This time, I wasn’t going to let my heart be a part of the equation. This time, it was only about sex. End of story. Which was why I hadn’t let Axton onto the bus with me. No sleeping together. Sex, sure. Cuddling under the covers after? That was one of the places I’d gone wrong the last time.
Blowing out a sigh, I dropped my fingers from the tender spot on my forehead and glared up at the mattress above me. “Please don’t, Harp. I’ve had a long night. Liam didn’t sleep well, and I had to give him a shot and some pain medication. Natalie has to figure out a way to make him comfortable on stage because if he keeps it up he might have to see the orthopedic specialist a hell of a lot sooner than expected.”
There was a long pause on Harper’s end before she finally spoke. “Okay, I won’t go there. You’re an adult and know what you’re doing. But that doesn’t mean I’m not worried, Dallas. I don’t want you to get hurt again. I’m still not convinced that you are completely over the last time that fucker destroyed you. You were just able to hide it better because you were so busy with school.”
I clenched my jaw, knowing that she wasn’t completely wrong on that score. “I know you’re worried. I love ya, girl.”
“I-I love you, too,” came her wobbly reply. “And if he does hurt you again, I’m going to make Shane kick his ass.”
That brought a smile to my lips. “Okay, hottie, take it easy. No need to drag your husband into this drama.”
“He’s already been dragged, feet first. He’s the one I called first after I got off the phone with Linc. I’ve already told him that if he didn’t kick Axton’s ass I would suddenly not be in the mood for any new adventures in Shane-land for a very long time…” I laughed because I could just imagine the panic that must have put the ex-slut into. “By the way, if you can’t reach me in the next few days don’t worry. Pretty sure Shane took that as a challenge and plans on keeping me in the mood for the foreseeable future.”
“Duly noted,” I said and grinned, but it quickly turned into a sad smile. “I have to go, Harp. Call me when man-slut releases you from captivity. Love you.”
“Love you, Dallas.”
With a groan I slid out of my roost and climbed off the bus. Across from my bus Axton’s bus was parked, both engines turned off so it was obvious we had been here for a while. I shot Natalie a quick text because I had no idea where everyone was, or even where I was for that matter.
Ten minutes later I had my room key in hand along with the assurance that my stuff had already been taken there. Fighting back a yawn, I stepped off the elevator and found my way to my room. My body was aching, and now my head was hurting. When I opened the door to my room the first thing I heard was a shower running.
The room was a suite, with two bedrooms, something I hadn’t been expecting. Natalie hadn’t mentioned I was sharing with anyone, but with everything else that she had to take care of something as small as whom I was bunking with didn’t seem so trivial. Shrugging, I glanced in the first room, saw my luggage on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief.
Over the next thirty minutes I found my bottle of Tylenol, tossed back three of the extra strength capsules, then stepped into a hot shower. I took my time, washing my hair twice because it felt like it seriously needed it after last night. By the time I stepped out of the shower I felt more energetic and ready to face whatever the world threw at me tonight.
With a towel wrapped around my body and another around my hair, I found my toothbrush and started brushing my teeth as I left my room. “Hey, Marissa. How is Liam feeling this eve-…” I broke off when I saw who was sitting on the sofa in front of the flat screen watching ESPN. “…-ing.”
Axton was sitting there with his legs stretched out in front of him, ink-black hair still damp from his shower, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and a sly-ass grin. My eyes narrowed on him even as my body was waking up in ways that the shower had been helpless to aid in. “You’re dripping toothpaste down your chin,” he informed me before turning his gaze back to the television.
I wiped my chin with the back of my hand. “I thought I was bunking with Marissa.”
Axton snorted. “Wroth is like a mother bear where Rissa is concerned. He might like you, baby, but he doesn’t trust anyone with Rissa. Not even Liam. They have a suite down the hall. Which leaves Linc and Liam to bunk, Devlin and Harris…” He rolled his eyes. “And of course the real kicker and the reason why two best friends are now at each other’s throats, Natalie and Z.”
