by T. S. Ryder
“I haven’t seen you. I mean, I’ve seen you onstage and sleeping, but I haven’t seen…you.” She stared at him, and he watched as she pulled her knees to her chest. “I look at you up there, and you’re such a presence. You’re so amazing to see, but I just want to touch you.” Brent watched as she stood up and walked over to him. Riley was in a green skirt and a gray t-shirt, and she looked amazing. She pushed herself up onto her toes and kissed him.
“Riley,” Brent said, as he slid his arms around her waist and cupped her ass to pull her closer. No sex since that disastrous night in the hotel and no intimacy apart from Riley, and Brent had never felt better. He’d turned down countless groupies every night and didn’t even think twice about his choices. His body suffered as Brent kissed her and moved her towards a bunk to push her down. Brent covered her body with his, and he felt his need rising from his stomach as he kissed her harder. “Riley.”
She pulled the towel off, and he groaned as her hands scraped at his skin and her tongue met his with eager thrusts. “I need you to touch me, Brent. I watch you up there, and I can’t believe what I’m feeling inside, and I want to give everything to you.”
Brent pressed his hands to her shirt and lifted it up to find her hard nipples before he bent his head to suck one into his mouth. She whimpered, and he drew it between his teeth as he memorized the way that her body arched to offer him more.
His hand slipped between her legs. He stroked her over the lace of her underwear and she cried out. “We’re alone?”
“Yes, they’re all there,” Riley told him, as he moved the material aside and stroked her gently through her soft hair. “Oh, God. Please, Brent.”
His fingers stroked and parted her to find her clit and make her come for him. He sucked her nipples and moved his mouth up her neck to her lips. He kissed her as he knew that she was getting closer, and Brent felt her getting wet for him as she jerked against him hard and fast, starting to let go. It was gorgeous, and he sucked her tongue into his mouth as she mewed softly against his lips.
His fingers traced her clit and slipped just a little inside of her as he hardened painfully. He wanted to take her so badly right now, but not like this, not on a bus in a bunk like she was any other girl. “Baby, you feel so good.”
They realized how much time had passed and got ready to go. Brent slipped into the bathroom to jerk himself off before he dressed, desperate to be inside of her but willing to wait. They caught a cab to the rowdy bar, and it wasn’t hard at all to pretend that they were together as they drank and ate with the guys.
Chad had given Brent a lot of shit when he had claimed Riley that night, telling Brent that he was too much of a player for a girl like her. Brent had challenged that Chad was no different and that he at least had a history with Riley. Brent didn’t even pretend that it wasn’t real to him as he told Chad to leave her alone.
Tonight, Chad was with a groupie and not even paying attention to Riley as he kissed the goth girl who was sitting in his lap. The group was adjusting to what had started as a lie and become real, just like Brent and Riley were. Brent drank only his second beer in between dancing with Riley and interacting with the fans as the night went on.
Brent called a cab and pulled Riley in with him. They had until morning before they left and he wanted them to be in a room together, alone. He asked the driver to take them to the finest hotel that was close by and Riley stared at him. “I just want some time with you.”
“I don’t know if I can…though earlier was great,” Riley whispered, and he kissed her.
“I don’t care. I just want you in my arms,” Brent told her. She laughed and kissed him back.
They got a suite under his assumed name for the night, and Riley pulled her phone out of her small purse and stared at it. “I need to tell Dec.”
“He’s going to murder me tomorrow, but he has to know something is real between us,” Brent said, and she stared at him.
“There is, isn’t there? It’s only been a week maybe, and this has become everything to me,” Riley murmured, and Brent shook his head.
“I’ve always known you. The timing just needed to be right.”
Riley sent a message to her brother and winced as her phone chimed. “He wants to know where we are.”
Brent heard his phone as well and slipped it out of his jeans to look at it. His best friend was pissed off and rightfully so. He sent a message assuring Dec that Riley was safe with him in every possible way. He knew that there would be hell to pay in the morning, but he threw his phone on the table and took Riley’s away from her.
Chapter Six
Brent took Riley’s hand and led her to the bed, where he sat her down. “I don’t need to do anything with you tonight, no sex. I just need some time alone with you.”
“I felt so good earlier. I want to try something,” Riley told him, and he leaned in to kiss her softly.
“Yeah?” His cock surged to life and Brent paused before her lips. Riley pulled back and lifted her shirt up and off as Brent stared at her wordlessly. Her breasts were bare and perfect, and he leaned back to watch her. Riley slipped her hands over her body and watched as her nipples hardened. She smiled.
“I want you to kiss them again.” Brent smiled as he leaned back towards her and kissed her lips before he moved down her neck. Riley moved to her back, and he thumbed the pebbled skin before he leaned down to kiss her between her breasts.
They were alone now. The phones were silent, they had the whole night before the shit hit the fan and Brent was going to take advantage of it. He moved his lips over her right nipple and stroked it with his tongue as she cried out. Brent sucked it between his lips and she slipped her hands into his tousled hair which had dried in a mess from their earlier time on bus. He’d had to wear a beanie to the bar, but that was somewhere across the room now.
