by Tessa Bailey
James groaned against her mouth. “Lita, bring me back to life. Tell me you actually want me after everything I’ve done.”
“Of course I do,” she sobbed. “I don’t know how to stop wanting you. Wanting you is part of me. I like it right where it is.”
His kiss was one of cherishment. “I love you.”
Tears fell down Lita’s cheeks. “I love you back.”
She leaned in to kiss him again, but a commotion behind her in the studio caused James’s body to stiffen. His gaze was full of regret, but there was a hint of something else she didn’t recognize at first. But slowly it dawned on her. Mischief? She’d never seen James house mischief in any shape or form. It had to be a mistake.
“What’s going on?”
Footsteps sounded on the floor behind Lita, coming in their direction. “I had a backup plan, in case you weren’t ready to listen yet.” He kissed her one final time, then set her down. “So I hope you have bail money. Because I might have stolen a police car and drove it here.”
Lita’s mouth dropped open as two officers skirted past and pulled James’s hands behind his back, slapping handcuffs on his wrists. “James. I…what…” she sputtered. “You could have been killed. Do you know how much danger you put yourself in?”
His gray eyes were the lightest she’d ever seen them. Light and focused on her. As always. “It was worth it to see your face right now.”
“I’ve never been more turned on in my life.”
Ignoring the officers’ reluctant laughter, James stroked her with a head-to-toe look. “Excellent timing.”
“I’ll be right behind you with bail.” Lita pressed both palms to his cheeks and went up on her toes to speak against his mouth. “James?”
“Yes?”
“Kiss me and know that everything is going to be fine.”
He did. And it was.
Forever.
Epilogue
Two months later
James let himself into Lita’s apartment and carefully closed the door behind him. The sharp sounds of her drumming sailed down the stairs, forcing his heartbeat into the rhythm she created. He knew the song, knew the section she was working on.
Perks of being the band manager.
However, he much preferred the perks of being Lita’s boyfriend, which included having keys to her apartment. Along with permission to come and go without consulting her. To take her by surprise when she least expected it.
James wouldn’t even attempt lying to himself. He wanted to live with Lita. Whether it was here in the apartment or at his house ten minutes away, he wanted to live his life immersed in every goddamn facet of her. The way she woke up like a cat, rubbing her cheek on the pillow and purring in her throat. How she only ever drank one sip of coffee, then switched to orange juice. The pride she took in the apartment and the personalization of her space. He didn’t want to take that away from her any time soon, so he contented himself with spending the night as often as possible, without taking away from what she’d accomplished on her own.
After returning, he’d questioned his desire to continue as band manager for Old News, wondering if he should leave Lita to rule the professional part of her life, but she’d been horrified at the idea of him not returning. And in the spirit of being honest with himself, the idea of Lita traveling around the world without him? It didn’t sit well, to put it mildly.
As James climbed the stairs, Lita started the drumming section over, improvement noticeable with each run-through. Practice time was about to be over, though. James was starved out of his fucking mind for his girlfriend…and his intentions were the furthest thing from pretty. They were dark, dirty, and urgent. Just the way Lita liked them. Not that she would tell him that until after. Oh no.
Over the last two months, James had been beyond relieved to discover he found the same overwhelming pleasure making love to Lita that he did playing rough. It was just a different type of pleasure. Smooth instead of coarse. Sweet instead of razor-sharp. Every time their bodies were joined, his soul threatened to burst free, no matter how or when or where.
But today…today his urges were dealing in specifics.
He stopped in the doorway of Lita’s second bedroom, his gaze tracing the line of her neck, the toned muscles of her back as she played the drums. Christ, how had he managed to keep her? Her beauty couldn’t be described and it only increased with every passing day. He knew that for a fact because he never stopped looking at her. Couldn’t force himself to look away.
The amazing part being…Lita was usually looking right back at him. They’d started a tradition of sorts, when James’s old worries crept up after a particularly hard session in bed. When he looked at her disheveled state and wondered if he’d been right before. That he was bad for her. Not that she allowed his thoughts to get far, usually climbing on him and making him talk. Express his worries out loud. Their tradition had started with him, during that empty month in the Modesto motel room when he thought living without Lita was his only option. When his memories of her were the only thing keeping him sane. Now, he shared them with Lita. He recounted things she’d done and forgotten about, but of which he remembered every detail. That time she’d bought parachute pants and given the entire band, including him, the silent treatment for laughing. That time she’d skinned her knee stage diving so badly it needed stiches and he’d carried her a mile to the hospital because the fans were blocking the road and thus, the ambulance. The way she’d cried into his chest the whole way, breaking his heart in half. That time she’d bought him a bow tie for Christmas that squirted water, and he’d actually worn it with a straight face. The way she’d looked so pleased he’d almost broken down and kissed the life out of her.
Now, James narrowed his eyes on Lita. Had she shivered? Or was that his imagination? Secure in the music disguising any noises he would make, James lowered the zipper of his jeans and gave his growing cock room to extend. Knowing what would come next, a tremor moved through his hands before they went steady. Still and ready.
When he reached over to flip off the overhead light, a cut-off scream from Lita found his ears. “Who’s ther—”
His hand clamped over her mouth. He dragged her off the stool, knocking it onto its side in the process. She kicked and twisted, struggling to get free, but James held fast, grunting when her heel connected with a shin. “Who’s there?” He spun her around, pushing her body back against the closest wall. “The man who fits, little girl. That’s who.”
