by Cari Quinn
When Bishop opened the door, he shook his head. Harper’s blue eyes were blazing, and her shoulders were set back defiantly. Deacon tried not to focus on the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra and her breasts were pushing against the wet material of her button-down shirt. And said shirt had way too many buttons open for anyone else to be looking at her.
“I can’t believe you’re really arresting us for—”
“Lady, it would be in the best interest for both of you if you went with the ‘You have the right to remain silent’ end of my instructions, okay?”
“Bishop, cut your misdemeanor loose, we’ve got a meltdown on the 67 and we need you there for backup. Five car pile-up and a washout on one lane.” The voice through Bishop’s radio was shrill with authority and short-tempered.
“But, sir, I’ve already got them cuffed.”
“Christ, Bishop, I’ve got my hands full, and a little hanky-panky on a rainy afternoon is not at the top of my list of arrests.”
Deacon held his breath.
“Yes!” Harper said with glee.
Too much glee. Deacon bumped her and gave her a meaningful look, but she just smiled back at him and waggled her eyebrows. “Tell your boss I love him,” she said as Officer Bishop hauled her out of the car. “Ow!”
Deacon tipped his head back. No fear. Not one little ounce of it. Cuffed and tossed in squad car outside of a swank golf course in a strange town in the aftermath of mind-bending sex. Of course, this was the way he was going to bookend his first time with her.
How else was it supposed to happen? Hearts and flowers and a romantic dinner? Nope. Of course, it would be Harper mouthing off at a cop, with her sunflower and rain scent swirling around his head, in the back of a cop car. Was it any wonder why he was already more than halfway in love with her? He laughed at the ceiling of the car as the cop slammed the door and quickly rounded to his side.
Bishop unlocked his cuffs and stood back. “Get out.”
Didn’t have to ask him twice. Deacon stepped out and barely stumbled back a step before Bishop shut the back door and climbed in the front driver side.
“Here.”
Deacon grabbed for Harper’s bag before it hit the pavement as the squad car pulled away from the curb and shot out of the parking lot. Harper laughed and came at him like a barreling puppy. She looped her arms around his waist. “Can you believe that?”
“No thanks to you, Lawless.”
She laughed, flinging her chin back in delight. He tightened his arms on her when she arched away from him then curled her arms around his neck. She tilted her head to the side, her summer sky eyes unrepentant. “I can’t help it. I hate cops. Egomaniacs with a badge. That one had a short man complex on top of it. Double duty douchebag.”
He didn’t want to be amused, but the pure devil living in her eyes made him hard again for fuck’s sake. “Christ, Harper. We’re lucky he had a more important call, or we’d both be in serious trouble.”
“Aww, is my Boy Scout worried about a little black mark on his jacket?”
“Jacket?” His eyebrows raised. “Do I want to know why you know that term?”
“I watch Castle on the bus while you watch Ink Master?”
He narrowed his gaze.
She sighed and played with the ends of his hair. “I may have been arrested once.”
Incredulous, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Once?”
“Okay, so it was twice. But the second time wasn’t my fault. I didn’t see the trespassing sign.”
“And the first?”
She grinned up at him, drawing a zigzag line along the center of his belly. “I may have borrowed a car without getting permission.”
His jaw dropped. “You stole a car?”
“Not exactly.”
“You can’t steal just a little.”
“I caught my boyfriend-at-the-time kissing a girl at a party. It was in the middle of nowhere Idaho in a field.” She dragged her nails lightly around his neck and up his jaw to his chin before tapping on the indent. “He pissed me off, so I drove his car four counties over and left it in long term parking at a bus depot.”
“What…or who was in that county?”
“Well, it was more of a poetic thing. I did a Google search to figure out what was going to be the next town for me to move to and found a little town named Revenge. Seemed as good a place as any.”
“Just like that?”
Harper smoothed her palms over his chest and lowered her eyes to his belt. “Have duffel bag, will travel.”
