Rock Me Harder (Licks of Leather Book 2)

by Jenna Jacob

  Tori’s eyes grew wide as she sucked in a gasp. “Y-you want me to have phone sex with you?”

  “We could Face Time…” I teased.

  “Get out of here, you perv,” she giggled as she shoved me toward the door.

  “Is that a no?” She issued a noise of irritation instead of answering. “I’m just trying to broaden your horizons.”

  “Courtesy of labor and delivery, they’re broad enough, thank you very much,” she drawled, slapping her hips.

  I bent and nuzzled my lips to her ear. “They’re just the right size to grip my hands around as I drive deep inside you.”

  A ragged moan rolled off her lips as her body shook in a violent quiver.

  “You need to leave before I close and lock that door and beg you to show me just how deep inside you can drive.”

  It was my turn to moan…and tremble. Gripping her silky hair once more, I leveraged her head back and dragged my tongue up her neck, to the shell of her ear. “I’m coming back at six in the morning to join you for coffee or wake you up…proper.”

  If I stayed a second longer, I’d close and lock the door myself and spend all night dragging two years of orgasms from her sinful body. But this wasn’t the time or the place…not yet.

  Jacking off inside the cramped shower of my crappy hotel was the last fucking thing I wanted to do, but I managed to release Tori and take a step back.

  “Sleep tight, beautiful.”

  “You, too.” She sent me a tight smile, then blew out a heavy breath.

  Leaving Ed and Ruben Green sitting on the couch talking sports, the other three bodyguards surrounded me in pillars of impenetrable Armani before we stepped outside. The uproar coming from the edge of the property was instantaneous. Like rabid dogs, reporters started charging up the drive and across the lawn. A strobe of flashbulbs blinded me as McCoy gripped my bicep and led me toward a beefy black Escalade with tinted windows. As Robinson moved in to cover our six, McCoy shoved me into the backseat before sliding in beside me.

  “Thanks,” I mumbled as Thomas jumped in behind the wheel.

  As he started the vehicle and revved the engine, Robinson hopped in the passenger seat and locked the doors. Thomas pulled onto the street while I peered out the window, taking in the carnival of curiosity, and issued an inward curse. News had traveled fast, too fast. I feared by morning the horde would likely triple in size.

  I loved making music. It was in my blood…in my soul. But for the first time in my life, I wished I’d never picked up that guitar in the music store. No. That was a lie. I just ached for a normal life, like Tori had until I showed up.

  Exhaling deeply, I scrubbed a hand through my hair.

  “You doing okay?” McCoy asked quietly.

  “Yeah. I’m used to the circus. Unfortunately, the Combs family isn’t.” And that fact filled me with guilt.

  “We got a parade behind us,” Thomas announced as he checked his mirrors.

  “Shit. Looks like we’re going to have to stop, drop, and roll when we get there,” McCoy instructed.

  “Ten-four,” Robinson said, flashing a tiny salute.

  “When we—”

  “I know what it means,” I interrupted McCoy as I pulled my key card from my jeans.

  Once we reached the hotel, Thomas would stop the vehicle, drop us off, then I’d roll straight to my room.

  “Good. We’ll get you secured, then get checked in.”

  I nodded. “I need to be back at the house at six a.m.”

  “We’ll be outside your room at five forty-five.”

  McCoy and Robinson were good at their job. I was alone in my room and getting ready to start making phone calls before the vultures had a chance to hit the lobby. Oh, I could hear them outside my door, calling my name, but I ignored them and punched in my folks’ number.

  “How’s Maui?” my mom asked without saying hello. The love, warmth, and happiness in her voice made me smile.

  “I’m sure it’s sunny and warm. But I’m not in Maui anymore.”

  “Oh? You’re coming home?” she asked all too eagerly.

  “Eventually. I’m in Kansas…not far from Kansas City.”

  “What on earth are you doing there?”

  “Well…you better sit down, Ma.”

  “Darren. You’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”

  “What would you say if I told you that you’re a grandma?” My question was met with silence…dead silence. “Ma?”

