Dex (Kinky Shine #1)

by Stephanie Witter

  And she opened for my tongue to meet hers without much coaxing. Like always, she had me on my knees and she didn’t realize how far gone I was.

  HARLEY

  “I can’t believe Dex is coming here for dinner,’’ my father grumbled as he opened a beer bottle next to the fridge while my mother and I were putting the finishing touch to the apple pie we baked for dinner. “My job is following me home.’’

  “Don’t be so grouchy, David,’’ my mother said and turned toward me to roll her eyes with an amused smile on her lips.

  “Our daughter is dating a rockstar. You shouldn’t be fine with it either,’’ he replied pointing the bottleneck in my mother’s direction as she started to rinse the utensils we used to make the mashed potatoes.

  I never thought I’d have such a kick out of seeing my father like this. He had never been very forthcoming when he met the very few boyfriends I had had, but never did I see him so pale and scowling so hard. And to think he liked Dex!

  “Dad, please,’’ I butted in before my mother came to my and Dex’s defense. “He’s nervous enough as it is so don’t make it harder on him, okay?’’

  I offered him my sweetest smile, the one I knew he had a hard time saying no to. But this time around, he only sipped his beer, eyes hard on me.

  “He’s not one to get nervous, Harley.’’

  “He’s been texting me for the last two hours.’’

  “Isn’t it normal?’’ my mother asked, drying her hand on a clean cloth before putting it next to the sink on the counter. “It’s the early stage of your relationship after all, honey.’’

  I laughed at the thought of Dex’s texts. When we weren’t together and I was working on my blog or going out to some gigs in LA for my music blog, Dex would always send me a short text. That past week had me discovering another side to Dex that I found both irresistible and sweet. But this time around was different.

  “He sent me several pictures of flowers asking which ones you’d like best. Then when he was at the liquor store he panicked and asked me if Dad would think of him as an alcoholic and would send him to rehab if he came with wine. Then when he calmed down he asked me three times if I was sure of the time he should get here and a few minutes ago he asked me if it’d be bad if he came fifteen minutes early because he left a while ago to be sure that the traffic wouldn’t make him late.’’ I shook my head and stared at my father who was smiling in amusement too now. “He is nervous.’’

  “Good,’’ my father said and walked out of the kitchen, probably to sit on the couch and catch something on TV.

  I turned to my mother, questions written all over my face. She smiled and kissed my temple.

  “In his head if Dex is nervous it means he truly cares about you.’’

  My eyebrows shot up on my forehead covered by my thick bangs. “Dad knows that Dex hasn’t been really close to any woman like he is with me in a while. That should be enough to get that he’s not playing me.’’

  My mother held up her hand in front of her and shook her head, a big smile still on her face accentuating softly the small crow’s feet in the corner of her eyes. “I’ve stopped trying to understand the male logic, honey. When you’re married there are battles you learn to let go of.’’

  I chuckled but froze when the doorbell rang. It’d be a lie if I said that I wasn’t nervous too. I wasn’t used to the whole “boyfriend meet parents’’ thing. I wanted it to go well, I wanted my parents’ support and I didn’t want anything to put a dent in my shining new relationship with Kinky Shine frontman.

  “It’s him. Let’s go,’’ my mother said soothingly, probably catching onto my sudden apprehension.

  I nodded and walked to the front door with my mother following me right when my father opened the door. Dex was standing awkwardly with a gigantic bouquet of pink and purple orchids in one hand and what I was sure to be an expensive wine bottle in the other. His black eyes were wide open going to and from me, my father, and my mother now next to me. His Adam’s apple worked in his throat before he forced a very small, very shaky smile. For a tall and tattooed man known to be rather brooding, at that very moment, he seemed on the verge of panicking.

  “David, let him in before the neighbors recognize him,’’ my mother spoke up.

  Dad pulled away from the door and let Dex step in before closing the door behind him. Dex went to give my mother the bouquet and under his stubble, I’d swear I saw him blushing.

  “I hope you like orchids, Mrs. Floyd. Thank you very much for having me over for dinner.’’

