Revenge: The Complete Series (Erotic Rock Star Suspense Romance)

by Mimi Strong

  I lean forward and rest my palms on the bed above his head. This changes the tilt of my hips, and puts him in heavenly direct contact.

  I moan and rock slowly against him.

  “That’s my girl,” he says between licks.

  He pushes my knees apart until I’m low enough that he doesn’t have to strain his neck.

  I’m so open to him in this position, it scares me. His tongue and lips are working a magic like I’ve never felt, not quite like this. His hands are free now to slide up and down my legs.

  He pulls away just long enough to say, “You’re so beautiful, my angel. You taste so good. I could do this all day.”

  I answer with a muted moan. My impulse is to rock my hips, but I’m scared of pressing too hard.

  He keeps murmuring sweet things. He coaxes me to come. He reaches up and cups my breasts in his hands.

  I tell him I like this, but I’m too nervous.

  He slides his hands down my sides. “Then don’t move,” he says.

  He reaches over for a condom and puts it on without looking. He then grabs my hips. I expect him to move me down and onto him, but he slides me up an inch. His nose tickles me. He plunges into me with his tongue, driving wetly in. His tongue is firm, yet soft compared to his fingers.

  He groans about wanting to be inside me. The soft pressure of his tongue makes me cry out desperately for more.

  I pull away, my legs shaking.

  He opens his beautiful dark brown eyes and gazes up at me. He seems curious about what I’ll do next.

  I reach down and grab him around the base, where the rolled edge of the condom is. He’s very hard, and pointed up, in line with his body. I bend him back and lower myself onto him in one motion. I’m so wet, he slides in all the way.

  He bucks underneath me, raising his hips. He braces his feet on the bed and lifts me again.

  I slide off a little, and my body shifts to the side.

  He lifts me again, roughly.

  I lean forward and hang on with my legs. I want him inside me, filling me, not bucking me off.

  His eyes flash at me.

  I shake my head and give him a playful glare.

  He’s messing with me, trying to throw me off on purpose.

  With a sigh, I fall forward and let my body go limp against his chest.

  He gives me another playful buck. I’m totally relaxed, so I slide right off without fighting. He’s between my legs, but not inside me.

  I let out a sigh. “That was great.”

  He’s still for a moment. “You already came?”

  I keep my cheek on his shoulder, my face pointed away. “I don’t need to come every time,” I say casually. “It’s nice just being held by you.” I fake a sleepy yawn. “I should probably hit the shower.”

  He grabs my hips and pushes me down onto the tip.

  “We’re not done yet,” he says.

  I giggle. “I’m tired. Let’s sleep for ten minutes before the alarm clock goes off.”

  He groans in protest and tries to push in further. I squeeze my muscles and resist him.

  He pushes again. I do a fake-yawn and tense my body just enough to resist his movement.

  He pushes and I resist.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he whispers, running his hands through my hair and across my shoulders.

  He rocks his hips, moving slowly inside me.

  “My beautiful Jessica. My angel. My lover.”

  He keeps rocking his hips. He’s only half in, but I can feel his body changing underneath me. His breathing gets shallow. He’s charged with resistance and tension.

  Inside me, he grows thicker.

  Each slow, gentle stroke becomes more powerful than the last.

  I can no longer pretend I’m not interested.

  I start moving with him, but still lightly.

  He presses one hand against the small of my back as if to hold me steady.

  I turn my face back to his. I kiss him with feathery softness.

  His mouth stops moving, and he’s just breathing against my lips.

  He starts to shake under me, and we curl against each other softly.

  The pulsing of him coming sends off the final burst of pleasure deep inside me. Everything goes black as the dam breaks.

  We grip each other tightly, neither willing to let the other go.

  Chapter 2

  I’m trying to get dressed for work.

  Dylan keeps making things difficult for me.

  I put something on, he takes it off.

