I’ve got her seatbelt undone and her lifted into my lap before she even gets her sentence finished.
The fact that she’s even considering her sex appeal to be the problem here is a situation I need to fix. Right now.
She gasps as I lift my hips, the hardness between my legs making itself known.
“Masen,” she pleads and once again, my name on her lips is my complete undoing.
My hands thread into her long, silky hair, and I tug her mouth to mine in a rough, urgent kiss.
I kiss her like she’s the only woman I’ve ever wanted this badly, and truthfully, if I’m honest with myself about her for one fucking second, she is.
I don’t know what it is about my little sugar, but nothing has ever tasted so sweet.
Her hands grip my biceps, holding on tight as though she’s afraid of falling.
Oliver speeds down the wide, open roads, either oblivious to the make-out session in his back seat, or just really fucking good at his job.
She pulls away, breathing hard before dropping her mouth to my jaw, placing kisses all the way up to my ear.
“If you think the problem is that I don’t want you, then you’re not as smart as I’ve given you credit for.”
The problem is that I want her too much – and it’s a real fucking issue.
She leans back, searching my eyes for a hint of bullshit. Finding none, she nods.
I don’t know what it is about this girl, but no one has been able to read me the way she can – not even Josh, and he sees way too much.
“Are you going to turn me away again?” she asks, her voice raspy. She’s trying, but she can’t hide the hurt completely.
I fucking hate that I hurt her. I hate that I care too. I don’t want to care.
I could explain to her why I turned her down earlier, when I so easily could have taken her, but that’s only going to complicate this mess further.
I don’t know what the fuck to do.
I do know one thing though, there’s no way I’m turning her down again.
I might be an asshole, but I’m not an idiot.
“Fuck no, sugar,” I growl. “You’re mine.”
“That’s what the world believes.”
“You wait until I get you in my bed. You’ll believe it too.”
Her breath catches and I take the opportunity to capture her soft, sweet lips again.
She’s too good for me, I can feel it in her kiss, but I’m known for being a selfish bastard, so it won’t stop me from taking her anyway. I’ve got a reputation to uphold.
“We’re here,” I murmur as the car slows and stops.
She nods and lifts one of her sexy legs to climb off my lap.
I trap her, my hands landing on her thighs, and she gasps again.
I grin, a real, full fucking grin. I can’t help it. If just my hands on her bare skin get her this on edge, I can’t even imagine the fun I’m about to have with her.
“Did you just smile?” she breathes.
“Maybe.”
“I’ve never seen you smile, not like that.”
“Don’t get used to it,” I growl as the door next to me opens and I shuffle, her still in my lap, and swing us around so I can climb out.
She tries to scramble down, but fuck that, if I’m finally going to give in and have her, I’m not going to half-ass it.
“Stop squirming, sugar,” I mutter as I bury my face in the crook of her neck and bite down gently.
She moans and her arms and legs clamp around me tightly, allowing me to carry her inside.
She drops her face to my shoulder. “This is so embarrassing.”
I have the urge to laugh, but I suppress it. She’s just seen me smile; I’ll be screwed if she gets a laugh out of me too.
“Oliver can see us,” she hisses, her mortification obvious.
Fuck it all, I grin again.
This girl…
Too fucking sweet.
***
I carry her into my room, ignoring the stares from both Josh and Avery as we pass them in the living room.
I don’t even think Billie sees; her face is still buried into my neck.
I kick my door shut behind us and glance around the messy room.
It might not be my usual bed, the one at my house, but it’s a bed of mine, in a house of mine, so that’s going to have to be close enough to my fantasies for tonight.
I let go of her thighs and she slides down my body, coaxing a moan from my throat.
She feels so good, I don’t know how the fuck I’m ever going to be able to stop.
Her feet land on the floor, and she looks up at me with wide, trusting, hazel eyes.
I don’t deserve that look. I’ve done nothing but be cold to her, hurt her, keep her at arm’s length.
I probably would have screwed that chick at the club tonight if she hadn’t have come back and thrown around her demands like a sexy little tiger. All bark and no bite.
I’m an asshole, plain and simple, but as long as she knows that – accepts that about me – then I can handle what I am.
Even though we both know she’s got a legally binding contract that states she doesn’t have a leg to stand on, I’ll agree to her terms, because I need her – not just to save my career… but I need to do this with her. I need her here with me, not someone else – her.
So as long as she’s here there won’t be anyone else.
No one but her.
She licks her lips, and I know I should say something, anything to reassure her about what comes next, but I’m coming up blank.
She shakes her head, almost as though she knows what’s going through my mind and she’s telling me that words aren’t needed.
Good.
I’ve never been much of a talker anyway, I’ve always been about the lyrics, the beat, the melody. I could never talk another day in my life as long as I could sing.
She pushes up to her tip toes, all pure and innocent and presses her lips to mine.
