Blame it on the Tequila

by Fiona Cole

  “Pervert,” I joked, shoving his shoulder.

  He rolled on top of me, flicking my piercing. “Yup. And I can’t wait to show you every single perverted thing I ever wanted to do to you.”

  “Yes, sir,” I breathed.

  Fulfilling Parker’s fantasies after denying us for so long sounded like the perfect night, and we set about doing just that.

  Twenty-Four

  Parker

  “So, this is what the great Nova, woman of the wild, does when she disappears into the woods?” I sank deeper into the warm water until it reached my neck, not taking my eyes off her. “Skinny dip?”

  I’d seen her climb into the hot spring, confident in her nudity, but I didn’t want to miss a single peek if she decided to stand up and give me a show. It’d been about a week since that night in the hotel and I refused to miss a second of it. So, when we had a few days break between shows without promo, I asked Nova to show me what she loved. It was the perfect way for us to connect away from everything.

  “When the mood strikes,” she answered flippantly, skimming her hands along the water. “Or whenever I need to get clean. Sometimes, I don’t have access to showers.”

  I breathed a laugh, taking in the woman with the Sierra Nevada vista behind her, naked in a hot spring, her hair curling like flames licking at the mountain range. I remembered the girl who hesitated to show me her art and blushed at every compliment. I took the then and now and merged them into something more beautiful than what lay at the surface.

  “When did you become so wild?”

  She gave a coy smile from under her lashes and winked. “It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for. They’re the rowdiest lying in wait for someone to share it with.”

  “Oh, yeah. I think it was all that porn you watched.”

  She tipped her head back, a laugh bursting from her lips. “I never should have told you.”

  “You should have sent them to me so we could watch together. You should have video chat me and let me watch you. In fact, let’s make that a rule from now on.”

  “You couldn’t handle it,” she challenged.

  “Puh-lease,” I joked, putting on my best valley girl voice.

  She bat her lashes. “I’m too wild.”

  “Oh, yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  I pushed away from the edge, venturing into the middle to close the gap. “Show me later.”

  “We’ll see.” Despite her doubtful answer, she leaned back, arching up to bring her pebbled tips to the chilled air.

  At my growl, she giggled and submerged back in the water.

  “In truth, I’m really not that wild. Usually when it’s only just me.”

  “What about with the girls?”

  “Sometimes. Rae can really pull it out of me. The third time we hung out, we went to a frat party, and I ended up dancing on a table.”

  “Damn. That would have been a sight to see.”

  “From the vague flashes of memory, I’m not sure it was.”

  “So, is that how you met Rae and Vera? At a college party?”

  “Yup. It was love at first eye roll. We were people-watching in separate places in the room and very unimpressed. I caught her eye roll about the same time I did mine, and we clicked. In an odd way. When we saw Vera do the same, we roped her in.”

  “They’re an interesting bunch.”

  She smiled and looked out at the sun slowly descending, causing the mountains’ shadows to creep closer across the vast desert toward us.

  “Did you miss not going to college?”

  “No,” I answered easily. “Not even a little bit.”

  She looked back at me, her nose scrunching up. “Yeah, I can’t see any of you doing that. God, could you imagine Oren as an astronaut?”

  Shaking my head, I remembered Oren barely making a front flip off of the stand his kit was set up on at the end of the concert last week. “Not at all. He’s the very definition of someone dying after asking, what does this button do?”

  “Yeah, space is definitely safer with him on drums.”

  Steam rose up, curling around her like I wanted to. The sun setting behind her cast her in a halo—she looked like an angel. My hands twitched to reach for her, and after so many years of denying myself, I didn’t hesitate to close the distance. I gripped her hips, and her arms snaked around my shoulders as I sat back on the bench someone before us created. She straddled my lap, and instantly I hardened at the brush of her core against my cock.

  She sucked in a shaky breath, and I considered pushing inside her right here, but we didn’t have a condom.

  So instead, I adjusted and enjoyed her warmth against me, raining gentle kisses along her neck and shoulders. She arched this way and that to give me access, dragging her fingers languidly through my hair. We moved like a dance with no end—no purpose other than to feel each other and be close.

  “What about after all this?” she finally asked.

  “I don’t know.” I pulled back to take her in, pushing the loose curls off her damp cheek. “I feel like we’re just getting started in some ways. But I can also feel the exhaustion creep in quicker with each tour. Maybe I just need more breaks like this. Take some time to enjoy the quiet with you.”

  “I could definitely help with that.”

  “I’ve also been taking time to really understand and get to know all the behind-the-scenes action. The production and management. I could see myself producing later when my body has finally given up on touring.” I shrugged, not really having thought about it. We all just lived in the moment and enjoyed every second. I’d only had to think about me, but with her in my arms, I realized I wanted to think about her too. “What about you? What do you want?”

  Her shrug matched mine. “I got a degree in fine arts and minored in journalism—mainly for my mom’s peace of mind—but I feel like I hit the ground after graduation and splattered in every direction. At the core of it all, art is my foundation. And I started a lot of these projects while I was in college, and now, I’m getting a chance to delve deeper. I write for various online journals about travel, I paint and do photography, I write music and go on tour with famous, sexy musicians.”