He tipped her chin back up to meet his gaze. His gut bottomed out, and his smile slid away. “Did you have that planned?”
“No, but I knew it was time to move on. I’d known Scott was losing interest, and to be honest, I’d been looking for an out anyway. We didn’t fit.” She slid out of his arms and hooked her finger into his belt loop, dragging him forward a step. “We need to get going.”
“Right.”
She sighed before reaching up to rub the pad of her finger between his brows. “Sometimes people are only meant to be in your life for a little while. Doesn’t make them any less important.”
“And Scott was important?”
“Nah. Scott was an asshole with a really hot car.” She linked her fingers with his and turned back toward their vehicle, tugging him along behind her. “It was worth the six hours in jail to drive it one last time.”
Just the thought of her in a jail cell had his shoulder blades itching. She was so goddamn tiny. Anything could have happened to her. “Who bailed you out?”
“My parents. Well, via my brother, Randy. Dad was on the road with Fleetwood Mac, and my mom was up in Edmonton, I think. I can’t remember. It was a few summers ago.” She snapped her fingers. “Right, the rodeo up there. Lots of musicians, so she was freelancing. Good money,” she said with a smile over her shoulder.
Her voice was so matter of fact. Like it was a normal occurrence for her parents to be unavailable, and her brother to be her guardian by proxy. Fuck a shark sideways, her brother was barely nineteen.
“Then what happened?”
“Nosy thing aren’t you, big guy?” She got to the car and leaned on the door with her arms crossed. “The judge thought Scott was as much of an asshole as I did and gave me fifteen hours community service since the car wasn’t hurt. That was actually how I ended up going to culinary school. I worked at a soup kitchen, and one of the volunteers owned a bakery.”
He shook his head. “Only you would make a career out of a forced sentence.”
She laid her hands on his cheeks and went up on her toes. He took her cue and lowered his mouth to hers. When the slow kiss heated to a slow burn, she twisted her face away from him and pushed him back a pace. “Don’t wear those rose-colored glasses too long, Deacon. I don’t look that good in pink.”
Was she really that blind? Deacon slid his fingers into her hair and forced her gaze back up to his. “I never had a pair to begin with.”
She circled her fingers around his wrist and gently pulled his hand free. “I think we killed a good metaphor there, rock star. Save it for the lyrics, huh?”
He rolled his eyes and kissed her forehead. He wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that she didn’t see how amazing she was. “Think you can navigate us back to the venue without a highway?”
“I think so.”
“Good.” He handed over her purse. “Let’s get back before they send out a search party.”
Fourteen
August 20, 3:48 PM - The Aftermath
They fishtailed through the gravel on their way into the parking lot. “Son of a fuck.” He looked down at his watch. He was more than twenty minutes late for soundcheck. Even avoiding the highway, it had been a beast to get back to the venue.
The sun was back out and their little hatchback that the girls on staff shared was about as roomy as a tuna can. The AC was no match for the rivulets of sweat running down his chest.
“Park as close to
the stage as you can. I’ve got my food service badge on. I’ll take care of the car.”
“You have to get to work, too.”
“Put your Boy Scout hat away,” she said with a huff.
He caught air on a few of the potholes as they barreled through the parking lot. Harper stuck her head out the window and waved her badge at the guy collecting parking lot fees. When he waved them on, Deacon hit the gas rounding the main part of the Galaxa to the service entry.
He stomped the brakes, halting the car beside a side door that led down to floor of the amphitheater. Dragging her across the center console, he crushed her mouth with his. He didn’t want to let her go. Not after the afternoon they’d had. He needed just one more taste.
She opened for him, her tongue skimming his lips before they tangled furiously. Instantly hard, he groaned into her mouth. Simple and honest lust thrummed through him like a drumbeat.
When he pulled away from her, he realized it really was a drumbeat he heard. Harper had pushed his door open so she could climb onto his lap. “Taste of Candy” had a wicked beat, and Jazz wasn’t holding back like she sometimes did during soundcheck.
