Staged

by Olivia Cunning

  When her tremors stilled, she dropped to lie beside him. Immediately, her hand circled his softening cock, gently stroking its length as he twitched in overstimulated misery.

  “The torture continues,” he murmured.

  “It’s only beginning, my love. You called my sisters bitches.”

  Twenty-Six

  The day of Baroquen’s first concert had finally arrived. Roux was glad she’d managed to catch a few hours of sleep after punishing her naughty lover for most of the night. The man had been tough to break, but by the end she’d had him yelling “I’m coming” every time she touched him. Still naked, she peeked out the hotel window. The overcast sky didn’t match her current sunny disposition, so she jerked the curtain closed and went to rouse Steve.

  He looked so at peace lying sprawled across the bed on his stomach, one arm dangling off the edge of the mattress and the other angled over his head. The covers were tangled around his upper thighs but didn’t hinder her appreciative appraisal of his perfect tan backside. Why was his ass tan anyway? Did he sunbathe in the nude? He must. There was no other explanation.

  She needed to get back to her room and get ready for the day, but once she was in costume, she wouldn’t be able to interact much with Steve. He’d taken their pretend disdain for each other a bit too far the day before, but she understood that he didn’t want Tamara to catch wind of their relationship. No telling where the reporter would take that golden nugget of information. Maybe it would be easier to come clean and get this all out into the open. How bad could it be? Plenty of famous people flaunted their romances on the Internet, and people loved it. But there were also those who were relentlessly ridiculed for the same.

  She was more worried about pissing off Iona than suffering through whatever public opinion she’d have to endure when the story broke. She didn’t much care what people she didn’t know thought of her, but she did care that it would upset her big sister. She leaned over the bed and kissed Steve’s forehead. He didn’t even twitch.

  “Wake up, sleepyhead,” she murmured. “I need to leave, but I’m craving one of your toe-curling kisses before I go.”

  She shrieked when his arm shot out and caught her around the waist, tumbling her onto the bed and pulling her beneath him. He kissed her deeply, curling her toes as requested. After a moment, he lifted his head and smiled sleepily down at her. His hair curtained their faces in silken waves. Damn, he was gorgeous. She got all fluttery and flustered just looking at him.

  “I’m craving far more than a kiss,” he murmured, and she squirmed to spread her legs. She hoped the more he craved involved deep penetration; she was already wet for him. He kissed his way down her body, stopping along his journey to suck a nipple, nibble her navel, delve into her cleft with his tongue. He spread her legs wide and muttered, “Breakfast of champions.”

  Her body jerked as his tongue gathered her fluids. He licked and suckled her clit until she found release, and then replaced his mouth with his fingers, rubbing her to prolong her orgasm as he guided his cock inside her with his free hand. He kept her coming as he pounded into her, pulling her higher, to a new level. She couldn’t help but cry out as her body responded to his touch, his thrusts. Was it possible to have a clitoral and vaginal orgasm at the same time? Dear God, the man knew exactly how to get her off. Her pussy gripped him in hard spasms, quickly pulling him over the edge with her. He shook as he spent himself within her, and then, breathing hard, he collapsed on top of her.

  “Well, that was a glorious wake-up call,” he murmured, kissing her ear. “I’ll be sure to ask the front desk for another one of those tomorrow.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed tightly, so full of love and laughter she felt like she could fly. “I love you, Steven Aimes.”

  “I love you, Katie Roux.” He patted her flank. “Now you’d better get your ass up. You’ve got a big day ahead of you.”

  “I wish you could spend it with me.”

  “I could,” he said. “It’s your stupid rules preventing that, not mine.”

  “I know. I’m going to talk to Iona. See if she’s willing to bend those rules.” Especially since it had been obvious at dinner the night before that she and Kyle were more than professional acquaintances.

  “Why do you do what Iona says at the expense of your own happiness?”

  “Because I’m happiest when those I love are happy.”

  Steve smiled and brushed a lock of hair from her face. “Well, you must be the happiest woman on the planet when you’re with me, because I’m deliriously happy when I’m with you.”

