“In our kitchen that you love so much. This is your home now too. And we’re going to christen it with your cries of desire.”
His touch ignited her skin, but it was Justice’s words that tugged deep in her chest. Home. A place to be really safe. Free. Able to be a little wild without judgment. Her belly turned to liquid heat and made her brave. She tugged off the shirt and bra, freeing her breasts. She wasn’t going to think about her slight muffin top riding the waistband of her skirt or her new scar on her neck and shoulder.
He groaned. “So sexy.”
Taking her hand, he turned her around, facing the window in the top of the back door. The heat of Justice spread along her bare back. His fingers stroked her belly. Pushing her hair aside, he kissed the curve of her neck.
Hot chills pebbled her skin. Liza tilted her head, giving him more access.
Justice cupped her breasts, brushing her nipples as he kissed and sucked her neck. Yearning streaked down her belly, making her moan and clench her thighs.
Against her lower back, she could feel the hard length of his cock trapped in his jeans.
Justice trailed his mouth to her ear. “Are your panties wet?”
“Maybe.”
“Show me. Take them off.”
She twisted her waist to meet his gaze without hurting her neck. Looking for…she didn’t know exactly.
“Problem? You told me to get home to share your news. And that you need this—not just sex, but to be wanted. You told me, Beth. Now let me give you what you need. I’m going to make you come, then fuck you until you come again—slowly and with care because I love you and I’m not going to hurt you. Now take those panties off and show me that you’re ready to take what my brave girl asked for. Then we’ll finish whatever dinner you’re cooking and you’ll tell me your news.”
She loved him so damned much. She had told him she needed him, and here he was. All she had to do was be the brave girl he thought she was. Liza kept his gaze while she slid her hands beneath the flare of her skirt. She pushed her panties down her thighs.
Justice shifted to hold her waist but never broke their stare.
She stepped out of her underwear and held the garment up. The late-afternoon sunlight caught the light-blue fabric with the dark center of wetness.
“Fuck.” His voice dropped low, almost feral. His cock surged against her back, fighting its confinement in his jeans. With one hand he yanked her skirt up. His fingers slid along her seam and circled her clit. Wrapping his other arm around her waist, he held her firmly. “Rest your head against my shoulder. Don’t strain your neck.”
She leaned back, sinking into the feel of him. He circled the bundle of nerves, his touch growing faster and more frantic. He angled his mouth over hers, thrusting his tongue in as he pressed one finger inside her.
Her vaginal walls contracted hard, and Liza writhed. The sounds of their kissing and him fingering her filled the kitchen. Her body burned as need shot up. She gripped his arm, holding on. He curled his finger, rubbing the spot deep inside while his palm pressed her clit.
The orgasm exploded over her, while tremors spasmed. She didn’t know how much time passed as she leaned against him, soaking in the pleasure until her muscles were sated.
* * *
Blood roared in Justice’s veins, his body rigid with excitement. Desperate need pounded along his spine, fed by the scent of Beth—warm peaches and the wet, spicy smell of her orgasm.
“I have to get inside you.” He heard the growl in his voice, but he didn’t care. Turning her, he lifted her up, and Beth wrapped around him like a blanket. She kissed along his jaw and down his neck.
Christ, her desperation fed his. Long strides took him to their room. Sunlight spilled between the blinds, illuminating his bed that Beth had added a half-dozen decorative pillows to when she moved in. After laying her down, he kicked off his shoes and stripped in record time.
Beth’s eyes were glazed behind her glasses, and her skirt was rucked up, baring her pussy to him. He gripped her knees and spread her open. No Brazilian, thank God. This was his Beth with dark curls wet with her desire for him.
“I could take the skirt off.”
He lifted his gaze to her face surrounded by the heavy cloud of her riotous hair. “You look like wicked-hot sin with that skirt bunched around your waist, baring yourself to me. Show me your panties that you took off to get fucked.”
Warm color stained her face and flushed her chest as she held up her fist. The scrap of blue fabric spilled from her fingers and over the head of his cock.
