Rock Steady

by Dawn Ryder

  They made their way to an unmarked entrance that led them to a private Italian restaurant.

  “Paparazzi-free zone,” Kate said with a flourish of her hand. “Something I undervalued the idea of just a short year ago.”

  Jewel accepted a menu before answering, “They are insane.”

  Kate shook her head as she turned a page in the menu. “I ended up in a fountain once, trying to escape. Taz rescued me. Yoon is his cousin.”

  The bodyguard was seated at another table with Steven.

  “Honestly, I think this is a little overreacting,” Jewel said. There were no prices on the menu. That meant it was way out of her budget. The money Tom had given her was about to be yanked out of her “resettlement fund.” At least the place smelled amazing.

  “Good luck convincing the boys of that,” Kate informed her with a hint of mirth in her voice. “Ramsey in particular.”

  Jewel had broken off a piece of bread and pointed it at Kate. “That’s hitting below the belt. Where’s your sister spirit?”

  “I went through a fountain; you got run off the road,” Kate countered. “Besides, I’ve got my hands full with my man-child husband. I’m sort of hoping you’ll throw a saddle on Ramsey.”

  Jewel snorted at the mental image, but the look of expectation in Kate’s eyes sent a shiver of anticipation down Jewel’s body.

  * * *

  The party was still in full swing when Jewel made it back to the hotel. The mood was changing though, the vibe shifting to something more along the lines of “Red Light District.”

  Somewhere down the hallway there was a different song being played. It was deeper, with more bass.

  “The boys are working,” Kate said.

  Kate crooked her finger at Jewel and then laid it against her lips as they neared the side of the hotel where the presidential suites were located. Kate slid her key card through the door and opened one side of the double-door entrance slowly.

  The music spilled out like vapors. It wrapped around them as Kate gestured Jewel inside. There wasn’t any artificial light on in the suite. Instead, there were candles, their golden light illuminating Syon and Ramsey as they played near the open patio doors.

  It was captivating. Ramsey was leaning back, the guitar across his groin as he fingered the strings. There was no denying how deep his music ran—she would have sworn she saw it flowing out of his soul in that moment. Kate kicked her shoes off, so her heels wouldn’t disturb the moment. Jewel did the same and moved closer as Syon and Ramsey continued to play.

  The pair were connected somehow. Jewel wouldn’t be so arrogant as to say she understood it, only that she knew she was witnessing a connection that ran soul deep. It was Toxsin’s foundation, that thing that so many people didn’t credit the rockers with having.

  Dedication to their music.

  Sure, it was heavy metal.

  But in that moment, there was an undeniable beauty.

  They finished and plunged the suite into silence. There was a laptop on the table in front of them. Syon punched something on it, and the screen lit up. It was muted, but with only the candlelight in the room, it seemed bright. Ramsey leaned over and looked at the screen, both of them staring intently at whatever was there before Syon touched a stylus to the screen and made a change. Ramsey nodded in agreement.

  They cued it up again, filling the suite with sound once more.

  Ramsey locked gazes with her. Her breath got lodged in her throat as he pumped the music out while watching her. A chill raced across her skin and down her spine, leaving her nipples hard and her toes curled. She wanted to sway with the tempo, let her hips follow along in time with the rhythm. He was gauging her reaction, watching her to see what her response was. She got the impression she was seeing a part of him very few people had ever glimpsed. It was the thing she’d seen on stage, just glossed over by his performance persona.

  This was who he was. The demon he embraced instead of fought.

  It was fucking beautiful.

  The music was reaching its finale. Kate moved closer, her body flowing with the melody. She stretched up and kissed her husband. He pulled out the last few notes as his mouth claimed hers. Kate was between Ramsey and Syon, in contact with both of them as she stretched up onto her toes to kiss Syon. Ramsey didn’t move away—he was finishing up the last of the notes, still watching Jewel, still waiting to see what she’d do.

