Falling Angel

by Carmen Richter

  “Daphne has agreed to sign some autographs, but she’s tired from her show tonight, so no pictures, no exceptions,” I said, loudly enough for my voice to carry.

  There were some groans and grumbles and a few people muttering about what a bitch she was for not spending three hours out here signing and taking pictures with every single fan. I bit my tongue. People were so ungrateful sometimes, not seeming to understand that a performer’s job started when they walked into the venue for the sound check and ended when they walked off the stage at the end of the night. Anything else they did, like signing autographs or taking pictures for fans, was out of the goodness of their hearts. And Daphne was more generous than most with her time off the clock.

  Daphne made her way toward the door, signing autographs on every piece of paper she could reach. But when we got to the very front of the line, right next to the door, there was a little girl in a wheelchair, wearing an oxygen tube on her nose and a head wrap on her obviously bald head. I knew even before Daphne saw her that she was about to break her no-picture rule for this girl.

  I turned to Garth and pointed to Daphne, then gestured toward the kid with my head. I saw Garth chuckle and nod. He knew what was about to go down as well as I did. As soon as Daphne was done with this kid, we were going to have to rush her inside.

  I pulled my copy of Daphne’s room key out of my pocket so I could get us in the building quickly. And just as I did that, Daphne saw the kid and headed over to her.

  “Hey, sweetheart,” she said, bending down so she was at eye level with her. “What’s your name?”

  “Emily,” the girl said quietly, sounding like she was having trouble breathing.

  “Did you come to the show tonight, Emily?” Daphne asked.

  Emily nodded.

  “Thanks for coming out. I know you’re probably pretty tired after that. Do you have something I can sign for you?”

  Emily’s mom handed Daphne what looked like the liner notes for her debut album. Daphne signed them, then handed them directly to Emily.

  “Your song ‘Queen of the Angels’ helped Emily through a lot of really tough treatments,” Emily’s mom said. “You’ve been a huge inspiration to her. She wanted to tell you that, but I think she’s a little star-struck right now.”

  Daphne smiled big enough to show off those adorable dimples of hers. “You know what, Emily? I think you’re really brave for being so strong and fighting so hard. People like you are a huge inspiration to me.”

  “Really?” Emily asked.

  “Really. You know, I know they said no pictures, but rules are made to be broken. Will you take a picture with me?”

  God, this kid looked like she’d just won the lottery. And seeing Daphne spending so much time with her and being so sweet to her made my eyes sting a little. I knew it was almost impossible for someone in her profession, but between this interaction and seeing her with my daughter yesterday, I couldn’t help thinking what an incredible mother she’d be, if she ever wanted kids one day.

  Just as I’d predicted, the second Daphne was done taking the picture with Emily, at least twenty other people who had seen the exchange pulled their phones out.

  I rolled my eyes. Couldn’t they see that this kid was sick? Couldn’t they understand that that was why Daphne had made an exception for her?

  “Daph, let’s get you inside,” I said as I got in front of her while Garth closed in behind her, making sure no one crowded her or got up in her face.

  She nodded, and I motioned to Hector for a little backup. He and Frankie came over and got on either side of her, so she was surrounded on all four sides as we walked the twenty steps to the door. As I led her inside, Garth came in after her, and Hector and Frankie stood in front of the door, blocking any fans from trying to slip through with us.

  “Worth it,” Daphne chuckled before I had a chance to say anything. “Kids with cancer are always the exception to the rule.”

  “I know,” I told her. “Ready to head up?”

  Her dimples made another appearance. “Yeah.”

  I stayed in the living room of Daphne’s suite with her while Garth went to sweep the bedroom and bathroom. Standing this close to her, in her hotel room, and not being able to touch her or kiss her right now was the worst kind of torture. Now that I’d gotten a taste of her, I knew I’d never get enough.

  “It’s all clear,” Garth announced as he came out of Daphne’s suite.

  “Great. Thanks, Garth. Have a good night,” she told him, then turned to me. “You too, Ezra.”

