The Rocker Who Shatters Me

by Terri Anne Browning

  Her jaw clenched and I knew she was fighting the way I was making her feel. Good, baby. Fight it, because when you fight it I know that you still care. “Hello, Devlin. It was nice of you to come for Axton and Dallas.”

  Dallas hadn’t felt up to traveling from Tennessee to New York for the weekend, so Axton had called me to fill in for him since he knew I was going to be in the city anyway. “I didn’t come for them. I wanted to see you,” I told her honestly. I hated New York, but I was here at least once a month these days. Just so I could see her, even if it was just a glimpse. It would ease some of the tightness around my heart until I could get back out the next month.

  A lock of her beautiful hair fell over her shoulder and I was powerless to stop myself from reaching for it. The first graze of those silky strands against my fingertips made my already aching body throb with need for her. I wrapped it around my finger and caressed it with my thumb, torturing myself further, imagining those silky strands caressing my stomach and thighs as she sucked my dick like it was her favorite flavor of candy. “I’ve missed you, Natalie.”

  For just a second, one very brief second, I saw it in her eyes. The pain, the need, the loneliness. It was there, glaring at me so blatantly that it made my heart stutter in my chest. In the next moment her lashes lowered to hide it from me and she jerked away. Reluctantly I released her hair because I didn’t want to hurt her any more than I’d already done.

  A waiter passed and Natalie took another glass of champagne. When the boy offered me one, I shook my head. Champagne was too prissy for my tastes. I couldn’t stomach the shit. “We have a bar set up on the opposite side of the room if you would like something stronger, sir.”

  “I’m good, but thanks.” I would have loved a glass of bourbon but I needed a clear head to keep up with Natalie.

  When the waiter moved on, Natalie turned to face me again. “Is Harris with you?”

  I grimaced at the mention of my son. For the first five years of his life, I barely knew the boy. I’d only been a kid myself and I’d resented his mother to the point that I’d started to resent him too. But then Tawny had died and I’d been stuck being a fulltime father. After that I grew up fast and became a better dad. Harris and I had become close, and I’d been thankful that we had been able to have the kind of relationship where my son felt like he could come to me with anything. I wasn’t one to judge; I’d done some fucked up shit when I was a kid, too.

  The night that Zander had destroyed my chance with Natalie was the night that Harris’s opinion of me had changed. He’d picked sides after the breakup and it sure as hell hadn’t been my side. He liked Natalie, had even hinted a time or six during the two months that Natalie and I had been a couple that he wouldn’t mind if she became his stepmother. I had been stupidly terrified at the thought of marriage, of being tied down. And yeah, the idea still scared the hell out of me, but not nearly as much as the idea that Natalie would never be mine again.

  These days Harris barely spoke to me unless it was with curt, monosyllable answers. Yet he talked to Natalie daily on FaceTime, email, and text messaging. So yeah, I was more than a little jealous of my son. Every message I sent to Natalie was either ignored or replied to with a picture of her middle finger. I’d much rather get the picture than be ignored any day.

  “Harris is spending the weekend at Layla and Jesse’s house. He spends more time over there these days than at our house. If it weren’t for Lucy, Jesse might even enjoy having my kid around. But since the girl started… developing…” I shook my head at the thought of Lucy Thornton and how much older she looked now that she was starting to grow female parts. She was only eleven but she looked like she was years older because of her new feminine curves.

  Harris and Lucy were best friends and I was glad he had someone to hang out with that was so smart and imaginative. Yet now that the girl wasn’t looking so much like a little girl but more like the beautiful woman she would one day be, my son was noticing her in ways that had nothing to do with friendship…and her father was noticing that he was noticing.

  “He has his head on straight, Dev. He knows that she’s off limits. At least for a few more years.” Her lips lifted in a small, but genuine smile. “And the fear of death that Jesse puts in him will keep his hands to himself.”

