Molly reached between them to tug open the knot of her robe instead, letting the lush fabric slide off to pool on the panel, her body nude in his arms. Fox's own body reacted as it always did to her, as hers did to him, but his eyes continued to glitter. "Using sex to get your own way?" It was a hard question, his hand thrusting between her legs.
Already wet for him, she gasped and gripped at his shoulders. But he withdrew his hand and returned to sit in the chair, undoing his jeans just enough to release his cock. "Come here, then. Fuck me." A crude challenge.
If there was one thing she'd learned with Fox, it was to be confident about her sexuality. The man wanted her, and even in his anger, he made no effort to hide it, his cock rigid, the vein that ran along the bottom plump with blood. Nudging aside his hand where he gripped the base, she straddled him and used her own fingers to guide him inside her molten core.
His fingers dug into her hips as she sank down to take him to the hilt, his head thrown back. Kissing his throat, she didn't ride him but began to squeeze her inner muscles in a rhythmic pulse.
"What the--" His breath hissed. "Where did you learn that?" It was a dangerous question.
"I like to read." Licking along the tendon on one side of his neck, she scraped her teeth over his jaw, kissed her way up to play with his lip ring. "I read the Kama Sutra. Along with a number of very educational erotic romances."
Gritting his teeth, he ground her down onto him. "The practical application?"
"I guess you'll have to be my crash-test dummy. Now sit back"--she pulsed her muscles in a faster rhythm--"and take it."
The words that came out of his mouth were so blue she blushed even in the midst of the eroticism. Then she loved him, pushing up his T-shirt to pay exquisite attention to the flat disks of his nipples with her fingers and her mouth as she used her inner muscles to torment and pleasure him. And the kisses, so many kisses. All of them raw, deep, audaciously sexual.
The orgasm seemed ripped out of him, a quick and violent and merciless thing.
Chest heaving in the aftermath, he lay back, eyes heavy-lidded and hands possessive. When she leaned in to kiss him again, he took control with sated laziness, one of his hands rising to her nape to position her exactly as he liked.
Molly shivered, and this time when her muscles clenched on his cock, it wasn't on purpose. Semi-hard, he remained inside her as they kissed for long, long minutes, the material of his T-shirt rubbing against her nipples to leave them pouting. Rolling one with the fingers of his free hand, Fox tugged, then flicked his thumbnail against it.
She felt her body coat him in a slickness that only increased when he went for her throat. He hadn't shaved today, and the stubble scraped over her skin with a coarseness at odds with the wet heat of his mouth. Moving restlessly on him, she wove her fingers through his hair, holding him to her.
"You like that?" More lazy kisses, his head rising from her throat.
"Yes," she said, as he ran his finger down the line of her throat. "Take off your T-shirt, please."
"Hmm." Using his grip on her nape to bring her forward, he claimed another kiss, his lips firm, his touch that of a man who knew his lover would permit him anything. "I don't think a bad girl who interrupts my work should get what she wants."
"You weren't working." She bit down on his lower lip hard enough to sting. "You were brooding."
Slits of dangerous green watched her from behind lowered lashes. "Brooding?"
It was a purr that dared her to repeat the accusation, but Molly wasn't about to be intimidated, even by her rock star. "Brooding."
Dipping his head, he tugged one sensitive nipple between his teeth, licking his tongue over and over it until she tried to rock her body on his. He held her down. "No," he said, freeing her nipple with a last leisurely lick. "I think it's time I reminded you I like to be in charge."
Skin tight at the sinful warning, Molly played her fingers over his lips. "I've never forgotten." Kissing him her way, softness and heat and tenderness, she stroked both hands under his T-shirt to push it up again, hot skin over steely muscle beneath her touch. "Doesn't mean I can't take care of you when you need it."
This time he helped her get the black material off over his head. Dropping it to the floor, he sat up so she could press her breasts flush against him. "Did you think I needed some Molly-time?"
