I gasped and glanced down to see that the sleep shirt I’d changed into when I got to my room was showing the tops of my breasts. Another half inch and my nipples really would have been showing since I wasn’t wearing a bra. Hastily, I pulled up the shirt.
When I looked at the screen again, Jagger was rubbing his thumb over his bottom lip as if he were wiping away drool. Biting the inside of my cheek to keep from grinning, I leaned forward again, this time not caring when the shirt slipped and showcased my assets for him. Another pained groan was pulled from him, but I kept making my notes and pretending as if I didn’t know he was getting an eyeful.
“I think I have the guest list finalized. I’ll send it to you for your approval before sending out texts and emails.” My hair fell into my face, and I pushed it back with an annoyed grunt before pulling it up into a messy knot on top of my head. Once it was secure, I told him about the foods, and then asked from which restaurant he wanted to have it catered.
He didn’t answer, and I glanced at the phone after making another note to find him staring in the direction of my chest hungrily. Laughing, I snapped my fingers, and he finally blinked. “Focus, please.”
“I am focused,” he grumbled, licking his lips.
“Focus on the party, not on my body.”
“Baby, you can’t ask me to put two thoughts together when you’re teasing me with that sight.” He licked his lips again, and I finally pulled my shirt into place. This time, I didn’t let it fall, and he gave me a pout. “Right. Food. Wherever you want to order from, I’m okay with. Tomorrow, I have to go shopping for my new bed. Come with me, and then I can give you my credit card.”
“I don’t want your credit card.”
“You’re going to need it for the food and supplies,” he argued.
“Aren’t you going to be with me when I pick all that up?”
His jaw tensed again before he shook his head. “I fucking wish, baby. But I just found out I have some meetings and other things to deal with for my record label the next week or so. I have one in the morning, but I told Ma I’m taking you shopping tomorrow afternoon. That’s the only time off I have until graduation this weekend. And then next week there are more meetings.”
Remembering Mom had mentioned Cannon was going to LA the next morning, I realized that if Jagger was meeting with his record label, then my brother must be too.
My worry that Jagger would pick Cannon over me again hit me in the gut once more, and all my excitement over the party began to evaporate.
“What’s that look, Dimples?” he demanded, his eyes narrowing on the screen.
I swallowed hard and forced a smile. “What look?”
“Shaw, tell me what you’re thinking right now,” he commanded, his tone sounding urgent. “I need to know what’s put that haunted look in your eyes.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A beep alerted me to an incoming call, and I nearly moaned in relief when I saw Violet’s name at the top of the screen. “Jags, I have to go. Vi’s calling, and I need to make sure she’s okay.”
“Call me back when you’re done talking to her,” he growled. “I want to know what’s going through your head, baby.”
“I’ll try,” I lied.
“Shaw—”
“I have to go.” I started to hit disconnect, but he stopped me.
“If you don’t call me back, I’ll come over,” he threatened.
I glared at him. “I’ll text you the guest list,” I muttered.
“Shaw…” He exhaled heavily. “I won’t come over if you’ll just call me back.”
“I can’t make any promises. Maybe Vi knows about the Megan crap and needs me.” I seriously hoped she didn’t, but I needed an excuse that would get him to leave me alone.
“Fine. Then if you don’t call me back, at least I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.” His blue eyes looked at me imploringly. “Don’t shut me out, Dimples. Not now. We’re finally on the right road. Don’t push me away.”
“I…” I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. “I-I’ll call you back to say goodnight.”
Relief filled his face, and he smiled. “Go see what Vi needs, baby. I’ll talk to you again soon.”
I hung up and quickly connected Vi’s call. “Hey!” she greeted cheerfully, and I nearly whimpered in relief that she wasn’t upset. Hoping that her tone meant she didn’t know anything about Megan’s craziness, I spent the next two hours on the phone with her while she told me about the call she’d had earlier with her friend Remington.
It was late by the time I called Jagger back. When he picked up, his voice was slurred with sleep. “Baby?”
“I just wanted to say goodnight,” I said softly as I snuggled under my comforter.
“You gonna tell me what upset you earlier?” he mumbled.
“I don’t remember,” I lied and closed my eyes.
I heard him yawn and felt myself start to relax as sleep tried to consume me. “Pick you up around four. We can grab dinner after.”
“Okay.”
He laughed a little. “Must be dreaming. My girl isn’t arguing with me.”
“Must be,” I teased sleepily. “Good night, Jags.”
“’Night, Dimples.”
Chapter 22
Jagger
My record label wanted to make sure Cannon and I were going to be able to hold up our ends of the contract we’d signed when we were sixteen. It was for a four-album deal, and we’d been in the process of working on the third of the four when he was shipped off to military school.
Ma had woven her magic at the time and gotten them to postpone our time in the studio to record the songs I’d been working on then. But Petrova wasn’t an idiot; he knew that Cannon being in another state wasn’t the real reason we couldn’t lay down tracks. I could have easily flown to Texas to do any recording, so he must have suspected our friendship was on the outs.
