“Just sit there. That’s all you have to do.” Before I knew it she started telling me the truth. The full truth. “When I moved to Nashville I told you I had nothing. Absolutely nothing.”
“Yeah, I remember the story.” I put the coffee to my mouth. The gulp cleared the last bit of haze in my head.
“So I took a job for a dating agency.” She eyed me. “A dating agency. All I did was go on dates. Two hours max with men who needed someone for a business dinner or a social setting. It was never more than that. Never.”
She pressed the last word into the air between us. “I was not a hooker. I was not an escort. I never slept with any of the men. Every date was in a public setting. I used a fake name and wore a wig because if I did make it one day I didn’t want anyone to know I had a job in a business that doesn’t necessarily have the best reputation.”
She lowered her eyes. “I swear that is what happened. That is the complete truth. I was never a prostitute or a call girl. It wasn’t the best decision I’ve made, but it wasn’t the worst either.”
“Then why haven’t you cleared your name? Told everyone the truth?”
“Because that agency is still in Nashville. And there are a lot of girls just like me. Guys too, who need the money. And it’s not a prostitution ring or a whore house, Luke. I’m not going to out them just to save myself. Jake did this because he’s an evil son of a bitch.”
“Jake?”
She nodded. “He was one of the guys I went out with. Many times actually. He always needed a date.”
“So you two were an item? Fucker. I knew it.” The idea of them together lit the rage fire again. I’d hated him from the instant we met at the gala.
“No. He’s gay, Luke. Jake is gay.”
“What the fuck?” I chugged the coffee as if there were shots of bourbon stirred in. I needed a few.
“We used to be friends. Really good friends actually. And then something happened to him. He got caught up in the fame. My fame. And the money and meeting bigger and hotter stars. It changed who he used to be. And when I wanted to change he didn’t want it. I was his golden goose as the good girl. He didn’t want me to evolve and risk what he had built. He threatened me with my secret. He’s held it against me for years.”
“What a dick. I told you he was an asshole.”
“I know you did. You were right, but I was too scared to leave. Too afraid that he would expose me.”
I clenched my fists. I didn’t know what to think. My gut told me to go beat the shit out of that guy for what he had done to Alexa. Part of me was mad she hadn’t told me the truth. And then there was the man who was so fucking far over the cliff in love with her he couldn’t push her away. There wasn’t enough booze in the world to drink her memory away. There weren’t enough days to make me forget.
“So now what? Where is he?”
She shook her head. I saw the shame in her eyes. She didn’t need me to tell her she should have trusted me with her secret. She was already in pain because of it. But I could have helped her. Fuck it. I didn’t know I valued the truth until it was something I didn’t have.
“He said I violated our contract. Had it nulled and then signed with a bigger pop artist. He’s gone.”
I couldn’t help but grin. “Good. You’re better off without that piece of shit in your life.”
“I don’t know how I feel about it yet. It was a big price to pay to be free.”
I looked into her eyes. This girl had been through hell and back. She was alone in this life. No parents. No other family.
“It cost me fans. It cost me friends.” Her lashes glistened with tears. “Did it cost me you?”
I swallowed hard. Fuck.
35
Alexa
“Luke, can you forgive me?” I looked at him desperately. “I’m sorry. So sorry I didn’t tell you. I should have been honest from the beginning. From the minute I told you about my family. That’s when I should have told you.”
His eyes were set in a hard line. I couldn’t read him. I didn’t know if he was still angry, hurt, or just done with me.
And I knew I had screwed up. But if there was one person in this world who could forgive me it was this man. The one who had held me. Who saw me beyond the lights and the smoke. I waited anxiously.
“This is the hardest fucking decision of my life.” His jaw clenched. “I want you. But you annihilated me. I’m not the kind of man who runs the same play twice just to get obliterated a second time.”
