She gently hits my chest. “Horses, silly.”
I laugh. “It’s been a while. But yeah, I can ride.”
“Bring your band of monkeys if they’d like to come and we can spend a normal day of riding horses, fishing in our pond, and maybe, if you’re really lucky, swimming in the pool. Then I’ll make us a normal dinner of spaghetti and meatballs.”
Now that does sound completely normal and completely wonderful!
“It’s a date then, but I’m not bringing them. I want it to be me and you, alone.”
She snuggles into my chest as a cool breeze blows past us. “My family will be here, Kip. We won’t be alone much. They can come if you want them to.”
“I love my mates, don’t get me wrong, but they’re Hollywood to their core. It’s safe to say they’ve disappeared with random girls from your little party here and will sneak back to our hotel in Austin once the sun rises,” I say, then kiss the top of her head.
She makes a deep sigh. “I suppose it’s very late and if we’re to have any fun at all tomorrow, we best be getting to bed.”
“Is that an invitation,” I ask with a laugh.
“No.” She giggles and pulls her head off my chest. “I should tell you something before you go wasting a lot of time on me. It might change your mind about spending your days off with me.”
Her words make me feel bad and I want her to understand how I’m starting to really feel about her. “None of my time is wasted when it concerns you.”
Darting back and forth, her eyes tell me she’s nervous about telling me what she has to say. “Promise me you won’t think I’m a freak.”
I nod. “I know a ton of freaks and trust me when I say there is nothing you can tell me to make me think that about you.”
“I’m not going to be giving in to you, Kip. Not sexually, anyway,” she says and I find myself laughing.
“Ever?”
“Not in the next three days.” She looks away. “I’m a virgin.”
“How old are you?” I ask in surprise.
Her eyes meet mine. “Twenty-two.”
Wow! This is so not right to do to her if I can’t do right by her!
“Okay, so that’s good to know.” I stroke her hair and smile like it’s not a big deal.
“So, I understand if you don’t want to spend the next few days with me. It won’t end the way that you might think it will. It’s not in me to give that part of myself to someone who isn’t going to be a real part of my life, and I know you can’t be.” Her eyes begin to glisten with what I believe may well be tears.
I kiss her cheek, then move my lips to her neck and kiss her lightly, her body shivers and I hold her close to me.
“Peyton, I have no idea where this is leading. I promise you that I’ll end it if I think you’ll be hurt by anything I do.”
“Thank you, Kip. Thank you for understanding who I am.”
I do understand and I have to ask myself if I have it in me to give her what she needs.
Peyton
I walk Kip to his car where I find a limousine waiting and promptly swat at his chest. “You didn’t tell me you had someone waiting on you. This is awful, the driver could’ve come in and ate and been comfortable instead of cooped up in this thing.”
His arms run around me and he hugs me tight. “See, a normal response! I love it!” he says. “Now give me your phone.”
I reach into the pocket of my skirt and hand it to him. He sends himself a message from my phone and hands it back. “There, now I have your number and you have mine. I’ll give you a call in the morning before I come over. Do you drink coffee?”
“That early?” I ask. “Come on, it’s late. Don’t act like you’ll be back up in a few hours and raring to see me.”
“Baby, if I could, I’d stay with you the whole time, or take you back with me to the hotel.” he says. “Tomorrow I’m renting a car, so you don’t have to feel sorrow for my driver.”
“Don’t bring me any coffee, I like tea.”
Pressing my body up against the back car door, he wraps me up in his arms and rocks with me, placing his forehead on mine. “Tea it is. Can I have a chaste kiss good night to give me sweet dreams?”
I press my lips to his cheek and have to fight myself not to move them to his lips which are plump and juicy looking. Even with this most chaste of kisses, I feel him swelling as his body is flush with mine. My body has ached for his for some time now and this closeness is making it so much worse.
My lips have lingered on his cheek for too long and he pulls back from me with a groan. His blue eyes are dark and full of desire as he moves his mouth towards me and I want it to crash down on mine, but they touch my cheek and I nearly fall apart.
My hands flow over his back as he leaves his lips on my cheek, then I feel the wetness of the tip of his tongue touch my cheek and my knees go weak.
Crap! If a damn kiss on the cheek does this to me, what will a real kiss do? I’ll be putty in the man’s hands!
My breath comes in waves as his hands move up to tangle in my hair and he pulls my head back and looks at me for the longest time. Our eyes seem to communicate how much we both are feeling. “I should go,” he finally says. “It would be best if I go now.” Somehow it seems like we can’t stop looking at each other. “I don’t want to go, Peyton.”
“I don’t want you to,” I say and find I’m licking my lips and his eyes finally leave mine as he looks at my lips and bites his bottom one.
Slowly he moves his head forward, closer and closer as he looks at my lips and I’m quivering inside and am so afraid if he kisses me I’ll let him do anything he wants to me and to hell with me worrying about when he has to leave. His lips are so close to mine I can feel the heat of his breath on them. Then his forehead touches mine and he keeps his lips that close for a little while as we both breathe ragged breaths.
“Tomorrow,” he says quietly. “Tomorrow, I will see you. Good night.”