My mom tried to get me out of the contract when I told her I didn’t want to put up with Cannon’s shit anymore, but the deal was ironclad. Nothing short of death could get either Cannon or me out of it, so neither of us had any choice but to suffer through two more albums together. It didn’t matter to Petrova that the music was going to sound like shit since my animosity toward my ex-best friend would be thick in my voice. Knowing that prick, he probably figured it would only sell more albums.
At the meeting with Petrova’s people the next morning, I suffered through them droning on and on about how Cannon and I needed to be adults about working together. I had enough music written for three new albums, but some of those songs I didn’t want Cannon’s name associated with, so I told them I only had about half the material that I actually did.
But apparently, Cannon had some songs he’d been working on himself, so now we had to decide which songs we were going to record as a duo and which of them would be included on the next album. An album Petrova wanted released before fall.
The meeting I’d expected to last an hour or two at the most went through lunch and well into the afternoon. When three o’clock rolled around and we were still arguing over details, I was fed up and anxious to get to Santa Monica for my shopping date with Shaw.
Frustrated, I glanced at Ma as I got to my feet. “I’m done. Please handle this shit. I have somewhere I need to be.”
She knew my plans and gave me a nod, promising me with a look that she would take care of it. I kissed her cheek and left without a backward glance. Traffic was hell on the drive to Shaw’s, making me twenty minutes late.
When I rang the doorbell, it took nearly two full minutes before she answered. I’d tried to call her when I realized I was going to be late, but she hadn’t answered.
She opened the door, and I saw she was dressed in a pretty floral top and a pair of skinny jeans that molded to her thighs and made me ache for a rear view so I could see how hot her ass was in them. “Hey,” I choked out, trying not to swallow my tongue at how beautiful she looked. “I tried to call. Tra
ffic was pure hell.”
“I was in the shower,” she explained, her teeth nibbling on her glossy strawberry-colored bottom lip.
Groaning, I touched my thumb to her luscious mouth and tugged her tortured lip free. “You keep that up and I’m going to have to kiss it better,” I warned. “Are you ready?”
“Just let me get my purse.” She turned around and grabbed it off the table behind her. I held the door open, and she locked it before I took her hand and walked her to my car. “How was your meeting?” she asked as I opened the passenger door for her.
I couldn’t stop my grunt. “If Ma hadn’t been there, I probably would have put my fist through someone’s face. I’m not sure I’m glad she was present or not.”
“That bad, huh?” She brushed up against me as she moved to get into the car.
Her scent filled my nose, and I found myself grasping her hips before she could sit. All too willingly, she pressed the length of her body against mine and caressed her fingertips down my jaw. I touched my forehead to hers and let the tension that was holding my body prisoner release.
“I missed you,” I rasped. “All day, I kept counting down the minutes until I could see you.”
“I-I missed you too.”
We stood like that for a long while, simply enjoying being in each other’s atmosphere. This was all I needed to feel whole. This girl, this closeness. Shaw Cage was my everything. If I lost her, I would be nothing.
“You okay?” she murmured when I couldn’t hold back the harsh exhale of pain just the thought of losing her caused.
“I’ve got you in my arms. How could things get more perfect than that?” I lifted my head and touched my lips to her brow. Forcing myself to release her, I let her get into the car and then shut the door. “What kind of bed do we want?” I asked as I backed out of the driveway.
“It’s your bed, Jags,” she huffed.
Gritting my teeth, I reminded myself not to push her too fast. We’d come a long way since I’d fucked up so royally, but she was still skittish. I needed to stay patient and move at her pace. I needed to show her how much she meant to me and not just grab her and keep her locked in our apartment until she realized that we were forever.
“It might be my bed…for the most part.” I muttered the last four words under my breath. “But I was hoping you would have regular sleepovers. I want you to be comfortable.”
Her brows pulled together. “You mean that?”
“Of course I mean it!” I grabbed her hand and lifted it to my lips without taking my eyes off the road. “My favorite place to be is beside you, Dimples. I dream about holding you in our bed.”
When I had a safe chance to glance at her, it was to find her baby blues glittering with emotion. Then she blinked her thick lashes and turned her head to look out the windshield. “I prefer a firmer mattress, but the few times you’ve been in my room, you always complained my bed was too hard.”
“Maybe we should get one of those mattresses we can each control the firmness of, then,” I suggested. “Or…”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her turn her head to look at me again. “Or?”
“You can just sleep on top of me. I’ll be your firm mattress.”
I heard her gulp then laugh softly. “We can call that ‘Plan B.’”
“I like contingency plans.”
It took us an hour to pick out the perfect king-size mattress and another hour for us to agree on a bed frame. By the time we got to dinner, both our stomachs were complaining, and I was in fear of my life with Shaw getting hangry. As soon as we got to our table and the waitress set down a basket of bread, I picked up a roll and smothered it with butter before offering it to Shaw as a sacrifice.
Her giggle did crazy things to my chest, and she bit into half of the roll. After she swallowed, she licked her lips and then sighed contently. “You just get me,” she said with a shake of her honey-blond head. “I kind of like that.”
