by Sybil Bartel
She bit her lip. “But if he wakes up, he’ll try to leave.”
I glanced at Marcus, looking at him for the first time. He looked like fucking hell. “Tyler will call us if he wakes up.” Even if Marcus did wake up, it didn’t look like he could walk out of here if he tried.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and gently pulled her toward the door. “He’s in good hands.”
She swiped at her face before finally giving in and leaning into me.
It was the best damn feeling I’d had in ten days, and I couldn’t stop myself. I pulled her into my arms and took a few seconds to just breathe her in. “Jesus, I missed you.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Why didn’t you talk to me?” This shit distance between us could’ve been resolved with a single damn conversation.
She stood perfectly still, and I wasn’t sure she was going to give me an answer. “I thought you’d talk me out of going after him.” Her voice small, she sounded hesitant.
“I would have.” Who the fuck wouldn’t after what she’d been through? She tried to pull away, but I held her firm. “I’m not finished. I would’ve talked you out of going alone.”
“You were leaving for tour. I wasn’t going to ask you.”
“Then that’s where we have the problem.” I looked down at her. “You need something, you ask. That’s how this is going to work.”
“It can’t be one-sided. I don’t want that. I want balance and an equal partnership.”
I refrained from pumping my fucking fist that she was saying she wanted a damn partnership. “It’s not one-sided. If you’d answered your phone, you would’ve known what I needed from you.” Mainly to know she was fucking okay. And I’d just needed to hear her damn voice. Or three words she still hadn’t said to me.
She sucked in a breath. “Oh.”
I stroked her cheek. “I need to get you home.”
She frowned with worry. “We can’t go home, it’s too far.”
I smoothed the line between her eyebrows. “I have a place here.”
Shock clouded out all of her anxiety. “In Miami?”
“Technically, Miami Beach.” I stroked her smooth cheek.
“Miami Beach,” she repeated.
The corner of my mouth tipped up. Fuck, I was relieved to be holding her. “Yeah, it’s even furnished,” I joked.
This time it was anger that furled her brow. “I was staying in a cockroach-infested motel and you have a place in Miami Beach?”
I bit back a grin. “You should’ve answered your phone.”
A soft knock sounded on the door.
I put my arm back around her shoulder and opened the door to Tyler.
He nodded at Elyssia, but he handed me my rental car key. “You’re all set, sir.”
“Thank you, Tyler. Call me if he wakes up.”
“Yes, sir.”
I led Elyssia to the elevators.
HE WAS HERE. OH my God, Ben was here.
I leaned into him the whole way to his rented SUV, and I let him help me into the passenger seat just to have his hands on me a second longer.
I didn’t know how I’d survived ten days without him, but I did know this. I couldn’t go back. I didn’t want to. And all the reasons why I was so angry with him, and every insurmountable thing about us, it’d all disappeared the second I saw him.
He’d come for me.
Maybe even a part of him had come for Marcus.
I’d never wanted to be with a professional musician, the crowds, the fans, the girls—there were a million reasons. But it was hard to feel like any of that was insurmountable when he’d left his tour to be by my side.
He got behind the wheel, and I reached for him, wrapping my fingers around his strong wrist. “Thank you for coming.”
His gaze, more intense than I’d remembered, curled into my stomach and heated my blood. Then his quiet voice closed the space between us and filled my heart.
“I’ll always come for you.”
“Even when I shut you out?” I felt so guilty.
“Next time I won’t wait ten days.”
“Next time you’re on tour, I won’t shut you out for ten days,” I promised.
He cupped my face. “I’m never going to let that happen again, and Marcus is going to be okay.”
I bit my lip to keep my emotions in check. “He is going to need surgery to fix the broken bones in his face.”
“They’ll take care of him here.”
He sounded so sure, I almost believed him. “I’m afraid he’ll want to fight again, but what will happen if he gets hit in the face?”
“We’ll have to convince him not to fight.”