I frowned. “I could have shared a room with Nat and you could have bunked with Zander. Or they could have gotten single rooms.”
“That was what Devlin said. But the hotel is booked solid. Not even Em could get it sorted.” He shrugged. “And there is no fucking way you are sleeping anywhere but here. I’ll concede to you wanting to sleep on two different buses because I won’t be able to keep my hands to myself, and neither bus is exactly equipped to give us privacy. Which I plan on fixing before the fall tour.” He stood and walked toward me slowly, making me completely forget that I had a mouth full of toothpaste. “But staying in a hotel means that you are in my room, in my bed, all night long. Okay?”
I should have argued. Told him that I didn’t want to sleep in the same bed with him. Sleeping with him would make things—feelings—break through the walls I was trying to keep erect. But stupidly I didn’t. My lips remained closed as he stopped just inches away from me and gripped my hips in his big hands. Mutely I watched as his head lowered and he nuzzled the sensitive spot under my ear. “Go finish brushing your teeth, baby. I’ll order us some dinner and we can relax a little before we have to head over to the show.”
I leaned into him for a moment, savoring his clean male scent filling my nose, the feel of his bare chest against my towel-clad one, his arms just holding me. I was so damned stupid, but I didn’t want to give this up. Not yet. Would I ever be willing to give it up? I sure as hell hadn’t been last time, but had broken it off with him as a form of self-preservation. This time, I was scared that not even that would help me let him go.
By the time I got back from rinsing my mouth out, Axton was back on the sofa. Thankfully ESPN was no longer on. Unfortunately it was CNN. I glared at the screen as I sat down next to him and reached for the remote. “Nope. I’m not doing depressing news. Let’s order a movie.”
Axton sighed, like it was a big imposition, but relinquished his hold on the remote while I found the new releases and scanned down the list. He draped his arm around the back of the sofa casually before finally wrapping it around my shoulders and pulling me closer against his side. Without looking up from my movie hunt, I laid my head on his shoulder. My hair was still damp, but I had brushed it out so it didn’t look scary with all the tangles. I’d also thrown on a T-shirt and a pair of boy shorts so that I wouldn’t be in nothing but a towel when room service arrived.
“You smell good,” he murmured as he buried his face in my hair. “I love how good you smell without ever touching a bottle of perfume.”
I could only ignore the way he was touching me for so long. His lips skimming over my ear, his fingers caressing up and down my arm. Both made me shiver and goose-flesh to pop up everywhere on my body. I picked a movie at random and hit accept before tossing the remote aside and lifting my head.
“What’s wrong?” Axton started to ask but my lips cut him off. Fuck the move, and fuck the food. All I wanted right then was my sexy rock god.
He lifted me as if I weighed nothing at all and positioned me so that I was straddling his hips. We both groaned at the feel of his dick as it fit so perfectly against my mound. “Fuck, baby. I was gonna wait, but if you want me now, then take all that you want.”
“Plan on it.” I left his lips to nibble a path down his inked neck, sinking my teeth into the dagger just above his jugular and sucking. Hard. His entire body stiffened and I felt his dick twitching between our bodies as he fought for control.
“You smell good too, babe,” I breathed at his ear, releas
ing his flesh reluctantly. “But you taste better.”
“Dallas… Baby…” His head fell back against the sofa, his eyes lowered to half-mast as he watched me explore the rest of his body with my hands. When I got to the piercing in his nipple I tugged on it playfully. “Evil bitch,” he chuckled.
“You like it,” I said with a wink as I lowered my head to take the little hoop into my mouth and sucked. My hands continued to explore while I rolled the ring around in my mouth, making him groan repeatedly at my sensual assault. When his dick twitched again I pushed my lower body against it harder, rubbing his impressive length against my aching clit.
Strong hands thrust into my hair and jerked my head back roughly. “You. Are. Killing. Me,” he growled. “I need inside of you. Now.”
I pouted out my bottom lip, despite how much wetter his words made me. “But I just started.”