Her pink cheeks told me she more than kind of liked it, but I didn’t call her out on it. Instead, I tore apart another roll and snacked on it while she buried her face in the menu. She was hiding from me, because we both knew she was going to order the rib eye. I loved that she didn’t care about eating in front of me, unlike girls I’d taken out in the past who were scared to even eat a salad.
As expected, she ordered the steak, along with a baked potato and steamed veggies. I ordered the exact same thing, asked for another basket of bread with our meal, and then sat back to watch my girl. She didn’t have her phone out. Instead, she was covertly watching me while debating the dessert menu.
“How was your day, Dimples?” I asked, wanting to hear her voice.
She dropped the menu onto the table with a shrug. “It was boring, like the last week of school always is.” Her phone announced a text message, and she glanced down at the screen before rolling her eyes and turning off her phone.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, not liking the way her jaw clenched at whatever she’d read.
“Nothing. Just Cannon being an ass, like usual.” She put her phone in her purse and then leaned back with a dark frown on her beautiful face.
“Is he giving you problems?”
“He just runs his mouth. After what he said to me last night, Mom made him do the dishes and then clean the downstairs guest bathroom this morning before his meeting.” She smirked. “If he keeps it up, and she continues to punish him by making him clean, maybe he’ll move out.”
“He and I always talked about getting an apartment together when we graduated,” I told her, and she clenched her hands into fists before hiding them in her lap. “That’s not going to happen, Dimples.”
“Why not?” she demanded, her nose flaring. “He’s your best friend. I figured you two would be back to being thick as thieves as soon as he got off the plane.”
“He’s nothing to me except the brother of the girl I love.” I heard her sharp inhale, saw the glitter of tears in her pretty eyes before she quickly looked away. “Unfortunately, he’s also the idiot I have to work with for two more albums because Ma can’t get me out of our contract.”
“Aunt Emmie had the lawyers come up with that contract to protect you and Cannon,” she defended my mom. “She didn’t imagine you and my brother would stop being friends.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going to suck it up and do what I have to. Maybe if we go ahead and record everything now, I won’t have to go back into the studio with Cannon. They can just take everything and divide it between two albums.” Under the table, I trapped her legs between mine and squeezed my knees together since she was hiding her hands from me. “But just because I’m working with him doesn’t mean I’m picking him over you. Tell me you understand that, baby.”
She sighed but nodded. “I know. It’s just that you two will be in the studio together a lot, and eventually, you’ll talk about more than work. When you guys would argue as kids, it never lasted long once you talked it out.” She swallowed hard and gave me a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I guess we’ll just have to see what happens this time.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” I growled.
Shaw didn’t even look at me, and I’d had enough of the table being between us. I was out of my side of the booth and sliding in beside her before she could blink. Thrusting my fingers into her hair, I turned her head so she had to look at me. “Sorry, baby, but you are stuck with me. I won’t give you up for anyone. I’ll kill your brother, and anyone else who dares to get in my way, before that ever happens.”
I felt her tremble and brushed my mouth over hers. The kiss was quick, just a simple caress of my lips on hers, before I pressed my forehead to hers. “I’m yours, Shaw. My loyalty, my love, every fucking part of me is right here, ready and waiting for you to grab on to. Nothing and no one will ever change that.”
She looked up at me from beneath her lashes. “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon to get birth control.”
I�
�d already been hard, but hearing that, I had to close my eyes to fight the sudden throbbing making my entire body quake. “Shaw…”
“I just want to be ready for…whatever.” She touched her lips to where her fingers touched my face. Slow, soft brushes of her mouth on my chin, my jaw, and then my neck.
Someone clearing their throat behind me had her stiffening, and we both lifted our heads to find the waitress standing there with our food. She gave us a knowing grin and placed our plates in front of us before asking if we needed anything else.
Once she was gone, I adjusted myself in my jeans so I didn’t do permanent damage to my cock and picked up my fork and knife to cut into my steak. Shaw took a bite of her food and then rested her head on my shoulder as she chewed.
With a gasp, she jerked her head up. “We didn’t get sheets or pillows or anything else for the bed.”
Unable to stop myself, I kissed her hard before taking a bite of my steak. “You take care of that, Dimples. Whatever you want. Whatever colors. I don’t care.”
“But what about your pillows?” she asked with a pout.
“I trust your judgment.”
A sly gleam filled her eyes. “What if I buy everything in pink and purple?”
“I’m sure Emerson will enjoy that when Mia brings her to visit.”
“You won’t get mad?” She lifted a skeptical brow.
“I told you. Whatever you want. I won’t get mad.” I leaned in to run my tongue over the shell of her ear. “Especially if you’re going to be sleeping beside me next weekend.”
Chapter 23
Shaw
Using my key, I unlocked Jagger’s apartment and then picked up the box of decorations I’d placed on the floor to open the door. Beside me, Violet made a noise as she rearranged her own box of supplies in her hands.
Wanting Shaw Page 17
