Mustang Player: A standalone, small town, rock star romance.

by Eva Haining

  I’ve busied myself with work, but today is different. We closed early because of a tropical storm warning, so I’m stuck at the house with only my internal ramblings to keep me company. As the night wears on, A.B. texts me, wanting to check in and make sure I’m prepared for a storm. I don’t understand why the town has come to a standstill. It’s a little rain and some wind.

  I have food, water, and a flashlight in the unlikely event that I lose power. I brought my casefiles home, so my patients will be my company for the evening. I have notes to write up and some upcoming appointments to make. That should keep me busy.

  There’s so much variety in my job, and that’s one of the reasons I love what I do. People from all walks of life, trying to make sense of the hand they’ve been dealt. I have many patients battling addiction and making great progress, but every time I come to one of their files, my mind wanders. I can’t get Johnny out of my head, and as I attempt to distract myself, I lose track of time.

  A crack of thunder resonates through the house, making me jump. It’s so loud, and it is quickly followed by lightning so fierce it lights up the sky. Rain is lashing down, battering off the windows in an assault on my hearing. There’s another rumble of thunder, and it’s getting closer. It vibrates through me, and a fork of lightning follows, plunging my house into darkness. It must have hit a local energy station.

  I can’t see two feet in front of me as I fumble around, looking for my phone, or the flashlight, whichever my hand finds first. The rain sounds more menacing in the dark, and I hate to admit that every roll of thunder makes me jump.

  When I find my phone, I quickly tap out a text.

  Me: Did you lose power?

  Johnny: Yeah. If we’re out, I think the rest of the ranch and farm will be too. Our supply comes from the same place.

  Me: Good point.

  Johnny: Are you okay?

  Me: I’m fine. Just being a baby about it. Is it just me, or does the thunder sound like Armageddon is coming?

  Johnny: It’s just you. ;)

  Me: Sorry to bother you.

  Johnny: Why are you even awake?

  I look at the time. Shit. It’s one in the morning.

  Me: I was working. I didn’t realize how late it is. I am so sorry. Did I wake you?

  Johnny: I’m guessing no one else answered your texts?

  Me: You’re the first person I messaged. I got scared, and you were the person I wanted to talk to.

  Johnny: You were scared?

  Me: I don’t like thunder. I know it’s pathetic. I’m a grown woman, but when it thunders, I keep all the lights on in the house, even if I’m sticking to one room. I don’t like being in the pitch-black with the thunder so loud. I thought A.B. was overcautious when I spoke to her earlier. Next time, I’m bunking down elsewhere.

  Johnny: I thought you were fearless.

  Me: Not even close. Do you mind if we keep texting until the lights come back on?

  Johnny: Sure. What do you want to talk about? What are you wearing? ;)

  Me: Whatever you want to imagine is better than what I’m actually wearing, so have at it.

  Johnny: Then you’re naked.

  Me: Let’s go with that…

  A loud clap of thunder scares the crap out of me, and I drop my phone, hearing a crack as it hits the hardwood floors. Shit!

  I run my hands over the hardwood, wishing I’d grabbed the flashlight before I started texting with Johnny. I feel every bit the city girl in this moment. It can’t have gotten that far away from me. Another roar has me close to tears. I just want the lights to go back on.

  I take a deep breath, calling on my training. I’m a rational person, and this is an irrational fear. I’m safe in my own home, and nothing is different in here with the lights off. I say it to myself over and over, trying to calm down.

  I should’ve taken A.B. up on her offer to weather it out at their house. Lesson learned. I’ll know next time that blackouts in Texas do not agree with me. Lightning illuminates the sky, casting shadows throughout my home, and as I look outside, a figure appears at my door.

  “I’ve got a gun.” I don’t. But there’s some crazy person out in the storm. “You better get out of here before I call the police. I’ll shoot.” My heart is about to pound right out of my chest, adrenaline coursing through me like jet engine fuel, ready to take flight or fight.

  “It’s me. Johnny. Open the door. Put the gun down first. I can’t go out like that, not after the shit I’ve survived up until this point.”

