Looking up, I swallowed hard as I willed the gods to hear me. “Please keep him safe. I don’t care about me, just keep Exavier safe. Please.”
I closed my eyes, preparing for the inevitable. A huge wave of thunder boomed. I gasped and opened my eyes to find myself sitting in the back of Exavier’s SUV. I was completely dry and still dressed. Exavier was lying on his side with his head propped up, smiling at me.
“So, what did you like best about camping when you were little?” he asked, staring up at me with beautiful blue eyes.
I glanced out the window but found no sign anything had happened. Confused, but relieved to see him in one piece and safe, I scrambled towards him and threw my arms around his neck.
“You’re okay.”
Laughing, Exavier went to his back, allowing me to lay on top of him, hugging him tight. I clung to him, savoring the sound of his beating heart. The hardness of his chest and the warmth of his body left me feeling safe in his arms. Rubbing my cheek against his smooth skin, I exhaled deeply.
“Linds?”
“Hold me,” I said, so low I wasn’t sure he heard me.
The second his large, muscular arms wrapped around me and held me close to him, I gave in to the trembling that had wanted to overtake me. Whatever had made me hallucinate an attack was enough to let me know if anything happened to Exavier I’d be devastated. That should have scared me. It didn’t.
Exavier kissed the top of my head and caressed my back. “I’ve got you, baby, nothing can get you with me here. I promise.”
“Huh?”
“Snakes, they can’t get you in here,” he said, not sounding extremely convincing but I didn’t care. “So, how about I get us somewhere so you can use the bathroom?”
“No.” I hugged him tighter. “This is good. Right here, with you is good.”
“But, Linds…”
I eased my grip on him long enough to go for his lips. Pressing mine to his, I silenced him. A tiny chuckle escaped him. “That’s one way to shut me up.”
Moving down next to him, I kept my arms around him and he did the same to me. “I’m tired, Xavs.”
“Get some sleep, baby.”
* * * * *
“Feeling better?” Exavier asked as I came out of the restaurant's restroom.
I nodded, my eyes wide. “Yes. Much.”
He handed me a cup of coffee and leaned against the wall. A table full of women kept glancing in our direction, their attention focused solely on Exavier. He didn’t seem to notice or care. “What do you want to do today?”
Holding the coffee like it was a precious artifact, I stared up at him and shrugged. “What do you mean? I thought we were heading back. I need to stop in at the rec center and—”
“Lindsay, I called Myra. Everything is running smoothly there. You don’t have any classes today. So, what do you want to do?”
I gave him a droll look as I sipped my coffee. “I need a shower.”
“I think I spotted a lake down the road.” He arched a black brow. “We could go for a dip.”
“Exavier!”
The table full of women converged on us, crowding Exavier against the wall. “It is him. I told you it was.”
One of them thrust her chest out and tipped her head a bit, doing her best to look sexy and alluring. She looked like an idiot to me but I wasn’t a man so it might very well work with them. The way Exavier glanced at me told me he was concerned with how I’d take the fact he had fangirls.
Arching a brow, I took another sip of my coffee and smiled. One of them touched his arm and went to ruffle his hair. Instantly, my calm disposition went south.
“Ohmygod, look at him. He’s even more gorgeous in person.”
Gag.
I rolled my eyes.
One of the women gave a strained smile as she tried to fit her hands around Exavier’s biceps. “He’s huge.”
“We have tickets to your show,” another said, reaching up to pet him, too. “He is solid. Mmm.”
A short brunette glanced at me. “Are you his sister?”
My eyes widened as I choked on coffee. “Umm, no.” I guess I could kind of see why they would ask. My hair was almost black but Exavier was tan, bronzed almost everywhere I was pale white. His eyes were royal blue and mine emerald green. Never mind. I couldn’t figure out how the idiot came up with the idea of us being siblings.. I did know it made my stomach turn, almost as much as seeing Exavier be pawed.
“Sing something for us, please.”
“I can’t get over how big he is. All muscle.”