Riley pushed him away and ripped his shirt over his head before she kissed him again. She slipped her skirt and underwear down, and Brent almost choked, kissing her to take his eyes off of her. Riley returned his passion as he let his hands roam over her body to stroke her soft skin and feel her heat. He kissed down her body again, over her nipples and her stomach, before she was pushing him between her legs. “Have you done this before?”
“You’re the first. I have only kissed someone before. I didn’t feel this way…I’ve never felt this way about anyone in my life.”
“I’m honored,” Brent whispered before he moved closer and inhaled her sweet scent. Her release from earlier was still there, and he pressed his mouth against her to taste it as she grabbed onto his hair and rocked forward. Her pussy was wet and welcoming, and Brent licked and sucked, finally drawing her clit into his mouth as she moved against him and moaned his name. Riley came with a low scream as he drank her all in and spread her legs wide apart to slip his tongue inside of her.
He’d gone down on many women, but it was always just a step towards getting inside of them. This time, Brent felt Riley coming and grabbing his hair, and he didn’t care if he got inside of her at all at that moment. He just needed to be close to her.
Riley laughed as he looked up at her and rested his chin on her flat stomach. “You’re perfect,” he told her, as he looked up her flawless pale skin and paused on her small breasts with the dark pink nipples.
“You’ve seen a lot of women,” Riley said, and he nodded. “Am I better?”
“Better? You’re everything to me,” Brent told her, as she narrowed her eyes. “That, my past…it was escaping. You know about my mom, and then Lilith, and I just ran and ran. I ran into the arms of alcohol and drugs and yes, women and sex.” Brent had had a fiancée when he was twenty-four who had died in a car accident a month after the proposal and had lost his mother to cancer when he was just twelve. “Hell, looking back, I think Lil was just a way to cope. She never felt like you do in my arms.” He stared into her eyes.
“I want you. I want you to be my first everything,” Riley told him, and he licked his lips
before he moved over her to kiss her. She ate her taste off of his lips, and he pressed his hard cock against her thigh as he took a deep breath.
“You can’t take this back, Ri.” She nodded and kissed him again. Brent had a few condoms on him as an old habit, but he’d never expected to end up here with Riley.
“I know.” Brent kissed her until she was breathless before he pulled away and unbuttoned his jeans. He slipped them off, and as his cock sprung free her eyes widened. “How is that going to fit?”
“Perfectly,” Brent told her, and he smiled. “I have condoms with me, but I have always been careful. I’ve been tested on the regular, and I can be again for you if that’s what you want. I’d take it all back if I could.”
“I know that you couldn’t hurt me. You’ve always been protective of me,” Riley told him, and he nodded as he knew she was right. “Use them now and we’ll see from here. I’ve never been on birth control.”
“We’ll fix that.” Brent leaned in to kiss her as he gripped the foil in his hands and memorized the moment. He memorized the way her lips tasted and the way her body arched to meet his. Brent felt her wrap around his finger as he slipped it inside of her and the way that she moaned as she leaned her head back. She was so ready for him, and he stared into her eyes as he felt her tighten around him.
Brent spread her legs and covered himself with the condom before he slipped just hit tip inside of her warmth. Riley was shaking as she looked at him and he leaned down to kiss her as he slid deeper inside. “Why did you wait for this?” Brent asked her, as he pulled back.
“I’ve always had a crush on you, Brent. I dated but I just never felt anything for them. I have always loved you,” Riley told him, as she winced and froze beneath him. “Oh God. Keep going.” He did, against his will, and buried himself inside of her, then stilled for a moment. She loved him and here he was taking her innocence away when he didn’t know what he felt. “Brent, I want you. Make love to me.”
He pulled back and did just that as she clung to him, and Brent knew that he loved her as he felt her open and take all of him. Their bodies rocked together, and he felt her release just before his own, one that he felt in every nerve ending in his body. Brent cried out her name as he moved inside of her and kissed her lips, and he dropped on the mattress beside of her as he took a deep breath. “Fucking hell. That felt like nothing I’ve ever experienced,” he told her, and she laughed.
“I can agree.” Brent looked at her. “I want to do it over and over.”
“Not right now,” Brent told her, and he watched her move closer and kiss him. “I love you, Riley. I want this to be real, and I always did from the moment I saw you in that hotel room. The problem is that Dec and Kenzie might not be so into the idea and kill me.”
“They won’t,” Riley assured him. He held her close and breathed her in.
They ordered room service and slept in until nine before they caught a cab back to the bus. Riley looked at the bus and held his hand as she gave him a determined look. They’d made love as many times as she could handle it and he just wanted to sleep with her in a bunk for the rest of the day.
The door opened and her brother and sister stepped out. Brent took a deep breath. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Kenzie asked. Riley narrowed her eyes.
“No cameras. No people. This is real to us,” Brent told her. Declan shook his head.
“Brent, you’re not good enough for my sister,” Kenzie said.
