“When will I get to see you again?” Carly asked.
“I don’t know,” Alice answered honestly. She had already checked the schedule, and the two big names weren’t going to cross paths anytime soon.
“Do you miss him?”
Alice knew what Carly was asking. Under that scowling, indifferent, teenage persona Carly wore like a second skin was a very intelligent, astute young woman. She would pick up an outright lie right away. So, Alice didn’t lie.
“I miss you.”
They were quiet for a little while, then Carly asked, “Are you going to get in trouble?”
“For what?”
“For taking the day off to spend with me.”
Again, Alice understood where Carly was coming from. Rex had always required her to be within shouting distance, especially on concert days, to ensure that everything ran smoothly. Even when he was performing, he expected her to be backstage, ready and waiting to do his bidding.
“No. Johnny’s got it all under control. He’s pretty self-sufficient, actually. He told me to have fun.”
Carly’s eyes widened. “He sounds pretty cool.”
“He is,” Alice agreed. “Johnny is kind and thoughtful. Very smart. Generous to a fault.”
“You really like him.”
“Yeah.”
Alice knew that by not going into more detail, she might be giving Carly an inaccurate portrayal of her and Johnny’s relationship. That might be for the best, though.
More silence.
Carly stared out at the fireworks shooting from the venue, part of the big finale. “You know, I always kind of hoped that you and my dad ...” She broke off, cleared her throat, then continued, “Silly, I know.”
“It’s not silly.” Alice had secretly wished for the same thing, so many times. That one day, Rex would open his eyes and see past all the glitz and glamor and worshipping fans, and recognize that he had a daughter and a woman who really cared for him and would be there long after the curtains closed and the screaming stopped. Unfortunately, life wasn’t based on wishes.
“Everything happens for a reason, and no matter what, I will always be here for you. If you need me, you call me ... anytime, anywhere, and I’ll be there. Got me?”
Carly sniffled and nodded. Then she gifted Alice with one of her incredible, warming hugs.
“Now, come on; I’ve got to get you back before someone notices your Houdini act.”
“No one will,” Carly murmured quietly.
The sad thing was, she was probably right. It didn’t appear that the situation had gotten any better since Alice had left.
The ride back to the hotel was a quiet, somber one.
“It’s going to be okay, kiddo,” Alice told her with a final hug.
“Yeah, I know.”
Alice watched Carly get safely into the elevator, chuckling when she saw the attendant’s wide-eyed, terrified expression when he realized who she was. Clearly, Carly wouldn’t have to worry about him telling on her for sneaking out. Rex Løve had been known to maim a few messengers who had brought him unwelcomed news.
Alice waited in her car until she received the text a few minutes later from Carly, saying that she was safely in her suite. She drove back to her hotel, where she immediately took a hot shower and changed into her pajamas. Then she flipped on the television to catch the end of the late news.
No sooner had she settled into bed than a soft knock sounded on her door. “You decent?”
She smiled at the familiar greeting. “No, but I am dressed. Come on in, Johnny.”
He looked freshly showered, too, and good enough to eat with a pair of black silk, Japanese style pants slung low on his lean hips. She could probably make decent bank snapping a picture of him and selling it to the highest bidder. Candids of the enigmatic, reclusive rock star were rare.
With the grace of his kind, he leaped onto her bed and settled atop the covers beside her. “So, did you have a good day?”
“The best,” she told him. “Thanks for letting me do that. Today must have been crazy.”
He shrugged elegantly. “You left nothing to chance. All I had to do was show up.”
“Surely something unexpected must have happened. It always does.”
“Nature of the beast.”
On the screen, a news reporter was broadcasting live from the concert. Crowds of hyped-up fans were cheering in the background.
Alice turned up the volume to hear what she was saying.
“A record crowd here tonight at the Animals of Rock Tour. The musical performances might be over, but here in front of Rex Løve’s tour bus, things show no sign of slowing down anytime soon.”
The camera panned up to show Rex on top of the tour bus, guitar in one hand, bottle in the other, while being swarmed by adoring female fans climbing on top of one another to reach him. Much of the scene was blurred out, due to the rampant nudity of not just the fans, but of Rex as well.
Johnny reached over, took the remote out of her hand, and changed the channel, settling on a Lord of the Rings marathon, one of his favorites.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, of course,” she said, summoning a weak smile. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
Johnny put his arm around her and pulled her close. She rested her head on his shoulder.
“Why couldn’t I have fallen in love with you?”
He chuckled softly and kissed her forehead. “Because that would be way, way too easy.”
Chapter Seven
“Oh, Rex, I want you so much ...”
The words were like music to his ears, made even sweeter as the heat from Alice’s soft, feminine body soaked into his. He could feel the swells of those lush breasts pressing against his hard chest, feel her smooth thighs straddling his hips. Nothing, however, could compare to the feel of her taking his rock-hard cock into her tight, wet heat. He clenched his teeth, made his entire body taut, afraid that he would blow before he got fully inside.
He had known it would be like this with her. Hot. Wet. So fucking tight she had to work her way onto his dick in tiny increments.