I’d had more than enough of it all. Setting my coffee cup down on an empty table, I rubbed my temple, doing my best to chase away the headache that was looming. “Oh, you should see how big his cock is. Giant. Rip you in two kind of thing. I’ll be walking funny for weeks. Now, if you’re done petting my husband…erm…Exavier.”
They jerked back from Exavier and his gaze flickered to me. A slow smile curved over his lips. In a flash he was on me, lifting me up and wrapping my legs around his waist. He walked us towards the bathroom I’d just come from, ignoring the gasps from the women and pushed the door open.
The minute it closed behind him, he set me down and locked it. Grinning, he leaned against it. “Husband? Rip you in two, huh?”
My cheeks reddened. I wanted to crawl under a stall and die from embarrassment. “Sorry. It popped out. I didn’t mean it. That made me sick to my stomach the way they were acting. I’ll go tell them I was just being a bitch. Move.”
“Hey, claiming the rock star guy is brave. People will no doubt come to pin medals to your chest.” He put his hand out to me and I went to him, unsure why I did.
Kiss me.
Looking into his blue eyes, I tried to make sense of the voice in my head. It sounded very much like Exavier.
Kiss me.
My entire body lit with the need to be closer to him. I leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around me. The second I felt his clothed erection, my breath hitched and I did what my mind seemed to want. I went to my tiptoes and kissed him. It was long, drugging, intoxicating.
My nipples hardened as Exavier slid his hands up and under my red top. His fingers skated over my sides slowly, followed close by an almost searing heat. He claimed my mouth fully, taking lead of the kiss and making it fierce.
Touch me.
I obeyed, running my hands up his torso and groaning into his mouth out of a need to have him filling me. Exavier turned us, pressing his body to mine and pinning my back to the door. His tongue plunged into my mouth and I ate him eagerly, wanting even more.
Exavier ground his body against mine, continuing our fiery kiss. I couldn’t make up my mind if I wanted to run my fingers through his hair or take his shirt off. I gave in and went with the shirt. It hit me then, what we were doing.
I was about to have sex with him in a public restroom.
“Xavs,” I whispered, breaking our kiss and panting. “We should probably separate now or…”
His breath came fast and hard as he nodded. “I end up taking you against this door and giving those girls an earful while I,” he ran his hand down my body and stopped just shy of putting it down my pants, “fill you. Rip you in two.”
I moaned as I kissed his jaw line. “We can’t do this here. We can’t do this at all. I’ll hurt you.”
The manly chuckle that came from him only served to add moisture to my already soaked pussy. “Hurt me, huh? Mmm, we’ll see about that but you’re right about one thing. We can’t do this here. But we will do it soon. I promise you that.”
He took a step back and then came at me fast. He captured my lips with his and kissed me tenderly. As he broke away, he planted a tiny kiss on the tip of my nose. “Okay, now we can go.”
Shaken from the raw display of attraction, I let him take my hand. He opened the door and nodded at the women still standing there. “My wife reaffirmed her assessment that I’m huge all over.”
Exavier didn’t give me ti
me to protest, not that I would have. Instead, he spun me around and kissed me again.. My toes curled and my stomach tightened as I clung to him, powerless to do anything but accept all he had to offer.
As he drew back slowly, his lust-filled gaze stayed locked on me. “We should eat before I take you back into the bathroom and have you instead.”
I nodded, wishing he would turn me around and march me into the bathroom.
He smiled. “I love you.”
That did it. It snapped me out of the sex-craved stupor I’d been in. My gaze darted around and I tried to pull away from him. He held tight to me and pressed his lips to my ear. “Oh, come on, they’re eating this up, Linds. You can say it back to me. I’m your husband after all.”
Cupping his face with one hand, I forced a smile to my face. “I’m starving. If you don’t feed me soon, I’ll be too worn down to let you have your way with me again.”
“I love you,” he repeated, not giving an inch.
I grinned. “Feed me.”
