“You’re really good at this stuff.”
“Advance warning, a lot of this stuff goes into lyrics.”
She blushed again and he moved, forcing himself to go slow.
He kissed from her shoulder to her neck, up to her ear. He breathed deep there, the scent of her skin settling things deep inside even as his cock was so hard it ached.
She turned her head to receive the next kisses, their tongues sliding and teasing. He could kiss her for hours.
“Before you, I totally underestimated kissing.” He kissed her again and again until she clutched his shirt at his shoulders. “Your taste, God.”
One corner of her mouth tipped up and he licked over the dimple it formed.
He moved to the other side, down her neck, nibbling until he got to the side of her left breast. He sucked all that luscious flesh and gave her the edge of his teeth. “Gonna leave a mark. I like you knowing who makes you feel good. Like knowing it’s our little secret.”
She drew a choked breath and he smiled, dropping to his knees in front of her.
Her hands slid into his hair, holding his head as he kissed around her belly button, nibbling it. Her skin heated against his lips; he knew she was ready even before he spread her open and took a lick.
She made a strangled sound and tugged his hair, keeping him close.
“Love that you want it so much.”
“So give it to me.” She urged him again and he smiled against her before he took several more long licks. He’d give her this first climax hard and fast so she’d be slippery and ready for him. And then he’d take his time and give her more.
She came with his name on her lips. He loved that as much as her taste.
* * *
HE STOOD IN a fluid motion, his pupils taking up most of the color of his eyes, his lips swollen. She sucked in a breath, but it wasn’t enough.
He kept a hand at her hip as he tore his sweater off and got his pants unzipped. She moved closer, pulling his cock out and into her hands, thrusting herself around him, up and down until he was slick at the head.
“Stop.”
She did, licking her lips, loving the way he groaned at the sight.
With him this way, she felt powerful, even when she let him control everything. Sexy and desired. Understood.
He finished getting naked and moved to sit on the nearby couch, laying out a condom within arms’ reach.
“Suck me for a bit. Not too long because you know I want to be in you. I’ll let you know when I’m ready for you to get on my lap and ride me.”
The National went away and Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” came on. No one had made her a playlist in a long time. Since college when someone made her a mixed CD. But this was better. Because these songs told her things about how he felt about her.
He moved to put a pillow down for her knees, but she shook her head. Sometimes the rub of the carpet added to things rather than detracted. Sometimes a little pain or discomfort was just what she wanted.
She took him in her mouth, knowing exactly what he liked.
Giving it to him.
Sometimes.
Other times she teased him, going just shy of it. Giving him just enough, holding back a little until he got restless, churning his hips, seeking more.
There was so much power here. Even on her knees, there was power. She knew his body so well, and he let her. She got to him, drew him out more. He opened to her in ways she knew without a doubt he did for no one else.
“Enough. Come up here.”
She stood, licking her lips, loving his groan in response as she moved her thighs just outside his.
She took the condom from his hands, ripping the package open and rolling it on for him.
When she took him into her body, she locked her gaze on him. Watched him as he watched himself disappear into her. And when he shifted up to look at her face, his smile was open in ways it so rarely was.
He reached up, sliding his hand around to the back of her head and pulled it down to meet his kiss. Which she did.
Kissing Paddy was as intimate as his being inside her. Because he put all of himself into the way he kissed.
He held her lips to his own as she undulated, rolling her hips to take and keep him deep. His hands roamed all over her body, caressing, fingertips teasing all her favorite spots and a few she hadn’t even known existed until him. Like the hollow of her throat, where he played the pad of his thumb, slowly, back and forth, over and over. Shivers ran over the surface of her skin.
He followed his thumb with his lips, the edge of his teeth, his tongue, drawing her toward climax yet again. And all just with a touch at her throat. But when he cupped her breasts, pinching her nipples just how she liked it best, suspended right before pleasure became pain, she gasped, her body rippling around him.
He gave an answering gasp, that pinch tightening a little.
“You’re going to kill me. But it’ll be worth it.”
She smiled, tipping her head back, arching to get him into her deeper. He cupped her throat and she gasped, shocked at how good it was.
“Someone likes that.”
“How’d you know?” she managed to stutter out.
“Your pussy just clamped down around me. Oh, and the gasp of shocked delight. Christ, I wish I could sample that and use it on one of the tracks we’re laying down next week.”
He kept his hand there and moved the other to where her body met his, finding her clit and giving her just exactly the right amount of pressure. She had no idea how he could be so precise, knowing just exactly what she wanted and needed right at that given moment. But he did and she loved it.
“Give me another, gorgeous. Let me hear it. See how beautiful you are when you come.”
She sucked in a breath as she went under, letting orgasm steal through her cells, take hold of her muscles, heating her, bringing little earthquakes around him as she continued to roll her hips, grinding herself against his fingers.
“That’s it. So gorgeous and all mine.”
She nodded. Because it was true.
He came shortly after she did, on a snarl, his arms sliding around her waist, his face against her breasts as he held her for long moments.
“I’m more relaxed than any massage could ever make me. But I will have some cake now, since I don’t smoke cigarettes anymore.”
