Blame it on the Tequila

by Fiona Cole

“I-I…” She swallowed. “I don’t know.”

  “Did it make you wet? Because your nipples were so hard, it took everything I had not to give them all my attention.”

  She licked her lips, her brows pulled together tight, but she still writhed under me. “I—” Another swallow followed by a deep breath. “I know you have experiences, but I didn’t experiment. Instead, I learned from watching porn.”

  “Oh, shit,” I breathed, the shock and desire knocking the wind from me. “What kind?” I wasn’t sure I could survive knowing, but I needed to.

  “Umm…it was—was exhibitionism,” she admitted, squeezing her eyes shut.

  The blush grew so deep, it spread down her neck.

  “Nova. Look at me.” One eye peeked open and then the other. “There is nothing you could want that I wouldn’t want to give you. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to have you. And you admitting what turns you on has got to be the sexiest fucking thing ever.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. And we already know I love the attention.”

  She laughed, but it died on a moan when I slid my hand to her ribs and pressed my length to her again.

  “I bet Ash can hear you right now,” I whispered in her ear.

  Her breathing picked up harder, and she met me at the next thrust. Holding her stare, I pulled the curtain back halfway, holding my hand there, waiting for her to tell me to close it. The music from Ash’s bunk had stopped—a clear sign he was dead to the world, but I wanted to give her the idea of being exposed—that he could be watching.

  Her eyes flicked to Ash’s bunk across from us but didn’t protest. Instead, she gripped my sides and lifted herself so she could rub against me. It had to be the sexiest fucking thing I’d ever seen.

  Needing more of her—to give her more—I slid my hand up her shirt, thumbing the soft underside of her breast. The skin pebbled, and I became almost desperate to see it. Cupping my hand around the curve, I kissed down her neck, losing myself in her wet heat, grinding closer and closer to the edge.

  It was so much like the night on the couch when we finally kissed, but with so much more knowledge and built-up desire. Pushing to see how far I could go, I drew my hand back to the edge of her top and started lifting it past the pale skin of her stomach. I fingered her ribs and looked to her for permission. Ash was most likely asleep, but with the curtain open, if he did wake up, he’d be able to see all of her.

  She looked to his bunk again, a rosy blush warming her cheeks before looking back to me with a nod. Agonizingly slowly, I tugged the top up and over her breasts.

  Holding her gaze, I leaned down and coiled my tongue around the tip, almost jerking back when I brushed against cold metal.

  Holy fuck. Nova has pierced fucking nipples.

  I think I just died and went to heaven.

  Using my other hand, I lifted my fingers to the pebbled tip surrounded by two metal balls. She whimpered and groaned as my tongue flicked and teased with the gentlest of strokes across the buds.

  “Parker, please,” she whispered, arching up against my mouth.

  Not being able to take it any longer, her whimpers growing louder, I sucked her nipple into my mouth. She cried out, and I thought I would come right there. God, I wanted to pull my shorts down, tug her flimsy pants from her body and push inside her once and for all, but as much as I loved exploring this with her, our first time together wouldn’t be in a bunk bed of a bus.

  It didn’t mean I couldn’t make her come other ways.

  Abandoning her breast, I shifted my hand down. She rocked frantically, digging nails into any part of me she could get, crying out and moaning the sexiest sounds I’d never forget. She owned her pleasure, and the sight was stunning. When we were teens, she’d been hesitant and unknowing, and now she stretched and mewled and held me where she wanted me.

  Again, giving her plenty of time to pull back, I fingered the edge of her pants, and when she didn’t tell me to stop, I delved under, creeping my way between her thighs.

  “Yes, Parker. Please.”

  “I bet Ash is stroking himself, ready to come with you.”

  Her eyes blazed but never left mine.

  “He can’t take his eyes off your pierced nipples. Such a good girl hiding filthy secrets.”

  Her mouth parted on a moan when I pressed between the soft folds of her pussy, encountering wet, slick heat.

  “Such a dirty girl who wants everyone to watch her come.”

  “Yes.”

  I only grazed her opening to pull more of her wetness up to her soaked clit before she went off. She thrust, and I brushed back and forth, circling and tapping, resting my other fingers at her opening, on the edge of coming when I could feel her cunt spasming. She cried out, almost arching off the bed, and I pulled back to watch her explode.

  She was stunning. All fiery red hair sprawled out, her beautiful breasts heaving and tight, her legs spread wide, rocking against my hand until she finally relaxed back against the pillows, dazed and sated, gasping for air. Her heavy-lidded eyes took me in, scanning down to my tented shorts.

  “Come,” she ordered.

  Scooting back to my haunches, I held myself over her with one arm extended and used the other to tug my shorts below my balls.

  “Oh, wow,” she breathed, her eyes wide.

  I slowly stroked my cock, length to tip, holding my breath when she reached out to finger the silver barbell across the underside of my shaft just below my head.

  “Fuck, Nova,” I grunted.

  She skated her fingers across the head, collecting the drop of precum before pulling away and stretching out like a fucking model designed just to get me off.

