Cherry Beats

by Vicki James

  I sighed heavily, letting the weight of my sleep drift out of me as I stretched my mind to life.

  “I love it when you make those moaning sounds,” Presley said from behind me.

  I closed my eyes, smiling to myself. “What time is it?” I mumbled sleepily.

  “Sometime in the afternoon. We slept well.”

  I moaned, stretching my feet and wiggling my toes. “That’s what you wanted, right?”

  “That’s the most sleep I’ve had in three years,” he admitted quietly.

  “Then why aren’t you in bed with me now?”

  “I wanted to admire the view.”

  “And you couldn’t come back into bed once you’d taken a peek?”

  “Yeah, but sitting here in this chair behind you and staring at your naked arse for the last fifteen minutes was a temptation I couldn’t resist.”

  Glancing over my shoulder as lazily as I could, I saw him sitting there in a wingback chair, looking as dreamy as ever. His thick, wavy hair was tucked behind one ear while the other side fell forward. He was naked and waiting with his casual smirk in place, and his eyes narrowed. He looked rested. My rock star finally looked relaxed. He had one leg perched over his other knee, his hands around his ankle as he eye-fucked me.

  “Keep looking at me like that and you’ll get me pregnant,” I joked quietly.

  Pushing himself up, Presley rose from the chair and leaned down over me, his hands pushing into the mattress while his hair hung forward, and he lowered his face to mine.

  “I don’t want to get you all knocked up, baby. But I do want to fuck you for a while and make damn sure it leaves an impression.”

  My stomach flipped with excitement.

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “You had one night to make it count with me, and it worked. Now I need a day to make it count for you.”

  My smile faded as I looked up at him, even though I was already turned on. I hated the way I’d made him feel about himself, and I knew I needed to make that right someway, somehow.

  “Face forward,” he instructed. “And don’t you move until I tell you to, okay?”

  I nodded against the pillow, turning to face the big window while my body buzzed with nervous excitement. My thighs pressed together without permission. The commanding tone to his just-woken voice was more arousing than anything else, and there wasn’t a single part of me that thought twice about letting this happen.

  I wanted this to happen again… and again, and again, and again.

  My ears were attuned to his every movement as he walked across the room. A cupboard door of some sort opened, and then it closed. The top of a bottle popped, and then I heard him drop some ice cubes into a glass before he poured something over them. I could hear the sound of the ice cubes clinking inside the glass as he walked until he was standing right behind me again, his presence as clear to me as my adoration for him.

  The drop of cold liquid that hit my back had me sucking in a harsh breath and pushing my chest out at once.

  “Shit,” I hissed, a bubble of laughter falling free. “Cold.”

  “Stay still,” he warned calmly.

  My shoulders relaxed as another ice-cold droplet hit my warm skin in the same place before it began to cascade towards the mattress. Then another drop fell, closer to my waist this time, before the drops came harder along my exposed thigh and calves. When it got to my ankle, Presley pressed an ice cube against me, and I was torn between hissing and giggling again as the mixture of sensations sent my mind spinning with confusion. It was cold, but smooth, teasing, yet somehow insanely erotic.

  Presley trailed the ice cube up the entire length of my leg, dipping it into the creases of my arse cheek before he lifted it over my hip, down into the small of my back, and up the entire length of my spine. My mouth fell open, and my body arched away from the cold, my sex burning to life with want and need.

  Press it there, I begged silently.

  “Presley,” I whispered.

  He ignored me, lost in his own movements. Before I could say another word, the remnants of that ice cube were trailed over my shoulder down to my nipple and then dragged up my neck and across my jaw before he circled my lips with it three times.

  My tongue reached out to taste it, needing the moisture and wanting to sate at least one of my thirsts. When Presley pushed it into my mouth and under my tongue, I bit down gently around his finger and held him there.

  “You want to play?” he whispered seductively.