I hope like hell I’m not about to take her virginity, but I’m not asking. No fucking way. Not with the way her hands are roaming under my shirt and down to my waistband, because if she says this is her first time, I still won’t stop, and then I really will be the biggest bastard in the world.
I find the zip at her back and lower it, she wiggles free of the straps and the sexy little outfit falls to the floor at her feet, just like it was before we went out tonight, back when I should have claimed her.
I hold her out at arm’s length so I can look at her, really fucking look at her, because a body like that deserves to be appreciated.
She’s been driving me crazy all weekend. Her tiny bikinis leave nothing to the imagination, yet somehow, she looks even better than I thought possible.
The only sound in the room is my laboured breathing as I take her in.
She turns in a slow circle, allowing me my fill.
Fuck.
I’m so screwed.
If alcohol is my addiction, this girl is my kryptonite.
She reaches for the buttons on my shirt warily, like she’s worried it’s all going to disappear again, but fuck that. I’m in. I’m all in. Consequences, reputation and career be damned. Right now, they all pale in comparison to the want I have for her.
I couldn’t stop if I tried.
I rip at my shirt, tugging it from my body. The buttons fly across the room as they pop from the fabric, and she smirks.
I tug roughly on my belt and it’s sliding out from the loops of my jeans in a flash, falling to the floor to keep her scrap of clothing company.
Her hands meet mine and she undoes the button on my jeans, followed by the zip with a swiftness that makes me think I might have underestimated her innocence.
I lift my hands behind my head and stand there, appreciating the view as she tugs my jeans down my thighs, wasting no time in taking my boxer briefs with them too.
A throaty rumble comes out my mouth as she crouches, licking her lips at the
sight of my hard dick, standing at attention just for her.
Jesus, I want those plump lips wrapped around my cock like you wouldn’t believe, but not tonight, I haven’t got the self-control for that right now.
I reach for her hand and she takes it without hesitation. I tug her back to her feet, and she falls heavily against me, my hard length resting against her stomach.
She swallows deeply, her nerves warring with her. I reach behind her and unsnap her bra, ridding her of it before she gets a chance to overthink this.
She’s looking at me again with those trusting eyes, and for a second I let myself believe that I could be worthy of that trust.
I pretend to be something I’m not as I drag her underwear down her legs, peppering her legs with kisses as I trail down her body.
I act like the man she deserves as I lower her onto the bed, and as I push into her, right to the hilt, she calls out my name like that’s exactly the man I am.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Billie
I pause in the doorway and listen carefully.
He’s singing again.
I rest my head against the hallway wall and stay as still as I can.
If he hears me, he’ll stop. That’s what happened yesterday, and the day before.
Every morning since we got back from the beach house, he’s been working on a new song.
He hums a section that he hasn’t filled with lyrics, and I smile as I hear him drumming his fingers on the kitchen benchtop, trying to figure out a melody that works.
He’s so close to putting it all together, I can feel it. I wish he’d let me hear everything he has all together, rather than the bits and pieces I’ve managed to sneak when he doesn’t know I’m here, but apparently he meant it when he said it was just sex between us and nothing more.
Just sex seems like such an insufficient phrase for what happened between us the past few days, I knew he’d be good in bed, I did, but I could never have prepared myself for the chemistry between us.
He’s touched, kissed and worshipped every inch of my body, but he still hasn’t let me into his head.
Sometimes it feels like he wants to, but he holds back, giving me only glimpses of what we could share.
I sigh as he floats through a verse and hits what I’m sure will become the chorus in time.
I don’t know about him, but I can hear it… the melody, the flow… I can imagine how it could sound, and it would be incredible.
In fact, I can hear it so clearly that I have to do something about it.
I slip past the doorway, leaving him softly crooning and rush down to the studio. I haven’t been back down here since that first time with Josh. I know Masen likes his privacy, but I figure if I’m allowed in his bed then I’m allowed down here too.
I adjust a few dials, press the right buttons, enter the booth and reach for the acoustic guitar on the wall, bringing it into my lap as I slide onto the small stool.
I hit record and strum the first chord, then the next and the next.
My eyes drift closed, and I smile as I hear it coming together exactly the way I imagined it when I heard him sing it.
I tap the loop machine, set the guitar down and move for the keyboard, overlaying another element to the tune that’s only becoming more fluid.
I’m no singer, but I can’t help myself, I fill in the parts I have memorised from eavesdropping on Masen as the melody takes over.
My voice trails off at the section he was having trouble with and I frown, my eyes closed again. It sounds like a love song, but the bit where he really needs to commit – go all in – that’s where he’s struggling. My fingers continue to float over the keys, trying and failing to come up with anything that might fix it.
“What the hell was that, sugar?” his gruff voice startles me.
My fingers hit the keys out of time at the same moment my eyes fly open.
He’s standing at the bottom of the stairs, his shoulder resting casually against the wall and his arms crossed loosely across his chest, but there’s nothing casual about the fire burning in his eyes.
I can’t decide if I’m in trouble or not.