“I am better because of her. I just didn’t know that what I needed had always been around,” he said. He looked at Riley with a smile. “I love her, you guys. I am going to give her the best life that I can.”
“I love him too. You know that, Dec.” Riley said.
“I thought you were over that, but I suppose this would’ve happened without my help,” Declan said. He smiled. “Take care of her.”
They decided to continue the tour as planned, only Riley slept in his arms every night. When he wasn’t doing stuff with the band, Brent was with her, whether they were alone or with a group. Alone was tricky, but he taught her about tour sex in a bunk every chance that he had.
Epilogue
The media confirmed them as a couple two months later when Riley was moving into Brent’s apartment, much to Declan’s dismay. She registered for school and Brent took her to take care of the finances. She held his hand and blushed as the other students stared at him. He signed a few autographs and posed for some pictures while she chose her classes, and she could barely keep her eyes off of him. “I love you, Brent.”
“I love you, Ri. All set?” he asked, and she nodded. “Let’s celebrate with lunch.”
“You spoil me too much, baby,” Riley murmured, as he leaned in for a long kiss.
“I always will.”
They headed to his car and lunch, their hands interlocked tightly.
Brent realized that hitting rock bottom had saved him, and he squeezed Riley’s hand as he looked down at her. He’d never take her for granted, and he thanked her every day for what she’d given him.
Riley just reminded him that she always loved him.
*****
THE END
Paranormal Shifter Romance Collection
The Shifter's Nanny
Description
Does this hot panther shifter need me to take care of his daughter or does he want my curves for another reason as well?
Rose Doctor needs a job. After years of emotional abuse by her ex-boyfriend, she’s broke and deeply scarred. So when a gorgeous shifter needs her help to take care of his infant daughter, she accepts.
Her new boss is hot as hell. But she’s not going to let her heart get the best of her. Not this time.
Devon was always a loner. He’s not looking for romance, much less a mate. All he needs is a nanny. Yes, she has curves in all the right places. But no, she’s here to look after his daughter, and that’s it.
But everything changes when Rose’s past catches up with her. Her ex-boyfriend is back and will stop at nothing to force her to take him back...
Will Devon do what it takes to protect Rose? Can he resist the primal urge that’s roared to life in him? And can Rose find it in herself and trust again?
Sometimes risking everything is the only way to find out…
Chapter One – Rose
Maybe I should have worn something a little more casual. After all, I'm interviewing to be a nanny, not a supernanny.
Rose self-consciously smoothed down the plum pencil skirt that she wore to all her interviews, glad she had at least matched her business suit with a fun frog-themed necklace and had kept her dyed autumn-red hair in loose waves around her face. It showed that she was fun as well as professional. At least, that's what she hoped it showed and didn't make her look crazy.
I look fantastic, she told herself to try to calm her churning gut. Anybody would be lucky to have me working with them.
She took a deep breath before she knocked on the front door. Her pep-talk wasn't helping the butterflies in her stomach at all, but then she hadn't thought it would. This was her first job interview in nearly five years. She didn’t know what to expect anymore.
The door opened, revealing her potential employer. The first thing that struck her about him was the suspicious squint in his silver-grey eyes. They swept up and down her, and she got the feeling that if he didn't like what he saw, she wouldn’t even get the interview. She tried to stand a little straighter, unconsciously sucking in her gut to try to make herself look thinner. Not that it was possible… her ex-boyfriend was always fond of telling her how she needed to trim down for him, and she'd only gained weight since she left him.
"Hello." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Rose Doctor, here to interview for the position of nanny."
"Devon McGullicuddy," the man replied. He didn't shake her hand. "We'll sit out here for the interview."
Rose nodded. She thought it was strange that he wanted to interview her at his home but was re
lieved she wasn't going to have to insist on not setting foot into his house just yet. She wanted to get to know him a little better first. They sat on a couple of chairs set out on the covered porch.
"Miss Doctor," Devon started, setting down. "Before we start, you are aware of my heritage, yes?"
Rose's gaze swept down his strongly muscled body. What did he mean by that? His ethnic heritage? If he came from money? Did he have some sort of famous ancestor? His bronzed skin spoke to a more temperate climate, but what was she supposed to guess?
"Er…"
"I'm a shifter," Devon clarified.
Heat rushed to her cheeks. "Oh! Yes, yes I understand that. And the baby is a shifter as well, yes?"
He nodded. "She is, yes. She won't start shifting until she's a little older, though, so you don't have to worry about knowing how to care for a kitten."
"A kitten. So what are you?"
What did I ask him that for?
Rose bit her lower lip, ducking her head. She hated it when people walked up to her and asked her that question. Her Eurasian heritage was something she was proud of, but for some reason, people thought that they ought to be privy to her heritage. It annoyed her to no end–and here she was asking the same question!
"I'm sorry," she blurted. "That's none of my business."
Devon grunted. If Rose's heart sunk any lower, it'd be on her feet. This was exactly the kind of disaster she was worried about on her first new job interview. Social awkwardness combined with five years of emotional abuse from someone she loved was not a good combination.