Whole Lotta Love: Rock Star Hearts - Book #1

by Amity Cross

  “You’re so fucking sweet,” I whispered into her ear.

  She opened her legs farther, allowing me to bury deeper still, and the moment she took all of me, her body quivered. Shit, she was a siren. A fucking goddess. She didn’t put on a performance; she just lost herself in the moment, letting her body respond to mine, telling me what she liked without the over the top commentary so many women thought men needed to get off.

  I pulled back and thrust into her again, my hand curling into her hair. My mouth found hers and we kissed amongst heavy breaths as I pounded my cock into her slickness. All too soon she was clenching my dick, coming so hard a strangled cry tore from her lips.

  My cock flared and my release burst from my tip, my hips jerking as I lost myself to the climax. My breath was hot against her neck as I licked a path along her skin, the salt of her sweat tangy on my tongue.

  Her body trembled then began to relax as the last of her orgasm faded, and I left my cock inside her, relishing the feel of us joined together. I loved to put my dick in a lot of pussy—a lot of arse and lips too—but right now, I’d forgotten what it felt like to be with another women. All I saw was her.

  Juniper.

  Finally, I pulled out and settled beside her, my arms wrapping around her slim frame.

  I should be fucking terrified, but I wasn’t. I was... content. The rest of the world had fallen away, and it was just me and her and this place. The stadiums, the meet and greets, the photoshoots, and interviews were a world away, almost like they’d happened to someone else.

  Outside, the sky was finally coming alive with the fire of a spectacular sunrise.

  “Do you want to hear some of our new songs?” I asked.

  She blinked, her long lashes brushing against her flushed cheeks.

  “You can say no,” I whispered.

  “Yes,” she said, raising her head from the pillow, “I’ll listen to them.”

  Grinning like a bloody school boy, I leaned over the edge of the bed and found my jeans. My phone was still in the pocket, and suddenly I was glad I’d decided to rejoin the world in some small way.

  I’d gone to the next town over and got the latest iPhone straight off the shelf, no ID required. There was no SIM card in it, but people didn’t seem to need a phone number to get in contact these days—WiFi was all it took. The moment I signed into my online accounts, a barrage of messages had downloaded and almost crashed the fucking thing.

  Juniper sat, wrapping herself in a blanket, and picked up a pair of headphones, plugging the cord into my phone. They were the kind that went over her ears and canceled out background noise, which were the perfect kind to listen to music in my opinion. I pulled up the songs—a rough cut of the album that’d just finished being mastered the day I took off—and with a shaking finger, pressed play.

  Fuck, I was nervous. I’d never given a shit what people thought about our music before. Fans, reviewers, friends, the record label, they could all go jump for all I cared, but this woman in bed next to me? What she thought mattered to me.

  Juniper was naked, the sheet wrapped loosely over her shoulders, and her slender hand held the headphones over her ears. I watched her, transfixed, as her teeth tugged at her bottom lip. Her head swayed softly from side to side and I edged closer.

  Fuck, my dick was hard again.

  Finally, she opened her eyes, folded her arms on her knees, and rested her head in the nook of her elbow, but she wasn’t done listening yet. The next track played while she drank me in with her emerald eyes.

  My gut twisted and I rubbed my palm up and down her back. She hid her smile and pressed pause, taking off the headphones. Then she made a show of wrapping up the cord and setting my phone down on the bed.

  “So?” I asked, desperate for her approval.

  Juniper tossed the headphones onto the floor. Snaking her arms around my neck, her fingers threaded through the hair at my nape and tugged.

  “Who writes the songs?” she asked.

  “Huh?” I blinked, dazed by her closeness.

  “Who writes them?”

  “We all do,” I replied. “I write the lyrics and we all work on the music.”

  “Those words are yours?”

  I nodded, tugging her into my lap. The sheet twisted between us, cock blocking me from sliding inside her again.

