I ducked behind the curtain of my hair and scurried off the bed mumbling about getting cleaned up. When I reemerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, I managed to switch places with him without making eye contact, though the brush of his warm body against mine reawakened desires that he had only just satisfied.
I sank on the bed and pulled my hair back with an elastic, absently noting that he had turned on the shower. I avoided my reflection in the dresser mirror. Besides all the extra pounds on my frame that I still needed to shed, I knew I would see the telltale flash of foolish hope sparkling in my eyes. I crossed to my bag, tugged on a fresh pair of panties, hooked my bra, drew a short sleeve Team Alpine tee over my head and was just shimmying into a pair of boot cut jeans when Sager came out of the bathroom with a towel tucked low around his trim waist.
Oh hell. My heart lurched into my throat, and I flew across the room without any dignity, latching onto him as if I hadn’t seen him in over a week. When it came to him I had no willpower at all. None.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Sager
I watched Melinda as she chatted confidentially with the Black Cat receptionist. My pixie fit in so well at the studio. With the band, too. She was at ease with all of the guys with the exception of King. She didn’t bat an eye when we got crude. She had stood up to War with admirable aplomb. The only time she had seemed at a loss was when one of us reminisced about our troubled past. I knew she wanted to make things better, to take away the pain. But the past wasn’t something that anyone could change. The damage done wasn’t easy to fix. I was pretty sure the reason she found solace in the studio was because it was an escape from her own less than idyllic home life growing up.
“Blue,” I said low, bending to press a kiss into the soft hollow behind her ear. “You’re awfully cute and I’m totally crazy about you. You realize this, yeah?”
She turned her head to grin up at me, and I felt the force of her joy like a lightning bolt directly through the center of my heart. Did she have any clue how deeply I was into her? It might scare her shitless if she knew.
“Ay Dios mio.” King made a gagging sound. “I’m heading to room five. My backup drum set’s in there. Maybe we can get lunch in a couple of hours.” He tipped his chin to Melinda. “If you want to.”
She nodded, and my already lit up heart blazed brighter as I placed my hand low on my girl’s back and steered her into the recording room where I had left one of my Fenders the week before.
She settled into the worn couch in the corner of the room while I snagged my bass by the neck. Her brow scrunching, she started pecking away on her phone probably answering those million and one interview questions she had mentioned were looming over her head. I slid on a pair of headphones getting to work on the overdubs that had to be done and approved by the Queen before the tour. East coast to west this time. Six weeks. Too many days away from my pixie. I stared as she tucked her shapely legs underneath her insanely sexy body. I wondered yet again how I was going to hold onto her heart with the distance and the demands of her career and my own.
She lifted her head as if she had felt my rising unease and moved to me, placing her hands on my arms and lifting her mouth to mine. I leaned into the kiss getting my tongue in her mouth and savoring her cherry flavor when she pulled back. She pointed to my headphones. I slid them off. “It sounds good. But you’re a little too fast on the intro. Don’t rush it.” She was right. I nodded and went back to work and she returned to hers. This felt good. Like it was meant to be this way with us together. Maybe it was because she was so comfortable in here having spent countless hours in this very place waiting on her father. Maybe it was because she knew how important my music was to me. Whatever it was, it made me happy. For the first time in my life I felt settled. Content. Hopeful for the future.
After I finished up at the studio we grabbed a quick lunch with King at a fast food joint in English Bay. He took a cab, but I convinced Melinda to walk the leisurely scenic route through Stanley Park. Her nose was red, and her hair was windblown by the time we ducked inside Cafe Artigiano for coffee. I gathered her hands in my own as we sat across from each other at a rustic table that had hearts and initials carved into the wood. She was engraved just as indelibly into my soul. Staring into her eyes, something deep and meaningful seemed to surface in her gaze before she looked away.
“You really should try again with your brother, Sager.”
I tensed. Why was she veering off onto thorny topics like that one? Was she feeling my intensity and trying to deflect it, to throw up a roadblock between us?
