Edge of Forever: Rockstar Romantic Suspense

by Cari Quinn

  Seeing them all together was a healthy dose of normalcy. Something they both needed to see.

  Izzy couldn’t stop smiling into the screen as the guys teased her. It was good to see her smiling. Smiles were coming a little easier these days.

  Zeke sat forward on the couch. “Marcus wants a check-in today if that’s cool.”

  Logan’s smile slipped. “Everything all right?”

  “Yeah. As far as I know anyway. He’s just getting antsy with Bishop. The guy—DeSalvo—he’s been hard to pin down.”

  “Thanks for keeping in contact with him. The signal out here is crap.”

  “All good, man.” Zeke’s smile softened. “You look good, Bellamina.”

  She pressed her cheek to Logan’s. “We’re doing better.” She cleared her throat. Her voice a little thicker. “Have you heard anything about Adam?”

  Zeke’s eyes clouded. “No. I finally got a nurse to talk to me at least. No change. No reason for him to be in the coma, he just won’t come around.”

  She lowered her chin to her chest and sniffled. Logan stroked down her braid. “Thanks for checking in with them.”

  Zeke saluted. “Covert ops report complete.”

  Logan snorted. “Freak.”

  “That’s what she said,” Zeke shot back.

  Izzy gave a watery laugh and Logan sat back.

  Morgan looped his arm around Christian’s neck and leaned in. “Catcha later. I need some sleep.”

  Christian waved. “Behave, you two.”

  Emerson pushed Zeke off the couch. “You better be writing over there, man. We’ll be itching to get into the studio the minute you’re free.” A flash of teeth glowed out of his overgrown beard. “Have you been using your cooking lessons to feed that guy?”

  Izzy nodded. “I’ve used all the ones I had on my phone. I’ll be ready for more.”

  “That’s what I like to hear.” Em flicked Zeke’s ear and moved out of the video feed.

  Julian stuck his head up from his perch on the floor. “Catch you in two weeks.”

  “Bye guys.”

  Zeke pointed at the screen. “Be safe.” Then it went black and the Skype watery chime echoed into the game room.

  His phone call with Marcus on the landline was a lot less exciting. The same old song, in a tired loop. He couldn’t even re-write that one.

  He was beyond tired of waiting.

  It felt like they were a step away from something, he just wasn’t sure if it was a step toward their goal or in front of a truck.

  Twenty-Eight

  Bella came down the stairs, blotting her hair with a towel. Logan was in the living room, pacing as he texted furiously. He kept holding his hand up on the deck, like that was going to improve his signal.

  She curled her toes into her slippers. October was rapidly dwindling into November and the temperatures were showing it. And still, Logan was on the deck then back inside.

  “What happened?”

  He looked up from his phone. “Bishop finally got in with DeSalvo. But I can’t get any other details.” His long fingers curled around the phone a little too tightly.

  She went over to him and tugged until he let the phone free. “Go down to the computer at the rec lodge and email or call him or something.”

  “I tried that. The whole area is down. Some storm in the next county knocked out the freaking internet and the phones.”

  She tucked her hands into her sweater’s sleeves and went to the back door. The sky was a roiling gray, making the last of the leaves seem even more fiery on the trees. The river rushed with a few chunks of ice from the last storm that had blown through.

  In New York, October was usually too early for a storm, but in Maine, it was simply a fact of life. They’d had two with actual snowfall so far.

  He came up behind her at the porch railing and slid his arms around her waist. He snaked his hand inside her wide sweater sleeve and she smacked his hand. “That quarter of a bar isn’t going to change, buddy.”

  “Come on. Just let me see if the text went out.”

  “No.” She shoved the phone into her bra.

  “That is not a deterrent.”

  She laughed and wiggled out from under his arm and back inside. “It is when I bite.”

  “I like when you bite though.”

  He followed her inside and stalked her around the dining room table. Bella scooted over the chair and back up the stairs.

  He thundered up behind her and Fiona woke from her snooze on the couch and shot up after them. She barked and hip-checked Logan into the doorframe as she leaped onto the bed, knocking Bella onto her back.

  Logan crawled over the bed to her. “Give it to me.”

  “Nope. We have to go to the store before we’re snowed in.”

  “I’ll just check and then we can go.” He slipped his arm around her waist and dragged her down the bed so he could cover her.

  She stuffed her hand down her shirt and came up with the phone, stretching her arm over her head. Logan reached for it—blasted man had a much longer reach than she did—but Fiona planted both paws in the middle of his back and squashed them together.

  Bella couldn’t help the laugh at the whoosh of breath and Logan’s buggy eyes.

  “Fiona, off.” Her dog didn’t move an inch. “Gonna help me out here?”

  She shook her head. “Nope.”

  He slid his arm under her back and up her shirt. With stupid, clever fingers, he flicked open her bra. “Now?”

  “Not like it went anywhere, your buttons are currently indented in my skin.”

  He grunted when Fiona bounced on his back and barked.

  Bella laughed as he tried to move, but a Malamute wasn’t exactly the lightest of dogs, which she could attest. Just as she was going to relent and tell the dog to get off, Logan twisted his hips and a very hard, very happy cock rubbed against the seam of her yoga pants.

