Rock Me Faster (Licks Of Leather Book 4)

by Jenna Jacob

  Ross pulled out his cell phone and checked the time. “Looks like I’m going to have to give you a rain check on the Wheaties. I need to get to my room and change.” He dragged an indecent stare up my body and shook his head. “And as much as it pains me to say, you’ll be more comfortable in jeans and a tee.”

  “Oh, right. I am a little over dressed for your rehearsal, aren’t I?”

  “Not by my standards, but…” He made a noise that sounded like a moan and a grunt. “Meet up in the lobby, say…twenty minutes?”

  “Sure.”

  A foolish, pointless wave of sadness washed over me as Ross hurried out the door.

  Seventeen minutes later, I stepped off the elevator dressed in a pair of soft, well-worn blue jeans and a white tank with a blue floral kimono. I’d thought about washing off my makeup and taking my hair down, but I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Cinderella yet. And though Sofia and Mia had spent a small fortune on beauty products for me, I didn’t really know how to apply them. It might be a long time before I felt like a real princess again.

  The one thing I did feel was Ross’s stare from across the room. Tingles spread through me, gathering between my legs. The memory of his toe-curling kiss clambered through my brain, and I licked my lips hoping his taste had lingered. It hadn’t, but the texture and heat of his mouth and tongue were branded to memory.

  A part of me wanted to still be mad at him for that stupid stunt he’d pulled. But thankfully, I’d managed to purge the anger from my system. Ross wasn’t a bad person; his low self-esteem was a by-product from years of Sylvia’s brainwashing. Though it would take time and a bit of creativity, I was determined to replace the negativity she’d shoved down his throat with positive reinforcement and self-love.

  But when Ross threaded his fingers through mine and led me to the bus, the sputters of electricity pinging through my system told me achieving that goal while tamping down the feminine longings he awakened was going to be a massive challenge.

  When Kenny pulled to the curb in front of Madison Square Garden, I gaped at the sheer size of the arena. But when we stepped inside the building and gathered on the stage, I simply gasped. The place was enormous. Turning in a slow circle, I tried to absorb the fact that, this time tomorrow, each of the thousands of empty seats would be filled with screaming, adoring fans. It completely boggled my mind.

  Facing the stage again, I watched the guys split off and claim their individual instruments. But when Ross tossed a muscular leg over a short, squatty stool before easing in behind a semicircle of drums and cymbals, he captured all my focus. I was unable to peel my gaze off the man as he unbuttoned his shirt and threw it aside. I drank in the sight of the white sleeveless tee hugging his chiseled body as he plucked up his drumsticks. When he gripped them tightly, his biceps bunched and the thick muscles lining his arms rippled.

  I forgot all about the magnitude of the arena, the mass of fans who’d be attending their concert, and…how to breathe.

  “Come on, let’s snag the best seats in the house.” Sofia grinned, looping her arm in mine.

  “Where are they at?”

  “Front row, center, baby!” She laughed as we strolled off the stage, through the wings, and out a door that led to the arena itself.

  Sofia and I sat patiently as each of them tested their microphones, and instruments. Darren and Syd tuned their guitars. Ozzy’s fingers fluttered over his keyboard before he played a few rich, beefy chord combinations. Ross twirled his drumsticks around each knuckle and tapped his foot against a drum that sent a heavy throbbing beat echoing through my chest. The guys laughed as they lobbed lighthearted insults and one-liners at each other. I felt the strength of a strong, loving bond woven within the threads of their carefree antics. I suddenly realized that I was witnessing a ritual of sorts. One very few ever had the honor of observing.

  “Let’s get this over with. I’m starving,” Ross grumbled.

  “How can you be starving?” Ozzy asked. “I thought the dragon lady was feeding—”

  “Oh, she tried. But I wasn’t in the mood to gag down the shit piled on her spoon.”

  “What the hell happened?” Burk’s tone was dripping with compassion.

  “Nothing I want to talk about, brother.”

  Ross clenched his jaw, lifted his sticks in the air, and slammed them on the drum in front of him. The ten-foot-tall speakers poised on each side of the stage sent the sound reverberating all the way to my bones.

