Текст книги "Tell Me"

Автор книги: Olivia Cunning

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Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 14 страниц)

Chapter Five

Gabe wiped his suddenly damp palms on his thighs and stared at his embarrassingly large feet. He wanted so much to pull Melanie into his arms and show her how much he missed her, but he still wasn’t sure if she wanted him to. Her signals were mixed and terribly confusing. He hadn’t expected these feelings of uncertainty when he’d invited her for the weekend. They always interacted so naturally with each other. What if they spent the entire time sitting in awkward silence? Perhaps this rendezvous was a tad premature.

When Melanie turned to him and rested the fingertips of one hand against his jaw, his nervousness vanished in an instant, replaced with excitement and anticipation. The connection between them wasn’t gone. Thank God.

“Are you going to kiss me now, or do I have to make the first move?” she whispered, her gorgeous hazel eyes staring intently at his lips.

He removed her glasses carefully, which caused her to lift her eyes to meet his. He got lost in her gaze and warmth spread throughout his body—in his groin, yes, that was reassuring and familiar, but also in his chest, where his heart began to thud a rapid staccato.

“I was wondering if you were as perfect in person as I’d made you out to be in my memory,” he said.

“You see me every day,” she reminded him.

“It’s not the same,” he whispered. “I can’t feel your warmth. Smell the sweet scent of your perfume. See little details like those pale freckles on the bridge of your nose and the blue and green flecks in your eyes. I can’t touch your smooth skin, your soft hair.” He did that now. It felt just as glorious against his fingertips as it looked. Even better than he remembered.

“So you’re not disappointed?”

“Disappointed? How could I possibly be disappointed?”

He leaned in close, lost in Melanie’s eyes. When his lips brushed hers, a familiar longing stirred deep inside him. He rubbed his lips over hers once, twice, and then angled his head to take the kiss deeper. Melanie opened her mouth to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Her fingers brushed the row of spiked hair down the center of his head, and she froze. He tugged back to look at her and found her eyebrows drawn together.

“I’m still not used to this,” she said, pressing a hand down on his spiked mohawk and watching it spring back up.

“You don’t like it?” he asked, hoping it didn’t become an issue for her, because it was a trademark of his stage persona, and he was currently on tour. When he wasn’t on tour, he let the sides grow and cut off some of the length so he looked halfway tame, but he’d never gone to what most people would consider a normal haircut when he was out on the road. He knew the dragon tattoos on either side of his scalp didn’t tame his look any, but those would be there for the rest of his life. If she was going to dump him for his appearance, she should probably do it soon.

“I like it,” she said. “I’m just not sure what to cling to when you kiss me. Last time you didn’t have it spiked like this, so I had some soft hair to hold on to.”

Oh, was that all?

“I’ll wash it after the show,” he said. “You can run your fingers through it then.”

“I didn’t mean for you to stop kissing me,” she said. “I’ll just cling to your shoulders for now so I don’t prick my fingers.”

He chuckled at her expression. She looked as if she had solved some mystery.

“I shouldn’t do that,” she said.

“You can cling to my shoulders as much as you want,” he assured her.

“I mean I shouldn’t analyze everything. The night we met, I was thrown off guard. I tossed caution to the wind, but now that I’m here with you and you’re more familiar, I feel sort of…”

“Uptight.”

She flushed. “Yeah. Exactly.”

“I have just the thing to loosen you up,” he said.

He reached behind his hip and pulled the slim package free from where it had been lodged against the seat.

He held it out to her.

“What’s this?” she asked, glancing from the paper-wrapped package to his face and then back to the package again.

“A prototype.”

Her flush intensified. “Oh,” she gasped. “One of your kinky inventions?”

She looked up at him again, and he nodded, a bit nervous about sharing it with her but mostly excited to try it out.

“Is it new?”

“I’ve been working on this one for a while,” he said, “but I do have another project I started on the day we parted in Tulsa. I hope to reveal that later if I can get the kinks out.”

“I thought the whole point was to work kinks in,” she said.

It took him a second to realize she was joking. He chuckled. “I guess kinks in sex toys are pretty much a given.”

She ran her fingers over the piece of tape holding the package closed. “Am I supposed to open this here?”

He grinned sheepishly. “Well, if you’re prepared to loosen up.”

“I might be,” she said. “Kiss me again while I think it over.”

She needed to be seduced, he realized. He’d expected them to be past that with all the things they’d showed each other through video chat, but he supposed every woman liked to feel as if a man had to work a little to gain her cooperation and attention. Even women who’d been with the same man for a lot longer than a week needed to feel a little hard to get. So perhaps he should have saved his present until after he had her in that disoriented, I-need-your-body-now state. She was always so eager to be open with him on the phone but here in his arms, she seemed almost shy. She turned her head to study the dark glass that separated them from the driver and Nikki. Was that what had her hesitating? Because Nikki was just up front? Perhaps if Nikki had been the sweet, innocent type, Gabe would have understood Melanie’s hesitation to engage in lascivious acts in her proximity, but he didn’t get that impression about Nikki at all. Heck, of the pair, Melanie was the sweet innocent. Maybe she didn’t want Nikki to know she was a whole lot naughtier than she appeared.

