Missing Beats

by K. L. Shandwick

  “The Drake,” I offered, taking off my coat, and still trying to get my feelings under control.

  Jesus, and Kane turned up, right? Oh man, I bet that was a blood bath. No wonder you can hardly speak with two hot men fighting over you.”

  Candice’s tongue sure needed surgery to render her mute sometimes. “How the hell did you know Kane was there?”

  “Because he told me on the phone he was coming back to speak to you on Sunday, remember? Naturally he’d stay at the Drake. God I should be a detective or something.” I had forgotten about that. It went some way to explaining why he wasn’t as surprised to see me as I was to see him. Talk about a clusterfuck.

  Candice led me over to the sofa and I toed off my shoes before climbing onto it in my dress and hugging my knees. “It’s a fucking mess. I’m a mess. What the hell did I do? Who knew I was such a slut? I’m humiliated.” Sitting down gently beside me, Candice listened as I poured my heart out about Elliott, Katie and my telephone call to Kane when I heard his groupie sex.

  “Damn girl, you certainly have been through the wars.” I glanced up at her and the strange look she gave me made me feel disgusted with myself all over again.

  “What?”

  “I’m just thinking that you are actually human…like the rest of us after all. Not only did you fuck up, Josie, but DAMN you did it in style,” she said as she laughed.

  I was hurting inside but reluctantly I had to give her that, I had messed up with rock star style.

  Candice poured wine into two of my best long-stemmed glasses and handed me one. I swirled the red wine around in the glass. “Not only am I fucking rock stars I’m turning into an alcoholic,” I said, and stared into the glass. Candice giggled and took a long swig of her wine. As she did there was a forceful knock at the door. She froze like a statue and held her glass still.“Are you expecting anyone?”

  I stared at the door and shook my head.

  Candice jumped up and turned the light off, plunging us into darkness. I almost jumped out of my skin when her mouth appeared a hair’s breadth from my ear. “Shh. Maybe it’s Elliott. He might see the light through the spyhole,” she advised in a whisper.

  “Jo? Open the door; I know you’re in there.” Kane’s low tone sounded frustrated.

  Candice squeaked loudly, “It’s Kane Exeter.” As if I didn’t know his voice. Her tone was totally fangirl, even in a stage whisper. I had thought it may be him at the first knock, but I didn’t want to face him after I’d told him I chose Elliott and what he had put me through at dinner.

  Suddenly I burst out laughing at the absurdity of the whole idea of everything that had happened during the previous week. And Candice, being the true friend she was, immediately joined in. Lying curled up on my sofa in the dark, in my best dress, I was hiding from a rock star in my own house.

  The more I thought about it the worse my laughing fit became until Kane pounded irately on the door again. “I don’t know what it is you’re finding so fucking funny, Jo. Open this goddamn door before I kick the fucking thing in.” Cautioning me in a furious tone stunned us both and we fell still and silent for a split second until Candice snorted and laughed even harder.

  Breathlessly she heaved and said, “Josie, I think there’s a rock star at the door.”

  I burst out laughing again and without another warning we heard a loud bang as my lock came flying into the room. Kane stood in the doorway, his silhouette backlit by the subtle yellow glow of the corridor lighting, looking every inch the rock star. I couldn’t help remembering how amazing he had looked the week before when I watched him on stage at his gig.

  “Glad you’re enjoying the drama of this. Are you having fun? What are you, fucking twelve?” he asked, sounding more pent up than a heavyweight boxer preparing to fight.

  Candice snickered in the dark and another laughing fit gripped her again until she was breathless and all I could hear was her gasping for air. We were still in the shadows and every second that passed where Kane hadn’t reached for the light became funnier than the last. Tears rolled down my face as I laughed hysterically at how I’d screwed myself over. Eventually Kane reached out for the switch by the door. When flicked the switch the light bathed the room, and Candice rolled over cracking up again in a new bout of rhythmic laughter that looked like she was having a fit on the floor.