She laughed, allowing him to help her stand on still-rubbery legs.
He put his sweater over her head and she let it swallow her body, surrounding her in warmth and his smell.
And she allowed herself to be deliriously happy.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SHE WOKE UP when her bed got jostled.
Just a few days after that superdirty hotel sex, Natalie opened her eyes to a bunch of hugs from her friends, who’d come down to have a pre-Christmas celebration before most of them headed out to wherever their families resided.
Tuesday kissed her smack on the lips. “This is the first Christmas you won’t be at my parents’ house in seven years. That is freaky.”
“You guys are going to break my bed.” She laughed as Jenny settled on one side, spooning her against Zoe, who’d gotten on the other. Tuesday hugged them all the best she could. Dee and Rosie piled on.
“Just think of Paddy’s face when you say all your girlfriends were in your bed snuggling you when they broke it.”
More laughing came.
“He might nod his head and never hear a word right now. They’re wrapping up this album, and he’s so deep in it he barely remembers to sleep much less get titillated by faux lesbian orgy stories.”
“Aww, is he ignoring your basic biological needs?” Rosie asked as she rolled off.
She blushed. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Good Lord, you need to elaborate. But Dee has gathered the ingredients for a massive breakfast pig-out so come on. Guzzle coffee and tell us about Paddy’s technique.”
Natalie rolled her eyes and got out of bed, stepping
into her fluffy slippers and pulling on a robe because it was cold.
They rolled downstairs and settled at the kitchen table while Dee and Rosie cooked, Tuesday handling coffee.
“Now, sex?”
“It’s not like I’d be with him if he didn’t know what went where and what to do with it.”
They all just stared. Tuesday laughed and turned music on. Dee started dancing around as she turned bacon and flipped pancakes. In different pans, of course, so Jenny didn’t have bacon goo on her pancakes.
“Well, duh.”
“God. You’re all not going to let go until I tell you.”
“Have we not all told each other about our sex lives? That’s part of the contract.” Rosie brought plates down from the cabinets. “Plus, Tuesday knows way more details, which is not even fair. You’re hurting our feelings, Nats. How can you be so mean?”
“He’s...”
Jenny put a dish towel over Natalie’s head. “Now, you don’t have to look at us when you tell. Though I hasten to remind you, you’ve told us plenty about other dudes while eating popcorn and cackling madly.”
“They were different.” She pulled the towel off. “He’s... I’m...I’m so in love with him, I should be scared as hell, but I’m in so deep, I can’t find it in me to not jump off that cliff with him. When we’re together, especially sexwise, he gets me. You know sometimes there are things you want but you don’t even know it until it’s happening?”
“Like in the butt?” Jenny’s bright smile after that statement only made it better.
Natalie guffawed. “Um, I guess someone could make that corollary if they wanted that. Sure. But in this case, I mean he takes over. I like being in charge. A lot. I’m always in charge but with him...”
“Well, it makes sense. You’re in charge all the time. You’re the biggest control freak I know, and that says a lot. So that you’d trust him to take over? That says so much about how you feel about him. And how he feels about you because you sure wouldn’t do it if he didn’t hit all the right buttons.” Rosie kissed the top of Natalie’s head as she passed a platter of pancakes down to the end of the table.
Zoe forked up a few and put them on her plate. “So are we talking whips and chains?”
“No. He sets the tone. Orders me around. Sometimes he, oh, God, I can’t believe I’m saying all this! He’ll spin me around to face a wall and fuck me. He talks really dirty in my ear. Tells me to do stuff and how to do it.” She shrugged. “It pushes my buttons. Every time we’re together and it goes like that, there’s something deeper at the end. He gets me and he doesn’t try to fix me. He doesn’t give me advice on how to do anything. Other than the sex stuff.” Natalie laughed.
“He accepts you.” Tuesday laid a hand on top of hers.
Natalie nodded.
“He listens to me. I find myself telling him things I never intended to. And it’s surprisingly all right.”
“Plus, he’s so hot. Man, that beard. I bet he’s got piercings. I’ve seen the ink in pictures of him onstage.” Dee winked.
“Both nipples and yes, lots of ink. He’s...he’s a bad boy, no lie. But one with a big heart who loves his family and works hard. He’s kind of perfect like that.”
“No one is perfect.” Rosie brought out some jam and syrup.
And that was what worried her. “It’s not like I have rose-colored glasses.”
“No, sometimes I think it’s too much the opposite. You expect everyone to mess up and disappoint you.” Jenny smothered her pancakes with butter.
“Keeping low expectations means you’re not as disappointed when people mess up.”
“No one is perfect, but most of them are not Bob Clayton, either.” Tuesday topped up her coffee.
“Thanks. No, that’s true. But I had to have Bob in my life growing up. As an adult, I have choices about who I let in. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. So I’m wary of it. When it’s just the two of us, or his family, it’s fine. But his life.” She lifted her hands momentarily. “If I had made a list of all the things I’d want to avoid in a man, he’d be in many of those categories. But I can’t help it.”