“Try again later. I can’t make any promises; I can’t control myself when you are touching me.” He pulled my head down and captured my lips in a hard, possessive kiss. His tongue thrusting deep, tasting all of me.
I wanted to kiss him back, but the hands in my hair didn’t allow for much movement. Since his hands were occupied I reached between us and pulled his boxers down enough to let his cock free. Running my fingers over the silver hoop that I had found the night before, my thighs started to quiver in remembered pleasure. The way that piercing had rubbed something inside of me the night before. There was nothing like it. It had hit just the right spot making me thank whoever had invented such a piercing.
Releasing his flesh, I started tugging on my boy shorts, just as desperate to have him inside of me as he was to be there. What I was about to do was crazy, but right then and there I didn’t care. We had never not used a condom before, but I wanted to feel all of him. Wanted to experience all of his hot, hard, silkiness along with that silver ring inside of me. Just for a minute, I silently promised myself. Just for a minute I would get to know what it felt like to have all of him, completely bare.
When my underwear was down as far as I could get it in this position, I guided his cock toward my entrance. Axton went completely still, releasing my mouth as he watched me. His chest was rising and falling rapidly. “Dallas?”
“Just for a little while. We’ve never done this before. I want…” I swallowed hard, suddenly nervous because I didn’t know how he would react to what I wanted. “I need to have you like this. Just this one time.”
He didn’t even hesitate as he reached for my underwear and tore the sides apart so that they were no longer a hindrance to our joining. Then he sat back, watching me with hooded eyes as I took the tip of him inside. We both made whimpering sounds as his length finally slipped inside. I knew then that I had made a mistake. Why would I ever want him to use a condom again? Why would I want that thin layer between us, keeping me away from the sheer perfection of heaven? I had thought it would never get better between us, but with the absence of protection, my pleasure shot off the charts.
Hey, bitch! A voice yelled at me inside my head, but she sounded so far away. You need the condom. Do you really want a baby with this guy?
I ignored that stupid voice—she was such a downer anyway. Even if images of carrying Axton’s baby inside of me did suddenly invade my imagination for a second.
And then Axton kissed me in a way he had never kissed me before, knocking any unwanted—or suddenly desperately wanting—thoughts out of my mind. Of all the kisses Axton had ever given me, from the intensely passionate to the sweet pecks, none of them compared to the tender kiss he gave me then. My heart melted and I wrapped my arms around his neck as I kissed him back in the same way. I put every ounce of what I felt for him into that kiss, sucking his pierced bottom lip roughly, while our bodies slowly moved together.
Suddenly Axton broke away, panting hard, while lower he went completely still inside of me. “I’m going to come. Very soon. Decide what you want. Should I pull out or…” He broke off, swallowing roughly. “I’d fucking kill to come in you like this, but it’s your choice.” I opened my mouth, not sure what I was going to tell him, but he spoke again. “I’ve never gone bare, baby. I haven’t done this with anyone. Anyone. Do you understand what I’m saying, Dallas?” His eyes were intense and I was mesmerized by the uniqueness of them. Hazel eyes more green than brown with flecks of gold around the center. How had I never noticed those flecks before? “We get to share this first. That blows my mind, baby.”
That stupid voice was suddenly screaming at me louder than before, but I blocked her out as I nodded my head. “Come in me, Axton.”
“Fuck, Dallas.” He gripped my hips, holding them as gently as he possibly could considering he was close to the edge of release. He held me still as he thrust up into me. I was thankful that he was doing all the work, because the pleasure of having him like this was making me mindless. I held onto his shoulders to steady myself, taking every hard thrust and silently begging for more.
Axton’s eyes closed for a moment, savoring this moment. When they snapped open our gazes locked and held as he thrust faster. I could feel my orgasm building, I wasn’t going to last much longer. I was so close, so close…
He stopped. Just completely stopped. I felt how hard he was deep inside of me, that ring pressed against just the right spot, his shaft spreading my tender walls wide. I could feel every inch with each heart beat we seemed to share. Axton moved his thumb, brushed it over my clit in a hard figure eight and I was lost.