  She grinned. “Why do you think I can’t keep away from you?”

  “Because I have a big dick.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, okay. Can’t get enough of that enormous dick. That’s totally it.” She kissed him and then squirmed off the bed. “I can stay with you again tonight, though, right?”

  “I won’t be able to sleep without you beside me.”

  “Are you sure? Last night I was certain you wanted me to sleep on the floor.”

  “I’ll work on that.”

  She’d heard that before.

  A knock sounded on the door. “Wake-up call. Ten minutes to gym.” Roux was pretty sure the voice shouting from the corridor belonged to Butch.

  “I’ll be there!” Steve yelled. He kissed Roux before climbing out of bed. “It was nice while it lasted.”

  Roux followed him to the bathroom. “What was nice?”

  “Butch minus his schedule clipboard.”

  When Steve stepped up to the toilet to pee, Roux backed out to offer him some privacy.

  “Got to get my piss break in now, or I’m shit out of luck,” he said. “Actually, I should probably take a shit too. I don’t think you want to witness that.”

  “I’m leaving,” Roux said. “I love you.”

  “Love you too. See you tonight. I’ll be the obnoxious fan in the mosh pit at your performance. Wouldn’t miss it.”

  Her stomach took a nose dive as reality grabbed her by the throat. Today was the day that the world got its first real taste of Baroquen. “I’ll be sure to catch yours as well,” she said.

  “We’re on tomorrow. But we can see Sinners together tonight. If you want to.”

  “Of course I want to. I love Sinners.”

  She shuffled into her shoes and headed for the door. The second she stepped into the corridor, a flash went off in her face.

  “Ah, the mystery woman returns,” Tamara said, falling into step with Roux as she speed-walked in the direction of the elevator. “Are you a local? Are things between you and Steve serious? How long have you been spending the night with him?”

  Roux kept her eyes down and her lips sealed. When Tamara followed her onto the elevator, she pushed the button for the lobby instead of her original destination. No way was she going to her hotel room to get ready for the day with an obnoxious paparazza tail clinging to her ass.

  “I’d have thought you were just another one of his endless string of willing vaginas, but spending the night twice in a row?” Tamara’s eyebrows rose toward her burgundy-colored hairline. “There’s something between the two of you. What’s your name?”

  Roux considered telling her that she was Katie Williams, but feared even that was too much information. The nosy reporter was going to figure this out. It was one thing to try to keep a curious bystander in the dark and quite another to fool a member of the press and keep her from figuring out the connection between Katie and Roux. Fuck! The elevator door opened to the lobby, and Roux was greeted by the smell of the complimentary breakfast offered by the hotel. Well, at least she had a good excuse to be here. Still refusing to give Tamara a direct stare, Roux headed for the breakfast room. Her bandmates were already inside, laughing together at a nearby table in full costume. Iona saw her first—good thing, because she was quick to notice details. A flicker of recognition crossed her face, but was quickly replaced with an impartial mask as her gaze settled on
the woman still following Roux.

  “I wonder what’s taking Roux so long,” Iona said as Roux grabbed a plate from the end of the breakfast bar. There was no way to get breakfast without passing close to her sisters’ table. Azura, who was sitting to Iona’s left, jumped suddenly and rubbed at her shin beneath the table.

  She scowled at Iona, who was eyeing Roux sidelong. Luckily, Tamara was too focused on making a nuisance of herself to notice the table of rock chicks struggling to make excuses for their absent band member. After all, there were plenty of more famous, and therefore more interesting, musicians scattered around the dining room.

  Roux scooped eggs onto a plate, bypassed all the processed meat products, including something she feared was the blood pudding stuff she’d heard they ate in England—gag!—and opted for toast, yogurt, and a plethora of fresh fruit. She glanced around for an empty table and cringed when Logan waved at her excitedly. Toni pulled out the chair beside her in welcome. Shit. Now what should she do? She shook her head slightly, giving a subtle nod in Tamara’s direction, and scanned the overcrowded dining room hoping to locate an empty table so she could eat in relative obscurity.

