Rock Star Read online

  “Damn,” he drawled, stiffening beneath her.

  She peeked up at him, finding his head back against the headrest, eyes closed. Determined to please him in the same way he’d pleased her, she got right to it. She slid her mouth up and down over his shaft, her hand following behind. Sometimes, she licked him. Other times, she stroked him. But she didn’t stop, she kept going, working him over, tasting him, pleasuring him. The sucking noises began to mix with his moans, while his hand came to the top of her head.

  His fingers tightened in her hair, his fist growing tighter and tighter until, suddenly, he grabbed her head, stopping her. “That’s not how that night ended,” he said with a laugh, taking her arms and moving her back to straddle him.

  “Not a bad way to end the night, however.” She smirked.

  “The most incredible way to end, I’m sure, but that’s not what you wanted.” He reached between them now, his fingers stroking her wet sex, focusing only on her hot slit for a moment before he concentrated on her clit, working the little bud with swirls of his finger until she gasped in desperation against his mouth, quivering with the tickling pleasure.

  His fingers worked back up her body and threaded into her hair, and she gasped as he fisted his hand, locking onto her. He angled her head so that he could whisper throatily in her ear, “Give me something pretty to look at, Rae.”

  She shivered, never hearing that line before. The younger version of him would have never been so bold. She backed away, watching him grab his wallet off the seat beside him as he took out a condom. While he opened the wrapper, she kept her eyes on him and reached up and pulled the front of her summer dress down, exposing her breasts, showing herself off to him in a bold way that the younger version of her would have been too embarrassed to do.

  Not anymore. She squeezed her breasts and played with her nipples, moaning with each and every tug.

  Heat infused his eyes as he watched her. No, as he studied her, while he rolled the condom onto his hard cock. With a growl that sounded more animal than human, his hands were threaded into her hair again, his eyes gazing deeply into hers, nothing between them. “Do you have any idea how fucking beautiful you are?”

  She smiled. “Do you have any idea how sweet you are?”

  “I mean it, Rae.” He backed away, leaning his head against the headrest, watching her tweak her nipples. “I’ve been around the world and back again”—he lifted a hand to the curve of her breast and squeezed, massaging underneath while she played and shivered—“but I’ve never seen anything as beautiful as what I’m looking at right now.”

  She parted her lips to respond, but his lips sealing over her taut nipple stole the words. He swirled his tongue around the bud before sucking it deep into the roof of his mouth, over and over again, until she was left gasping and wiggling against him.

  That’s when she found him.

  The tip of his cock pressed against her slit, and she didn’t wait, she slid down onto him, taking him in deep. Their low moans filled the truck as she began slowly working over him, up and down, taking him in as deep as she could. His growls of pleasure shivered across her as he gathered up her dress and then reached behind her, lifting the fabric and tucking it into the back. Ass exposed, he slid his hands from her bottom to her back beneath her bra, then down again. With each shift of her hips, he groaned deliciously, and soon, she began moving a little bit faster.

  His head rested against the headrest, and he watched her take him. Those bedroom eyes of his showed nothing but an affection that was as real as it was true. Gazing into those eyes, shields she didn’t know were there started to crack, and feelings she didn’t know were bandaged began to bleed.

  Tears sprang to her eyes, and as one leaked out, he grabbed her waist with one hand, keeping her pressed tightly against him. The other came to her face and brushed the tear away. “Now what are those about?” he asked softly.

  This wasn’t her. She wasn’t the emotional one. “It feels….”

  “It feels what?”

  “I don’t know how we get this so right and yet…”

  His eyes locked fiercely onto hers and softened. “We also get it so very wrong.”

  Another tear leaked from her eye, and he watched it travel down her cheek before he leaned up and a kissed it away. “Just be here, for as long as we can. That’s what I want, Rae. I want you present. I want the side of you that isn’t planning, who isn’t thinking of what if’s, who’s just with me. Here. Now. Can you do that?”

  “Yes,” she whispered, somehow seeing so much of herself in Travis’s eyes.

  He fought emotion, she saw that across his expression, as he gripped her bottom, helping her rock back and forth. She placed her hands against the back of the seat and started shifting her hips, until neither of them was talking anymore. But she didn’t have to hear the words coming from his mouth; she could see what he wanted to say in his eyes. All the barriers around the emotional lines she didn’t want to cross came tumbling down around them as she pressed her lips against his. This wasn’t heat, wasn’t lust, it was so much more than that. Desire…

  Love…

  “Oh, God,” she whispered, as he gripped one breast and nipped the taut bud.

  Then she let it all go. She lost ten years’ worth of cravings on his body, wildly riding him, bouncing up and down, sliding on his cock in perfect rhythm, taking him how she’d dreamed of taking him in her fantasies. She wasn’t a young girl anymore, and she showed him without words how much she’d missed him. His constant, low groans encouraged her, and as he placed his head between her breasts, grunting with the force of her inner walls tightening around him, she slammed down on him harder.

  The sweet pleasure was rising, and she bounced, hard and fast atop him. Sweat slid down her back as she gripped the seat behind them and worked herself over him more feverishly, her moans becoming faster, closer together. But then he grabbed her ass and took control, grinding her against him, and she moaned louder and louder, her hand now pressed against the back windshield.