  Garth just laughed. “I had to put up with you two eye-fucking each other all the way over here. You’re not fooling anyone, so don’t bother with the whole stealth routine. Have fun, you crazy kids. Use protection.”

  The irony of what he’d just said was, though I planned on spending tonight worshiping every inch of this goddess’s body, there would be no actual sex involved. Because I didn’t have protection on me to use. I didn’t even have any back in my room. I’d have to discreetly pick some up the first time we stopped for gas tomorrow.

  What could I say? I hadn’t exactly planned on getting laid during this tour, despite Garth’s insistence that I needed to. And I was a single dad who actually gave a shit about my daughter. The wallet condoms had expired about three months ago, and I never bothered to get any more.

  As he walked out of the room, Daphne turned bright red. I chuckled and rolled my eyes. Subtlety was definitely not Garth’s strong point, but he was loyal as the day was long. I wasn’t concerned about him knowing. Really, I wasn’t concerned about anyone on my team knowing. None of them would do anything to put either of us in danger.

  “You sure you want me to stay?” I asked. “I’ll turn around right now and walk out that door if you want me to.”

  She took a few timid steps toward me and grabbed my hand. “Don’t. Please. I don’t even care if all we do is sit on this couch all night. I just want to be with you.”

  I used the hand she’d just grabbed to pull her into my arms, kissing her until I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of kissing this woman. She kissed the way she made music: with her whole heart and soul.

  “I hope you can sleep on your bus tomorrow,” I said against her lips. “Because you won’t be doing much of that tonight.”

  Daphne giggled, and I picked her up off the floor. She let out an adorable squeal and wrapped her legs around my waist as I walked into her bedroom and laid her down on the bed. She scooted up toward the headboard, and as I kicked my shoes off and crawled over her, the small bedside light illuminated her nightstand—which had three European chocolate bars, three boxes of condoms, and a folded piece of paper sitting on it.

  “Do I even want to know?” I asked.

  “What?” She sounded genuinely confused as she followed my gaze. As soon as she saw what I was looking at, she groaned and turned the color of a lobster. “Oh, my God. I am never giving Taylor a copy of my hotel room key ever again. I am going to kill him. Dead. Buried.”

  Me, on the other hand? I wanted to send the man a damn gift basket. Because this meant I wouldn’t be going to sleep with blue balls tonight.

  I laughed and kissed her. “Maybe just maim him. Because it means I can have you the way I want you tonight. I didn’t exactly come prepared. Plus, he did leave you good chocolate too.”

  That earned me another giggle, and she pulled me down for another kiss, sliding her arms under my shirt and up my back as she wound her legs around my waist. I reached up and tugged the shirt over my head, tossing it on the floor. Then I slid her shirt up her sides and pulled her up slightly so I could take it off completely and unclasp her bra.

  Daphne’s hands went to my waist, fumbling with the clasp on my belt. After about thirty seconds, she groaned in frustration.

  “As sexy as you look with that gun strapped to your hip, it kind of scares me,” she mumbled.

  I pressed a kiss to her neck, then rose up to my knees and quickly took
my duty belt off and set it on the nightstand on the opposite side of the bed. When I turned back to look at her, I froze for a second.

  Fuck. Me.

  Daphne DeVille was lying on a bed in front of me, half-naked, cheeks and chest flushed, blonde and pink hair splayed out on a pillow. This woman was every man’s wet dream and—for as long as she wanted me—she was all mine.

  “What?” she said shyly.

  “You’re breathtaking,” I told her as I lowered myself back down to kiss her.

  She chuckled uncomfortably and looked away, like she didn’t believe it. I put a hand on her face and turned her head back so I could look into her eyes. I didn’t know who’d made her think she wasn’t worthy, but I did know that I was going to do everything I could to show her that she was.

  “You. Are. Gorgeous,” I said, punctuating each word with a kiss as I skimmed my hand up her side and palmed one of her breasts, rolling a nipple between my thumb and finger.

