Apparently, Texas isn’t feeling well.
It’s bullshit.
She’s not ill. She’s embarrassed about us getting each other off in a public place.
It’s a hot day in Paris today, which means Cooper is perving out the window and scoring women on a scale of I’d shag them once to I’d do them all week long. Milo’s mind is off somewhere else, and he keeps tapping on his phone every five seconds.
It’s probably a girl. It’s probably his ex, Lexi.
We get back to the hotel, and Hank follows us up to our floor. Milo and Cooper are going to shower, change, and go straight back out. I hesitate outside Tex’s door. She won’t want to see me; she’s made that clear, but I can’t leave things like this.
I miss her.
Before I can pussy out, I reach up and rap on her door.
She opens the door just as I’m about to give up. Her cheeks are pink, and she’s having a hard time looking me in the eyes.
“Hi,” she says.
“Hey. Are you okay? Milo said you’re unwell.”
We both know the truth.
“Um, I’m okay now. Thanks.” Her fingertips are turning white where she’s gripping the edge of the door so hard.
I breathe heavily through my nose and grit my teeth. She’s lying to me, and I can’t stand it.
“Texas,” I seethe.
“What?” Her posture turns defensive, and she takes a small step back.
“I’d rather you tell me not to touch you ever again than you lie to me. Ignoring me isn’t an option.”
“All we do is ignore.”
She’s right. Since Christmas, before even, so many things have happened between us, and I’m not talking about the physical stuff. There’s been the sexual tension, the looks, the flirting, the way we can be in complete silence and it’s still the most comfortable I’ve felt, and the way we feel so right.
But we have to ignore this.
“Look, I’m sorry about last night. We both got carried away, and I shouldn’t have let it go that far.”
Her head tilts, and she looks at me like I’ve just grown another head.
“You know what? I’m sorry, too, Kitt. You’re right. It was a mistake, and it won’t happen again.”
She can’t promise that. We should be able to, but we both know if we’re in that situation again, she’ll be moaning my name as she comes.
“Can I come in? I hate it when we’re not okay.”
“Okay.”
I walk into her suite, and she slams the door shut.
I’m not really sure what to do now. I’m clearly not good at this. So, I do all I know. “Coop’s very put out because the girls made each other come faster than he could.”
She laughs. “Good. He needed to be taken down a peg or two—or seven. His ego has been getting out of hand.”
I made you come in minutes—without touching you.
The thought makes me harden.
“I think that did it. Although he’s out with someone else right now.”
“One day, he’s going to catch something.”
“He’s probably already had everything.”
The fire in her eyes is back, and she laughs. “Probably. Want to drink all the beer? It’s been restocked. I forgot to leave the note.”
“Sounds good to me.”
It sounds perfect actually.
She walks past me to the fridge and bends over.
Shit. Her arse is incredible. And those legs…
The memory of my hand on that arse, yanking her closer, as she ground against me invades my brain. I can still feel the desperation as we both battled to get off as soon as possible.
Her hand flashes by my face, far too close.
I look over and frown. “What?”
She hands me a drink and wiggles her fingers toward me. “I was talking, and you were off in whatever land you were in.”
The land where her mouth was glued to mine, and she was clawing at me.
“Sorry,” I say.
Her lips purse, and I want to launch myself at her.
“What did you say?” I ask, putting down my drink.
“I just offered you a blow job, but don’t worry about it.”
Oh God, don’t say that.
“I would’ve heard that if I were on Mars, Tex, but please feel free.”
Her hands cover mine as I go to the belt on my jeans.
Chuckling, I pick up my beer and take a swig. “You can’t offer something you’re not willing to go through with.”
Rolling her eyes, she pulls my hand away from my now straining erection. If she noticed it, she’s not letting on.
“It was a joke, Kitt.”
“Blowies are no joke.”
“I’ll remember that for next time.”
I arch my eyebrow. “Next time?”
“You know what I mean.”
I shake my head, half to tell her that I don’t know and half to clear the filthy thoughts swirling around in my head.
She. Is. Off-limits.
We should’ve gone out with the guys. Being in a group is safer. Right now, I feel like an alcoholic in a brewery.
“So, the BJ is a no-go then?” I ask, smirking down at her as we walk to the sofa.
I can’t help myself.
She smiles over her shoulder. “Sorry, I’m not giving it up for nothing.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t come and then leave you hanging. I’d repay the favour.”
I would love to repay the favour. Fuck, I’m rock solid, and it’s becoming too uncomfortable. I want to lay her down and trace my tongue over every inch of her body. I want to taste her before I bury myself inside.
Enough. You need to focus on being her friend and forget whatever physical attraction you have with her. She’s just a girl. There are plenty of those for you in every city in every country.
We sit down, far too close for our not-so-innocent friendship. She gently thumps me on the arm and then traces the dragon wrapped around my bicep. She’s so easily distracted.
“I want a tattoo,” she says.
“Yeah? You’re going to mark that virgin skin?”
“I don’t know what I want or where I want it, but I like them. And it’s been a while since I realised I have something virgin.”
“Ah, the dickhead ex.”
