by Desiree Holt
He managed to get the condom on and positioned his shaft right at her entrance. Sliding his hands beneath the cheeks of her ass, he lifted her just enough to give him a better angle and eased himself inside.
Oh god!
He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, reaching for his control with everything he had. He’d never been with a woman like this—talented, beautiful, and so incredibly sexy. There was nothing artificial about her. Whatever she gave, it was real and it was humbled him.
Fully inside her, he stopped and took in a deep breath.
“I haven’t been with a woman in a long time,” he told her, “and never with one like you. I hope this isn’t over before it starts.”
She wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, the sight sending another jolt through his system, and then she slid one hand down her body to find her clit. Shit! Caleb almost lost it right then, but he got his shit together and began to move. He kept the rhythm slow for as long as he could but, damn! She was so tight and wet and hot, and the sight of her rubbing her clit drove him even more nuts.
He had to move. He began to pump harder, in and out, the heat of her pussy like a vise tight around him. He pumped harder, and she moved with him as if they’d been doing this together forever. In and out, harder and harder, faster and faster, until he felt the familiar tingle in his back and the tightening in his balls.
“Now, darlin’.” He could barely get the words out.
“Yes. Now.” She never took her eyes from his. “Now, Caleb.”
One more thrust then another, and he detonated. Jasmine was right there with him, wrapping her legs around him to pull him in closer to her body, riding his cock, milking him as he pulsed inside her.
At last, he was empty, collapsing forward and catching himself on his forearms. He stared at her face for a long time, trying to see signs of regret or disappointment or anything that showed he’d made the wrong move. Instead, he saw a woman satisfied and pleased, and he knew they weren’t quite the same. He knew he should say something but he didn’t know quite what.
“Jasmine.” He struggled to collect his thoughts while still inside her. “I want you to know—”
She covered his mouth with a hand. “If you say one word of apology or tell me this was a mistake, I’m going to kick your naked ass out into the hall. Then I’m going to call Aron and tell him to haul it back to your isolation zone and lock you up.”
He actually had to laugh. “None of that, okay? But please let me get this out.”
“Fine. But you’re not moving in the meantime.”
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to move ever again.
“You know my history,” he told her, “so I won’t rehash it. I’ve been withdrawn from society, trying to live with my mistakes. I didn’t want to inflict myself on anyone. But the first time I met you, I knew this would be a problem. You aren’t like any other woman I’ve ever known.”
“But I—”
He touched his fingers to her mouth.
“I’m not through. I thought I could shut myself off from you and still do the job, but that’s impossible. I want you too much. I care for you too much. I want to see where this will go. So if that won’t work for you, tell me right now.”
“What won’t work for me is you turning your back on me and walking away. You have a history; I have a stalker. But we have something together. I don’t want to walk away from it.”
“This won’t be easy. And I’m damn sure people will talk.”
“Big deal. That’s their problem. So are you in or out?”
He gave a half laugh. “Considering my position at the moment, I’d say I’m all in.”
Jasmine smiled, ran her hands up his back, and anchored her fingers in his hair. “Then it’s all good.”
She pulled him down for another kiss, and he wondered if he’d died and gone to heaven.
Chapter Six
Jasmine couldn’t ever remember being this excited, even when she’d first signed with Carson and been high on the takeoff of her career. Afternoons and evenings—sometimes until three in the morning—she worked in the studio with the band, nailing down the new material. Nights, no matter how late they got back to the hotel, she and Caleb made incredible love and then she slept in his arms.
The morning following that first night, she’d been startled and amazed when she woke up in bed with Caleb. On the one hand, she wanted to just cuddle up with him and shut out the world. On the other, she still waited for the other shoe to drop. For Caleb to tell her what a big mistake they’d made. To even have the nerve to apologize. And then to tell Carson he’d have to find another bodyguard.
But whatever drew them together, against all odds, also kept them bound together. She knew he was still finding his way out of his voluntary isolation. She remained on tiptoe, making sure she didn’t do something to upset him. Then, the third night, when she came out of the shower, he was sitting on the bed, waiting for her. He held out his arms and drew her into his lap.
“This is hard for me,” he began.
For a sickening moment, she’d been afraid this was it. It was all over. But his next words made her fall even harder for him.
“Even before my fuckup, I wasn’t too good with words, Jasmine. I wasn’t looking for a relationship, so I never thought about what it meant or what to say or how to say it.”
“But—”
He touched his fingers to her lips, just like he had that first night.
“You have a lot of buts, only there aren’t any here. I didn’t want to take this job because I was comfortable in my own misery and self-pity. At least I thought so. Only I was the one who got fooled.” He touched his mouth to hers. “If you’re worried I’ll wake up tomorrow or the next day or whatever and decide I can’t hack it after all, don’t. I may not be the bargain you think I am but I’m not going to run away. I promise. Aron told me it’s time to start living again, and I guess he knew what he was doing.”