  “Was dinner ugly?” Sofia whispered beside me.

  “Gruesome.”

  “Is Ross okay? It’s so damn hard to tell with him.”

  “He will be.”

  Because I wasn’t going back home until I’d healed his beaten, broken, damaged soul.

  Chapter Eleven

  Ross

  Closing my eyes, I tapped an even tempo on my tom while Darren’s complex guitar solo slid over my sweat-soaked skin like a reassuring caress. On the best and worst days of my life, music was my salvation, the only constant in my fucked-up world. It held the power to soothe and calm me, to lift me up, fill me with strength and motivation, and provide a priceless anchor to keep me grounded and sane.

  As Darren pressed the pedal at his feet, dragging out the final note of his riff, I twirled my sticks in the air, caught them in my fists, and slammed them on the batter head of my floor tom. After pausing half-a-beat, I pummeled a tandem double-tap on the left and right toms as my feet tapped the pedals of my bass drum and cymbals.

  Each blow I landed to the wooden cylinders and brass domes lessened the anger, frustration, and contempt seeing Sylvia again had left within. I found beating the stains of her animosity profoundly cathartic. If only I could drive away my own sins as easily and completely, life would be grand again.

  Well, almost. I lifted my chin and glanced at the innocent beauty seated in the front row. Harmony’s ocean-blue eyes sparkled in delight, and a blinding smile stretched her sinful lips—lips that were so velvety soft, silky, and sweet I ached to taste them again and again—as she watched Syd dance across the stage like an idiot.

  Wishing I was the man igniting that level of joy inside her, I clenched my jaw and hammered my drums until I’d driven my want back inside its box.

  After hurrying through our set, we gave up the stage and our equipment to Mia and her backup musicians—drummer Mick Allen and keyboard player Duke Winter, who’d finally arrived in New York after a massive airline snafu—and headed backstage.

  When I’d finished wiping the sweat from my head, neck, and arms, I guzzled a bottle of water and turned as Sofia rushed into Burk’s arms. Peering around her, I expected to see Harmony, but she wasn’t there. When I glanced from the edge of the curtain, she was still sitting in her seat, completely enraptured, watching Mia and her backup musicians.

  I should have left her alone. Should have let her sit by herself and get lost in the music, but I couldn’t. The demand to be near her, breathe in the sweet scent of lilac and honeysuckle that clung to her soft skin overrode all common sense.

  So enthralled in Mia’s performance, Harmony didn’t notice me until I plopped down in the chair beside her. Looking up at me, she sucked in a little gasp and her eyes grew wide. My gut and heart clutched in tandem. I now knew exactly how she’d look when I inched my hard, thick cock into her tight, virgin pussy.

  Not in this lifetime, asshole, the little fucker in my head scoffed. But even the unwelcome voice of reason didn’t keep my dick from stirring.

  “Oh, my gosh, Ross. That was… You guys were…” Harmony sputtered excitedly, grinning from ear to ear. Fuck, she was…too pure and good for me. “Ahhmazing.”

  “If you liked this, tomorrow night will blow you away.”

  “I already am.” She laughed.

  A half smile kicked up a corner of my mouth. “Just wait until the fans are here. The air practically sizzles with electricity.”

  Harmony cast her lashes down and nibbled her bottom lip. My cock did a whole lot mo
re than stir as I drank in her unconscious submissive gesture.

  “Like the kind of electricity that flows between us when we touch?”

  I suspected she’d felt it this morning at breakfast, but hearing Harmony confirm it threw me for a loop. I didn’t know how to respond without the topic taking on a life of its own. While I didn’t like being a head-in-the-sand kind of man, there were times when it was necessary. Like now.

  “Different.”

  Harmony nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. I mean, with so many people in the place, it’s probably not as intimate and personal as it is between us.”

  Where the fuck is a sandbox when I need one?

  When I remained silent, Harmony smiled softly and focused her attention on the stage, where Mia was belting out the chorus of a tune that used to turn Ozzy inside out. Even when they weren’t together, Mia had managed to keep her claws buried inside him. Poor prick. He was almost as pathetic as my sorry ass still being haunted by a fucking ghost.

