by Holly Jaymes
“No reason,” I said, not wanting to delve into our situation.
Tucker returned. “Have you tried out the new hot tub we put in?”
“Hot tub?” Victoria asked.
Tucker handed us our drinks and then sat with his wife. “Yeah. Mason and I had it put in as a final touch on that cabin. It’s on the side of the house, but still with a great view of the lake. You didn’t notice?”
Victoria shook her head. “I didn’t. I’ve been walking a lot, but didn’t see it.”
“It’s on the south side of the house. Lodge side,” Tucker said. “Mason checked it the other day when we were told you were coming and it’s ready to go.”
Victoria let out a sigh that had my insides heating. “Oh, God, that sounds lovely.”
“Do you work out, Pax?” Tucker asked.
“A little.”
“We’ve put in a mini-gym of sorts.”
“Hot tubs and gyms.” Emma shook her head. “The McLean boys don’t think a home is a home without both.”
“A gym ensures you look good in the hot tub, babe. I’ve seen how you look at me. I know it’s true.” He winked at her.
There was something really nice about this couple. Here was Tucker, the size of a Mack truck, flirting with his wife in front of us. He wasn’t afraid to show his affection for her in front of a stranger. Even more telling was how genuine and authentic his affection was. The man was deeply in love with his wife. And she clearly loved him too.
I saw something similar between Lily and Wyatt, but their love was new. Not that I didn’t think it was real, but I’d wondered how long that sort of blissfulness of love lasted. For my parents, it ended not long after Lily and I were born. In the music world, I saw very few marriages that had this level of connection. Oh sure, many were still married, but the authentic affection was gone, mostly because of absences from touring and infidelity, often on both their parts during an absence.
“Have you been able to work on your music?” Emma asked me.
“Yes. I’m hoping to start recording when… Well…soon.” Dane had said he was going to send out some equipment for me to record some demos for him.
“How long do you think you’ll be here?” Tucker asked.
“I don’t know. We’re still trying to work that out.” The truth was, so far, Dane and I hadn’t been able to figure out a good way to exit this marriage any time soon in a way that didn’t look like I’d made a mistake. We were leaning toward Victoria and I staying married, but going off to live our lives as before.
“You can say your separate lives due to your work has made you drift apart,” Dane had suggested. I didn’t like the idea of drawing out this marriage, but I suspected he was right.
“Well I feel for you both,” Tucker said. “It’s no easy feat to have to hide something or live in a way that feels like a lie.”
Emma smiled sweetly at him. “It turned out okay for us.” She looked at me and Victoria. “I hope it will turn out okay for you too.”
13
Risking It All
Victoria
The minute we got back to our cabin after our walk and boozed-up hot chocolate with Emma and Tucker, I walked to the other side of the house to find the hot tub.
“Jeez, it’s right outside the TV room. How did I not notice it?” It sat on a small deck with a glass roof above it.
Pax checked the controls. “Looks like it’s ready to fire up if you want to get in.”
I made a face. “I didn’t bring my suit. Dammit. I wonder if Allie has one that I can borrow.” I shook my head. “I’ll just go in my bra or something.”
Pax swallowed. “That’ll work, I guess.”
I arched a brow. “Do you have another suggestion?”
“Nope. Not a one.”
The way he said it made me wonder if he was thinking I didn’t need a suit at all.
“You into skinny dipping, Pax?”
“Can I plead the fifth?”
I laughed and headed into the cabin. It was getting cold and I still had some work to do.
I called my marketing director, Galen Dunne to see how our campaign for the new Radiance line was coming. Galen was a big social influencer in beauty and fashion like me, and we’d become good friends over the years. When I started my business, it was a no-brainer to bring him on with me as a marketing director. On occasion, he was my plus one to events, even though his tastes were for the opposite gender to me. I loved him like a brother, and truly felt like he was a substantial part of my success.
“We’ve got it all plotted, but are waiting on the deal with Lisbeth. Is that nearly done?” he asked.
