I was so shocked by his admission I could barely speak. “Is that so?”
He nodded. “She wrapped her lips around me and I laid my head back, just like I have done hundreds of times before in this very same car, in this very same parking lot.”
I grimaced and started away. His voice stopped me.
“But I couldn’t get your face out of my head.” I turned back around to face him. He got out of the car and walked over to where I stood. “I realized that without you, nothing else is good enough. I don’t want some blowjob from a stranger. I want to be with you. No matter how long that takes.”
I was wary as I looked up at him. “A leopard doesn’t change its spots, Tony Paul.”
He pulled me into his arms. “Then it’s a good damned thing I’m not a leopard. I’m a man, Lacy,” he said under his breath as he fit that hardened body against mine. “Let me be yours.”
I was powerless to stop him as his mouth descended on mine. He leisurely explored my mouth with his tongue as his arms closed around me, clutching me tight. Finally he broke the kiss and we were both breathless.
“Is this the part where you ask me to go home with you?” I murmured as I studied his sexy mouth.
He shook his head. “No. This is the part where I pat you on the behind and send you home and tell you that I’ll see you tomorrow.”
My eyes widened as he pulled apart, turned me around and slapped me on my ass. He bent forward to whisper, “See you tomorrow,” against my ear.
I was incredulous as I stared at him. He walked back to his car, got in and drove away before I could move.
Chapter Eight
The rest of the week followed the same annoying pattern. I’d get there early to rehearse with Jacinda, only to find Tony Paul there to wrestle the rehearsals back under his control. He employed his “tough love” to his sister, which only made her more nervous. If I tried to confront him about it, he’d put aside my concerns. “I’ve been here a while,” he’d assure. “I think I know what I’m doing.”
As the crowds grew bigger, I couldn’t really argue that point.
But despite how many groupies he had screaming for him every night, he walked out of the club alone. He’d tell me goodbye with a blazing kiss, but he wouldn’t repeat his offer to take me back to his place. He’d simply leave me with the imprint of his mouth on mine and left me to simmer. The ball was definitely in my court. I knew if I wanted to get to that next level, I was the one who had to make the offer.
By Sunday, I was nearly ready to do just that. I was a tangled jumble of hormones and sexual frustration, made worse by his seductive performances on stage. Whenever he’d unbutton his shirt to the navel, he’d make sure he came over to sing right next to me, my voice in the microphone, as he ground his body against me.
It drove the girls in the audience crazy. It drove me crazy as well.
All I could think about was that first night in the dressing room, when he had shown me the greatest pleasure I had ever known.
I was dousing myself nightly in frigid water just to keep my sanity.
By Monday, I took matters into my own hands with Jacinda. I invited her to a picnic at the park, away from Southern Nights and her family, to conduct a gentler rehearsal. I brought Cobie and taught her my new song, which had fleshed out nicely in past two weeks. It was written especially for her. It spoke of longing to fit in, and finding that special something that helped her do exactly that.
She read over the lyrics silently. “This is yours?”
I nodded. I didn’t tell her that I had written it for her because it was clear these were the insecurities she tried so hard to hide. I didn’t want her feeling even more embarrassed that she hadn’t hidden a thing. I didn’t want her to be self-conscious when she sang the lyrics. I wanted her to feel them on her own. I knew they’d be much better that way.
“It’s a lead vocal,” she said as she handed it back to me. “That’s not what we do.”
“But we could,” I encouraged. “Give it a try.” I picked up Cobie and sang the first verse. “Standing outside your window, looking in/preparing for a race I know I can’t win/Wanting a place beside you, unsure of how to begin/Let me be part of your world.”
She followed along, haltingly and unsure. “Tired of speaking softly or not at all/Ready to leap even if it means I’ll fall/You’ve been running and all I can do is crawl/Let me be a part of your world.”
A tear glistened in the corner of her eye as we hit the chorus. “I just want to be a part of you/So many things you never knew I could do/Take my hand, let me teach you a new song/Open your world, it’s where I belong.”
Her voice cracked, but not because she had stretched it with notes beyond her natural range. Finally she had felt a song in her soul, and the emotion cracked like glass. I was ready to cry along with her.
We sang it until she knew it. By the time we left, we walked arm in arm towards our cars.
Those two days we sang together were the happiest days of my week, especially since nothing really changed at the club. Week after week Tony Paul still presided over our regular rehearsal with his iron fist and “tough love.” And, night after night, Jacinda’s mic was turned off and I had to adjust my own performances to accommodate.
Finally one Saturday, I confronted Tony Paul in the dressing room before we went onstage. “I really think you should give Jacinda another chance. I’ve seen real improvement with her. She can handle it. I promise.”
He shook his head. “I can’t risk it, Lacy. I’m sorry. Let her get up there and shake her ass. She’s good at it. She likes doing it. There’s no sense rocking the boat.” He pulled me into his arms. “Jasper will be here at the end of the month. This is big, babe. This could change all of our lives, including hers.”
He traced my face with his finger. “It’s sweet of you to look after her, though. It only shows how extraordinary you are.” He bent to kiss me, his fingers tugging my lips apart before he penetrated my mouth with his tongue. It was deep, slow and sensual. I melted a little against him. He broke the kiss and leaned his head on mine. “I never thought I’d feel this way about anyone.”
