by Alyson Hale
Of course that’s what he’s here for. I’m not a moron. Rock stars have sex with girls they like, and then they move on. If that’s what this is about, it probably wouldn’t hurt just to give him what he wants. I get a trophy to taunt other girls with, and he gets a morning of fun. That’s a win-win, right?
It doesn’t take long to clean up, and Mom is gone thirty minutes after that. As soon as she leaves, Jace takes me by the hand again and leads me from the kitchen into the living room. He pulls me down with him when he lies on his back on the couch and holds me on top of him, staring into my eyes. Running my fingers through his hair, I surrender to his spell over me, trembling in anticipation of what might be happening next.
“What are you shaking for, sweetheart?” He brushes his thumb over my cheek.
“I’m nervous. I’ve never…uh…had sex with a rock star before.” Adding the “with a rock star” part makes me sound less pathetic, I think. Being a twenty-two-year-old virgin is embarrassing enough without having to admit it to him.
His eyebrows draw together. “Is that what you think I’m here for?”
I snort. “Well, yeah, of course. You don’t have to pretend to be surprised.”
“I’m not pretending.” His confusion seems to be growing by the second.
Fear coils my stomach. Shit. I must have misread his intentions and assumed too much. “Is that not what you’re here for?”
“No. I’m here to be with you. If we have sex, it’s only a bonus.”
My mouth hangs open. “Huh?”
“I was hoping we could go out today and get to know each other like we agreed on last night before you ran from me.”
My heart begins to pound. Seriously, what kind of rock star is he?
I rise into a sitting position on top of him. “Okay Jace, what is your deal?”
“What do you mean?” He sits up against the armrest of the couch and arranges my legs on either side of his firm torso.
“I mean…” I grunt out a sigh and shrug. “What do you want from me?”
“I don’t want anything from you. I just want you.” His hands trail up and down my sides, sending a shiver through me. I wish his fingers didn’t have to brush my slight rolls. It makes me really self-conscious, even more so than I already am. I pull away from his touch, but he follows me with his fingers and takes his time running them over every inch of my sides, almost like a caress.
Holding my gaze, Jace continues, “You don’t seem to understand, so let me spell this out plainly—I like you. Very much. I fell for you the instant I saw you.”
“But…you don’t even know me—”
“I don’t have to.” He tilts my chin up toward his lips. “I felt an instant connection when we met and knew I needed to know you. To be with you. Didn’t you feel it, too?”
Knocked breathless, I search his sincere eyes, wondering how he managed to read my mind. Last night, when he held and kissed me, it felt like an invisible tether was bringing us together, binding me to him. When I snapped free of it, it physically hurt. My chest burned and my lips ached to be joined with his again.
“Of course I felt a connection, but I thought I was just imagining it. I mean…you’re Jace Hawthorne.”
Jace combs his fingers through my hair, tucking it behind my ear. “To you, I want to be just Jace. Let me show you who I really am. I don’t want you to think of me as some unattainable person.”
“But that’s just it—you are unattainable for me.”
Ignoring my protest, Jace captures my lips in his and moves both arms around my back to hold me. His kiss is urgent with need. Deep in my core, I know I should resist him. My mind tells me to protest and pull back, but my heart refuses to listen. His lips feel so perfect on mine. Knowing he isn’t here just to bang out a quick one makes him even more of a temptation. Before long, I’m leaning into the kiss, letting my craziness for him take over. Soon our bodies are so close it’s as if we’re fusing into one person. The only thing standing between us is our clothes.
Underneath my sex, I can feel just how much he wants them removed. It feels like it might be a third leg. I should pull away, but it’s been so long since I was this close to losing my virginity. If there’s any cock in the world I want inside me right now, it’s this one under me that seems to be growing by the second.
Jace
Fuck, she feels incredible pressed against me. It’s all I can do to slow things down. If my body had its way, we’d be much further along than this. Every time I pull back from her, it physically pains me, but I know I have to. I can’t let her become another transient woman in my life—there one day and gone the next. The only way to keep her is to hold her at a distance until she’s ready to go all the way.
