by Riley Love
“We’ve each picked out our favorite story,” Blake said softly. “And we were hoping we could do you the great honor of helping bring it to life.”
That accent made anything sound smooth. Like propositioning me for a weekend full of torrid sex with four guys. Four guys who I’d fantasized about since I was a teenager, back when I had no idea what this feeling between my legs was. Blake made me feel like I was the most beautiful, powerful woman in the world, and that the band wanted me.
Wine plus a British accent was a dangerous combination.
“I’m not sure what you’re asking for.” I knew exactly what he’d asked for. I was too stunned to believe it.
“You said Lina is your other half and she gets what she wants.” Hunter’s fingers hooked into the fabric of my dress, dragging it up higher on my leg. “What do you want, Alina?”
“You want to act out the scenes in my stories with me?” I could barely speak.
“That’s exactly what we want.” Todd leaned forward, like he wanted to touch me too. “All you have to do is say the word. Choose who you want. As many times as you want. Do you know how many times I’ve come reading those stories, panting your name?”
Holy shit. Stay in character. “I can’t wait to watch you do it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean I get to go first?”
Fuck, did it? Here I was with my idols, who’d read my filthy stories about them, and as a thank you, they wanted to shag me rotten. How many times had I fantasized about this, while my fingers circled and squeezed my clit until my hips bucked off the mattress?
I rose from the table and reached for his hand. “Tell me your favorite story.”
Chapter Four
My body shook as Todd led me away from the cluster of bungalows. Not because I thought he’d hurt me, but because he was taking me toward the lights of the village. Steel drums competed with the crash of the waves.
“Don’t be afraid, Lina,” he said.
I almost reminded him that I was Alina, but this was his fantasy as much as it was mine. Once I’d put it out there, it didn’t belong to only me anymore.
Todd picked a story I wrote about him, but I never imagined it like this. Of course he didn’t pick one of the tamer ones—the two of us cuddling in bed and having some good old missionary sex. My stories went from vanilla to scorching, depending on my mood when I wrote them. I gave each story a rating, so no one could bitch I caught them off guard with something too dirty for their liking.
A few other couples walked along the shoreline, laughing and kissing. We were close enough to the restaurant that the laughter spilled off the deck and rolled against our skin. Todd stopped me, his hands firmly on my arms like he knew I was a flight risk and kissed me before I had a chance to protest. Chicken out. Suggest a safer alternative.
This is what you wanted. That’s why you wrote the stories.
The kiss was sure and deep, like we’d done it a hundred times before. In my fantasies, we had. It was a scary place, that false sense of security. Todd moaned against my lips, and reality melted away. At that moment, I was Lina. Confident and dominant. Everything I wanted to be. Our tongues tangled, and he wouldn’t give in. I liked that. A lot. He wasn’t going to make this easy on me because I’d written him as the submissive. He’d make me earn it.
We separated with a gasp, the surf and my heartbeat pounding in my ears. His stubble tickled my cheek as he moved to my neck, and his grasp tightened, like he thought I could be swept away with the tide.
“What are you wearing under that dress?” His breath was hot against my ear.
“Why don’t you find out?” I was going to like being Lina. A lot.
He released my arms, and I could’ve fallen back in the sand if his grasp didn’t fall on my waist. He ran his hands up over my soft breasts. With a halter, it was almost impossible to wear a bra. He cupped them through the fabric, teasing my nipples until they ached for more.
“I like these,” he said, palming my breasts through the dress. “A lot. I hoped they were real. I want to see them, Lina. I’m going to pull on the tie and let the whole world see how beautiful you are.”
I couldn’t breathe. That was the line from the story. Only when I wrote it, we weren’t on an island. We were in a crowded park in the middle of the city, people all around us, and we were in a snow globe, our own little world. On the beach, we had shooting stars instead of snowflakes and sand instead of ice. It was perfect.
Other couples passed by, closer to the water. To them, we were nothing more than shadowy figures among the palm trees. If they even noticed us.
“Untie my dress,” I rasped. “But I then I want you to—”
“I know exactly what you want me to do.” His gaze lit up the night sky. “Do you know how many times I’ve read these stories? Let me see if I get it right. I want to bring you to your knees, Lina. I want you to cry my name between strangled breaths.”
Oh, fuck yes. He had read the stories. He could quote them line for line. I nodded; he needed permission to go forward, and he knew it. I was a trembling mess as he loosened the knot at the back of my neck. The dress was a little tighter than the last time I wore it, and it was begging for mercy. The fabric fluttered down, the warm night air caressing my aching nipples. Todd didn’t touch me, not yet. He watched me, taking in the dramatic rise and fall of my breasts as I struggled to breathe.
Was he disappointed? Why wasn’t he touching me? I’d die of shame at this point if he changed his mind. Funny how before he untied that knot, I could’ve been convinced to go back to the bungalows. Now there was no turning back.
“Beautiful,” he murmured. “Exactly as I imagined.”
The first kiss landed on my collarbone. He trailed his lips down my chest, his fingers circling my swollen nipples. He came to rest above my thundering heartbeat until his breath synchronized with mine. We were one.