“I… I, uh…” I jump up and hit the button to stop the loop recording. “Sorry, I just, I heard you…”
He raises a brow but says nothing as I stutter.
“I heard you in the kitchen and I felt the melody, you know? I just couldn’t leave it. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have touched your stuff.”
He pushes off the wall, and I stand, exiting the booth as quickly as I came in.
He strolls toward me, cutting off my exit. “You didn’t tell me you played.” It’s an accusation.
I shove a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “I don’t,” I whisper as he comes close enough to touch me.
He stands tall, looming over me. “Sure as fuck sounded like you do.”
I shrug and finally look up at him, meeting his dark eyes. He looks intrigued.
He reaches out slowly and touches my arm, his fingers trailing down from my elbow to my wrist, leaving a trail of fire in their wake.
“Tell me, sugar,” he coaxes, his voice husky, and I’m a goner. I can’t deny him what he wants when he talks to me like that.
“I’ve played guitar and piano since I was a kid, I’m not very good, but I play,” I tell him quietly.
He nods thoughtfully. “You played my song.”
I try to swallow the lump in my throat. I’m so nervous, my stomach is doing summersaults.
“It’s a good song.”
He opens his mouth to say something but thinks twice about it.
I catch the hand still trailing up and down my arm and entwine his fingers with mine.
He looks at our joined hands curiously, and it makes me wonder if anyone has ever held his hand before.
“Masen, I –”
“You need to go dress shopping,” he interrupts me.
“I do?”
“You do.”
“Okay,” I reply, confused by his sudden change of topic.
He steps back and drops my hand.
“Why do I need a dress?”
“We’re going to a movie premiere tomorrow night.”
I can feel my eyes lighting up. “We are?”
He almost smiles, almost. “I worked on the soundtrack.”
“And you’re taking me?” I ask, my excitement growing.
This time he does smile, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I wish he’d do it more often.
He reaches out and tucks the strand of hair that’s found its way loose again, behind my ear. “You’re my girl.”
The way he says those three words makes my insides quiver. It’s too easy to forget this is all make believe.
I nod stupidly, at a loss for words as he moves to let me past. I walk on shaky legs towards the stairs.
“Oh and, sugar?”
“Yeah?”
“Buy some longer shorts while you’re there.”
I turn and frown at him. “What? Why? I thought you liked my shorts.”
He shakes his head, his expression pained. “Because as good as you look in those tiny little things, the idea of another man imagining you out of them makes me want to put my fist through a wall.”
“Oh.” The word falls from my lips, nothing following it through my shock.
“Yeah. Oh.”
I nod, once, twice, three times as I contemplate his words.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think Masen Lennox just sounded jealous.
***
“He’s going to go crazy when he sees you in that dress.” Avery swoons, clutching the box containing a ridiculously expensive pair of shoes in it to her chest.
“I can carry that for you, Ma’am, it’s really no problem,” Eric tells her but she shushes him.
“I’m probably never going to get this close to a pair of Louboutin’s ever again, Eric, let me have my moment, dammit.”
He chuckles and shakes his head in
amusement.
I’ve never spent so much money in one afternoon, and if it weren’t for Avery being here, I probably would have ditched these high-end stores by now and gone to find something that costs a fraction of the price, but she wasn’t having it.
Apparently if I’m going to be on the arm of a super star, I need to be dressed in thousands of dollars’ worth of clothing and jewellery.
I’m almost scared to wear the diamond earrings that are on loan to me for the event. I’ve never held something so valuable.
We exit the store and Eric hands off the dress bags and various other shopping bags to a member of the security team. I have no idea how many of them are here with us, and I’m not sure I want to. Even Eric thinks it’s overkill – I can tell by the tick of his jaw every time someone talks to him through his earpiece.
I’m a nobody, I don’t need a team of big, burly men to protect me, but from what I can gather, there was no telling Masen that.
“Ma’am,” Eric prompts, indicating to Avery’s full hands.
She reluctantly hands over the shoes, her bottom lip sticking out in a pout. “You have to let me borrow those,” she says, looping her arm through mine and towing me off towards another store.
“They’re not mine, they’re Masen’s, you’ll have to ask him.”
She huffs out a laugh. “Oh yeah, I’m sure they’ll look really good on him.”
I roll my eyes. “He paid for them.”
“Pffft, so what? He’s got plenty of money. They’re yours. When you guys go your separate ways, it’ll be like a divorce where one person gets the dog, except it’ll be a really expensive pair of pretty shoes.” She sighs dreamily, and I feel my heart rate accelerate.
I don’t want to think about going my separate way from Masen. I don’t know what the hell is going on with me, but I’m starting to wish that his reputation would stay shitty so I’d have reason to stay longer, and that’s a stupid, dangerous mindset to find myself in.
“But what am I saying? When you are a free woman, you’ll have a million bucks to play with, so you can just buy me a pair of my own.”
Mr. October: A Rock Star Romance (Calendar Boys Book 10) Page 9