  “Dylan, I’m not the one with the recording deal,” I say, laughing. “This girl’s gotta go to work, to get a pay check, to pay rent and stuff.”

  He’s already dressed, and lounging on my unmade bed. He hooks his finger into the waistband of my underwear as I walk by. He drags them down my hips.

  “You don’t need these,” he says. “They’re always getting in my way. I’m banning underwear from your wardrobe.”

  “I need underwear for work.”

  “You can still work without them.”

  “But I’d rather not.”

  He rolls back on the bed. He relaxes with his arms folded back behind his head.

  “Then wear the white cotton ones,” he says.

  “Why? I bought all new underwear. I thought you didn’t like the white ones. Too virginal or whatever.”

  He raises his eyebrows and gives me his trademark hungry wolf look.

  “What I like… is variety.”

  The way he says variety makes my skin crawl.

  What if I’m not enough variety for him?

  I’m not even going to see him this week. Will he need more variety before then? We won’t be together until the weekend, because he’s traveling for work.

  He’s flying off to New York with Marley and Bianca, the twin sisters who will be touring with him. They’re doing appearances this week on talk shows, plus some sightseeing.

  I wouldn’t mind seeing New York.

  I’ve been hoping he’ll tell me to quit my job and come with him.

  But he hasn’t.

  I pull off my new underwear and pull on a pair of the plain white cotton panties I moved to LA with. When I came here, I was a virgin. And now I’m not.

  For a brief moment, I feel the loss. I’m a long way from home. I’m a long way from who I used to be.

  “What’s in here?” Dylan reaches for the jewelry box on the dresser beside my bed.

  “Accessories. If you’re so interested in my wardrobe, pick out something for me to wear.”

  He opens the miniature treasure chest and starts sorting through my things. There’s not much in there, except some braided friendship bracelets and costume jewelry.

  “You’re not into jewelry, are you?” he asks.

  “Sorry, it’s just cheap crap.”

  “I’ll have to buy you something pretty.”

  “Maybe in New York.”

  “There’s an idea.” He lets out a low chuckle, like he’s planning something.

  While he’s occupied, and not trying to undress me, I quickly finish getting my clothes on. I choose a dark gray dress with a thin belt. I pair it with a blue blazer. It’s more clothing than I need for a sunny day in LA, but the basement archives can get cool.

  “This looks expensive.” He holds up the gold key pendant that Stephanie from Morris Music gave me. “You must have a billionaire boyfriend I don’t know about.”

  I grab the necklace from his hand. I should have pawned this thing as soon as I got it.

  “It’s kinda tacky. Just a dumb bonus gift from work.”

  Dylan stays in his casual pose on my bed, but his eyes are alert. Almost suspicious.

  “A bonus for what?” he asks.

  “For sleeping with you, ha ha. What do you think?”

  “Q warned me about some of the Morris tactics.”

  My heart starts racing. I should just tell him. I should confess that I took money from Morris to get close to him, but only be
cause I wanted to be with him anyway.

  “What did Q say?” I ask cautiously.

  “That you guys are tricky.”

  “That’s all?”

  There’s a tap at my door.

  Riley calls out from the other side, “Safe to come in?”

  Dylan answers, “Jess has a boy in her room.”

  Riley pushes open the door. “Really?” She looks right at Dylan and frowns. In her most disappointed voice, she says, “Oh, it’s just you.”

  Dylan flicks his eyes over to me. “I think I liked her better when she was too shy to make fun of me.”

  “What is it?” I ask Riley.

  She frowns down at her phone, which is in her hand.

  “Your boss has a crush on me,” she says.

  “Nick?”

  “No, Mr. Morris. The big boss.”

  “What’s going on? A crush? I thought he was trying to recruit you?”

  Dylan looks confused, so I turn to him and explain. Last week, I went out on assignment with a musician who’s with Morris. I took the guy shopping for hats and sunglasses for a photo shoot. Then we went out dancing, and I took Amanda and Riley with us.