My cry of release felt like it was being torn from my throat. I couldn’t remember a time when an orgasm had ever been this good. Ever.
Our gazes remained glued to one another. The way he was watching me, seeing the pleasure and emotions moving across my face, shining out of my eyes made me feel oddly vulnerable, but made the orgasm even more intense. When three words sprang to my lips, demanding to be let free, I bit my bottom lip so hard I tasted blood to keep them inside. But they refused to be quiet and screamed loudly inside of my head.
I love you. I love you. I love you.
As if watching me triggered his own release Axton suddenly shouted my name and I felt him pulsing seconds before the first splash of his semen hit my womb. It was then that I closed my eyes, savoring the feeling of that hot blast inside of me.
Axton pulled me against him, my head going straight to his chest. The sound of his heart beat pounding in my ear made me smile and I snuggled closer, praying that this lasted a little longer.
Dallas
The feel of warm lips on my bare shoulder tempted me from a deep sleep. With a content smile, I stretched out, enjoying Axton’s hands caressing down my side and over my hip. His lips trailed up my neck, sharp teeth sinking tenderly into my lobe before he kissed my temple.
“Time to get up, baby,” he purred against my ear seconds before his hand slapped across my ass.
“It’s not time to get ready for the show tonight,” I argued, refusing to open my eyes unless he was going to fuck me into oblivion as he had when we had gotten back from the show in the early hours of the morning.
“True.” Another kiss to my head. “But I have a surprise for you. So get your beautiful ass in the shower. Marissa will be waiting downstairs in about fifteen minutes.”
My eyes snapped open, the delicious image of him surprising me with something sex-related fading into a puff of smoke. No way would he involve Marissa in a sexual surprise for me. I was pretty sure that Wroth would murder him before any thoughts in that regard took fruition. “What kind of surprise is it?”
Axton brushed his lips across mine in a quick kiss. “I thought you needed a day of nothing but relaxation. So I arranged for you to have a massage and facial. You can get your hair done, have them do whatever the fuck it is they do to your nails, and just be pampered. Wroth stole my idea, so Marissa is getting the full works too.” Another kiss cut off any idea I might have had of protesting. I was supposed to be taking care of Liam after all, not spending my day at a spa.
Even if the very thought of having a day like that melted me. He was being so thoughtful and considerate. He hadn’t pampered me like this during our months of whatever our relationship had been years ago. And he sure as hell hadn’t made love to me the way we had made love the day before or that morning when we had gotten back to our suite. I was falling under a spell, there was no other excuse for how stupid I was being where he was concerned. I had to put some distance between us and quick, so maybe a day at the spa would be good for me in more ways than one.
Twenty minutes later Axton gave me one last kiss and helped me into the back of a carriage pulled by a man with a ponytail and a hoop through his nose on a bike. When I sat back, Wroth lifted Marissa up by her waist and set her next to me.
I tried not to bite my lip at how cute that was. Marissa wasn’t a little girl, being at least a size fourteen and very curvy. But the little extra weight looked really good on her. I’d seen one picture of her when she was a teenager, having just fought hard against her cancer. She had looked like skin stretched tight over a skeleton. Since then her thyroid had slowed down and she fought hard to stay in a size fourteen, watching every bite she ate and exercising as much as possible. But when your thyroid was hypo it was hard to keep the weight off no matter what you did. Still, she was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. Inside and out.
Once she was comfortable, Wroth leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He whispered something that had her cheeks filling with an adorable shade of pink and then he was tipping the cyclist and we were on our way.
As soon as we were out of hearing range of the guys, I turned toward her in my seat. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to embarrass you at all, but that was really melt-worthy back there.”
The blush in Marissa’s cheeks deepened. “The last few days have been really melt-worthy. Oh my gosh, Dallas! I can’t believe the change in Wroth. I’ve waited for so many years for him to get his head out of his ass and just do something. Anything. Then the other night at the club…” She broke off, her eyes shying away as she glanced at the lush greenery along the path on our way to the Mandara Spa.