He filled his hands with Harper’s ass as she wiggled for a better way to torture him. Effective torture. His dick was hard enough to steer the damn car. She grasped his hair, yanking him where she wanted him. Fuck, he loved kissing her. Loved touching her. And now that he knew what it was like to get inside her, he knew what addiction tasted like.
Finding the lever to the bucket seat, he dumped them both into a reclining position. Her maddeningly free breasts flattened into his skin. He dragged her up his chest until his teeth grazed over the heavy curve that peeked from the buttons. He flicked buttons open until the material gaped. Her nipple beaded under his gaze. Unable to resist another taste, he circled the tip of his tongue around the tiny pink point.
She flung her head back, her fingers digging into his chest. “You gotta go.”
Again and again, he swirled his tongue around the salty, taut tip. Her knees squeezed his sides, and the car went from almost bearable to an oven on the broiler setting. He shoved his hand down her shorts and pulled harder on her nipple as he found her slick pussy. He tucked two fingers deep inside her before dragging his stubble up and over her exposed breast to her neck.
“One more. Just to get me through,” he panted.
“We don’t…God, yes. Right there.” She hissed, clutching his sides with her knees. A little half-whine, half-groan hummed in her chest. “No, we can’t. You have to get to rehearsal.”
“Just you. Let me finish you off. Your scent will be all over me as I play tonight.” She whimpered and writhed on his hand. “That’s it. So wet.” He turned his hand so he could get the friction she liked best. Groaning into her neck, he felt her clamp down on him. “Fuck, yes. Like that. God, I wish that was me.”
“I’m going to fuck you stupid later,” she growled and bowed up over him. “Deacon.”
The broken whisper of his name threatened to push him over the edge, but he held on and watched. Her eyes went blind and her lips parted, then she slowly closed her lids and went rigid as stone. The tiniest strangled cry cracked the sultry air.
Her scent, her wetness, and her sunflower perfume arrowed into his lungs and clogged them to bursting. And then she crashed on top of him. He slid his other hand up her back, under her sweat and rain soaked hair and cupped the back of her neck.
His cock was strangled, and oxygen wasn’t exactly a premium in the car, but he held on. The wet lashes of her hair stuck to his neck and face, and he’d never been more content in his life.
She shuddered as he lightly stroked inside of her until she stilled his hand. “I’m not going to be able to drive, let alone walk across the parking lot.”
He huffed out a laugh and freed himself. Part of him wanted to lick his fingers clean, to have her taste on his tongue again, but the other part wanted her to seep into his skin. So that he smelled her on him the rest of the night.
She wiggled down and stepped from the car, grasping the hood of the car for balance. He sat up and couldn’t resist another taste of her perfect breasts. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up as he stood.
“Deacon,” she said in a startled voice as she gripped his shoulders.
“You’re light as a child.”
She grinned down at him, her feet dangling. “I didn’t know we were going on such a grand adventure today, Mr. McCoy.”
“Adventure.” He punctuated the word with a hard kiss. “I guess that’s one word for today.” He lowered her down to her feet, letting her feel how hard he still was. “Will I see you tonight?”
Her pupils were dilated and color slashed her cheeks. “We need to finish what we started.”
“Fuck, yes.” He pressed her against him.
“Now go be a good boy and work. I have to make sure I still have a job.”
He frowned. “I don’t want to get you into trouble, Harper.”
She tapped his cheek playfully. “Don’t worry about that. I’m sure Meg will be happy with all the dirty details as payment.”
The wolf whistle across the lot made him stiffen.
“When I said ‘go have fun,’ Harper, I didn’t mean get arrested,” Meg shouted from the Food Riot truck.
“Crap.”
“Double crap,” Deacon muttered. He brushed his lips over her forehead and grabbed his wallet and t-shirt from the car. “I’ll see you later?”
Deacon tipped his head back and twisted his t-shirt into a rope in frustration. At a loss for words, he walked backward, keeping her in his line of sight.
