He held her hip with one hand and guided himself inside her moist channel again. Hyde felt her body tighten for a moment and heard her cursing before she pushed herself back against him.
He gave her long, easy strokes. “You are amazing.”
He slipped his free hand under her body and found her clitoris, distended and smooth. He rubbed it as he continued thrusting.
“God, need to touch you.” She positioned one foot on the back of his calf, then pounded her fist against the wall. “Again. Coming.” Her slender body trembled.
Tassia wailed and leaned her head back. In that position, Hyde eased his hand off her hip and brought it around to the front of her body to cup her breast. Then he leaned back on his haunches, carrying her with him so she sat on top of him.
That position allowed her to reach back and hold the back of his head while she busied her other hand by pressing his against her clit. She dragged the pads of her fingers over the back of his hand to encourage him to continue pleasuring her. No way could he be made to stop.
Hyde thrusted his hips upward in hopes of driving this woman crazy with lust and desire. If she knew that he had already gone off that edge, she would probably look at him differently.
He had to stop thinking about possibilities. Hyde built his life on certainties. He had talent. He had drive. He knew he enjoyed sex with Tassia. He didn’t need any complications. If he couldn’t figure out what he wanted in his life, he didn’t need to involve someone else.
Hyde felt his insides tightening and his sac squeezing up. He wrapped his arm around her waist and held her tighter.
“Sexy as hell.” He kissed her shoulder.
Not content to only press his lips against her salty flesh, he nipped at her skin, making her yelp. She gyrated in concert with his motions until they both came.
“You are so wrong for this.” Tassia spoke between panting breaths. “We really have to stop.”
“Your fault.” He administered a couple of light pats on her mound. “You kissed my chest and played with my nipple first.”
“I did?” She leaned her head back. “I don’t remember that.”
“Of course you don’t. And you wiggled.” Hyde kissed her neck and the side of her face.
“Trying to get away.” She snickered.
“Still trying to do that?” To make it more difficult for her to answer, he nibbled her earlobe.
The soft, fleshy part rolled around his tongue as he continued holding her.
“Yes.” She peered over her shoulder. “I’m going to take a shower and go downstairs.”
She wriggled out of his grip to climb off the bed.
“Why?” Hyde watched her sauntering around naked in his bedroom toward his bathroom.
She stood in the doorway and stared at him. “Got to make breakfast for the birthday boy.” She winked.
“Wow. I almost forgot that it’s my birthday.” He scooted to the edge of the bed. “You don’t have to make me anything.”
“I know. But I am. And then we need to talk.”
“We talked. We decided that we’re adults and can handle whatever this is between us. Enough said.”
Tassia continued. “That’s not the only thing we need to discuss. We need to get out of this house.”
Damn.
Chapter 15
Tassia had sighed in relief when Hyde didn’t join her in the shower, not that she would have minded. The man surprised her in so many ways. First with his songwriting skills, and then with his free-spirited side, and now the incredible way he satisfied her in bed. As great as the sex had been, she knew she had made a colossal mistake by crossing that line.
She should have stayed away, said no, resisted. Hyde had a draw to him that made her want to be with him. That scared her. If she planned on staying there to work, and only work, she had to establish some ground rules. Easier said than done. She tried doing that earlier and failed miserably but in an oh-so-good way.
Leaving the house topped her list. After over a week, she had gotten used to not using her phone to communicate or staying connected to the outside world. She missed talking to her dad.
Despite how overbearing he could be, Tassia looked forward to getting her father’s words of inspiration on a daily basis. What he must be thinking right now because she hadn’t talked to him since coming to Hyde’s home. For that reason, she wanted to leave and at least find a phone and get connected to the real world.
After coming out of Hyde’s luxurious shower, separate from a huge bathtub next to it, Tassia dried herself and emerged from the bathroom, half expecting to find Hyde sex-drenched and ready for another round. Instead she found him knocked out on his huge bed with a white bed sheet barely covering his genitals.
Hyde had his arms outstretched and one leg dangling from the side of the bed. If she could be so emboldened, she would have slid that thin sheet from his delectable body and taken that man on another ride. Then her own words filled her head. She had to keep this relationship about business and nothing else.
Tassia started to walk by Hyde, but stopped herself. She tiptoed back to him and started to tug on the sheet, easing it from his sculpted body like a museum curator unveiling a statue of David. As soon as she saw his nest of sandy-blond pubic hair and felt her heart racing, she stopped. If she continued and spotted his perfectly shaped shaft, she would do more than just admire it.
Damn. She wanted to lift a corner and take another peek at his impressive package. Tassia tiptoed out of the room. It felt weird for her to be walking around this strange house completely naked. She didn’t even walk around her own condo in the nude like this.
Tassia ran to the room she had been occupying since coming to the house with the exception of last night. Wow, what a night. When she got into the room, she dove into her suitcase and removed a T-shirt. After putting it on, she stepped into a pair of pink panties. A brief thought entered her head that Hyde might like her in her casual outfit.
“Stop it. You’re setting the rules for this, and you told him you wanted the sex to stop.”