The cool silk sensation gliding over his throbbing dick had him clamping his teeth. Christ.
Beth dragged the panties down his shaft and back up in a satiny torture. Hot pleasure arced into his balls and gripped his belly. He squeezed his fingers into her thighs. One look to the center of Beth—all the creamy pink flesh, wet and swollen for him—and he was done. Unable to think, to even breathe, he grabbed the panties from her hand and pressed his cockhead to her opening. “Are you going to be good? Let me take this slow? Careful?”
Her eyes fired to a wild green. “No.”
“Yes.” He growled it as he slid in an inch. Then another. Her hot, slick grasp ripped a groan from him. Without permission, his hips surged forward, buying his cock balls-deep in her pussy. Riding the edge of insanity, he skimmed the lingerie over her tits, teasing her nipples with the cool silk.
Her mouth parted, and her walls contracted hard.
Oh hell yeah. He thrust in and out and guided the scrap of silk down the center line of her belly.
“Justice.” Her fingers convulsed in the comforter.
“Stay still, baby. Try not to tense your neck and shoulders.” God she felt good. He moved in and out, just hard enough to drive them both mad. Lust squeezed his balls, the need to come building. Now. Holding the panties, he rubbed the material over her clit.
Beth cried out, eyes squeezing shut, belly going tight. Right there. Justice rode her while pressing hard on her clit, and she exploded.
One more thrust and his orgasm shot down his spine, fiery pleasure detonated. His mind hazed beneath the fierce bliss racking his body.
Once he could think again, he pulled out, lay next to her and pulled her against him. He rubbed the shoulder area where she’d been stabbed, but her muscles were so lax, any lingering worry drained out of him. Contentment spread, chasing out all the pressures and worries. “I need this, Beth.”
She tilted her head back. “Sex?”
He fixed her glasses on her nose. “Us. This. The way you make me feel.” He couldn’t help adding, “Everything is so damned tense right now with the band, setting up our record label, money’s tight…” He stopped himself from listing all the problems. The thought of leaving her for three weeks made him feel…unsettled. “Come on tour with us.” Beth was his sane place. She calmed the frantic energy in him. The only other place he ever felt this way was onstage.
She pulled back and sat up. “I don’t think I can.”
Irritation climbed his spine. “Why? You gave up your job at Wylie’s, and we’ll be back before classes start.”
She took a deep breath. “Sloane offered me a job today. A paid internship as his assistant. I’ll get to work with his publicity and marketing departments, see how they create and control images.”
Disappointment weighed heavily on him, but when he saw the excitement brightening her eyes and warming her face, he shoved it aside. He leaned against the headboard and pulled her onto his lap. “You really want this?”
“The money’s better than fair. And I’ll learn so much.” She traced the blue jay tattoo on his chest. “I need this. You’re going off on this tour, then you guys are going into the studio to record, plus doing gigs to make money and keep your profile up.”
“What does that have to do with accepting the job?”
She sucked in her bottom lip, and her lax muscles firmed.
Worry dug into his gut. Taking hold of her chin, he studied her f
ace. “What?” It hadn’t been easy for her these last weeks, recovering both physically and emotionally from the knife attack. She’d had some night terrors brought on by dreams of Hayes. Justice had been there, able to coax her awake and get her to verbalize her fears and anger.
But he was leaving soon… Could Beth handle this when he was gone? Would she cut if he wasn’t here? “Talk, Beth.” It came out gruffer than he intended.
“It hurts a little, okay? Being pushed out, being replaced as your publicist, the fact that Christine told you to distance yourself from me. Even if I went, I wouldn’t be a part of it, I’d be on the outside. Like a groupie.”
Shit. He hadn’t realized how this bothered her. But what could he do? Christine and the band made it clear—they didn’t want Beth connected to their band in any way. She wasn’t mentioned on their website, social media, anywhere. He hated this, damn it. “It’s for your safety too.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t patronize me. I have a scar that tells me how dangerous it is.”