  “I see it now. I couldn’t before.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When I listened to your music the other week, I was seeing the product. The performance. Don’t get me wrong, it was hot, and I really like your stuff. I can’t believe I didn’t know it before.” She hadn’t even taken a breath. “I can see why you’re so popular—”

  I ran my fingers over her lips. “And now?”

  “It’s not the music that’s the problem,” she said her eyes locking with mine. “You love it. It’s in your soul.”

  “Then what is the problem?”

  “The connection between the music and everything else,” she began. “A link is missing.”

  I stared at her, spiralling deeper into this reckless desire we shared.

  “Will you help me find it?” I asked cupping her cheek. “Will you?”

  “Yeah,” she said, her thumb caressing the tear that’d unknowingly escaped my eye. “I...” She let the words die on her tongue and I raked my fingers through her silky hair.

  Shit, she was waiting for the moment I dumped her off my lap, walked out the door, and never came back. That was my reputation—fuck ‘em and leave ‘em. One night only, no second chances, no forevers. The only person who’d come close was Mallory and that relationship was fake as fuck.

  Juniper was different. She was the light in my otherwise dark world. She’d pulled me up when everyone else was content to let me drown, but it was more than that. Much more.

  “This is different,” I murmured. “You’re different.”

  “Am I? Am I really?”

  Yeah, she was. She was in me now. Her mark was on my soul.

  “You’re stuck with me, Juniper Rowe,” I whispered. “Whatever happens next... well, fuck ‘em.”

  Two days later, when I finally tore myself out of her arms and went back to the beach house, I was surprised to see a car parked on the bluff, half a kilometre from the front gate.

  I’d left Juniper to open her shop while I finally went to find a change of clothes and shave the sandpaper off my face. Her words, not mine. I was in two minds about letting the stubble grow into a beard.

  It was shocking how easy things were between us. I wanted to be with her and it was screwing with everything I knew about life. Fake had become so real that when real life had finally started calling, I was fucking questioning it.

  Juniper terrified me as much as she enamoured.

  I pulled my car off to the side of the road and let the engine run, watching the slate grey sedan ahead. My body still hummed with the aftershocks of my monumental sex-a-thon and I rubbed my cock as I spied a figure moving along the cliffside.

  A figure with a fucking telephoto lens.

  13

  Juniper

  Two whole days of hot sex had left me aching in places I never knew existed. I throbbed between my legs, the pulse echoing the thrust of Sebastian’s cock, and it was all I could do to not reach down and massage some of the tenderness away.

  There were tons of great things about staying in bed with a hot guy on a cold winter weekend, but the downside was I’d been neglecting the business. It wasn’t like there were any customers—most days none came at all—but I still had the online store to maintain.

  Monday morning had finally rolled around and here I was, sitting behind the counter with a can of energy drink, the laptop open with a dismal looking spreadsheet on the screen, and my hands buried in my favourite oversized green wooly jumper.

  I knew things were rotten in financial land, but not like this. Not to the point where the electricity might get shut off next month.

  Still, my mind wandered to Sebastia
n’s cock and all the ways he’d put it inside me. My thighs clenched and I shook my head, staring at the spreadsheet. Looking at the numbers again, it served as the proverbial bucket of ice water I needed to cool myself off.

  The door opened, letting in a blast of cold air, and I looked up as Vanessa and Ziggy walked in.

  “Oh, I see Sebastian finally found the strength to pull out,” she declared.

  “Vanessa!” I shrieked.

  “So how was he?” She perched on the end of the counter and stared at me expectantly as Ziggy settled into his bed at my feet. “How long, how many times, and is he any good with his mouth? I bet he loves to suck and lick. Does he? Huh? Does he like to eat out?”

  My cheeks felt like they were on fire and I pressed my palm against my searing flesh.

  Vanessa sighed and punctuated the sound with a pout. “Hugo doesn’t like to eat out. He goes straight for the—”

  “Please stop!”

  “Just once, I’d like him to—”

  “Vanessa.”

  “So where is the rock god? Waiting for you upstairs?” She wiggled her eyebrows up and down suggestively, making me groan.

