Shine Forever

by Megan Derr

  "What?" he asked when Jet poked him.

  "Stop zoning out," Jet said. "We're going to Club Havoc. You in?"

  Dai made a face. "No. Hell no. I do not like any of you that much. I'm going back to my room."

  "Yeah, cause those books won't be there in the morning or anything," Jet replied.

  "Shut up," Dai replied while the rest of the table smiled and snickered. "You guys go to your club. Just make sure you're up in time for practice—and that you're able to practice."

  Jet scoffed, then looked to Jake and Cooper. "You in?"

  "Yeah, I'll come," Jake said. "I'm sick of looking at my hotel room. Coop?"

  "No, thanks," Cooper said. "I'd rather hole up and watch TV or something. I'm peopled out."

  Jake clapped him on the shoulder, then rose with the others and headed out.

  Dai balled his hands in his lap, stared across the table, and swallowed when Cooper met his eyes, holding nothing back. Jesus, Dai already felt half-naked. "Um. I didn't know…"

  "No one does," Cooper said quietly. "I ain't normally so obvious, but you… Well, you gotta know what you are."

  What did that mean? "A guy with teal hair and a hard-on?"

  Cooper burst out laughing, head falling back, one hand slapping the table. "Come on, let's get out of here." He threw an additional tip on the table, then retrieved his Stetson from a bench off to one side of their large, private table.

  "Where should we go?" Dai asked. Normally he only went as far as a discreet back room, or a hotel room as far from his own as he could comfortably get. He wasn't much for lingering. But walking alongside Cooper, drunk on tension and temptation, he was about ready to agree to any thing. God, he could smell the man, even in the middle of a busy restaurant. Cooper was wearing some expensive, sexy cologne, but Dai could smell leather and sweat, too.

  "We can go back to my room. We get separate ones, helps us not get sick of each other so quick, and we ain't up in each other's business. If you want, I mean." He cast Dai a nervous look. "I know you ain't like me."

  Oh, god, that was definitely not something he ever did. But instead of saying no like he should, Dai just shrugged. "I can be discreet. I don't expect other people to live according to my rules and preferences. You're the one who will come to harm if we get caught fooling around."

  Cooper nodded but didn't say anything. "You want to ride with me, or you got your own?"

  "I had a car service bring me; I can ride with you. You have your own car?"

  "Borrowed it from a friend in the area. I ain't never gotten used to other folks driving me around."

  Dai laughed. "I'm much happier not doing the work, not gonna lie."

  "I can understand that," Cooper replied and handed over a ticket to the valet who came rushing up to them.

  A few minutes later a red mustang with black racing stripes pulled up in front of them. Dai snorted, smiled. "I can't say I'm surprised."

  "You be quiet. Like I said, it's a friend's car. Mine is a Challenger," Cooper replied with a grin and wink. He tipped the valet, then removed his hat and slid behind the wheel with the smooth motions of a man who'd done it a thousand times. He set his hat in Dai's lap, then drove off into Orlando traffic, occasionally darting looks whenever stoplights and signs permitted. "You're something else."

  Dai grinned. "I'm not all that remarkable. Jet and I look a lot alike, and he's way more fun than me, or so I've been told."

  "He's exhausting. No offense."

  "None taken. He'd be the first to agree. He's the main driving force behind the band, not least of all because of that energy. I'm just the voice and the discipline."

  Cooper made a low, rough sound that did nothing to calm Dai's dick down. "Discipline, huh? I like the disciplined ones."

  "Oh?" Dai asked, swallowing again, wishing his heart would stay in his goddamn chest and that his stupid fucking face would stop turning red.

  "Ayah." God that drawl was going to have him shooting before anyone got a hand on his dick. "Controlled ones are always wildcats when the clothes come off. I bet you yowl."

  "I got nails too, and they want to grab tight to those shoulders."

  The wheel jerked slightly, then Cooper let out a loud, shaky breath. "You're gonna break me, and I ain't gonna be a mite sorry."

  They subsided the rest of the drive, plenty distracted by tension thick enough Dai could smell it, feel it in the way his cock was trying to push right out of his leather pants.

