“Looks like Shade volunteered to be first.”
“First at what?”
Kelly moved fast—like ninja—and Owen stepped back out of his way, awaiting his opening to assist him.
Shade was bigger than Kelly, but Kelly had the element of surprise on his side. Before Shade could even react to Kelly jumping on him, Kelly had the garland of red rope around Shade’s forearms, binding them together from wrists to elbows. Shade might have been able to break free of the garland given time, but the instant Kelly stepped away, Owen went after him with strands of lights, wrapping several strands around Shade’s upper arms and chest, crisscrossed in a web of unbreakable art. Kelly had taught Owen all he knew about shibari and Owen had taught Kelly all he knew about calf-roping. Their combination of skill, teamwork and speed ensured that Shade wasn’t going anywhere until they decided to free his arms.
As was common for Shade, once he got over his recent, perpetual dour mood—his divorce was to blame—he was happy to join in on their fun and play along. He laughed as a second strand of lights was used to secure him to the chair around the waist. He was in danger of hyperventilating with laughter when Kelly found some sparkly tinsel in the sack and wrapped it around his neck several times.
“Now you have no choice but to be in the Christmas spirit,” Owen said. “No more bah humbug out of you.”
Chuckling at the spectacle the coolest member of the band made trussed up like an abomination of a Christmas tree, Adam added to the festivities by strumming Christmas carols on his guitar. “On the first day of Christmas my buddies gave to me, decorations on a Shade tree.”
“Shut up,” Shade yelled, but he was snickering too intermittently for anyone to take him seriously.
Kelly found a gaudy tree topper in the sack. Before he could add it to their tree, Gabe snatched the tinsel-trimmed star out of Kelly’s hand and set it on the pinnacle of their Shade tree. Gabe wrapped the light cord under Shade’s chin and then around the star to hold it somewhat upright atop Shade’s head. Apparently, Gabe had given up on reading his The Physics of Fucking and Friction book or whatever it was called. None of them could resist messing with Shade. He worked so hard at being cool onstage and in public. Sometimes they had to remind him that he could still act like a kid and have some stupid fun when there wasn’t anyone important watching.
Gabe found a package of blue glass bulbs in Owen’s sack of Christmas cheer and dangled them from the strand of lights near Shade’s crotch.
“You did not just give me blue balls, Force,” Shade said with the deep, commanding voice that made their road crew scramble for their lives.
Owen laughed.
Adam added to his song, “On the second day of Christmas my buddies gave to me, two blue balls and decorations on a Shade tree.”
“I will give you blue balls when I punch you in them,” Shade said.
“You shouldn’t threaten people when you can’t fight back,” Adam said.
“Plug him in,” Owen said, hoping Shade and Adam didn’t actually get into more than a pissing contest.
Kelly located the power cord and plugged it into the outlet behind his chair. Gabe plugged the star into the end of one of the light strands.
When the multicolored lights began to flash and cast brilliant specks of lights all over their tattooed, buffed-out, sunglasses-wearing lead singer, they all burst out laughing. Owen grabbed his cellphone out of his pocket. “Okay, this is going on Facebook.”
“Don’t you dare,” Shade said, his smile fading and mouth opening in exasperation.
Oh, Owen dared. He even gave the candid picture a caption—All Dressed for Christmas with No Place to Go.
“Hey, guys?” their driver, Tex, called from the front of the bus. “We’re going to have to pull over soon. The snow is coming down so heavily I can’t see the road. We better park until it lets up or a snowplow blows through.”
Snow! Oh yes. A perfect addition to Shade’s festive attire.
“Sweet,” Owen said, grinning at Kelly who quickly caught on to his newest nefarious plan.
“Shade tied down,” Kelly said.
“Plus snow,” Owen said.
“Equals projectile fun,” Gabe said.
“You guys wouldn’t fucking dare,” Shade said, trying to lean out of the chair, but finding that while he’d been tethered mostly by complacency at first, he now had no choice but to stay put.
Owen grinned and straightened his Santa hat. “Wouldn’t we?”
Chapter Three
Lindsey squinted at the dark road ahead. The wipers scraped rhythmically across her field of vision to keep the thick snow at bay, but she was fixated on the glowing red taillights of her favorite band’s tour bus. Storm or no storm, she wasn’t giving up now. It had been a stroke of luck that Sole Regret’s bus had turned out in front of her car as she pulled out of the auditorium after the benefit concert. Instead of taking the proper road toward home, she had continued following them eastward out of town, through the wilderness and up into the mountains. It was pitch black out here in the middle of nowhere and what had started out as a few flurries was now becoming a blizzard.
“It’s getting really bad out,” Vanessa said from the passenger seat. “We should have gone home instead of following their bus. The farther we go, the worse this shit gets. Can you even see the road?”
“Yeah, I’m used to driving in the snow. And they have to stop sometime,” Lindsey said. “I want to meet them and thank them for helping out the Carlisle family.”
Vanessa chuckled. “Bullshit, girl. You want to bone them.”