Hell, now he felt like more of an ass. Beth was the one who’d warned him that exposing her identity would bring out the crazies who believed she’d ruined Hayes’s career in some scheme with her parents. Then she was stabbed—so yeah, he didn’t get to say stupid shit to her about protecting her. At least Hans had been charged with attempted murder, his bail set high enough to keep his ass in jail awaiting trial. “Sorry, you’re right. And I’m sorry it hurts that you can’t work with us. I wish it were different.”
“But it’s not. This is the reality we have to live with. But this job, it’s mine. Plus it will give me enough credits to finish my B.A. in December, and I have a chance to make a mark here. I won’t be chasing after your band like a groupie, or sitting here doing nothing. And the money I make will help both of us too.”
She really did need this. “Then you’ll take it. And maybe it’s better this way. We got blindsided today.”
“With what?”
He tugged on her hair. “Jagged Sin, they’re on the tour.”
“How? They were charged with Simon’s attack and—”
“I know. I talked to Christine on the way home. From what she found out, they cut a deal with the court, did a stint in rehab, and the charges were dropped.”
“Didn’t Simon know this?”
“Yes, but he didn’t think they’d do the rehab.”
“Oh, Justice, can Simon endure three weeks with those assholes? What about you?”
“We have to, Beth. We need the money and the exposure. As long as they don’t go after you, I’m okay. So in that sense, it’ll be better if you’re not there every day.” This wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d thought. “But I’ll miss you like hell.” Another thought occurred to him. “Shit, I’ll be gone on your birthday.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You could fly home.”
The hopefulness in her tone pierced him. “I can’t. We’re locked in for the three weeks.”
Disappointment flickered in her gaze before she shook it off. “Not a big deal. All part of dating a rock star, right?”
Her twenty-first birthday, and the first one they were celebrating together, was a big deal. He needed to figure out a way to— “I have an idea. The tour is in Vegas that weekend of your birthday. Fly out and meet me.” Bracing his head on his hand, he looked down at his girl. “We’re going to do your twenty-first birthday right. You ever been to Vegas?”
“No. I mean we drove through it, but we didn’t stop.”
Justice could see both curiosity and worry in her gaze. He smoothed the frown line between her eyebrows. “Do you want to go? I’ll keep you safe, but you’re turning twenty-one. It’s time to live a little, sweetheart.”
“Are you corrupting me, Rooster?”
He hugged her against him. “Hell yeah. If you’re living with a rock star, it’s time you learn to party like one.”
And he was just the man to teach her.
Chapter 5
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel was packed. Excitement ruffled the air. Court of Rock Summer Tour had sold out the four-thousand-seat venue. Liza loved it. Well, not Jagged Sin. They’d been onstage first, and she’d kept her butt planted in her seat.
“Next up, Savaged Illusions!”
The crowd roared, and Liza surged to her feet, clapping wildly as the band jogged onto the stage.
“What are they singing tonight?” Emily asked.
“‘Reaper’s Child’ by the Hell Blades.” Screech’s song. Liza hadn’t ever seen Justice perform it. Anticipation tightened her belly. It was the song they’d listened to Screech play in the club on what had been their first time out together. It hadn’t exactly been a date, but it had been the start of something special between them.
He’d chosen this song for her.
“I don’t think I know that one,” Nikki said from her other side.
“Just listen.” Justice had gotten her two friends tickets, and Liza, Em and Nikki had all driven to Vegas together. Once, Liza’d been isolated and alone. Now she had a live-in boyfriend, girlfriends, and she was celebrating her twenty-first birthday in Vegas. So yeah…she might have lost her family, but she’d gained so much more. Her worst fear had happened—being exposed and then attacked—and yet she wasn’t cowering and hiding. Nope, she was out living her life.
Best birthday ever.
Once the band took their places, Justice spread his arms wide. “Hey there, Las Vegas! Who wants to party?” He waited a beat for the clapping to die off. “Let’s do this!”
The stage lights went dark, and silence fell. Dramatic chills broke out on her skin. For a few seconds, it felt as though no one in the venue even breathed.