“Nearly.”
He made a fffttt sound. “I thought it was a done deal?”
“She said it is.”
“Does she know that you can skyrocket her exposure to the stratosphere?”
I laughed. “I may have mentioned my millions of followers.” Those followers were probably wondering why I wasn’t posting pictures of me and Pax in wedded bliss. We’d discussed it, and both decided that was too much of a lie. If asked, we’d say we were too lost in wedded bliss to post on social media. A lie too, of course, but in a real marriage, I wasn’t sure I’d be posting honeymoon pics then either.
“Can you send me the campaign?” I asked him. “I’d like to see what brilliance you’ve created for Radiance.”
“It is brilliant, but I’d like to go over it with you,” he said.
I could hear confusion in his voice about my situation. Like the rest of the world, except for Emma and Tucker, I was lying to him too. When he discovered the truth, he’d be pissed. But for now, I needed to keep up the image of Pax and I having a real marriage. But I was sure he and the rest of my staff wondered why I was working while on my honeymoon.
“Can you come out to Eden Lake and meet me? Maybe next week? We can go over things then.”
“Ah…yeah, sure.”
“I know this is a change, Galen, but we need to go with it for how. I should have the paperwork for Lisbeth by the time we meet.”
“Sounds good, boss.”
I finished up my work and then decided I wanted wine and a soak in the hot tub. Pax wasn’t in the TV room or the living area. I figured he was in his room, perhaps resting. He had to be bored, but then again, he was more of a homebody, so maybe he was enjoying the peace and quiet.
I went to my room and rummaged through my suitcase until I found a bra and panty set that I thought would do for a bikini. If I enjoyed this soak, I’d call Allie about getting a bathing suit.
I changed into the red satiny undergarments and picked up a towel from the bathroom, wishing I’d taken the plush robe from the hotel.
I grabbed a glass of wine, and then decided to take the whole bottle so I didn’t have to get out of the tub for a refill. Then made my way through the TV room and out the side door to the hot tub. I stopped short, not from the blast of cold but from seeing Pax already in the tub.
His arms were spread wide over the rim of the tub, his head back and his eyes closed. His head lifted when I stepped out onto the side deck.
“You beat me to it,” I said. “How long have you been here?”
“Not too long.” His eyes narrowed slightly as I set my towel aside and stood in my bra and underwear. For a moment, I was self-conscious, although I didn’t know why. He’d seen me naked. He’d done glorious things to my body while I was naked.
I ignored his stare and climbed into the tub. “Wow. That’s hot,” I marveled.
“Feels great, doesn’t it?” He reached over to pick up his bottle of beer sitting on the ledge, bringing it to his lips and sipping. All while his gaze watched me.
I settled in and picked up my wine I’d set on the ledge and sipped. “Now this is living.”
“It’s not bad.” He set his beer aside. “Everything at work going alright?”
I nodded. “Yes. We’re all set for the Radiance launch as soon as I get the paperwork back from Lisbeth.”
He gave his head a shake. “I still can’t believe she pulled that stunt. She seemed more mature for her age.”
I shrugged. “She was in a romantic stupor.” Still, she put us in a crazy bind.
“So, what was the deal with Tucker? How was his situation like ours?”
I rested my head back on the edge of the tub, letting the bubbles massage away the day. “His situation was a little different in that he had the opposite problem than you. He had a reputation as a ladies’ man and partying too much, His team said he needed to fix that. So he came here to train with his brother, Mason.. Do you know of him? He’s got a big online fitness empire.”
“I’ve heard about him.”
“Anyway. Apparently, Tucker was supposed to stay away from the ladies, but he couldn’t stay away from Emma.”
“It’s clear they love each other. It hardly seems like a scandal.”
“Well, he wasn’t supposed to be seeing anyone, I suppose. Plus, at one point, his naked Adonis body was shared on social media. The picture was taken here, actually.”