My head fell back with the first pinch of my nipple.
Todd moaned in approval. “Do you like pain?”
“You should know. You’ve read my stories.”
“Yes,” he breathed. “But there’s a fine line between what happens in the story and what happens here. Between us.”
I’d been in love with the idea of this man for so long, and he was making good on the expectation I set for him. “Do you know my safe word?”
He nodded. “Ravioli.”
I laughed. “You did pay attention.”
“You better believe it.” He fell to his knees, his lips on my nipple one more time. He covered my other breast with his hand, and I guided him with my hands in his hair. I mimicked his movement. Gentle massages and hard yanks.
His next move left me exposed. I couldn’t breathe. Couples were passing us, and my tits were…out there. Todd had moved on. The dress rolled down my tummy, and he ran his hand up my thigh. He was seconds away from finding out that, like in the story, I didn’t wear any underwear.
“You are a bad girl, my Lina.”
His Lina. The fangirl inside me was dying. But I had to stay in character. “You wouldn’t want me any other way.”
“No.” He dragged the dress down my body. I stepped out of it when it pooled at my feet. All or nothing. I was naked on a public beach, and a rock star was going down on me. If that wasn’t a badass bitch level achievement, I didn’t know what was.
Todd slid his finger over my clit, grinning as the electric shock rocketed through my body. He traced the line between my slick, hot folds.
“You’re so ready for this.” His voice was a little more than a breath, dragged out to sea with the tide.
He licked along the line of my pubic hair. I was trembling, knees knocking together. Was that couple at the shoreline stopping to watch us? Could they tell I was bathed only in the shadow of the night? When Todd’s tongue made contact with my clit, I didn’t care anymore. They could shine a spotlight on me if they wanted.
It was the craziest part of the whole thing. How doing these things tha
t I’d been taught were so wrong made me feel so fucking good. Every day was filled with worry about my mom—and emptiness. Loss. Every day was something less.
With his fingers, a few quick flicks of his talented tongue, Todd filled that aching void. But more than what he did was what he’d said. He’d read my stories, and he was making them real. For both of us.
There weren’t words to thank him for that. For those few moments, as he thrust his fingers up into my pussy, the universe revolved around me.
Lina might have been able to stand there and take it like a champ, but my legs had turned to jelly. Todd eased me down to my knees. His lips never left my skin as he lay me down in the sand and pulled my legs apart. I wished the ocean would swallow us and bring us to a place where this would never end.
Todd crawled up my body, caging me in. I moaned as I sucked the salty tang of my arousal from his lips.
“Do you remember what happens next?” I asked. The story had gone sideways as instinct took over.
He nodded. Moonlight reflected off the raging surf, and it painted his in a misty blue light. Bathed him in shadows. “I ask you if you’re ready for my cock. And in the story, you made me wait as a crowd of people pass. But I can’t wait any longer, Lina. I don’t care who sees me fucking you.”
“Me either,” I whispered. “Fuck me now.”
He collapsed next to me, sliding his pants off. I’d felt his shaft, hard and hot through his pants, but this was my first glimpse of it. It rested against his stomach. And fuck, that thing was thick. I reached down to help him with the condom because I wanted to feel it. He fell back in the sand, closing his eyes and moaning as I ran my hand along the length of it. I could make him come like this. Suck him off and make him explode into the condom. That would all still happen, but I wanted to feel it inside me.
I pinned him down as I climbed on top of him. We’d gone totally off the script, but we were still on theme. In my stories, Lina had total control over Jupiter in Blue. It wasn’t total domination, per se, because making her happy made them happy. Todd swallowed hard as I grabbed his cock. He put his hand over mine, positioning his shaft to enter me.
His fingers had been good, but this was fucking amazing. It had been way too long since I’d been with anything that wasn’t battery operated, and I missed the slow stretch, the feel of another person truly inside me. Todd grasped my hips, pulling me down to the hilt, and held me captive as he thrust inside me.
I steadied myself on his shoulders, my tits bouncing in his face as he fucked me. My body was going crazy from this incredible high, the tearing down of all my walls, and it didn’t take me long to shatter.
I came with his cock pistoning up inside me. I came until I had absolutely nothing else to give. Todd’s cock swelled, and he shot his load inside the condom.
We ended as we began, with my body shaking as he sheltered me from the passersby on the beach. I lay on top of him, in his arms. He smoothed my hair out of my face and kissed me.
“Fuck.” It was little more than a breath. It was all he had left. “That was amazing.”
“Come on.” I chuckled, my own breath still choppy. “You mean you’ve never had sex in public before?”
He shook his head. “I just got out of a long-term relationship. My girlfriend would’ve never had the guts to do what you did.”
Todd was lonely too. He laced his fingers between mine and lay them over his heart. I swear it beat in time with mine.
At that moment, I realized maybe the stories were always meant to bring us together. I was a siren, and the words were my song.
Chapter Five
This didn’t happen in real life. Not in my real life, anyway. I woke up to the sound of Jupiter in Blue playing my favorite song, and I was still sore from fucking the man who was singing it.