  “Is this a joke?” she asked tersely.

  “No. I’d never do that to you.”

  “Oh, my….”

  “Congratulations, Gramma. It’s a boy. His name is Dustin.”

  “Walter!” she screamed with a joy I hadn’t heard in her tone, well…ever. “Come quick. Come quick.”

  “What is it, love? What’s wrong?” Dad thundered in the background.

  “Put me on speakerphone, Ma,” I chuckled.

  “Right. Right,” she giggled.

  An hour and a half later, after swearing on my dearly departed grandmother’s grave that I would bring Tori and Dustin to Tulsa as soon as possible, we said our goodbyes and I hung up. I’d known they’d be happy and welcome my son unconditionally. That was just their style. And while my reticence to tie the knot with Tori stole a bit of their bliss, they were both stupidly excited, just like me.

  My next call to Burk and the guys was received with far less excitement but genuine congratulations. Well, all except Ross, who told me I was a fuck-nut for knocking Tori up. But the others were supportive and raised a toast to me over the phone. When I had Burk alone on the line, I told him about the media frenzy unfolding and Quinn sending the security detail.

  “I vote you pack everyone up and book a flight back to Maui. You and the family are more than welcome to hang out here.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but I have no idea if leaving is even an option. Tori works on Monday and we haven’t had much time to talk.”

  “I gotcha. Well, the offer stands. If you need a safe house, my door’s always open.”

  “Thanks. I mean that.”

  “When you talked to Quinn, you didn’t happen to put a bug in his ear about pushing back our next tour, did you?”

  “No, man. I wanted to wait until we had our group discussion.”

  “Good. I’ve been dropping a few hints here, just to get a feel for who else might be on board with us. Ross is more than ready for a break. If we do this, I’m going tell him to find some happy classes or something. That big motherfucker is getting surlier by the damn day.” Burk chuckled.

  “He just needs to get laid.”

  “As for Ozzy? Well, I suspect he’ll go with the flow as usual. I don’t expect any blowback on the idea from him. But Syd’s a whole other issue. He’s such a social animal that downtime for him is like a prison sentence. He’s already talking about backpacking across Europe or some such shit.”

  None of us knew why Syd needed people around him to keep from climbing the walls. He sometimes showed up, unannounced, to hang out with us individually between tours. Of course, none of us ever turned him away. We’d been all for one and one for all for thirteen years.

  “Too bad we can’t hire him a pair of horny twins to keep him occupied during the break.” I chuckled.

  “Right?” Burk drawled. “On a different note. You got anything going on tomorrow?”

  “Just hanging out with Dustin and the family here.”

  “Okay. Let’s plan a video call around noon.”

  “Your time?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.” I did some quick time zone calculation in my head. “That’ll make it four o’clock here… Yeah, that works for me. I’ll talk to you then and thanks, man, for everything.”

  “No need, just keep the doors locked and the shades pulled down.”

  “Always.”

  Now that my cock had finally decided to go to sleep, I blocked all thought of Tori and grabbed a quick shower before climbing into bed
. I feared I’d toss and turn half the night, but I drifted off right away.

  Lights searing my skin and sweat dripping from my brow, I stepped up to the microphone, belting out backup lyrics as Burk strutted across the stage singing his heart out. The roar of the fans reverberated in my chest along with the beat of Ross’s drums and Syd’s bass guitar. The spotlight stilled on me as I began playing the opening riff of my solo. Fingers gliding up and down the frets, I dragged my pick over the strings, drawing out each piercing note and making my guitar scream like a sweet bitch, when a familiar cry came from the front row. Glancing down, I saw Dustin sitting on Tori’s shoulders, holding the little guitar in his chubby fingers, and grinning at me with the same heart-melting smile that adorned Tori’s face.

  “Rocky roll!” Dustin cried out again.

  I flashed him a proud grin, then before my eyes, the crowd around them morphed into huge, inky-black crows. Terror wrapped its icy hands around my throat as I stood helplessly watching their wings unfurl, and their black beady eyes home in on Dustin and Tori. I opened my mouth to yell for them to run, but nothing came out. It was as if my vocal cords had been cut.