“So jump. Jump and know that you might get a wedgie when you hit the water, but you won’t die if it goes wrong. It might hurt like balls, but you’re surrounded by people who love you and who will make his life a living hell for breaking your heart if he does.” Rosie raised her mug. “To love!”
* * *
PADDY WOKE FROM the nap he’d managed to steal on the couch in the barn. They’d been working pretty much nonstop for the past four days to get Day Dream in the can, and it looked as if it would happen a week or so before Christmas. Which was good because he was sick of seeing his brothers more than he saw Natalie.
He smiled as he shuffled into the bathroom attached to the lounge where he’d been sleeping. He splashed water on his face and brushed his teeth. He’d need coffee—and a lot of it—shortly. Damien had gone home to check in on Mary, and Vaughan was still sleeping on the other couch. Ezra? Hell, who knew.
He started a pot of coffee and caught sight of Ezra out in the distance, tossing a ball to the dog, a cigar between his teeth. Paddy pulled on a coat and boots and headed out.
Wild, joyous barking echoed with the pig’s happy squeals. “I can’t believe you have a pig that follows you around like a dog and a dog who forgets what he’s doing even as he’s doing it.” Paddy nodded toward the cigar his brother held. “Got another?”
Ezra pulled one out of his pocket and a lighter followed.
He puffed and sighed happily. “Where’d these come from?”
“Jeremy sent them for my birthday. I figured finishing another album without any of us getting killed was worth a celebratory smoke.”
They laughed until Ezra turned to him. “You should tell me what you’ve been holding back for the last few weeks.”
“Damn. You’re good.”
“That’s what she said.” Ezra thought that was hilarious, and when he stopped laughing, he cleared his throat. “Sorry, you walked right into that one. I know you talked to Jeremy and the label people. You danced around some of it. You told me the rest. So it’s not hard to figure out you’re sandbagging on something.”
“They proposed you come out with us this time. Either an open and close or maybe even the whole thing.”
Ezra was quiet for a time as they smoked their cigars in the cold, crisp air.
“What do you think about that?” Ezra asked Paddy.
“I think I’m one hundred percent in support of whatever you want to do. The most important thing is what we do here in the studio. You’re part of Sweet Hollow Ranch like that, and you always will be. The words I sing are the ones we create. The production, all of it. You’re the backbone. You don’t need to go on tour to prove that.”
“I miss it sometimes. When you guys are all gone, and I’m here, and I hear about it via phone calls or see it on television, I remember what it was like. The heady fucking joy of standing on a stage in front of all those people singing words I wrote. Hitting that perfect moment in a song with you guys.”
Paddy nodded. Not much he could argue with in that. He loved those things, too.
“True. And if you do open and close you can have that in a controlled way. A quick shot of it, blow the doors off the Rose Garden. Have a blast and then come back here. Or not.” He paused. “Look, we don’t often talk about it, but the road is hard. Your health is worth more than any of that shit.”
“You think I’m weak, then?”
“No.” He flipped his brother off. “Just the opposite. But you got tossed out of an airplane and hit the ground at full speed. It took you years to put yourself back together and you’re better than you were before. I’m saying if you want to do it, I’m your biggest cheerleader.”
“I’d rather see Natalie in a short skirt, thanks.”
He flipped Ezra off with the other hand, too. “Not fucking likely. Anyway. Come out with us. I know you’re
strong enough to do it. Or don’t come out. Do a show. Don’t do a show. It’s your choice. It’s always totally Hurley against the world, right? Those dicks at the label want to make a buck and whatever, fine. But we make them more than a few bucks, and none of us owes our soul or our health.”
“What about a few club gigs? I can do one and see how it goes.”
They had three club gigs set up to preview their material in front of a small audience before they dropped the CD. They were fan club tickets mainly, which meant the crowd would be on their side but also would give good feedback. It was the kick off of the tour, gave them a chance to do the material live to work out any kinks, too.
“Been nearly three years since the last time we toured on new material. It’d be a big surprise for the fan club, too.” Paddy snorted.
“I’ll do the two secret shows and we’ll see about the rest.”
He clapped a hand on Ezra’s back. “Gonna kick some ass with you. But no pressure, yeah? Do it, and if you feel like it isn’t going to work, don’t do another.”
Ezra nodded. “Come on. I have a coffee date with your girlfriend later.”
“The hell you do.”
Ezra thought that was hilarious. “I do. I’m assisting her with your present. Plus, I’m pretty to look at. Everyone says so.”
“Oh, well, if it’s for a present, I withdraw my objections. Also, it’s good for her to be around the brother who is far less smooth so she remembers just why I’m so irresistible.”
“Whatever. Let’s get working so I can play.”
* * *
EZRA PUT THE guitar in the case and grinned up at her. “He’s going to love this. It’s in perfect shape and yep, tuned.”
She smiled back, happy. “Thank you so much for helping me find it. I wouldn’t have known where to start looking, much less what to get him.”
The what in question was a dark cherry-red 1981 Gibson 355. She’d had to cajole, charm and ruthlessly pursue it once Ezra had said it was a guitar Paddy had wanted for years, but the person who had the one he really wanted didn’t like him.