  She knew the exact moment that Logan recognized she was being followed by Tamara. His cute and normally friendly face darkened with rage. He approached them so fast that Roux cringed and almost dropped her plate.

  “Get the fuck out of here,” he said to Tamara. “Stop harassing Katie.”

  Well, at least he had remembered to call her Katie, but now Tamara knew for sure that she had a deeper connection to Exodus End other than being some nameless pussy that Steve had enjoyed two nights in a row.

  “I have a pass,” Tamara said, flashing a plastic tag that was dangling from around her neck. “You know her?”

  Logan’s fury was replaced with hesitation. He obviously wasn’t sure what he should say. Toni took Roux’s elbow. “I saved a seat for you,” she said to Roux. “Did you want some juice? I’ll get you a glass. Sometimes assistants need a little assistance themselves.”

  Assistant? Roux wasn’t sure where Toni was going with this, but she said in her poor attempt at a British accent, “Cranberry juice would be lovely, darling.”

  Darling? What was she doing? She sounded like an idiot. She hurried over to the table that Logan and Toni were sharing with Dare—who looked mostly asleep this morning—and sat down.

  “Why did you bring the witch down here with you?” Dare grumbled into his cup of black coffee. “It was bad enough having her in my face the moment I emerged from my room this morning.”

  “Sorry,” Roux said. “She followed me. I’m not sure how to handle this.”

  “I’ll give you the same advice I give my brother. Own who you are. If people can’t handle it, that’s their problem, not yours.”

  “It’s not that I’m ashamed or anything. My band doesn’t want anyone to think we’re on tour with you guys because I’m . . .” She noticed that Tamara was within hearing range and dropped the conversation, focusing instead on her fruit salad.

  Dare scowled over his shoulder. Roux adored Dare and his quiet introspection, but Tamara put him in such a bad mood that Roux was relieved when he made his excuse to leave.

  “Logan, I’m heading to the gym before Butch gets his panties in a twist about us fucking up his schedule. Are you coming?”

  “Yeah, I’d better.” To Tamara he said, “In case it isn’t clear, you’re not welcome here.” He kissed Toni quickly before following Dare out of the dining room.

  Toni deposited a glass of cranberry juice next to Roux’s plate and sat back in her spot across from her.

  “I never knew Steve needed an assistant.” Tamara sneered at Roux, apparently unable to comprehend what Logan meant by she wasn’t welcome. “What are you assisting him with exactly? His hard-ons?”

  Well, technically, yes, Roux did help him with those. “He’s uh . . . working on a project.” Her fake accent was more Australian than British this time. Damn . . .

  Tamara stepped closer to the table. “What kind of project?”

  “A good one.”

  “You know it’s none of your business, Susan,” Toni said. Susan? Wasn’t the woman’s name Tamara? “Go bother someone else.”

  “And how do you know Katie, Toni?”

  She saw me topless and screwing Steve on the beach at Dick Island, Roux thought wryly. I didn’t exactly make a good first impression. She wondered if Toni now knew that she was a member of Baroquen or if she disliked Tamara so much that she was willing to breakfast with the woman she thought was Steve’s current favorite groupie.

  “She’s a friend,” Toni said.

  “Everyone knows you don’t have any friends, An-toni-a.”

  Toni lowered her gaze. Roux got the feeling that the animosity between the two women was not new. “Maybe. At least I’m not a raving bitch.”

  Tamara chuckled. “Better a bitch than a doormat.”

  “Get lost, will you?” Roux said, not wanting to join in on an insult-throwing match, though she had a few for the obnoxious woman who was harassing Toni. “There is no interesting story here.”

  “I disagree, but I already have an interesting story about Steve. You aren’t the only woman he had in his bed yesterday.” She smirked before waving smugly and venturing out of the breakfast area.

  “God, I hate her,” Toni said, pushing her glasses up her nose with the back of her wrist. “I didn’t think I was capable of hating anyone, but I guess I’m not as good a person as I thought I was.”

