by Virna DePaul
All I needed was for Tucker to stop giving me a hard time.
Oh, and for Sara to finally come out of the dressing room.
From the moment she arrived, she’d been acting off, and I couldn’t figure it out. But I couldn’t talk to her about it, either. She’d come in this morning, skipped the quick kiss she usually gave me, then rushed into the dressing room without a word. Maybe she was trying to give me space to be the best director I could be. Or maybe something was wrong. Was she still freaked that people would recognize her on film? I’d thought I’d reassured her well enough, but maybe not.
Fuck. I hoped she wasn’t thinking of cutting and running on me.
“We film in fifteen,” I snapped out. “As soon as the film crew arrives, get in your places.”
There was a chorus of grumbles, but each of my bandmates agreed. I gave them all a thumb’s up and headed to the dressing room to find Sara.
“Hey!” I called, knocking on the door. “It’s time.”
“Yeah, coming,” she said.
I barely recognized her voice. It was so quiet, so withdrawn. It almost sounded like it did when we were trapped on the elevator together.
What the fuck is going on? “You’re ready?”
“Yes, Wes.” Now she sounded exasperated. “Ready to be on a car hood. Like an ornament.”
I snorted. “You are not doing that, remember? We just need to—”
She abruptly yanked the door open and I almost swallowed my tongue.
Sara looked amazing. Her makeup was way more intense than usual, with her lipstick a glossy red, making those pouty lips of hers look even fuller. Mascara and eyeliner, in a heavy cat-eye, framed the intense violet contact lenses she wore to change her eye color. She had on five-inch stilettos, on loan from Nikki’s newest collection, as well as the platinum blond bob wig that made her look like an elevated version of her sexy self. The short, red leather skirt hugged every generous curve of her hips, and I was ready to bend her over and take her right there in the dressing room.
Until I saw the tension in her expression.
“Let’s do this,” she said with a forced smile.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing.”
“Sara…”
What had happened between last night and this afternoon to make her act so differently? Was she nervous about the shoot?
“You know, you don’t have to worry someone will recognize you. Our makeup team did a great job disguising you. We’ll even have the studio do post-production magic to alter you a little more. Maybe add a neon filter on you to really video-fy you. And I’ll let you make the final decision in the cutting room. You don’t like it? We cut it. Simple as that.”
My words didn’t make her relax. I stepped closer to her and kissed her lips, but her body still seemed rigid.
“You okay, babe?” I caressed her cheek and touched her soft lips with my fingertips.
“I’m fine,” she said quickly.
Yeah, right. There was one thing Vickie had taught me, and that’s when a girl says she’s fine, she’s anything but. “No you’re not. Tell me what’s going on,” I said.
“Really, it’s all okay. I…I just didn’t do so well on a test,” she said, stepping away from me and looking down at her feet. I wondered how she could even stand in the red heels with the oversized black buckles. “Maybe grad school won’t be in my future, after all.”
“I thought your professors said you’d be a shoe-in. I thought they were writing a ton of recs,” I said, recalling part of a conversation we’d had over the weekend.
She shook her head, and then readjusted the pins on her wig when it slipped just a bit. “They are, but grad school costs a lot, and Father seems pretty mad lately.”
“Does he?” I tried to keep my voice level. “You don’t need him to approve of anything you do. You just take out loans like everyone else if you really want to have an independent life. I mean…you do, right?”
“Why do you even ask?”
“Because you’re twenty-two and you’re still worried about what your parents think.”
“You don’t understand,” she snapped. “I want to live my own life, but the look on his face—” Sara immediately snapped her jaw shut and looked away, guilt crossing her face.
Wait a minute. Her phone’s video chat program was broken, and she’d said she didn’t have Skype on her computer. So when would she have seen her father? Had he been here, in New York, and she hadn’t told me?