“We?” I knew Marcus wouldn’t listen to him, but I didn’t want to be alone in this anymore.
The corner of his mouth tipped slightly and his expression softened. “Yeah, baby, we.”
Heat hit my cheeks, and I almost smiled. “I like it when you call me that.”
“I like when you call me,” he threw back.
This time I did smile, out of embarrassment and selfishness, but I smiled.
“That’s what I wanted to see.” His own smile spread across his face, and he kissed me once before starting the SUV. Squeezing my hand, he pulled out of the hospital parking lot, and I remembered the rest of what Marcus was up against.
“There’s something else,” I blurted.
Ben glanced at me. “What?”
“A fighter from the gym where I found Marcus came to the hospital. He said Marcus owes him money.”
Ben’s hand tightened on the steering wheel. “He came to his room?”
I knew what he was getting at. “No, André was there, and he stopped him. He never made it inside Marcus’s room.”
“Then how do you know he wants money?”
Shoot. “I was in the hall stretching my legs when they came out of the elevator,” I admitted.
“They?”
I took a breath and let it out. “There were three of them, but the one who said Marcus owes him money, Killian Crowd, he was the ringleader.” I debated telling him the rest. “I kinda had to get past him in the gym to get to Marcus.”
Ben’s jaw ticked. “Tell me everything, Elyssia, right now.”
I told him. Start to finish.
Without a word in response to me, he pulled his phone out and dialed. “It’s Stark. Elyssia told me about Killian Crowd… I understand, but I want to know exactly what he thinks Marcus owes him, and I want him to know he won’t be fighting for him anymore… Understood… Thanks.”
“André?” I asked.
“Yes.” Ben hung up and pulled into the underground parking of a luxury high-rise building right on the ocean. “You aren’t going to be alone with Marcus until this is resolved.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but Ben stopped me.
“Nonnegotiable, Elyssia. I’ll keep Luna or one of his men there at all times, but I don’t want you going in or out of that hospital alone.” He pulled into a parking space and cut the engine.
I appreciated his concern, but he had to know that was unrealistic once he went back on tour. “When do you have to go back?”
He turned to me. “I won’t leave until we know Marcus is okay.”
“Ben, your tour.” He would be disappointing tens of thousands of fans. I wasn’t on social media, but I’d seen his accounts. Next to Myles, he had the most followers. “You can’t leave midtour because of me.” Not again.
“Already a done deal.”
“You need to go back.” I couldn’t be responsible for ruining his career. “I mean, not this minute, but soon.” As much as it killed me to say that, because I wanted him around all the time, I didn’t want to be selfish.
He smiled and stroked my cheek. “Let’s take this upstairs.”
For the first time since he’d shown up, I noticed how tired he looked. “Of course. I’m sorry, you must be exhausted.” I got out of the SUV.
Ben opened
the back and grabbed two bags, one of which was mine.
“You have my bag?” From the motel?
“I had André check you out,” he answered, unapologetically. “Come on.” He led me to the elevators, and when we stepped inside, he pressed the button for the top floor.
Suddenly uncomfortable, I forgot about him having my stuff packed up and I glanced around the granite and mirrored interior of the elevator. “This is a nice building.” I snuck a peek at us in the mirrored side panel. Ben was so tall and blond and muscular, and tonight in a fitted T-shirt, no longer hiding his tattoos, he looked every bit the rock star. I, on the other hand, looked small and rumpled in my sweatshirt, and my hair was a mess. I self-consciously tried to smooth my long locks down.
Ben kissed the top of my head. “Stop. You’re beautiful.”
I was small chested and thin from running and karate, and I felt like a child standing next to a man. “When did you rent this place?” Was he planning on moving here? Did he remember me saying I’d always wanted to live on the beach?
The elevator doors opened, and he led me down a marble and granite hallway that only had two doors, one at each end of the long corridor. He slid a key into the lock and opened the door, but then he paused and glanced down at me. “I don’t rent. I bought it last year.” He stepped inside and hit a few lights.