James settled his open mouth against her neck’s pulse, licking the unruly flutter. Both of her wrists were manacled in one hand and pinned over her head, freeing the other to reach beneath her skirt and divest her of underwear with a tearing sound. Having her pussy bare always made her kick up a fuss and this time was no different, her body bucking and writhing, an unwilling prisoner. The force of her struggle sent her hips bouncing off the wall, right back into his, where his cock waited for the contact. “Stop.” she whimpered. “Please.”
His mouth raked over her cleavage as he fisted his dick. “Save some of that begging for when you really need it.” He dragged the head of his erection through her slick folds before surging up in one savage move to fill Lita, her piercing scream ringing in his ears. “Now. Now would be a good time to beg.”
“Please. No.”
Releasing her bound limbs, James jerked Lita’s knees up around his hips and took her screaming against the wall, gritting his teeth against the smarting pain of her slapping hands…the dark satisfaction that followed in short order when she stopped resisting and her body began undulating in time with his merciless drives. Her moaning and wetness and sweat and fuck. All of her. Everything.
“You fight me, but your body needs punishing, doesn’t it? You love it.” He cupped her bottom, parting her cheeks in an attempt to get even deeper. “You love me?”
Her nod was uneven, green eyes glassy, but fierce. “Yes. Yes.” She clung to his shoulders as her body started to shudder. “I love
you.”
James followed her over the edge. “I love you, too. God, I love you so much.”
Minutes later, the perspiration cooling on their bodies, James gathered Lita close as possible on the bed and whispered another memory into her ear. About the time he watched her eat chocolate donuts. How she’d looked so brave.
THE END
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Thrown Down
(Made in Jersey #2)
By Tessa Bailey
Coming April 4, 2016
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He has one last chance to deserve the girl of his dreams...
Overachiever River Purcell was never supposed to be a struggling single mom, working double shifts just to make ends meet. Nor was she supposed to be abandoned by her high school sweetheart, breaking her heart into a thousand jagged pieces. Now Vaughn De Matteo is back in town, his sights set on her...and River is in danger of drowning a second time.
No one believed Hook's resident bad boy was good enough for River. Not even Vaughn himself. But he'll fight like hell to win back the woman he never stopped loving, to keep the daughter he never expected, and convince himself he's worth their love in the process––even if he has to rely on their fierce and undeniable sexual chemistry.
But even as River's body arches under his hungered touch, the demons of the past lurk in the shadows. Waiting for Vaughn to repeat his mistakes one last time...
* * * *
“How much longer?”
Vaughn De Matteo groaned the words into River Purcell’s sweaty neck. This was it. His life was over. Or beginning. Fuck if he knew. His world had been whittled down to one incredible fact. The girl he’d been in love with since time began—or so it seemed—was beneath him in a rucked up prom dress.
And she was minutes from turning eighteen.
“I…” The breathy music of her voice warmed his ear. “The clock s-says two more minu—” She broke off on a cry when Vaughn got pumping again, thrusting his abused cock up against the lace barrier of her panties, creaking the motel room bed springs. Christ. They’d been at this for an hour. Vaughn getting worked up and River soothing him back down. To wait.
“Who did you dance with dressed like this?” His voice had gone hoarse, scraped, tortured. “You look like some kind of fairy.”
“Only because I knew I’d see you afterward,” River whispered, pushing back the hair that fell into his face. “I don’t dress up for anyone else.”
Vaughn’s laugh sounded agonized as he dragged his forehead down the center of River’s body. Through her cleavage, down the labored flutter of her belly button, stopping at the source of his baser lust, his frustration. River’s pussy. And he hated himself for calling it such a vulgar name when those crucial minutes hadn’t ticked past yet, but Vaughn reasoned he’d earned that liberty by refusing to fuck his younger girlfriend for two painful years.
“One more minute, Vaughn.”
He exhaled a curse between her legs. “You dress up for me, huh? The no good prick who can’t afford nothin’ but a cheap place that rents by the hour?” After finally securing one of the condoms he’d brought around his hurting flesh, Vaughn curled his hands around River’s risen knees, unable to stop his lips from gliding over the swath of pink lace. “Ah, God. You sure you want this, doll?”
River’s fingers tugged at his hair, urging him back up her body. “You’re the stubborn one who made us wait. I’ve wanted nothing but this since my sophomore year. Nothing but you.” With those blue eyes shining up at him, those unbelievable words hanging in the air, Vaughn couldn’t have refrained from kissing River if world peace depended on it. How’d I get this lucky? I shouldn’t have gotten this lucky. Senior class presidents from educated families don’t date thieving dropouts with no future. No one had clued her in?
When Vaughn finally managed to tear himself away from the frantic kiss, she surprised him by dropping the pink panties onto the bed beside them. “Time’s up.”
He cupped his girl’s cheeks, careful not to abrade her skin with the roughness of his palms. “I love you so damn bad, River Purcell.”
“I love you, too.” Her voice was unsteady, her fingers tunneling in his hair. “I’ll never, ever stop.”
Vaughn double-checked the digital bedside clock—midnight—before fusing their mouths together. As both of them whispered oh God, oh God, oh God, Vaughn bared his teeth against River’s swollen lips and pushed through River’s virginity. His prolonged growl of pleasure was eventually followed by River’s, the bed springs and distant sounds of televisions blaring joined them to create a symphony all their own.
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Table of Contents
Book Description
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Epilogue
Tessa Bailey, Rough Rhythm: A Made in Jersey Novella (1001 Dark Nights)