I wasn’t one to mistrust Sara, and she’d never said or done anything to make me mistrust her, but now I had to wonder if she did get a visit from her father, and if that’s why she was acting hinky. But if that had happened and she didn’t want to tell me, I wasn’t going to pressure her.
“Listen,” I said. “Your father doesn’t run your life. If you really want to be free of your dad and Peter Crawford’s big-ass ministries, then you can.”
“I can’t.”
“Of course you can. It’s that easy.”
“My mom’s sick!” she shouted, then she burst into tears. “She has cancer. She’s not going to get better. I can’t go against my father, because he’ll forbid me from seeing my mom again. Then she’ll die and I—”
Rushing forward, I swept her into my arms and hugged her tight. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. But why the fuck would your dad keep you from your mom?”
She let out a harsh laugh. “Because he thinks he can blackmail me into good behavior to keep me from destroying my soul.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“I know. And I agree. But she’s my mom, Wes. And I love her. I try and visit her during breaks and I talk to her all the time. She’s never been as strict as Father, but if I break away forever, then I won’t be allowed to see her. Or even talk to her. She’s just…my mom’s dying, Wes, so it’s hard for me to break away. I…I…I can’t. I just c-c-can’t. Not now.”
“Shh.” I rocked her in my arms. “You don’t have to. I’m sorry. I had no idea.”
Sara sobbed, hiccupping out words that stumbled over each other. “I didn’t want anyone to know, not at first. Then I’d just be some pity case. And I didn’t want to tell you because, well, I don’t really know. I mean, maybe you’d leave. I know you care about me, but sometimes I think if you hadn’t known I was a big Point Break fan when we first met, then maybe you wouldn’t.”
“What?” I asked, putting a finger under her chin and forcing her to look me in the eye. I missed those gorgeous emerald green eyes of hers in that moment, and I hated the fucking violet contacts. I wanted to see nothing but my Sara in that moment. “That’s ridiculous. I could have met you when we were fifteen or eighteen or forty-five, and I’d still be crazy about you. Because you’re you. I thought I’d already convinced you of that.”
“It’s just, I’m not a nun, but I’m not wild, either. I never will be.”
“Sara, you’re as wild at heart as I need you to be. I…look, we have so much more to talk about, so much we don’t know yet about each other. This is only the beginning.”
“I know.”
“Let’s get you and the guys on film, then come with me. After, I’ll get us a gorgeous hotel suite. I want to get something nice for both of us, a place I can pamper you and where we can be honest with each other. I want to hear more about your mother, and—” I bit my lip, my heart suddenly racing. “And it’s time I told you some things about me that you need to know. Something I should’ve already told you.”
“Like what?” She furrowed her brow. “Can’t you tell me now?”
Besides the fact Point Break had an entire film crew waiting, Sara had just spilled her heart out to me, telling me her father would banish her from her dying mother. This was not the time for me to make my big confession. We needed privacy—time for her to process, if she needed. This moment was about her. I put a finger to her lips. “Nah, let’s make sure you’re ready to be the best video vixen you can be. Then we’ll be op
en with each other. It’ll be okay, Sara. I promise, Little Red.”
Chapter 14
Sara
I did it. I starred in Wes’s video. I’d danced. I’d stayed vertical in five-inch heels. And I have to say it: I kicked ass.
You hear that, Father? I kicked ASS!
“You were a goddess,” Wes said, grinning at me.
I blushed as Wes swiped his key through the lock of our hotel suite. At that moment I felt like a goddess. I felt powerful. Maybe powerful enough to make some incredibly difficult choices, like stand up to father despite his threats.
I mean, could Father really keep me from my mother if it wasn’t what she wanted, as well? Generally my mother obeyed my father without question, but not all the time. She had argued with him when I’d wanted to come to New York. Surely she wouldn’t let my father interfere with us seeing each other?
When Wes opened the door to the room and waved me inside, my eyes widened.
“Whoa. This place is amazing.” Walking into the suite was like walking into a fairy tale. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d stay in a place like this.