  “Travis,” she screamed, breaking apart around him.

  “Rae,” he roared, bucking and jerking beneath her, somehow merging the past and present into one.

  CHAPTER 7

  Long before the movie finished, but done with being anywhere except in a bed enjoying Rae outside the confines of the small space of the truck, Travis held the door open for her at the hotel on Main Street he’d been staying at since he arrived in Catfish Creek.

  The historic hotel had a reputation for being haunted and was the oldest, continuously operating lodging establishment west of the Mississippi. It really came as no surprise that it hosted the guests from the reunion, as it was one of the hot spots in Catfish Creek.

  As Rae passed by him and entered the building, she gave him a warm smile, and the flowery hints of her perfume teased his senses. He groaned, surprised how a scent could tempt him so much and began wondering if his bed at the hotel was a better idea for tonight than going back to her place after he picked up a few things.

  He waited for a couple he remembered from math class to exit, then he let the doors shut behind him and joined Rae inside the three-story Victorian. Even now, he noted some other classmates in the oval lobby, some checking out at the registration desk surrounded by the Renaissance Corinthian columns, and others heading to the grand ballroom for a late dinner. It was amazing how many people had remained after the reunion. He guessed he wasn’t the only one with unfinished business in Catfish Creek.

  As he caught up with Rae, she glanced at him with that sweet smile and said, “You know, I was thinking, instead of just picking up some of your clothes, doesn’t it make sense to cancel your reservation and come stay with me? I mean, it’s kinda silly that you’re paying for this room when you’re not even staying here.”

  “If you want me to stay with you, I’m game,” he said, smiling back at her, “but I don’t need to worry about money, Rae.”

  “Right.” She rolled her eyes.
“I guess staying here won’t break your bank.”

  No, it certainly wouldn’t, but he knew he wasn’t alone in becoming successful since high school. “I’m sure it wouldn’t break yours either.”

  She barked a loud laugh. “Why do you say that?”

  “You’ve done well for yourself, have you not?” he asked with an arched brow.

  “It depends on your definition of ‘well,’” she said, her hand brushing against his as they strode past the ballroom’s entrance toward the elevators. “In terms of a vet clinic, I guess I’ve done okay. Compared to a rock star, I make pocket change.”

  He chuckled, reaching for her hand, and she stopped dead and stared at him with wide eyes. “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She slowly glanced down to their linked hands and then looked back at him again, giving his hand a squeeze. “Is this okay?”

  He frowned. “Why wouldn’t it be okay?”

  “We’re in public.”

  “So?”

  She looked around them before her concerned gaze met his again. “You’re not worried someone will take a picture and sell the photograph to the media?”

  Ah, now he saw what her anxiety was all about, but it was irrelevant. “Would I be upset if the media captured us together?” He slid his free hand across her back, bringing her nice and close against him. “Is that what you’re asking?”

  Cheeks flushed, she nodded.

  “No, Rae, that’s not something I’m worried about. I just hope if they do capture us, we give them something good to print.” Her eyes grew wider in the seconds before he sealed his mouth over hers, and he hoped someone did catch them and that this would be all over the media tomorrow. It’d be the first time he felt as if the world got a real look into his life.

  Rae kept up with his kiss, but when she stepped closer and cradled his body intimately, he broke the kiss, chuckling. “We might not want to give the media that kind of show.”

  She laughed with him. “True enough.”

  He released her and brought them back to the original conversation. “As I was saying, you must be doing well for yourself, considering you’re thinking about opening another clinic.”

  She stopped again, and when he glanced over his shoulder, he found her brows furrowed, obviously confused. “How did you know I’m thinking about opening another clinic?” she asked.

  He’d never been good at backpedaling, especially with her. Somehow, she always got the truth out of him. He parted his lips to stop his mouth from running away from him—because he wasn’t sure he was ready to lay his truth bare for her—when a blistering voice said behind him, “Jesus Christ, Travis, there you are.”

  Travis glanced over his shoulder to find Scott, his manager, bursting into the hotel, icy blue eyes narrowed on him. Scott’s cheeks were beet-red, and the vein in the center of his forehead was throbbing, looking a moment away from exploding. “Have you lost your fucking mind?” Scott howled, throwing up his hands.

  His manager could intimidate. He was tall, brooding, and he didn’t have a problem with the ladies. But Travis was a second away from laying his good friend out. “Come again?” he bit off.

  “You can’t turn off your goddamn phone,” Scott practically sneered. “I’ve been calling and calling, and now”—he glanced around the hotel’s lobby like he’d entered a sewer—“I’m here in this place, and I’ve been waiting for you all fucking day.”

  The anger coming from Scott was palpable; the man was not to be trifled with. That was one of the reasons Travis respected him. Scott got shit done. Not appreciating that side of Scott now, however, Travis heaved a long sigh and glanced at Rae next to him. Her arms were crossed, eyes on Scott. “I’m sorry. This is, Scott, my manager,” he told her, uncrossing her arms and taking her hand. “Apparently, he’s lost all his manners. Do you mind if I have a minute?”

