Mean Machine

by Joanna Blake

  And it had been worth it.

  It was the single best day of her entire childhood. Bar none.

  "The roller coaster?"

  "Is that what it is? That's SO COOL!"

  She was trying not to jump up and down. He was smiling at her like she was kind of crazy but she didn't care.

  "Do you want to go?"

  "Is it still open?"

  He shrugged.

  "Probably not. But let me see what I can do."

  And in that moment, she fell a little bit in love with Kendall Jackson.

  Chapter 19

  Kendall

  God, she’s beautiful.

  Kendall was laughing as Jessica jumped up and down like a kid. She was only a few years younger than him? He shook his head.

  Damn, but she was an excitable little thing. She was hot, for sure. But for once he could say it was a girl’s personality that set thing off the chart.

  It was more than just her enthusiasm. Her energy was contagious. She was fun, with a capital ‘F.’

  She made him feel like he'd done something amazing, just by calling in the fame card. Just for being himself. He liked it. He liked it a lot.

  All he had done was ask if the rides at the Stratosphere were open.

  They were not.

  But they opened them for him.

  Being a celebrity was kind of awesome sometimes, despite all the phoniness and other crap that came along with it. Especially if it helped his cause with a girl like Jess. And tonight, it definitely was.

  Jess was so excited he thought her cute little head might pop off.

  They were on a rooftop, high above the Vegas strip. And they were about to climb onto the first of four rides.

  The Insanity.

  The ride was basically just seats strapped to a huge mechanical arm that extended 64 feet off the edge of the tower. Hanging over nothing.

  108 stories in the air.

  For some reason Jessica seemed to find this concept magical.

  Not, you know, completely fucking insane.

  He was feeling a little nervous about it actually. But he couldn't look like a wuss in front of Jessica. No way he was going to chicken out on this. Besides, she'd practically dared him.

  “You ready?”

  “Hell yes!”

  He groaned and helped her step onto the platform.

  They climbed into the bucket seats and were immediately strapped down by the automatic safety harness. Jessica was grinning and bouncing around in her seat. He looked at her.

  "You know what this thing does, right?"

  "No, why?"

  "It, uh, goes out there, and then it spins. Really fast. All while pointing you down toward, you know, the ground."

  Her eyes widened. Uh oh, was she as nervous as he was?

  "Awesome!"

  Guess not.

  The ride started and he stopped thinking. He gripped her hand tightly as they were hurtled out into space and flung around in circles. It felt like they were going to be catapulted to their deaths at any moment.

  Fuck, it felt like that at every moment.

  But he would not scream. He could not scream. Jessica was laughing the entire time with absolute glee.

  The girl was not just brave.

  She was fearless.

  They were being pulled back in when he snuck a look at her. She was breathing fast. Her hair was wild. She looked like she'd just…

  Christ, she looked like she'd just gotten laid.

  Thoroughly laid.

  She turned to him, her eyes bright. Then she kissed his cheek.

  "That was AMAZING! Can we go on the others now?"

  He swallowed. He would have given a chunk of flesh right now if it got her to kiss him again.

  Hopefully on the lips this time.

  “Of course. Whatever you want."

  The next ride she wanted to try was the Big Shot, where they were once again strapped into the ride and shot 160 feet into the air at 45 miles per hour. That part of it wasn't too bad, but the drop back down had Kendall trying to not scream like a girl.

  Actually, Jessica wasn't screaming, she was squealing in excitement. He didn’t make a sound, his entire focus on not squealing like a pig at slaughter.

  But Jessica? She sounded delicious.

  That made him start thinking about what sort of noises she might make in bed. Before he knew it, the ride was over. Hmmm… interesting tactic. If he thought about sex with her, the ride wasn’t as terrifying.

  He decided to try it on the X-Scream too.

  While Jessica pulled him over to the roller coaster, he was mentally undressing her. While the car took them up in the air, stories above the hotel, he was thinking strategy.

  He'd start at the top and work his way down. He was wondering what sort of underthings she was wearing as they propelled straight down- and over the edge of the hotel into space. Then they slid back again, onto the relative safety of the roof deck. That didn't last long though as the ride teeter tottered back into the empty sky.

  Kendall was smiling the whole ride.

  Chapter 20

  Jessica

  This is the TITS!

  It was four AM and she was about to jump off the side of a building. Her best friend always said things were ‘tits.’ For once, Jessica thought the term made sense.

  Jessica grinned and gripped the harness that was wrapped around her. Kendall was off to the side, watching and sipping a cocktail that had mysteriously appeared in his hand. He had another one waiting for her as well. Things like that happened a lot around him.

  People just wanted to please him.

  She could… relate to that. A lot.

  She stepped out onto the platform and took a deep breath. A second later and she was plunging almost a thousand feet into space, the Las Vegas skyline far below her.

  The bright Vegas lights became a blur and the ant sized people below weren’t even visible as she fell straight towards the ground.

  Now, that was the way to bungee jump!