  It was all on a Morris expense account, and we had a great time. The next morning, Mr. Morris had already gotten a full report, and tried to recruit Riley to work for the company. She turned him down, because… I don’t know.

  “Riley, why did you turn down the job?” I ask her.

  “Because the pay wasn’t good enough for that level of whoring myself out, obviously.”

  Dylan watches quietly from the bed. I widen my eyes at Riley and try to give her a secret look. What I want to do is choke her until she stops talking. I can’t believe she’s wrecking my life, like she always does.

  “And by whoring, I mean sales,” she says quickly.

  “Yes, sales,” I say.

  She turns and explains to Dylan, “Which is basically what I do as a pharmaceutical rep. I shouldn’t call it whoring. I go for lunches and flirt a little with the doctors. That’s why they hire pretty girls for this job, and not chemists, though chemists would be better qualified…”

  She trails off because I’m giving her a dirty look. She’s not helping.

  I point to her phone. “Mr. Morris? You were saying?”

  “Right.” Her cheeks are pink from blushing, and she’s backing her way out of my bedroom. “He sent me a message a few days ago, about salary expectations. I answered him back, and then he asked some more questions. He was so sweet.”

  “And?”

  Her face scrunches. “I kinda-sorta sent him a cute selfie with my boobs pushed together.”

  “Riley! He’s my boss.”

  “I’m not into him!”

  “How many text messages?”

  She looks up at the ceiling. “Not that many. More than a dozen, less than a hundred.”

  “Tell him you’re seeing someone, and stop sending him messages. Seriously. You’re the older sister here. You should know better.”

  “But this could be good for you. I think he’s trying to impress me by looking out for you.”

  I roll my eyes. “Please. I’m down in the basement. If that’s with the owner of the company looking out for me, I’d hate to see what happened to me if I pissed him off.”

  She hesitates near my door, looking at her phone.

  “Jess, his message this morning was extra weird. There’s some shit going down at the company. Just go with it, and don’t tell anyone. He said he’ll take care of you.”

  “WTF, Riley. You make no sense.”

  She hands me the phone so I can read the message:

  Riley,

  I’d still like you on my team. More on that later. Please tell your sister, in strictest confidence, that certain events are transpiring. These events are troubling, but not entirely unexpected. I knew this day would come. Tell Jessica that she is in my thoughts. If she demonstrates loyalty to the company, the company will reward her abundantly.

  Carter Morris.

  I hand her back the phone. “Mr. Morris is so weird,” I say, shaking my head.

  “He’s formal, but sweet,” Riley says. “I think he’s lonely. And he does have nice green eyes.” She sticks her tongue out, like even she is disgusted at what she’s saying.

  “Gross, Riley. He’s so old. What is it with you and older guys? You have a sick fetish or something.”

  She narrows her eyes and gives me an evil look. “Drop it, Jess.” She turns to Dylan and explains to him, “I slept with her favorite teacher. Big whoop. People make mistakes.”

  Dylan’s eyes dart between us. He looks completely lost.

  “We’ve all made mistakes,” he says.

  Riley tucks the phone away. “I’m not going to reply to his messages,” she says, turning to walk out. “I hope that makes you happy. But I won’t dump him outright. I want him to look after you. Someone has to.”

  “Hang on, wait. You should keep talking to him, but just talking. You know I can use all the inside info I can get.”

  Riley walks back over to me and whispers in my ear, “Is it okay to talk about this in front of Dylan?”

  “He’s my boyfriend.”

  She looks over at him. Dylan nods.

  She gives me an eyebrow raise, then leaves my bedroom.

  Dylan and I are alone for a few seconds. He asks, “What’s with the secret message stuff?”

  My whole body feels weak, like I haven’t eaten in days. I pull my chair away from the desk and take a seat.

  “There’s some weird corporate stuff going on at Morris that I haven’t told you about.”

  He sits up and moves to the edge of the bed, so our knees are nearly touching. We’re both completely dressed now, which makes it easier for me to talk.

