"I walked up to her front door, knocked." He ran his knuckles down her back. "The maid who answered said my mother was in the park with Zachary."
"What?"
"Yeah, that was my reaction." Still no anger, no hurt. "I walked over to the park, and there she was playing with a little boy who called her Mommy. She redid her life, Molly. Redid me."
Molly had no words for the cruelty of it. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Your mother has no idea of the incredible man her son grew into, a son she'll never know, and that's her loss, Fox, not yours."
Fox kissed her throat, his lip ring brushing over her skin as he made his way back up to her mouth. "It was a kick to the guts then, and for a long time," he said. "It stopped hurting the first day you smiled at me and I knew you adored me just as I am. My sweet and honest and fucking sexy Molly who means it when she tells me she loves me and who comes knocking if I brood."
Lower lip quivering and eyes burning, Molly locked her legs around his hips, her hands on his shoulders. "I fall more in love with you each and every day," she whispered. "I will hurt anyone who causes you pain." If Lauren ever showed her face in front of Molly again, she'd better watch out.
Fox's lips curved, one big hand spreading on her lower back, the other curling around her nape. "No one can, not when I've got my Molly-love armor." Another kiss, his cock growing hard against her. "Enough of the bullshit. I want you."
"I thought I wrung you dry?" she teased, letting the subject of his mother and sister go. Fox wasn't the kind of man to worry things to death--what mattered was that he trusted her enough to tell her about something she had a feeling no one else knew. If he ever needed to talk about it again, he would.
Because she was his Molly.
"You did," he now said, tipping her flat on the bed and straddling her body. "I'm a broken man."
"Poor Foxie."
He narrowed his eyes. "Someone wants to be in trouble." Grabbing her wrists, he used his other hand to shake out a pillow from the case. She knew that case was going to be used to tie her wrists together before he shifted higher up her body and pinned her hands to the bed frame.
Excitement hot and dark under her skin, she looked down from his face as he knotted the fabric around her wrists... to realize his erection was within reach of her mouth. Since Molly Webster, good girl, was now Molly Webster, good girl with a naughty streak, she leaned up and sucked the blunt tip into her mouth.
"Christ!" Fox's hands slammed into the bed frame, the entire bed shaking. "That was not in the plan," he gritted out, one hand sliding down to cradle her head so she'd be in a better position to take more of him.
Unrepentant, she licked her tongue along the vein plump against her tongue. He thrust once, twice, each thrust shallow, before pulling out, his cock gleaming wet. "Your mouth should be illegal." Shifting down, he spread her thighs wide and bent to give her a taste of her own medicine.
A single minute and Molly arched up off the bed and against his mouth, her skin glimmering with perspiration. He showed no mercy, holding her spread wide as he continued to lick and suck until she was whimpering. Only then did he release her throbbing clit to flick his tongue almost delicately around her entrance.
"So," he said, lifting his head, "how should I punish you?" The lean dimple in his cheek invited her kiss, the ring in his lip her favorite plaything.
An ache in her heart, Molly didn't want to continue the game all of a sudden. "Later," she whispered, her breasts rising and falling in a choppy rhythm. "I need to feel you inside me." Needed to hold him close. "I love you."
Expression altering to raw tenderness, he rose above her and tugged the knot in the pillowcase open. "You are such a bad girl. That's the second time you've messed with my plans." He dipped his head. The taste on his tongue her own, an erotic intimacy between them, he put one hand on the inside of her thigh and pushed into her, slow and relentless.
It drew a sound of acute pleasure from within her throat, her fingers buried in his hair and her legs locked around his hips. Fox kissed her throughout the loving, his forearms braced on either side of her head, his tattoos familiar and unique.
"My Molly." It was a guttural sound against her ear as he came in her arms.
When Molly got a message from Fox two days later to say he'd be out with Noah for a couple of hours, she didn't think too much of it. If he wanted to go off and do manly stuff with Noah, she didn't mind. Just like he didn't mind if she spent an hour on the phone with Charlotte or went out with Thea when her sister flew in.
