Dare Me (ROCK GODS Book 1)

by Joanna Blake

  He stared down into her eyes. She looked a little bit fearful. No wonder. She was so tiny that she couldn't see over the swarm of dancers.

  "Don't worry, I've got you."

  She opened her mouth to speak and then just nodded, her eyes wide. Then he pulled her against him and started dancing. He kept his arms around her as he subtly started to mimic what he'd really like to do.

  He started to make love to her.

  His hands skimmed over her back and hips, urging her to rock against him. He circled his hips into her, not overtly, but it was a fucking turn on all the same.

  Jesus, he wished they were alone.

  On a bed. Or a couch. Or the floor.

  Hell, he’d settle for a wall to lean against at this point.

  She was a little stiff at first, but he kept at it. Her eyes were downcast, staring at his chest. Even in the dark he could see that her cheeks were growing red.

  Her breasts bobbed against his chest in time to the music. He was grinning ear to ear when she peeked up at him nervously. He raised an eyebrow, silently daring her.

  That did it. She tossed her head and turned around. Then she brought her body back against him.

  Oh my god.

  The girl had moves. He hadn't been expecting that at all. Her rhythm was impeccable as she ground herself against him. Then she turned again and it was game on.

  They were all over each other, grinding in a way that would have gotten them a lot of attention if people could actually see them. That's if everyone else on the dance floor hadn't been doing something similar.

  Jesus, the girl was full of surprises! So prim and proper and then BAM! She was working him over like a freaking pro! He moaned, realizing that if this kept up he was going to have a serious issue.

  Hell, he already had a serious issue. He was rock hard. He just needed to keep from exploding on the dance floor.

  The song ended and another one started. But neither of them were ready to stop. They stayed out there, dancing for another half an hour. He was fighting for control over his raging hard on the entire time. That didn't mean he wasn't loving every minute of it.

  "Let's get some air."

  She nodded, looking out of breath. He pulled her through the VIP section and up a set of stairs to a private balcony. It's where the celebs and high rollers went to smoke, or cool off, or fool around. It was dark thankfully, so he had time to cool down his body, hopefully without her noticing, though there was no way she hadn’t felt him.

  He glanced around and pulled her to a secluded spot, leaning her against the wall.

  She stared up at him, breathing heavily. He smiled and grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the bar. He held it to her lips, urging her to drink. She took a sip and then he put his lips where hers had been. He finished the bottle in two gulps.

  He wiped his cold thumb over her cheek to her pouty lower lip.

  No more fucking around now. It was time to stake his claim. Time to let her know what was on his mind.

  He kissed her.

  She didn’t move away. He groaned as their lips met. Her lips parted softly under his onslaught. He sensed her hesitation but he didn't stop.

  Fuck, he wasn't sure he could stop.

  Not unless it was just long enough to get them to a bed.

  Hell, he was tempted to make use of the damn wall.

  Easy, Kendall. Play nice if you want to keep your pretty doll.

  He slipped his hand down her side, molding to her curves.

  “Is this okay?”

  “Uh huh.”

  He smiled, his hand wandering to lightly touch the neckline of her dress.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Uh huh.”

  He smiled in the darkness and lowered his head to kiss her again.

  Chapter 18

  Jessica

  Oh my God. Oh my God. OH MY GOD.

  Kendall Jackson could kiss.

  "Do you want to get out of here?"

  Jessica was still reeling from the kiss that Kendall had just laid on her.Two kisses really. She shouldn't be surprised that he kissed her. Or that he was really, really good at it.

  He must have kissed a hundred girls. No- a thousand.

  What surprised her was what she felt behind it. This wasn’t an ordinary kiss. He was kissing her like he cared.

  And she was someone who knew the difference.

  Still, her heart was racing and her body felt strange-like she was floating.

  Floating on what? Get a grip Jessalina!

  And still she cringed. His softly spoken words were like a cold bucket of water though. He wanted to- crap. He was expecting to-

  He wanted to go to bed with her. Worse- he expected to. Of course he did. What woman in her right mind would turn down a night of hot sex with Kendall Jackson? Never mind the fact that he was spoiling her rotten.

  She closed her eyes. She did not want to go back to the hotel and screw him.

  That wasn't exactly true. Part of her wanted to do exactly that. But she was afraid to give in to that.

  It was dangerous. It was impulsive. It was way too fast. He had her tied up in knots as it was.

  If she slept with him, she’d spend the rest of her life waiting for him to call. For him to remember her. For him to love her.

  She knew that love was a rarity, if it even existed. Her drunk mother and her millions of terrible boyfriends had taught her that.

  She opened her eyes.

  Kendall was staring at her mouth again. Maybe she should give in. Maybe if she could just delay a little while, she'd feel more comfortable with the idea. She desperately wanted to be the girl that just said 'sure' and slept with the man of her dreams.

  Why the hell not right?

  She wasn't the sort to play hard to get exactly. Not that she’d had sex before, but she’d played around. Then again, she wasn't the sort to go to bed with someone she'd just met either.