She heard the thaw in him, and it did things to her to know she had the power to reach him even through such stormy anger. If she hadn't been able to deal with Fox's temper, they'd have had a serious problem--but she could... because despite everything, he let her in. "Yes." Kissing the side of his neck, she luxuriated in the feel of him around her. "I needed you, too. The sheets are cold without you."
"Out comes the truth," Fox said, though Molly had just smashed right through his defenses to lay him bare. "You only want me for my body heat."
"Of course."
Running his fingers down the cleft of her buttocks to where she stretched so tight around his renewed erection, he watched in possessive pleasure as she arched her body back against the panel. The position thrust up her breasts and he took full advantage, grazing his teeth over the lower curves, rubbing his jaw against her delicate skin.
"You've soaked my jeans," he murmured to his Molly, who'd fought for him exactly as she'd promised, who hadn't flinched or looked away when the going got hard. "That reminds me--it's been a couple of days since I've licked you up."
"I have been feeling a bit neglected," she said on a rasp of breath.
"Poor pretty baby." Careful of her sensitized flesh, he shifted her gently until she was reclining fully on the part of the panel that had no raised switches. Creamy and lush, she was a work of art, one for his personal and very private perusal. "Did you know I have video recording equipment in here?"
Molly's chest rose and fell in an unsteady rhythm. "What?"
"Yeah, sometimes it helps to watch the way my fingers move on the strings." He rocked into her to her soft moan. "Maybe I should turn it on--it might help me refine my technique to watch my fingers move on you."
Molly's spine arched up in a sweet curve, her body caressing his in a rush of liquid heat.
"Beautiful," he murmured and used his forefinger to stroke the slippery nub of her clit exactly as his Molly liked.
Giving a shocked little cry, she came a second time.
"I think," he murmured after her eyes opened, her body honey in his arms, "you like the idea of making your own sex tape." He loved how she always cuddled up against him after sex, his personal armful of woman. "Naughty Molly."
"We are not making a sex tape." It was a breathless warning. "The next thing you know, it'll be on the Internet."
"What if I promise to erase it after a thorough viewing to review my technique?"
"Do I look like I was born yesterday?"
"I love it when you blush." The pink flush made him want to taste, and because she was his, he leaned down and laved his tongue over her shoulder. "I guess I'll have to practice my technique on you."
He would've touched her again between the legs, but she pushed away his hand. "Too sensitive."
Shifting his hand to her thigh instead, he petted her slow and easy until she didn't repudiate his next caress of her clit. He kept each stroke featherlight, his kisses on her throat unhurried, building a song, note by carefully chosen note, until her body reached the right melody.
"My beautiful Molly." Who had fought for him.
Putting together some food after their sexual play, Molly took the plate out to where Fox sprawled at the table by the pool. He'd changed into the cutoff sweatpants he often wore while exercising, his upper body gleaming under the moonlight, the sky midnight blue and scattered with stars.
"I like this robe," he murmured, rubbing the fabric between his thumb and forefinger when she put the food on the table. "I like what's inside it even more." His hand lightly cupping her breast, he drew her down for a kiss that felt as affectionate as it was sensual.
/> Body and heart both melting at the way he touched her, Molly took a seat opposite him, sipping at a cup of chocolate-mint tea while he cleared his plate. "More?" she asked, but he shook his head, his expression unreadable. "What's wrong?"
"Come sit in my lap."
Having missed him all day, she didn't hesitate to obey the order.
"Thanks," he said, his hand on the bare skin of her thigh.
"For cuddling?" She kissed his jaw. "Careful or your bad boy image will never recover."
"No, smart-ass." A squeeze of her hip. "For caring enough to hunt me down." He nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. "Kinda nice to know you'll come knocking if I go into a bad place."
Molly hurt for him that he hadn't expected his "girl" to come knocking. It told her far more about the damage done to him in childhood than any other words he could've spoken. "I don't know what your definition is of a relationship," she said, her tone gentle, "but mine includes not ignoring it when something's clearly eating at you."
Sitting up so she could look him in the eye, she stroked his nape. "Why did you blow up this afternoon? Talk to me."