Now she decided to e-mail Charlotte before getting to work at the little desk Fox had found for her; it fit perfectly in one corner of the living area of the coach.
It turned out Charlotte was online, so they video-chatted. Her best friend's life had become very interesting of late.
Molly ended the session with a smile on her face so wide it was probably blinding. "Go, T-Rex," she said with a little fist bump before forcing herself to concentrate on her work. Her eye fell on the bowl of strawberries on the desk as she opened her laptop and her smile grew impossibly wider. Diamonds were one thing, but Fox had a way of remembering the small things she loved.
Eating a couple of the juicy strawberries, she knuckled down. The work did eventually engross her, and darkness had fallen by the time she looked up. She got up, stretched, then decided to see if anyone was up for dinner--Fox's and Noah's afternoon out had apparently been extended.
Not that she was surprised, given what the men got up to, and it wasn't what people might expect. The last time Fox had disappeared--with David and Abe--they'd returned after drag racing around a special track built for speed. Gleeful as small boys, they'd been buzzed for hours.
The door opened in front of her at that second, Fox on the other side.
"Hey." She smiled, noting he didn't look any the worse for wear. "Dare I ask?"
A deep grin. "I got a tat," he said, jumping into the coach and pulling the door shut. "Noah came along for moral support, but he ended up with one, too. Not as amazing as mine though."
Proprietary of his body, Molly said, "Show me."
He took off his T-shirt, leaning back against the coach wall as she gingerly lifted the edges of the gauze bandage taped partway down his chest, just slightly to the left of center. "Fox"--she scowled up at him--"this is right over your heart." She knew a tattoo needle couldn't penetrate through muscle and bone, but still. "What if you'd been hurt?"
He squeezed her hip. "Worth it."
"It better be a work of sheer geni--" She froze as the gauze pad came off enough that she could see the ink, black against skin reddened from the recent work. It was shaped like a rectangular stamp, the kind businesses put on letters to say "Confidential." This one said something else.
Molly's Property.
Eyes burning, she pushed fisted hands against his abdomen as his arms came around her. "Idiot."
A kiss, his lips curved.
"What happens if we break up?" she said, so overwhelmed her mind was a mess. "They'll make fun of you, call you Folly's Property."
"Guess you better not dump my ass then or there goes my entire image." His dimple appeared. "Especially after I suffered hours of pain for you."
She touched her fingers delicately to the ink, leaning forward to brush a featherlight kiss over it as tears rolled down her face. No, he might never be able to say "I love you," those words yet hard for him, but he had other ways of making his point.
"Aw, hey baby, don't." Reaching down to cover the tat with the gauze again, he cuddled her close. "It doesn't hurt. I was just messing with you."
"Happy tears," she managed to get out.
"You like it, then?"
"I love it."
Chapter 40
When Fox ripped off his T-shirt in the middle of the concert the next night to throw it into the crowd, realization slammed into her. God, she'd been slow. Fox hadn't just told her he loved her; he was telling the world.
Hugging her arms around her wai
st, she tried to hold the tidal wave of emotion inside, her breath rasping in her chest. Maxwell stopped on his way past her, patted her on the shoulder. "What did he do?"
"Be wonderful."
"Huh." Squeezing her into a hug, the crew boss said, "I thought you hadn't heard it."
"Heard what?"
He touched a finger to his earpiece. "Sorry, got to check out one of the speakers."
Forgetting his words when Fox turned to shoot her a grin before facing the roaring crowd once more, Molly just stood there. The man was going to kill her. Never had she thought she'd be so loved, so wanted, so cherished and adored. Taking out her phone, she texted, "I'm stupid in love with you," to his phone.
That phone was currently in her other jeans pocket, so he wouldn't see her message until after, but that didn't matter. What mattered was that it would be waiting for him whenever he checked. Sliding away her own phone, she frowned at the sudden silence in the stadium... and then the air filled with the pure sound of a single electric guitar. Even before lifting her head, she knew it wasn't Noah but Fox on the instrument.
