Rock Dirty (Rock Candy #2)

by Virna DePaul

  But they were extreme and extreme sold, even if it wasn’t exactly what fulfilled me as an artist. Someday, however, once I’d made a big enough name for myself, I’d get back to designing shoes with a better balance of flair and function.

  My mental musing had obviously gone on too long because Tucker suddenly looked uncertain. “Did I say something wrong? I’ve been on the road, and I’ve seen a lot of group…women in all sorts of platform boots or pleather numbers. They look like they’re either strippers or superheroes, but I’ve never seen anything like yours. I’m amazed you don’t fall right over.”

  I sighed and stuffed my phone in my purse. “I designed them, actually.”

  He grinned and hunched down while leaning back. “You what? Tell me more because I’m impressed.”

  “I’m impressed you could take up the whole damn row. Talk about man-spreading,” I said, eyeing his lean form and imagining what fun lay underneath. “But you stopped to chat with me, so you go first. You were talking about being on the road. You’re in a band, right?”

  He frowned back at me. “I told you my name. You’ve really never heard of me?”

  “Well, no. Tucker Benning, right? Oh wait! Tucker! Oh my god!” I slapped my forehead with my palm. “You’re the drummer for Point Break.”

  “Are you going to squeal now and ask for selfies because I got that from the fifteen year olds at the security check and you seem too cool a chick for that,” he teased.

  I shook my head and tried to keep myself from blushing. It was a flaw I’d always had, some part of my fair French heritage. I’d dated some of the trust fund set of Manhattan, and had also had a few wild flings with minor B-list movie stars. I wasn’t star struck, even if Point Break was one of the bigger bands out there today. But I did feel dumb for not recognizing him. He’d seemed familiar but I supposed I deserved a break—I’d been putting in ninety hour weeks to prepare for the show and was practically seeing pink elephants.

  “Well, I can’t be that cool since I didn’t figure out who you were sooner.”

  “Actually, you get extra points for that. It’s been a while since I met a person who didn’t know me. Besides, I’m sitting next to a bona fide designer, and I didn’t even know that.”

  “Yeah, you must have missed my music videos and my cover of Rolling Stone.”

  “I don’t know. I’m sure some designers have done those things.”

  “You know a lot of designers?”

  “Honestly? I probably wouldn’t recognize Calvin Klein if he punched me in the nuts. Keegan makes shit though.”

  I whistled. “Are you two tight?”

  “No, but Point Break and Keegan had to present an award together at the Grammys. He went on a five-minute rant about something and we all just stood there uncomfortable as shit, staring dead-eyed at the camera. Fun times.”

  “Yeah, I remember now. I saw that clip online. Your bassist looked like he was going to slug him.”

  “Yup. So you see, the life of a rock star, not all that glamorous.”

  “Right. Well make that double for shoe designers. I have my first Paris show coming up and I can’t even remember what day it is. I’m like a damn cobbler in a fairy tale, just making things for weeks and hoping someone likes my shoes. Uh, it is still July, right?”

  “For about five more days, sure,” he replied. “So, if you know who we are, do you have a favorite song?”

  “Save Me,” I said, thinking about the first time I’d heard the ballad.

  I’d had a huge fight with my mother. So what else was new? But this had been a doozy when I’d announced I was opening my store in New York. She’d been on me since I graduated from the Fashion Institute to work with her on editorials. It was the first time she’d truly realized that no amount of threats or cajoling would get me to live my life the way she wanted. She’d cut me off, thrown me out, and I’d been holed up in a small rat trap apartment in the village (paid for with the small inheritance I had from my dad) and eating ice cream. Then I’d heard Save Me play, and I’d been lost in its haunting cello score. It had offered me solace when nothing else had. Now my mom and I were on speaking terms again. She was showing interest in my designs, even if most of the time that interest was critical.

  “Really? Most people still name the bigger songs.”

  I shook my head and traced my fingers over the pendant I wore, which my dad had given me for my twenty-first birthday before he’d died suddenly of a heart attack. “For me, the combination of rock with strings is so amazing. I don’t know, it just transports me every time I hear it, even if it’s just for five minutes.”

  “Hmm.” He pulled at his lip, suddenly looking depressed.

  That was a rapid mood change. I wondered what I’d said to make him close down on me. “What’s going on?”

  He hesitated and I was sure he was going to give me some bullshit flippant answer. Instead, he said, “Confidentially?”

  Wide-eyed, I nodded.

  “We’re not sure when we’ll be back touring. We had to put the current one—our first world tour, mind you—on hold because Liam, our lead singer, is in this massive honeymoon period with our cellist, Abby. I mean, I’m happy for him. I’ve never seen him this gone for anyone ever, but, at the same time, there are four of us in the band and we have lives and bills too. It’s like someone cut my tightrope and I’m free falling.”

  “Hence the trip to Europe?” I offered, reeling for him. It would be terrible if all of a sudden your job—no, I could tell playing drums wasn’t just a job for Tucker, it was his identity—was ripped out from under you. Besides, I was sure that like trust fund kids or designers, rock stars got used to all the perks and comforts of that fast and luxurious lifestyle. If he had to start pinching pennies again, it was going to be a rude awakening. “Maybe clearing your head isn’t the worst idea.”