  The obvious affection she held for my son only made me love her more. Most women didn’t care that I came as a package deal, because they didn’t care about my son. All they wanted was a few nights in my bed, the expensive gifts that I could spoil them with, and whatever else I could offer them for a short time. And if they were interested in my son it was because they were hungry cougars on the prowl for fresh meat. Harris looked just like me, and having a younger guy was what some women went for. They needed the ego boost an untried boy could offer them.

  With Natalie, I’d never had to worry about either scenario. In the beginning of our relationship she had always included Harris as much as was possible, and when it was over she’d stayed friends with him. As for the cougar road? Natalie was closer to my sixteen-year-old son’s age than my own, but she’d never even batted an eye at the kid, and I hadn’t seen or heard my kid make even a small innuendo in regards to Natalie.

  “He has his head on straighter than I ever did at that age,” I said, agreeing with her.

  For a long while, we just stood there—Natalie sipping her champagne while she pretended to ignore me, and me standing there feasting my eyes on the beautiful woman whom I’d been unable to hold onto. Around us people mingled, their fake laughter filling the air, but I heard none of it. It wasn’t until some creep in a monkey suit just as expensive as my own approached and smiled at Natalie that I snapped out of my stupor and started paying attention.

  “Would you like to dance?” the man asked, and I took stock of him. Thin, on the shorter side of six feet tall. With Natalie’s heels she was basically on the dude’s eye level. He had short, gelled hair and wire-rimmed glasses.

  If Zander had been there we both would have been snickering at the man, calling him a geek to his face and telling him to get lost. But the man who had once been my friend wasn’t in attendance and if he had been, we sure as hell wouldn’t have been within shouting distance let alone beside each other. And with this geek staring longingly at my girl, with his hand stretched out to her, offering her a dance, I wasn’t in the mood to smile let alone snicker at him.

  Stepping between the newcomer and Natalie, I made sure he knew that there would be no willing partner found here. “She’s already promised this dance and every other one to me tonight, man. Beat it.”

  The man raised thin, blondish brows, glanced around me at Natalie who was standing there with her mouth gaping open like a cute little fish and then shrugged before walking away. I watched until he disappeared into the crowd before turning and grasping Natalie’s wrist, tugging her onto the dance floor just as the one song ended and another slowly started up.

  As soon as I heard the first strings of the song I nearly groaned, but then realized that it worked in my favor. The piano and violin version of “A Thousand Years”, a song that I knew was one of Natalie’s favorites because she had every version known to man on her playlist, would keep her in my arms for at least one dance.

  Like I had expected, she was stiff in my arms for the first few chords, but then she relaxed against me and started to sway to the prissy beat. I held her close, burying my face in her hair while the song went on and on. For the first time since that stupid song had been recorded and those sparkly vampires had taken over crazy chicks’ minds worldwide, I actually enjoyed the song.

  For four minutes and thirty-one seconds I was in heaven while I held the only person who seemed to matter to me against my chest. The smell of her hair, the way it brushed my face as I lowered my head to press my lips to her temple was a slice of paradise in and of itself. It was also pure torture, my body hardening more and more with every soft brush of her hips against mine while we danced.

  She was no
more immune to me than I was to her. I could feel her trembling, her heart racing, and her breath coming in little pants as we continued to move to the music. If the room had not been overflowing with so many people, I would have made love to her right then and there. It was what she wanted, what I needed. I could already picture pulling up her dress, tearing away her panties, freeing my aching cock and thrusting into that wet little body of hers. The little kitten-like whimpers that would escape her as I pumped into her over and over again. I could even imagine how my back would ache as she sliced her long nails into it as she quickly reached her first orgasm. I could see it all clearly, because we’d done it like that more than once during our all-too-short time together. Had a few scars from her slicing nails to remember it all by.

  But this wasn’t the place.

  The last note of the violin faded and we both stopped dancing, reluctantly. Natalie raised her head, almost hesitantly, but met my gaze with a boldness that never failed to make me burn for her. I couldn’t stomach a weak chick, and Natalie had never been one. The desire shining out of those blue-gray eyes matched my own and I didn’t utter a word as I took her hand and pulled her through the crowd. Out into the main hotel we went and I said a silent thank you as I saw an elevator opening just a few feet in front of us.