Her ex was an absolute twat of a man. He was boring and soft as shit. If he called her honey one more time, I would’ve punched him.
“There was nothing wrong with him.”
“Oh, please. With people like him, you know exactly what your future would be like. You don’t fit that mould. You’d go insane.”
She shrugs one shoulder and then shuffles back and twists, so she can kick her feet up onto my legs. “I know. We weren’t compatible at all, but that doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with him. He was happy to be still, and he was content with what he had, whereas I need to keep moving and find something new.”
“Still is dull.”
“For people like us, it is.” She leans in closer, and her legs press into my crotch.
Is she doing it on purpose or what?
I lick my dry lips and grip the beer bottle with two hands.
You can’t touch her again.
Tex puts on a movie, and we watch it, hyperaware of each other and not really paying attention to the screen. I feel like I’m being pulled toward her, like a greater force is at work.
Keep your fucking hands to yourself.
The movie is wrapping up.
Tex lays her head back and tilts it in my direction. “Do you ever wonder what your life would have been like if something major had or hadn’t happened? I occasionally wonder where I’d be if Jennifer had taken me with her.”
“Where’s that?”
“Ugh. I would’ve grown up as her mini me. She would’ve dressed me in kid versions of her outfits and done mother-daughter photo shoots to sell her own line of clothes. There was talk about it, but I think she realised she can
’t design shit.”
“I often think about my parents. I was too young to remember them, but I sometimes wonder if I’d be here now. My grandad is the rocker in the family. If I wasn’t raised in his house, I might be somewhere completely different.”
“I’m glad you’re here,” she whispers.
“Yeah, me, too.”
I can’t help it. She’s looking at me like she wants me to kiss her, and there is nothing else in this world I’d rather do right now. I dip my head, and her lips part. She wants this as much as I do. My heart is hammering harder, the closer I get.
Fuck everything.
I’m going to kiss her, but before I get close, her door swings open and slams back on itself. I’m so fucking glad Milo has a spare key… Texas and I jump and look over the back of the sofa. Cooper struts in without paying attention, but Milo sees us.
“Just in time,” Milo says, lifting his eyebrow.
I lean away slightly. “We were just discussing Cooper’s threesome fail.” About two hours ago. Believe me, Milo.
He’s looking too hard, and I’m afraid the truth is obvious.
I can’t lie to myself anymore, so how can I fool a guy who knows me better than anyone else?
Cooper is the joker, and Milo, I can talk to. I’ve never discussed Tex with him, and he doesn’t know about our first kiss or last night, but something tells me that I might have to talk to him soon.
“It wasn’t a fucking fail, dickheads. I’m grabbing a Jack, Tex.”
She waves the back of her hand at him. “You sleep with some models then?”
Milo grins. “Of course. What’ve you boring wankers been doing?” he asks. His question sounds innocent, but it’s laced with accusation.
“Movie and beer.” I reply.
“Mmhmm. Mind if we join?” Milo looks at me with judgment in his dark eyes.
Tex shrugs a shoulder but still doesn’t move her legs. The way Milo is watching me, he might as well have me on the other side of a table, shining a light in my eyes. His hard what-the-fuck-are-you-playing-at look is demanding a thousand answers to a thousand questions that I don’t even want to think about.
I don’t know what I’m doing.
I’ve never really wanted someone before. Tex is the first, and it’s fucking with my head.
Awkwardly, I sit up a little straighter, and she drops her legs. The bastard’s made me self-conscious of my friendship with Texas.
You know it’s gone further than that.
Not even Mark would’ve batted an eyelid at how we were sitting. It wasn’t different to how we’d sat a thousand times before, but everything is different now.
“You two are still sober. How is that possible?” Texas asks, suspiciously eyeing them.
She’s right. Cooper doesn’t believe in being sober ever, and Milo always gets shitfaced when he’s out.
Milo grins. “We peaked early. Then, we got bored.”
By that, he means, they each slept with a model and got their fill, and now, they’re ready to chill with more alcohol.
I shake my head. “No stamina. I feel sorry for those women.”
“Hey, she came like a fucking train,” Cooper says before swigging from the bottle.
“Cooper, for fuck’s sake!” Texas shouts, pointlessly launching a cushion at his head. “I don’t want to catch your STD when I drink JD!”
“I’m clean, sweet cheeks. Wanna try?”
“What? No, I really don’t want to try to catch chlamydia from you.”
“Clean,” he replies slowly, frowning at her. “You can’t be spreading that shit around.”
“But you can spread that shit around?” she hits back, nodding toward his dick.
He runs his hand over his hair, but I can’t be bothered to rip him for it. “I’m a very giving person, Texas. I like to share.”
“I’m sure they appreciate it,” she replies sarcastically.
Cooper grabs his dick through his jeans. “Anyone would.”
“I hate boys.”
Oh, she does not.
I raise my eyebrow, and she narrows her hazel eyes.
Liar, I mouth while the other two are pouring different drinks.
She bites her lip, and her cheeks redden.
Fuck.
I’m done for.