Then Hyde blew her mind again that morning. What a man. Her clitoris throbbed the more she thought about him. Tassia had to stop thinking of Hyde as the sex machine she now discovered him to be if she planned to continue working with him.
Tassia stepped into the kitchen, but peeked out into the backyard to see if Pepper had returned. She couldn’t imagine doing the things she and Hyde had done and his cousin walking in on them.
After inventorying the contents of the refrigerator, Tassia decided to make a traditional southern breakfast, complete with fried potatoes, eggs, bacon, and biscuits. Cooking would bring her back to her comfort zone.
Adding each ingredient to the biscuit recipe carried the same calming effect as when she practiced yoga. Tassia poured the liquid mixture into the dry flour mix until she got a dough. Since she couldn’t find a proper rolling pin in Hyde’s kitchen, she continued improvising with a drinking glass that she also used to cut out biscuit rounds.
Flour covered her hands as she deposited the pan into a pre-heated oven. Then she worked on the rest of the breakfast, opting to cook the bacon on the stove instead of on a wire rack in the oven. Thankfully, Hyde did have cast-iron pans in his kitchen. True country boy.
With the bacon done, she sautéed the potatoes before she started on the eggs. Oh, hell. Tassia had no idea how Hyde wanted his eggs. Maybe he wanted them on top of her body. Her heart fluttered at the idea, and then she felt an arm around her waist.
Tassia should have jumped, squealed, fought to get out of the grasp. She placed her hand on top of the strong arm around her and leaned back. She couldn’t believe how comfortable she already felt in Hyde’s hold.
“How did you know it was me?”
Tassia heard the rumble in his deep timbre that vibrated her body and made her knees buckle. “Oh,
Hyde. I thought it was Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson. I was kind of hoping he had broken into your house to get to me.”
Hyde laughed loudly before he kissed the top of her head. “You’re cute.” He uncoiled himself from her and headed to the refrigerator.
The move allowed her to take in a full view of Hyde. She figured he had taken a shower based on his fresh-smelling scent. He now wore a pair of loose-fitting shorts.
Hyde removed a pitcher of orange juice and set it on the counter. “I smelled the biscuits and bacon, and it drew me downstairs. You didn’t have to do this.”
“I have to admit that I’m doing this for selfish reasons, just like you bringing me here. I love cooking. It relaxes me.” Tassia smiled as she placed the plate of cooked bacon on the breakfast bar.
“I didn’t bring you here for you to cook for me.” He leaned against the counter next to her.
“I know you didn’t bring me here to do a lot of things, but I’m flexible.”
He snickered. “That you are.” Hyde winked.
She felt her cheeks getting hot. “How do you like your eggs?” Tassia rested her hand on top of the carton while she faced him.
“Any way except over easy. Can’t stand a runny egg.” He scrunched up his nose and shook his head.
“Scrambled it is.” Tassia opened various cabinets to find a large enough bowl to scramble the eggs in when Hyde handed her a cream-colored bowl with two light-blue stripes circling the top. “Thank you.” She smiled as she accepted it. “You said earlier that you wanted to talk to me. About what?”
Hyde retrieved a couple of plates and placed them on the breakfast bar near the bacon. “We need to decide on a theme for the album and maybe an album title.” Then he grabbed some butter and jelly. “I suggest Collusion.”
“Eww. No.” Tassia shook her head before scraping the completed fried potatoes into a bowl. “In this political environment, I want us to stay as far away from that word as possible.”
“That’s the reason I wanted us to use it. Turn it into something positive.” He watched her pouring the egg mixture into a hot cast-iron pan with some residual bacon grease.
“It also sounds contentious, like we were forced to do this.”
“We were, weren’t we?” He shrugged.
“Maybe. But I think it would turn off fans.” Tassia smelled the biscuits and knew she could remove them from the oven. She turned off the oven but left the pan there while she split the hot scrambled eggs onto the two plates. “What about Collaboration?”
This time Hyde shook his head. “Too cold and business-like.”
“More than ‘collusion?’” She placed the pan back on the stove before pulling the baked biscuits from the oven. “We’re overthinking this. We should call it how we feel about the project.”
Hyde smiled to himself before he let a chuckle come out.
“What?” With quick fingers, she plucked each biscuit from the hot pan and into a serving basket.
“Lucky. I would call the album Lucky.” He sat on a barstool.
Tassia couldn’t stop the smile from splitting her head. “Keep talking like that, birthday boy, and we’ll never finish this album.” She brought the biscuits and potatoes to the bar along with utensils.
He poured juice for them before he offered her the bacon and biscuits first. She would never tire of his gentlemanly nature, a far cry from the men she’d dated in the past.
Could she really call what she did with Hyde dating? She wanted it to be true, which scared her. She didn’t want to start a relationship, especially not one with someone in the industry, and particularly with a mega superstar like Hyde Love. She would never have peace. That said, did she really think she could be happy with Hyde?
As she picked up her fork to start eating, Hyde reached his hand out to her.
“What?” Tassia stared at him.
“I know we haven’t done this since we’ve been here and had meals together, but I would like to pray before we eat.” He took a deep breath, and on the exhale said, “I know you’re missing your dad. I just thought—”
She grabbed his hand. “Great idea.”