  “Hello.” She shoved the phone under her pillow.

  Logan shrugged. “Well, if I can’t have the phone.”

  “You are a very bad man. We have to go to the store.”

  “After.” He lowered his mouth to hers.

  “This was not part of the plan, sir,” she mumbled against his lips.

  “I’ve got all this extra weight on me, so what’s a man to do?”

  She laughed as Fiona put her head down and crossed her paws over her eyes. “Fiona, down.”

  She barked and hopped over Logan’s hip to lick her face. Once the dog saw she was all right, she wagged her tail and got off the bed. Fiona jumped into what had become her favorite place to sleep—a chair in the corner of the room.

  “You can get off me now.”

  He slid his hand under them and yanked her stretchy pants down. She gave a breathless laugh and then there was nothing at all to laugh about. He pushed her shirt up, simply moved her bra out of the way, and latched his mouth onto her breast.

  She arched, and God, it felt good to be able to move under him. For the last three weeks, she’d done stretches and yoga to get the last of the kinks out of her system. She still had twinges, but it was good to be able to be handled again.

  Because she did love the way he handled her. Like now, when he forgot she was damaged and just pushed at her for the sweet release of two bodies that fit perfectly together.

  As always, he pulled back when he saw her scar. He ran his lips over the mended flesh with the utmost care, and he gentled.

  She didn’t want the gentle Logan.

  She felt alive in his arms, when he forgot about their past, the shattered body that was finally becoming hers again. When he treated her like the Bella of before.

  She pushed her pants down the rest of the way and rolled him onto his back until she could sit astride him. He held her waist tenderly and brushed his thumbs over her belly in little circles. She wiggled back until she was down near his knees and peeled open his jeans.

  His eyes flashed green fire as she encircled him.

  H
is hips bucked up when she swiped the underside of his cock with her tongue and took his head into her mouth with a strong pull.

  “Holy shit.” He pushed his hair out of his eyes and dropped back on his elbows. She wasn’t gentle, she wasn’t easy. She knew just how to suck and lick to push him over the edge.

  He tried to cup her jaw, but she watched with satisfaction as he curled his fingers into his palm and threw his head back. His long neck was corded with muscles and swirls of scruff since he hadn’t trimmed that morning. She swirled her tongue around his head until she tasted him. Salt and Logan and the heady mix of excitement buzzed on her tongue.

  She wanted to watch him go over.

  Kid gloves off, balls to the wall fucking. She wanted him to know that she wasn’t breakable. She was whole again, even if she had to use Krazy Glue to get there. She took a longer pull until her cheeks hollowed out before she let him free. She licked up the pulsing vein at the base of his cock to his head, covered him again and stared into his eyes with her mouth full of him.

  He dragged in a harsh breath and his fingers went for her hair. She knew what he wanted. That grip he had that sometimes brought a few tears to her eyes because it felt so good when he was rough.

  But he denied himself.

  He crashed onto his back and jammed those rough fingers into his own hair and pushed it back. She raced up his body and took him inside of her. His hips kicked up and she rotated her hips until he hissed.

  She dug her nails into his chest, taking him deeper and controlling the pace and depth of how deep she allowed him. She teased and taunted him. He frowned in concentration. He was trying to control her.

  But she didn’t want control in here at all.

  At least not his own.

  He tried to cup her breasts but she laced her fingers with his and pushed them both up over his head. Stretched over him and dropped over his stiff shaft again and again.

  His head thrashed on the bed as he tried to get a taste of her. Her arm, her breasts as they swung in his face with each jarring slam of her hips. He was so deep. With a few more thrusts, she could come if she wanted to.

  She’d gotten herself worked up enough just watching him watch her give him head. But she wanted him unleashed.

  She could see it under the surface. How he allowed her to hold him down and do what she wanted to him. He submitted to her and it was glorious, but she still wanted more.

  Wanted him to take her like he used to.

  Wild abandon and unholy fire in his eyes.

  When they couldn’t breathe after.

  When she shook for a full ten minutes after he was done with her.

  Finally, he sat up under her. He curled his strong arms around her and controlled the thrusts until they were short bursts that hit just the right spot.

  His fingers dug into her ass and their bodies slapped furiously. The friction, sweat, and jaw-jarring thrusts tipped her over the edge from sharp and focused to an array of sparklers behind her eyes.

  “Yes.” She held onto him, sunk her teeth into his shoulder and finally came. She sagged in his arms, her head heavy against his shoulder.

  “What the fuck was that?”

  “Hurricane Bella?”

  He slumped back on the bed. “Were you trying to kill me?”

  She slid off his lap and into a heap on her side. “Maybe a little.”

  He pushed her hair out of her eyes. “Did I hurt you?”

  She pushed his hand away. “No, penis of destruction, you did not.”

  He blew out a breath. “Brat.”

  She hadn’t quite gotten him to let go all the way, but he was a damn sight closer. Loose and limber with outstanding sex, she rolled off the bed.

  He adjusted himself back into his boxers and jeans and propped his head on his hand. “You’re awfully chipper.”