  Having held off for too long, I jerked my dick harder, coming in less than a few minutes. I cupped my hand over the head and looked everywhere, from her perfect pale tits with barbells through them to her rosy pink lips, round and panting like the sight of me jerking off had her on edge all over again. I remembered how her pussy drenched my fingers from a simple swipe, and I came in my fist. My muscles tensed, and fiery pleasure shot from my head to my toes. Wave after wave poured out of me until I thought I’d collapse. I scanned the area for anything and found a box of tissues in the corner. Grabbing one, I cleaned up and crumpled to my elbows, my forehead pressed to hers.

  “That may have been the hottest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said, stroking her fingers through my hair. “Way better than any porn I’ve watched.”

  “How much porn do you watch?” I asked, laughing.

  “Enough.”

  “Fuck, that’s hot.”

  “Really?”

  I collapsed to my side, curling her into me, and tugged the curtain closed behind me. “Nova, anything you do is hot. And these,” I groaned, stroking her now covered pierced nipple. “That was a surprise.”

  “Your piercing was a surprise, too.”

  “I’m glad you like it.”

  I wanted to say so much more. Tell her about all the things I wanted to do to her. How I wanted her to stroke my piercing and how I couldn’t wait to feel inside her. I wanted to have it all right there.

  But she yawned, and I remembered where we were. Tonight wasn’t planned, but it was beyond anything I could’ve asked for or expected, and I didn’t want to push.

  We crossed a line tonight we’d never crossed in our relationship.

  I didn’t want to push any further and tempt fate to send us back to the beginning like it always seemed to do.

  So instead of telling her how much I couldn’t wait to be inside her, I settled on wrapping her in my arms and falling asleep.

  Twenty-Two

  Nova

  “All right, ladies,” Aspen addressed the guys. “These two suites connect and have two rooms each. Nova, you’re down the hall.”

  She passed me a key card with my room number on it, and a couple of weeks ago, I might have been grateful for the reprieve, but now I looked at the guys knowing I’d miss being crammed into a tiny space with the
m twenty-four-seven.

  “We’re here for three days, so please behave and show up for practices and events on time,” she continued, looking around the room as if to inspect the crisp area for any wrinkles.

  I couldn’t imagine the penthouse suite to be anything other than top-notch, but I’d never stayed in a place as nice as this. At least not the top floor. But the guys lounged around and dropped their bags, propping their feet on the furniture, obviously used to the life of luxury.

  “Will you be here too, Aspen?” Oren asked, batting his lashes.

  She rolled her eyes, which she did almost every hour with Oren, but it was always with affection. Aspen stood with her back ramrod straight, intimidating in all black with a bold red lipstick. She screamed sophistication and power—the complete opposite of Oren’s laidback personality. Which was why he prodded her so incessantly.

  “I’ll also be down the hall in another room,” she answered.

  “Well, if you get lonely, you can always join me.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” she deadpanned.

  Oren pumped his fist, bringing out another small smirk from her.

  “So, what events do we have? I know there’s an interview in the morning,” Ash asked.

  “There’s an event at the Contemporary Arts Museum showcasing musical art from local schools to raise money for arts programs.”

  “Very cool,” Brogan said.

  “Parker,” she turned to him, her tone warning that what came next would probably piss him off. “Sonia is attending the event, so you can go as her date.”

  My gaze jerked to his, thankful to find a frown already forming. He gave me a small shake of his head before pulling his shoulders back as if preparing to go to battle with Aspen.

  “No.”

  “Uh, yeah,” she responded like he was stupid to even try and say no.

  “I’m not going on any more dates with her. Our agreement needs to be absolved.”

  “Listen, Parker,” she sighed, exasperated she had to even explain. “You have an album coming out soon and a concert to promote, and you have enough ballads on your playlist that fans go crazy over the idea of knowing who it’s about.”

  “I don’t care. I’m not going. Let one of the other guys go with her.”

  “No one will believe the other guys are in a relationship.”

  “True story,” Oren called. “I think someone got a picture of me sandwiched between two girls the other night.” Aspen glared, and he held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I was just dancing. Brogan was making out with like three different women before disappearing in the bathroom.”

  “Jesus,” she muttered. “Like I said, you have an established relationship, and that belief equals oodles and oodles of money.”

  “I get that, but I’m ending this. As there was no set date, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

  “The issue is the timing. Just get through the tour—maybe the album release, and then you can be done.”

  He let out a frustrated growl and paced away. Aspen let him have his moment before putting her phone aside and strolling to block his path, her black stilettos clicking each step of the way. “Beyond the contract, you gave your word to management that you would promote the band as necessary. I do believe you even scoffed and let us know if you had to bang a redheaded model every now and then to help the band, then you’d take it. That if this was the shit rock stars had to do, then it was better than you originally thought. So, I suggest you get over yourself and follow through.”

  Parker looked away, and I did my best to erase the last ten seconds from my memory.

  “That was two years ago,” he ground out.

  “And look how well it’s working. You don’t get to stop now. So, show up and give every girl a face to imagine is them. So when you release the album, they buy it so they can imagine it’s you singing to them.”

  “I just—” Parker paced away, dragging his fist through his hair.

  “Everyone wants to believe the song is about them, Parker. They want to be the girl.”

