by Lauren Dane
“It will be now, yeah.”
He counted into “Ground Down,” a song off their new album, and they were off.
Paddy hadn’t felt this good since before she’d walked out of his hotel room three weeks before. He was there onstage at the end of a supersuccessful tour. Their album was kicking ass and all his brothers were up there with him.
And she was there. When he looked to the right, he caught sight of the pale moonlight of her hair. He knew she’d be dancing, knew she’d be smiling.
They sailed through “Chemicals” and “Boots” before he handed his guitar off and headed to the piano. The crowd, knowing it was “Silent No More” roared their approval.
“This one is for Natalie, who makes me a lucky, lucky man simply because she exists.”
He began to play, and as he sang, they all sang with him. His words echoed not just back to Nat, but to their special people, too. That filled him. The awe that something he wrote for her would also be something they’d sing to each other, play at weddings and proms. It was so damned special.
He fell into the lyrics. Speaking to her about his love and what she’d done for him. This time was different. This time he understood what it meant to not have her. So now he knew better what it meant to have her at his side. What it meant to fight to keep someone he’d been careless with.
He knew what he had. Wasn’t sure he deserved her, but he’d sure as hell try to be worthy.
They played through to the first encore and left the stage. The lights didn’t come up, so they all knew the band would be back. He headed straight to her and kissed her because he wanted to.
“Hey.”
“Hey, Paddy Hurley. You sure know how to win a girl back.”
“Glad it’s working.”
He excused himself and ran back to hit the john. On the way back, he chugged down some water and ate a protein bar, tossing one to Ezra as they met up just off the stage entrance.
Ezra tipped his chin in thanks.
“How’s it going, old man?”
“Not bad. Not bad at all.”
Paddy leaned in close. “So I’d really like to drive Nat home. Can you take Tuesday back with you?”
Ezra’s brow rose, but he shrugged. “Already handled. You’re doing the right thing. She looks happy.”
“Working on it. You ready?” He looked around to catch Vaughan’s and Damien’s attention. Everyone gave a thumbs-up, and they went back out.
After a rousing version of “Dive Bar” and “Revolutionary,” which was a song Damien had written for Mary, Paddy paused. “Forgive us if we butcher this cover. But a week ago, I was on a flight to yet another city after yet another show, and this one came on, and it made me think of the most important person in my life.”
He and the guys only had a few runs at practicing “Titanium” but he thought they managed a pretty rock-and-roll version. She was fearless in ways he’d never fully understand, but he appreciated nonetheless.
She was strong and fierce and the best thing in his world. She made him better.
And when he got off stage, the tears in her eyes were good ones.
* * *
HE PULLED UP into his garage, and the door slid closed behind them.
“At long last I have you alone and in the vicinity of a shower and my bed. It’s like Christmas morning.”
She rolled her eyes as they headed inside, and he only paused long enough to reset the alarm before tugging her upstairs as he pulled his clothes off one-handed, leaving a trail down the hall.
“I’m a sweaty mess.”
“You are. But you make it look really good.”
He smiled. “Damn, Nat, you’re here with me. I’m so happy right now.”
She reached out and grabbed his cock. “Wanna be happier?”
“You first.”
Instead of their usual quick shower sex to take the edge off, they both cleaned up fast, drying as they rushed to the bedroom.
“You, on that bed.” He flicked the switch to get the fire going and turned on some music before moving to stand at the foot of the bed, watching her as she lay there, a flush from the shower pinkening her skin.
“There are so many things I want to do with you—to you—I don’t know where to start. It’s like trying to read a menu when you’re really hungry. I’m afraid if I choose one thing I’m going to really want something else.”
She spread her legs, putting her feet flat against the mattress as she drew her knees up.
All the spit in his mouth dried up.
“Plenty of time to eat more than one thing.”
He cursed, moving to her, over her, sliding his body against hers until his cock notched up against her.
“Trouble.”
She laughed and stretched up to steal a kiss. “The best kind, though.”
She moved, counterbalancing him, and sat astride his body. He tried to sit up but she pushed him back against the mattress. “Oh, no. I’m in charge right now.”
Trixie Whitley’s “Undress Your Name” came on, and she gave him a smile. “I love this one.”
He had planned to respond but she slid herself down his cock hard and fast and everything wisped away, replaced by pleasure, sharp and raw.
Then she began a slow rise and fall, undulating her hips as she came down on him fully.
“I was really sad without you. I never expected to actually get used to having someone in my life.”
The only light in the room was from the fireplace and the warm orange glow against her skin made it appear as if she glowed. He slid his hands up her thighs and the nip of her waist.
“I’m—”
She put a fingertip against his lips. “I’m not telling you to make you sad or sorry. I’m telling you so you understand what you mean to me.”