“I love you.” He kissed my neck.
“Yes, but will you love me when I leave you for a chef because he’ll feed me?” I asked, artfully dodging repeating the phrase to him.
He slapped my butt playfully. “I don’t share. Let’s go eat.”
“We should really get going. You have dinner with your parents tonight,” Exavier said, his hand on my lower back.
Groaning, I picked my head up from its rather comfy spot on his shoulder and stared at him. “I don’t want to. This is nice. I like smelling bad with you and doing nothing.”
Exavier chuckled. “I smell bad?”
Burying my face in his armpit, I wrinkled my nose. “I think we could both use a shower but I don’t want to leave here. In fact, leave me here. This shady spot is perfect. All except for the ants I’m trying really hard to ignore. I haven’t been this lazy since I was a little girl.” My brow furrowed as I looked up at the oversized maple tree. I was thankful Exavier had selected the spot. It was shady enough to keep me from having issues with my eyes. “In fact, I seem to remember wasting many a day under a big tree similar to this one.”
“You do, huh? Was it with your friend? The one you had a crush on?” Exavier asked, picking blades of grass with one hand while caressing my lower back with the other.
I nodded. “Yep. As soon as the sun was at its peak, he’d insist we go hang out under this big tree he had in his backyard. I think he knew the sun bothers my eyes after a bit. So, needless to say, lots of time was spent under a tree. What about you? Anything stick out for you?”
Exavier reached down and adjusted himself. “Around you, sticking out is my number one concern.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as I snuggled closer to him. “You know, when you showed up at the rec center yesterday morning, I never imagined I’d be hanging out under a tree in the middle of nowhere with you, begging you not to make me go to dinner with my parents.”
“What did you imagine you’d be doing with me?” he asked, adjusting himself again.
I licked my lower lip and did my best not to dwell on the fact that all I wanted to do was stroke his cock. “Stop doing that. I can’t quit picturing you naked. I thought we had this talk already.”
“Yes and the entire time you were yelling at me to stop drawing attention to the fact you have left me with a permanent hard-on, all I could think about was sinking into you so I blocked most of it out.”
I let out a soft, shaky laugh. “Yeah, I had the same thoughts running through my head. I guess you’re right. I need to get home and get cleaned up. I can hardly show up for one of my mother’s horrible attempts at marrying me off smelling like this with ants crawling on me and grass in my hair.”
“You smell wonderful and look beautiful. I think the guy will be more than happy to get the ants off you and pick the grass from your hair.” He kissed the top of my head.
“Exavier?”
“Yeah.”
“Have you ever felt this comfortable with someone you just met? I don’t know if you picked up on Myra teasing me when you first arrived but I’m not known for this. In fact, by this point, I’d have fucked you and kicked you out of my place already. Kind of ironic considering you’re a rock star and they’re notorious for the same behavior.”
Exavier stiffened. “Don’t, Linds. I can’t hear about other men and you.”
I snorted. “Umm, Xavs?”
“Hmm?”
I glanced down at his hand on his clothed cock and bit my lower lip. Giving into the desire to touch him, I ran my hand down the length of him and slid my hand under his. My palm came into contact with the bulge in his pants and I cupped him. Exavier jerked, bucking me off.
Laughing, I rolled onto my back and stared up at Exavier as he held his clothed cock, his jaw slack. “Good gods, Linds, are you trying to get me to make a fool of myself and come before I even…”
I yanked my shirt over my head and slipped my shoes off. He stared at me with wide eyes. I kept going, sliding my pants off and then glancing at him. “Are you going to sit there or are you going to use that thing you’ve been sporting all day?”
“Linds?”
“What? If you don’t want to, that’s fine.” I went to my hands and knees, being sure to position my body just right so my ass was aimed in his direction. I glanced at him and slid a finger under the back of my thong. “I hate it when they ride up like that. Where are my shoes? We can get going. I need to meet my parents and all.”
