“You sure? I’d do it myself, but I feel dead on my feet and am not sure I could get her up the stairs. Tonight’s been … eventful.”
His lips tilted at the corner. “Hopefully not all bad.”
“Not at all.”
He climbed out of the truck to go to Oakley’s side and carefully took Reagan from her. The poor kid was like a rag doll in the handoff, completely spent, but when the night breeze gusted unexpectedly, she stirred. Her eyelids fluttered open and Pike stiffened, expecting her to freak out if she realized it wasn’t her mom carrying her, but when she saw it was him, she snuggled up against his shoulder and let out a little mumbling grunt as her splinted arm bumped into his chest.
The easy acceptance from her hit him right in the sternum. She was okay with him being there for her. In that moment, he had this overwhelming protective urge rush through him. Like he wanted to hug her and keep her safe. Like he wanted to break the bike that had hurt her in two.
Oakley’s eyebrows had climbed to her hairline as she watched, but she quickly smoothed her expression. “Well, that was a close one. I’ll get the door. Her room is the second on the left at the top of the stairs.”
He followed Oakley in and to Rae’s room. Purple walls greeted him along with vintage music posters mixed in with more modern ones. On the corkboard above her desk, there was her festival ticket from the other weekend, a photo of her and her cousin at the concert, and two photos of Darkfall performing.
Oakley noticed him looking. “I think you landed a new fan that day.”
“Only one?” he asked, lowering Reagan onto her bed.
Oakley tucked the blankets around her daughter and propped the splinted arm on a pillow. “Maybe two. I think my brother liked you.”
He smirked. “Never an inch, huh?”
“If I give you one, you’ll take a mile.”
“I absolutely will.”
Oakley clicked off Reagan’s bedside lamps and turned on a baby monitor by the bed. When she saw Pike looking at it, she said, “It’s like a walkie-talkie. Rae has a thing about not wanting to leave her room at night so this lets her talk to me if she needs something.”
He nodded, the reminder of Rae’s special needs leaving him even more in awe of Oakley. He couldn’t imagine how hard it must’ve been for her to do this on her own all this time—especially so young. Reagan was a kick-ass kid. But he had a feeling getting her to this point had been a hard-fought process.
He followed Oakley out of the room and stood by as she shut the door with a quiet click. She pushed a stray hair away from her face. “Thanks again for bringing us home.”
“Happy to do it.”
“Come on, I’ll walk you out.”
They headed downstairs, and he could tell by the slump of her shoulders that she was running on fumes. He reached out for her when they neared the door and pulled her close to him. “You gonna get some rest, mama?”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, coming to him easily. “The doc said to check on her every few hours to make sure she’s not swelling too much beneath the splint, so I’ll probably just grab a catnap.”
He frowned.
“What?”
“I should stay.”
She leaned back. “Pike, you know I can’t—”
“No, hear me out. If I leave, you have no car. What if something goes wrong in the night? How would you get Rae back to the doctor? And you said yourself you’re dead on your feet. You need to get some rest.”
“I’ll be fine. I have neighbors if I have an emergency.”
He shook his head. “I’ll sleep on the couch and leave before Reagan wakes up in the morning. I can even check on her arm if you want to grab a couple of hours’ sleep. I’m used to staying up late.”
She stared at him, dropping her arms from around his waist. “Pike.”
He grabbed her hand and laced his fingers with hers. “Come on, mama. I want to help. You’ll be better for Rae tomorrow if you get some rest. I promise the offer is totally without ulterior motives.”
She considered him a moment longer then let out a breath. “I guess it would be risky to not have a car tonight.”
He smiled, sensing victory, and leaned over to kiss her. “My night owl abilities are at your service. All I need is a blanket and a TV remote, and I’m all set.”
She let him pull her into a full hug this time. She pressed her face to his shoulder. “What am I going to do with you, James Pike Ryland?”
“Lots of dirty, sordid things.” He kissed the top of her head. “But not tonight. Tonight I’m your sentry. So try to control yourself.”
She laughed against him. “I’ll do my best.”
He released her and put a knuckle beneath her chin. “Get to bed, baby. I’ve got you covered.”
“Thanks. And by the way, you completely suck at this one-night-stand thing.”
“I’ll try to do better next time.”
Because there would be a next time. As he watched Oakley head down the hallway to her room, he knew there’d be no easy walking-away from this one.
Devon had been worried that his sister and niece were going to get hurt, but Pike had a feeling the only one who’d end up with gaping wounds at the end of this was him.
TWENTY-THREE
Oakley leaned against the wall in the hallway, hidden by the pre-dawn shadows as she watched Pike come down the stairs. She’d heard him go into Rae’s room on the monitor. Despite Oakley’s absolute exhaustion, she’d woken each time the door clicked on the monitor. Too many years of being acutely attuned to her daughter’s sounds had left her a light sleeper, so she knew that Pike had checked on her daughter every hour since Oakley had gone to bed.