His big paws gripped her around those full hips, hips meant to entice a man to sink deeply and do wicked, wicked things. Like make her come over and over again until she was completely spent.
He guided her as she lifted up, then down, taking him a little farther each time. Fuck, he wanted in her so bad he had to fight the urge not to yank her down and go balls-deep. But he wouldn’t do that. He had waited far too long for this. He was going to savor every torturous, agonizing, excruciatingly incredible moment.
Mine.
The word ripped from the deepest recesses of his soul, but he held them inside, along with the burning need to fill her with his seed. To claim and mark her so there would never be any doubt, so that no male would ever, ever think she was anyone else’s.
“Oh, Rex. Yeah, baby.”
His fingers tightened on Alice’s hips. Her voice didn’t sound quite right. Maybe the incredible sex was messing with his brain, or maybe she was having trouble getting the words out with his dick so far up her pussy. He hoped not. He loved her low, dulcet tones, the ones that struck a perfect harmony with the notes that were always playing in his head, in his soul.
“Yeah! You fucking stud!”
His brows pinched together, interrupting his fantasy of fucking Alice bare. That hadn’t sounded right, either. Alice never sounded ... screechy.
Rex pried his eyes open, horror turning the blood in his veins to ice. It wasn’t Alice riding him like a goddammed prize stallion, but some fucking groupie. He pulled her off his cock and tossed her onto the mattress beside him. Then he leapt out of bed, his head pounding like a motherfucker as he tried to focus.
The groupie was no kid. That didn’t mean anything. Women of all ages, shapes, and sizes lusted after him. Some were cleverer than others. Some were more persistent, too. This one was already crawling across the bed on all fours, her eyes glowing fanatically as she
eyed his cock and licked her lips.
His unsheathed cock.
Fuck. Not again.
The heavy weight in his balls told him he hadn’t come, and that provided some measure of relief. He sure as hell didn’t need another crazy bitch wanting to have his baby so she could grab a free and easy ride.
“How the fuck did you get in here?”
She blinked at him stupidly, as if she didn’t understand the question. “I snuck in.”
“Well, sneak the fuck out.”
Rex didn’t wait to see that she did. Instead, he went into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, locking it in case the woman had any crazy ideas about joining him.
His head pounded, and his stomach roiled as he stepped into the shower. Turning his back to the spray, he hissed as the scalding hot water trailed down his ass and burned his oversensitive balls.
This shit had to stop.
It had been months since he had last seen Alice, but instead of it getting easier, it was getting harder. Replacing her hadn’t been as easy as he had originally thought. Even with three people trying to do all the stuff Alice had done, shit was still fucked up. There was dissension in the ranks, and many of his regular staff had quit, which would explain how Greta Groupie had gotten into his bed.
Worse, dreams like the one he’d had last night were occurring more frequently, practically every night now. It was seriously screwing with his head. Even the music that was always there, providing the background harmony to his life, had grown increasingly silent.
He had tried everything, including booze and drugs, even though he hated the stuff. If anything, they only made things worse. Because of his shifter metabolism, he had to ingest a lot of any substance for it to take effect, and those chemicals were wreaking havoc with his creativity.
Things were so bad, he had even considered taking up one of the many offers and engaging in protected sex, or at least a fucking blow job. However, he hadn’t been able to follow through. It seemed the only way he could get off was by closing his eyes and thinking of Alice.
That was messed up.
He was a male lion in his prime. Getting off with as many willing females as he could was wired into his DNA, yet there was only one woman he wanted: Alice.
That didn’t make any sense. The only reason a lion male should obsess over a single female was if she was his mate, and there was no chance in hell Alice was his mate. She was human, and while lions could, and often did, fuck humans, they sure as hell didn’t mate with them. True matings were extremely rare and went way beyond physical joining.
Which meant he wanted Alice for a different reason. Maybe because she was the forbidden fruit? It wasn’t so much that he wanted her, per se, but the fact that he couldn’t have her that made her so damn attractive.
Yeah, he slipped that on for size and liked the feel of it. He was the king of cats, used to having whatever he wanted, when he wanted it. The alpha male in him didn’t like being denied, and that was the root of the problem.
Fortunately, there was a solution. He just needed to fuck Alice and get her out of his system once and for all.
That wasn’t going to be easy, not when Alice was so determined to avoid him. There had been that one time a couple weeks earlier at Animals when he had been certain she would come to him, but she hadn’t, and he had gone full rager.
Their paths hadn’t crossed since. He knew, because he was checking the lineup at every single one. Maybe it had proven too much of a temptation for her, and she vowed not to let it happen again.
Well, this wasn’t just about her. He had a say, too, and he wanted to see her. More importantly, he needed to see her. To see her and taste her and fuck her until he got himself out of this rut. And he knew just how to find her. Carly would know exactly where Alice was.
Rex finished washing, letting the soothing scents of his shampoo and body wash calm his inner beast. Both were custom blends created just for him, gifts from ... Alice. She always seemed to know just how to soothe the savage beast within.