  When they finally pulled into a parking garage beneath a fancy looking hotel, Dai was ready to explode. He hastily climbed out of the car and followed Cooper to the elevators, watching as Cooper swiped a card and hit the button for a floor that must have been some sort of VIP level.

  He was about to vibrate out of his damn skin as he followed Cooper down the hall to a door second from the last on the left. Cooper swiped his card again, then pushed the door open and waved Dai ahead of him.

  The door had barely closed when Cooper grabbed Dai's arm, pushed him up against the door, and dropped his mouth down over Dai's. He tasted like beer and steak and wasted no time on cautious flirting, just dove right in for a hot, wet tongue fucking that had Dai squirming and moaning and kissing back just as heatedly.

  He sank his fingers into that soft-looking hair, sending the Stetson tumbling away. Large, hot hands skated down his body, wrapped around his thighs, then hefted him up as though he weighed nothing and oh, fuck. That made the kissing even better, put him dead level instead of them both craning awkwardly. God, that strength was stupid hot.

  "You're something else," Cooper said. "I swear I ain't never been so distracted by someone. I've wanted you naked and wrapped around my cock from the moment you walked in that room."

  Dai groaned, gulped, head thudding against the door as he closed his eyes and shuddered. "I saw you in the bookstore earlier today. Couldn't stop thinking about you. Didn't know who you were, had no idea I'd see you again."

  "Oh? I thought I saw some fella with pink hair watching us, thought maybe it was a fan until you vanished." He frowned. "Your hair ain't pink, though."

  "Got it redone this afternoon." He shivered as Cooper began to work on his neck, tongue and teeth adding to the tension coiling in his gut. "God, your strength is hot."

  Cooper chuckled against his skin, trailed up slowly to take his mouth again, leaving it throbbing in the best way. "You don't weigh a thing, do ya? I got luggage heavier than you."

  "Shut up," Dai groused. "I may be little, but I can still ride."

  Groaning, Cooper leaned in, forehead resting against the door, body shuddering against Dai's. "You keep talking like that you won't get a chance, and I really, really want you to get that chance."

  Dai huffed out a laugh. "Then let me go and get naked, cowboy." He laughed harder when instead of letting go, Cooper just grabbed his ass and carried him across the room to the bed, slid a knee on it, and lowered him down, chasing him to bestow another breath stealing kiss.

  When he pulled away, he got his fingers under Dai's t-shirt and pulled it off, then threw his own after it. "You're something else again," Cooper said quietly, running a hand up Dai's torso, from stomach to chest, pausing to tease over the gleaming gold hoops in his nipples. He leaned down and got his mouth around one.

  Dai moaned, sank his fingers into Cooper's hair, and pushed up into that hot mouth, his free hand daggering into one of those fine, fine shoulders. "More."

  "Oh, I'll give you more." Cooper teased his other nipple briefly, then moved down his body, rubbing at the hard cock still trapped in Dai's leather pants. "You're a distracting little shit in these pants." He drew back and got the pants open, dragged the zipper down—then groaned, head dropping, entire body giving a hard shudder. "What the hell you wearing? You trying to break me?"

  Dai pushed the leather pants down his hips, more eager than ever now his choice of underwear was clearly appreciated. "Satin panties. I wear them when I really want to get laid but stand pretty much zero chance of tha
t happening."

  Cooper finished the job of getting rid of his pants, then put his mouth to the damp, dark red panties, teasing Dai's cock through them. Jesus, that felt like nothing else ever. Why hadn't he ever worn them for anyone else? Oh, right, 'cause people got pissed off about the weirdest shit.

  His thoughts scattered as Cooper spread his legs wide, mouthed and nipped at the soft skin of his inner thighs before working back to tease his cock through the soft satin. "Stop or I'm gonna be done before you fuck me."

  "Oh, I'm pretty sure a little firecracker like you will get it up again." Cooper drew back, pushed a hand into the satin, and pulled out his cock, stroking him hard and fast while he mouthed at Dai's nipples, tugging gently but firmly on the rings. God, it was at least ten thousand times hotter than imagining it happening while he fucked his own hand. He was so hot he was gonna melt, couldn't do anything but mewl and dig his nails into Cooper's shoulders until he came with a rough cry, spilling all over them both.