“I was thinking about it as you were working.” Her eyes met mine. “I know you believe he doesn’t remember you, but I bet he does.” She paused. It seemed like she had been about to say more but she decided against it. I wished she didn’t feel the need to filter her thoughts with me. I wanted to know everything she was thinking. I wanted all of her. I wouldn’t settle for less. “You asked me if my mom sang. The only time she ever did was to soothe me when I woke up with a bad dream. You told me once that some of your favorite memories of Jude were singing to him at night.”
My throat closed. Pressure built behind my eyes as a snapshot moment flashed into my mind. Jude’s head resting against my shoulder, taking shelter in the sound of my voice while my brother raged outside the relative safety of his bedroom. I just nodded, unable to speak.
“You should record something for him this week. Send it to him. Take a chance.” She slid out her hands, covered mine and squeezed. “You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, right?”
I turned the idea over in my mind. I could do it. Maybe send it to his parents through one of the lawyers King and I had used to vet the Black Cat Records contracts. But her words made me wonder about us, too. Should I confess my feelings to her? Should I take a chance to tell her everything that was in my heart? I had chosen unwisely once before her. For now, I wasn’t willing to lose what ground I had only just gained. I couldn’t. Not yet.
• • •
Melinda
I came out of the bathroom in a silk chemise, rubbing lotion on my hands, feeling his gaze on me, his palpable desire as I took my spot in the bed. I had lingered in the shower long after he had washed my body with tantalizing deliberation and taken me swiftly and decisively from behind.
While lingering under the water, I had replayed every single detail of the day. Savoring each one. Examining them from every angle. Trying to convince myself I wasn’t dreaming, that Sager Reed was really that into me. We had strolled through Stanley Park as if we were old lovers. We had held hands across the table at the coffeehouse as if we were teenagers. And then he had spent hours in the art museum across the street with me asking my opinion about each piece, making me feel like it mattered the most to him what I thought.
I slid off the silver mood ring that swirled with warm pink as if it really could reflect my feelings before swiveling around in the bed to face Sager. For the moment not focused on me, reading glasses perched on his nose, the drawing pencil in his strong fingers flew across the surface of his sketch pad.
I gulped. “Are you drawing me?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t look up.
“Sager,” I complained.
“Not gonna argue about this, babe. You’re beautiful. I love looking at you. I want to show you the way I see you.”
He set his glasses on top of his head, tucked his pencil behind his ear and turned the drawing pad around so I could see it.
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed before I could even think to filter. I shook my head in denial. “I don’t look like that.”
“You do,” he countered, leaning toward me, tracing my brows, sliding the pad of his forefinger down my nose before outlining my lips. I pressed a kiss to his fingertip and looked away from the drawing to the much better view of Sager instead.
“You make me feel beautiful,” I admitted. “Thank you.”
“Hmm,” he mused, staring deeply into my eyes. There w
as something significant in his gaze, something vital, something I desperately craved. Him. His approval.
“I think more than thanks are necessary.” He tapped my nose. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you this sketch, and all the others I have of you, if you’ll sit for me tonight so I can start a painting of you.”
My brows rose. He stood, moved to the dresser, pulled open a drawer and started tossing drawing pad after drawing pad on the bed. There were ten of them. My eyes were wide when he turned around. I was too overwhelmed, too nervous to even peek at them with him watching me for my reaction.
“Is it a deal?” He arched a brow. I could tell it mattered to him.
“Ok.” I agreed. “Do I sit or stand?”
He was quiet a moment as if considering. He reached for the hem of my chemise, lifted it up and over my head. My hair settled back around my shoulders, and his gaze swept over my naked body before returning to my eyes. “Lay down,” he ordered, his voice husky. “And look at me...just like that.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Sager
I woke up before her for once. My arms tightened reflexively around her. She lay right here with me but sometimes I felt like she was somehow slipping away. She sighed in her sleep as if she sensed my concern and shifted closer. A fierce surge of possessiveness burned within my chest. I didn’t want to ever let her go.