  The quiet moan that came out of her mouth had my cock straining in my pants, even worse than it already was. I lowered my head and trailed my lips across the tops of her breasts, and she curled her arm around my back, clutching my shoulder in a death grip as her breathing sped up. Encouraged, I tugged one of her nipples into my mouth, gently biting down on it.

  “Oh, God,” she moaned softly.

  “No one here now but us, angel,” I told her, trailing my tongue over to the neglected breast. “Let me hear you.”

  “Ezra, shit,” came a louder moan as I took her swollen bud between my lips, pinching the other one.

  Her hips arched as her legs tightened around my waist, and she slowly started writhing underneath me, grinding herself against the growing bulge in my pants. I groaned in simultaneous pleasure and frustration as I matched her pace. There were way too many layers of clothes between us. I needed them gone.

  Daphne whimpered when I rose up again, like the loss of friction was physically painful. I chuckled.

  “I’ve got you, baby,” I promised, tugging her yoga pants down and pulling them and her socks off.

  Before I could lie back down, she sat up and kissed me again as her hands came to the button of my pants, deftly unbuttoning and unzipping them. Then one hand slid inside, palming my dick through my boxer briefs. Even through the barrier of the fabric, it made me feel things I hadn’t felt in years.

  “Shit, Daph,” I mumbled against her lips. “Keep touching me like that and I won’t last.”

  She rose to her knees and deepened her kiss as she dipped her hand under the fabric. Her slender fingers curled around my shaft and her thumb brushed over the head, spreading the precum around before she slowly started to stroke.

  My eyes slid closed as electricity seemed to spark over every nerve ending, and I slid a hand between her thighs, tugging the small square of fabric covering her to the side and pressing my fingers between her folds.

  “You’re so fucking wet,” I murmured.

  “It’s all for you,” she breathed, stopping her strokes to tug my boxers down to my knees. “I need you, Ezra.”

  “I’m all yours, baby,” I said, sliding my fingers further south, but avoiding her clit.

  That earned me a whimper.

  “What do you want, Daph?”

  “You.”

  “I’m right here.” I toyed with her entrance, but didn’t slide my finger in.

  Again, she whimpered, obviously frustrated.

  “Tell me what you want.”

  “I want you to fuck me,” she said quietly.

  That was what I wanted to hear. There was nothing sexier than a beautiful woman telling me exactly what she wanted.

  I kissed her so deeply that I saw stars, groaning when she slid her hand over my cock again. Fuck, I needed her. But I needed to taste her first. And she hadn’t said how she wanted me to fuck her, so that meant it was dealer’s choice.

  “Lie back, angel,” I told her.

  She obeyed, and I tugged her panties off and tossed them on the floor before quickly getting up and shedding the rest of my clothes. I crawled between her legs and planted a kiss on her stomach, flicking my tongue over her belly button ring (which was just a blue steel ball tonight). Then I moved further down, parting my lips slightly and trailing them up first one thigh, then the other, and finally over the bald spot between her legs. I pressed a kiss there, making her whimper again, and then I put her out of her misery.

  I lifted her legs up to my shoulders and gave her a long, hard lick before sucking her swollen nerve endings into my mouth.

  “Fuck, Ezra!” she moaned.

  Hearing those dirty words coming out of that pretty mouth was sexy as fuck. Almost as sexy as the way she tasted. Almost. Because, goddamn, she was sweeter than sin. I pulled my mouth away from her clit and replaced it with my thumb as I slid my tongue between her folds, licking at her entrance before plunging in as far as I could.

  “Oh, my God!” she cried. “Ohshitohshitohshit…fuck! Don’t stop. I’m gonna come.”

  I pressed my thumb harder against her clit, making her cry out and arch her hips. I wrapped my free hand around her waist, pressing down to keep her still. That earned me a new stream of moans and incoherent words while she writhed under me.

  “Let go, baby,” I told her as I replaced my tongue with my fingers. “Come for me.”

  As soon as I pulled her clit back into my mouth and sucked, she cried out as she pulsed around my hand. I kept up the same pace, not letting up until the tremors subsided.