  Kane was as furious as hell and stalked over toward me, stepping over Candice’s body that was curled on the floor. He grabbed me firmly by my upper arms and yanked me off the sofa. Scooping me up in his arms he strode into my bedroom, carrying me over his shoulder. As we entered the room he swung around to close the door narrowly missing my head connecting with the wall. Without talking he dropped me unceremoniously onto the bed and placed his hands on his hips.

  “What the fuck are you laughing about? Do you realize I almost got arrested tonight because of you? What the fuck kind of stunt was that you were trying to pull back there running off and leaving me to deal with that crazy fucker? I stepped into help you and you ditched the scene.”

  Watching the stormy color in his eyes as his jaw ticked with natural aggression made him ten times hotter. “Don’t waste my fucking time, Jo. I flew from Kentucky all the way over here on my days off to meet up with you.”

  “And I should be grateful about that? A meeting takes two people to arrange, Kane. Has no one ever told you that? I never agreed to meet you. I didn’t even know you’d be at The Drake. And let me tell you, your tone and bulldozer tactics aren’t necessarily winning me over. Why did you come back anyway? You are exactly like I thought you’d be. It’s not like I’ve been your last or anything. You’d fuck anything that moves—anytime you can. You turn my stomach—”

  “And you turn mine. What the fuck, Jo? You’d settle for that piece of shit guy who takes you somewhere public to humiliate you? Telling you he fucked his old girlfriend for a couple of days to get even?” I looked at him in shock as he nodded. “Yeah he told me what he did to you.”

  “At least he knew the name of the woman he was fucking, Kane? Can you remember the name of yours from last night? Did you even ask her?”

  Kane’s eyes darkened; a mixture of fury and confusion in them. “I never fucked anyone last night,” he stated.

  “Liar.”

  “I’ve never lied to you. I never fucked anyone last night.”

  “How come I got the breathy whore on the line telling me you were busy...oh God, there…right there,” I said, mimicking what I’d heard.

  “Ah, I see. That. Sorry to disappoint you and kill my reputation, but that wasn’t me.”

  I snickered and shook my head. “Don’t tell me…she was pleasuring herself and talking to herself at the same time, right? And she just happened to have your phone with her…yeah…that makes sense.” My sarcasm didn’t hide the jealous tone in my voice.

  “No actually, that’s not it at all. When you called we were on the tour bus on the way to the airport. Cody, the dirty bastard, was giving oral to some groupie. They were stoned, Josie. My cell was on the table near where they had been sitting and I was in the John. I never knew you had called until I picked up my cell as we left the bus, and when I called you back, I got sent to voicemail.

  Candice’s voice interrupted us. “Guys if you don’t need me anymore I’m gonna head home. Can I just say one thing? Kane, when you kicked the door in like that…that was fucking hot. The way you lifted her up and dragged her off to her room…mmm…got any friends that are single?” she asked, giggling from the other side of the door. Kane’s face softened instantly.

  “Night, Candice. I owe you one.”

  “Can you be more specific on the one part please?” she asked hopefully.

  Kane snickered and the way he smiled and rubbed the back of his neck was cute. It was the first time I’d ever seen him embarrassed. “Erm, got my hands a little full right now, Candice, but I’ll see if I can set you up with one of the nicer guys in the band,” he chuckl
ed.

  “Really? Well…cool.” She sounded flustered and I smiled at her request backfiring like that. “Okay, well you might want to come and do something with the front door after I’ve gone because I’m sure someone would love this big-assed flat-screen TV of yours, Josie.”

  Kane turned and opened the door to check out the damage. A softly spoken conversation took place between him and Candice, but even when I strained my ears it still sounded like mumbles to me. I stood up from the bed and began to make my way back into the sitting room in time to see Kane closing the door and shoving my heavy oak cabinet in front of it.

  “That should secure it until tomorrow morning and I’ll call a locksmith.

  “Sorry but you’ll have to move that again, you’re on the wrong side of the door and there is no we, I’ll get it fixed tomorrow.”