  I run to the door, fumbling with the lock in the dark. “I don’t even own a gun. I thought you were a serial killer or something.” I mess with the lock, but when I pull on the handle, I still can’t get the door open. “What the hell? I’ve unlocked it, but it won’t budge.”

  “If it’s like mine, there’s a top lock.” He’s right. I reach up, flipping the lever on the lock before throwing the door open wide. “Why would a serial killer be out in a storm?”

  “Crime of opportunity. I don’t know.”

  Thunder bellows, and Johnny is soaked to the bone from the rain. I can’t believe my eyes. He came here in the middle of a lightning storm.

  Johnny runs his fingers through dripping wet hair, his clothes soaked through. His blue jeans are now as dark as the midnight sky, and his white t shirt is almost see-through, hugging the lines of his abs with such delicious detail, my cheeks heat at the sight of him.

  “What are you doing here, Johnny? You shouldn’t be out in this storm.”

  “You text me a whole bunch of incoherent letters, and then you didn’t answer the damn phone.”

  “I dropped it, and I couldn’t find it in the dark. Come inside. You could’ve been struck by lightning, and you’re soaked. Why would you do that? Have you seen this storm? What were you thinking?”

  “I started conjuring all kinds of scenarios, and none of them were good. I couldn’t stand the thought of you being here alone and needing my help.”

  “And you didn’t think to wait ten minutes and try texting or calling again? This storm is bad. Anything could’ve happened to you on the way here.”

  “This…” he gestures to the sky, looking up, letting the rain splash his face, “… is nothing compared to the storm that consumes me every waking minute we’re apart. I’ve thought of nothing else since that kiss. Your lips torment me with every word.”

  “Come inside, you’ll catch your death out here.” My heart is racing, but this time it isn’t because of the storm. There’s no fear as I stand in front of Johnny, memorizing this moment.

  He pins me with his ice-blue gaze, and I see the hurricane threatening to spin out of control in the depths of his eyes. “Not until I say it.”

  “Say what? Please, come inside. I’m afraid of you being out here in the lightning.”

  “I’m more afraid of what’ll happen if I don’t tell you how I feel. Ellie, I’m in love with you. I know you want to wait, but I can’t. It’s eating me up inside. I fucking love you so much it hurts, and every fiber of my being wants to claim you as mine. I want to worship every inch of your body with my tongue and lose myself in you as you scream my name. I love you.”

  I have no words.

  I launch myself into his arms, my lips crashing down on his as he lifts me into his arms. Wrapping my legs around his waist, I fist my hands in his soaking wet hair, pulling him closer, wanting more, needing all of him—right here, right now. I’ve loved him since the first time we sat across from each other at his dinner table and talked for hours. And the night of the concert, I knew my heart would never belong to another. I’m done fighting it because he and I are as inevitable as the tides, and I’d rather ride the waves with him at my side than either of us drown treading the waters of our burgeoning relationship.

  “Inside.” It’s all I can manage.

  With no lights, we don’t make it as far as the bedroom. The second Johnny sets me on my feet, my back pressed against a wall in the living room, I reach for his
shirt, peeling it over his head before letting it slop on the floor. He devours me with his kiss, our tongues twisting and tangling together, unleashing the pent-up frustration we’ve denied since the day we met.

  “Fuck, Ellie, your lips are so fucking perfect.”

  I wrestle with his belt, unable to push his jeans down because they’re so wet and stuck to his legs. “Hurry, Johnny. I need you, now.”

  “Take your clothes off, and I’ll take care of mine.”

  I shrug out of my sweats and oversized Rolling Stones t-shirt. When I pictured this moment—and I have, hundreds of times—we could actually see each other, and I was the one divesting him of his clothes.

  The second I hear his jeans hit the floor, I reach for him, my hands meeting the solid muscle of his torso. Holy mother of God, his skin is smooth with a smattering of a happy trail, which my fingers are eager to follow. A flash of lightning teases me, giving me a glimpse of Johnny, naked and hard as a rock. Just as quickly, we’re plunged back into darkness.