  “No, he’s gone back to the beach house.” I turned my attention back on the laptop. There was a hell of a lot of red numbers and my stomach churned.

  “But he’ll be back, right?” Vanessa waited expectantly. “He wants to be your boyfriend, right?”

  I tensed and did my best to look nonchalant. We hadn’t really talked about it. I knew what I wanted, but I was too afraid to admit it to myself, let alone Sebastian. He’d told me I was different, but what did that even mean? Hot sex didn’t make a boyfriend, especially when his job was to be hot, famous, and available. Just thinking about it made me break out in a rash, so I was content to stay inside my bubble for now.

  “It’s only been a couple of days,” I said with a scowl. “Who knows what this is.”

  “Okay...” She shucked off her coat and hung it on the hook by the door before returning to the counter. “What’s wrong then? You’ve got that look on your face. The one that looks like a cat’s arse.”

  “Same old, same old,” I muttered, not wanting to be that person. You know, the one who always complained and never found anything positive to talk about. Those people never lasted long in the world before they got dumped. I didn’t want to be that person. I’d be forced sunshine and rainbows until I died.

  “Is it that bad?” Vanessa frowned and leaned forward, peering at the laptop screen. “Oh, Juni...”

  “This Sebastian thing has been a nice distraction, but I can’t forget reality,” I said, fighting back tears. “I have to make a decision, Ness. A real tough one.”

  “Things will pick up in a couple of months,” she argued. “We can do double-time listing books online if you want. You don’t have to pay me.”

  “You already work for free.”

  “I know, but I like hanging out, and Ziggy loves his Aunt Juni.” She turned the laptop around so she could look at the numbers. “We’ve been low before, right?”

  “Not like this,” I replied. “Every year is worse than the last. People don’t want to shop for brand-new books anymore, let alone secondhand ones in a town on the arse cheek of the world. People are into minimalism and downsizing, and online shopping with free shipping.” I looked at the shelves of books that stretched along both walls and down the middle. Some were stacked floor to ceiling in some places. “Some of these books haven’t been touched in at least fifteen years.”

  “We can advertise,” she said. “Do market stalls, giveaways, sausage sizzles... We can host a pizza and book party!”

  “Ness, I can barely afford to eat.”

  “What?” she whispered. “Why didn’t you say something?”

  “I didn’t want to worry you.”

  Vanessa looked forlorn and completely powerless. There was nothing she could do to help, it was just the way the world was going. Bookstores were a romantic notion, but there was no money in the Page Break anymore. Not unless I did something drastic. “You’re thinking about selling,” she declared. “Aren’t you?”

  I shrugged. “It’s crossed my mind.”

  “You can’t sell the Page Break, Juniper! It’s a Port Mambie institution!”

  “I own the building,” I said. That was thanks to the last time Mum felt responsible after Dad had died. “I could rent it out.” Or sell it.

  “But the shop will be gone. Your mum’s shop.”

  I curled my fingers into the sleeves of my jumper and bit my bottom lip. Fuck, I was scared shitless. What use was a pile of books if I couldn’t keep the lights on? I was already eating two-minute noodles to afford my overheads. A bank loan was bad news and a credit card was even worse.

  “What do I do, Ness?” I looked up at my friend, desperate for an answer to all my problems. “I don’t want to let her go.”

  Her shoulders sank at the same time the door opened.

  Sebastian chose that moment to walk in and hesitated when he saw the looks on our faces. It was all I could do not to throw myself into his arms, but he had enough of his own problems.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, studying me.

  Snapping the laptop closed, I forced a smile and said, “Nothing. I thought you went back to the beach house?”

  “I did, but I came to the conclusion that it’s boring as fuck.” He eyed Vanessa. “Are you sure everything’s cool?”

  “I need to see Hugo about a, uh... thing,” she said, backing towards the door. Grabbing her coat, she made a run for it.

  “That was subtle,” Sebastian said, throwing a look after her. Turning his attention towards me, he took her place beside the counter. “That Robbo dick giving you trouble again?”