  She rolled her neck. “I didn’t intend to have a nice little orgasm this afternoon, but—”

  “Little.” He scooted off the bed and stood in front of her. “Little orgasm?”

  She lifted her shoulder. “Yeah.” Ridiculously self-conscious that she was naked from the waist down and he was dressed, she tried to be blasé about it. She padded into the bathroom to clean up.

  Their combined scents were familiar and distracting. Because there was part of her that was still restless, she wondered if she should get into the shower. She pinned her hair up and tried not to smile. Logan was boring holes into her forehead.

  He leaned against the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest. “Little?”

  She plucked her toothbrush out of its holder and arched her brow. “Amazing orgasm?”

  He frowned. “Was that a question?”

  “Not sure what you want me to say. It was awesome and now I feel all loose and yummy.” She loaded her brush and started with her molars.

  “Yummy?”

  She pulled the brush out of her mouth. “Are you just going to parrot things back at me for the rest of the day?”

  “I’m still trying to get past the little orgasm part.”

  She finished up and rinsed. “Since when are you an egomaniac about sex?” Deciding she was going to take another shower after all, she whipped her shirt over her head, slung her bra on top of the shirt, and stepped into the stall.

  She smiled up into the spray when he continued to stand there for a full five minutes before wandering back into the bedroom. It really was mean to tease him about it, but she couldn’t quite help herself. Not when they were alone with each other day in and day out.

  They played pool, and she was getting better at it. She still sucked, but when she had nothing else to do but practice, she had to improve somewhere. She read until her head was so full of fiction, even she was tired of it.

  Considering that happened…never, she knew they were getting antsy.

  Logan was worse. He stared at his guitar every day—even picked it up and strummed, but he could never seem to get past a few notes of a song. Both of them were too used to being busy.

  And all the downtime left her too much time to think.

  About Nic and Adam.

  About the fact that Adam still hadn’t come out of his coma. That Aimee was photo-journaling herself from every port of call from the Mediterranean to London. The newspapers were constantly talking about her and the hockey player.

  The world was going on without them.

  They were in stasis in this beautiful cabin. And for the most part they were fine. They were getting to know the people they’d become after the bookstore had been destroyed.

  She still had nightmares some nights. Still woke screaming with soot in her lungs and tears streaming down her face. And in the deep dark of the cabin in the heart of northern Maine, he’d hold her as long as she needed him to.

  And in the morning they tried to be as normal as possible. The loss haunted them some days more than others, but they were learning to get around it. They were learning to be a couple again.

  But she really wasn’t sure how much longer they could be here—away from everyone. And yet, she wasn’t sure how to leave. She still didn’t like Logan out of her sight for very long. She liked their cozy cabin with winter pushing at the windows.

  She shut off the water and jumped when Logan thrust a towel in her face as she stepped out. “Anxious to go to the store?”

  “It started snowing.”

  She sighed. “Okay.” She blotted her shoulders and snagged the lotion from her shelf in the bathroom. “Get my back for me?”

  It had become a routine for them. The burns had faded to a faint scarring that she’d wear for the rest of her life. The skin itself was prone to absolute dryness that made her insane if she didn’t keep it moisturized.

  She dropped her chin to her chest as he coated her skin then rubbed it in with the most amazing long strokes. His large hands so thorough and amazing at the same time. When he dropped a kiss on the nape of her neck, she peered up at him from under her lashes.

  “Hi.”<
br />
  “God, you’re beautiful.”

  She turned around and slipped her arms up around his shoulders. “You’re not so bad yourself.” In his eyes, she knew he meant it. And she slowly stopped noticing the two tones of her hands and the rough feathery skin of her shoulders.

  He made sure she never felt like a freak.

  He reminded her that they were both alive.

  And the baggage might be extensive, but at least she had someone to carry it with. It was far more than she’d ever thought she’d have.

  She rose onto her toes and kissed his full lips. “I say we get steaks and baked potatoes and I’ll bake something decadent for dessert. You know, so you have all the strength for shoveling.”

  He groaned. “I didn’t even shovel when I was a kid.”

  “That’s because you were too dreamy to do something so humble.”

  “Damn right.”

  She laughed. “All right, let me get dressed.”

  He inched her towel up in the back until that big palm could get a hold of her ass.

  “That is not getting me dressed.”

  “No, but it is the cutest little ass.”

  She wiggled out of his arms. “Groceries. Then you do whatever you want to my ass later tonight.” She threw a smile over her shoulder on her way out.

  “That wasn’t nice,” he called after her.

  No, but it sure had been fun to say.

  Twenty-Nine

  Logan curled his fingers around the steering wheel. It had taken far longer to get into town and through the market and back up the mountain. The snow was already thick on the roads and his ice-caked windshield wipers were smearing away most of his visibility.

  Within the next hour, the roads would be impassable.

  As much as he loved being with Izzy, he didn’t like the option not to leave. Not with the storm coming on so hard and fast. The last one had been smaller—more of a sleeting ice storm.

  This would lock them in.

  And he really didn’t like having no way to contact Marcus. Their out-of-the-way cabin had been working for months, and there was no reason to change anything. As far as the world knew, he and Isabella were convalescing in his house in Hawaii.