Lightly, I pat her ass to let her know I need her to get off my lap. She detaches from my lips, and at first I think she’s about to get off of me, but then I realize she took the pat as a command and is starting to pull her shorts down. I catch her hand, stopping her from baring herself in front of me before she’s ready.
“Whoa, whoa, love…I just meant, ‘We ought to get going,’ but good to know you’re eager.” Grinning in a way I know will make her blush, I take hold of her hips. She hides her reddened face in her hands.
“God, so embarrassing…” Her whisper is barely audible.
“Kyri, look at me.” I can’t help but chuckle at her reaction. I pull her hands down and tip her chin up to catch her gaze. Her sweet innocence and awkwardness only serves to endear her to me. I doubt there’s anything she could do to make herself unattractive in my eyes. “You don’t need to be embarrassed. Just let me lead. When I want you naked—and you can bet I will very soon—I won’t leave a single doubt in your mind.”
The sparkle of humor I love so much enters her eyes. Fighting a smile, she asks, “What makes you think you’re going get that far?”
“I’m irresistible. You’ve already proven that.”
Her cheeks redden even further, but this time the fire continues into her eyes. It makes my flame for her stir even more.
“So do you still want to show me around Atlanta?”
She looks into my eyes, softening. Finally, she nods and stands to her feet. After adjusting her shirt and shorts, she says, “Let’s go. I hope you don’t mind going in my piece of shit car…that is, unless you want to pay for a cab—”
“Your car will be perfect.” I send her a reassuring smile. “Lead the way.”
After picking up her things, Kyri takes me by the hand and leads me out to her vehicle. We get inside, but as I’m setting into my seat, I notice something odd.
“Care to explain this?”
Curiously, I eye the dent above my head as I pull the passenger door closed. The inner lining of the car has been bashed, causing wrinkles around the dent in every direction.
“Oh, um…that was from some…fun I had with a friend in high school…” Kyri’s neck turns ten shades of crimson as she turns the ignition and the car putters on.
My eyebrow cocks of its own accord. “What sort of fun?”
She throws the car into reverse and mutters, “The kind that fogged up the windows…”
My eyes roll up toward the offending dent and a low growl escapes my throat. There is physical evidence in this car that another man touched my Kyri. Eventually, once I won’t look insane for doing it, I’m going to buy her a new car. One where the only man she’ll ever be fucking in it is me.
“Did you just growl at me?” Kyri eyes me from the side, scrutinizing me.
“I would never growl at you, sweetheart.” I try my best to turn on the charm again even though I’m feeling like making a dent of my own. “Tell me, love, what sort of car would you buy if you could have anything in the world?”
“I don’t have a dream car or anything, but lately I’ve been really salivating over this one Dodge Charger over at McCann Dodge.” Her eyes light up with desire at the mere mention of the car. Now I know where I’m taking her in a couple of months once th
is car peters out and she needs me to come to the rescue. “My money was being saved for a trip to Europe, so I never thought I’d be able to afford it.”
Relief floods my chest. “You want to go to Europe?”
Even from the side, I can see the stars in her eyes. “I’ve wanted to go forever…to taste the food, to have new experiences. Also, I want to see if it’s really the way I tried to describe it in my books. I did a lot of research, but of course nothing compares to being there live and in person.”
“You’re a writer?”
“Yes. I’m an author. Not published yet, but hopefully I will be soon.”
“That’s fascinating.” Beaming my appreciation, I take her in. Beautiful, intelligent, scrappy…she really is a bloody force of nature.
“What sort of things do you write about?”
She drags her plump lower lip between her teeth. “Um…I write romance.”
“Romance, eh?”
“Rock star romance, contemporary romance, anything hot with a happy ending.”
I can hear the slyness enter my voice. “So does that mean you’re well practiced in dirty chat?”