He frowned, letting his hand linger on his dick a little longer as another image of Alice popped up. Just like that, he was as hard as iron, and his balls were aching again. He tightened his grip and stroked, closing his eyes until he could imagine her kneeling in the shower right there with him. Cocked and loaded, it took only the thought of her sassy pink lips closing around him to have him painting the walls.
Yeah, he needed to do something and soon.
Rex finished up and toweled off. Then he applied some leave-in conditioner to his mane before returning to the bedroom. Thankfully, the woman he had woken up to was no longer there, though her foul perfume continued to linger and made his nose itch.
He pulled on a pair of well-worn jeans then went looking for Carly. About halfway across the shared living space, Valerie, the latest in a series of PAs, intercepted him with a frown.
“You didn’t like my wake-up gift?”
His mind flashed to the woman who had been so anxious to impale herself on his morning wood. Wood he had been sporting because he had been dreaming about Alice. Again. At least now he understood how the woman had gotten into his room.
“No,” he growled. “If I want a female in my bed, I’ll put her there myself.”
Her eyes flashed, and then she softened her features into a feline smile. “Just trying to help,” she purred as she stroked his bare chest. “You seem so tense lately.”
He was tense. And her pointed, long-nailed claws weren’t helping.
Wrapping his hands around her wrists to remove them from his chest, he didn’t miss the way her eyes flashed again. Fuck. She was probably into all kinds of kinky, bondage-type shit. So, why the hell was his dick shrinking instead of pounding her into the wall?
“I have to speak with Carly.”
Valerie remained stubbornly in his path, irritating him further. “Later. The buses are ready and waiting. We need to get going if we’re going to make it to Sioux Falls in time for the show.”
He looked at the clock and scowled. Then he turned around and stalked back to his room for a shirt and shoes. Apparently, his convo with Carly was going to have to wait.
Chapter Eight
“Alice, guess what?”
Alice settled back into her super comfy desk chair, a present from Johnny, and smiled back at the screen. Carly’s grin radiated from the screen, her excitement contagious. “What?”
“I made the finals! My essay got first place in the semis!” The young girl beamed, proudly holding up the ribbon and medallion draped around her neck.
“Wow! That’s awesome! Congratulations!”
“Thanks!”
Alice was pleasantly surprised – not because Carly’s essay won, but because Carly had somehow talked Rex into taking her. Maybe, Alice realized, it was a good thing she had left, after all. Without her there and Carly’s general dislike for her father’s staff, Rex was forced to take more responsibility for his daughter.
“Your dad must be so proud! How did you talk him into going?”
Carly’s wide smile remained, but she averted her eyes, looking down at the shiny gold medal in her hand instead. “It was really close, too. The guy who got second place did a brilliant paper on the correlation between sports-related injuries and genetic influences.”
Alice’s innate bullshit detector sounded the alarm at the blatant evasion. She knew the girl far too well to be fooled.
“Carly, where are you?”
Her eyes remained downcast. “In my hotel room.”
“And where is your father?”
At this, the young girl lifted her gaze, eyes flashing. “Probably drunk or getting blown by some groupie. How should I know?”
Alice felt a stab of pain slice across her heart. “Language, young lady!” she chastised sternly, though the girl had heard far worse around her father and his entourage. Alice had always tried to shield her from as much of that as possible, but she wasn’t there to do that anymore. Aching guilt
piggybacked on the pain once again, compressing her chest and making it hard to draw a full breath. “Carly, did you sneak out to go to the semi-finals by yourself?”
“Not exactly.”
Alice raised an eyebrow and stared into the webcam.
“All right. Yes, I came by myself, but there was no sneaking involved. I just left.”
“You’re fourteen.”
“Yeah, but I’m a fourteen-year-old with black and platinum credit cards.” When Alice continued to stare at her, Carly added, “Dad’s new PA didn’t like me bugging him, so she arranged it so I could buy whatever without having to bother him.”
Something inside Alice broke. “Where are you?”
“The Ritz-Carlton in New York City.”
Alice clicked a few keys. “Hang there for a while, okay? There’s a redeye heading out that way tonight and I’m going to be on it. Then you and I are going to put those credit cards to good use on Fifth Avenue.”
Carly squealed in delight.
Alice knew her impulsive decision to fly out to NYC wasn’t going to fix anything, but dammit, she had to do something.
She dialed Johnny’s number and quickly explained she was going out of town for a few days. When she slipped into the waiting limo a short while later, Johnny was already in the back seat.
“What are you doing?”
He grinned. “Going with you.”
“Why?” she asked, genuinely bemused.
“I need a reason?”
“Several.”
“Okay.” His grin widened as he ticked items off on his fingers. “Well, for one thing, I’m bored.”
“Hm.” Alice knew that was a crock of clumpy kitty litter. Johnny was always doing something educational, enlightening, or worthwhile. He was never bored.
“And for another, I’ve never been to the Big Apple. It’s been on my bucket list for a while now.”
“Never?”
“Never. But I know you have, so you’ll be the perfect tour guide.”
They sounded like self-serving reasons, which was no doubt what he had intended. However, Alice knew better.
Rock Hard: BAD Alpha Dads Page 4