  “Oh no you don’t. Not this time, Jo. I’m going nowhere until we’ve ironed this out.”

  “What is there to iron? You want to fuck me again? Is that what it takes for you to leave me alone? If so have at it. Come on…in the bedroom right now. I’m yours for the night. Is that what this is about?”

  “Don’t tempt me, Jo. You have no idea what I’m capable of.” The gravelly low tone told me I was trying his patience or turning him on.

  “Why not? I don’t have a boyfriend now, right? You helped me out of that relationship, remember?” Kane stood motionless and stared me square in the eyes. The intensity of the moment fueled my anger further, and I snapped. I wanted him. More than I wanted life so I decided…well I didn’t consciously decide anything—I just acted.

  Chapter 15

  Brazen

  “Here…take what you want. You have my permission. You said you wanted my permission to touch me or kiss me before, well…knock yourself out.”

  Kane shook his head and gave me that sexy smile, the one that makes me want to get naked. So I did exactly that, but the way he stared into my eyes was so intense. Conflicting feelings flitted across his face and his piercing blue eyes narrowed in question at my sudden change of heart.

  He didn’t move or blink once when I began to slide my dress over one shoulder, exposing my smooth bare skin in the most tantalizingly slow way I knew how. I swallowed roughly at my brazen, seductive move. As soon as I repeated the action on the other shoulder the heavy velvet material fell away from my body and cascaded down my legs to pool at my feet.

  Stepping gingerly out of it and to the side, I stood motionlessly in front of him and tried to emit the confidence my act appeared to portray. My thin, blue lace thong was the last barrier between my nakedness and modesty. Kane’s eyes feasted slowly over my breasts, up my collar bone and continued to my long, platinum blonde hair that was still pinned up in a bun. I knew it exposed the nape of my neck which had been his focus during our foreplay that other morning.

  His eyes locked onto mine for a second then followed the direction of my hands as they reached up to find the pins holding my hair in place. I knew he enjoyed tangling his hands in it before. Seductively, I removed each of the three pins holding the arrangement, one at a time. My hair fell loose in three sections, one over my right breast, one down my back, while the last of it fell in line with the other at the front and covered my left breast.

  My eyes never left him and his never left me. Watching him take in every move I made was exhilarating because I saw the way my body was visually stimulating him. The adjustment in his stance was notable as his spine grew stiff, his feet spread further apart to ground himself, while both of his hands hung down by his sides and curled into fists.

  When I had taken my hair down I saw him crane his head from one side to the other like the strain of holding it up on his shoulders was suddenly too much. The way he grazed his bottom lip with his teeth then stopped to bite into the plump flesh was more than a suggestive move for how he felt. And when his gaze finally settled on my face, his eyes looked intensely into mine. They were almost black with desire as his pupils had swallowed up almost all of his blue colored irises. The way we connected was the most incredible feeling I’d ever had.

  “I’m not going to touch you.” His tone was different…lower. My heart ached longingly with those words, even when we both knew he was lying.

  “No? I’m disappointed. It’s a pity because I’m so frustrated with the games you men play that I may as well join in and fuck who I want, when I want.” I had sounded so convincing that I knew there was an element of truth in what I had said in that moment.

  “And you want me? Is that what you’re saying, Jo? Is that an admission that you want more with me?”

  “Who doesn’t want to fuck a rock star?” I answered, mocking him. “You have all the moves, the confidence with girls, you’re all dirty, whorish bastards in your behavior, and us girls know we’re getting someone who knows what to do with that six-inch appendage between your legs.” Flashing that grin that makes me weak at the knees, he shook his head and snickered at my reply.

  “Nothing six inches about me below the belt buckle. Eight is more like it…and the way I stretched that sweet little pussy of yours, it’s a wonder you’ve forgotten about that so easily.”

  My pussy clenched at his dirty response because I hadn’t forgotten at all. I ached all over after being with him last time. In fact it was one of the reasons I had been denying the connection we had, because it had felt too good.

