“Let me see you, baby.”
Her gaze softened, the sass and bravado slipping into something gentler, more self-conscious. Still, she gripped the hem of her dress and slowly peeled it up and over her shoulders, dropping the scrap of fabric on the counter beside the soiled washcloths. She was glorious, all slopes and valleys, curves and sun-kissed skin. His beautiful, bratty goddess. His—just his.
For now.
When they left the Hotel Bellwether, when the tour ended and he was no longer the guy with the glamorous lifestyle but was just… him. A single dad, with all the baggage and responsibilities that came with that—would she still want him then? How much would he risk to keep her? The respect of his colleagues, of the band? His daughter’s fragile heart? His own?
He cleared the gravel from his throat, crooking a finger to beckon her closer.For now.“Come here.”
She scrambled to comply with his rough request, sliding off the counter and reaching for him, but before she could touch him, he caught her around the shoulders and spun her to face the mirror on the far wall. He held her back against his front, one arm crossed over her chest and the other skating down her side to rest on her hip. “Look at yourself, Joelle,” he rumbled. Her eyes locked on his in the mirror before slowly perusing her own reflection. “You have never been more beautiful.”
Her cheeks pinkened, a slow blush sweeping across her face and chest. He wasn’t sure why it was so important to make her understand, to know she saw herself the way he saw her, but nothing had ever felt more important.
Pressing himself against her back, he bit the curve of her neck where it met her shoulder. “Say it.”
“I—” She paused, took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders as though she were preparing for battle, and met his gaze in the mirror. “I have never been more beautiful,” she whispered.
“Good girl.” He pressed his hand between her shoulder blades and urged her forward until her forearms were resting on the counter. “Would you like to come now, little menace?” he asked, rocking his stiff erection against her ass.
Surprise flashed across her face. “Already?”
“We’ll do this first one nice and easy.” He dropped to his knees behind her and cupped her ass, parting her cheeks so he could get a better view of the heaven between her legs. “Just one, and then we’ll play.”
He didn’t give her a chance to respond before he pressed his mouth to her, licking and sucking as she squirmed in his hold. She was close already, her breathing labored and her whimpers coming closer and closer together. He wanted to record the little sounds she made so he could play them back when she was gone and he was alone again, so he could always feel the intense pride cracking open his chest that he got to be the one to touch her like this, to see her like this.
What he wouldn’t give to always feel this way…
“Watch yourself, baby. I want you to watch yourself come on my tongue.” He sucked her clit between his lips, worrying the swollen bud. She bucked back against him, grinding against his face with mindless need, her thighs shaking as she came apart. He licked her through it, not relenting until her knees buckled.
He caught her with an arm around her hips as he got to his feet, his lips wet with her arousal. Jo rested her forehead on her arms crossed on the counter, and he ran his hands over her ass, the curve of her hip, grounding her as she came down fromwhat would only be the first of many orgasms that night.
He wanted to give her everything—pleasure, yes, of course that, but also a place in his world that didn’t have an expiration date. A life by his side. His hands shook as he steadied himself with the feel of her skin beneath his palms. He wanted so much more than they’d agreed to, so much more than was practical or reasonable, but that didn’t stop the wanting.
At last, she lifted her face to the mirror, her lips tipped up in a slow, unguarded smile. “There she is,” he whispered.
Derek caught her behind the knees and lifted her into his arms, carrying her from the en suite to the bedroom and laying her in the center of the luxurious bed, silky sheets and expensive pillows molding to her shape. She looked like a queen, and he would have gladly sat at her feet and worshipped her as one if she hadn’t reached for him, urging hm to join her. As he crawled over her, he was suddenly struck by the intense need to claim her as his own, mark her as part of their little family as his daughter had done, but this time in a way that could never be washed away.
For as long as he could remember, there was a band strung across his ribs, a line separating his body from his heart, keeping everyone but his family out. And somehow, in only a few days, Jo had breached that barrier. Not only that, she’d cut the band to shreds, the limp remnants of it a useless defense against anyone, least of all her. It was terrifying, throwing open the doors to the little private chamber he kept for himself and wondering what came next. Had she cut through his defenses just to see if she could? Was she even aware she’d done it? Andif he invited her inside, carved out a corner for her next to his daughter and his work and asked her to stay…
Jo cupped his cheek, her nails scratching lightly at his beard. “Where’d you go?”
Instead of answering, he kissed her, soft and sweet, slow. He kissed her the way he would kiss her each morning she woke in his arms, and each night before she fell asleep tucked against his side, how he’d kiss her on their wedding day and at the front door before he left for work in the morning. Maybe if he kissed her like she was his, like they had a lifetime left together and not mere hours, then it would be real. Maybe then he could keep her.
“I need you,” she whispered against his lips.
If she only knew how badly he needed her.
He positioned himself at her entrance, the head of his cock pressed gently at her opening. “This okay?” he asked.
“Yes.” She canted her hips towards him. “Yes, please, Derek.”
He wanted to savor the moment his tip slid inside her bare, the feeling of her making room for him in her body the same way he wanted to make room for her in his heart, with nothing between them. Sweat beaded along his spine with the effort to go slow. When at last he was seated fully, she tilted her head back on a contented sigh, as if to say, “at last, there you are. I’ve been waiting for you.”
He dragged his thumb over her bottom lip. She captured his thumb between her lips, sucking on his finger and scraping her teeth over the pad, before he dropped his hand betweentheir bodies and pressed the pad of that thumb to her clit. She groaned at the too-light touch, squirming to get closer to the pressure he offered.
When it became clear he wasn’t going to give her what she wanted, she hooked her legs around the back of his calves and rolled them over. She leaned back, putting her body on display as she slowly bounced on his cock, and he bit back a smile. Even in her impatience, she maintained the rhythm he’d set, waiting for his cue.
“Are you mine, little menace?” he whispered.