Lindsey bit her lip. “Yeah, I do—all five of them—but just meeting them will be orgasmic enough.”
Her engine roared as her front tires lost their grip and spun in the slick, wet snow. The car skidded slightly, before finding a better patch of pavement and righting itself.
Vanessa was clinging to the dashboard with long red nails. “Girl, you and your horny vagina are gonna get us both killed.”
“It’s fine,” Lindsey said and laughed. “Well the car is fine. The vagina is still horny. God, those guys were hot on stage.” She shuddered at the mere memory of their blatant sexuality. Just watching them perform made her wet and achy between her legs.
“That ain’t no lie,” Vanessa said. “Too bad they’s all white boys.”
“Once you go white, you think it’s all right.” She shrugged.
Vanessa laughed. “Girl, you are too much.”
“You know you love me,” Lindsey said. They’d been best friends since elementary school and twenty years later, still did everything together. Well, almost everything.
“You’re lucky I don’t jack your car and get us off this damned mountain,” Vanessa said.
“You are all talk, Nessi. You know you want to meet them too.”
“Maybe a little.” Lindsey could hear the smile in Vanessa’s voice. They liked to tease each other and pretend they were as different in attitude as they were in looks, but they really did have almost everything in common—including their taste in music and men.
The right blinker on the bus ahead began to flash. Lindsey saw the sign for a scenic turn out and turned on her blinker to follow them. Finally, her chance. Assuming they didn’t think she was bat shit crazy for following them over seventy miles through a blizzard and falling at their feet to dry hump their legs.
The bus pulled to a stop and Lindsey parked behind it. She left the car running, the wipers working extra hard to keep the fluffy white flakes off the windshield. Lindsey’s heart thudded faster and faster at the thought of getting out of her car, knocking on the tour bus door, and offering her body to anyone who would have it.
“You’re going to chicken out, aren’t you?” Vanessa said.
“No, I’m just thinking about how to approach them.”
She could barely make out Vanessa’s rolling eyes in glow of the dash lights. “Whatever. You say I’m all talk. You might think you’ve got the guts to raid thei
r tour bus for cock, but sweetie, I know you. You ain’t a ho.”
“I’m three times the ho you are, beotch.”
Vanessa sniggered. “So what you’re saying is you’re a ho ho ho?”
Lindsey laughed. “Yeah, when it comes to any member of Sole Regret I’m a ho ho ho.” Once she got tickled she couldn’t stop laughing for several minutes. She had to wipe tears out of her eyes with her thumbs. “God, we’re corny. No wonder we can’t snag decent boyfriends.”
“What are they doing?” Vanessa asked, her attention now outside the car.
Lindsey’s head swiveled and her heart almost stopped. The band’s bassist, Owen had just launched himself out of the open bus door and onto the back of rhythm guitarist, Kellen. Kellen, who was inexplicably shirtless in a snow storm, flipped him into a snow bank and scooped up a handful of snow. He began to pack the fluffy flakes into a large ball. Owen retrieved his Santa hat from the snow and dove for cover behind the front of the bus. A battery of snow balls flew from Owen’s hiding place and pummeled Kellen in the chest.
She caught a glimpse of a red and black mohawk just above Owen’s hat.
“Gabe too?”
“Adam is sneaking around back,” Vanessa said, pointing at the dark shadow at the rear corner of the bus. “The only one missing is the hottest of the bunch.”
“Shade?”
“I’m sure he’s too cool for this childish bullshit.” Vanessa opened her car door. “All right, chicken shit, you brought us all the way up here to make complete asses out of ourselves, we might as well go talk to them.”
“What? Wait! We don’t have to. Let’s just go home.”
But Vanessa had already climbed out of the car and had closed the door. Lindsey took a deep breath, shut off her car, pocketed the keys and then surged into the uncharted snowstorm. Vanessa always gave her courage. With Vanessa at her side, Lindsey could have slain dragons, swam the Mediterranean Sea, or even talked to a rock star.
Vanessa was already shaking hands with the lead guitarist of the band, Adam. He’d been the closest target, but Lindsey really wanted Owen. Or Kellen. Or Owen and Kellen. So she headed into the epic snowball battle. Heart thundering in her chest, stomach a bit queasy, knees quaking, Lindsey stepped up behind Kellen and was about to tap him on the shoulder which was decorated with an amazingly realistic tattoo of a rearing black stallion, when he suddenly ducked. Fast—like ninja.
A barrage of snow balls walloped Lindsey in the face, neck and chest, catching her so off-guard that she just stood there and took every last one of them at full force.
“Oh shit,” someone said. “Why did you duck, Kelly?”
A very large, wonderfully strong hand began to brush snow out of her face. “Are you okay?”
She was suddenly looking up into the gorgeous, strong-featured face of Kellen Jamison. “I am now,” she whispered.
Chapter Four
Kellen winced at the welt under the attractive young woman’s right eye. “That had to hurt,” he said, gently rubbing the mark with his thumb.
“Um,” she said.
He smiled. He could tell she knew who he was. She had that star-struck look on her face he knew so well. “I’m Kellen,” he said.
