with me.”

  “To Moscow?”

  He exchanged another glance with Adela, who was watching, her gaze perceptive. “Yes,” he said. “Why not? It’ll be an adventure for both of us. And it’s Beijing first. Come and watch your,” he coughed and Adela laughed, probably at his embarrassment, “boyfriend perform. I’ll make sure you’re treated as a VIP.”

  “You always do,” she said softly, curling her nails into his palm, gently scratching, more like a tickle than a sting, and immensely sexy.

  “It is a good idea,” Adela said. “After all, you can hardly go back to Stockholm, not after this. You know you are always welcome at home too.”

  “Yes, I know.”

  “She has always been a stubbornly independent child. The most stubborn of my children.” Adela smiled fondly. “She will not enjoy it at home. She has wanderlust.”

  That was the first he’d heard about it. “You want to travel?”

  “I have traveled,” she said. “I love it. But right now I’m confused.” And upset, he knew, because he could read her only too well. So was he, for that matter. He’d take care of her first, but he wanted a word with
his mother.

  “How could Emmelie have done this?”

  Sabina shook her head, her skein of black hair moving around her face like a curtain. “I had the usual doubts that anyone has before a procedure. She could have taken that as second thoughts. In my mind I was certain, but she spent the last few days concentrating on me, trying to make me change my mind.”

  Hunter growled low in his throat, garnering him a shocked stare from Adela. “I told her not to do that. I said that you’d made up your mind and I’d support you whatever you decided.” He wanted to snap like a cornered dog, angry, upset, even guilty because his mother had done this awful thing. “When will the operation come out of experimental?”

  “They say a year. Then it will be available to special patients.” Sabina moved her hand.

  “Then you shall have it if you want it. I will pay, to compensate for my mother’s behavior.” He squeezed her hand lightly. “And because I want you to have what you want.”

  She’d dropped her gaze to their hands, but lifted her head at his words, her own determined. “You can’t do that. I won’t let you.”

  He released her hand, tucking one of his fingers under her chin so she couldn’t look away. “Sabina, do you know how much I have in the bank?”

  She shook her head again. After breathing in her delectable scent, he told her. Both Adela and Sabina gasped, their eyes round with astonishment. Hunter felt almost embarrassed at the obscene amount. But he’d told the truth. “I can afford it. I will pay if you wish for the operation.” Another year, perhaps two, to give them time to schedule, but she would have it. Anything, he’d buy her anything she wanted.

  “I have to pay it back.”

  “No you don’t. It won’t be a loan. Although I might ask you to do something.”

  “What?” Her determination shone through the single word.

  He couldn’t say it now. Not here, in this sterile hospital room. He wanted somewhere more romantic. “Never mind. Nothing you don’t want to do.” The heat in her eyes, quickly banked, told him his words had started a spark of arousal in her. That Skype call, the hottest of his life, flitted across his mind and his cock stirred. “So will you come?”

  She nodded.

  Adela released her daughter’s hand and got to her feet. “Why do I feel unneeded here? No, don’t get up,” she said as Hunter moved, ready to get to his feet. “I’ll go and find coffee for all of us, and we’ll sit and talk of other things until we have regained our senses. Then we will make decisions.”

  She left, and as soon as the door swung closed, Hunter took Sabina in his arms and kissed her. “I missed you,” he said against her mouth, loving the soft texture against his skin, then drew back so she could see him talk. “I want you to come with me to Beijing. Please say yes.”

  She chuckled weakly and gave him a sweet, brief kiss. “Yes.”

  He sighed and took her mouth again. “Thank you,” he said when they finally separated. He returned to take another kiss, unable to stop tasting her.

  “They’re running out of funding for the operation,” she said. “They might not have enough.”

  He grunted. “If this program is a success, they’ll get the funding, believe me. A miracle operation to restore people’s hearing? Are you kidding me?”

  He’d made her laugh again. “When you put it like that. And it’s not a miracle operation. They’ve worked for twenty years toward this, and there’s a lot of aftercare involved.”

  Stroking her hair, he murmured, “I know that. It’s what the media will say though. And if you had this op, they’d come after you.”

  “I never thought of that.”

  “If they can find you.” A grin wreathed his face. “Our manager is very good at manipulating the media. You might have noticed.”

  “Yes.”

  “Listen, sweetheart. I have to go back faster than we thought. I grabbed this gap, but the Chinese media or the government, or both, are insisting that we do press conferences beforehand. So if you want to come with me, you need to be quick.”

  Moving closer to him, she lifted her chin. “I have enough clothes and things back at your mother’s house.”

  “We’ll collect them and fly to Beijing tonight. Beverley will make the arrangements.” He paused. “We might have to tell a few lies.”

  “Like what?”

  How to tell her? Just straight out. “Like we’re married. Sorry.”

  “What?”