  I’m greedy for more, desperate to feel his skin on mine, every fork of lightning giving me a second of ecstasy as I take in the sight of Johnny kissing and nipping his way down my body. I’m so turned on, I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to. I’m completely and utterly head-over-heels in love with Johnny. I’ve spent so long trying to fight my feelings for him, but now that the floodgates are open, there’s no going back.

  Eleven

  Johnny

  As the storm intensifies, lightning throws light on Ellie’s body every few seconds, tantalizing me with a strobe effect view of her naked body. Every inch of her soft, smooth skin is like silk beneath my lips. I’ve fought my attraction to her for months, but I’m helpless to fight it any longer. As I kiss and lick my way over her breasts, sucking first one nipple and then the other into my mouth, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, she’s the one—the woman who’ll ruin me for anyone else.

  My heart is racing so hard I can hear it pulsing in my ears. Fuck, I want everything at once, my brain playing out every fantasy I’ve had leading up to this moment. I kiss my way back up her chest, letting my tongue caress her neck before capturing her lips with mine once more. This isn’t like our first tender kiss. This is a frenzied fuck, my hands tangling in her hair as she reaches between us, wrapping her fist around my cock.

  “Bedroom. Down the hall.” Her voice is barely a whisper, followed by a groan that sends a jolt of electricity coursing through my body. As she moves her hand up and down the length of my cock, I struggle to stay in control. I could come quicker than a teenage boy with his first issue of Playboy.

  “If you don’t let go of my cock, I’m going to fuck you right here against this wall.” It’s a torturous kind of anticipation when she removes her hand, leaving me bereft. I scoop her up into my arms, relishing the warmth of her naked flesh on mine. My lips find hers again and again, my body unable to wait long enough to get her into the bedroom.

  The storm helps light my way, and the second I set her down on the bed, she pulls me down on top of her, her hips gyrating against my cock. Fuck me. It takes every ounce of self-restraint I have not to take her in one hard thrust. I kiss my way down her body, hooking my hand under her knee and pushing her legs as far apart as they can go, opening her to my gaze. Every sliver of light that streams in from the storm is like manna from heaven, and I’m hungry for more.

  That first long, languorous lick between her thighs is fucking transcendent, and the moan that escapes her could make a grown man weep. She reaches down, running her fingers through my rain-soaked hair, tugging me closer as she circles her hips, forcing me to take more of her. Fuck, I could come right now, she’s so hot.

  “You taste so fucking good, Ellie.” I gently suck her clit, circling it with my tongue, driving her wild.

  “Oh God, Johnny. Right there. Don’t stop.”

  “I’ve barely started, sweetheart. I could eat you for hours and never get enough.” I graze my teeth over her clit, making her squirm. “You like that?” Another flash of lightning, and I watch in awe as she arches her back up off the bed, grabbing her breasts, teasing her nipples to a tightly budded peak.

  “Johnny, I’m so close.” I’ve never had a woman so quick to climax. I’m good, but I’m not superhuman. Ellie’s body is so responsive to my touch as if she were made for me—for my touch.

  I continue my ministrations, gripping her thighs and pressing just hard enough to create a biting point—the fine line between pleasure and pain. When her legs can’t strain any wider, I groan as the evidence of her arousal wets my lips, letting the sound vibrate against her clit before setting a punishing rhythm with my tongue.

  “Oh God… yes… Johnny… yes… fuck… yes… Johnny!” She crashes over the edge, bucking wildly against my face, screaming my name over and over again. My cock aches to be inside her as she spirals out of control, riding wave after wave of pleasure until she can’t take it any longer.

  I splay my hand on her stomach, holding her steady as I rain featherlight kisses on her most intimate flesh, dipping my tongue inside her, knowing it will make her writhe beneath me. “I need you inside me, now. Please, Johnny, I want your cock inside me.”

  “Do you have any condoms? I didn’t exactly come prepared.”

  “No, but I’m on the pill.” As I crawl up the bed, bracing my hands on either side of her body, the trust she’s putting in me is overwhelming.

  “I’ve never gone bareback, Ellie. I’ve had every test under the sun, and I’m clean.”

  She reaches her hand up to caress my cheek in the dark. “I trust you. Make love to me, Johnny.” If I had any modicum of self-control left, it evaporates in the heat of her words.