He pulls himself away from me and I feel cold immediately and cross my arms in front of me and run my hands over my arms. “Tomorrow then, good night.” I walk back up the sidewalk to my house. “See you tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow, baby!” he shouts.
I stop and turn around. “Get in the damn car, you sound like Austin Powers,” I say as I giggle.
He keeps looking at me as he holds the door open on the car until I go inside and close the door behind me. My body falls back on the door and I run my hands over my arms then touch the cheek he left the long kiss on.
Floating down the hallway to my bedroom, it starts to sink in, now that he’s not all over me, this will only be for a short time and then it’ll be over and I’ll be heartbroken for sure. I pull my clothes off and throw on a little nightgown and climb into bed.
Maybe, if nothing else, this little thing we have going on will help me to write better novels. It’s kind of hard to be a romance novelist if the extent of my romantic experience is making out with a couple of boys in high school, which my brothers ran off or the one guy in college which I later found out was really gay. A broken heart may be what I need to become a best-selling author.
But a broken heart caused by Kip may hurt worse than a broken heart caused by a regular guy. Not one kiss on the lips have I had that was anywhere near the kiss on the cheek Kip gave me. I’ll have to just chill and enjoy the time we have and not worry about the future.
No matter how much it will hurt me in the end.
Kip
Darkness surrounds me as I ride back to my hotel. My mind is spiraling as I have to be honest with myself about Peyton. Never has a woman had so much hold over me, and in the span of just a few hours at that.
I know I should leave her alone. I’ll only hurt her, I’m sure. Or maybe she’ll hurt me. Things run through my mind as to how we could have something, a real relationship, not just three days. She would have to agree though and I doubt she would.
But that crazy kiss she gave me on the cheek took
my breath away. I cannot believe how it made me feel as her soft lips pressed against my cheek for so long.
A new tour bus I could buy, for just us. The band could ride on the bus we have now. Sure, they’d say a bunch of shit about it, but what the hell do I care?
I’m no idiot with my head in the clouds. Peyton is a virgin and not likely to agree in a matter of a couple of days to go on the road with me. Hell, she’s not likely to agree to have sex with me in this three day period, much less take off with me.
The career she’s chosen as a writer would go great with mine. She can do that anywhere. I can see it all now. She can type away on her laptop as I play my concerts, then when I come back to the bus we can make love like the people she’s written about while I was busy performing.
It’s a win, win for us both!
I have her cell phone number now so I take my phone and send her a sweet little text to show her how special she is.
‘Had a wonderful night and hope you and I can have many, many more like it.’
I lay my head back on the headrest and try hard not to think about how her eyes sparkle or her lips felt as they pressed on my cheek. My phone dings and I look down to see that she’s texted back. I want to slap myself as my tummy does a little flip at how happy it’s made me.
‘How nice that would be, but let’s not kid ourselves. We can enjoy these three days, let’s not lie to one another. I really, really like you, by the way. I think I forgot to tell you that.’
She really, really likes me!
I text back, ‘I really, really like you too and I’m thinking about ways we can make this last more than three days. Have sweet dreams, love and I’ll see you in the morning. XXOO’
My phone dings again, right away. ‘XXOO to you too, good night, you sweet man.’
Never have I been called sweet. Hot, sexy, passionate, but not sweet. Perhaps I haven’t been sweet before. Perhaps that’s why I’ve never found anyone before. Maybe only Peyton can bring this out in me. It’s like nothing I’ve ever felt, and I’ll be damned if I let something like my career get in the way of whatever this is.
We pull into the hotel and I find myself full of resolve and with purpose like never before. The driver lets me out and I make my way up to my room. As I get out of the elevator, I hear a woman’s slurred voice and see Bobby on the outside of his door, making out with a woman.
“Kip!” I hear and look across the hall from them and see the red haired woman from after the concert standing in front of my hotel room door. “You’re back, thank God! Dude, I need to crash in your room, your guitar player said it would be fine.”
The fucking wanker!
Peyton
It’s hard to fall asleep after Kip texted me that he’s thinking of ways for us to stay together for more than this three days. Can it really happen? Can he and I really be a couple?
I’m stupid, I know it, but when he touches me it’s like magic. But I bet it feels like that to all the girls he’s touched. He has touched a shit load of girls.
That thought alone sends me back to reality and I feel sad, like right away. I look at the clock on the nightstand and see it’s been about an hour since he left and I have an overwhelming urge to be sure he made it back to his hotel safely.
I text him, ‘Just want to be sure you made it to your hotel.’
The phone I lay on my chest as I wait for his answer which I hope tells me he’s made it so I can go to sleep. Is this what a relationship is, caring if someone has made it to their destination intact?
Minutes turn into a half hour and I find the butterflies have returned to my stomach and fear is pushing them around like a tornado. I toss and turn in my bed as I think about what might have happened.
Okay, Peyton, stop! He’s asleep already. That’s all!
I close my eyes and try to go to sleep. So what if he doesn’t text back tonight. A ding my phone makes and I sit up in bed and nearly knock the lamp off the nightstand as I grab my phone. ‘Sorry for taking so long to reply, love. I made it to the hotel and my wanker ex-best mate had a surprise for me. One I didn’t want and had to find a place for. Going to hit the hay, see you soon.’