I shivered against him. “Me, either,” I finally confessed softly. More than anything I wanted to whisper, “Take me home tonight.” But I knew that was a monumental decision. There was no turning back. He was the first man in my life I wanted, truly wanted, to claim me as his own. I felt my body calling for him whenever we were apart. I longed to see him again, even when he was making me crazy. Just to see him made my heart leap with joy.
Despite all my bluster otherwise, I had been branded.
I was falling head over heels with Tony Paul Hollis.
He kissed me again, his hand tangled in my hair as he clutched me like a palm tree in a hurricane. Finally he pulled away, breathless with the passion on display in those cloudy eyes. There was a slight grin on his face before he sprawled on the sofa in the dressing room. He peered at me through half-open eyes as he rested his head on the back of the sofa. He adjusted himself in his tight jeans before he murmured softly, “Change for me.”
I shuddered. A million years ago a similar request had nearly destroyed me. And I knew that if I ever wanted to be with Tony Paul, I had to put this demon to rest once and for all. Suddenly it was all I wanted to do… to be freed from these shameful shackles at last. My hands shook as I unbuttoned my shirt and let it fall away. I watched Tony Paul’s face as I wiggled out of my jeans. I stood before him in my lacy bra and fluorescent pink underwear. I reached for a dress but his soft, gravelly voice stopped me. “Wear nothing underneath.”
I gulped as I stared at him. He’d already seen the most intimate parts of me, that wasn’t the issue. I was scared to death of being on that stage all night, feeling exposed and vulnerable in front of all the lecherous men who hollered to Jacinda and me from the crowd.
But the look in Tony Paul’s eyes couldn’t be denied. I reached around with trembling fingers and unclasped my bra, letting it fa
ll away. I peeled away the panties and stepped out of them. I stood before him for a moment, relishing the powerless look in his eyes as he drank in all of me with his hungry gaze. I was just as hot for him. When the soft fabric of the maxi dress brushed over my nipples, I gasped out loud. He finally rose and collected me in his arms.
“You’re the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen,” he murmured. Again he planted another kiss. It made me even hotter as I clutched him and kissed him back.
The air that night was electric on stage. Tony Paul stalked that stage like a panther on the prowl. My voice was raspy and breathless, so it wasn’t a chore to keep up with Jacinda’s limitations. In fact, I was glad they couldn’t really hear me sing. My voice cracked like fine china whenever Tony Paul would send me that come hither look that turned all his groupies to mush.
The set was a smashing success. We even did two encores because the crowd just couldn’t get enough. Gay was pleased as she gathered us together after the club closed. “Whatever it is you’ve been doing, keep doing it,” she instructed. “Jasper Carrington will be here in a little over three weeks. If he sees this, I know we’ll finally get that big record deal.”
As the band dispersed, Tony Paul sauntered up to me with that crooked smile. “Guess we’ll have to tease each other mercilessly for the next three weeks.”
Even his voice brushed against me like I was a raw nerve. I wasn’t so sure I could make it. “I guess so.”
He bent to whisper in my ear. “I’ll dream about you.”
I shuddered against him. I had already been dreaming about him, but I didn’t want him to know that. He had enough power as it was.
Each performance followed the same excruciating pattern. I’d dress in front of him in increasingly sexier outfits, ones he had picked himself, and he’d stroke himself through the fabric of his jeans as he watched me dance or sing for my audience of one. Our goodnight kisses got even hungrier. I’d often go home with a swollen mouth from his hard, demanding kisses, my breasts aching from the imprint of his palm.
After a couple of weeks, I found idling at second base was just as frustrating for me as it was for him.
I had begun to ache for him in a way I didn’t even know was possible. He was in my blood like heroin. Finally one night, a little over a month into my new gig with the band, I uttered the words that had always terrified me, simply because nothing scared me more than one more night without him. “Take me home,” I whispered. I was rewarded by the full shudder in his body as he held me close.
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that?”
I chuckled. “Five weeks?” I said, referring back to that first night in the dressing room.
He swatted my behind. “Try three months and five weeks, you naughty girl.” He caressed the curve of my hip with his hand. “I’ve wanted you since the first time I laid eyes on you.” He sighed heavily. “Too bad for both of us I’m a terribly superstitious man.”
My brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“There’s no denying that our sexual intensity works. We’re drawing in bigger crowds and we even have one of the biggest music producers coming to see us perform in a few weeks. What if we sleep together and that goes away?”
I studied him carefully. Did he really believe such a thing? “So what do you propose?”
He searched my eyes. “We wait until after we perform for Jasper. That way that night can be epic in more ways than one.”
I groaned as I thought about it. It was only ten days away, which was much closer than what it felt. “Fine,” I said at last.
He sealed our deal with a blistering kiss.
The next ten days dragged, though everything seemed to be happening all at once. One of Jasper’s newest acts would headline that particular Saturday he was scheduled to show, so Gay had to reorganize our smaller set to be just as impressive. She added some choreography for Jacinda and me, which had us both at the club at noon every single day to get the steps right. Gay seemed more worried about that, and the wardrobe, than she was about our singing.