  I nodded, desperate to look at him, but I kept my eyes focused on the window as he’d told me to. I released his finger and sucked down hard on what was left of the ice cube in my mouth.

  “Damn, Cherry.” He hissed through his teeth.

  Another ice cube was pressed against the bra line of my spine, making me hiss that time as he held it there and waited before he trailed it down to the crease of my arse. Then he pushed it through my folds, circling it around the heated entrance of me that was begging for him to apply some pressure. Friction. I needed friction, and I needed it badly.

  The moan I released was feral, my head falling back and my eyes closing as Presley moved the cube up to my clit, pressing it down and teasing before he backtracked and dragged it all the way back out, up my spine, across my shoulder, and he brought it to my parted lips again.

  “Still thirsty, baby?” he asked, tugging my hair back with his free hand and forcing my eyes to open and look at him. Even upside down, he was fucking perfect, and every part of me ached for him to be inside of me any way I could get him. Fingers, tongue, dick, I didn’t care. I needed him to fill me—to make me complete—to make me pay for all my sins against him.

  I nodded again, licking my bottom lip to accept the cube he was teasing me with. When he slipped it under my tongue this time, he dropped his lips to mine in an instant, kissing and teasing me, the coldness dancing between us. Using the very tip of my tongue, I pushed the bigger cube into his mouth, a hand slipping out and reaching up to fist his hair.

  I was wet everywhere, desperate to get sweatier and demand that he didn’t waste time with foreplay. All I wanted was for him to screw me. Presley had other ideas, and when he pulled away, chomping on an ice cube and smirking that smirk of his, I was left gasping, letting the remnants of ice trickle down my throat while my body burned for more of his kisses.

  He reached back for his glass again, taking a long sip of what looked like whiskey, holding it in his mouth as he eyed me. Ever so slowly, he lowered his face down to mine, parting my lips with the pad of his thumb before he pursed his lips and poured some of the whiskey from his mouth into mine.

  I accepted all of it.

  The minute the burn hit the back of my throat, I gasped, needing it again.

  “More,” I panted, making his eyes come alive with satisfaction.

  He repeated the process once, twice, a third time until I was swimming in alcohol, ice cubes, and desire.

  My body shifted, attempting to roll over onto my back, but Presley quickly shook his head and pushed me back in place, facing the London skyline again.

  “I told you not to move.”

  “I need to see you.”

  He nipped my lobe between his teeth and pointed to the window in front of us. “I want you to look out on the rest of the world while I fuck you. Every time you run away from me, that’s where you go… to all of them—to everyone but me. Everything out there is waiting for you right now. I want you to see it while I’m inside of you, behind you. And that’s when I want you to decide what you need most in your life. Do you need everything you can’t see beyond that window, or do you need everything you can feel pouring into you from me?”

  You. I only ever want you.

  And just like that, my arse was in both of his hands as he pulled me around, my feet dropping to the floor while he pressed my upper body down against the mattress and held my chin in one hand. I couldn’t even protest as I was bent over the bed, and I sure as shit didn’t wan
t to. My legs parted without instruction, and my bum rose in invitation.

  He palmed my cheeks, circling them over and over again until he pushed his dick to rest in the crease of my arse.

  “Do you want me to use anything?” he asked roughly, voice strained.

  “No.” I shook my head.

  “Thank fuck. I can’t wait a second longer.”

  There was barely even time for me to draw in a breath before Presley pushed inside of me with a force that knocked the wind right out of my lungs. His hand slid from my chin to my neck, his fingers pulsing lightly as he held me in place while his free hand slid around my stomach to pull me back to him.

  I was completely at his mercy, laid bare, wants clear, passion heated, legs spread, and my soul wide fucking open. Somewhere deep inside of me, a fading little voice warned me I should be scared at how easily I was willing to break myself open for him, but that echo of a warning was drowned out by every other part of me crying out in perfect ecstasy at how it felt to have the man of my dreams taking what he wanted from my body.

  Taking what I wanted him to have.