  “Corporate stuff that concerns me?” he asks.

  “Remember when we talked about your guy, Q? And how I think he’s a former Morris employee? That he’s David Ambler?”

  Dylan frowns. “Of course. And I said it makes total sense, because he knows so much about how Morris operates. How is this a problem?”

  “What I didn’t tell you… is that he might be working with some other people who are still at the company. There’s a reason they wanted to sign a big money deal with you. They wanted to put the company into a financial problem, so they could buy it out and take over.”

  I shake my head, staring down at Dylan’s knees because I can’t meet his eyes.

  I continue, “The whole deal with you is just to create this opportunity.”

  Dylan makes a disgusted sound. “That’s just ridiculous, Jess. They signed the deal with me because I had competing offers from other companies. I was in a bidding war. They signed the deal because they believe in me. In my talent.”

  My breath catches in my throat. There’s so much contempt in his voice. He’s repulsed that I would even suggest the deal is about anything but his music.

  I stammer, “Of-of course they believe in you. Of course, Dylan. That’s not what I meant at all. But there’s always other stuff going on.”

  He gets up from my bed. He holds out his hand to help me up.

  Coldly, he says, “Stuff that’s none of my business. And none of yours, by the sound of it.”

  “But… the text message.”

  “That old guy’s just trying to bang your sister.”

  I stand before him, looking up into his face.

  Dylan’s brown eyes are dark as night. His anger simmers just below the surface.

  “Your sister can do whatever she wants,” he says.

  “I know. It’s not about that.”

  “Let go of the past,” he says. “Riley was way younger than you are now when she lived with you.”

  I shake my head. He doesn’t get it.

  “Riley and I are fine. We’re not going to be all lovey-dovey, having lunches together and getting along perfectly. But we’re good enough. I don’t know how long she’ll be in my life this time, and I don’t
care.”

  “You sound so cold.” He frowns down at me. “Don’t be cold, Jess.”

  I stand up on my toes and kiss him.

  “Never with you,” I say. “I have to protect myself sometimes, so I don’t get hurt, but not with you.”

  He reaches out and smoothes down my long, brown hair, sweeping it behind my ear.

  With a mysterious expression, he says, “Sometimes we do the wrong things, for the right reasons.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  As soon as I ask the question, I regret asking. I don’t want to know the answer.

  He turns away for a moment, then back to me. The anger is simmering. Is he still thinking about me insulting his music? I wish I could take that back, or say it differently. I love that he cares about his work, but there’s so much I don’t understand about musicians.

  “Dylan, I’m sorry about what I said. About the money. They wouldn’t have offered you the deal if they didn’t believe in you.”

  He shakes his head. “Forget about that.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I keep seeing you get thrown to the sidewalk,” he says grimly. “They’ll be playing that viral video of me at every appearance. I’ll relive that moment over and over. I felt so helpless when the guy pushed you to the ground. It makes me sick to see the footage.”

  “But that was before we even knew each other. And you didn’t know he was going to rob the wrong girl until he did. It wasn’t so bad. I got bumped in the eye, but I was fine.”

  “And then—.” His voice squeaks to a halt, like his throat is too tight to speak. “Then I took you into that old house. I left you in the dark. I hurt you, Jess. You’re innocent. You’re my angel, and I keep hurting you.”

  “But you protected me both times. You got my wallet back, and… you protected me.”

  He reaches up and holds my face with both hands.

  “Jess, you’re worried about the future. About what happens next. So am I. There are demons in my past, and I can’t shake the feeling there’s more of the same in the future. I just hope it doesn’t hit you.”

  “Don’t talk like that. We’re going to be fine.”

  “I shouldn’t have told you anything about Q. I honestly thought you were working for him. That’s the only reason I said anything. But you’ve got to put it all out of your mind. Don’t talk about him. Don’t even think about him. He doesn’t exist.”