  My mother took the bouquet and smiled even more at Dex. She seemed to like him, but it’s no surprise. My mother wasn’t too difficult and she knew that I wasn’t fickle and was a good judge of character usually.

  “These are beautiful, thank you Dex. I’m glad to finally meet you after my husband kept on talking about you these last few years.’’

  Dex cringed and scratched at his jaw. “If he told you how much of a pain I can be when it comes to everything PR-related, I’m sure you’re not thrilled I’m seeing your daughter.’’

  My mother laughed and patted his arm before walking to the kitchen, probably to get the bouquet in a vase.

  He then stiffly turned back to my father and awkwardly gave him the wine. “I… hm… don’t know if it’s any good, Floyd. I know it won’t make you like me with your daughter any, but…’’ he trailed off in his low voice I loved so much, along with all and any fans of Kinky Shine.

  I walked over to him and grabbed his hand to show him my support. Dex’s hand tensed under my palm, along with all of his big body and I wondered if he’d pull away as my father’s green eyes narrowed on us, but he didn’t. He laced his fingers with mine and looked down at me, a soft smile on his face. His eyes were telling everything I needed to know and the rest didn’t matter to me. He cared about me.

  “The most annoying part, Dex, is that I like you. But remember that at the first sign she’s unhappy because of you, you’ll have hell to pay. We work together so it wouldn’t be too difficult.’’

  *

  DEX

  “Come home with me,’’ I asked again, wrapping my arms around Harley tighter. My mouth was close to her ear.

  She shivered and pushed her face deeper into me. Her nose and lips brushed my neck and I had to remember that Floyd was probably watching us through the window or else I’d be kissing and ravaging her right now.

  “I can’t. And you have a lot of work to do tomorrow anyway.’’

  After tonight and meeting her mother for the first time and having dinner with her parents as her boyfriend I was bone tired. My nerves only started to ease off when the amazing apple pie appeared on the table. Floyd seemed more accepting of my relationship with his daughter and Harley’s mother was a very nice lady who seemed just content to see her daughter happy.

  But even though it went a lot better than I expected, I still needed to keep Harley with me. I hated that she didn’t want to stay at my place every fucking night. I hated that I was the one who wanted to spend all my free time with her when she kept on trying to take things slow. I wanted everything but slow with her.

  “That doesn’t mean we can’t spend the night together.’’

  She sighed and her breath hit my neck and made me feel warmer than I already was. I kissed her temple, the only thing close to my mouth and breathed deeply. I loved how she smelt of vanilla and something faintly fruity.

  “Tell you what. You go back to your house and get a good night of sleep, you work your ass off with Otis and Beckett tomorrow and we’ll go out to grab a coffee somewhere.’’

  I perked up immediately and pulled away to lock eyes with her. Her big green eyes were dancing with amusement at my reaction. “Go out? You’re willing to go out in public with me?’’

  “Only if we don’t… you know kiss or hold hands. It’s too soon and we shouldn’t attract too much media attention now that Maxen isn’t in LA.’’

  I ignored the damn di
sappointment that lodged itself in my throat and nodded. I knew she didn’t want people to know I was dating her and in a way I understood. She’s afraid of the public and media attention and, to be honest, I didn’t want that either, but hiding her and our relationship pissed me off.

  “If you want, okay then.’’ I crouched and placed a quick, very frustrated kiss on her perfect lips and took two steps back to stop touching her. “It’s fucking hard not to kiss you more, but I don’t want to ruin my progress with your father. He’s probably spying somewhere.’’

  She laughed and nodded, crossing her arms over her tits to hide her taut nipples. It’s a smart move, only now her tits seemed ready to spill out of her low-cut top. Fuck, since I had sex with her a couple of weeks ago I was obsessed with her. I had years to catch up on.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect him to be so difficult.’’

  “He wasn’t so bad. I get where he’s coming from.’’ I leaned down and kissed her forehead without touching her body when all I wanted was to put my hands on her fucking perfect ass. “And don’t cancel our coffee date, Harley. I won’t hesitate coming to get you.’’ I winked at her and let my smirk out full force until I knew my dimple appeared. She liked it and I didn’t mind playing a little bit dirty.