  A fission of fear was spreading through her as she bounced down and then up again through space. The feeling wasn't a fear of heights. It was stemming from the realization she'd just had the ground dropped out from under her.

  And not just literally.

  Two seconds ago she'd been grinning at the handsome guy who had made all of this possible. All the thrills, the fun, the strangeness of this seemingly endless night.

  Watching as the hotel staff hovered nearby, waiting to see if he needed anything else. Anything at all. That's when it hit her.

  She wanted to please him too.

  Oh. Crap.

  Jessica swallowed nervously. She knew she was well and truly in trouble now. Her body flew through space on the end of the bungee while her mind started spinning.

  She wasn't going to sleep with him. It was dangerous and she wanted to respect herself in the morning. It definitely was not going to happen.

  But Christ, she wanted it to. She wanted it to happen a lot.

  What the hell was wrong with her? Just do it. Or don't. Stop driving yourself insane about it.

  He was watching her with a hooded look in his eyes when she got off. The look that screamed ‘come hither’ and ‘sit in my lap’ and all kinds of sweet but filthy things. Her heart was already beating fast from the thrill of the jump, but somehow Kendall made it beat even faster.

  "How's my little dare devil?"

  She smiled at him breathlessly. He looked like he wanted to devour her. If they went back to the hotel now, she would let him. Hell, she'd devour him right back.

  She licked her lips nervously.

  "Hungry?"

  He smiled at her in a predatory way. That smile made her feel like a little fish who was staring at a shark.

  "Hmmm… maybe."

  "No, I mean I am. Hungry."

  He pursed his lips. She was wondering when he was going to lose patience with her delay tactics. Then he shook his head and smiled.


  "Whatever you want, Jess."

  She swallowed, almost wishing she could snatch the words back into her mouth. She was hungry. But she was always hungry. She certainly didn’t need to eat right now.

  She followed him out of the tower to the elevator bank, wondering if she could change her mind. She could say, hey let’s go back to the suite and fool around until noon.

  That didn’t sound crazy at all, right?

  "What do you want? Sushi? Steak?” She opened her mouth and he shook his head. “Just kidding about the meat."

  He leaned his hands on either side of her head, backing her in to the corner of the elevator. He was going to kiss her. Oh god, he was definitely going to kiss her…

  His lips brushed hers softly. Once. Twice. He was teasing her, she realized. He wasn't touching her anywhere other than the whisper soft touch of his lips on hers.

  Well, she could tease him right back.

  "Pancakes."

  His mouth smiled, an eighth of an inch from hers. Then he laughed. That hadn't been exactly what she'd been going for… Abruptly his hands moved, cupping her face and then he unleashed on her.

  Oh my God.

  Kendall's body pressed against hers as he took her mouth. There was no other word for it. He was taking her, plain and simple.

  And she loved it.

  Jessica arched her back and she grasped his arms, pulling him closer. He was angling his head and body, getting as much contact between them as possible. His mouth slid to the side, licking and sucking on her neck and earlobe. She was having trouble breathing suddenly.

  DING.

  The elevator stopped and the doors opened. They looked up, seeing that they weren't down to the lobby yet. They were on the 47th floor. A group of drunk looking businessmen boarded. Kendall relaxed his stance, still holding her. He let his hands move lower, to a more casual embrace. They stared into each others eyes, trying not to laugh.

  On the 20th floor, the businessmen got out again.

  As soon as the doors closed, Kendall cupped her face again, giving her a lazy smile.

  "Pancakes? Really?"

  She nodded breathlessly. She really did want food. And she loved late night pancakes. Plus it would give her time to gather her thoughts.

  Mount her defenses.

  Batten down the hatches.

  Set phasers to stun.

  He kissed her forehead.

  "Okay pumpkin, let's go."

  Chapter 21

  Kendall

  Kendall stared at the menu in front of him, trying to pretend he gave a shit about pancakes. He didn’t, but he could tell that she did, and so he tried to focus.

  Jessica had told him what she wanted, and exactly how she wanted it. It was adorable, and very specific. He gave the waitress a distracted look when she came to take their order.

  “She’ll have the blueberry chocolate chip pancakes, with the syrup and butter on the side. And two scoops of vanilla ice cream on the side… and I will have the same.”

  “One scoop!”

  He grinned at her, and handed the waitress their menus.

  “One serving of two scoops.”

  He winked at Jess.

  “We can share.”

  She blushed at the warm look in his eyes. Maybe she was nervous about going back to the suite with him. Maybe she was afraid…

  She was being shy again so he regaled her with stories about being on the road, and all the craziest things that had gone down in the boy band days.

  She relaxed and he watched in awe as she put away a huge stack of pancakes.

  It was adorable but also made him feel a lot better.

  She wasn’t trying to avoid being alone with him.

  The girl really had been hungry.

  The sun was rising by the time they made it back to the suite. Jessica had nodded off a little bit after putting away a huge stack of blueberry pancakes at a world famous all night diner.