  “I don’t think it’s possible to like her. She’s completely insufferable.” Roux speared a piece of melon with her fork and popped it into her mouth, trying not to let herself dwell on the lie Tamara had just spewed about Steve’s bedmates. He obviously hadn’t had anyone else in his bed the day before. Roux had been with him most of the day. Though she had found him passed out naked. Alone. But naked.

  “Try having her as your boss.” Toni groaned and curved inward, both arms wrapped around her narrow waist.

  “Is that how you know her?” she asked, continuing to munch her fruit salad.

  “She worked for my mom’s company as an editor. She was supposed to be the one writing the book about Exodus End that I’m working on, but luckily I talked my mom into sending me in her place. That’s why Susan hates me. I screwed up all her plans. Somehow she managed to get close to the band anyway.”

  “Why do you call her Susan? I thought her name was Tamara.” Though Roux couldn’t criticize anyone for using an alias, considering she now went by Katie in certain circles. Including this one with Toni.

  “She was Susan when she worked for my mom; I think she didn’t want Exodus End to realize who she really was. But she was Steve’s sister-in-law, for crying out loud.” Toni rolled her eyes and pulled the wrapper off a muffin before breaking off a piece. “Yeah, she’d lost a lot of weight since they last saw her, but just how stupid does she think he is?” She popped the bite of muffin into her mouth.

  “Steve’s actually very smart,” Roux said, unable to stop herself from defending her man. “Except when he drinks. Then he’s a fucking idiot.” She laughed and opened her yogurt, stirring the fruit up from the bottom with a spoon.

  Someone bumped into the back of Roux’s chair, and startled, she glanced up to find her sisters standing there.

  “Oh, sorry,” Iona said, not sounding sorry in the least. “I was just in a hurry to get to the shuttle bus and wasn’t watching where I was going.”

  “Roux better hurry up,” Sage said pointedly, “or we’re going to have to leave without her.”

  “Keyboardists!” Azura rolled her eyes as she passed the table. “No consideration for anyone.”

  “I’m sure she has a good reason for keeping us waiting,” Lily said.

  That was Roux’s cue to get off her ass and change into her stage costume. She excused herself from the table, dropping her dirty dishes into a bin, and scoped out the lobby for signs of Tamara. After determining
she wouldn’t be followed again, she headed to the elevator.

  As soon as she knocked on the door to her own room, Raven opened it wide and yanked her inside.

  “Azura texted and told me you had the press following you around this morning.” She was already trying to tug off Roux’s shirt before the door had even shut.

  “Yeah, it sucked.” Roux kicked her shoes off. “I didn’t want the snoop to follow me to our room, so I had to go down to the lobby to get breakfast as a diversion.” She jerked off her pants and stepped into the black satin and lace dress that Raven was holding out for her. “Then Logan starts waving at me and I thought for sure I was sunk, but Toni told her that I’m Steve’s assistant, so the reporter sort of backed off.”

  “Oh, what a tangled web . . .” Raven adjusted Roux’s breasts in her bodice and grabbed the corset off the bed. Raven laced the corset up Roux’s back while Roux rubbed foundation into her face.

  “I’m sorry to keep doing this to you,” Roux said.

  “I like the excitement,” Raven said. She fit the nylon cap over Roux’s hair, tucking in stray locks, before taking her long black and red wig off the foam head on the dresser and placing it on Roux’s head. “I feel like the pit crew at a racetrack.”

  Roux laced up her boots and put on her jewelry while Raven worked on the rest of Roux’s makeup. She was halfway out the door when Raven called, “Wait. You forgot your petticoat.”

  A few costume adjustments later, Roux was racing for the elevator. Her sisters looked happy to see her when she reached the lobby.

  “Did you oversleep again?” Iona chastised her.

  “Sorry.” Roux released an exaggerated sigh. “My damn narcolepsy strikes at the worst possible times.”

  “I hope you grabbed a snack. You don’t have time for breakfast,” Azura said, her sly grin telling Roux that she was actually enjoying the farce.

  “I’m good. Thanks,” Roux said. “When will the shuttle be here?”