It was as if a whole new world lit up before my eyes.
Polished white floors, a gourmet kitchen, designer showcase furniture, and an entire wall of floor-to-ceiling glass that was a spectacular view of the ocean at night. We were so high up, it felt like I could reach out and grab the moon.
Ostentatious, impeccable and beyond expensive, it was one hundred percent how you’d think a rock star would live.
I both hated it and loved it.
“You’re not saying anything.”
My stupid brain searched for something to say. “Has Marcus been here?” Did he even know about this place? It was a thousand times more luxurious than his Ocala condo, and that was saying something.
I didn’t realize I’d walked up to the windows until two strong, warm arms wrapped around my waist and his reflection appeared in the glass. “I’ve never brought anyone here.”
Relief quieted the churn in my stomach. “Have you ever slept here?”
He carefully watched my reflection in the glass. “I have.”
“When?” Nothing looked lived in, everything was perfect. Too perfect.
“Two times over the past year.”
He’d been in Florida, and he’d come here instead of coming to Ocala? “Oh.”
He kissed my shoulder. “I came for the closing and the second time to see my lawyer.” His lips landed on my neck. “I was in and out in less than a day each time.”
The tension in my body eased somewhat. “Oh.”
“If I’d known you’d wanted to see me, I would’ve made arrangements.”
I looked at his reflection. “When did I ever not want to see you?”
He didn’t hesitate. “The past ten days. When I first came home.”
I turned to face him and looked up at his serious blue eyes. “Are we fighting?”
His chest rose and fell twice as he studied me. “I’ve laid everything out for you. You know what I want. You knew before I left to finish the tour. You either want me.” He paused a fraction of a second. “Or you don’t.”
Panic swelled and the urge to immediately say I wanted him was overwhelming, but I needed to get everything out in the open. “What happens when you go on your next year-long tour?”
“We discuss it upfront and come up with an agreement we both can handle, or I don’t go.”
“Simple as that?” It sounded too easy.
“I want you more than I want the band.”
I believed him, but the band wasn’t what drove him to play. “What about the music?”
“I’ll always play, but it doesn’t have to be in a rock band that tours constantly.”
“You would be happy not touring?” Not being the famous hot drummer?
He stroked my cheek, but he didn’t smile. “I’m happy right now, with you.”
“You don’t look happy.” He looked almost angry.
His breath exhaled, and the side of his mouth twitched. “I’m still pissed you stayed in that motel, let alone walked into that gym on your own. And I’ll get over you shutting me out.”
“I’ll get over you not telling me where Marcus was.” I already was. He’d apologized in texts and in his messages.
“Good.”
We stared at each other. With every second and every breath, a need, so palpable and thick, grew until it was overwhelming. I wanted to strip off my clothes and give him whatever he wanted, but one more thing was bothering me. “Why did you buy this place?”
“It was an investment based on Neil’s recommendation. This is one of the buildings his company built.”
It was a logical and smart investment, but I couldn’t help it, my heart was disappointed at his reasoning. “You could have invested anywhere.”
He studied me a moment. Then he said the last thing I was expecting. “I needed an exit plan.”
Oh God, what did that mean? “Exit plan?”
He nodded once. “I wasn’t going to live in the same town and watch you find a life with another man.”
My heart broke. “Ben—”
“I wasn’t finished. This place was my exit plan, if I wound up needing one.” He inhaled. “But it was also something more.” He stroked my cheek. “You always said you wanted to live on the beach.”
Time stopped. Then my entire world swirled together for the first time, and I kissed him.
No grace, no poise, no reservation, I threw myself at him and I kissed him with every dream I’d stored away for eight years.
SHE LUNGED AT ME.
Her lips landed on mine, and I fucking kissed her back. Picking her up by the backs of her thighs, she wrapped her legs around my waist in sweet fucking torture, and I trapped her against the glass. I plunged into her mouth like I wanted to plunge into her tight heat.