Without waiting, Hyde said a prayer he had remembered his grandfather saying before each of their big meals.
“Nice.” Tassia squeezed Hyde’s hand and didn’t want to let it go. She would have to in order to eat—and after everything she and Hyde had done, she had definitely worked up an appetite.
Hyde slathered butter and jelly on his two biscuits before taking a hearty bite. “Oh, God. I didn’t think anyone could make this as good as my grandmother. This is incredible.”
“Thank you. After my mother died when I was eleven, I really got into cooking. I would help her in the kitchen growing up, I just never thought I would have taken over for her so soon.” Tassia kept her attention on her food, pushing her yellow, fluffy eggs around on her plate. To get her mind off her family, she turned the conversation to Hyde. “What about you? You don’t talk a lot about your family except your grandparents.”
Hyde continued eating for a moment before he spoke. “Shortly after I was born, my mom left. At least, that’s what my dad told me.” He kept his head down as he spoke. “My dad and I lived with his parents for most of my life until I started my career at eleven and we were on that show. Once I stopped the show, I did get signed to record country music. My dad continued to be my manager. He thought he would use my opportunity to pick up women. It was embarrassing to walk in on my father having sex with a groupie after I did a set.”
“Oh, wow. I can’t imagine not having supportive parents. My dad always looked out for me, well, with one exception.” She placed her hand on his bare thigh.
“What’s that?” Hyde scooped some more eggs on his fork and took a healthy bite.
“In all the time I filmed the show, I had no idea that back home, my mother was dying of cancer.” The image of her mother immediately popped in her head. She had to soothe herself by drinking some juice when she thought she would start crying.
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” Hyde gripped her hand that she had on his thigh.
“Every time I had asked him about my mother, he said she was fine and missed me. I would talk to her a few times a week while we filmed in California. I never heard her sound weak or sick. She sounded strong. Once I left the show and went home, I discovered that my Aunt Jenny had been taking care of her, taking her to her appointments and stuff.” She shook her head. “I should have been home.”
“You think that’s what your mother would have wanted?”
Tassia glanced at Hyde and smiled. “My dad said the exact same thing when I asked him why he didn’t tell me sooner about Mom. He said that she had found out shortly after I had gotten the news that I would be on the show. He said she knew it was my dream to be in show business, and she didn’t want to get in the way of my progress. I always felt guilty.”
“You shouldn’t.” He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it. “You talked to your mother, and she never told you about her illness, and she could have. As I see it, your parents were protecting their ten-year-old kid. You didn’t need to know about illnesses and dying at a young age.”
“But—”
“Despite us working like adults when we were kids, we were still kids. We deserved to be that way for as long as we could.” He placed her hand back on his thigh before he continued eating. “Can I ask you a question, though, since we’re talking about our childhood?”
“Sure.” Tassia shrugged.
“You know I had a crush on you when we worked together.”
She smiled. “Thanks to your cousin.”
Hyde snickered. “Okay. Yes, thanks to Pepper. How did you feel about me?”
Tassia didn’t hesitate with her answer. “I thought you were quiet and withdrawn when we weren’t filming. But as soon as the c
ameras hit you, you were so charismatic and alive. You couldn’t help but watch you perform. It’s the reason I always tried talking to you between takes. I was so curious about you.” She peered down at her food. “And, yes, I thought you were cute.”
“Oh, now, don’t tell me that and not mean it.” He put his fork on his plate before drinking some of his juice.
“Oh, no. I mean it. When you did talk, I found out how smart and funny you were. And you had these amazing eyes.” She sighed. “I could stare in them for hours.”
“Same for you, too.” He wiped his hands on a napkin. “That last day of filming, what happened that made your dad pull you out of the show?”
Tassia had hoped Hyde wouldn’t have asked her this question. “It’s no big deal.” She waved her hand at him.
“No big deal? You missed seeing your dying mother for the show. Your dream was starting on that show. I would think it would be a big deal.” He turned his full body to her as he awaited her answer.
“My dad found out that they wanted to cut my part down in order to boost your storyline. I wouldn’t be a full ‘Fun Crew’ member. I would be a featured player.” Saying it now still felt like a knife slicing her back.
“Bullshit.”
She hadn’t expected Hyde to react that way.
“You were the most talented in the group. You could sing your face off, even when it was the ‘Happy Birthday’ song. I remember you had some solo and while they filmed you, I just stared at you the entire time. You were magnificent.” Hyde shuffled some food around on his plate before he completed his thoughts. “And I had heard that your dad wanted my part in the show cut down in order to give you a bigger role.” He stared at her.
“Like you said. Bullshit.” Now she could barely eat after hearing that. “So which parent do we believe?”
“At this point, does it really matter? What’s past is past.” He shrugged. “We’re here now. I’m with the most talented woman on the planet. Can’t beat that.”
Tassia figured her face had transformed into every shade of red it could be after that compliment. “Thank you. You still have your dad as your manager. I don’t. That makes us a bit different. Do you get along with him better now?”
Crazy on You Page 20