  “Hey, you better not be doing that with anyone else,” I pretend scolded.

  “You are definitely an exception,” she promised.

  “Good.” I pecked her lips. “When you’re a famous artist, will you still find time to paint me like one of your French girls?” I asked in a breathy, feminine voice.

  She laughed, shaking in my arms, making it hard to sit still, but her smile made it all worth it. “Of course, I’ll paint you.”

  “And we can’t forget your Instagram fame,” I added.

  She groaned and rolled her eyes. “As I said, that was unintentional and solely based on my vanity of wanting to document my travels.”

  “Well, I’m glad you did. I may have spent more than a few nights scrolling through them all.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, although, I’m concerned with the amount of times you’re topless out in the woods. I mean, who takes those pictures?” I’d never stared at a back as long as I had hers. She had a collection of her laying in lagoons, standing on the beach, sitting on the edge of a cliff—all topless from behind.

  “What can I say? It’s kind of freeing. And it’s just me in those moments, and my camera stand.”

  “Thank god.”

  “I don’t know, when I’m out here, I just…am. I’m not worried about the future or any of the pressures of making the right decisions. It’s just me and the quiet.”

  “I can see that.” I looked around, enjoying that it was just us. She explained that it wasn’t usually this quiet, but the time of the year wasn’t ideal for those who only dabbled in camping. So, the location was pretty isolated. “I think I like the quiet with you.”

  “Good.” She dipped her fingers in the water, warming them before pulling them out again and stroking across the bridge of my n
ose and brows. “How’s your dad?”

  “He’s good,” I answered languidly. I closed my eyes, just feeling her weight on me, enjoying the soft strokes—soft and soothing. “Your mom?”

  “She’s good. We don’t really talk much. Especially right now with my decision to stay on my path.

  “Why would that make her not want to talk to you?”

  “She spent all this time pushing to lock me away in an office, and instead, I am out on my own in the forest. Basically, her worst nightmare. But instead of listening to me and seeing that it’s about what I want and not her, she’s letting it tear us apart.”

  It was like we were checking boxes of basic questions to ask when catching up. We’d been talking for a while now, but we kept it mostly superficial or about just us and the now. Our parents had felt a little too close to the past, but since she brought my dad up first—no matter how simple—it was like she pulled the curtain back, allowing more to come through.

  “You know, I never quite understood what happened between them.”

  “Your dad didn’t tell you?”

  “Nah, and since he didn’t bring it up, neither did I. I tried to broach it once, but he changed the topic real quick, so I followed suit.”

  “Oh.” Her fingers stalled for a moment but quickly resumed, this time pushing back into my hair. “They argued a lot toward the end. I think your dad wanted to keep it from you so you could focus on your dream.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “The same reason. You were away, and there wasn’t anything you could do.”

  “They argued before though and made it past it.”

  When she didn’t say anything else, I cracked open an eye and took in her furrowed brow and pursed lips like she struggled over what to say next. I didn’t push her, just stroked my thumbs along the hollows of her hips under the water and waited, sinking back into the sensual scrape of her nails now working the nape of my neck.

  “After…everything that happened, I guess tensions got higher, and they started arguing again. I know my mom was stressed over what happened. Your dad was worried about me and didn’t really know what to do. I…didn’t make it easy.”

  “It wasn’t your job to make it easy on anyone.”

  “Either way. I didn’t help by hiding away, moving through the motions with a pair of headphones locked in place. I could’ve said something.”

  I gently pressed my lips to hers. “You didn’t owe an explanation to them.”

  “I know, and my mom didn’t make it easy to talk. After I got home from the hospital, she went a little crazy. It was like all the years she hadn’t spent being over-protective were crammed into those first few months, becoming a helicopter mom. It was like the only thing she could blame was giving me too much freedom.”

  “Yeah. I know she blamed me for what happened, and I wasn’t there for her to take it out on. So, I’m sure that didn’t help with everything else going on.”

  She pulled back, the lines between her brows deepening. “What? How did you know she blamed you?”

  My confusion mirrored hers, and I took a moment to consider that her mom never told her about my visit. But why would she when all she wanted to do was keep me as far from her as possible?

  “I looked for you.”

  Her hands stopped completely and slid to my shoulders, helping her scoot back to the edge of my knees. “What?” she asked again, barely a whisper. This time there was no confusion, but instead, disbelief.

  “Of course, I looked for you, Nova.” How could she assume I’d just given up? I’d been busy, but I never wanted to abandon her. Even if she abandoned me without giving me a chance to fight. “When you stopped taking my calls, and then my dad called to tell me they’d gotten divorced, I came back. But you were gone. It was like you vanished—no social media, you weren’t at school. I couldn’t find an address. Nothing. Your mom switched jobs and changed back to her maiden name, which took me a while to figure out, but it was something—somewhere to start. I went to go see her because why not?”

  She searched my eyes, her chest heaving with each revelation I shared, her eyes brimming with tears.