  When the last person was free of the elevator I jumped on, taking Natalie with me. When someone else started to board the elevator with us, I shot the man a hard glare that had him quickly backing away. I hit the button to close the doors and pushed the correct floor number for my room before turning to face the very quiet woman next to me.

  I could see that the effects of the dance were slowly fading and I wasn’t going to let her think clearly for a least the next twenty-four hours. I needed this night with her more than I needed air to breathe. Her mouth opened to say something, probably to start making catty little remarks, but I stopped anything she might have been about to say by sealing my lips against hers.

  “No…” She moaned, pulling her head back just a little.

  I ignored her protests, trailing my lips down her throat and across her collar bone to one of the straps of her dress. There was probably a camera in the elevator, but I didn’t give a damn as I pushed the strap down Natalie’s arm and exposed a braless piece of perfection that would have any man on his knees begging to touch, taste, and worship them. But I wasn’t getting on my knees tonight. Not yet. I lifted her until her tits were right where I wanted them and sucked her pretty pink nipple into my mouth like a starving man.

  Natalie made a choking sound, her hands thrusting into my hair to hold me against her. My hair hid her from any prying eyes of the hidden security camera. I devoured her perfection, nibbling, biting, sucking until the elevator slowed and the doors began to open. I refused to let her go. No way was I letting her feet touch the ground and that brain of hers to start functioning again right now.

  Fixing her strap, I cupped my hands under her sexy ass and held her against me as I stepped off the elevator and right into the penthouse. As the door closed behind us, I placed her on the first flat surface we came to and started tearing her dress off her. There were no protests when I ripped the expensive garment. Her attention wasn’t even on what I was doing, but on tearing my dress shirt open so that she could rake her nails down my chest.

  The shudder that raked my body as her nails bit into my flesh wasn’t of pain but pure bliss. Natalie’s goal had never been to hurt me with those nails of hers. She just got carried away and I loved it. Fucking. Loved. It. Sometimes she broke skin, making me bleed, and I loved that even more because I would be left feeling those wounds for days and remembering how I got them always made me hard as rock.

  With her dress now gone, I stepped back to look down at my girl. Air got trapped in my throat as I took in the beauty before me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. The sight of her was so perfect, my chest actually ached. Her hair had fallen over her shoulders, covering her tits and hiding those pink nipples that tasted like berries. Her eyes were wide in her elfin face and her skin was flushed with passion. The only thing she wore was little, black briefs that couldn’t hide the dampness of her pussy.

  This was my girl. My woman. I wanted, needed—loved her more than anything on the planet. Without her I had nothing, was nothing.

  A groan broke free of my throat and I was able to breathe again. Muttering a curse, I lifted her into my arms and ran to the bedroom. No way was I making love to my girl on a damn table tonight. Not this time.

  Natalie

  The feel of a firm bed underneath me wasn’t enough to make the passion haze I was in fade. As soon as Devlin released me I crawled backward so that I was on the pillows, watching him as he watched me while he undressed down to his simple black boxers. The sight of his cock straining against the cotton material caused more liquid desire to pool between my legs. I quickly lifted my gaze, not wanting this to be over before it began if I followed through with my sudden need to suck that engorged cock until he begged me to let him come.

  I met his eyes, eyes that were that of a predator. A hungry predator. And I was his willing prey.

  Common sense kept trying to rear its ugly head, but I ignored that stupid bitch for the moment. I needed Devlin right then more than I needed my next lungful of oxygen. It had been so long since I’d been touched, kissed…licked. Bob wasn’t enough to satisfy me anymore, and who the hell wanted Bob when I had this delicious man standing over me ready to devour me at any moment? Bob was just a piece of silicone with a few batteries to make it vibrate. I’d much rather have hot flesh and blood sliding inside me than Bob.