“Not…in person.” Chuckling nervously, she tucks a tendril of her wild red mane behind her ear. “I’ve written plenty of it, but putting it into practice is another story.”
“Well, I can think of plenty of ways to help you practice.” I watch a blush wash over her delicate skin.
Glancing to the side, she catches my gaze for only a second, quickly turning her attention back to the road. “You sure know how to distract a driver, Jace Hawthorne.”
It’s difficult to figure out what’s going on in this woman’s head, but the one thing I do know is that there’s something between us I’ve never felt with anyone. Our easy dynamic and chemistry didn’t just happen by chance.
“You can distract me as long as you’re staying here, which I’m sure won’t be long,” she says, shattering my illusions.
Kyri
My cheeks burn as I drive into Atlanta with the hottest guy on earth inside the shittiest car on the planet. It was so humiliating when he noticed the dent in the ceiling. This car is old, rickety, and has seen nearly two hundred thousand miles. It’s probably going to die on me at any second. I somehow hoped he wouldn’t notice how ugly and worn down it was, but he did. Now I’m wondering if maybe I should have called a cab, or if he’s embarrassed to be seen inside this car with me.
The story of how the dent came about actually has nothing to do with sex. It was a make out session gone horribly wrong the night of my senior prom. The guy ended up getting violent when I refused to have sex with him. It was one of the worst nights of my life…
But Jace doesn’t need to know about that. This is just a fling. There’s no reason I should be telling him all my deepest, darkest secrets.
Once we’re in Atlanta, I pull into a parking garage near the World of Coca-Cola museum and the Georgia Aquarium. Jace and I both make quick work of getting out of the car. I cringe as I move around the car to face him, dreading his look of embarrassment at being seen in public with me. Then I’m surprised when he meets me behind the trunk of the car, scoops his hand around the back of my neck, and pulls me into a hungry kiss.
His warm mouth molds to mine, and I release a sigh through my nose. My arms move on their own to wrap around his waist. The hardness of his core and back muscles make me anxious to reach inside and drag my fingertips over each individual tendon, but this isn’t the time or place for that. I manage to keep my composure until Jace detaches his lips from mine and looks down into my eyes, intense. His lips ghost my cheekbone and nose before landing on my forehead.
He’s dangerous to my heart, to my very soul, but I’m not running away. Instead, I seem to have lost all composure and landed straight into his arms. What does that say about me?
“Ready to go exploring, love?” Jace looks down at me again and grins like a boy on his first date with a crush.
“Definitely.” My voice is soft and hoarse. I hate and love the power he has over me.
He kisses me one more time and then reaches down to hold my hand. I can’t help but notice how perfect his hand feels wrapped inside mine. His fingertips are calloused and rough, and his hand is firm, serving to remind me of the incredible mountain of man I’m walking beside. He towers above me, and I’ve never really thought of myself as short. I have to crane my neck to look up at him from this angle.
My eyes wander down to his feet as we head to the elevator that takes us down to the ground floor. They’re truly gigantic. I’ve already felt a hint of the monster inside his jeans, and now I’m sweating from more than just the heat. I never imagined myself with someone as huge as him. What if he can’t fit inside me? What if he tears me apart from the inside out?
Rattling my head, I shake my worrisome thoughts away. Now is not the time to fall apart. I deserve happiness for once in my life. Looking for excuses to run away is not the answer. I can’t live in fear.
Jace and I huddle into the corner booth on the same side, facing away from people. The privacy affords us the chance to really look at each other for the first time since morning. We’ve had such a busy day in Atlanta. Sightseeing, making out, venue scouting, and more making out—in dark alleys, in the middle of a museum, in the cab—everywhere. I feel like I’ve got a permanent imprint of his lips in mine now, which hopefully will help me cope when he’s had his fun with me and is no longer mine. In the dim lighting, his eyes are shadowed by his dark brows, which brings my attention upward to his hair.