Two fucks and I’d become an addict. That’s all I could think about for ten fucking days. Taking her, marking her, making her stomach swell with my kid, giving her my last name—I wanted to make her mine every damn way a man could mark a woman.
But I wasn’t going to do it against the glass wall of my penthouse. We were twenty-five stories up, but with the lights on and the night still pitch, we were in a fucking fishbowl. The last thing I wanted to do to her was have her wake up to photos of her naked on the internet.
Kissing her, gripping her ass, I carried her into the bedroom.
I didn’t want to put her down, but I had a plan. I set her on her feet.
Unzipping her sweatshirt, she got one leg on the bed.
“Stand up,” I commanded.
Her hands froze, and she looked up at me with alarm.
I softened my tone. “Stand up, Elyssia.”
Hesitant, her lips wet from my kiss, her sweatshirt hanging open, she lowered her foot back to the floor.
My heart fucking pounding, I reached into my pocket and dropped to one knee.
She gasped.
“Elyssia Lauren Maher, I love you. I’ve always loved you. I want to spend every day of our lives knowing you’re mine and I’m yours.” I opened the velvet box. “Will you marry me?”
“Ben,” she whispered, as her eyes welled, but then she didn’t say anything.
My heart fucking stopped. “Marry me, baby.”
Her tears spilled over. “Yes.”
My lungs filled with air, and I rushed her. Holding the damn box, I kissed her before I put the ring on. Stroking through her heat, tasting her tears, tasting the woman I wanted to have my kids, I kissed her with every damn ounce of my soul.
Pulling back, I took her hand. “I love you.” My voice hoarse, I slid the ring on her finger.
Her gorgeous amber-brown eyes wet, she looked up at me wit
h the same look she’d given me the first time we’d met, like there was no one else in her fucking world. It’d thrown me then, and it threw me now. I loved it. I needed it. I fucking cherished it.
I cupped her face. “No one looks at me like you do.”
“I love you.”
Fuuuck.
“Again,” I demanded.
Softer, sweeter, she said it again. “I love you.”
My eyes closed, and every damn part of my life came together. I wasn’t an orphan. I wasn’t a bullied foster kid lost in the system. I wasn’t a drummer in a band. I wasn’t a man without a home. I was hers.
I opened my eyes and swallowed. “You’re mine.”
She reached up and stroked my cheek. “I always was.”
My mouth crashed over hers, and I pulled her sweatshirt off. Kissing under her ear, the space between her shoulder and neck, my lips traveled between her breasts and over her nipple through her sports top. I slid my fingers into the waistband of her pants as she pulled her top off.
She smelled like desire and her lotion and her. My dick fucking throbbing, I peeled her pants over her hips and down her legs, then worked my way back up. She shivered when I trailed kisses up her thigh and brushed my lips against her sweet heat.
Dragging a finger through her desire, I stood. “Turn around,” I ordered, wanting to see her back.
Slow, her head down, she turned.
Smooth ivory skin covered her back and thighs, with only the faintest of marks still by her ribs.
I dragged my palm down the middle of her back. “Does it still hurt?”
Her arms at her sides, she shook her head.
“I never want to see you hurt again.” I tasted the smooth skin on her shoulder. “I’m going to tell Marcus about us.” I kissed the back of her neck. “Alone.”
“Ben—”
“I’m not negotiating with you on this.” I’d thought through every reaction he could possibly throw at her, and I wasn’t going to let it happen.
She turned in my arms. “We should wait to tell him, until he’s better.”
I wasn’t waiting. “That’s not going to happen.” I kissed her once to soften the blow. “We’re not putting our lives on hold for anything ever again.” I wove my fingers through hers and squeezed her hand before releasing. “You and me, our life together, it starts now.” Gripping her hip, I held her gaze and circled her clit with my thumb as I slid a finger inside her. “I don’t want to wait for anything, including kids. Understand?”