  Cooper dropped a wet kiss on his mouth, then drew back and walked over to the sink counter next to the bathroom. He wiped his hand on a washcloth and rifled through a toiletry bag and came back with a couple of condoms and a small bottle of lube. He threw them on the bed, then got rid of the rest of his clothes. "Nice tats."

  "Thanks." Dai didn't have many, but he was proud of the few: a stretching cat wrapped around his right hip, scattered rainbow stars on his right thigh, and the chorus of their first big hit on his left thigh in pretty, simple script. "You should see the one on my back." He turned over, grinning at the groan and not at all surprised when Cooper's fingers went to his ass instead of the string of music notes that followed the line of his spine, spread out across the small of his back and just barely along the top of his ass.

  "You said I should see your ass, right?"

  Dai laughed. "Close enough."

  Cooper laughed with him, and Dai almost pouted when he moved away. He was mollified quickly, however, when Cooper pushed him further up the bed and got him settled more comfortably before pressing a slick finger against his hole, teasing the rim, nudging gently, making Dai swear and moan and beg for more. "You're hotter than the devil. One of these days I'm going to fuck you open with my tongue, make you come just from that."

  Dai liked the sound of that. He liked the sound of them doing this again even better. Did Cooper realize what he'd said? Better not to push his luck. "You gonna fuck me like this, cowboy? 'Cause if so I'd better get to stay around long enough to ride you later. I was promised."

  "You can do whatever you want to me as many times as you want," Cooper said and pushed a finger into him, twisting and crooking it enough to reduce Dai to wordless sounds of desperate need. It had been a long time since he'd had anything but his own fingers or a toy up there; he'd almost forgotten how nice it felt to have someone else involved. "You're a greedy little thing," Cooper said, mouthing at his neck, working a second finger in, stretching him and stroking just right, setting Dai to mewling again, pushing back on those fingers seeking more.

  By the time Cooper slid inside him, Dai was hard again and whatever edge the first release had dulled had come right back. He dropped his head to rest on his folded arms and pushed back against the cock slowly working into him, sharply aware of every breath, every flex of Cooper's fingers on his skin. Sweat stung his eyes, and the smell of sex filled his nose, and god he could not remember a time when fucking somebody had felt this drugging.

  He moaned when Cooper was finally all the way in, twisting enough to look over his shoulder, but his words slid away as he took in the sight of Cooper sweaty and lust-drunk. Fuck, that was more addictive than a hall of people screaming his name.

  Cooper grinned at him, hot and wicked and god, Dai was never going to be able to think straight again. He pulled out slightly and thrust back in, and that was it. Dai was done thinking for the evening. "You're not evening trying, cowboy."

  That got him a hot little growly noise and fingers biting into his hips, and then Cooper showed him what he got for being a smartass. A damned good ride, that was what he got. Cooper fucked him with focus, hard and deep and even, like he had all the time in the world and planned to spend every second of it driving his cock into Dai's ass.

  Dai moaned when Cooper curled over him, got that mouth on his shoulder and sucked up a mark, wrapped long arms around him and held on tight as he fucked into Dai a last, few, graceless times before he came.

  They collapsed onto the bed together, Cooper a hot, heavy weight that wasn't entirely unpleasant. Dai did whine a bit when Cooper slowly pulled out. Cool air washed over his overheated skin as Cooper got up to toss the condom.

  A soft kiss was pressed to his shoulder as Cooper curled back around him. It was… surprisingly nice. Dai didn't normally fuck the type of people who hung around. Most of the time he was the first one out the door. But he had no desire to go anywhere else anytime soon. Short nap, then he was going to ride a cowboy. If they lasted until morning, maybe he could talk Cooper into fucking him against the wall. Or maybe he'd wake Cooper up with a blowjob. He had a couple of condoms in his wallet if Cooper's ran out.

  Smiling, he let sleep have him, drifting off to the feel of gentle caresses and a smoke-sugar voice murmuring hot promises in his ear.

  Track 02

  Sand and Silk

  Nearly two in the morning. Cooper shouldn't have been disappointed, but fuck if he wasn't anyway. He knew how exhausting concerts could be, how hard it was to break away after they were over and the real shit got going.