  True to his word he hadn’t reached out to touch me. I knew that it was up to me to call all the shots and briefly wondered if I could really carry on with what I’d started. At the same time I already knew, that for me at least, there was no turning back.

  Finding the courage, I walked over and stood inches in front of him, my eyes instantly connecting with his once again. The devouring, hungry look burning in his eyes gave me courage. I smiled slowly, stuck my thumb in my mouth, and sucked it sensually. Inhaling deeply through his nose his gaze dropped to watch my cheeks hollow. His lips parted slightly while his breathing became notably heavier. I could smell his cologne all around me and although it was subtle my senses were heightened, excited by how I was turning him on. When I pulled my thumb back out, it popped. Kane’s serious, lust-filled eyes darted back to mine as I watched him come undone right in front of me.

  Stroking the wet, swollen digit across his bottom lip made him swallow hard and loudly, encouraging me to push my thumb into his mouth. Like the opportunist he was, Kane instantly sucked on it with force. The lace of my thong became drenched in my warm desire. The sensation felt like it might well have melted from the warm wet feeling against the bare heat between my thighs.

  Glancing down at the slate grey, button down shirt under his casual black jacket, he popped my thumb from his mouth and I moved my hands to his abs, toward his pecs then up to his shoulders, assisting him with removing his jacket. My fingers trembled slightly as they found and began to undo each small, darker grey button on his shirt with due care. As I worked my way down from the collar I was rewarded when it exposed a little more skin with each one. Pushing both sides of the shirt wide, I took in the thick, inked pieces of art that completed his torso to perfection. I pulled the rest of his shirt free of his jeans from front to back.

  Whatever was going on in Kane’s mind was a mystery, but I knew from his reactions that he was definitely not immune to me. Studying his normally silky smooth skin, I noticed his pecs were covered in pinprick goosebumps, his nipples were drawn together in tight, dark, erect buds. His anticipation of my touch rolled off him in waves, and occasionally, his pecs seemed to flex in tight little spasms.

  Noting a change in his breathing when it grew heavier, I reached for his belt buckle. Hastily his hand snapped over my fingers, his serious dark glance seemed a little more than intimidating as he shook his head. “Enough, you’ve had your fun. You think I’m gonna stand here and let you get me all riled up—prick tease me, then you’ll ask me to leave? I’m not into mindfucks, Jo.”

  “Me neither. I’m not pla
ying games. I’m tired of thinking about what everybody else will think. I just want you to forget everything.” Kane studied me more intensely and when I held his gaze and stared him out without backing down he chewed the side of his mouth in thought. Slowly his hand fell away to his side and he stood silently waiting for my next move.

  His frustrated expression changed the instant I dropped to my knees and sat back on my calves, reaching for his buckle again. A delicious smile lit up his eyes and his erection grew in front of miy eyes. Unbuckling his belt, my fingers slipped behind his waistband and I smiled when a small shiver trembled through his body. I glanced up and my breath caught in my throat as the look of a starving man stared back at me.

  Opening the first button on his fly gave me a glimpse of a small smattering of dark hair. I couldn’t resist running my fingertips over it. As soon as I felt it the urgent feeling that ran through me had me frantically scrambling to hold his cock in my hand. I leaned forward and kissed the tip slowly and when I drew back I saw a bead of pre-come that glistened.

  Swallowing nervously, I licked my lips in preparation of taking him into my mouth. I was surprised when his arms swept down under my armpits and stopped me. “Don’t, I’ll fuck your mouth hard and come if you take me in there. I don’t want to come unless I’m inside you.” Effortlessly, he hauled me up off of the floor and onto his waist. I instinctively wrapped my legs tightly around him and I felt the length of his erection slide against the material of my wet thong. Kane growled and moaned a low throaty sound in reaction as he buried his face in my neck for a second. Almost as if he needed a moment to find his control.

  Seconds later he shuffled across the room chuckling as his jeans were still around his ankles. He sat with me on his lap on the nearest chair he could find. His strong, warm hands palmed up my thighs and his callused fingertips kneaded the globes of my ass when he reached them.