“You did see him, didn’t you? He’s big and fit and firm.”
He kept watching me as he took his beer bottle and drank. I tried to hide my amusement that maybe he was jealous that I’d noticed Tucker’s body.
Pretending not to notice, I closed my eyes to savor the hot water. “Anyway, they understand about reputations and trying to fix one, or in your case, protect one. Of course, Lily does too.”
“That thing with Trask Holloway… He’s a fucking douche.”
“Agreed.”
“The whole thing with Wyatt was pretty fast, don’t you think?”
I peeked an eye open again. “Maybe. But if you were here, you’d see that they were head over heels. I saw it before they did. So did Allie.”
“Allie seems happy.”
“Blissfully. Josh is great.” It was silly. Maybe even petty, but I had to test out the jealousy theory. “When I met him, I thought he was great even then. I loved how he was with Allie. I remember asking him if he had a brother.”
“Wyatt.” I nodded. “So you were interested in Wyatt?” His jaw tightened as he drank from his beer bottle again. “Yet he’s with Lily. That could put a strain on a friendship.”
The amusement left me at his words. Not because Lily came between me and Wyatt. He and I would never be more than friends. In-laws. No, Lily put a strain on our friendship because of her feelings about me and Pax. She’d probably say I was putting the strain on the friendship for being with him.
He studied me, his eyes growing darker. “So once again, Lily mucks things up for you.” His voice sounded distant.
I finished off my wine. “No. Wyatt and I have only ever been friendly.”
“I see,” he said. I hadn’t realized he was tense until he relaxed. I refilled my wine glass. “You know, all this drinking is probably how we ended up here.”
“Do you mean married or breaking Lily’s no-contact demand?”
“Both.”
“So if it weren’t for the booze, you wouldn’t have been interested in me?” Maybe he was right about the drinking being a bad idea. Not because I might jump him, but because it put me in a funk. It made it hard to control feelings, and right now, I was feeling resentful of Lily. I’d been a good friend to her. I’d been the one to buy the pregnancy test she couldn’t get herself because she couldn’t afford for the media to find out. I’d been the one to support her through all the craziness with Wyatt. I’d been the one to tell Wyatt where she was so he could find her and confess his love to her.
“No. It’s just harder to keep my hands to myself when drinking is involved.”
His words shook me from my funk about Lily. “So it lowers your inhibitions?”
“Yes.” His blue-violet eyes watched me. “What about you?”
“Are you asking me if I’m attracted to you when I’m not drinking?”
“Are you?”
I turned to look out over the water, wondering if we should be having this discussion. It could lead to sex, which would be awesome. But it also meant covering topics we’d already covered and never changed, like how Lily was steadfast against our being together.
“I’ll take that as a no.” His voice sounded harder, almost bitter.
“It’s not a no.” I turned to look at him. “It’s frustration.”
His head cocked to the side.
“You and me, like this, just us two. Like we were in London. Like we just were in Vegas. Even now…it’s nice.”
His expression softened. “Lily.”
I nodded. “I wonder if it weren’t for her, what this would be.” I motioned between the two of us.
“We wouldn’t have met without her.”
I shrugged. “We’d have met in Vegas, probably. If you’d just seen me for the first time in Vegas, what would you think?”
His gaze moved from my face, downward to where my red-bra-covered breasts bobbed in the water and then back up to me. “I’d think you were fucking beautiful.”
I felt heat that had nothing to do with the water flush on my cheeks.
“You?”
“I’d have thought what all women think. 'Holy hell, Pax Ryder is even sexier in person’.” He flashed a smile. “'And shy, which makes him even sexier’,” I added.
“Would you have gone out with me?”
“Would you have asked?”
His head slowly nodded. “I’m not so shy to let a beautiful, smart woman get by me. Would you have said yes?”
“I’m not so dumb that I’d let a date with a talented artist get by me.”
We sat in silence, our gazes holding, electricity between us building. Finally, he moved across the tub, kneeling in front of me, sliding his hands over my thighs.