  “Just to get us past the authorities, that’s all.”

  Was that disappointment he saw in her eyes? Dear Lord, he hoped not. He hadn’t thought about anything of that nature, too busy working on his career to consider any kind of personal life, but the shock he felt now was because he didn’t feel any shock. Only warmth. “If I wanted to marry anyone, it would be you.”

  “What?” Now he’d definitely puzzled her.

  “Never mind.” Trying to turn it into a joke, he pressed his forehead against hers and growled, “Can you imagine? Domesticity? Us?”

  Only a weak smile, but at least he’d raised one. “I still want to come.”

  “Good. They’re televising both concerts and we’re videoing it. Chick had to jump through all kinds of hoops and we’ve signed agreements. The authorities are still putting on a five-minute delay, so they can cut out all the cursing, presumably. We have to keep to our running order, which isn’t something we usually do.”

  “What about Red Square?”

  “Much more normal.” Unable to resist her sexy sweetness, intrigued by the softness she was showing, so different from her usual spiky independence, he drew her close and kissed her again.

  Someone cleared her throat. Even without checking Hunter felt sure it was Adela.

  Adela had a tray with three cardboard cups of coffee on it. It said a lot for the way he felt about Sabina that he didn’t lunge forward and grab one of the steaming cups. The aroma drew him, reminding him just how weary he was. Too tense to sleep on the plane, still recovering from jet lag and worry, he needed that caffeine like an addict needed a hit.

  A man in a white coat stood next to Adela, bushy brows raised but he was smiling in a controlled, professional way, his eyes revealing more anxiety than relaxed humor. He should know better than to try to put on a fake expression with the deaf. The tips of his fingers, where they curled around his blue clipboard, were white. “I have some good news,” he said, “for you, at least. The person we scheduled to replace you in the operation has called, declining the offer. We all feel that because of the confusion, we’d like to offer you the place.”

  Almost a relief to sink into his native language, and only polite to answer Swedish for Swedish. “And because she is here and ready.” He fixed a smile to his lips, thought of something good. That was the only way to make fake expressions work. Make them real by thinking of something appropriate, or in this case, inappropriate. The thought of pinning Sabina to the bed and exposing her lovely body before making her scream did it for him. Only when he’d done that did he turn back to face her. “No coffee for you then.”

  She gave a mock sigh. “And I was so looking forward to it.” Excitement turned her eyes bright. “So they want me back in?”

  “Who wouldn’t?” The moment he’d begun to grow excited himself, someone had dashed his expectations. The doctor, to be precise.

  Adela was looking like the cat who got the cream. “Such good news, dear!” Her Swedish was worse than her English, but still passable. “We’ll go home after the operation and then I can care for you.”

  “No.” Sabina’s face fell. “I have to stay close, for the aftercare.”

  The doctor consulted his clipboard, although Hunter guessed he knew all the details by heart. “Every day for the first week after the operation. For six weeks, until the operation wound has healed and the implants have embedded, we will want you examined every week. After that, we require you to undergo a series of tests to help with our studies. You will also have a course of therapy to
help you hear again. You agreed to do all this when you consented to the operation.”

  “But she can’t fly,” Hunter blurted.

  “Indeed not,” the doctor said, losing the cheer. “We would prefer she did not fly for at least twelve months.”

  A year. He had to be in New York in a few months, and the world tour meant he must fly almost every week. He turned his attention back to Sabina. “I’ll come back whenever I can.”

  “There’s no need.” She forced a smile. “There is the phone, and Skype.”

  Everyone else in the room seemed to disappear, and the memory of her in his bed rocketed through him, hardening his cock and sending thrills of arousal through him. Talk about inappropriate. The very wrongness of it made him smile, and this time he didn’t have to force it. “We’ll manage. I promised not to leave you again and I will not.”

  A shadow crossed her eyes. He wanted to dispel it, but he didn’t know what had caused it. It must be the thought of their separation, or was he a complete fucking idiot to think so? “You’ll remain my friend.”

  It sounded so formal, especially considering what they’d done together, but perhaps she needed the distance now. He had to take his cue from her. “I’ll stay until the procedure is done. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

  “Thank you.”

  He couldn’t promise more. Thinking rapidly, he realized he had less than a day with her. Then he’d have to leave. How could he leave her, even with her mother, who seemed a competent, pleasant woman?

  Swallowing past his disappointment that she wouldn’t be coming with him, Hunter showed her an expression of total calm. “You need to let them prep you. I don’t think we can come with you for that part.” He glanced at the doctor. “How long will it take?”

  “If the procedure goes well, no more than an hour. If we need to make some adjustments, then a little longer.” He concentrated on Sabina. “You do understand that if the operation is not a success, you will most likely lose all your hearing?”

  She swallowed and nodded. “I have a little hearing, but although it helps me speak, it isn’t useful for anything else.”