The room was palatial, with a massive sitting room with three leather sofas. There was a wet bar and a dining table for six.
I grabbed Wes’s hand with both of mine as he led me into the bedroom. A king-sized canopy bed stood before us. Off to the side was the master bathroom with double granite sinks and a Jacuzzi as big as three bath tubs smooshed together, with a platter of white rose petals for scattering in hot water at the ready.
“This is for me?” I swiped at my eyes.
He stroked my cheek. “I wanted to do something special for both of us this weekend. Between the traveling and Vickie, and your worries about your family… I thought we needed a time and place to forget it all. To just be us.”
I dropped my purse and backpack with my clothes in it onto a cozy, tufted chair in the master suite. “I can’t even imagine how much this costs.”
“You’re worth it. We’re worth it.” Wes stood behind me and rubbed my shoulders. I loved feeling his strong hands on my skin, working my muscles, loved feeling his heat behind me, our closeness. Already, wetness began pooling between my legs.
I couldn’t help it. Everything about Wes drove me crazy, especially his touch. With every caress, he drove my body wild. I would never be able to resist him. He held too much power over me.
“It’s so amazing,” I said, overwhelmed with gratitude. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”
He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “You have no idea how much you mean to me. I want to worship you, Sara.”
Worship was a word I’d always related to the Lord. Worship was for God, so it was still so new and strange to hear a man tell me he wanted to worship me. It made me feel ultra-special, so cared for. It also made me feel sinful but in a good way. It made me want to lie back in bed and let him do just that—worship my body.
“I could deal with that,” I said, pulling out my pins and shedding my wig. I stepped out of my heels and unzipped the leather skirt in short order. I wanted to be free of the confinement, sure, but, more than that, I wanted Wes to have access to every part of me. “I need you to make love to me, Wes,” I said, noticing how naturally it felt to say that. I hadn’t felt awkward or dirty like I had in the past with other guys. Wes made me feel uninhibited. Free from expectations. Free from secrets.
He pulled away, still clutching my hand. “We should talk first, Sara.”
“Please, let’s talk after?”
“No, really I think—”
Wes stopped talking when I slid up to him and put my mouth on his. I kissed him deeply and fully, and then, when we both pulled back to breathe, I murmured, “You aren’t going to push me away now, are you?”
He hesitated, as if weighing my words, then finally slipped around me and ran his hands over my shoulders and down to my breasts. My nipples hardened under his skilled touch and already my clit was throbbing, beating out to a rapid pulse that matched my racing heart.
“Did I say you were a goddess? I need a better word. You’re fucking amazing. Look at these tits.” He felt the weight of my breasts in his hands, and I could’ve come if I wanted to, just from his touching me.
My cheeks flushed. I felt on display, like a nude sculpture in a museum for only Wes to admire. And I loved the sensation.
“Lie on the bed, Little Red.”
I swallowed hard. There was a strong, commanding tone to his voice that nearly sent me over. Whatever he was going to do to me wouldn’t take long before I exploded. I wanted him so badly. “What are you going to do?” I breathed in a hoarse whisper.
“I’m going to worship you so hard, lick and taste your sweet pussy. I want to know every damn part of my woman, and I’m going to do it right now.” His silver eyes roved over me with feral lust.
“I…” Nobody had ever gone down on me before, and I felt nervous. “Should I bathe first, or…” God, I felt stupid for asking, but I wasn’t sure what to do.
“Hell, no. I want you just the way you are. A little sweaty from the shoot, naturally glorious, and delicious. Lie on the bed for me,” he commanded.
I wanted to do whatever Wes asked. I wanted to comply, no—
needed to comply. He was the master of my pleasure, the only master that mattered right now. Without another word, I slinked over to the bed, letting him enjoy the view of my butt and hips. Then I pulled back the comforter and sheets and lay out before him. I felt like some model from a risqué Renaissance painting.