"If I don't?" The balmy night breeze blew a few strands of darkest brown across his face, the moment capturing his wildness and rough male beauty so exquisitely she wished she had a camera.
"If you clam up"--she put on a severe expression--"I'll just have to tie you down and torture you with nefarious tricks until you spill."
The barest hint of a smile. "Nefarious tricks, huh? Give me details."
"Never." Tracing his jaw as she became aware he was absently tapping music against her thigh, she said, "You know how you're so protective?"
A gathering scowl. "You complaining?"
"I was going to say I feel the same way about you." It scared her how much he meant to her, but that fear stood no chance against the visceral power of the love in her heart. "Let me take care of you, too."
The silent music went still.
Chapter 31
"You should be safe in our home," he said at last. "You shouldn't have to fight to get inside, shouldn't have to deal with those fucking bastards screaming at you, watching you."
Molly wanted to kick herself--she'd just pointed out how protective he was of her. Of course he'd react badly to the idea that she might feel threatened in any way. "I feel so safe with you," she whispered. "More than I've ever felt, even before the scandal." To no one had she ever been this important, this precious, worth protecting. "Those photographers? They're annoyances; gnats. I know I get the deer-in-the-headlights look sometimes, but that's because it's all new. I'll get used to it."
Fox's hand clenched on her thigh. "Why should you have to get used to it?" It was a growl. "I want to make music--it's what I've always wanted. When did wanting that mean people have a right to invade our privacy?"
"It's not fair," Molly said, "but if we allow that to grind us down, we allow them to win. I'd rather we just live our lives, because one thing is for certain--you and I, we aren't going to break." It was a promise.
"No, we're not." Closing a strong hand gently around her throat, he ran his thumb over her pulse point. "But if one of those parasites ever pulls the kind of shit with you that they tried to pull with me today, all bets are off. I will destroy him."
"Don't do anything that'll get you thrown in jail," she said, looking directly into his eyes so he'd know she was dead serious. "You leave me and I will never forgive you."
Fox's thumb went motionless against her pulse. "You mean that."
"You know what my parents did," she said in answer, her mind roiling with memories of her father's ugly crimes and of her mother's alcoholism. "Their choices left me alone and nearly broken. I'm trusting you not to do the same thing to me." It was the biggest trust she'd ever given in her life, and her voice shook with the sheer, unrelenting weight of it.
Fox held the intimate eye contact as he spoke. "You're more important to me than any pap. I'll sic the lawyers on them--and I'll tell the overpriced sharks to bite hard."
Swallowing the knot in her throat, she touched her fingers to his lips. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me for not being an ass." He gathered her close, and they sat there for a long time, listening to the late-night wind whisper through the trees around the property, the waterfall of the infinity pool a peaceful murmur in the background.
"Tell me about Charlotte," he said some time later.
"Charlie? Why?"
"She's your family like the band's mine. I want to know her."
Yes, her rock star understood her. In ways no one else ever had. "We met on the first day of nursery school," she said, his heartbeat strong under her palm. "I remember her giving me her pail in the sandbox so I could build a giant sandcastle. Then she ran around and made sure no one disturbed my creation."
Her lips curved. "That's who Charlie is in a nutshell--sweet and generous and loyal." A woman who deserved a man who understood and cherished the treasure in his arms. "She's so honest and kind, I'd worry about her, but Charlie sees people for who they are." Though Molly wished her friend's innocence about the world hadn't been shattered as it had been.
Fox buried the fingers of one hand in her hair. "Were you good girls at school?"
"We weren't teacher's pets, but neither one of us is rebellious by nature."
"Yet you ran off with a no-good musician, and you keep talking about some guy called T-Rex with Charlie."
Molly slapped playfully at his chest. "You're not meant to listen in!"
A rumble against her as he laughed. "I can't help it. I'm fascinated by how you and Charlie can chat for two hours without running out of things to say."
"I could do that with you, too, though you'd probably ask for phone sex."
"Abso-fucking-lutely."
Bursting out laughing at the unrepentant statement, she nuzzled a kiss to his throat. "What was the worst thing you did as a student?"