One light snapped on illuminating Gray, his blond head tilted back, eyes closed as he played the haunting opening notes to “Reaper’s Child.” Gray shined in that moment, his confidence as brilliant as the notes flowing from the piano.
“Wow,” Emily said. “He’s beautiful.”
She didn’t have a chance to respond as Justice began to sing, his voice low, as if each word was torn from the deepest reaches of his heart. A second spotlight snapped on Justice, just as his voice climbed the notes, ringing with power as he railed against the Reaper for stealing the soul of his child.
Liza shivered. Reaper meant drugs in this song, and there was a time when she’d felt that the Reaper of drugs, alcohol and partying sometimes stole her mother from her. Everyone had a Reaper they fought for someone they loved.
“My God, Liza.” Nikki took her hand. “Justice is amazing.”
As she swayed to the song, her dark memories vanished. Instead she recalled the way Justice had wrapped his arms around her in Screech’s club as they watched and listened to him.
Once the song hit the first chorus, the entire stage lit up as the band played, Lynx pounding home the anger, River laying down the emotional throb with his bass and Simon ripping up the guitar…and when Justice sang the last note…
All the spotlights went off except Gray’s as he closed with the agony of defeat on his piano. The Reaper had won…
The audience sat stunned for a single beat of her heart. Then the entire auditorium exploded into thundering applause.
Liza was right there with them, losing herself in the emotional reaction, even as a part of her desperately wished she was backstage so she could throw herself in Justice’s arms and tell him how much she loved him. But she wasn’t part of the show or working for the band anymore.
It didn’t matter, she was here and having fun.
Two hours later, Liza found herself at the poolside bar surrounded by a crowd. It was after ten, the night warm with the dry desert air of Vegas. Palm trees swayed gently next to groupings of lounge chairs and cabanas. People clustered around tables on the bar patio and swarmed to get the bartenders’ and servers’ attention.
“All right, birthday girl, what do you want? This one’s on me,” Gray said, his smile ridicu
lously sweet.
She glanced at the busy bartenders, the rows of bottles stacked on shelves, the blenders… She repressed a shudder. “Nothing out of a blender.” The memory of a hand pushing that frothy pink drink on her rode too close to the surface. Yet surrounded by the crowd of friends and her lover, it was easier to stay in the moment.
“Kahlua Mudslide is made in a shaker. It’s sort of like a milkshake,” Nikki suggested. “Well, with a punch.”
“Same with a Cosmopolitan,” Emily said. “You’d like that. Or a Mango mojito. It has mint and lime in it.”
“Bellini is made with sparkling wine,” Nikki added. “Like champagne. Remember you tried champagne?”
She shifted her gaze to Justice standing at her left shoulder. “We researched drinks on our way here.”
He grinned. “Of course you did. I bet you have a list on your phone too.”
Making a list made her feel like she was in control of the decision instead of recklessly jumping into a bad choice that could drag her down a life of destruction. She had too many memories of her mom stumbling in drunk and puking, or the screaming fights with men or other women over men. She didn’t want to be her. But she didn’t want to be her dour aunt either. She just wanted to be a normal college girl celebrating her twenty-first birthday with friends at a bar. “Yeah I still don’t know what to order. What do I do?”
His amusement dimmed. “What do you want to do? Any drink you order I’m going to watch them make, then I’ll taste it. It’s your call. But if you’d rather have a Coke, you tell everyone else to back the fuck off. Got it? No one makes you drink something you don’t want.”
His calm assurance helped, but the one thing she feared was losing control and being vulnerable. And yet, she wanted to be able to be a normal girl and live, not sit on the sidelines, always afraid to take a risk. “What if I get drunk?”
“I have a two-beer limit on tour. I got you, Beth. You can let go, party, and not worry.” He leaned closer. “I’m here. Nothing bad is going to happen to you.”
Her eyes stung. He’d protect her, keep her safe while she relaxed years of vigilance and had some fun. Finally she turned and flagged a bartender. “I’ll take a mango mojito.”
Savaged Vows: Savaged Illusions Trilogy Book 2 Page 6