He lifted his hip and rolled, flipping her to her back. “Now I’m in control.” He thrust in harder and deeper. “Now I’m going to tell you how every night I’d go back to my hotel room and try to convince myself everything would be fine. In between bouts of drinking too much and jerking off while I thought about you. I came into the coffee shop this morning. Bobbi was excited when I told her I was going to surprise you. So I gave her the doughnuts.”
She laughed, wrapping her legs around his body, her heels on his ass, pushing him, urging him deeper. “Those were your doughnuts? So sneaky.”
“It’s merely an indicator of what I will do to get you back. Anyway.” Damn, she felt so good around him, he lost his words for long moments, just falling into that sensation as the heat of her rippled all around him.
“That’s so good.” He kissed her before he moved, keeping inside her while he got to his knees.
She was flat on her back, legs spread with him between them, looking up at him with those big blue eyes burning with a light made just for him.
“I love you this way. Laid out all for me.” He caressed over her stomach and up to her breasts. He got back to his story. “And then you walked in. Your cheeks rosy from the cold. Everything had been chaos in my head since Chicago, and when I saw you, everything stilled. Got quiet until I didn’t see or hear anything but you. You’re the one.”
“Even after you talked to my father?”
“Don’t spoil this moment with that asshole. We’ll talk about that later. For now, let me declare my love.”
She snorted a laugh, and then he nearly swallowed his tongue as she slid a hand down her belly and began to stroke herself slowly.
“This. You’re like my diamond. So many facets. On the surface, you’re cool and elegant and then here, when it’s just us, you’re raw and sensual. It’s like the best secret I have. Here, what we have is all ours.”
She caught her bottom lip in her teeth, and her inner muscles tightened. “Don’t hold back. I know you’ve got a lot more in you after this one. I’m just going to watch.”
She arched, her head going back, exposing more of her neck, enough that his mouth watered, but he held back kissing her ther
e because he’d miss the way she looked as she made herself come.
She didn’t close her eyes, her gaze on him as his roved over her body. Over the way her nipples had darkened, pulling tight, the flush on her belly, the peekaboo nature as her hand moved, her mouth as she dragged in air and then to her eyes.
“Love you, Nat.”
Her body heated around him, making him gasp as she did, as all that hot wet squeezed him in waves, dragging him closer to his climax with nails dug deep.
Once she’d come down a little, he bent to lick up her neck, tasting her skin. “You’re the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Gotta give you something to use the next time you’re in a hotel room without me.”
He laughed, changing his angle, so impossibly deep inside her, they both gasped. “That’s the way. I want all of you.”
She reached up to cup his cheek. “You have all of me. I love you.”
And he planned to spend every day for the rest of his life deserving that gift.
She loved it when he took her like this. When he poured all his desire into his gaze, into the way he touched her, possessive and wild but gentle at the same time.
This man would hurt her again, she knew. She’d hurt him, too. They’d step on one another’s feelings, sometimes on purpose but mostly by accident. But they’d get through it.
Because he saw her in ways no one else did. And that was a gift.
He was close, but she was rising again, halfway there because he’d stripped her bare and loved what he found, wounds and triggers and all.
He pulled one of her legs up over his hip, turning her a little sideways, getting deep in rolling thrusts. She gasped at all the places he brought to life each time he plunged into her body. And that was before he wet his fingertips in his mouth and found her clit.
“Not alone. You come with me.”
She couldn’t deny him; instead, she tightened around him, concentrating, and when it hit, it was a bone-deep wave of sensation that started at her toes.
He cursed under his breath then. “So damned good. Never want this to end.”
He thrust harder and faster until he gripped her tight, holding her, staying deep as he fell into his own climax.
Long moments later, he fell to the bed next to her, pulling her close after he brought the comforter up over them. “Makeup sex is not overrated.”
She smiled and let herself know she was loved and that this was good.
* * * * *
Look for the next installment of
the HURLEY BOYS, Ezra and Tuesday’s story
in BROKEN OPEN,
coming from Lauren Dane
and HQN December 2014.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SPECIAL THANKS GO to Angela James who has been my editor since 2006. I don’t know really if I can do justice to how amazing a great editor/author fit is, but I’m so fortunate to have it. Thank you for all the work you put into helping me write the best book I possibly can.
My agent, Laura Bradford, who spent part of the offer and negotiation of this book deal while I was on another continent and never even broke a sweat.
My assistant, Fatin Soufan, who capably and ably handles all the kooky stuff I send her way.
My friends who are always around when I need them.
My family—my wonderful husband who deals with a crazy writer for a wife with grace (and never complains when entire conversations from our life end up on the page) and my children who are wild and never stop talking and who remind me why it’s important to love with all your heart.
Kings of Leon—thank you for being the spirit animal of this series and for these brothers.
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ISBN-13: 9781460338469
THE BEST KIND OF TROUBLE
Copyright © 2014 by Lauren Dane
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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