  She decided to play it safe and prevaricate. She gave him a clueless look.

  "Where do you want to go?"

  He smiled patiently. As if he were humoring her.

  "Where ever you want."

  She hid her smile. He was being too nice. He was making it wayyyy too easy for her.

  Mistake number one, playah!

  "Maybe we could just walk a little bit?"

  He opened his mouth. She was sure he was going to argue but he just licked his lips and nodded.

  "Okay. Whatever you want to do, Jess.”

  He took her hand again. She let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't going to force the issue.

  They headed back through the club, waving to the guys. On the street it was still hopping but no one seemed to notice them as they snuck out past the crowd. It must be close to 3 AM.

  "So… it's your first time in Vegas. Should we gamble?"

  She shook her head.

  "I don't have any money with me."

  "That's okay, I do."

  "Alright. I can watch if that's what you want to do I guess... Oh look!"

  "What?"

  He turned to look at what she was pointing at. There were rides on top of a really tall building up ahead.

  Rides! Actual rides!

  She’d spent her childhood dreaming of amusement parks. She’d gone exactly once, on a birthday party for a classmate. She’d had to steal a few bucks from her mom’s purse every day for a month to be able to afford the trip.

  She felt slightly guilty, but since she’d also been bringing cans to the grocery store to be able to afford the school lunches, she didn’t feel that bad.

  It was the same thing she started doing when her mother went through one of those ‘not bringing any food home for a whole month’ phases. She hated stealing. And she hated collecting cans. But she hadn’t had a choice, other than this one time it had been for something actually fun.

  And it had been worth it.

  It was the single best day of her entire childhood. Bar none.

  "The roller coaster?
"

  "Is that what it is? That's SO COOL!"

  She was trying not to jump up and down. He was smiling at her like she was kind of crazy but she didn't care.

  "Do you want to go?"

  "Is it still open?"

  He shrugged.

  "Probably not. But let me see what I can do."

  And in that moment, she fell a little bit in love with Kendall Jackson.

  Chapter 19

  Kendall

  God, she’s beautiful.

  Kendall was laughing as Jessica jumped up and down like a kid. She was only a few years younger than him? He shook his head.

  Damn, but she was an excitable little thing. She was hot, for sure. But for once he could say it was a girl’s personality that set thing off the chart.

  It was more than just her enthusiasm. Her energy was contagious. She was fun, with a capital ‘F.’

  She made him feel like he'd done something amazing, just by calling in the fame card. Just for being himself. He liked it. He liked it a lot.

  All he had done was ask if the rides at the Stratosphere were open.

  They were not.

  But they opened them for him.

  Being a celebrity was kind of awesome sometimes, despite all the phoniness and other crap that came along with it. Especially if it helped his cause with a girl like Jess. And tonight, it definitely was.

  Jess was so excited he thought her cute little head might pop off.

  They were on a rooftop, high above the Vegas strip. And they were about to climb onto the first of four rides.

  The Insanity.

  The ride was basically just seats strapped to a huge mechanical arm that extended 64 feet off the edge of the tower. Hanging over nothing.

  108 stories in the air.

  For some reason Jessica seemed to find this concept magical.

  Not, you know, completely fucking insane.

  He was feeling a little nervous about it actually. But he couldn't look like a wuss in front of Jessica. No way he was going to chicken out on this. Besides, she'd practically dared him.

  “You ready?”

  “Hell yes!”

  He groaned and helped her step onto the platform.

  They climbed into the bucket seats and were immediately strapped down by the automatic safety harness. Jessica was grinning and bouncing around in her seat. He looked at her.

  "You know what this thing does, right?"

  "No, why?"

  "It, uh, goes out there, and then it spins. Really fast. All while pointing you down toward, you know, the ground."

  Her eyes widened. Uh oh, was she as nervous as he was?

  "Awesome!"

  Guess not.

  The ride started and he stopped thinking. He gripped her hand tightly as they were hurtled out into space and flung around in circles. It felt like they were going to be catapulted to their deaths at any moment.

  Fuck, it felt like that at every moment.

  But he would not scream. He could not scream. Jessica was laughing the entire time with absolute glee.

  The girl was not just brave.

  She was fearless.

  They were being pulled back in when he snuck a look at her. She was breathing fast. Her hair was wild. She looked like she'd just…

  Christ, she looked like she'd just gotten laid.

  Thoroughly laid.

  She turned to him, her eyes bright. Then she kissed his cheek.

  "That was AMAZING! Can we go on the others now?"

  He swallowed. He would have given a chunk of flesh right now if it got her to kiss him again.

  Hopefully on the lips this time.

  “Of course. Whatever you want."

  The next ride she wanted to try was the Big Shot, where they were once again strapped into the ride and shot 160 feet into the air at 45 miles per hour. That part of it wasn't too bad, but the drop back down had Kendall trying to not scream like a girl.

  Actually, Jessica wasn't screaming, she was squealing in excitement. He didn’t make a sound, his entire focus on not squealing like a pig at slaughter.

  But Jessica? She sounded delicious.