“So why did she decide to come with you?” he asked.

“Huh?” Melanie said, turning her attention back to him.

“Nikki.”

“Oh, she wants to hook up with Shade again. Or at least talk to him about why he didn’t call her this week.”

Gabe grunted. “Uh, bad idea. Shade is with someone special now. He’s not going to be interested in Nikki. He’ll undoubtedly hurt her feelings to get his point across.”

“I tried to tell her that. Hell if she’ll listen to me.”

“Maybe I should drop you and Nikki off at the hotel. You can find her a room,” he said, pausing to make sure it was clear that Nikki would not be following them to Austin. Best friend in tow or not, Melanie was his this weekend. He wasn’t going to bow to the impulses of one of Shade’s past lays. “I can meet up with you—just you—after the show and we’ll head to Austin. Our chartered flight leaves at midnight, so we won’t have time to deal with Nikki after the show.”

“You don’t want me at the concert?” she asked, and he couldn’t tell if she was pissed or hurt or just asking a question.

“I do want you there. I want you to be the last person I see before I climb behind my drum kit and the first one I see when I stumble out sweaty and exhausted an hour later. But it’s a bad idea for Nikki to be there. I don’t mean to be rude, but she wasn’t invited, and I doubt that Shade led her to believe she could hope for some sort of relationship with him.”

“I know that, Gabe,” she said, “but what would you have me do? Desert her at the airport? She needs me to look out for her or she winds up in trouble. She’s one of those people who don’t even have to go looking for disaster, it finds her. It always finds her.”

She placed a hand on his thigh to steady herself as the limo turned a corner and accelerated up an incline. The car stopped and the glass behind the driver slid down.

Nikki turned around in her seat and stared at them. Gabe shoved the package containing his little invention behind his hip again.

“We decided to stop for sandwiches,” Nikki said. “Quick and easy so we can get to the concert on time. Parker still has to go to the hotel and pick up the rest of the band after he drops us off. I figured I could run in and get the sandwiches to go while you two continue to make out.” She looked from one of them to the other and offered a disapproving stare to the space between them. “Are you two even copping a feel?”

“We’re talking,” Melanie said.

“About?”

Melanie glanced at Gabe.

“What’s for dinner,” he said, not sure if Melanie wanted him to be the one to break the news to Nikki that Shade was currently seeing someone important to him. Gabe had to assume that Melanie didn’t want him to make her friend cry, so unless Melanie instructed him otherwise, he was going to keep his mouth shut.

“What do you like?” Nikki asked Gabe.

“I’ll eat just about anything, but hold the onions. I have some making out to do.” He winked at Nikki and she giggled.

“I’m sure Mel will appreciate that.” Nikki glanced at Melanie with an expectant look on her face.

“You know what I like,” Melanie said.

“Um, yeah, should I just use the emergency credit card or…” She glanced at Melanie’s purse.

Damn, where were his manners? Gabe dug his wallet out of his back pocket and pulled out several twenties. Nikki didn’t hesitate to accept the money, not that he wanted her to refuse it. He had just expected her to at least try to turn down his cash since they didn’t really know each other.

“You don’t have to do that,” Melanie said, snatching the bills out of Nikki’s hand and trying to stuff them back into his.

“I want to,” he said.

“She’s always a cheap date,” Nikki said, which earned her a scathing look from Melanie. “Has a really hard time taking money from anyone. Miss Financially Independent.” She made finger quotes.

“She says that like it’s a bad thing,” Melanie said.

Nikki took the money again and smiled at Gabe. “Thanks! Maybe I’ll buy you lunch sometime when I get back on my feet.”

To get back on her feet, she’d have to learn to stay off her back and her knees. Gabe lowered his eyes, feeling guilty for even thinking that way about Nikki. There obviously had to be something terrific about her. She was Melanie’s closest friend.

Nikki opened the front door and slipped out of the car. The driver, Parker, watched her stride to the sub shop with drool practically dripping off his chin.

“She’s used to getting whatever her heart desires because she’s so pretty,” Melanie said. “If I don’t give it to her, some guy will. Some guy who expects something in return. At least if it comes from me, I don’t have to worry about her repaying their kindness with sexual favors.”

Gabe noticed that Parker was eavesdropping. The guy tried to pretend he wasn’t taking mental notes on how to get into Nikki’s pants, but Gabe was a guy himself. He knew how they thought. Gabe pressed the button that raised the window between them again, glad it was soundproof.

“Maybe she should sit back here with us,” Gabe said. “I don’t like the way the driver is looking at her.”

“Just about everyone looks at her that way.”

“Well, I won’t,” Gabe said. “Not when I have you.”