The tear slipped from my cheek. Could I blame him? Could I judge him for not wanting to get hurt again? The pain gripped and seized me. I had flown here to be heard. I told my story and now it was time to pack my sequin dress and start my life over in Tennessee. I didn’t know how I’d leave. How I’d say goodbye to him.
“I’ll go,” I volunteered. “There’s a noon flight I can make.”
I felt sick. If I started to cry now in front of him, I might not stop. I had to get to the guest room and clean up before the tears unleashed on both of us.
“Hold on. I didn’t give you my answer.” He brushed the hair from my shoulder. “I didn’t know how much you meant to me, until you were gone, Alexa. I sat here in this ranch trying everyway I knew how to get you out of my pores. And it didn’t work.”
“What?”
“You heard me.” His eyes landed on me.
“Is that a yes?” I was fighting the tears.
“I should have given you a chance to explain.” His thumb traced my cheek. “I was a dick about it.”
“It’s ok. It’s ok. It was terrible. And confusing. And I feel like my emotions have been all over the place lately.” The tears came anyway.
Luke leaned toward me, scooping me into his arms. It was the first time I’d felt like we were connected again. The heat of his body soothed me. We were going to be ok.
My tears dotted the sleeve of his T-shirt.
His eyes lit. “Emotional?” He tilted his head. “Do you think…?
I unwrapped myself from his arms and stood. “I brought it with me. It’s in the guestroom.”
I walked down the hall to the room I stayed in last night. I barely slept, worried that Luke would send me home. That he wouldn’t be able to forgive me.
I dug through the bottom of my bag and pulled out the cardboard box with the plus and minus sign on the picture.
“That’s it?” he asked.
I nodded. “Are you ready for this? You sure?”
He cupped my face. “Yes.”
“Ok. I’ll be right back.” I walked into the bathroom. I read the instructions five times. I wanted to get it right. I wanted to give Luke what he wanted.
I opened the door, leaving the stick on the counter.
“We have to wait three more minutes,” I reported.
We sat on the bed, staring into the bathroom. What was on that stick was going to change our lives.
“Go check it,” he urged.
I was almost shaking. I pushed open the door and stared at the stick. I stared at it, making sure I read the stick correctly. I held it out and walked back to Luke.
“What is it?” His face was expectant.
“Not pregnant,” I choked on the words.
“You’re not?” He took the stick from my hands. “You’re not.”
I saw the disappointment in his eyes. “I’m sorry. It was a fluke anyway, right? And we were trying not to get pregnant. So, I didn’t think you wanted a baby.”
His gaze lifted to mine. “Not want a baby? I’ve thought. I’ve prayed I got you pregnant. That the fucking broken condom was a sign that I needed to get my shit together. It happened for a reason. Because I was supposed to get you pregnant.”
“You did?” My heart pounded. “You wanted to get me pregnant?”
His hand tugged in my pajama pants. “I do. I want to knock you up so fucking bad.”
“Oh God.”
I dropped to the bed as Luke pulled me on top of him. “This is crazy,”
I whispered.
He shoved my pants off my ankles. I bucked when I felt his fingers feather between my legs. He traced a circle over my clit.
“You are going to have my baby, Alexa Wilde.”
I nodded. “I am.”
He spread my legs and pushed a finger inside, curling it toward my G-spot.
“I missed the last three days,” I breathed.
“What?”
“I was so upset I forgot to take the pill.” I groaned when he pushed another finger inside me.
“So there’s a chance right now?”
I nodded.
“Fuck.” He rolled my tank top over my head, feasting on one nipple and then the other. I bucked at the pressure.
He nipped at my neck and licked my throat. His lips covered my mouth and I inhaled him. His tongue mingled with mine. We were like a raging river. The damn was broken and there was no way to contain the current raging between us.
“I’m going to fuck you so hard,” he promised.
I moaned. “Please.”
He flicked my clit, with a playful snap of his fingers before he sat backward on his knees, shedding his shirt and shoving off his pajama pants.