Everything seemed to have an extra shine on it after that. Rehearsals went better than expected. The new bass player was a hundred times better than Cobra, who had been excellent, at least at first. The songs came together so well they were raring to go by the end of the two weeks. And even though the specter of Cobra still hung over them, it seemed to have moved to the background.
She was able to give her complete focus to the music and the rehearsals because Caleb remained focused on everything. By this time, she’d learned to read his body language. While he might look relaxed, every nerve was on full alert. She could easily see in him the Special Forces soldier and the private security agent—vigilant, ready, on top of things. He might appear to be stretching his legs by walking through the building, but he was, in fact, checking exit doors and dark corners. He wandered through the facility several times each night, inspecting doors and windows, and even began expanding his search to the parking lot, just in case. But either Cobra Mattice had given up, which she knew Caleb didn’t think was the case, or he bided his time until he thought he could be the most effective. He voted for the latter.
The last night of rehearsal, they were packing it all up when Carson, who had dropped in and out every so often, showed up.
“What’s up, big guy?” Jasmine gave him a little hug.
“I have to say I’m impressed,” he told her.
“I thought you were already impressed.” She laughed. “Were you teasing me?”
“Not at all. But Jas, you’ve got something extra special going here. The music. The lyrics. Everything. You, especially.”
She looked at Caleb. “I might be having some help in that direction.”
Carson looked from one to the other. “Is there something I should know? We don’t want to screw this up, Jas. You’re on the brink of a big leap here.”
“It’s fine,” she assured him. “It’s all good.”
She saw Caleb tense, and that mask she hadn’t seen for a while dropped over his face.
“You have my word that—
”
Jasmine held up her hand. “I’ve got it. Carson, we’ve worked so hard for this, I’m not going to do anything to derail it. I can smell the gold, and I want it even more than you do. And I promise you, Caleb has even more reason to be sure I’m protected and not distracted.”
He let out a sigh. “Okay. I trust you. You’ve never been like a lot of my clients who cop an attitude.” He took an electronic tablet from his briefcase and handed it to Caleb. “I’ve got the tour details in here for you. There are the diagrams of the venues, the programs for each night, the publicity scheduled, some other stuff.” He handed him a small piece of paper. “Your email and your passwords.”
“Publicity?”
Jasmine saw he’d focused on the one word.
“Yeah. She’ll do some interviews at each stop. I’ll leave it to you to figure out the best way to set this up. Some interviews will be during the day, but then there are the afterparties. We’ll get you some professional help there. Local cops are always good for this, and they know their stuff. There’s a contact list in there for you at each tour stop.”
“I’ll scope everything out. Believe me, I’m not taking any chances with her.”
“Good enough.” He looked from Jasmine to Caleb. “One other thing.”
Caleb looked up from the information he’d been studying, frowning. “What’s that?”
“We’ve been getting calls at the office from people wanting to make sure the tour dates they’ve seen are correct.”
“We get that all the time,” Jasmine reminded him.
“These calls aren’t from people in the business. They say they are fans and they want to know about advance ticket sales.”
Jasmine’s stomach cramped. “You think it’s Cobra, putting up some of his friends.”
“Maybe. He could put people up to calling to get the info.”
Caleb took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. “I’ll be on the lookout for anything and everything that seems out of place, believe me.”
“Go get a good night’s sleep, people.” Carson’s gaze swept the room. “I’ll say it again. We’ve got gold here. Let’s do it.”
He shook hands with each of the musicians and texted them the name and address of the studio along with the schedule for recording, and left while they were breaking down the equipment.
Caleb made them wait inside while he checked the parking lot yet again. Then he stood in what Jasmine called sentry mode while he watched them all load their vehicles. When the last of them had left, he cranked his truck and pulled out of the parking lot. They didn’t start recording for two days. The guys would continue to stay at the hotel with their equipment, but that morning Caleb had told her to pack everything up.
“Staying too long in one place makes me itchy,” he said. “Let’s go home tonight. By the time we get back to Austin, you’ll be refreshed and ready to hit it.”
“Sounds like a plan to me.” Two whole days for just the two of them. She smiled to herself.
Whatever will we do?
The first thing she did was strip off her clothing and step into the big tiled shower, rinsing off what she called rehearsal dust. The water cascaded over her in streams while she stood there letting it wash away the fatigue and tension of the past two weeks. She was standing there with her eyes closed, face upturned, when she heard the door slide open, and the next thing she knew warm arms wrapped around her and pulled her tight against a hard male body. Hard in a lot of ways.
He slid one hand over her shoulder and down to palm a breast, hefting it in his hand, squeezing the nipple between thumb and forefinger. Electricity shot straight to her core, and she had to squeeze her thighs together.
“Like that?” His deep voice sent little ripples through her.
When he kissed her cheek and nibbled on her neck down to her shoulder, the sensations set up a pulsing in her sex. With one muscular arm banding her to his body, it was impossible to miss the hard thickness of his cock pressing into the cleft of her buttocks. She wriggled her hips against him, and he sucked in a breath.