  “Oh…your manager.” She gave Scott another quick look before she looked at Travis again and gave a tight smile. “Of course, no worries. I’ll just be outside.”

  But that smile wasn’t the real and warm expression he loved. This one hinted at sadness, and the darkness reached her eyes, Goddamn it, he felt it, too. Things had changed between them at the drive-in. Before, when he’d touched her, she felt like the old Rae. But tonight, she’d felt like a woman with life experience. She felt as if she wanted to fight for something they’d never experienced before. Like she wanted to fight for the future, not stay in the past.

  With emotion beginning to claw at his chest, he watched her turn and walk away, and with every step she took, he got colder and colder. He waited until she was outside before he turned back to Scott. “If you ever talk to me like that again, or make Rae feel uncomfortable, this partnership is done.”

  Scott folded his arms, standing firm and strong. “For fuck’s sake, Travis, you pay me to ensure your life is managed. If I let you run away from your obligations, then what kind of manager would I be? Tell me that.”

  He waited for the people that were staring at them to walk by, clearly hearing Scott’s rage before he asked, “What obligations?”

  “The show tomorrow for the charity for the children’s hospital,” Scott snapped, shoving his hands into his pockets. His cheeks flamed red, and his voice was low with controlled fury. “The one that I promised you would be at.” The vein still protruded from the middle of his forehead, looking even bigger now. “The one where if you don’t show up, I will be responsible for letting down a charity that supports sick and dying children.”

  Dread began to spill into Travis. Fuck, how could he have forgotten? Again and again, he wasn’t himself. He’d thought coming back to the reunion would set his mind straight. He thought it was working. “Shit, fuck, I’m sorry.” He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the culpability drown him.

  “It’s fine that you forgot,” Scott added, softer now. “It’s why you have me. Your schedule is full, and you need someone to help you manage it all.” He gave Travis a measured look before glancing at his watch. “But you cannot shut me out like that. You do that again, and I walk, Travis.”

  Travis nodded in agreement. “It won’t happen again.” Because he knew this was his only shot. He’d come back to Catfish Creek in hopes that something would change…and he wasn’t sure he’d had enough time to make that happen.

  Scott took his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen, a frown marring his face. “We have two hours before the next flight to New York.” The redness in his cheeks began to lessen, and his voice lost its tight edge. “Which means, we’ve got time to get up to the room here and do a couple of interviews promoting the event.”

  “All right,” Travis said, looking at the scuffed ceramic floor beneath his shoes.

  Scott’s long and heavy sigh filled the space around Travis before he said, “I take it all this was about that chick.”

  Travis nodded, words failing him.

  “Why don’t you bring her with you?” Scott offered, his voice back to its usual tone, even sympathy showed in his eyes. “Or, if you want to come back here after the show, your schedule is clear for the next couple days.”

  Again, Travis nodded; dread further filling him at the fact that he controlled nothing. A weight settled on his chest, and he felt the happiness he’d experienced the past couple of days crumble around him. Just as he’d felt time and time again, he was a thing, a pawn used to suit everyone else. His happiness wasn’t real. It was something written on a calendar. How fucking depressing was that?

  “All right, this is good. We can make this happen,” Scott said as his phone began to ring. “While you deal with her, I’ll pack up your stuff.” He held out his hand, and with the other, pressed his phone to his ear. “Price here. Yes. Yes. We’ll be ready for that interview soon. No, not that reporter, she’s an uptight bitch. Get the other one. Yeah, that one.”

  Numb and cold, Travis grabbed his wallet and took out his key card, then handed it to Scott, who spun on his heels and headed to the elevator, sa
ying nothing more to Travis.

  Standing in the lobby, watching the world whiz by as it seemed to do now, Travis had all the answers to his questions. He’d come to the reunion to see if what he’d had with Rae was real. If he’d truly been happier then or if he’d created it all in his mind. But he knew, standing there, watching his life pass, this thing with Rae was more than happiness, it was his home.

  She’s home.

  If only she felt the same way about him.

  * * *

  A hard lump had formed in Rae’s throat the second before she turned away from Travis. Even once she made it outside, and after she’d sat on the bench, staring out at the quiet street, the lump only thickened. Everything suddenly felt very wrong.

  Main Street was quiet with only a few pedestrians walking down the road, and a couple of cars going by, and even though the night couldn’t have been prettier with its clear sky and sparkling stars above her, the world seemed to fly by. She’d known this was coming—of course, she did—but now that Travis was leaving, she felt totally and completely unprepared.

  Before the reunion, life had been simple and uncomplicated. Sure, maybe she’d been a little restless trying to find that spark that once drove her. But these past days, she’d been reminded that something important was missing from her life, and she couldn’t help but think now that that something had everything to do with Travis.

  His kiss, his touch, his company—she’d forgotten the magnificence of being loved. Hell, thinking about it now, she wondered if she’d forced herself to forget so she could get over him. Because these past days, especially after tonight, perfect warmth had filled her, making the world seem a bit fuller and brighter. But now, a cloud seemed to hang overhead, the cold darkness threatening to overtake her.

  “Rae.”