Normally she would’ve never let someone else, especially a guy, go into her daughter’s room at night. But every instinct she had told her Pike meant no harm to either of them. And each time he’d checked on her, he’d stayed all of ten seconds—long enough to eyeball the state of Rae’s hand. So despite waking up each hour, she had been able to grab some much-needed sleep in between. And now, her sentry looked like he was fading. He stretched out on the couch, lying on his side, and flipped to the early, early news—the one only overnight workers and parents of newborns watched.
Seeing him there, putting himself through the trouble on her behalf, made something warm and powerful curl inside her. This guy was going to kill her. They weren’t supposed to be doing this. The two spheres of her life were not supposed to collide. Pike wasn’t allowed in this part of her existence. It made her feel things she shouldn’t. Want things she shouldn’t. At least things she shouldn’t want with him.
But she couldn’t help the feelings that were developing. As much as she told herself to shut off that part of herself, she couldn’t. He wasn’t letting her. Each time she thought she’d created some line between them, he did something that moved him back on her side of the wall. So though she knew nothing could come of this, she was tired of denying what was there. She’d feel what she wanted to feel and when it ended, she’d deal with it. She was a big girl. A little heartbreak wouldn’t kill her. Hell, she’d probably get a notebook worth of songs over it. At least she wasn’t numb anymore.
She padded into the living room on bare feet. Pike’s eyes were closed, but his breathing wasn’t even enough for sleep. She stepped around the couch and knelt down next to it then leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.
His eyes blinked open, and he gave her a lazy smile. “Well, hi there.”
“I’ve heard this four a.m. news is very compelling.”
“Mmm,” he said, pushing himself on his elbow. “Couldn’t take my eyes off it.”
“You look exhausted.”
“So, stunningly sexy, right? That’s what you mean.”
“Of course.” She let her fingers trace over the phoenix tattoo on his arm. Small, smooth bumps moved under her fingers, surprising her. Her eyebrows scrunched. “You covered something with this one.”
“Burns,” he sai
d, reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear. “Compliments of another of the boyfriends.”
Her chest squeezed. “God, how did you not murder somebody?”
“Almost did,” he said, his voice quiet.
Her heart broke for the kid who’d had to deal with such horrible circumstances. How he’d made it out and become such a successful man, a good man, she didn’t know. She leaned over and pressed a kiss over the first burn mark. His body went tense as a bow beneath her. But when she continued and trailed kisses along the path of burns, he cupped his other hand over her head and let out a slow breath.
She lifted her head and brushed a kiss over his mouth. “Come to bed, Pike.”
His hazel eyes flickered blue in the light of the television. “What about Rae?”
“She’ll be out for another few hours and won’t come downstairs until it’s light.”
His hand slid to the back of her neck. “You sure?”
“Never more sure of anything.”
A sleepy smile broke through at that. “Well, then I can’t think of a better way to start the day.”
“Not too tired?” she asked, climbing to her feet and taking his hand to pull him up from the couch.
He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “Unless I’m dead, I’ll never be too tired for you.”
She led him by the hand down the hall and into her bedroom. He locked the door behind them and before she could even get a lamp on, he had his hands on her face and his lips on hers. The kiss started off slow and languid, but as soon as their tongues twined and bodies pressed against each other, a spark ignited, chasing off the exhaustion. The kiss turned deep and breath-stealing, parched people drinking from the waterfall, and Oakley could feel their control breaking, any internal restraint giving way.
She gathered his T-shirt in her fists and backed them both toward the bed. His mouth went to her neck and his hands beneath her nightshirt. Cool palms on her sleep-warmed body. He cupped her breast and then lowered his head to take her in his mouth. She moaned and yanked at the button on his jeans, needing him skin-to-skin right now.
They fumbled and kissed, hands everywhere, like desperate teenagers who’d never gotten laid. The fact that they’d slept together twice in the last twenty-four hours didn’t seem to matter. The need was just as acute each time. Maybe even more so now that she was letting herself off her leash and just indulging in every part of this connection, no walls erected.
The sound of fabric ripping filled the air. She felt her brand-new nightshirt drop off her body.
“Fuck,” Pike said under his breath. “Didn’t mean to do that. That looked new. I’ll get you another one.”
“It’s just a shirt. I’d rip yours off if I had the strength.”
He broke away for a second, yanking his shirt over his head and off. “You don’t care?”
“About a stupid shirt? No.”
He gave her an unreadable look in the darkness.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing. I just love …”
Her heart stopped beating for a second.
“How you are.”
She grabbed a breath. “And how’s that?”
He hooked her around the waist and tossed her to the bed, following close behind. “Like no other woman I’ve ever met.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, but the statement rang through her like the reverb of a bell—radiating out and making everything hum.
He didn’t give her a chance to process it fully though because he was kissing her again. She looped her arms around his neck and let him press her into the bed as he kissed the ever-loving sense out of her. Fucking with his mouth, that’s what he was doing. Long, deep strokes and hot, quick nips and thrusts. Her body rocked against him, grinding against the open fly of his jeans. She wanted to fuse with him, to melt together and lose herself in the moment.
She got a handful of his ass and squeezed the firm muscle. “You need to ditch these pants.”