“Easy, darlin’. Just being naked with you is enough to tip me over the edge. I don’t want the party to be over before it starts.”
It thrilled her she could turn him on like this, his hunger for her. After the first three nights, she had figured things would settle down between them. She hadn’t been with many men, and had only two long-term relationships, but none of them had been as ravenous for her as Caleb. Each night, they explored new things about each other, their lovemaking becoming more intense.
“Are you sure this isn’t just because you’ve been saving it all up for so long?” Her lips curved into a wicked grin.
“If it is, then we’ve got a long way to go to use it all up,” he teased, easing his other hand around her hip to find the heat of her pussy.
Jasmine leaned into his hard, muscular body. She had never felt so secure in her life, or so addicted to someone. He didn’t know it, but, at rehearsal, while the guys had been working on some particular riffs or bridges, she’d been scribbling furiously on the yellow pad she always carried with her. Somehow, an electronic tablet didn’t do it for her when it came to her songs.
She had trouble verbalizing her feelings for Caleb, partially because she didn’t want to come on too strong and scare him away when they were just building their foundation. She hoped this would tell him how she felt. She’d talked to the guys about it, and they’d agreed to figure out a way to practice in secret when she got it finished. They all thought it was cool, pleased she had finally found someone. And that she had gotten past the terrifying night with Cobra.
As he slid his fingers into her wet slit, knowing exactly how and where to press and glide, she rocked into his touch. One finger inside her, then two, and she closed her eyes, riding them. Every time she swayed back against him, the feel of his shaft prodding her cleft turned up the heat in her body.
“I love the way you’re always so ready for me,” he growled in her ear. “So wet. Fucking you is like taking a ride to heaven.”
She shivered at his words, or maybe it was the friction of his fingers driving in and out of her and rubbing her very sensitive clit. She tried to reach behind her to wrap her fingers around him, but he held her in place.
“My turn, my rules,” he growled.
“But I want to do the same to you,” she protested, barely able to form the words.
“You have and you will. But this is for you. Enjoy it.”
So she closed her eyes again and gave herself over to the hot pleasure rising within her body. He knew exactly how to touch and tease her, all the hot spots that ramped up her pleasure. As turned on as she was, and the combination of the high edge of excitement at finishing the rehearsals and the magic Caleb worked with his fingers, it seemed like mere seconds before her orgasm rose within her. She bore down on his strong, thick fingers, clenching her internal muscles around them while he held her in place with one arm and whispered sexy, erotic words in her ear.
Aftershocks were still shaking her when he withdrew his fingers and reached for something in the built-in soap dish. She opened her eyes and stared. How had she not noticed him stashing the condom there? He propped her against the wall while he rolled it on then lifted her and lowered her onto his cock until she was fully seated.
“Put your arms around my neck,” he ordered, his voice thick with desire.
Jasmine did it and wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him into her even deeper. ”Hold on for the ride,” he whispered, and began to move. “I’m so hungry for you, this will be a very short ride.”
It might be short, but it was wicked intense. The friction of his shaft inside her set up vibrations again in the walls of her pussy still quivering with aftershocks. In what seemed like seconds, they exploded in a release so cataclysmic she thought they’d been tossed into space. Jasmine held on tight to him while her body rocked against his and her internal muscles squeezed every drop from his shaft.
When he released her, she could barely stand, her legs were so shaky. Caleb dried her with a soft towel then lifted her and carried her into bed with him. Curled against him, with his arm banded around her, she drifted off to sleep, her mind empty of all thoughts.
*****
Caleb had been in very sophisticated cockpits in Special Forces. He’d been in a couple of control towers as part of a mission. But the setup at TruSound Studios blew his mind. The sound booth was three times as large and four times as complicated as the one where they’d been rehearsing. Jasmine had told him she’d recorded her other albums here, and he realized what Carson meant about spending a penny to make a penny. This was the elite of recording studios, no doubt about it.
Greg and Hitch, the sound engineers, greeted Jasmine with bear hugs, shook hands with the band, and acknowledged the introduction to the new bass player. They didn’t seem the least bit fazed when Jasmine introduced Caleb as her bodyguard. It seemed a lot of people knew the story of what happened with Cobra.
“Damn, Jasmine,” Greg teased. “I’d have guarded your body for nothing. He winked and said to Caleb, “Just joking, guy. We’ve been recording Jas since Carson brought her in here to do her first good demo tape. She’s like family.”
Caleb was hit with an unexpected bolt of jealousy and had to force a smile. “Carson said you guys take good care of her.”
“The best.”
A man in board shorts and T-shirt who they introduced as Leroy went about helping the musicians set up with quiet efficiency. They tested all the microphones, fitted everyone with earphones, and he gave the booth a thumbs up.
“How about sitting in here with us?” Hitch invited. “We’ll give you a crash course in recording.”
“Sure, as long as you don’t mind if I get up and wander around every so often.”
“Oh, hey, let me give you the tour first. Dummy me. We have a state-of-the-art security system. I should have shown you right off. Come on.”