He bent his mouth to the mike as he continued to play. "This song is for my Molly, who is the best fucking thing that's ever happened to me. Also, for those suicidal idiots sending her fan mail asking her to run away with them, I will hunt you down and rip off your nuts."
Laughing and crying as the crowd went wild, Molly wanted so badly to kiss him. Those words were so Fox. So her man.
He waited until the crowd quieted down once more before beginning the haunting intro to the song again, the ferocious power of his voice holding a rough tenderness as he began to sing. Noah, Abe, and David fell in gently in the background, Fox's voice and the guitar holding center stage until they slammed into a pounding beat as a unit.
It was hard rock and it was a love song, though the word "love" was found nowhere in the lyrics. The chorus was six words, a single voice, the music cutting off as if the band was one being.
My heart. My soul. My home.
Molly had tears streaming down her face by the time it ended, the crowd insane for a song she felt in her bones would become a classic. When Fox strode off the stage to drag her onto it, she went without argument, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him in front of the band, the crew, the audience of thousands.
He was hers, and she didn't care if the whole world knew how much she loved him.
Lifting her up against him, his arms steel, he spoke words for her ears only. "Since I'm already your personal and private property, will you be mine?" The dimple appearing. "It would really suck balls to be called Folly's Property."
It was a marriage proposal only Fox would make. "Yes, yes, yes." She punctuated each word with a laughing, crying kiss, uncaring of the flashbulbs and the lights and the eyes that watched them. "Always yes."
The smoky green exultant, his kiss a branding, he turned to grab the mike. "She said yes!"
The crowd thundered and screamed as the rock star who'd been meant to be Molly's one-night stand pressed his forehead to her own and whispered, "I'm yours."
I hope you enjoyed Molly and Fox's story! If you're curious about David and those sinfully enticing memos he's been writing to Thea, then keep an eye out for Rock Courtship, coming September 30th! (Let's just say the Gentleman of Rock has some serious moves.) I'm also currently at work on Charlotte and T-Rex's book and having so much fun with these two.
An excerpt from Rock Courtship is now available on my website: www.nalinisingh.com. While at the website, don't forget to join my newsletter--I often send out free deleted scenes, short stories, and sneak peeks from my works in progress. The welcome newsletter has a special surprise for Rock Addiction fans!
Any questions or comments? You can contact me at any time through the e-mail address on my website. You can also find me on Twitter, Facebook, & Tumblr. - xo Nalini
Acknowledgments
A great big thank you to my beta readers for your brilliant feedback and encouragement: Sharyn, Jayshri, Nicole, Peta, and Rahaf - you are all awesome.
Thanks also to Nephele, for any number of things, not the least of which is driving me all over the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles so I could check out Fox's neighborhood.
To Jennifer. You rock hard. Thank you for everything.
A special thanks to my copy-editor, Anne, for her meticulous work, and to Jia, for all the help.
And to every single one of you: Your comments, reviews, e-mails, and smiles make this the best job in the entire world. Thank you for being so amazing!
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Psy-Changeling and Guild Hunter series Nalini Singh usually writes about hot shapeshifters and dangerous angels. This time around, she decided to write about a hot and wickedly tempting rock star. If you're seeing a theme here, you're not wrong.
Nalini lives and works in beautiful New Zealand, and is passionate about writing. If you'd like to explore her other books, you can find lots of excerpts on her website: www.nalinisingh.com. Slave to Sensation is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series, while Angels' Blood is the first book in the Guild Hunter series. The site also has a special section dedicated to the Rock Kiss series, complete with photos of many of the locations used in this book.
Other Books by Nalini Singh
Rock Courtship: A Novella (Coming late September 2014)
The Psy/Changeling series
Slave to Sensation Visions of Heat
Caressed by Ice
Mine to Possess
Hostage to Pleasure Branded by Fire
Blaze of Memory
Bonds of Justice
Play of Passion
Kiss of Snow
Tangle of Need
Heart of Obsidian Shield of Winter
The Guild Hunter series
Angels' Blood
Archangel's Kiss
Archangel's Consort Archangel's Blade Archangel's Storm Archangel's Legion Archangel's Shadows (November, 2014)
For detailed descriptions of these books, as well as additional titles, visit Nalini's website: www.nalinisingh.com.