  HARLEY

  “My head is going to explode,’’ I said in a whimper as I glared at a car that just honked as we walked up Sunset Boulevard headed to some new hot spot coffee bar.

  Dex kept close to me, but other than the odd brush of arms as we walked, he’s kept his promise to not hold my hand or kiss me. I was aware that he didn’t like it and that made me a bit uneasy, but it’s for the best.

  “I think I have a pill in my car. Do you want me to get it?’’

  “Nah, thanks. I worked too long on my laptop but I have so many emails, comments on the blog to administer and articles to write… I should have taken a break sooner.’’

  “Maybe you should get someone to work on your blog with you.’’

  “Not yet. It’s manageable.’’

  “You work too much,’’ he said and bumped into me, a smirk on his handsome face showing some signs of exhaustion.

  Dex, Otis, and Beckett had worked a lot today too. They recorded two demos for two new songs and Dex told me they started a third one, but they couldn’t get it right and ended up almost fighting. That’s when they called it a day and decided to get together early tomorrow with some ideas for that song. I wasn’t worried, I knew they had what it took to make a fantastic album and from the little Dex showed me, that album was going to be unbelievable. Just the thought of that first song I inspired him had me tingling all over. I’d like to be like any couple out here and grab him to kiss him like there’s no tomorrow.

  “So where’s that coffee bar Beckett told you about?’’ I asked, looking ahead of us, but between the bustle of people getting off work and the glare of the summer sun, I didn’t see much of anything.

  “Right there,’’ he pointed the shop next to a tacky souvenir shop and I finally saw the damn thing. It looked bigger than I expected.

  Dex went ahead and opened the door for me. I couldn’t help the smile on my face and suddenly my headache wasn’t so difficult to bare. When he did gestures like that I wanted to wrap him in my arms. It’s not often I was treated like this and now that I had agreed to stay a bit longer in LA to be with him, he wasn’t as brooding and didn’t seem to have mood swings as often. Who knew the elusive mysterious Dex Bowers could be such a sweetheart and so sexy you could melt into a puddle at his feet with one of his smirks and that heat in his dark brown eyes?

  I walked into the busy coffee bar and took in the cream-colored walls, the dark furniture and the staircase leading to the open upper level where very few people were sitting. I inhaled deeply. When the coffee aroma hit my nose, my craving for a latte intensified. I wasn’t a coffee addict like Beckett, but caffeine was very important if I wanted to function after a long and excruciating day of work.

  “I’ll go order something. Go take a table if you want,’’ he said, leaning down a bit to talk near my ear.

  He was still wearing his sunglasses to hide his identity, but in summer in LA he had to wear a t-shirt if he didn’t want to sweat to death and with his heavily tattooed arms and his unmistakable voice, he wouldn’t stay anonymous for much longer.

  “No, grab the table, I’ll order. If you don’t want people asking for a selfie or sign a woman’s breasts…’’ The signing breasts parts would be rather painful to watch, to be honest. I had yet to see it happen, but I was sure that it wouldn’t be long.

  He shuddered and nodded stiffly, quickly eyeing the people around us who were mostly focused on their phones. But for all we knew, someone was tweeting about spotting Dex here. God, I was turning so paranoid.

  “I’ll be up there,’’ he said pointing to the upper level with his pointer finger with the tattooed ‘g’ from the ‘good luck’ tattoo he had on his eight knuckles.

  I watched him walk away, how his tall and muscled body moved gracefully and with confidence and how his powerful legs with thick thighs ate the stairs to land on the upper level where he grabbed the table in the far corner, as secluded as possible considering the options available.

  A few minutes later I climbed the stairs to join Dex with my latte in one hand and his americano in the other. I sat on the chair opposite him and put down the coffees, silently congratulating myself for not spilling anything.