When the room eventually brightened with the approaching dawn, I shifted to hold her with my left arm and flipped open a new page on my sketch pad and starting drawing. Ebony locks framing her pretty heart shaped face, ruby lips slightly parted, a seductress beautiful enough to tempt even an angel to leave heaven.
The moment didn’t last long.
“Mmm.” She shifted, stretched her arms over her head and half-opened her baby blues. My morning wood strained in my boxers. Partly from the heat I felt whenever our gazes connected but mostly due to the fact that the sheet had crept down around her indented hourglass waist, her bountiful tits and rosy nipples exposed to my view.
“Good morning.” She said her voice husky. “How long have you been up?” She scooted up in the bed and glanced over at the drawing. Her brow creased but she didn’t protest. I think she was becoming resigned to the fact that she was my muse.
“Awhile,” I replied setting aside my pad and pencil, dipping my eyes to scan her curvaceous form, and brushing the back of my knuckles softly across one tightened nipple down the creamy soft valley in between up the slope to the other hardened peak.
She inhaled sharply and her sapphire eyes darkened to deep indigo. “Sager,” she breathed wistfully. I loved it when she said my name like that. Desire spiked. Hot and heavy. Urgent need. But I wanted to make love to her slow and easy this morning. She had seen my drawings. She knew how I saw her. Now I wanted to show her how I felt.
“Lie on your back in the middle of the bed.”
“Why?” Sleepiness disappeared from her eyes. “After last night...”
“I wanna explore every inch of you, Melinda. Memorize every curve.”
“Ok.” Her lips spread slowly into a sultry smile. She scooted to the center of the bed. “Like this?” She arched her back off the mattress lifting her breasts up toward me and lowered her lids peering at me through the thick fringes of her dark lashes.
“Yeah, babe. Just like that.” I turned to my side and crawled closer, wanting to go straight for her tits. I could feast on those alone for a week, but I wanted to start from the outside and work my way into the sweet center of her, first conquer her body then eventually win her precious soul.
“Arms over your head.” I ordered and her eyes widened significantly. “I just want you to focus on what I do to you. Tell me if you don’t like something. Let me know what feels good.”
“Ok.” A beatific smile lit up her face and darkened her gaze.
“Oh, Blue,” I praised leaning over her and threading my fingers deep into the thick tresses at her scalp. “The things you do for me. You make me feel like I’m someone who could be worthy of your love.” I cradled the back of her skull.
“You are worth more than that, Sager.” Her lids fluttered closed as I lowered my head. I brushed my lips gently across hers.
“Your hair feels like fine silk. Your mouth tastes like perfectly ripe cherries. Every time I kiss you I’m telling you that you’re mine. Do you feel that, Blue?”
“Yes.” Her eyes opened, and I saw the truth of her answer glistening within them.
I leaned back skimming the pads of my fingers down the elegant lines of her neck, across her collarbones, between the valley of her breasts, and then circling back around each one dragging my thumb across each taut peak.
“Sager,” she shuddered “that feels so good. I…” Her cheeks flushed with pink. “I get wetter every time you stroke my breasts.” Her gaze stayed on mine, and her candid honesty unraveled every single reservation I had about us. What other woman could ever compare?
“Then I’ll have to pay them lots more attention.” I lowered my head tracing the same path with my lips, my teeth and my tongue. Hands clasped together over her head, she arched her back off the mattress moaning when I sucked one taut nipple deep into my hot mouth and then the other. I felt my balls draw up, and my cock lengthen. Giving her pleasure heightened my own.
She hissed in a sharp breath when I let her feel the edge of my teeth along her elongated nipple. I lifted my head and did the same thing to the other while twisting the wet nipple I had abandoned, between my finger and thumb.
“Sager.” She lifted her hips up. I glanced at her pretty pussy. I could see the dampness of her arousal glistening on her restless inner thighs.