  She realized he wanted her honest, knee-jerk response.

  Isn’t that what you crave from him as well?

  It was.

  She was in motion without further thought. Moving toward him, letting herself be caught in his gravitational pull. He was waiting for her, his eyes glittering with anticipation. She smelled him as she got closer, the scent of his skin filling her senses. It drove her insane, and she was happy to dispense with sanity.

  All she wanted was the madness he stirred in her.

  She flattened her hands on his chest, slipping between the open fronts of his vest to connect with his bare skin. The nipple bar was warm, and she teased it, turning it with a gentle touch as she watched him.

  He curled his lips back and bit the air between them. He cupped her nape, squeezing it just hard enough to send a jolt of awareness down her spine. But he didn’t kiss her. He released her and set his guitar aside. The candle flames flickered as he turned and scooped her off her feet, carrying her through a doorway into one of the two bedrooms the suite offered.

  The door closed behind them, leaving the candlelight behind. The darkness suited her. She wanted to do everything she’d always shied away from. All of the things the night was fabled to be full of.

  She wanted those. All of them.

  Immoral or not. Maybe even more so if there was depravity involved. To put it bluntly, she wanted to sin.

  She slid her hands into his hair and gripped it before he found his way to the bed. He sucked in a harsh breath as she angled her head and kissed him. She was hungry and went after his mouth with the appetite of a starving woman.

  Ramsey let her legs down onto the bed and captured her nape as he kissed her back, hard.

  She purred with delight.

  Not a soft, cat sound. More like a lioness. She didn’t want to be petted; she wanted to take what she pleased.

  And it was right within reach.

  She kissed her way down his neck. His skin was hot and soft, but the muscles corded as he lifted his chin and stretched out to offer himself to her. She kept going until she found the bar adorning his right nipple. She licked it, drawing a word of profanity from him.

  It filled her with boldness.

  She reached down and found the ties holding his leather pants closed. She tugged at them and lifted her head when they didn’t release easily. It took a moment before she loosened them completely and opened them.

  His cock sprang out, hard and hot. She teased it with her fingertips as she slipped lower on the bed.

  “Jewel—” He caught a handful of her hair, stopping her.

  But it was the stress in his voice that pleased her. She teased his cock again, drawing her fingers from the tip to the base and then back up. He shuddered, his body responding instantly.

  “My turn,” she muttered determinedly. “And you’re going to just take it.”

  His grip tightened in her hair, his features hard as he contemplated her. Jewel didn’t leave the matter open to his opinion though. She leaned down, pulling her own hair until he released it. She heard him suck in his breath as she teased the head of his cock with her lips.

  “Holy shit!”

  He growled when she opened her mouth and took the head of the organ between her lips. There was a slight salty taste. She drew her tongue across it, suddenly finding a use for all the coarse suggestions her ex-boss had delighted in vocalizing.

  With Ramsey, they suddenly lost their seediness. Became something she was eager to try. She wanted to drive him to the extremes he’d pushed her to. Wanted to know she wasn’t alone in b
eing susceptible to his allure.

  So she opened her mouth wider and sucked more of his cock inside. The part that didn’t fit, she clasped her fingers around and stroked.

  “Jewel…” His voice was stressed. “Stop…”

  She doubled her efforts instead, using her tongue on the underside of the head, moving up and down as she hollowed her cheeks and sucked. She pumped her hand down to the base and cradled his balls in her fingers.

  He made a sound that delighted her, because she recalled feeling so strained when he’d been going down on her. He was close to orgasm, and she had every intention of pushing him over the edge. He fisted a hand in her hair again, pumping his hips toward her. She felt him straining to bury more of his length inside her mouth a moment before he started spurting.

  Victory was sweet. She savored the way his grip tightened in her hair and the frantic motion of his body as he thrust toward her. She kept his cock inside her mouth, sucking hard.