  Tossing my guitar aside, I started to leap off the stage when the birds let out a deafening, blood-chilling screech. Dustin’s and Tori’s eyes grew wide. Panic lined their faces as huge, oily black wings unfurled and began flapping all around them. I was in midair, sailing toward my family to save them, when the birds swooped in and enveloped them both…cutting off Tori’s piercing scream and Dustin’s cry, “Dadd—”

  Jolting awake with a shout of horror, I bolted upright, panting and sweating. Heart pounding like a drumline and bile rising in the back of my throat, I threw off the covers and leaped out of bed, bashing my thigh against the corner of the nightstand. I barked out a curse as my shaking fingers fumbled for the bedside lamp and switched it on. I blinked against the harsh light and flopped onto the edge of the bed, working to shake off the chills and panic climbing through me and erase the nightmare’s residue staining my brain.

  “Jesus. That was beyond fucked up,” I mumbled.

  Scrubbing a still slightly shaky hand over my face, I then glanced at the clock. The sickly green-colored LEDs showed four thirty-six.

  Suddenly a thunderous knock came from the door.

  “McCoy. Open up,” the man demanded.

  Limping across the room, I checked the peephole and disengaged the locks.

  Glock in hand, wearing sweat pants and a wife-beater, the man burst into the room—searching for a threat.

  “I’m alone,” I assured.

  His shoulders relaxed slightly as he lowered his weapon. “Sorry. I’m next door and heard a loud crash and curse.”

  “Yeah, I smacked my leg against the nightstand. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  He nodded and scowled. “You just get out of the shower or something? You’re soaking wet.”

  I wiped the perspiration from the back of my neck and shook my head. “No, just had a bad dream. I’m good.”

  “A real bad one, by the looks of it. You going to try to get more sleep, or—”

  “Not after that shit. No.”

  He smiled in understanding. “Me, too. I’ll grab some coffee from the lobby for us.”

  “Be careful. Not only will that shit scald your tongue, but it’ll keep you up for a week.”

  “Perfect. Just how I like my women, hot and strong,” McCoy drawled, tucking his gun away and strolling out the door.

  “You and me both,” I mumbled to myself.

  A few minutes later, he returned with a stack of “complimentary” donuts and java. We spent the next hour talking about his numerous tours in Iraq, and wife and three kids and my years with the band. Most of our conversation focused on my newfound fatherhood. I might still be pissed at Tori, but I loved her too much to let her fend off all the beady-eyed, oily-winged vultures alone.

  McCoy left to get ready for the day, but twenty minutes later, he was back as promised. Thomas and Robinson were by his side. As we paraded through the now empty lobby—thank fuck—the desk clerk stopped me.

  “How much longer are you planning on staying here, Mr. Baxter?” the balding, portly sixty-something man drawled, rolling his eyes when using my alias.

  “I’m not sure. Why?” I asked defensively.

  “’Cause if I have to call the sheriff to chase off all those reporters again tonight, you’re gonna need to find another place to stay. I don’t need that kind of headache over one guest.”

  Great. The prick was threatening to evict me from this shithole.

  “Don’t sweat it,” McCoy murmured. “There’s another town fifteen miles from here that has a ton of hotels.”

  “Are they as high-class as this one?” I asked with a snarky smirk while glaring at the desk clerk.

  “Way fancier.” McCoy laughed.

  The clerk’s face turned red. Clearly, our comments irked the man. “No more reporters or you’re out of here…all of you.”

  “So much for small-town friendliness,” Thomas muttered as we walked out the door.

  “I don’t blame him,” I stated as we jogged to the Escalade. “No one here, especially Tori and her family, asked for their lives to be turned upside down like this.”

  “Yeah, well, people need to learn a little compassion,” Thomas grumbled climbing in behind the wheel again.

  Though his comment wasn’t aimed at me, my conscience took a direct hit. It was time for me to extend some compassion toward Tori. I was still chewing on that concept when we turned down her street. As I’d feared, twice as many news vans and gawkers had gathered.