  That made him start thinking about what sort of noises she might make in bed. Before he knew it, the ride was over. Hmmm… interesting tactic. If he thought about sex with her, the ride wasn’t as terrifying.

  He decided to try it on the X-Scream too.

  While Jessica pulled him over to the roller coaster, he was mentally undressing her. While the car took them up in the air, stories above the hotel, he was thinking strategy.

  He'd start at the top and work his way down. He was wondering what sort of underthings she was wearing as they propelled straight down- and over the edge of the hotel into space. Then they slid back again, onto the relative safety of the roof deck. That didn't last long though as the ride teeter tottered back into the empty sky.

  Kendall was smiling the whole ride.

  Chapter 20

  Jessica

  This is the TITS!

  It was four AM and she was about to jump off the side of a building. Her best friend always said things were ‘tits.’ For once, Jessica thought the term made sense.

  Jessica grinned and gripped the harness that was wrapped around her. Kendall was off to the side, watching and sipping a cocktail that had mysteriously appeared in his hand. He had another one waiting for her as well. Things like that happened a lot around him.

  People just wanted to please him.

  She could… relate to that. A lot.

  She stepped out onto the platform and took a deep breath. A second later and she was plunging almost a thousand feet into space, the Las Vegas skyline far below her.

  The bright Vegas lights became a blur and the ant sized people below weren’t even visible as she fell straight towards the ground.

  Now, that was the way to bungee jump!

  A fission of fear was spreading through her as she bounced down and then up again through space. The feeling wasn't a fear of heights. It was stemming from the realization she'd just had the ground dropped out from under her.

  And not just literally.

  Two seconds ago she'd been grinning at the handsome guy who had made all of this possible. All the thrills, the fun, the strangeness of this seemingly endless night.

  Watching as the hotel staff hovered nearby, waiting to see if he needed anything else. Anything at all. That's when it hit her.

  She wanted to please him too.

  Oh. Crap.

  Jessica swallowed nervously. She knew she was well and truly in trouble now. Her body flew through space on the end of the bungee while her mind started spinning.

  She wasn't going to sleep with him. It was dangerous and she wanted to respect herself in the morning. It definitely was not going to happen.

  But Christ, she wanted it to. She wanted it to happen a lot.

  What the hell was wrong with her? Just do it. Or don't. Stop driving yourself insane about it.

  He was watching her with a hooded look in his eyes when she got off. The look that screamed ‘come hither’ and ‘sit in my lap’ and all kinds of sweet but filthy things. Her heart was already beating fast from the thrill of the jump, but somehow Kendall made it beat even faster.

  "How's my little dare devil?"

  She smiled at him breathlessly. He looked like he wanted to devour her. If they went back to the hotel now, she would let him. Hell, she'd devour him right back.

  She licked her lips nervously.

  "Hungry?"

  He smiled at her in a predatory way. That smile made her feel like a little fish who was staring at a shark.

  "Hmmm… maybe."

  "No, I mean I am. Hungry."

  He pursed his lips. She was wondering when he was going to lose patience with her delay tactics. Then he shook his head and smiled.

  "Whatever you want, Jess."

  She swallowed, almost wishing she could snatch the words back into her mouth. She was hungry. But she was always
hungry. She certainly didn’t need to eat right now.

  She followed him out of the tower to the elevator bank, wondering if she could change her mind. She could say, hey let’s go back to the suite and fool around until noon.

  That didn’t sound crazy at all, right?

  "What do you want? Sushi? Steak?” She opened her mouth and he shook his head. “Just kidding about the meat."

  He leaned his hands on either side of her head, backing her in to the corner of the elevator. He was going to kiss her. Oh god, he was definitely going to kiss her…

  His lips brushed hers softly. Once. Twice. He was teasing her, she realized. He wasn't touching her anywhere other than the whisper soft touch of his lips on hers.

  Well, she could tease him right back.

  "Pancakes."

  His mouth smiled, an eighth of an inch from hers. Then he laughed. That hadn't been exactly what she'd been going for… Abruptly his hands moved, cupping her face and then he unleashed on her.

  Oh my God.

  Kendall's body pressed against hers as he took her mouth. There was no other word for it. He was taking her, plain and simple.

  And she loved it.

  Jessica arched her back and she grasped his arms, pulling him closer. He was angling his head and body, getting as much contact between them as possible. His mouth slid to the side, licking and sucking on her neck and earlobe. She was having trouble breathing suddenly.

  DING.

  The elevator stopped and the doors opened. They looked up, seeing that they weren't down to the lobby yet. They were on the 47th floor. A group of drunk looking businessmen boarded. Kendall relaxed his stance, still holding her. He let his hands move lower, to a more casual embrace. They stared into each others eyes, trying not to laugh.

  On the 20th floor, the businessmen got out again.

  As soon as the doors closed, Kendall cupped her face again, giving her a lazy smile.

  "Pancakes? Really?"

  She nodded breathlessly. She really did want food. And she loved late night pancakes. Plus it would give her time to gather her thoughts.

  Mount her defenses.