“Stop looking at me like that.” She shooed him away with a smile.
Either she was a damn good actress or she wasn’t upset. He wasn’t sure which one he wanted to believe in more. “We’ll talk later.”
She flashed him some skin before buttoning up her shirt with a flirty wink. “Sure, that’s what we’ll be doing later.”
“Killing me.”
“I know.” She flicked her tongue over the corner of her mouth. The playful gesture eased the snakes in his belly. Maybe this would be all right. She climbed back into the car and made a big show of fixing the seat, made googly eyes at him, and shooed him again.
He waved, ducked through the open door, and jogged over to join the band.
Simon was pacing the stage, flicking through his phone as he mumbled lyrics into the microphone. Nick was curled over his acoustic, playing harmony to Gray’s soulful electric. Sixx AM’s “Life Is Beautiful” must have won the Twitter war today.
Jazz spotted him first, popping up from her stool to tap her sticks together madly.
Simon turned, swinging his arms out wide. “Lookie, lookie! The criminal returns.”
Deacon hung his head. “All right, all right. Get it out of your systems.”
Simon dropped to his knees and held his wrists out. “Cuff me, Officer. I’ve been a very bad boy.”
“Christ.” Deacon swung a leg over the barrier at the front row, then hauled himself up on stage. He pushed Simon over onto his side before he lifted his bass off its stand.
“I didn’t know you had it in you.” Simon propped his head on his hand, lying on his side. “Well, I guess Harper’s the one that got it in her, actually.”
“How long have you been coming up with these?”
Simon rolled over onto his back and showed him his phone. “I wrote them down.”
Deacon winced and settled his bass on his lap. “Awesome.”
“Let’s see…we just need to add on a few links of chain and we can make you more at home with your leather cuffs.”
Nick groaned.
Simon tsked. “Yeah, that one wasn’t very good. I have others.”
“Save them for Twitter,” Jazz piped up.
“Can we just get through soundcheck?”
Nick slung his arm over his acoustic. “We kinda did that without you.”
“So, I see. Sorr
y about that. The storm was murder on traffic.”
Nick smirked. “Sure. We’ll go with the storm.”
Deacon sighed. There was no way he was winning this conversation. “What song haven’t you guys done yet?” He needed to get an idea of the acoustics of the place. They weren’t important enough to have roadies, so they had to do all their own tuning and levels. He strummed his bass, surprised to find it mostly tuned. He fussed with the tuner knobs then moved to the equalizer rack. “Who did this?”
Jazz hopped off her kit. “Me and Gray.”
“Really?”
She shrugged. “I know you always do it—”
“No, that’s fine.” He scratched the back of his head. Nick and Simon never showed any interest, so it had been his job by default. Nick guarded his pedals with a militant meticulousness, but other than that Deacon took care of the sound system.
“It sounds great.”
“Gray’s a genius with that stuff. He used to take care of the gear for a few bands for extra money.”
Deacon looked down at her. He couldn’t help but smile. Her purple-streaked hair was up in pigtails, and she wore yoga shorts and a cutoff t-shirt in deference to the ridiculous heat. Bright orange polish gleamed off her tiny toes which she was currently balanced on.
“I’m sorry I’m late, but it’s good to know I’ve got backup.”
She huffed out a relieved breath. “I’m learning. I know most of it, but Gray shows me something new every day.”
Deacon’s eyes tracked to Gray. He seemed to barely show up on stage with them most days. When his fingers slid over the fret board and strings, he was so present, it hurt to watch sometimes. But then he got this faraway look in his eyes, and he was just gone.
Nick and Simon were fighting over the setlist, as usual. Simon’s white Gibson was slung around his naked back, the neck banging against his knees. He could use a little sunshine, but at least Simon was toning up on the bus with free weights and a few yoga sessions with Jazz.
Hell, even Nick was getting more relaxed on stage. He still disappeared with a groupie just before the show, but there had been no more instances of that stony stage fright from their club days.