TEXAS
THURSDAY, MAY 7
PARIS, FRANCE
Milo and Cooper duck out after two drinks because they’re lightweights. I’m flat-out exhausted, and it’s closing in on one a.m., but I don’t want to sleep. And Kitt doesn’t seem to want to leave yet either.
Things are good right now, and I want it to last. I can pretend.
“Are you going to sightsee tomorrow?” he asks.
“I want to, but I won’t have time.”
“Should’ve come with us today. We could’ve hit up the Tower after.”
My mind is instantly back in the cage, and my body is on fire. All day, I’ve been trying to ignore what happened.
“Should’ve,” I mutter. Please, let’s change the subject!
“If you hadn’t been hiding out in your room all day…”
“I wasn’t hiding.”
“Really? So¸ you weren’t avoiding me because of the cage?”
Oh, great! This he talks about! Everything else is pushed away, but giving me the most intense orgasm of my life is the one thing he doesn’t want to paper over.
Perfect.
Cringing in embarrassment, I look away. I might want him to leave this room, but my body doesn’t. The mere thought of him getting me off has me breaking out in a sweat.
“No.” My bloody voice betrays me. I sound like a terrified chipmunk.
Kitt leans in, and it frazzles my mind. The smell of his cologne wraps around me.
“You’re sure? I don’t want awkwardness between us, Tex. I’m sorry if I made it that way.”
That sounds an awful lot like, It won’t happen again. My heart is as heavy as lead.
It shouldn’t happen again. I can’t handle being rejected by him over and over.
“I don’t want that either. Can we forget it? I thought we’d forgotten it.” Might as well get in there first, I suppose, while I have an ounce of dignity left.
“Right,” he replies. “Okay. Good.”
We sit inches apart, watching each other. The atmosphere could be cut with a knife, and even I’m not sure if it’s awkward or sexual.
I chew on my lip. God, I hate this back and forth.
Do something. You can’t leave it like this.
He sighs. “I don’t want to do this tense shit. Would you like another drink?”
I dip my head, refusing eye contact. “No, thanks. My tummy is still iffy from last night. I can’t do another drop.”
He laughs. “You did have a fair bit. I had to carry you back.”
Kitt carried me? I don’t remember much after the cage because I upped my alcohol intake, but I assumed Ted would’ve brought me back to my room.
“You did?”
“Er, yeah. I already had you when I met Ted, so”—he scratches the back of his neck—“I kept you and put you to bed.”
He kept me.
“I promise, I didn’t even take a peek at the good stuff.” He thumps his heart with his fist. “Perfect gentleman.”
And we’re back to normal.
And my headache is back.
Kitt orders some room service. Who cares about the time?
Thirty minutes later, I’m uncomfortably full, so much so that I can’t move.
Kitt puts his plate on the side with mine and groans.
“Does it hurt you, too?” I ask, rubbing my bloated belly.
“Nope. Did you eat too much again?”
Whimpering, I nod.
He’s sitting so close to me. We’re less than an inch apart, and every time he moves to get his drink off the coffee table, we touch. I don’t know why he doesn’t keep hold of it rather than going back and forth all the time.
Don�
��t read too much into it.
“I ate far too much.” I really need to remember that just because room service is on the label, I don’t have to eat everything. “Why did I do it after last time?”
Kitt laughs and nudges my shoulder, which isn’t helping my stomach. “Because you have no self-discipline.”
Now, that is not true. I have it in truckloads. If I didn’t, I would’ve made a fool of myself over him a long time ago. “Ugh, we should’ve gone out for the evening. I’m dying.”
“You’re the one who wanted to stay in and veg.”
“I made a terrible mistake.”
“We won’t get much time to relax once the shows start.”
He’s right, and I would have felt bad for making him traipse around Paris when he has a crazy summer ahead, but sitting and eating was a bad choice.
“Yeah, I know.”
“If you want to do something more…exhilarating, I have a few ideas,” he says with a sexy smirk that I’ve seen him use to score a fucking harem of women before.
My heart clenches so hard that I almost pass out. I got a taste of that last night. He got me off without even touching me, and it was the most intense orgasm I had ever had.
Jesus, what would having him inside me be like? Okay, I can’t think about that because, pretty soon, I’m going to be begging him to work last night’s magic on me.
“Oh, yeah? What ideas would those be?” I ask, glancing up in an attempt to appear sexy. I probably look like a creeper.
“Mmm,” he murmurs, leaning in closer.
His eyes are white hot, and it makes me quiver. Kitt does sexy really well. His lips part a fraction, and he looks like he’s about to devour me.
I can’t breathe when he’s this close.
Having no idea what he’s doing to me, he lifts his eyebrow in that hot, cheeky, charming way, and I want to kiss him so bad that I’m positive I’ll burst into flames any second.
If I’d ordered more alcohol with room service, I probably would have had enough courage to go for it. At least then, I could have blamed it on the drink when he pushed me away.
“Actually, I can think of about a million different ways to liven things up.”
Wow. I believe him, too.
I’ve not had much experience—though I’m definitely not a nun—but I know he’d be able to show me a few things. More than a few things actually. The thought of it makes me throb like crazy.
With the Band (With the Band #1) Page 7