“Lily isn’t here,” he said softly.
In my mind, she was always here, even in spirit, but I knew what he meant. “We are married.”
He nodded. “On our honeymoon.”
“It would be a shame to let this lovely atmosphere go to waste,” I said, running my hands over his shoulders and looping them around his neck.
“It would be a shame to let you in your sexy red underwear go to waste.”
I grinned. “You noticed?”
He gave a slow nod. “I noticed.”
“What are you wearing?”
He studied me for a moment and then stood. He had on black boxer briefs, but he pushed them down his narrow hips, his dick coming free, large but then retracting at the cold.
“Poor guy. He’s cold.” I reached out and gripped his dick, gently tugging him to my mouth.
“Aw fuck, Victoria,” Pax gasped as I sucked his dick, feeling it expand and lengthen in my mouth. His fingers threaded through my hair, releasing the clip I’d used to put it up. “I love your mouth.”
His words emboldened me. I cupped the sacks below his dick, gently massaging as I used my hand and mouth on him, sucking and licking.
He pulled away, dropping onto his knees in the water. He reached for me, pulling me into a scorching kiss that was hotter than the water bubbling around us. I moaned as my blood thickened and heated as it rushed to my core.
His lips were relentless as they consumed mine. He reached behind me, unclasping my bra and pulling the straps down off my arms. His lips left mine and I groaned in frustration, and then moaned as he took my breast and sucked my nipple. His other hand fondled the other breast. I closed my eyes and let the feelings flow through me. Sensation after sensation washed through my body.
“I love how you surrender to your pleasure,” he murmured as he took my other nipple into his mouth.
“You’re so good, Pax,” was all I could say. I could only imagine all the women he’d honed his skills on. Pax was an introverted homebody, but as a rock star, he’d had no trouble attracting women to him. He probably stumbled over them all the time.
His mouth found mine again, as his hands slid down my body, hooking his fingers into my panti
es and tugging them down my legs. My hands slid around his waist and down to his tight ass, pulling him to me. My pussy throbbed with the need for him to fill me.
His hand slid around my back as he lifted me and we switched places. I straddled his thighs as he sat on the bench. His fingers ran through my pussy lips, circling my clit, making me gasp.
“Pax.”
“Kiss me, Victoria.”
I did as he asked, devouring his mouth in desperation. His long fingers slid inside me, first just one and then two together.
“Oh God,” I gasped as I started to ride his fingers. It wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted his dick.
I reached down, wrapping my fingers around his dick, loving how he growled.
“I want you.” My hand stroked him in time with my riding his fingers.
“I don’t have a condom,” he managed through harsh breathing.
“It’s okay… I’m on the pill.” I strained as pleasure coiled tighter and tighter. I was sure the minute he slid inside me I’d be coming, I was so on edge.
“Fuck. Victoria. Are you sure?”
My fingers gripped his shoulder so hard, he’d probably have a bruise.
“Sure that I’m on the pill? Yes.” I threw my head back as the intensity ratcheted up another notch.
“No… Jesus, fuck, you’re so beautiful. No…I mean are you sure… No condom…”
“Yes.” In the back of my mind, I thought of all those groupies again. But I trusted Pax. I trusted that he’d keep me safe.
He withdrew his fingers and gripped my hips. I brought him to me, and I sank over him. A moan echoed through the night. His. Mine. It was glorious how he filled me. He was so big. So hot. The friction so acute, I was coming immediately.
He let out a feral grow. “Fuck I’m coming…” His hips shot up as I rode out my own orgasm. Warmth filled my body as he bucked up, moving with me. I was sure an onlooker would have thought we looked like two crazed people having wild sex, but to me, it felt like a primal dance. We were in sync. Our bodies fit perfectly. Moved together perfectly.
Finally, I collapsed on him, my pussy still contracting as I sagged against his body, resting my head against his forehead.