So rich, so soft…
“You can touch it,” he mumbles, a smile growing on his lips.
I let my fingers sink into its dark thickness, and a spell overcomes me. The sweet, musky scent of his cologne and the smirk warping his lips intoxicate me, sending my heart into a frenzy in my chest. He sees his effect on me and leans down, taking my lips in a soft, brief kiss before the waitress comes to take our order.
The waitress is a bit on the short side, but her hair is in a long ponytail and her body is very athletic. She startles when she recognizes Jace in the booth next to me.
“Holy…” Her breath comes out in a raspy rush. She clears her throat. “Uh, what can I get you two to drink today?”
“You got Bourbon?” Jace asks.
“Yes, Mr. Hawthorne.”
“I’ll take a maple-bourbon smash, please.” Jace buries his nose in the food menu, ignoring the silly grin on her face.
“I’ll have a strawberry daiquiri, please.”
“All right, I’ll have those right out for you.” The waitress turns around and I hear her squeal a little under her breath as she heads to the bar with our order.
I turn back to Jace, who’s still looking at the appetizers. The sight of his statuesque profile causes another flutter in my stomach. I can’t seem to calm myself around him. All I can think about is getting him naked inside a locked hotel room and finding out what sex with a rock star is like.
Something tells me it’s wild, unrestrained, and addictive.
After we order our food, Jace and I have our first chance to really talk. He gives me a summary of his happy childhood in Britain. He has wonderful parents who were able to provide everything he ever wanted and more. Having three siblings sounds fun, like having your own playgroup around you all the time. His extended family was an integral part of his growing up years as well. Everything about his life sounds perfect up until a horrible tragedy he experienced a few years ago.
“I was driving my brother home from a night out at the cinema, and a drunk driver slammed into the passenger side.” Pain flickers in his eyes. It makes my heart clench in my chest. All I want to do is take the hurt away. “He was rushed to the hospital and put in the ICU. For a while, we thought he was going to make it, but he had a tear in his heart the doctors didn’t catch, and eventually he bled out…” Jace’s Adam’s apple pulls up and down. The hardness in his face makes me think he might be fighting back tears.
I rub his exposed forearm, trying not to think of how rock-solid and smooth it is. “I’m so sorry, Jace. That must have been awful.”
He nods. “Soon after that, my music career took off. I owe it all to a song I wrote about him. I’m not sure if you know it or not—”
“‘Sorry I Survived.’ I love that song. It made me cry the first time I heard it,” I tell him honestly.
“Anyway, that’s my story.” He forces a smile. “What’s yours?”
I fidget with my fingers on the table. The honesty with which he just laid out his life story makes me feel like I owe him some honesty of my own. My past, my scars…he needs to know what he’s getting into with someone like me.
“My childhood was nowhere near as happy as yours. My father was always miserable because all he ever wanted to do was follow his dreams. He’d get so angry, yelling at us, and he even got so drunk one time that he took a swing at my mother…” My stomach turns into a rock, and I push my food away. Talking about this is the one thing that can kill my ravenous appetite. “He missed, and he apologized over and over, but it was too late to repair the relationship. After that, she told him to just leave and find his happiness, so he did. We never saw or heard from him again.”
Jace moves his arm so he can clasp my hand. “That’s awful, Kyri. I’m sorry.” Guilt hangs heavily in his eyes, though I’m not sure why. Maybe he regrets making me talk about my childhood.
“We’re fine now. Happy, even. It’s just been hard. As you can see, we don’t have much, and it’s a struggle sometimes just to put food on the table, but we get by. I’m really proud of myself and my mom for making it this far. We’ve been each other’s rock. A couple of strong women battling against the world.” A wobbly smile creeps onto my face, and I brush my hair back.
“And how old are you?”
“Twenty-two.”
“How old were you when he left?”
“Eleven.”
Jace’s eyes widen. “So you’ve been helping your mother take care of the family since you were a little girl?”