  He collapsed on the bed, his chest rising heavily as his eyes rolled back. “That was…fucking…awesome…”

  He was spent, his body relaxing as sleep claimed him. She enjoyed the sight and sometime later ended up slipping into sleep next to him.

  It felt right.

  That idea conflicted with so many things she’d believed to be true until she’d met him.

  Well, there was no arguing the feeling.

  None whatsoever.

  * * *

  “You were proving a point to me.”

  Ramsey had been watching her sleep. Or wake up, as it were. The first thing she saw was his face when she opened her eyes the next morning. He was on his side, his head resting in his hand, his dark gaze on her.

  “Well…” She blinked, trying to jump-start her brain and not sound like a complete idiot.

  “Getting even with me,” he continued, as though she was alert enough to follow the conversation.

  She sat up and pushed her hair out of her face. “That’s a little harsh.”

  He sat up, looking too big by far for her to handle so early in the morning. “Right on the money. You wanted to push me around the same way I did you.”

  “Look, it’s too early in the morning for your commitment issues.” She crawled out of the bed and tried to pull her clothing into some semblance of order.

  Ramsey was buck naked. His pants were lying across the back of a chair. He was so damned at ease in his skin, it actually pissed her off. She didn’t like thinking about how often he woke up in the buff with women.

  “Don’t be a bitch.”

  “Then don’t be a dick,” she shot back before throwing her hands into the air. “You’re looking for a fight, and I’m not interested.”

  “Because you still don’t like what I have to say,” he countered. “I’m not the guy you think I am.”

  She stopped with her hand on the door. It would have been wiser to keep going. But she turned around and stalked back toward him. He stiffened, but she reached down and locked her hand around his nape, pressing her mouth against his before he moved. His lips were frozen and stiff. She pressed a firm kiss against his mouth anyway before withdrawing.

  “Don’t tell me what to think.” She flipped around, intending to make a clean getaway.

  Ramsey hooked her around the waist and turned her back to face him. His eyes glittered with need. She got only a glimpse before he pressed his mouth against hers, threading his hand through her hair to hold her steady. It was a hard kiss, full of all the conflicting emotions inside him. He ravished her mouth, opening her lips and thrusting his tongue deep inside.

  She retaliated by sucking on it, boldly meeting him, refusing to be intimidated by his experience. His cock pressed into her belly, the hard presence setting off a throbbing in her clit.

  “Goddamnit.” He suddenly released her, stepping away.

  They stood there for a moment, both of them breathing heavily. The arousal was tangible, like a tension they shared.

  “You’re making me crazy.”

  Ramsey spoke, but Jewel felt like he was vocalizing what they were feeling. The need was growing, jerking at both of them. What bothered her most was how uncontrollable it was for them. He’d seemed so confident, so capable of rejecting her, that it had given her a false sense of security. She might fail, but it wouldn’t matter, because he’d refuse her in the end.

  That wasn’t happening.

  It scared her.

  And there was no shame in admitting it, only a very frightening wisdom in looking it square on and acknowledging the reality.

  She ended up back in her room, leaning against the door as she tried to quell the urge to call her mom and book a bus ticket home.

  Ramsey was going to smash her world to bits. The problem was, she was more afraid of missing the opportunity than of the consequences. Scared she’d kick herself for years over the discarded opportunity.

  She was an idiot.

  But she was staying, because she couldn’t hide from herself.

  * * *

  Show night had a vibe all its own.

  Jewel started to feel it before noon. The crew was moving around, their steps lighter. Brenton was flashing his smile. Kate was in her workshop, while Jewel enjoyed having her own space. It really was a marvel the way the crew transformed a hotel into a living space while they were there.

  Her workshop was empty today as the crew started making their way toward the arena where the concert was going to be held. Steven was hovering, clearly restless as the afternoon stretched on into evening. Jewel took the time to make sure her equipment was clean and worked on a new piece for her sketchbook.

  “That’s wicked.”