  I capture her lips with mine, pouring every stolen glance and lost kiss into this moment. Flicking my tongue over the seam of her lips, I beg her entrance which she freely gives, her tongue darting out to meet mine in a sultry dance that only we know.

  Her soft mewls of satisfaction drive me wild as she grinds against my hip, her pussy slick and ready for me. When I position the crest of my cock at her entrance, sensation takes over as I inch slowly inside, dropping my head to suck on her breasts. “Jesus, Ellie, you feel so fucking good.” My breath catches as she takes more of me with every thrust. Her pussy hugs my erection, making me so hard it’s almost painful. When I’m seated to the hilt, I take a moment to adjust, attempting to calm the storm of desire that’s raging inside me.

  Ellie runs her hands up my back before fisting them in my hair and pulling my lips to hers. “Make. Love. To. Me. Johnny.”

  My pulse quickens, and it’s all I can do not to shoot my load. I start to move, finding a slow rhythm, her body moving in time with mine as she circles her hips, her muscles tightening around me, sending a jolt of desperate desire straight to my core.

  Feeling her skin to skin is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. It’s a high I’ll never be able to give up now that I know how incredible it can be. ‘Oh God, Ellie, I fucking love you. Tell me you know.”

  “I know.” She presses her lips to mine in a slow sensual fuck, her tongue working in time with her hips. “I love you too.” Her words are like a red rag to a bull. I can’t hold back. I rear up on my knees, gripping her hips, finding that sweet spot that spends her spiraling out of control as I thrust faster and harder, chasing my release, desperate to crash over the edge with her.

  “Oh fuck, Johnny… oh God… yes… Johnny… Johnny!” Her muscles spasm around my cock, pulling me under, catapulting me into the most intense orgasm of my life.

  “Ellie… oh fuck… yeah… Ellie… fuck… fuck… Fuck!” My voice becomes an incoherent roar as I continue to thrust, riding every wave of ecstasy as we splinter into a thousand pieces with pleasure so fierce it makes my entire body ache for her. “Tell me you’re mine, Ellie. Fuck, I need you to be mine.”

  “I’m yours, Johnny… oh fuck, I’m yours.” She comes again and again, milking my cock until we collapse in a heap of sated limbs.
I slump onto the bed, struggling to fill my lungs, my lips going numb and my limbs boneless.

  My breath comes in short bursts, my skin bathed in a sheen of sweat. “That was…”

  “Amazing.” As the word leaves her lips, the power comes back on, and the bright artificial light assaults our eyes. I throw my arm up over my face for a second before letting my eyes adjust to the stunning sight of Ellie lying beside me with a sated flush to her cheeks.

  When she meets my gaze, the rise and fall of her chest are so pronounced as she struggles to calm her breathing.

  “You’re…” I reach over to brush the hair off her face, “… breathtaking. I’ve never seen a more beautiful woman in my life.”

  “I love you, Johnny. I have since the moment we met. I tried not to, but I can’t deny it anymore. Not after what just happened.”

  We’re naked and vulnerable under the harsh bedroom lights, and yet I’ve never felt freer or more confident in who I am and what I want.

  “This is just the beginning for us, Ellie.” She searches my eyes for answers, but I don’t know the question. “Are you okay?”

  “Are you sure this… me… that I’m what you want? Tensions were high and inhibitions low under the blanket of a blackout. I won’t hold you to anything that was said or done.”

  “Is that what you want? To forget this ever happened? To go back to being just friends?”

  Seconds feel like hours as I await her response.

  “No. I meant every word. I’ve been trying to give you the space you need, but every day it gets harder to stay away. I want this, Johnny. I want us.”

  My heart takes flight, soaring on the wings of an eagle, a high unlike any drug and so much more satisfying.

  “Me too.” I lean over, cupping her face in my hands before pressing a heartfelt kiss to her kiss-swollen lips. “You’re so beautiful, Ellie.” I let my eyes wander, taking in every inch of her naked flesh. Her skin is like flawless alabaster, carved by Michelangelo himself. Running my fingers down her body, over every curve, I’m in awe. Even my wildest fantasies couldn’t hold a candle to her true beauty.