“Yes.”
“And you would be?” She had the biggest blue eyes he’d ever encountered. He was a sucker for that wide-eyed innocent look and if her eyes got any wider, they’d likely fall right out of her head.
“Um.” She blinked and then scowled as if suffering from amnesia.
“Lindsey!” another woman ran over and began to fling snow from Lindsey’s sweater. It hit Kellen in the chest, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Oh my God, girl, what were you thinking? You could have been killed.”
“I don’t think snowballs are lethal,” Kellen said. The look Lindsey’s friend gave him could have melted the snow off the entire mountain.
“What kind of crazy person pelts a poor, defenseless woman with snowballs?” the woman said, flinging snow from Lindsey’s chest like a weapon now.
Defenseless? The only thing that got Kellen’s blood pumping hotter than that big-eyed innocent look was a defenseless woman. Tied down. Spread wide. Pussy open and exposed for him to feast upon. Kellen’s mouth went dry as images of their guest spread across the tour bus bed entered his thoughts mind. Would her eyes get wider when she came or would she squeeze them closed? Damn, he hadn’t been the least bit horny two minutes ago and now his cock was fully erect and straining against his zipper.
It couldn’t be helped. Lindsey was exactly his type.
Merry Christmas to me.
Owen jogged over and assisted Lindsey’s hot-tempered friend in cleaning the snow off of his accidental target. Rather than this helping Lindsey, Owen’s hands on her made her shake uncontrollably.
“You must be freezing,” he said. “Do you want to come inside and get dried off? We have towels. And I think we have hot chocolate.” Owen turned toward the open bus door. “Tex! Make some fucking hot chocolate!”
Lindsey’s friend nodded toward the car behind the bus. “We should probably get—” Her words were halted when Lindsey covered the woman’s mouth with one hand.
“Yes, thank you,” Lindsey said. “I’m liable to freeze to death if I don’t get out of this wet sweater.” Lindsey glanced back at the small car. Besides the spot of emerald green on the hood over the hot engine, the entire car was already white with a coating of snow. “And I don’t think it’s safe to drive in this weather.”
She blinked up at Kellen, snowflakes clinging to her long lashes and Kellen decided he would have ripped the engine out of her car and tossed it off a cliff to keep her from leaving. And if she wanted Owen, well, he never had a problem with sharing. As long as he got to eat out the juicy delight between her thighs before Owen got down to business, Kellen would be satisfied. He just wanted to taste her. Every woman tasted different and he was a connoisseur of pussy. He couldn’t get enough. He could lick it and suck it and kiss it and nibble on it for hours. Or until she begged for mercy.
Owen took Lindsey by the hand and yanked her toward the bus, breaking the spell she had over Kellen. “Let’s go get you warmed up,” Owen said.
“Yes,” Kellen murmured to himself. “Let’s do that.”
Chapter Five
Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Oh God. Those were the only words that were capable of echoing through Lindsey’s mind at the moment. She was really here. Oh God. And Kellen really had touched her cheek and looked at her as if he wanted to fuck her brains out. Oh God. And Owen really was holding her hand and leading her up the stairs of Sole Regret’s tour bus. Oh God. And Shade really was tied to a recliner, flashing with multicolored lights, and looking out of sorts. “Oh God!” she yelled and burst out laughing. Lindsey covered her mouth with one hand as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. Well, whoever had turned Shade Silverton into a shidari bondage tree was one hundred percent hilarious. And the pair of blue Christmas balls hanging at crotch level? Priceless.
“We have guests,” Owen said to Shade as he led Lindsey past him. “Make yourself presentable.”
“Fucking untie me,” Shade demanded, straining bulging muscles against the intricately crisscrossed strands of lights. A garland rope bound his arms together from wrist to elbow.
“Don’t you dare untie him,” some man she didn’t recognize said from the kitchen area. He was scooping hot chocolate mix into over half-a-dozen mugs. “He needs to get his sense of humor back. That bitch, Tina, sure did a number on him.”
“Un-fucking-tie me,” Shade growled between clenched teeth.
“Oh my,” Vanessa said from the bus entryway. “Heavens.”
She probably thought seeing Shade tied to a chair was hot regardless of the flashing multicolored lights and the slightly askew star on his head.
Owen paused at the end of the corridor and opened an oddly narrow door. He pulled out a towel and handed it to Lindsey. She patted at the melting snow around her neck. It was star
ting to melt and trickle down between her breasts, but the chill had nothing to do with how hard her nipples were. The musky, sweet scent of Owen’s cologne and the ornery look in his blue eyes was one hundred percent responsible for that.
A hand settled at the base of her spine and she didn’t have to look over her shoulder to know Kellen was standing directly behind her. That gentle, but commanding touch was one hundred percent responsible for the pulsating throb in her panties.
“Would you like to change your sweater?” Kellen’s deep, quiet voice made Lindsey’s eyelids flutter.
She’d like to rip her sweater off and light it on fire was what she’d like to do. That would ensure she’d have a good excuse to be