  “You’re right. But I’ve got an even better idea brewing in my mind, Nikki,” he added, his voice a husky purr that transformed the warmth flaring in my belly to a full-fledged fire. When he talked to me like that, I was more than willing to entertain any idea he had.

  I’d had more than my fair share of fun in my youth, but lately…not so much.

  I’d left my identity as a prep school partier and a debutante brat behind me. I was a businesswoman and a damn good one. I had too much riding on the opening of my new Parisian boutique and my subsequent fashion show to mess it up.

  But if I could take the edge off, have a little fun without going overboard, that wouldn’t be so bad. In fact, giving in to the temptation that was Tucker Benning might just do me a world of good so long as I kept him right where he belonged. A nice little distraction before the real work in Paris began.

  “So,” I said, crossing my left leg over my right, letting him get a full glimpse of my soft skin beneath my black skirt. “What did you have in mind?”

  “The flight isn’t boarding for over an hour and there’s a private family bathroom nearby. Not at all what a classy woman like you deserves, but I promise to more than make up for it.”

  I smirked back at him, and the fire that had already been burning so bright inside me grew to a raging inferno. “I’d like that very much, Tucker. Show me what a rock star can do.”

  * * *

  As far as bathrooms went, the private family bathroom was spacious and clean. Most importantly, it had a door with a lock. We shut it tightly and slammed the catch in place. Tucker leaned against it, jutting his hips out seductively in a way that once again made promises I suspected he had more than enough skill to fulfill. Eager to find out, I boosted myself up on the tile counter by the sink, letting my legs swing out underneath me.

  “What exactly are you planning to do to me, rock star?” I said, my tone mock stern. I was channeling my naughty librarian and only wished I had those glasses with the thick rims. I’d never needed any, but I’d known girls who had fake ones with just glass in the center to play up being “smart” in public.

  As if that eve
r fooled anyone.

  Tucker strutted over to me; that was truly the only word for how he moved. There was no doubt in my mind that he knew every inch of his own body and how to use it to its maximum efficiency. He oozed sex, and the confident glint in his eye was that of a man who’d brought many women to the heights of pleasure.

  Tucker stopped before me and licked his lips, letting those pointed eye teeth gleam back at me with all their naughty promises. He reached down and ran his hands over my legs, and I shuddered at his touch, feeling the dexterity of his fingers as they traced patterns and swirls over my shins.

  Slowly, he pushed my knees apart, slid his hands beneath my skirt, and toyed with the band of my underwear.

  They were nothing special, just something cotton and practical for the flight. If I’d known I’d be hooking up with a drop dead gorgeous rocker, I’d have worn something lacy. Something that would blow his mind even more than the boots I was wearing.

  He lowered his hand, cupped me between my legs and groaned at what he found. “You’re so wet for me, princess. I’ve barely got you warmed up, but I love how ready you are.”

  “No time to waste. It’s going to be a long flight,” I said, my voice now a low, breathy alto.

  Tucker tugged my underwear aside and I bucked up my hips to help him. His fingers were gentle, probing first at the soft hair there. Then he opened my folds and put a callused thumb, calluses probably formed by years of drumming, over my most sensitive bundle of nerves. He circled his thumb gently against my clit at first, then harder, and pleasure undulated through me in waves. I’d been stoked to begin with, my arousal flamed by his biceps and those sparkling green eyes, the ones that seemed to gaze right into my soul. But being touched by him bordered on being unbearable, the pleasure was so intense.

  I gripped his shoulders, and gasped, “More, please!”

  His rhythm increased and I could feel myself get wetter. He started to alternate touching me with his thumb and then with his forefinger and index, all of them taking turns swirling up against me as the heat and fire played across my skin, leaving me flushed and wanting. Tucker hit his stride, moving with a practiced dexterity and speed that should be unreal, and just like that, without him kissing me or penetrating me, my orgasm hit. Fire transformed into lightning, sparking through me and making my entire body convulse.

  I gasped his name. To my horror, I think I might have even whimpered once or twice. I’d had several lovers, but he was one of the best. A man who knew his talents and used them wisely. Boldly. Unrepentantly.

  Slowly, he withdrew his hands from my skirt. I gripped his t-shirt and pulled him closer, right between my spread legs, and lowered my hand to cup him through his jeans. He hissed and—

  We both jerked when someone knocked on the door, the sound almost drowned out by the screeching wails of a baby. “Oh shit.” Releasing him, I pushed him to the side and jumped off the counter, not knowing what to do. We’d been caught! What if someone recognized us? What if someone took pictures of us as we were coming out of the bathroom? I was supposed to be acting like an adult now, not making tabloid headlines again. “Oh God,” I whispered.

  To my surprise, Tyler cupped my face in both his hands and kissed me softly, letting his tongue linger over mine. Then he pulled away and calmly started washing his hands.

  “Um, Tucker…” I began, wincing when there was more knocking on the door.

  “I’m sorry,” a woman with a harried voice called from the other side of the door, “but I have a baby and two toddlers in a double-stroller and I really have to go. Are you almost done?”