  McCoy whipped out his cell and informed Green to unlock the front door because we were, “coming in hot.” As we reached the porch, surrounded by screaming reporters, microphones, and cameras the door swung open. Taking up the entire portal, Green extended a beefy hand and pulled me inside. Seconds later, McCoy shut and locked us in safely.

  “Son of a bi—”Tori stepped from the kitchen holding a mug of steaming coffee. The sight of her cut my curse off. “Morning, beautiful.”

  With the nightmare still lingering on the fringes of my psyche, I ate up the distance between us in three long strides and cupped her soft cheek. She peered up at me curiously.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I am now.” I pressed a soft kiss to her forehead as I closed my eyes and breathed her in. “Is Dustin still sleeping?”

  “Yeah, he had a nightmare early this morning, so I put him in bed with me. He crashed right out, but I’ve been awake ever since.”

  “What kind of nightmare?”

  “I don’t know. He was crying and saying something about bad birds.”

  I reared back. “I had one about bad birds this morning, too. Messed me up so much I’ve been awake ever since, too.”

  “You two share the same brain or something?”

  “Sounds crazy, but maybe.”

  “So, what’s going on out there?” she asked, nodding toward the front door.

  “You don’t want to know.”

  “Actually, I do.” She set her coffee down and paraded across the living room.

  “No, Tori. Don’t,” I ordered, snagging her by the waist and tugging her back as she reached for the edge of the curtain.

  “I’m a big girl, Darren. I’m not going to bury my head in the sand and hope this will all just go away. I want to see what we’re up against.”

  “It’s not pretty,” I warned.

  “I didn’t think it would be.” Squaring her shoulders, she pulled the curtain back and gasped. “Oh. My. God.”

  When I tugged the fabric from her fingers, she covered her mouth with a trembling hand.

  “It’s a zoo out there,” she murmured, sinking to the recliner beside her.

  “You’re not going to want to hear this, but I checked my phone earlier. Photos of us are popping up all over social media and celebrity segments on TV. I’m going to talk to Quinn today and see about a press
conference. Maybe if we give them a few morsels, they’ll gobble them up and leave.”

  “And if they don’t?”

  “Then we’ll have to decide what to do next.”

  “What do you mean, do next? What can we do?”

  I knelt down beside her and took Tori’s hand. “We’ll figure out a way to get rid of them…together.”

  “I can’t leave Dad and Dustin here alone while I work.” She darted a worried glance at the door. “I don’t know how I’m even going to get out of the driveway in the morning. I can’t even see the street.”

  “I don’t think going to work is a good idea right now. Can you call your boss and ask for some personal time off?”

  Tori’s shoulders sagged. “Yeah. I think Brice will understand.”

  He’d better or I’ll break his fucking neck.

  ♫

  Tori

  I was still trying to wrap my head around the sea of humanity clogging the street outside as I brewed another pot of coffee. I knew if I didn’t stay busy, I’d lose my damn mind. While I appreciated Darren’s update, I hated the idea that our photos were trending. The last thing I ever wanted to be was famous.

  “Miss Tori?”

  Nearly jumping out of my skin, I whipped around to find Ruben Green standing in the entryway. Pressing a hand to my heart, I struggled to catch my breath.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.” The gentle giant, who’d spent the wee hours of the morning chatting and drinking coffee with me, flashed an apologetic cringe. “I’m heading over to the hotel to get some sleep, but I’ll be back tonight to watch over you and your family.”

  “Thank you, Ruben. I appreciate everything you’re doing for us.”

  “My pleasure. Just remember to breathe and try to stay calm. All right?”

  I smiled and nodded. “See you tonight.”

  As soon as he left, I scoured the fridge and closed the door. “Damn.”

  “What’s wrong?” Darren asked. easing in beside me.

  “I gotta run to the grocery store. I don’t have enough food to—”

  “You’re not running anywhere, beautiful. Make a list. I’ll see if McCoy can make a grocery run.”