  Taking what I wanted to give him for as long as he’d let me.

  As I looked out over the London skyline, at another world that existed that I could run to, that would be safer, that wouldn’t get me hurt, all I could think about was how I wanted to close the curtains on it all and stay there with Presley buried inside of me forever.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Presley!”

  “Fuck,” he whispered under his breath. I was currently laid beside him, his arm wrapped around me, the two of us spent and staring up at the ceiling, naked.

  “Presley!” The female voice cried again from behind the hotel room door. “Open up.”

  “Who is that?” I asked, pulling the white sheet farther up my body.

  “Julia.” His voice was rough, sleepy, and when I turned to look at him, I saw that his eyes were closed, and there wasn’t an ounce of urgency about him whatsoever. “Fucking publicist,” he mumbled.

  “Don’t you think you should go answer the door?”

  “Nah.” Presley exhaled slowly, opening his eyes and turning to unleash them on me. “She has a key. She’ll let herself in eventually.”

  “What?” I moved quickly, scrambling away from him and gathering more of the bed sheets around me to cover up, well, all of me. Presley’s amusement was clear, and he stretched out to rest his arms behind his head, not caring that his body was exposed. Even in the madness of my panicked thoughts, I had to stop and appreciate the sight of him laid out like that—one leg cocked up, the other resting flat. His torso was defined, and the way his biceps popped made my mouth water. Don’t even get me started on his strong jaw or those beautiful lips I could still taste.

  “Relax, Cherry. She’s seen me naked before.”

  “Fine!” Julia cried, sounding exasperated. “I’m coming in.” The door flew open at once, and in walked a beautifully-presented woman wearing faded blue jeans, a crisp white shirt, and a smart black blazer. Her ruby red high-heeled shoes looked lethal, and her short, black, pixie haircut somehow told me she meant business. As soon as she saw me sitting upright on the bed, her eyes widened for just a second before she scrunched them shut, turned her back to us and held a hand up in the air.

  “Jesus Christ, Presley,” she scolded. “I thought you’d passed out again.”

  Again?

  I glanced back at Presley, mortified and curious. He didn’t even flinch. His face was calm… even amused.

  “You could have told someone you had another woman in here.”

  Another? Great.

  I looked down into my lap and twisted my fingers, not wanting to think about that too much. My eyes subtly searched the corners of the room to see if they could locate any of my clothes. I saw some underwear and my precious Bryan T-shirt over by Presley’s side of the bed. I considered launching myself over him to retrieve them, but then the bed shifted, and Presley pushed me back down onto the mattress with a huge-ass grin on his face.

  I fell back with an awkward thud, and he was soon covering me, pressing all his weight down on top of my body, his hair falling forward, creating a short curtain of privacy between the two of us.

  A small chuckle escaped me as I watched him rolling his eyes at Julia.

  “Unless you want to see a live performance, Jules, I’d get the fuck outta here,” he told her in that low, sexy voice of his. “You know I’m not shy.”

  “The rest of the band are downstairs waiting for you, Presley. Don’t you fucking dare. We need to leave in ten minutes.”

  “Leave? What for?” He scowled.

  “You have a press interview at six.”

  “I do?”

  “For the love of God,” Julia muttered with a sigh.

  “Presley,” I mouthed. “Get off me.” But my contradicting grin and the way my heart was beating so hard told him that I wanted him to stay right where he was, and he knew it.

  “Do the guys need me, Julia?” he asked. “I have a really hot girl here I want to fuck again before I shower.”

  “Don’t make me turn back around and drag you out of this room by your nipples, West. I’ve done it before, and you know damn well I’ll do it again.”

  Presley cringed down at me and said nothing.

  “Put the woman down. Send her home. Pick up another one tonight. You know how this shit works. I don’t care how many you bring back to your room, but work is work, and I’ll be damned if you’re going to let the band down again.”

  Again? What the fuck was going on with him?