  Before I could crawl back up to the head of the bed, Daphne sat up and pulled me up, crushing her mouth against mine as she laid back down, taking me with her. I wrapped an arm around her back, holding her close as our tongues dipped and swirled around one another. And finally I couldn’t take it anymore.

  “I need in you, angel,” I rasped, grabbing one of the boxes on her nightstand and pulling a foil packet out.

  “Yes,” she purred.

  I tore the wrapper open with my teeth and quickly rolled the condom on, then lined myself up with her entrance and plunged inside her in one deep thrust.

  “God, Ezra!” she moaned.

  “Fuck, Daph. You feel like heaven,” I groaned, claiming her lips again.

  I took it slowly, needing to draw this out. Needing to savor every moment of the most intense and all-consuming sex I’d ever had in my life.

  “I won’t break, babe,” Daphne panted. “Give me more.”

  She tightened her legs around me and arched her hips, and I peppered kisses along her neck and collarbone as I picked up my pace.

  “Oh, my God!” she cried, thrusting frantically against me. “Don’t stop.”

  I crashed my mouth against hers again and pulled one of her legs up as I picked up speed again. I felt pressure building up way too fast, but I was too far gone to try to draw this out any more. So I pressed my thumb to her clit and started rubbing circles on it, determined to take her with me when I went over the edge.

  “Ezra! Fuck!” she screamed, arching her back and digging her fingers into my shoulders as she unraveled.

  Feeling her pulse around me was all it took to make me follow her into oblivion.

  “Christ, Daph,” I groaned as I shattered into a million pieces.

  I collapsed on top of her for a couple of seconds before I moved to get up and take care of the condom.

  Daphne tightened her arms and legs around me. “Don’t go. Please.”

  The temptress who had told me to fuck her fifteen minutes ago had disappeared and been replaced with the shy woman I’d come to know and love.

  What kind of assholes had she been with before? Had her exes seriously just taken what they wanted from her and then left immediately afterward? Why? How? I couldn’t have left her tonight if my life depended on it.

  “I’m not going anywhere, angel,” I promised, giving her a soft kiss. “But I need to get cleaned up. I’ll be right back.”

  While Ezra got up, grabbed his boxer briefs, and d
isappeared into the bathroom, I grabbed his shirt and slipped it over my head. I went a little dizzy from the cedarwood scent I’d gotten so used to over the past couple of months.

  I couldn’t believe everything that had happened in the past forty-eight hours. But my shaky legs and the pleasant soreness between them were proof that I hadn’t just imagined it. I’d really just had sex with Ezra. Though I wasn’t entirely sure if I could call what had just happened between us sex. It had been way too intense for that. To the point where I’d legitimately almost cried.

  Crawling back into bed, I picked up the folded piece of paper that was sitting in front of the…er, care package from my best friend. I seriously could not believe he’d done that. He was getting reamed out tomorrow. Even though I was secretly a little grateful for it since Ezra hadn’t had any condoms on him.

  I snorted at the message on the paper, which he’d obviously taken from the notepad in the living room.

  D,

  To cover you for whichever outcome (or to share with Mr. Hot Stuff). Love you.

  -T & A

  Yeah…I was pretty sure it had all been Taylor. And that Alex had probably tried to talk him out of the condoms.

  Ezra emerged from the bathroom in his underwear, carrying a wet washcloth. He sat down on the edge of the bed and gave me a kiss that could have lit the room on fire as he tugged on my thigh.

  “Open for me, baby,” he breathed against my mouth, then slithered his tongue out again and licked at the seam of my lips.

  As I slid my tongue out to meet his, I parted my legs slightly. I was still sensitive, so the rough fabric of the washcloth stung as he gently washed between my legs, making me hiss.

  “Sorry. I’m done,” he said, kissing my forehead.

  My response was to pull him back in and crash my lips back to his. This was a first for me. Having my partner actually take the time to clean me like this. The most I’d ever gotten before was a towel thrown in my general direction, if I was lucky. The way Ezra was treating me right now made me feel…I didn’t even know. Cherished? Loved?