Exavier moved up behind me, growling softly and pressing his body to mine. “I was trying to behave myself. This isn’t helping. I think I have enough control for you to get dressed and to get you home without taking you but you’re going to need to stop wiggling your ass in my direction.”
“Hmm, that’s a plan or you could just shut up and fuck me. Then you could take me back to the rec center so I can get my car, go home and get cleaned up.”
“Lindsay.” He rubbed against me.
“Consider it a parting gift, Exavier. For your time and company.”
“You’re coming on tour with me so there will be no parting, Linds,” he said, moving his hand around and onto my stomach.
“I’m not going on tour with you. I’m retired. Now, I’m horny and know I have to say goodbye to you soon, so if you don’t want to fuck me, please let me know. I’ll get dressed and we can head back.”
He held me to him and kissed the shoulder that had been injured in the panther attack. “Don’t try to shut me out, Linds. It won’t work. You can’t flip a switch, toss a wall up and think you won’t feel.”
Taking his hand in mine, I slid it down, under my thong and over my mound. He stiffened. I let out a soft laugh. “Mr. Kedmen, I believe that’s exactly what I’m doing.”
Exavier sighed. “Get dressed, Lindsay. We’ve got to get to dinner.”
“We?”
“Umm, I have dinner plans tonight too.” He moved away from me. “Get dressed.”
Shrugging, I went to grab my pants. A tiny green snake slithered through the grass near them. I screamed and threw myself into Exavier’s arms. He chuckled and kissed my cheek. “It’s okay, baby. It’s a garter snake. It’s harmless.”
I shook as I clung to him, both of us on our knees, me clutching him for dear life.
He pointed at the snake. “Go. She doesn’t want you by her.”
I laughed at his antics but stopped the second the snake switched directions. It slithered off as though it had not only heard Exavier but understood him. “Xavs?”
“Hmm?”
“I’m sorry I tried to treat you the way I treat every other man in my life. I just, umm, you make me nervous in a good way,” I whispered, ashamed of my vulnerability. I thought I was past that. Past the need to ever crave a man to the point I just wanted to be close to him for the sake of being close. I was wrong.
He kissed my forehead. “Please know, all I want to do is be in you. Trust me on this but I’m not letting it start and stop here, Lin
dsay. I want you with me. Agree to come with me. I need to hear you promise to be with me for longer than here and now.”
Pushing off him, I grabbed for my clothing. “We should get back. We smell funny and other people are going to be required to try to digest food near us.”
“That’s a no on coming with me, isn’t it?” he asked.
“I had a really nice time this last twenty-four hours. I don’t think I’ve felt this safe and laughed this much since before the accident. Thank you for that.” I slipped my shirt over my head and did my best to hide my emotions. The man behind me had somehow done the unthinkable, he’d breeched my defenses.
“Linds.”
“We should get going.”
Chapter Nine
I hit the lock button on my keychain and stood tall. With the three-inch stiletto taupe heels I had on, I now hit six foot exactly. I smoothed my hands down the front of the floor-length dress I’d decided on. The shiny satin insets on the shaped bodice kept me from looking like a tan bean-pole. My matching handbag barely fit my cell phone, ID and extras in it but it had the all important lip gloss so I couldn’t complain too much.
Two long black waves of hair hung down the sides of my head while the majority of the rest lay in a loose upswept style. I headed up towards the restaurant's entrance and stopped the minute I sensed something in the area with me. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and my heart beat fast.
“Not tonight. Please not tonight.”
My pleas sounded pathetic, even to me. I could still feel it. The evil watching me. Hunting me. A dark shadow moved past me, fast. The stench of evil rode it. Gasping, I turned to run. I slammed into something massive and solid. I brought my power up fast and readied myself to use it. Whatever I hit felt safe but I knew we weren’t.
“No,” I whispered, jerking backwards and almost falling. I didn’t care. Looking behind me, I tried to find the dark shadow. My chest rose and fell rapidly as I closed my eyes, not wanting to know what would attack me now. “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t.”
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