  Before the memory could chew the locks off its cage, I tapped Harmony on the back of her hand. She snapped her head my way, body still bobbing to the sultry beat of the song.

  “I need to talk to the guys. See you backstage when Mia’s through, all right?”

  “Sure.”

  Two hours later, I was showered and dressed in a pair of sweatpants and sitting on the terrace of my suite, scarfing down a couple double cheeseburgers and fries I’d ordered from room service. I’d just popped the lid off my second beer when I heard the sweet sound of a woman singing. After taking a long pull, I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand and strolled to the edge of the terrace. Then I cocked my head and listened to the smooth, alluring voice.

  The lyrics of the song were hauntingly familiar, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on the title. I held my breath and listened more intently. She sang about bringing someone home and then walking in the rain, thumbing for a ride. But when the words Kentucky rain keeps pouring down hit my ears, my beer nearly slipped from my fingers.

  “Christ, that’s…Harmony.”

  I charged into my room and stubbed my toe on the leg of the couch. Barking out a string of curses, I grabbed my keycard and raced out the door. I jogged down the hall, I stopped outside her room, and pressed my ear against the door.

  “With the rain in my shoes…searching for you,” she crooned in a voice as rich and sweet as honey.

  “No way,” I mumbled softly.

  “What are you doing, you big-ass perv?” Syd whispered. He was two doors down, holding an ice bucket and grinning like a fool. “Are you listening to her rub one out?”

  Before I could answer, he ate up the distance between us and pressed his ear to the door. I tried to shove him away, but he gripped the edge of the frame as his eyes grew wide. “Is that her… Is that Harmony singing?”

  “Yeah,” I mouthed before pressing a finger to my lips.

  Syd nodded, then together we flattened our ears to the door again.

  “So, she’s an Elvis fan,” Syd mumbled.

  “Is that who sings this?” The bass player nodded. “How do you know?”

  “My foster…my friend’s foster mom used to sing this song all the time, but never this good. Did you know Harmony could sing like this?”

  “No,” I mouthed again as she drew out the last silky note of the chorus. I shoved Syd away from her door and pointed toward his room.

  Like a couple of cat burglars, we sprinted down the hall. As Syd shoved his key card into the lock on his door, I kept going.

  “See you at breakfast,” I called over my shoulder before disappearing around the corner.

  When I got back to my room, I downed my last beer and climbed into bed. Gripping my phone, I brought up YouTube and tapped in Elvis. I slid under the covers and replayed the song Harmony had sung, over and over until I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore.

  The next morning at breakfast, I watched Harmony take her first bite of crepes and got a boner… okay, another boner. After dreaming about the songbird beside me all damn night, I woke with a dick so hard a cat couldn’t scratch it. Even jacking off in bed and again in the shower didn’t keep my cock from strangling in my jeans as Harmony moaned with each bite.

  At the end of the table, Quinn cleared his throat. I knew the cockbag only wanted to gloat again, so I ignored him and focused instead on Harmony torturing me with kitten-soft moans as she savored her breakfast.

  “Hey, did any of you hear that woman’s pretty voice singing last night?” Syd asked, flashing me a grin.

  Harmony’s fork slid from her fingers and clattered to her plate. I felt and watched the muscles in her body grow tauter than a guitar string. I hated that Syd was calling her out, but she’d finally stopped moaning.

  “I did. I stepped out on the terrace, when I was talking to Tori, and heard a woman singing an old Elvis song,” Darren chimed in. “She sure had an amazing voice.”

  “She did.” Syd nodded emphatically. “You didn’t hear her, Ross?”

  “Nope,” I lied, shoving a piece of toast in my mouth while pinning the prick with a death glare.

  “Really? Her voice was…like an angel. I wish we could find out who she is.”

  Keep pushing, asswipe.

  After snatching up her glass of water and taking several huge gulps, Harmony placed her napkin on the table and scooted her chair back. “If y’all will excuse me, I need to use the powder room.”

  Before I could do the gentlemanly thing and rise from my chair, she was gone.

  “Leave it alone, Syd,” I growled.