Fox whistled. "That'll take some thinking. I made it my mission in life to be a problem--until I realized nothing I did would make my mother want me enough to stand up to the prick." The acceptance in his tone was almost worse than the echo of old pain; Molly couldn't imagine how badly he must've hurt until the wound scarred over.
"Then," he said, "I became a model student. I think the teachers thought I'd been possessed, especially when I turned out to be freaky good at algebra."
"I hope you apologized to the teachers you drove crazy," she said, taking her cue from him and keeping it light; Fox didn't have to rip open old wounds, didn't have to bleed to invite her into himself.
"Naw... but I, uh, sponsor a program for kids like me."
The unusual hesitancy of his voice had her sitting up, her eyes locked with his. "A program?" It was a soft prompt when he fell silent.
"The ones who don't have anywhere to go for the holidays," he elaborated. "The program means they get to travel to another country, spend the time with a host family."
Her eyes burned. Blinking rapidly to fight it, she said, "That's wonderful," her throat thick.
Fox shrugged. "It's not the same as being with your own family, but I thought maybe the excitement of seeing another country would help blunt things. Anyway," he continued quickly, "the principal writes me now and then. He says most of the kids stay in constant contact with their host families and choose to go back to the same families year after year, so I figure maybe they've chosen new families like I did with Noah, David, and Abe."
There was so much she didn't yet know about this gorgeous, talented man. Each piece, each facet, he revealed, it tumbled her deeper and deeper into a love she knew would forever define her. "You're doing an incredible thing," she said, and when he looked uncomfortable, cupped his face. "Your girl is allowed to say mushy things like that about you. She's allowed to think you're wonderful."
"As long as you don't tell anyone." A scowling warning accompanied by a squeeze of the arm he had around her. "Let's go for a drive."
"Now?"
/> "It's a beautiful night. I want to show you my town under the stars."
Late as it was, the paparazzi had scattered and they were able to exit the property in the Lamborghini without stress. The drive proved to be romantic in a sweet, old-fashioned way, which she would've never expected of Fox. After a stunning moonlit half hour along the Pacific Coast Highway, the sea crashing to shore on one side, Fox circled back through Sunset Boulevard, stopping to buy her hot chocolate--complete with extra marshmallows--from a canny food-truck driver who'd set himself up within sight of night-shift workers on a road-repair project.
"Mmm, smells divine." She took a sip of the sweet liquid and settled in to enjoy the sound of Fox's rough purr of a voice as he gave her a personal tour, the tall palms on either side of the boulevard exotic to her eyes.
"Did you ever play in the clubs around here?" she asked some time later when they hit what he told her was the Sunset Strip, the area dazzling with spotlighted billboards and pulsing with nightlife.
"We had one of our first big breaks at that club over there." Fox pointed out a tiny doorway with a huge line. "Owner's nurtured more talent than most in this town." He kept the car at an easy speed as they continued down the Strip, the gleaming black limo in front of them obviously cruising the sights as well. "You know that TV show you like? The detective one? Check out the convertible next to us."
Molly's eyes went wide when she did. A second later, she let out an "Eep!" and sat back while Fox started laughing. Shoving at his arm, she tried to scowl through her beet-red face. "I can't believe he... that she... at a traffic light! Where anyone could see." There was no way to miss the sleek blonde head bobbing up and down in the lap of the chiseled actor in the driver's seat.
"Pity"--Fox hauled her over for a hard, wet kiss before the light changed--"I was hoping it'd give you ideas."
It did, but Molly wasn't about to put those ideas into practice anywhere public. On a less populated stretch of road, however, and in a car that wasn't so low-slung... "Keep driving," she said, voice husky. "Show me Guitar Row. I read about it online."
"That'll be better in the daytime. We'll come back another day, have a real look around," he promised, pointing out a billboard up ahead that featured Schoolboy Choir and their upcoming concert dates. "When we first came to L.A., we used to walk up and down Guitar Row, salivating over all the instruments we wanted but couldn't afford."