  I’d practically forgotten about that douche nozzle. Shaking my head, I rubbed my eyes and stood, resting my head against Sebastian’s shoulder. I knew he was going through stuff, but I bet he didn’t have these kinds of problems—cash flow, homelessness, bankruptcy. If I believed Google, his net worth was in the millions.

  “Hey,” he murmured, taking my hand in his, “tell me, Juniper.”

  “The shop’s in trouble,” I admitted, raising my head. “It has been for a while. People just don’t want to shop for books anymore, let alone in a small-town on the edge of nowhere.”

  “You’re in trouble?”

  “Yeah. Looks like it.”

  Sebastian tensed, his hand dropping from mine. “So that’s why you were asking about the tabloid the other night.” His eyes narrowed.

  “What?” I blinked, dazed by his sudden accusation.

  “You need money.” He shrugged. “It’s only natural to feel tempted.”

  “I never...”

  “Tell that to the guy I caught with a camera up at the beach house.”

  I froze, my heart twisting. Someone had found him? I’d never betray his trust like that, but he was looking at me like I’d kicked his kitten and ruined his play lunch. A pang of anger flashed through my veins and I pushed away from him.

  “You’re accusing me of selling you out?” I scoffed and shook my head in disbelief. That was the first conclusion he jumped to? “First, I wouldn’t even know how to fucking sell shit to the media. Second, what the fuck? You just accuse without asking?”

  “So you don’t want to save your shop?” he asked, his eyes turning to ice.

  “This is the last thing I have left of my mother!” I exclaimed. “Of course, I want to save it!”

  “At any cost?”

  I stared at him, my mouth flapping uselessly. Was he looking for a way out of us already? He’d fucked his issues out of his system and it was now time to go back to his charmed fucking life where he was rich and had everything he ever wanted. He slummed it, got his fill, and now it was time to shit all over me.

  “What is this?” I demanded.

  “You tell me, Juniper.”

  I didn’t like the way he spat my name. A few hours ago, when he had his cock in m
e, he’d whispered it like it was a prayer, but now it sounded like he had a giant turd in his mouth.

  “You’re accusing me of something that never crossed my mind. You tell me.”

  His jaw tensed, and I wondered if this was just him acting out. If he was the one who was scared. Maybe I was delusional. I was a nobody, after all.

  “Oh, God. This was never real, was it?” I whispered, my heart cracking under the pressure. I was on the verge of losing everything and I still wanted to do the right thing. I’d been suckered into sleeping with the guy, hadn’t I? I was today’s cosmic joke.

  “This isn’t real?” he asked, his expression twisting.

  “You tell me,” I shot back, letting the floodgates smash open. “This is my life—warts, bankruptcy, and all—but it isn’t yours, is it? When you go back to your band and your touring and all the red carpets, then what, Sebastian?”

  He stared at me and said nothing. He didn’t need to because his answer was written all over his face. The bubble had burst in record time.

  “This was always going to be a fantasy, wasn’t it?” I murmured.

  “Do what you fucking want,” he said, his voice sending a chill down my spine. “Sell me out to save your stupid shop. I don’t care. I’m used to it.”

  “Are you listening to yourself?” My eyes were full of tears and I didn’t even try and stop them from spilling over. “Not everyone is out to screw you over, Sebastian. I never called any tabloid magazine. I’d never betray your trust, but you’re just looking for an excuse to get out of this.”

  “Fuck you.” His words stung, and I fought back tears.

  “You want to know what the missing link is? It’s hiding behind your fucking paranoia.”

  Ziggy growled and leapt out of his bed. He barked at Sebastian, standing in-between us like a fierce little guard dog.

  Sebastian glared at me, his silence deafening.

  “Fuck this,” he finally managed to spit out. “I’m gone.”

  His words were hot pokers driving through my heart and I was frozen in place as he strode from the shop, slamming the door behind him like it was some kind of fucked up full stop.