For a while he said nothing, just licked his lips as his cool, gray eyes appraised me. “You’re fucking gorgeous, baby,” he said, before finally climbing up over the end of the bed. He crawled across it with all the grace of a jungle cat moving languidly to stalk his prey. Then he shocked me by licking my right leg, starting at my knee. “I’m going to make you come so fucking hard.”
“Please,” I said, then my voice faltered and I made nothing more coherent than mewling noises. There was no way I could do or say anything else. I was completely at his mercy.
His hands gripped both thighs, massaging them, and then he laved at my other leg, creating a trail of shapes and contours, all these hidden patterns that only his tongue knew. Just before he reached my pussy, he straightened, and I almost protested. It died in my throat, however, when he removed his shirt then climbed out of his jeans. I would never, ever get tired of seeing his naked body with that massive hard-on springing forth between his legs, like a separate, serpentine entity. My body quivered just imagining him penetrating me.
“Close your eyes, baby,” he said, positioning himself between my legs again and parting my folds. “Or keep them open, whichever you like.” He smiled, then plunged into me with his tongue. I almost jolted off the bed from the pleasure of his tongue. “Oh, Wes, I never knew it could feel like that.”
Wes responded by stroking deeply. He flicked my clit, then sucked on it, making me writhe and squirm against his face.
Already I could feel the heat pulsing up from my core, every nerve ending from my hips to my toes to my fingers on fire. I moaned, loud and feral and unlike me, but exactly like me at the same time. I didn’t care if anybody heard me.
In fact, let them hear me, and let them be jealous that Wes Shaw was licking my soaking wet pussy. Let the whole damn hotel hear it, let everyone know that I—Sara Crawford—was getting worshipped like a goddess by a god himself. A rock god. A love god.
Wes moved a bit, taking one hand from my thigh and bringing it up to my throbbing clit. He pressed his thumb forcefully against my sensitive nub and applied the most delicious pressure. I could feel the callouses from his years of playing guitar, but it only heightened the sensation as he began to rub against me in slow, deliberate circles. My nerves erupted in flames, as if a raging blaze were consuming every inch of me, even as ripples of pleasure rolled over me as well. He moved his other hand from my thighs and thrust two fingers into me in time with h
is thumb. That was all I could handle.
I came, screaming his name in a fierce litany. My muscles turned to jelly under his frenetic touch. More. I wanted this and more, every day, with him and only him.
My man.
I tried to remember how to speak, how to think. Then I realized that neither of those things mattered, not now when I was with the man I cared about. But the best part of being with Wes in this hotel room? We had all weekend to make each other scream, and I intended to do just that, no matter what.
My tests didn’t matter. The movie shoot didn’t matter. The oppressive edicts of my father didn’t matter either. I’d figure it all out later.
I had officially arrived at Give No Shits - Defcon 5.
Wes and I had each other, and that was all we needed against the world.
He turned me around onto my knees and pulled me up tight against his chest, and I felt the hardness of his cock pressed up against the cheeks of my ass. I had so many plans for him, and I’d make him feel as good as he’d made me feel. Soon. I just needed a minute to recover. He kissed my temple, tugging on my hair to force my neck out and my chip upward.
I sighed contentedly, channeling my inner tigress about to get fucked by the alpha male cat in the pride. “That was amazing, but now I want you inside me.”
“I live to please,” he said, cockiness brimming in his voice. He’d earned the right. He knew what he was doing. Wes was the lover I’d always needed. I wished he would’ve been the one to take my virginity, but no matter—he was here now and nothing would ever be the same.
“I just want you happy and relaxed, baby,” he emphasized, bending over me to connect his mouth with mine. He kissed me deeply again, his tongue filling my mouth with the taste of my own body.
I nodded. “I’m definitely happy and relaxed.”
It was true. Even with my father’s surprise visit and Rebekah’s betrayal, even with my mother’s cancer, I was doing great. I had Wes by my side, and that made me feel invincible.