But given that Jacinda had yet to have the chance to sing, I could understand why.
We wore headset microphones so we could move around the stage, to flank the male members of the band on either side like window dressing. I was so nervous about this new role I practiced into the wee morning hours after I returned from the club.
I had a lot of private time. Mama didn’t care to hear about what was going on at the club, and I couldn’t bring myself to tell her how entangled I now was with everything, including the lead singer of the band. I kept her blissfully ignorant. Even the birth control pills in the bathroom medicine cabinet weren’t out of the ordinary, since I’d been taking them for years for medical reasons.
Only I knew, every morning as I swallowed one, that I might be using them for their actual purpose.
Tony Paul had been right about one thing. I hadn’t wanted to have kids this early in my adulthood and, as it turned out, my career.
But there wasn’t any doubt that I wanted to be with him. He had awakened something in me that refused to go back to sleep. The closer we got to The Big Day, the surer I felt about becoming Tony Paul’s lover.
He would send me flirty, dirty texts during the day, which kept me in a constant state of anticipation. Whenever he touched me I thought I might shatter into a million pieces. I ached so bad for him it physically hurt. For the first time in my life I was in love.
It made the day we performed for Jasper even more momentous than it already was. Everyone was excited, from each and every band member to every last person on the Southern Nights crew. This was one of the biggest nights in the club’s history. Even the other Hollis boys, who were normally more stoic like their father, Ty, were animated and excited.
Tony Paul huddled us together before we took the stage. “This is it, y’all. We’ve been working our asses off for years but our moment has finally come. We’re about to be stars.” We shared a group hug. Tony Paul didn’t let me go even after everyone else had headed for the stage to prepare for the set.
Unlike our other performance, there was no strip tease in the dressing room. He expressed his displeasure at the disruption of our routine with a growl deep in his throat. “How am I going to do this without you getting me all worked up?” he asked as he nuzzled my neck.
I glanced around to make sure we were alone. I pulled him into a darkened corner and pushed him against the wall. “You don’t have to,” I said as I began to kiss my way down his body until I was in front of him on my knees. He wrapped my hair in his hand as he guided me to the prominent bulge in his jeans. I explored it with my fingers, my breath hot against him, until he moaned and rested his head on the wall.
“That’s my girl,” he murmured, his cock growing in front of my face as I teased him. He finally grasped my arm and yanked me up for a commanding kiss that took my breath away. “Tonight,” he promised before he sent me on my way with a swat on my behind.
I was still tingling once I stepped onstage. I avoided Gay’s knowing gaze and took my place beside Jacinda.
Our set was flawless, despite the changes. The choreography even worked to my favor, as I writhed at Tony Paul’s side with the promise of things to come. It fueled our performances with the same intensity. I glanced up at Gaynell’s office, complete with a window for a bird’s eye view of the stage. The white-haired Jasper Carrington watched it all with an unreadable expression.
As it turned out, we didn’t even get to meet him that night. We were ushered to a limousine before the headliners performed. Champagne poured all around for the older members of our group as we were whisked away from the club.
I turned to Tony Paul. “Where are we going?”
His eyes were dark and intense. “Home.”
I shivered in his arms.
We headed northwest of Austin proper, toward the Colorado River, north of West Lake Hills. The European-styled Hollis estate was everything I might have expec
ted it to be, with its six-car garage, bricked driveway and marble entryway. I stayed close to Tony Paul as we all filed into the impressive home one by one, to be greeted by a host of uniformed servants who offered crystal flutes of champagne on silver platters. Tony Paul encouraged me to take one.
“I shouldn’t,” I tried to protest, but he placed it in my hand anyway.
“Tonight we have more than one thing to celebrate, Lacy.”
Ty was away on business, as he usually was, so we had free run of the place. Jacinda and her other brothers wanted to head out to the pool, but Tony Paul not-so-discreetly declined for the both of us. “Lacy didn’t bring her swimsuit. And the only one who gets to see her naked is me.” He pulled me close and guided me toward the spiral staircase.
He led me down the carpeted catwalk to a large bedroom suite with views of the river. It had a sitting area, a cherry wood four poster bed and its own bathroom, with a spa tub nestled in the corner, with windows on both sides for a full view of that same river.
There was more champagne in a silver bucket on the table near the chairs and leather love seat, and candles were lit all around.
There were even rose petals on the bed.
I turned to him. “You did all this for me?”
He pulled me into his arms. “Like I told you. Your first time deserved to be special.”
I melted against him and he bent for a kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he lifted me up into his arms. “I want you, Tony Paul,” I finally muttered.
He groaned deep in his throat as he kissed me harder. The only things that remained between us were our clothes, and he made quick work of that, tearing off the tank top I had worn for the performance. I yanked his Western shirt open by the snaps and shoved the material over his strong shoulders. He carried me to the bed. We fell together. I wiggled out of my top and, like he preferred, I wore no bra underneath. His mouth clamped down on the hardened peak of my breast and I cried out as he sucked hard. “God, yes,” I muttered as I arched toward him.
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