Untouched by Lauren Hawkeye
New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author Lauren Hawkeye serves up a captivating story of loss, self-discovery, and deep-seated desire.
Some secrets are best left locked away in the past....
Alexa Kendrick has no recollection of the car accident that left her scarred and sent her life careening wildly off course. When the half-sister she thought she'd never meet shows up at her door with an invitation to a new life, Alexa finds herself in Florence, Arizona, a town notorious for being populated with more prison inmates than actual citizens...a town that has done its best to hide its own dark secret.
After Ellie is called out of town, she leaves her sister with the keys to her flower shop and Alexa finds herself swapping lives with her sibling: running Ellie's business, living in the house left to them both by their absentee father...and forging a smoldering relationship with sexy-as-sin penitentiary officer, Nate Fury--a man with his own demons.
But arranging flowers by day and tangling with the only man who has ever seen her real self by night isn't enough to silence the mysterious panic that fuels Alexa's dark dreams. When Nate brings home a book written by an inmate, one describing an unspeakable crime, the shackles binding Alexa's own lost memories begin to shatter. And as the devastating truth comes to light, she realizes that Nate holds the key to unlocking her past, as well as her heart.
Pre-order UNTOUCHED!
Stupid Girl by Cindy Miles
Only fools fall in love...
After her senior year of high school leaves behind nothing but heartache, Olivia Beaumont escapes to Winston College--only to fall head over heels for cocky baseball star and Boston Southie, Brax Jenkins.
Special Excerpt:
Butterflies slammed against my stomach the whole walk down, and it irritated me. It wasn't just anxiousness abou
t seeing Brax. It was just the idea of going out with a guy. Any guy. And the closer I got to the parking lot, the more nervous I became. The more I wanted to turn around, run and hide. No matter if it was just a friendly dinner, that I was now a freshman in college and not a dumb high school teenager. Why couldn't I just be calm, cool, collected? I willed those qualities to fall on me, and fast. To infuse in my DNA and make me full of confidence. After a few deep breaths, I had it together. I crossed the common room to the doorway, and pushed it open. And those newly summoned qualities fled the moment I laid eyes on him.
Braxton Jenkins straddled his motorcycle just in front of the walkway. His helmet was off, shades on. Faded jeans, the bottoms cuffed. Black boots. White tee shirt. Black leather jacket. I couldn't see his eyes, but I knew the moment he saw me. A wide, white smile split his face in two.
The butterflies returned, full force and rabid, with teeth gnashing.
Holy God. I couldn't do this.
Beaumont! Breathe, girl! Nutcracker! Nutcracker!
The entire silly conversation with Tessa from the night before poured into my brain and instantly calmed me. Just thinking the safe word made me smile. I couldn't help it. It was just so damn funny. Anyway, it eased my nerves. I walked up to Brax, calm and cool. Friends. Nothing more.
"Hey," I said. "So you won. How'd the pitching go?"
Whatever expression his eyes held was hidden behind those shades. "Bitchin' as always. We spanked 'em good. Nice blouse there, Gracie."
I smiled, and his face launched into another heart-stopping grin. I inclined my head toward my truck. "Thanks. Let me grab my glasses and jacket."
Brax said nothing, and I felt his eyes score a jagged blazing hole into my back as I walked toward my truck. It unnerved me a little, but I pushed it aside. I opened the door, and leaned in across the seat to grab my faded denim jacket and shades. Jamming the key in and locking it, I headed back toward Brax and his bike. His eyes were still hidden, but I knew his gaze followed me. I shrugged into my jacket, which, at this time of evening in August I highly doubted I'd freeze my ass off without. "Ready," I said. I slipped my bag cross-ways over my head and shoulder, and plopped my keys in.