“I need... I need you inside me,” she insisted, her gaze a dark glaze of passion.
“I need that too, babe.” I trailed the back of my knuckles softly down one thigh, and then up the other circling her pussy but not touching her there yet.
“No more teasing. Please. I’m so close,” she panted unclasping her hands and reaching for me.
“Me, too, Blue. Spread for me.” I moved between her legs, grasping her thighs and pulling her toward me. She watched me with eyes that set my blood on fire as I ripped open and rolled on a condom. I lowered myself over her, caging her inside my arms as I positioned and slowly sank myself deep inside her. “You feel so, so good, babe. So slick and tight and perfect.” I drew almost all the way out before thrusting back inside her irresistible heat.
“Sager. I...you…The way you make me feel. It’s too much,” she admitted her voice rough. “I’m afraid.”
“Don’t be.” I stroked in and out infinitely slow savoring. “There is no reason to fear something so right. I’ve got you. I’ll take care of you.” Always, I added to myself…if you’ll only let me.
Her lids lowered. She lifted her hips, arching into my next deep plunge. I swept my gaze over her one more time, memorizing the beauty of her surrender. Then my lids closed too, and I gave myself over to the fire, possessing her, declaring my ownership over and over again, deeper and deeper, hotter and wetter until I felt the rhythmic tremors of her climax beginning. Pleasure slammed through my spine, gripped my balls and shot straight through my cock as I gave her every last part of me, body and soul.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Melinda
I pushed through the glass door returning to the lobby of the residential tower of the Sutton, lifting the hem of my shirt to wipe the stinging sweat from my eyes.
“Melinda.” I tensed at the sound of April’s voice.
“What are you doing here?” I blurted out. “I thought you were out at your mom’s place.”
“I was.” She hooked a thumb toward the bank of elevators. “We watched Carter overnight. For the honeymooners. I just brought him back. Bridget was missing him,” she explained seeming nervous. She took a step closer tilting her head to the side. “How are you doing? Are you alright?” she asked me.
Shit. I forgot I had called Dizzy after the episode with Tyler. Obviously
he had shared with her what had happened.
“I’m fine.” Eyes hardening, I threw up my defenses. I didn’t want her feeling sorry for me. “But thanks for your concern.” I took a step to the right to move past her. I didn’t want her to see how badly I missed her, or how desperately I wished I could talk to her about my feelings for Sager.
“Mel.” I stopped, but didn’t turn to face her. “I’ve been thinking.” She sighed and moved in front of me. She touched my arm softly while searching my eyes. “I don’t want to be at odds with you anymore. If it’s ok with you, maybe we could make a fresh start.”
My eyes grew wide.
Her gaze swept over me, and her eyes narrowed. “Besides, I’m worried about you.”
“Why?” I lifted my chin, my emotional wall still up despite her offer of reconciliation.
“Lots of reasons. Your dad for one. I can only guess how badly he’s handling you leaving school for the ski cross stuff. Tyler Sutter for another. You and Sager. Plus, every time I see you I can tell that you’ve lost more weight.”
My head spun from her list.
“I miss you,” she whispered and squeezed my arm. “Truly. Lace is nice. Bridget and Shaina are ok, too. But they aren’t you, and they don’t know me like you do. I don’t feel like I can talk to them like we used to. Don’t you miss me, too?”
My eyes filled. I bobbed my head and threw my arms around her. I felt her hugging me back just as fiercely. A strangled sob escaped my throat. “I’m so sorry, April,” I whispered my voice raw. “I didn’t know about James. I never would have told him about you and Diz if I had. It was just...”
“It’s ok. I was pretty harsh with you, too. Let’s agree that mistakes were made on both sides, but we don’t need to go back there.”
“Ok,” I agreed, lifting my head and studying her face. “But I understand if you can never trust me again. I’m just glad you’re not mad at me anymore.”
The Complete Tempest World Box Set Page 146