  “No one recognized you yet?’’ I asked as I took a sip of my delicious latte before I leaned in the chair and finally felt my shoulders relax. I hadn’t realized how tense I was outside while walking with Dex. I was so worried someone would recognize him and start digging more regarding the band and discovering where Maxen was that I couldn’t enjoy a simple walk in the streets with my boyfriend. Some gossip media were already questioning the reasons for the cancelation of the US summer tour and I couldn’t blame them. I would have a hard time believing it’s just because the band is hiding away to compose the next album and not something else a lot juicier. But contrary to these gossip rags and websites, I wouldn’t have cared. My blog is solely about the music, the bands as professionals, not their private lives.

  “For all I know. We’ll see when we leave this place and we’re chased by photographers and other fuckers.’’ He shook his head and sipped his coffee with a somber look. “But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re not spotted in their pictures. I’d call your father or another friend to get you out.’’

  I glanced around us and leaned over the table closer to him. But it’s not enough. I put my hand on his clenching his coffee mug. “Don’t be like that. I’m not rejecting that side of your life, but I need some time. We’ve been together a very, very short time, Dex. Let’s not hit the guns already.’’

  He nodded and toyed with the piercing through his eyebrow before he put his hand back on top of the table, close to mine. His heat was out of reach, but I knew his flesh was close and it was enough to make my skin break out into goosebumps and it had nothing to do with the A/C in the coffee bar to battle off the summer heat wave.

  “Fuck, I’m sorry, Harley. I don’t want to pressure you.’’

  He didn’t check around him, he just grabbed my hand and laced his fingers with mine. I blinked and quickly jerked to check if someone was watching, but only a very little girl was looking at us and when I followed the path of her big round chocolaty eyes I realized that she was mesmerized by Dex’s tattoos.

  But underneath my knee-jerk reaction of fear that we’d get caught, my heart sped up with longing. We spent the night together two days ago and while I knew it wasn’t a long time ago, my body, my heart craved him. It went beyond the sex. I just wanted to lounge with him and kiss him lazily while we’d try to find some movie to watch. But I wouldn’t say no to sex either.

  I licked my lower lip and locked eyes with his when his thumb started to trace soft patterns on the back of my hand.

  “If yo
u look at me like that and lick your fucking lips again I won’t be able to resist, baby,’’ he growled through his locked jaw and desire pooled in my belly, making me squirm on my chair.

  “You make it difficult, Dex.’’

  “Yeah? How so?’’ he asked with his devilishly delicious smirk with that impossible to miss dimple that drove me crazy in an unexplainable way.

  “You know exactly what effect you have on me.’’

  I weakly grabbed my latte with my free hand and brought it to my mouth to take a sip, hoping it’d distract me from the sudden desire mounting and mounting inside of me. If only we weren’t in public…

  “You mean the way you fidget in that damn chair? Yeah, I bet if I slipped my hand in your shorts and under your panties I’d find you wet. And one look at your damn perfect tits and your little nipples so taut asking me to play with them. Am I right so far?’’

  I gasped and tried to pull my hand away from his, but he didn’t let me. He tightened his grip on my fingers and slowly shook his head as his dark eyes fell on my lips now parted to let my stuttering breathing out. I knew color rose to my cheeks when it seemed like I was burning up from the inside, but I couldn’t help it.

  “Someone could hear you,’’ I replied, unable to look away to check if, in fact, someone was spying on our inappropriate chat.

  “You know I don’t give a fuck, Harley.’’ He moved closer and made sure to trap me in his intense eyes as his breath hit my face. I could smell coffee and him and I had to resist the urge to close the small space to actually taste him again. “All I care about is you, and making you feel good.’’

  My gaze fell on his mouth and I got lost when his tongue dampened his upper lip. He was playing me and he was winning.

  “Dex,’’ I said in a whisper and without much more warning, he closed the gap left between us and put his mouth on mine. The table didn’t stop him or make it too difficult for him. In no time his tongue slipped into my mouth, seeking out mine until he growled and brought a hand to my jaw, tracing my jaw line with his strong fingers until he grabbed my chin to keep me to his mouth. But I didn’t resist. I didn’t think once of resisting.