I sighed when I saw his throbbing cock. I ached for it. I loved the thickness. The wide veins. How it stretched my pussy so wide and tight.
“You are going to have my baby,” he growled. “This is how you make a baby.”
Just when I thought Luke had shown me how intense sex could be, he took things to a new level. He reached for a pillow, jamming it under my ass. My hips lifted in the air. His fingers massaged my clit and folds, pumping a finger inside me, before withdrawing it.
I hissed every time he took it away. I wanted something to grasp and clench. I wanted him inside me.
“Like that?’ he asked.
“No. I want more.”
His thumb pressed against my clit while his fingers thrust inside me. I groaned in ecstasy.
“Fuck, Alexa. You’re so gorgeous.” He ran his free hands to my nipples, plucking them. He reached for my hand, drawing it between my legs. “You know how hot it is when I watch you touch yourself.”
I nodded. “I like it when you watch my body. I can be free with you.”
He growled. “I’m going to watch as I pump you full, baby. My cock is going to be buried so deep inside you.”
I whimpered. My cream ran freely from my legs.
“You like it when I talk like that to you.” He touched my juices to the head of his cock and massaged it.
“I do.” I breathed. “I love it when you say how you feel. It’s like when I sing.”
“You’re getting ready to hear me do a whole lot of singing, then.” He grinned, pushing my knees wide, spreading me farther than I’d ever been spread. “Fuck, I love your pussy. Keep rubbing your clit. Don’t stop.”
“Oh God,” I cried. It was so erotic. So dirty. So much fucking fun. I’d never been this turned on. I was ready to explode the minute he slid inside me.
With my knees widened so that everything I had was exposed. The way I stroked myself. The way Luke made my arousal flow with his dirty words. He positioned his cock at my entrance and with a solid stroke slammed into me with powerful force.
“Ohh,” I whimpered. The blinding white light turned to bliss. I rocked as he thrust inside me.
This was how I loved sex with him. Our skin blazing against each other. His cock soaked by my juices. The silkiness of his shaft kissing over my clit. It was beautiful and painful and sinful in so many ways. I felt as if every nerve in my body was a live wire. A singing, floating wire hitting my skin, running through my blood, lighting my core on fire.
“Oh shit, Alexa.” He twisted my nipples, pumping in and out of me, sheathing his cock until it disappeared in my heat. “Watching you like this. God, I could come over and over. Inside you. Just like this.”
“Fuck me harder, Luke. Fuck me until you know I’m going to have your baby.”
He smiled, his eyes darting to the dark place where his body joined mine. I didn’t want it to end. I didn’t want it to stop. I wanted us to make a baby just like this.
My fingers strummed over my clit until I knew I couldn’t hold off any longer. The sensations had taken over my body. I was going to spiral and crash into him. Slam into his cock, seize it like a vise. Clamp on it and claim it.
“Yes,” he coaxed me. “Fuck me. Fuck me, Alexa.”
I jolted and jerked my hips, riding him, grinding my heat into him. And then I saw his eyes change. I saw the hunger and lust turn to something else.
He leaned forward and brushed my lips with a kiss.
“I fucking love you,” he whispered.
“Ohh,” I cried. The orgasm shattered through me. I grabbed his shoulders, giving my body to him. “I love you. I love you.”
He pulsed inside me and I knew he was fucking me with everything he had. Rooting deep inside me, planting his seed. Giving me his baby.
The orgasm spiraled through me again. I shook with pleasure knowing Luke was filling me.
I looked in his eyes. “This is the hottest fucking thing we’ve ever done,” he growled.
I smiled. “It is.”
He pushed one last time before rolling off of me. He took a deep breath, his hand landed on my belly.
“I wanted that stick to be positive,” he admitted. “Damn it.”
“I didn’t think I did until it wasn’t. I’m sorry it’s been such a roller coaster.”