  He was having fun keeping her awake, even if it was just watching her eat. And eat. And eat. She had such a pretty mouth. She even licked her fingers a few times, sending lust straight to his groin.

  He knew he wasn't going to get what he wanted anyway.

  She wasn't going to sleep with him. Not tonight.

  Not yet.

  But he had a good feeling about tomorrow night. Maybe tomorrow they could hang out by the pool, gamble a little. And there were plenty of other roller coasters in Vegas he could take her on. He had absolutely nothing planned until they left for New York on Sunday night.

  Maybe she’d want to come along for that trip as well…

  But once they got back he realized he was going to have to do some fancy footwork to make sure she didn’t bolt.

  The suite was… not empty. There were people passed out on all the couches. Girls mostly. Apparently the party had come back here after the club shut down. He did a quick check of the rooms and cursed.

  Jess looked a little uncomfortable all the sudden.

  All the rooms were all taken.

  Not that he didn't want her to share a room with him, but he didn't want her to feel like she didn’t have a choice about it. He shook his head. He wasn't a pig generally with women, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd been so concerned about what a girl's feeling were.

  "Looks like all the bedrooms are taken. Well, except mine."

  She shrugged, like it was no big deal. He could tell she was nervous though. She might have liked fooling around with him in the elevator, but she wasn't willing to go further than that.

  "I'm sorry, Jess. Let me call down and get you a room."

  "That's okay. I can sleep on the couch for a few hours."

  They stared at the couch. It was covered in passed out people in various states of undress.

  "Um…"

  He watched as she looked around, hoping she would change her mind and spend the night with him. He'd really like to hold her if nothing else.

  That was a lie. He'd like to do a lot of things besides hold her.

  She brightened and pointed to the top of the glass staircase.

  "I can sleep on that one."

  He followed her up the stairs. There was a small leather chaise lounger on the second story. Just outside his bedroom.

  "Are you sure?"

  She grinned at him.

  "Its fine. Lord knows I'll fit."

  He wasn't so sure why that annoyed him so much. He'd already told the girl she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to. He had gone out of his way to make sure she didn't feel pressured. The least she could do is give him credit for being a gentleman.

  It's not like he was a typical rock star, nailing groupies left and right.

  He was just surprised at how much he wanted to act like one tonight. She was a fan of his music. As sweet and intelligent as she was, it didn’t mean she didn’t get all those fan girl feelings.

  He wished to God he could capitalize on that, and not worry about the consequences.

  The thought of seducing her into his bed, not worrying about how she might feel about it the next day, just taking what he wanted… it was beyond tempting.

  "Look, I'm not comfortable with you sleeping out here. You can take the bed. I'll sleep on the couch in the room. Who knows what kind of people are down there."

  "No, I couldn't take your bed. That's crazy."

  "I insist."

  She sighed, looking indecisive. He decided to take matters into his own hands. He scooped her up into his arms and carried her into his room, kicking the door shut behind him. They looked around together.

  There was no couch.

  He lowered her to her feet. She was breathing in little gasps, staring up at him.

  At his lips.

  He groaned and lowered his mouth to hers.

  Again, there was an explosion of pleasure. Electricity where their lips touched. He pulled her against him and reveled in the feeling of her body pressed against his. She kissed him back, sweet and shy and eager all at the
same time.

  Finally he lifted his head, realizing he was doing the opposite of what he'd promised.

  "Sorry. I promise I’m not going to jump your bones.”

  She blushed, looking away.

  "It's okay."

  He ran his hands through his hair, unsure what to say. There were two armchairs by the window. They would have to do.

  "Hey look, I can put those two chairs together. It's only for a few hours."

  She stared at the carpet, shaking her head.

  "No, it's alright. We can…um… share."

  He inhaled sharply. She was giving him what he wanted. Or at least partially. He wasn't going to push her to do anything she didn't want to do.

  "Are you sure?"

  She nodded shyly. He took her hand and led her to the bed. He didn't want to give her time to change her mind.

  "Wait."

  He stopped, running his hands over the soft skin of her arms.

  "What?"

  "Can I borrow your toothbrush?"

  He felt an overwhelming sense of relief mixed with something else. He wasn't sure what it was though. Tenderness maybe.

  She wasn't backing out. She just wanted to brush her teeth.

  "Sure."

  He grabbed his backpack and fished out his toothbrush and paste. Then he opened his luggage and pulled out a soft t-shirt.

  "Here. You can sleep in this.”

  “Thank you.”

  She smiled shyly and took them from him before disappearing into the bathroom.

  He lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

  He realized he had a choice now. He could behave himself. Or he could take a chance and see what happened.

  As long as he didn’t push her to do anything she didn’t want, he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

  Right?

  Chapter 22

  Jessica

  Jess gargled the water to clear her mouth and spat into the sink. She looked up, staring into the mirror at herself. She looked ridiculous, like a little girl playing dress up in adult clothes.