  Devlin licked his lips as he slowly lowered to his knees on the edge of the bed. His aquamarine eyes were on my panties and I spread my thighs slowly, showing him exactly how ready I was for him. My panties were soaked, the proof of my desire for him dripping onto my thighs, making them glisten. He licked his lips again and crawled toward me until he reached my knees.

  With a hungry groan, he lowered his head and licked away the wetness on my inner thighs. I shivered in reaction, knowing that only more pleasure would follow. That talented tongue of his licked higher, and then over my panties. I moaned as he paused long enough to suck my clit through the cotton of my underwear.

  “Yes,” I gasped when his hands lifted to cup my breasts. Long, dark fingers pinched my nipples, twisting them ever so slightly, just the way I liked it. “Dev!” I protested when he lifted his head, his eyes intent on the little jewel hanging from my belly button. I bit my lip when he took a closer look at the sapphire glinting from the end of a drumstick that I’d impulsively had made a few months ago.

  I was such a masochist, wearing something that would constantly remind me of Devlin, but I’d been unable to talk myself out of it. I’d worn it from the moment the jewelry designer had finished with it. Devlin stared down at the belly button ring for nearly a full minute before lowering his head and laving it with his tongue.

  The feel of his tongue diving in and out of my naval was sweet torment. I whimpered, trying to get his attention, to ask him to please just fuck me but he cut off any pleas I might have made when he lifted his head and captured my lips with a fierceness that would leave my mouth bruised by morning. I didn’t care. Especially when his hands started exploring the rest of my body.

  When cool air hit my throbbing clit, I realized he’d torn my panties away. His thumb rubbed across the swollen little bundle of nerves and I cried out into his mouth. He grinned against my lips. “My girl is ready for me.”

  “Yes,” I panted as he thrust two fingers inside of me. My hips arched up off the bed, seeking a deeper penetration, wanting his cock to replace his fingers. “Please, Dev.”

  “Please…what?” he murmured, pulling back just enough to meet my eyes. “Tell me what you want, Nat. This?” He withdrew his fingers only to thrust three into me, stretching me wider. I was tight, just as tight as I had been our first time together.

  “No,” I gasped. “You, Dev. I want you inside of me
. Please.”

  “Okay, baby. Whatever you want.” He pushed his boxers down his thighs and rolled onto his back, lifting me over him as he did so in one smooth motion.

  I cried out when the tip of his thick cock brushed over my damp folds. My thighs parted willingly and he thrust up into me in one hard pump. “Dev!” I screamed his name, stars flashing behind my closed eyes as I took a moment to savor the feel of him so deep inside of me, stretching me, filling me up.

  “Natalie,” he said, his breathing labored with the force he was using to hold back, to keep from pounding into me and taking us both to heaven in just a few minutes. But that wasn’t Devlin’s style. He liked to make us both wait until neither of us could hold back and we both fell together. I opened my eyes to see that his beautiful eyes were dark with a passion that was consuming us both. “Baby, I need you to move. Take control, Natalie, because if I do it this will be over way too fast. You feel so good, baby. So fucking good. This tight little pussy was made just for me.”

  I set an unhurried pace for us, taking my time as I lifted my hips and slowly slid back down his hardness. I watched as his face twisted in pleasure, his eyes drifting half closed so that he could watch me through thick lashes. He licked his lips as I did it again, his fingers biting into my hips but never forcing me to go faster. My breasts bounced, my hair falling over my left shoulder, tickling my hardened nipple.

  Devlin lifted one hand to play with my hair, teasing it over my other nipple. I whimpered at the added pleasure and quickened my pace just a little. I tried to keep from going all the way down, from letting my clit brush over him so that I could hold back my orgasm as long as possible. His jaw clenched, telling me he was trying to hold back his own release.

  “You’re killing me, Nat,” he said with a growl.

  “Good.” I lowered my head to lick his chest, loving the taste of his skin. He jerked inside of me, his hips thrusting up unconsciously. “If you want to come so bad, then take over. Fuck me, Dev. Make me come.”