  “What if we wrote a song about foot fungus and Daddy fetishes?” Oren asked.

  “Even that one,” she answered over her shoulder.

  “But that one would be especially for you.”

  Aspen held up her middle finger over her shoulder before shifting to look at me. “Sorry, Nova. It’s just business,” she said, erasing any doubt of her knowing if Parker and I were together. She knew and apparently, didn’t care.

  I stood half a foot taller than her, and I assumed it would help me glare at her from a superior height, but when she walked past, I stumbled out of the way like her boss-bitch aura took up a hell of a lot more space than she did. Rae would be ashamed of how intimidated I was by this tiny powerhouse.

  Before she opened the door, she turned back. “Sonia will be there at seven. Make sure to bring a flower or something sweet. Maybe a red one like you mentioned in your last album. Also,” she narrowed her eyes. “Don’t turn your cheek or shove her away this time when she goes for the kiss.”

  She didn’t bother to wait to hear his rebuttal, and I really didn’t want to hear it either.

  “I should go get settled,” I said, trying to slip away.

  “Nova,” Parker called. “You come with me.”

  “What?” I shrieked.

  “Yeah. You be my date.”

  He might as well have suggested I go to the event just to bitch-slap Sonia. “That’s a horrible idea. Could you imagine the headlines? The other redhead. The Homewrecker.”

  He screwed up his face like I was being absurd. “They wouldn’t say that.”

  I gave him a deadpan stare because we both knew that’s exactly how it would go. Parker and Sonia hadn’t even been spotted together since New Year’s Eve, and articles speculated about marriage announcements every week.

  He threw his arms wide. “Who cares if they do? If we’re together, then we’ll face it. I won’t have to go on a date with her, and we get to be together.”

  “I care, Parker. It’s so easy for you. They’d probably high-five you, but I’m doing this job so I can control the narrative for my business. Something like that would tarnish my reputation.”

  He shook his head but couldn’t argue it.

  “Listen,” I said, softening my tone. “I want to go, okay? I hate the idea of you with her but showing up when another woman is expecting you. I may as well show up naked with a scarlet A painted on my chest.”

  “When will you be ready to put yourself out there? To be by my side?” he asked, his voice dangerously low.

  “I-I don’t know,” I stammered, unprepared for him to turn this into me not doing it for him—for us. “I’m trying to find the right time to make it happen.”

  “There’s plenty of times. Just take a selfie and post it. Done. We can take one together, right now,” he offered sarcastically.

  I stood my ground. “I’m not rushing this for you.”

  “So, we should just keep fooling around at night until holding hands in daylight fits your schedule?”

  “That’s not what this is,” I snapped.

  “Then what is it?”

  Here we stood on the edge. Fall forward into new territory or fall back?

  “Parker,” I whispered, pleading with him to understand my position. Hating that we stood on opposite sides, unwilling to yield.

  For once, I didn’t want to yield for him. Maybe I wanted him to go the extra mile for me.

  “I can’t get out of this without burning bridges, Nova. It’s my job.”

  It always was. I’d just hoped it wouldn’t always be that way. Maybe I was wrong. “I understand. You do what you need to.”

  Baring his teeth, he crowded me against the wall out of sight of the guys. “Tell me it won’t bother you that she’s on my arm.”

  Swallowing, I looked away. “You know it will.”

  “What if I have to kiss her? For every single photo,” he murmured against my cheek, my
neck. “Again, and again.”

  To add insult to injury, he kissed the thudding pulse under the sensitive skin, and I pressed my head back to the wall, squeezing my eyes shut to hold back the fire trying to break free. But it didn’t help because all I saw was her in his arms on New Year’s Eve.

  “I want you,” he confessed.

  “I want you too, but I can’t,” I said, adding finality to my words.

  He backed up, shutters falling over his eyes. “Then I guess I have a job to get ready for.”

  Angry at his lack of understanding, angry at myself, angry at Sonia, angry at Aspen…angry at everyone who put us here, I pulled myself off the wall and stood to my full five-foot-eight height. Hardening my jaw like his, I leaned in and met him glare for glare.

  “Fine,” I snapped.

  And with that, I tipped us back.

  I stormed out to my own room, barely getting the door closed before sinking to the floor, letting the tears fall.

  Twenty-Three

  Parker

  I climbed out of the car, thankful for the mostly empty lobby and the security who kept a clear path to the elevator. The concierge pressed all the buttons, asking me about my night. I didn’t really want to do small talk for all of the twelve floors we had to travel. I’d done nothing but small talk all night.

  All I wanted to do was get upstairs and talk to Nova. I wanted to tell her about my night and crawl into bed behind her and hold her to me like we’d done the past couple of weeks. Like I’d dreamed of doing every night away from her for over five years.

  I imagined her face when I let her know how the night played out. I imagined how she would react.

  Then I imagined her not even opening the door to me—refusing to talk to me just like she had after New York.

  An idea hit me, and I pulled out my phone to check on any online gossip sites that might have reported already on the event. Finding what I was looking for, I interrupted the concierge talking about his interaction with Brogan and Oren earlier and asked him a favor. He blinked a few times but happily agreed.