  My face fell, and I tilted my head against the bed in question, but Presley just sighed heavily and pushed himself off with a groan of frustration.

  “You’re such a pain in my ass,” he told Julia as he stalked across the room casually, walked straight past her, completely naked, and made his way into the bathroom. “Pain. In. My. Ass, Jules,” he cried as he closed the door on the both of us.

  I sat upright, pressing my back against the headboard and holding the sheet to my body. Julia shook her head and stared after Presley before she spun around, folded her arms over her chest and studied me.

  “Sorry, love. It’s nothing personal. It’s just show business.” Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she studied me. “You don’t look like the usual kind.”

  “And his usual type is…?”

  Julia smirked. “Desperate.”

  “Right.”

  “Big tits, no morals, barely any clothes on their backs, batting eyelashes, laugh that sounds like nails on a chalkboard. Desperate for fame, the notoriety, the money, and—”

  “I get it.” I gave her a nod, smiled flatly and looked everywhere but at her.

  “You got a name?”

  The door opened behind her and out walked Presley. Still naked but looking somewhat fresher with wet hair that was scraped back.

  “I don’t always go for big tits.” He tsked. “And her name’s Tessa. Also known as Cherry.”

  Just like that, Julia’s lips parted, her attention completely glued on me like she’d just seen Jesus being birthed before her very eyes. She stayed that way as Presley opened a wardrobe door, pulled out some torn, skinny black jeans and pulled them on with no boxer shorts underneath. He was smirking as he looked at me.

  “What? What’s going on?” I asked, glancing between them both.

  “You’re not supposed to be here,” Julia eventually breathed. “You are so not supposed to be here.”

  “Fuck off, Jules. She’s here because I asked her to be, and you can tell Dicky that their deal for Cherry to stay away is null and void as of about four o’clock this morning. Although, we will need to speak to him about this Janey Dominic shit. I’m one more incident away from calling that bitch out.” He turned back to his wardrobe, reached inside and pulled out a black T-shirt. Before either of us got to respond to him, he had pushed it over his head and was pulling it down to cover his perfect body. “You
can also tell Dicky that Cherry will be here tonight, too. And probably tomorrow. Maybe the day after that, and the day after that, and—”

  “What?” Julia and I cried in unison.

  He just looked smug, standing in his kingdom, letting his people know how it was going to be. Letting me know how my life was going to be run.

  “Presley, I have work,” I whispered.

  “The last thing you need is a distraction like this.” Julia pointed.

  “If you knew even a fraction of what you think you know, Jules, you’d be a hundred percent certain that Cherry is exactly what I need right now.”

  He began to pick up my clothes from the floor, gathering them up in his hands before he dropped them, and my bag on the bed beside me.

  He turned to smile sweetly at Julia. “Cherry will be riding with the boys and me today. If we need to get a separate car for us, that’s works, too.”

  “Dicky won’t allow it.” Julia was clearly in a panic, her irritation obvious.

  “Listen,” I started, holding a hand up in the air. “The last thing I want is to be any kind of nuisance. I don’t want to make things difficult. I’m happy to go home and then, Presley, maybe you can call me once your schedule—”

  His finger snapped out to point at me, his stare heated and unmoving as he held my gaze. “Not today, Tess. Not this time. You’re staying.”

  “But…”

  “I said you’re staying. We’re not running out on each other anymore. Deal with it.”

  I sank back into my position, wanting to argue, but somehow knowing that doing it in front of Julia wasn’t the right time or the right place for that particular conversation.

  Julia looked between the two of us for a moment more before she threw her hands in the air and turned to leave, her footsteps angry and more determined than before. “You’ve got five minutes,” she called over her shoulder. “A second late, and we’re going without you both. I did not sign up for this shit.”

  She disappeared, leaving Presley and I to stare at each other. Me looking like a deer in the headlights. Him looking like the guy who was driving the goddamn car. Neither one of us backed down, and the longer I remained silent, the smugger that grin of his got.