  “She fucking laid into me when I walked in. She told me she’d hide you from me if it was the last thing she did because of what I let happen to you. I, uh, I didn’t take it great.” I winced, remembering the way I’d got raging drunk and trashed the mostly empty practice space we’d held onto. “The guys cornered me the next day, pretty pissed since I canceled two shows to stay in New York to find you.”

  “Jesus, Parker.”

  “They made me choose, and in that moment, I made an emotional choice—I made the easier choice to go with the path of least resistance. I chose the safer one, and I’m so sorry I didn’t fight harder.”

  A tear slipped free, and I wiped it away before it could even reach her chin. She studied me, swallowing again and again, and I sat there, letting her process everything. Barely a moment passed when she took a deep, shuddering breath and lifted her chin, pulling her shoulders back.

  My Nova, I thought, taking in her strength and will, the sun fully setting like a fire behind her. My supernova.

  “It’s in the past,” she declared. “I didn’t know, but there isn’t anything we can do but be here—now.”

  “I think I like that plan.”

  “Good.”

  With a decisive nod, she reached past me, pressing her front to mine, stealing my breath, and electrifying me right back into the moment. I was halfway to gripping her to hold her in place when she pulled back with her camera.

  “Take a picture of me,” she ordered, climbing off my lap.

  She turned around and stood until the water rippled against the small of her back. With her red hair shining brighter in the dying sun, her pale skin bared, perfectly decorated with the beautiful art she’d created, she stretched her arms wide. I ogled the firm lines of her back and the delicate curve of her neck. She was strength and beauty and everything I could ever want in a woman.

  I took a few shots, being extra careful to not shift and catch any of her breasts. But once those were done, I said screw it to caution and kept clicking as I shifted around her. When she saw me rounding her side, camera lifted and still clicking, she gasped and jerked her hands to cover her breasts.

  “Oh, c’mon, Supernova,” I coaxed. She pried her middle fingers free and stuck her tongue out. “Real mature.”

  “Well, let me take some pictures of you naked, then.”

  “You want a dick pic? Because I will happily pose for one.”

  “Of course, you would.,” she laughed, rolling her eyes.

  “I have a better idea,” I said, closing the distance and pulling her into my arms. Flipping the screen, I positioned it as best I could and snapped a pic just as I pressed my lips to hers.

  She abandoned her breasts and wrapped her arms around me. Losing myself in the moment, I randomly snapped, giving most of my attention to the woman in my arms. I walked her back, arching her over the rocks where she stretched her arms out and back. Pulling the camera back to my eye, I pressed my hand over her pale breasts, fingering the hard ball through the petal-soft nipple, growing harder at her gasp, and shifted my fingers enough to cover the bare minimum. My tan skin stood stark against her pale flesh, and I snapped. Her chin a shadowy blur beyond the exquisite line of her body arched back.

  I took picture after picture as we shifted. My mouth on hers, on her chin, neck—her nipple. She stole the camera when I lifted her up and buried my head between her thighs. She dug her hand into my hair, and the whir and click of the camera had me diving in, even more turned on by her memorializing me eating her pussy.

  When both of us were on the edge of desperation, I picked her up and practically ran to the camper van for a condom. The camera was tossed aside, and nothing else mattered for the rest of the night but her and me.

  The way it should’ve always been.

  The way I was going to make damn sure it a
lways did.

  Twenty-Five

  Nova

  Warmth. More warmth than I expected on a morning in mid-February.

  But then the warmth shifted, and the creak of the van doors preambled the bright sun pouring into the small space.

  Then the warmth was back, and this time, I wasn’t just warm, I was wet.

  Wet kisses started at my knee and worked higher. If this was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up.

  A large hand pushed my thigh up and back, broad shoulders making themselves at home between my legs. A rough thumb swiped through my folds up to my clit. I gasped, arching up to follow when he pulled away. Before I could protest, a tongue took the same path as his thumb, and I moaned as it slowly swirled around where I needed him.

  I fisted the sheets and dug my heel against the mattress, trying to gain more pressure, to move right under his tongue instead of the torturous circles around.

  “Parker,” I whimpered. “Please.”

  His laugh vibrated against my skin, sending tremors all the way down to my toes. Another long slow lick from my opening back up, sucking on my folds before finally returning back to my clit. This time two fingers worked their way inside me, curling and twisting, and I couldn’t take not seeing him. I squinted against the brilliant morning sun and edged even closer to coming when I took in his tan back sprawled between my legs.

  I burrowed my hands into his hair and rocked my hips faster and faster, racing toward my orgasm. A third finger joined and pushed deeper—harder. His tongue finally flicked across the sensitive bundle at the same time he sucked, and within seconds I was coming. Every muscle in my body pulled tight, the waves of pleasure surging through my nerves until I was crying out and riding his face to get every last ounce of euphoria.

  I fell trembling back onto the mattress, gasping for air, dipping my chin just far enough to look down my body and watch him smile up at me as he swirled his tongue through my folds, bringing me down from my high. I committed the image of the Parker Callahan between my legs, the tip of his tongue gathering my cum from every inch he could reach. I was so entranced by the sight, the stunning rocky desert behind him couldn’t even pull my attention away.