  She jumped, her hand slipping. Her unexpected company grabbed her wrist, lifting it away from the sketch.

  “Wouldn’t want that piece to be ruined now, would we, luv?”

  Jewel twisted away and stood up. The guy was a pistol, sharp and deadly. His eyebrows were slashes, clearly professionally maintained. He had a head of golden, honey-blond hair that was spiked up in front but short on the back of his head. An earring winked at her from his ear as he grinned, clearly pleased with getting the jump on her.

  “I’m Rage,” he offered in a deep-timbered tone that sent a little shiver down her spine. It was like liquid dark chocolate, that voice.

  “I said I’d introduce you,” Kate said from the doorway. Her hair was held in a clip on top of her head, which Jewel had come to recognize as her working mode. “If Jewel lets Steven kick your tail for sneaking up on her, you’ll have it coming.”

  Rage offered her a short chuckle. “Bring it on. No one lets me have any fun anymore. Not since Sammy got hot under the collar about the stitches on my chin.”

  Jewel considered the chin in question and found the faint pink line marking his skin.

  “Hey…What am I? Chopped liver?” Another man appeared behind Kate. He had slightly longer hair, but it was styled to the extreme. “Hmm…” He made a low, rumbling sound in his throat. “On second thought… Nice score, Rage.”

  “That’s Dare,” Rage offered.

  “They’re known as Act of Fury,” Kate supplied. “Samuel Moss produces them as well as Toxsin. Sam sent them over, since they don’t know how to take care of their leather any better than our boys.”

  “I am definitely a bad boy, darlin’,” Rage said, “but I’m also a real good man when it counts.”

  He’d turned his attention back to Jewel as he finished. She propped her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes.

  Rage snickered. “I’m going to have to do better than that to shock you, aren’t I?”

  Jewel nodded.

  “Come on,” Kate said to Dare. “You’re making me miss my husband’s show. So let’s make this a good fitting.”

  “We flew in. Isn’t that worth missing a show you’ve seen over and over?” Dare asked as Kate left him standing in the hallway. He ended up following her.

  Jewel faced Rage. He’d parked himself against the wal
l, but she didn’t buy the relaxed pose for a second. He was gauging her.

  “Is there something I can do for you?” she asked.

  “Maybe. Since you’re approved by the big man, I can consider letting you loose on my skin.” He pushed away from the wall and snatched the sketchbook from the table.

  “Approved?” she questioned.

  Rage nodded as he turned to the sketch she’d been working on. “As in, you signed the confidentiality agreement and turned over the exclusive rights on the dragon you did for Ramsey. Image is something Sammy gets possessive about. I can’t have just anyone inking me.”

  He tapped the new sketch. “This is really dark. You’re pissed at someone.”

  “Maybe I know enough about my business to know dark sells well,” she answered. “I mean, you don’t exactly look like the pony and butterfly sort, and a lot of my clients look like you.”

  He scoffed at her. “They wish they looked like me.”

  She had to smile, because that was true in more cases than she cared to admit. A few mental images rose up to torment her. What had been seen could not be unseen. “Point taken.”

  He was going through her book, but she felt like he was seeing the sketches differently than most of her clients. He was another artist. He didn’t dismiss the personal element so many people were just blind to.

  “I heard you did the dragon personally for Ramsey,” Rage said when he’d reached the end of the book.

  “Yes.” She didn’t go into details about the rescue necessity.

  He set the book down and pegged her with a hard look. “What do you see for me?”

  “I don’t really know you well enough.” She was hedging. There was something about him that was intense, like Ramsey, only she wasn’t interested. In fact, her hackles were raised.

  He suddenly grinned, like she’d presented him with an opening. “In that case, I’m taking you to dinner. So you can get to know me.”

  “Ah…” Her mouth hung open as he reached out and tried to claim her wrist. She lifted her arm out of his reach, at least until he decided to lunge for it.