What the fuck does that mean?
I don’t want to be some crazy woman from the get go, but what kind of surprise does someone get that they have to find a place for?
A prostitute, a groupie?
I bet anything I’m right on target and this is how life would be with Kip and his band of merry men. I can’t take this, I can’t take the not knowing. He could be with her right now, porkin’ it up with her as I left him all horny and stuff.
This is all my fault. I should’ve kept him here or went back with him. That’s what grown ass women do with their men is stay with them. But he isn’t my man. He’s Kip Dixon, rock star and male whore. And I’m an idiot for thinking anything different.
Kip
Something feels wrong and I think about why Peyton didn’t text back. Is she that kind of girl who lets the man have the last word because I’ve never met one of those females in my entire life?
I wait and hope she puts something back and realize she’s put two and two together with my way too much information text and she knows that a chic was waiting for me when I got here.
What do I do?
I’ve never been in a damn relationship before! I don’t even know if I’m in one now, yet I feel panicked for some damn reason. I pick up the phone and call her, so she can hear my voice and I can hear hers. With a swipe of her name I call her. “Hey,” she says in a whisper as she answers my call.
“Hey, baby,” I say, full of relief that she’s answered. My heartbeat slows back to nearly normal as I hear her sweet voice. “You didn’t text back.”
“What was your surprise?” she asks.
I take in a deep breath. “Probably exactly what you thought it was and the reason you didn’t text back.”
“A girl?” she asks.
“Yeah, Bobby thought he was doing me a favor, but he was wrong and the chic was drunk and I couldn’t exactly dump her on the street. I got James to let her into his room, so he took one for me. I owe him now.”
Silence meets my ear and I hate it. Finally, she says, “Thanks for telling me the truth, Kip.”
“So, I’ll see you in the morning then?” I ask.
“Do you really want to?” she asks.
“I do,” I whisper. “I really do, Peyton. Please don’t let this thing that happened stop you from thinking anything other than what we talked about. My life is complicated, but I can un-complicate it, if I need to.”
“Can you?” she asks. “Can you change your whole world just for me, Kip?”
I smile as she’s just put the ball in my court. “Can you change your whole world just for me, Peyton?”
“My world is easy,” she answers. “My world is open and normal.”
“And mine is complicated and scheduled.” I say. “It’s called compromise, love. Do you think we have it in us to find compromise with each other?”
“I have no idea about you,” she says and I feel the pain clear to my toes.
“I’ll show you. I don’t want to tell you because anyone can do that. Let me show you.”
A long pause is all I get from her for a while. “Show me then.”
I laugh a little. “Do you have a car?”
“I have a Jeep, why?” she asks.
“I’d like to take a ride with you tomorrow and see how well you drive,” I say as I lay back and stretch out, feeling much better about how she’s feeling.
She giggles, sweetly. “And why is that?”
I smile as I think about what I want to give her to make her see that I’m one hundred percent for real about her. “On Monday, before I have to leave, I want to give you something that will allow you to get to me.”
“And that would be?” she asks.
“A surprise, love.” I say. “It’s late and we should get at least a touch of sleep before we see each other agai
n.” I sigh as I really don’t want to hang up, but feel like she needs to get some rest before we see each other in a few hours.
“Okay then, good night,” she says and hangs up.
I smile as I knew she’d want the last word.
Peyton
Stars twinkle outside the sheer, pink curtain which covers my bedroom window. This morning, I thought I had a life of nothing more than being a romance novelist ahead of me. Somehow Mr. Pop Rock has snuck into my heart and turned my world around.
A shooting star falls from the sky and I close my eyes and make a wish. A wish for my life to go in the direction it needs to for me to have a good life. It’s a vague wish but I find those to be the ones most likely to come true.
My future may include Kip Dixon and it may not. My heart pounds as I think of him and how sweet he was this evening. Never did I think he’d be the way he is. Never in my wildest dreams did I think a rock start would be interested in me in the least.
My best friend, mother, and father I introduced him to, but my three big, over-protective brothers I’ve yet to. They’re all here and will be in the morning too. So if Kip does come, he will have to meet them.
They’ve never been keen on any man for me for some damn reason. Do they really expect me to stay innocent forever?
Lord knows they combine their efforts to try to keep me a kid. But I just might be ready to grow up, I might just be ready to cash in my V-card. If nothing else comes of this thing with Kip, what a story I’d have about who I gave it up to.
Even as I think those words, I know I’m not that girl. I’m not one to tell my bedroom business anyway, much less spout off about how Kip Dixon, rock star, billionaire took my virginity.
I wonder what he meant about giving me something so I can get to him. He’s different than any man I’ve ever met. I don’t know if it’s the short amount of time we have together or if he is always as intense as he was tonight.
If he and I are to really start something, I don’t want it to go really fast, so I have no time to think things through. That’s how things get messed up real fast, people act before they think.
The Naughty One: A Doctor’s Christmas Romance (Season of Desire Book 2) Page 21