  Still, as much fun as they'd seemed to have together in bed the day before, he'd hoped Dai would manage to show up at the beach house for a repeat performance. But he couldn't see a man he barely knew hauling all the way to an unfamiliar beach house at two in the morning just for a random hookup.

  Sighing, Cooper stuck a piece of paper in his book and set it on the coffee table.

  He at least should have gotten Dai's number, but that still sounded too much like getting attached, if only in a small way. He couldn't risk attachment, not with someone like that. He'd kept himself to himself for a long time—so he wouldn’t get hurt while he was on the rodeo circuit, and later, so he wouldn't hurt the band.

  Sometimes he got a touch jealous at how easy guys like Dai and Jet made it seem, as out and loud and vibrant as they were. If their 'lifestyle choices', as the media so quaintly loved to put it, had ever bitten them on the ass, Cooper had never read about it. And god, Dai certainly fucked like a man who had never hesitated to crawl into bed with whoever interested him. Cooper got hot just thinking about it, how Dai must look tumbling with other rockstars, maybe an old flame from before he was famous.

  He was all shy and quiet in public, but in the bedroom, god have mercy, he came alive same way he did when he went on stage. Cooper had seen him on stage, doing interviews… He hadn't realized the offstage Dai was so quiet and still. He was a regular Jekyll-Hyde thing.

  Cooper still couldn't believe he had met the infamous Dai. He might be famous himself, but he still felt like an interloper, someone who was faking it and just waiting to get caught and revealed as a fraud. He'd been listening to Forever and a Dai nearly as long as he'd been performing himself, happy to gawk at the pretty boy lead singer whenever he got the chance and listen to him fair often. He might have told Dai he'd wanted him since the restaurant, but he'd been entertaining dirty thoughts for Dai Kristopherson a hell of a lot longer than that.

  He hadn't ever expected harmless, idle daydreaming to turn into a brain-melting reality. If someone had told him he would someday fuck Dai into the mattress while he howled Cooper's name… he would have laughed at the absurdity and told the fool to move along. Now here he was moping 'cause he wasn't gonna get a repeat performance before he headed back home.

  He turned out the lights, then stepped out on the deck and leaned on the railing, admiring the ocean and the moonlight. Lord, traveling like a star was a far cry from traveling like a bull rider. The only beach
es he'd ever seen then had been crowded stretches shared with college students, drunks, and fellow riders. A fancy private beach that was all his for the weekend?

  Mama would shake her head if she wasn't over in Europe cutting a rug with Pa. Ireland, maybe? Hell if he knew what they'd decided on. He'd just made certain the trip got paid for.

  The sound of a car driving up made his heart kick up a notch. He padded through the dark house to the front door and pulled it open. Damn near swallowed his tongue when Dai strutted toward him still fancied up from his concert, rumpled and tired and smelling of sweat and smoke, but fuck if he wasn't beautiful as all get out. "You look like every dirty thought I've had since high school."

  Dai laughed. "I like your dirty thoughts. I figured at best I looked like a well-used hooker."

  Cooper gave a slow grin. "If you still got clothes on, you ain't been used well at all."

  "Are you going to fix that?"

  "I'm aiming." Cooper reached out and snagged his belt loops, hauled him close, and devoured that wicked little mouth, purple lipstick and all. He grabbed Dai's ass, hauled him up so those lithe little legs wrapped around him, and stepped backward into the house. He managed to get the door closed after a few fumbles, then pressed Dai up against it and focused on that mouth, the fingers digging into his shoulders like they were made to stay right there forever.

  Mercy of the lord, the last time he'd felt a rush like this, he'd been riding the bull that had put him in surgery. And bull riding hadn't gotten his cock hard, hadn't made him foolhardy with need now.

  Grunting, he pulled Dai away from the door and let him slide to his feet—then scooped him up and threw him over one shoulder, grinning at the bellow of surprised outrage that elicited. When he reached the bedroom, he dropped Dai on the bed and crawled on top of him, muffling threats with his mouth, palming Dai's cock through his pants. "I'm surprised you're awake enough for this. You look exhausted."

  Dai made a face. "I'm surprised you're putting up with me. I must smell ripe as hell."