  “Almost,” he shouted back, then grinned when my eyes bugged out.

  “Tucker,” I hissed.

  “What? It’s not like we’re going to be able to sneak out of here unnoticed. Just act natural, princess, and it’ll be fine. Ready?”

  I took a quick look in the mirror. I looked perfectly normal except my face was flushed and my eyes were sparkling. Sighing, I turned back to Tucker and nodded.

  With a final wink at me, he opened the door, then escorted me through it with a hand at the base of my back. He moved so easily, one would think we were walking down the red carpet rather than exiting a bathroom we’d obviously been fooling around in. “All yours,” he said cheerily to the woman standing outside, crying baby in her arms, double stroller indeed filled to the brim. Her mouth dropped open as she stared after us.

  I shook my head, amazed at Tucker’s unrepentant confidence.

  “You’re good,” I said. “I’ll give you that.”

  “Yeah? I hope that’s not the only thing you’ll be giving me. Like you said, it’s going to be a long flight. Plenty of time for me to show you just how good I can be.”

  I burst out laughing. Together we walked back to the First Class lounge. We were half-way there when I realized Tucker and I were holding hands.

  By the time we got there, I didn’t want to let him go.

  At that moment I understood I’d let things go too far. Tucker had seemed harmless, but he was very, very dangerous. It was better I recognize that now and stay the hell away from him.

  Which meant, as much as it made me want to weep, that it was going to be a very long flight indeed.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Tucker

  Damn, Nikki Lorenz is one hell of a woman.

  She was also, it turned out, a bit of a cock-tease, though I supposed that was more my frustration talking than anything else. Hell, if you ask me, they should literally make blue balls a medical condition.

  This shit hurts.

  Nikki had seemed perfectly willing to minister to my cock before we’d been interrupted. But as soon as we’d sat down again in the First Class lounge, she’d muttered something about having to work and had buried her head in her open laptop.

  I was surprised how disappointed I’d been by her change in attitude, but I decided to cut her some slack. She’d seemed genuinely freaked when we’d been caught together in the bathroom. For all her sass, maybe she was normally more restrained than she’d let on. Maybe she didn’t like the idea of me keeping tally, expecting some on-plane action in exchange for the orgasm I’d given her.

  And yes, I had been expecting it. I’m a huge believer in fair play. But I was also, to my surprise, not that worried about it, so I slumped down in my chair, and surfed on my phone. Based on when our flight left and the time difference, we’d be arriving in Paris around nine a.m. Maybe Nikki and I could grab a quick breakfast before getting back to getting to know one another better.

  When they finally started boarding our plane, Nikki took the lead with me following close behind. Even though I was also in First Class, chances were someone else had the seat next to Nikki, but…

  At the front of the First Class section, Nikki turned to me and, not quite able to meet my eyes, said, “Have a good flight, Tucker.”

  Uh, no. What the hell? I was on this fucking plane because of her. No way was I not sitting by her.

  But I just nodded and said, “See you, Nikki,” struggling to hide my smile when she looked equal parts surprised and disappointed. Poor woman really was all kinds of thrown by what had happened between us.

  While she took her window seat at the front, I took an aisle seat a few rows back, immediately jumping back up again when a woman paused next to Nikki’s row.

  “Excuse me, Ma’am.” I flashed my pearly whites. “I’m just a couple of seats back. I was wondering, would you mind terribly if we switched places? You see, Nikki and I have business to discuss.”

  The woman looked startled, then looked down at Nikki, then looked back at me. “Um…” She turned to Nikki. “Is that okay with you?”

  I held my breath at the tense silence that ensued, relaxing only when Nikki said, “Sure. If you don’t mind, that would be great.”

  The woman smiled. “Then no problem. You two have fun.”

  “Thank you very much,” I said before plopping into the seat next to Nikki.

  I didn
’t look at her, however. Instead, I got my headphones out, plugged them in, stuck the buds in my ears, got comfortable, and closed my eyes. I could feel her gaze on me and wanted to look at her so fucking bad. But part of me was kind of annoyed, and not just at her.

  I wasn’t one to chase after a woman who didn’t want me, so what the hell was I doing?

  Then again, I’d felt for myself how much Nikki wanted me. I just had to figure out what had caused her to back off, but I could do that after we took off.

  The next thing I knew, I heard the flight attendant offering someone in front of me a cocktail. Obviously I’d slept through take off and we were now at cruising altitude. Figuring I’d given Nikki a sufficient taste of her own medicine, I opened my eyes. And cursed.

  She was curled against the window with her eyes closed. Her lips were slightly open, she was snoring softly, and her red hair was in messy curls around her face.

  She looked fucking adorable, even more so when she mumbled something in her sleep.

  Narrowing my eyes, I leaned in closer, almost certain I’d heard her say my name, but not sure if I’d just imagined it. A minute later, it came.

  “Tucker.” It was just the wispiest of sounds.

  But it hit me like a punch in the gut.

  I stared at her for a few minutes.

  With a sigh, I closed my eyes, again settling myself into my chair. But this time, I splayed my legs out a bit so that my leg lightly brushed against one of hers. With that comforting connection, I drifted asleep again.