  Ignoring the curious glances pelting me from all directions, I sipped my coffee and started plotting ways to kill the mouthy son of a bitch…again. Devising ways to end him was becoming a regular thing. Okay, so I needed to lighten up. That wasn’t any news flash.

  When Harmony returned and settled in beside me, I pinned Syd with a glare. I gave zero fucks about reaching over the table and strangling the life out of him today.

  “Mia and I are going shopping again. Wanna come with us?” Sofia asked Harmony.

  From the corner of my eye, I watched her face light up and an excited smile grace her lips. Then her enthusiasm died, and Harmony shook her head.

  “Thanks, but I can’t. You all spent too much on me yesterday, and—”

  “Nonsense.” Sofia waved the excuse away. “I still have Burk’s credit card. It’s fine.”

  The feisty former road manager blew a couple of air kisses to her man, then flashed him an impish grin. Burk rolled his eyes and smirked.

  “I got something for you to kiss, sweetheart,” he drawled.

  Sofia purred.

  I wanted to gag.

  “Keep the card. And Harmony, please…go with them. Buy anything you want as long as you keep those two wildcats out of trouble for me and Oz.”

  “That’s very kind of you, Burk.” Harmony’s cheeks glowed crimson. “But I can’t accept your generosity. You’ve been far too kind already.”

  “Come on, honey,” Sofia cajoled. “Save the sixty bucks in your wallet and let us get you a new wardrobe. It’ll be fun.”

  Sixty bucks? That’s all the money she has with her?

  “Shit,” Quinn spat. “I’m sorry, Harmony. I’ll go out and get you some prepaid debit cards. I didn’t even think about—”

  “I got it,” I interrupted as I drew my wallet from my back pocket. After thumbing out a couple of credit cards, I held them out to Harmony. “Here. Hang on to these and use them for whatever you want.”

  “No. I-I can’t take those.” She blanched and pushed my hand away.

  I wanted to grab her wrist and shove them in her fingers. Instead, I cocked my head and pursed my lips.

  “Fine. You can buy them from me for…twenty bucks.”

  “That’s insane. You want me to give you twenty dollars and then charge—”

  “Your heart out? Yes.”

  “I can’t do that.”

  I held the credit ca
rds up in the air. “Do I hear twenty?”

  “Fuck yeah. Twenty-five,” Syd cackled. “I maxed mine out at the porn store.”

  “Which shocks no one,” I drawled.

  “Thirty.” Darren grinned.

  “Have you lost your mind?” Harmony gaped.

  “Nope, and you’d better start bidding, princess. They’re going fast.”

  “Thirty-five,” Ozzy said, raising his fork in the air.

  “Forty.” Quinn grinned.

  “Fifty,” Mia shouted, nodding at Harmony to join the game.

  “Sixty,” she called out beside me.

  “Sold,” I barked, slamming my hand on the table.

  “Wait,” Syd protested. “You didn’t say, Going once, going twice…”

  “My cards. My prerogative.”

  “Good grief. What have I just done?” Harmony murmured.

  “I think you decided to go shopping with the girls.” I chuckled, placing the cards in her hand. “Now take these and go spoil yourself for once…spoil yourself rotten. Got it?”

  She took the cards and nodded, then began digging into her little purse. When she pulled out three of the rattiest tattered twenties I’d ever seen, and placed them in my palm, my heart sputtered. I wanted to stuff them back in her purse, but instead, I nodded and shoved them in the pocket of my shirt.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

  I wanted to lean over and kiss her more than I wanted my next breath.

  I live on a secluded mountain and work hard to help maintain an ecovillage… The info Harmony had shared at Sylvia’s rushed to the front of my brain. I realized the sixty bucks she’d just given me wasn’t all she’d brought with her… It was all the money she had.

  My heart broke in two.

  How long had she scrimped and saved for this trip?

  And why the fuck hadn’t Quinn taken better care of her financially? He’d hired her. But knowing the crafty bastard, he probably wasn’t going to pay her a fucking penny until the press got off my dick.

  Right on the heels of my fury for Quinn, another thought punched me in the gut, making me feel like a pompous ass. Like the spoiled, entitled brat I’d been before Bernie sat me down and shoved a fist of reality down my throat.