“But that was fucking awesome. And until we get a positive stick, I’m fucking you like that every day.”
I giggled. “Every day?”
He kissed my shoulder. “Every damn day. Without Jake in the picture, you and I are the team now. We do what we want to do.”
I curled up next to him. “Ok.”
“And that means this team is making a baby.”
I smiled. I had never been so happy in my life. He tickled the side of my arm. “What happened last night at the award show?”
“Oh, that?”
“Yeah, that.”
“If you look in the trunk of the rental car parked in your driveway you’ll see five CYA awards.”
“No shit.”
I laughed. “Apparently, the votes were cast days before my news story broke, so it had no effect on the results.”
“Damn. I’m sorry I missed it.”
I was too, but I knew it was something I had to do alone. I had to prove to myself that I was strong enough to face my demons and my enemies. Every time I walked on stage last night I carried myself a little taller. A little stronger. I had fight in me I had to find without Luke.
“It’s ok.” I smiled at him. “I’m glad I woke up in Texas this morning.”
He cleared his throat and pushed off the bed, depositing me in a heap.
“Where are you going?” I searched for an explanation.
He stepped into his pajama pants. “I’ve got the perfect place to put those awards.”
I scrambled to follow him, trying to pick my scattered clothes off the floor as I ran after him. “What are you talking about?”
“You’re moving into the ranch.”
I stared at him. “What?”
36
Luke
It made sense. It made a hell of lot more sense than trying to start a family in two different states. And what if she was pregnant because of today? My baby wasn’t going to be a thousand miles away from me. No.
“I’m getting those CYAs and putting them in the office. I have shelf space.”
“Luke, slow down.” Alexa shuffled behind me.
I popped the lever on the trunk. She hadn’t bothered to lock the car. I saw her collection of hardware. It was fucking impressive. I reached for one of the awards. It sparkled in the sun.
“Alexa Wilde, Country Year Award Artist of the Year,” I read aloud. “These are pretty sweet.”
She shook her head. “Go back to the other part. The part about me moving to the ranch.”
Her hair was wild and her neck was pink from my unshaven scruff. My mark was all over that girl. If I didn’t live on a hundred acres in the middle of nowhere I’d be more worried someone would see she was wrapped in a sheet, holding her PJs in one hand.
“Right. That’s exactly what I said.”
I collected the trophies in my arms.
“You want me to move here? Now in the middle of this scandal?”
I slammed the trunk and walked back inside. “Are you going to have my baby?”
“Yes.” She smiled.
“Then, you are living under my roof. With me. That’s the end of it.”
Her hands flew to her hips and I laughed when the sheet fell. She tried to catch it a few seconds too late. I didn’t know what she thought she was going to protest, but I appreciated she thought it was worth a try.
“Leave it.” I eyed her.
She stood in the office as I made a row for her awards. When I was finished I pulled her into my arms.
“We are going to rewrite the headline.” I kissed her throat.
“What’s it going to say?” she asked.
“It’s going to say Country Star Marries Star Quarterback.”
Her eyes widened. “Marry?”
I nodded. I’d never wanted her as much as I did now. “You’re already mine. Might as well make it official.”
She nodded. “I am.”
I picked her up, loving how she felt against my chest. “Charlie is going to have a stroke when I tell her to figure this one out.” I chuckled.
Her hands flattened on my bicep, stroking my muscles. “Any chance she might want to take on a new client?”
I stepped over the threshold of my bedroom. “Interesting idea.” I looked at Alexa. “If she could repair my reputation, imagine what she could do for such a bad good girl.” I winked.
“I’m serious, Luke. Do you think I could hire Charlie?”
I lowered her to the bed. “I’m serious too. But let’s wait to call her. Ok?”
She folded me into her arms. “Ok. I can be bad a little while longer.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
Epilogue
Luke
I heard my alarm. I rolled over to turn it off, careful not to wake Alexa. She wasn’t getting much sleep lately.
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