He braced himself on his arms above her. “Undress me, then.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. She yanked at his jeans and tugged them down and off. They hit the wall somewhere in the dark. And then it was hot skin sliding on hot skin, hard against soft. His cock ground along her slick cleft, grazing her clit over and over but not entering her. Then his mouth went to hers again as he slowly drove her wild with the stimulation.
He groaned into her mouth. “You feel so fucking good against me. So soft and wet. I bet I could make you come just like this.”
“Don’t you dare. You’re going to fuck me, James. No getting out of it.”
He laughed, and she could tell it did something to him to hear his first name. She hadn’t even meant to say it, but when he was stripped down like this, that’s how she thought of him. The rock star left the building. It was just the man.
“I promise to do just that.” He moved his hand to the bed. “Fuck.”
“What?”
“Please, please tell me you have condoms because I just realized we used my wallet stash already and my bag’s in the truck.”
“Shit. Check that bedside table. I think I might.”
He reached over and yanked the drawer open. There was rummaging. Then: “Jackpot!”
Pike lifted the foil wrapper in victory like he’d found the coveted prize in the bottom of the cereal box. Oakley couldn’t see it fully in the low light, but it looked to be a sample package the OB/GYN had given her on her last visit. Thank God for free samples.
Pike tore the package open and rolled the condom on. “Now, where were we? Oh yeah, you were demanding I fuck you.”
“Yes, let’s get to that part.”
He leaned down and kissed her. “Definitely. But first, we’re going to play with the other thing you’re keeping in your drawer.”
“What?” Her eyelids snapped open.
Pike held up the vibrating plug and small bottle of lubricant he’d included in his Wicked care package. “Tried this one out yet?”
Her face heated. “I was saving it for our next call.”
His grin went wide in the dark. “Well, lucky, lucky me. I get to see it in person.” He uncapped the bottle of lube and drizzled it onto his fingers. “Plus, it might’ve killed me to be stuck on the other end of the line imagining you sliding this inside yourself.”
His fingers dipped low, moving toward that forbidden zone.
“Pike …”
But before she could protest further, he found her back entrance and stroked with the barest amount of pressure. Her entire body seemed to clench and ache at the same time. “Oh, God.”
“See,” he said, his voice all dark promise as the tip of his finger worked gently against the resistance. “Just relax and let me show you how good this can feel. Touch yourself while I do this. It will help.”
She followed his instruction, lowering her hand between her legs and finding her swollen clit. Then she put all her focus on softening the tension in her body and breathing through the odd sensation that was some combination of discomfort and forbidden excitement. But when he managed to slip past the resistance and slid his finger fully in, the discomfort gave way to blunt-force need. Her back arched and she groaned. “Holy hell.”
“Imagine how good it’s going to feel when it’s me here one day. I’ll fuck you nice and slow, and I’ll bury that glass dildo deep in your pussy at the same time. You’ll be so full of me, baby.” He eased a second slick finger inside. “I could come just thinking about it.”
Goddamn, so could she. She slowed her own strokes, afraid she’d go over too quickly.
“Mmm, look at how beautiful you are. Fingers stroking that pretty cunt. My fingers buried in your ass. I can see how close you are already.” He gently pulled his fingers from her and replaced it immediately with the cool silicone of the plug. The toy was bigger and firmer but her body was ready after his preparation. He slid the plug forward and seated it in place. Then he switched it on.
 
; Her toes curled and her head fell back onto the pillows. “Jesus.”
“See?” he said, his voice low against her ear now. “Now you know why I like to use them.”
That image was almost enough to send her completely over. Imagining Pike shamelessly using a toy on himself, sliding a slick hand over his cock while a plug filled him up. “I’d like to see that one day.”
He nipped her earlobe. “Maybe you could be the one to put it in me. I did agree to let you have control next time.”
She moved her hand away from herself at that. She couldn’t even handle the barest touch with those images dancing through her head. She loved that Pike was so comfortable with himself and his desires. Loved that he brought that out in her. “Pike, I can’t take—”
“Shh,” he said, shifting above her. “Neither can I.”
His hands moved to the backs of her thighs and he lifted her legs, opening her fully to him. She glanced up, catching sight of his face as he looked at the view. No doubt he could see everything—how turned on she was, the base of the plug, every private spot of her. But where his gaze was glued was on her face. And the look he had on his—some pained expression—knife-edge desire and need of another sort almost broke her completely.
It was a look no man had ever given her.
He pushed inside her with one word on his lips. “Oakley.”
The way he said it made her want to cry.
Or run.
Or fall.
She closed her eyes and pulled him down to her, letting the overwhelming physical sensations overtake any emotional ones. She fused her mouth to his, dug her nails into his shoulder, and made love to him with every ounce of her being.
Despite the urgent need both of them were fighting, Pike took his time, dragging himself in and out in a languorous rolling of his hips. His tongue matched his rhythm and soon Oakley felt herself falling, falling. The decadent feel of him inside her, the plug buzzing, the drunkenness of his kisses. All of it was too much, too good.
She came in a rush, biting his shoulder to keep from crying out too loud. But he just rode the wave with her and kept going.
“You’re not done, gorgeous. Give me another one.”