Half of me wanted to be lazy and take my time waking up. It wasn’t often that I had nothing waiting for me in the morning. But the other half was aware of what a precious opportunity this was and how this weekend would be over before I knew it. I had to take advantage of every opportunity.
I picked Door Number Two. And that led me to the closed door of the studio. Of course the band didn’t hear when I knocked. They’d moved on to a song I wasn’t familiar with. And from the stops and the starts, neither were they.
Tentatively knocking on the door, I realized this part of the process might not be for me to witness. But no one told me not to come to the studio.
“Is that the most beautiful woman in the world?” It sounded like muffled Zach’s voice.
“It’s Alina.” I wouldn’t be LinaLu again until I had at least a glass of liquid courage.
Laughter erupted on the other side of the door, and Zach was the one who answered. Tension lined his face.
“Is this a bad time?” I asked.
He ran his hand through his hair. He grinned, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. He looked back into the studio, where whatever brought the music to a screeching halt had divided the room. Shit.
“Why don’t we have Lina settle this?” He opened the door wider, and I didn’t correct him on my name either. Lina would have an opinion. Alina took the easy route that made everyone but her happy.
I didn’t walk in until the rest of the guys mumbled in agreement. The studio had no windows, which was probably for soundproofing reasons. It was a crime to be so close to paradise yet so far away. They kept the room dimly lit. The only light was from the glow of the soundboard and the string lights that spanned the ceiling. I sank into the soft leather couch near the soundboard. A man I’d never seen before nodded at me.
“That’s Alex,” Blake said. “He’s our producer. Alina is our guest this weekend, and we think she may be the perfect person to settle this difference of opinion.”
So they did know my full name. Interesting.
Alex nodded to me, accessing me with his gaze. “She in the industry?”
Hunter shook his head from behind the drum kit. “She’s a big fan of our music.”
Alex scoffed. My heart stuttered. He didn’t know why I was here. “Do you want someone who will yes you to death, or do you want someone who will give it to you straight?”
“I’ve followed the band since the beginning.” I cleared my throat to swallow any uncertainty. Looked like Lina was making an appearance earlier than planned. “But it doesn’t mean my tastes haven’t evolved. I don’t wear the same clothes or listen to the same things.”
The light from the soundboard cast a sinister glow on Alex’s face. I’d blame that for his attitude and give him the benefit of the doubt. “This is a make-or-break album for the band. If we blow this comeback, there are no more chances.”
I didn’t like that. The idea of one and done. There was always another chance to reinvent ourselves, wasn’t there? I refused to live in a world where I didn’t have the chance to start over again. I was content to stay in this holding pattern, helping Mom as long as needed, because I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel. A chance to start over. If I followed Alex’s theory, I could very well miss my chance.
I was too polite to call him out on his bullshit to his face. The band was probably paying a pretty penny for this producer to grace the island with his presence, but they’d paid for me to be here too. I was brought in to settle a disagreement, not start a new one.
“I’m documenting the recording of the new album.” Yeah, that was exactly what I was doing here. “I have a site that a lot of fans of the band still come to. If I can write about this, and actually be a part of the process, I think it will help spark a lot of interest in the album.”
He muttered something under his breath. Oh, I didn’t like that. Not one bit.
“Promotion has changed too.” Lina definitely made an appearance early. And she hadn’t had enough coffee. “You can’t push a product at people. They won’t give a shit. They have to connect with it. Have ownership. If I can give them the inside scoop on how this record was created, it might give them inc
entive to listen to the new music.”
A wave of shock ran through the room. So much for not creating new problems.
“I worked in marketing before my mom got sick,” I added.
“We might have to put her on payroll,” Blake said. “Let’s get back to work. We’re working on a new song, the one the record company wants to use as the single. They’re asking Todd to speak the lyrics in the verses instead of singing them. We don’t think it’s working. Alex says if we send the single back to the record company as is, they’ll postpone the release. Let me translate what that means for you. Postponement is limbo. Purgatory. Everything’s already scheduled—media, a tour, advertising—and if we lose those slots, we might not get them back. But more than that, it sends a message that we don’t have our shit together. That the Jupiter in Blue comeback is over before it starts.”
“No pressure or anything.” I chuckled nervously. Alex was right. They had one chance to get this right. These four guys had provided me so much happiness over the years, on some of my darkest days. I couldn’t lose them too. “Why don’t you play it for me both ways? With the talking and without.”
Alex raised an eyebrow, which cast weird shadows on his face. “Without the talking has already been nixed by the record company.”
No wonder they worked in the dark. It minimized the effect of the dark cloud this guy had over his head. “I want to hear the band’s original vision for the song, whether it’s ever played outside of this room again or not. And then the record company’s vision. I have a feeling the answer is somewhere in the middle, but I won’t know that if I don’t know where the middle is.”
“She’s good.” Todd’s smile bathed me in all the light the room lacked. It was like I could feel his lips on my skin, his fingers against my clit, and his cock exploding inside me. From a look. An aftershock from last night’s orgasm rumbled through me, and I crossed my legs to make the feeling stop. “All kidding aside, we should really think about hiring you, Alina. You know about things we haven’t even thought of. All we want to do is make music.”