He leaned in to steal a kiss, meaning to offer a chaste brushing of his lips against hers, but something primal sizzled between them and he instantly had her crushed against his chest, his hands buried in her hair and his mouth seeking to devour hers. Her fingers curled into his back, drawing him closer. Her soft breasts felt like heaven pressed against his chest. His tongue brushed her upper lip, and she shuddered before tentatively touching his tongue with hers.

She pulled away slowly and then rested her forehead against his shoulder, breathing heavily. “You were right earlier,” she said. “All the sexy video chats are not the same as being here with you. You’re a distraction at a distance but in person…” She drew in a deep breath. “In person, you’re utterly devastating to a woman’s wits.”

He grinned and reached for the package he’d hidden behind his hip. “I have something in here to make sure you don’t regain your wits anytime soon.”

Hands shaking, Melanie opened the package as if she expected something to jump out and bite her. And he had a few items in his arsenal that would have done just that, but not this one. This one was all about pleasure. He liked giving her pleasure. Some women liked a little pain on the side, and he could cater to that need, but he was pretty sure—and actually hoped—that Melanie liked to receive only pleasure. She unrolled the thick brown paper and the three-fingered glove fell out on her lap.

She raised an eyebrow at it and then lifted her gaze to meet his. “What is it?”

He took the device from her skirt and slipped it onto three fingers of his right hand, leaving his pinkie and thumb free. He held his hand out to her so she could fasten the cuff around his wrist. As soon as it was clasped, the circuit was complete and the device whirred to life. Near the tip of his middle finger, a small rubbery rod moved in an elliptical path. At the base of his middle finger, a soft bump vibrated, and metallic plates ran the entire length of both his ring and index fingers; plates that grew warm and tingly as soon as they touched anything wet—Melanie’s pussy for example.

“You sit on my hand, and I promise it will show you a good time.”

She bent over it for a closer inspection. “I sit on it?”

“This goes just inside the opening of your pussy,” he said, indicating the revolving rod near the end of his finger. “It will tease you until you’re begging for cock.”

“And these?” she asked, tracing the two metallic plates on either side.

“Wet your finger and touch one,” he suggested. When she stuck her finger in her mouth to wet it, his cock surged to life. Change of plans—Nikki definitely needed to ride in the front with the driver. He was not even close to being able to function in polite company. He had a powerful need to be alone with Melanie for an extended period, and was painfully aware that didn’t have much time to be together before the show started at nine.

Melanie pressed her wet finger to the metal plate on his index finger and her breath caught.

“Tingly.”

“And warm,” he said. “Those go against your pussy lips. The wetter you get, the stronger the sensation.”

She poked the vibrating nub at the base of his fingers. “For my clit?” She glanced up at him and smiled hopefully.

He grinned. “You didn’t think I’d forget that, did you?”

“I hoped you wouldn’t,” she said, a delightful blush staining her cheeks pink. “You seem to know what feels good for a woman more than I do.”

“You can climb on backwards if you’d rather the vibration tease your ass. I want to please you the way you want to be pleased.”

She touched her finger to the strong vibrating nub and shuddered. “Lock the doors,” she said breathlessly as she reached under her skirt to tug off her panties. “Hurry, before Nikki gets back.”

“They’re already locked,” he assured her.

She slid onto his lap, straddling his thighs, and kissed him hungrily as he slid his gloved hand between her legs.

Chapter Six

Melanie jumped when the vibration at the base of Gabe’s fingers pressed against her clit. He carefully slipped the tip of the rotating rubbery rod into her opening, and she groaned into his mouth. She marveled at the man’s understanding of female anatomy. He was right; the stretching of her entrance in a wide circle over and over and over again had her craving deep, hard thrusts to quell her building need. The vibration against her clit changed patterns, going from a steady buzz to hard pulses and back to a steady buzz. Her body jerked involuntarily as a quick and dirty orgasm caught her by surprise.

She tore her mouth from Gabe’s as her head dropped back and she called out to the moon roof of the car.

“Wait. There’s more. Are you wet?” Gabe whispered in her ear.

“Mmm,” she moaned.

His index and ring fingers slid against her pussy lips, holding them apart as the speed of the rod rotating in her opening picked up and the vibration against her clit continued to alternate patterns. The warm tingles against both lips made her rock her hips into his hand.

“Oh dear God,” she gasped. The pleasure was so intense she couldn’t do more than cling to his shoulders.

“You like it?”

“Yes!”

Within seconds she was coming again. This time she grabbed the back of his head and buried his face into her chest. “I need cock,” she said and when he didn’t immediately fill her, she tugged his head from her breasts and yelled, “I need cock, Gabe! I need it now.”

“Here?”

“Yes, yes, anywhere. Fuck me.”

He began fumbling with his belt. Fly open, he lifted his hips so he could free his cock. Thank God he was already hard. She took his thick shaft in one hand and gasped when his gloved hand moved away from her throbbing pussy.

“Condom?” he asked breathlessly.

“We don’t need one.” They’d already discussed not using them, but she was glad he had the sense to ask in the heat of the moment in case she’d changed her mind.

Melanie took him inside, riding him hard. Forcing him deeper and deeper with every downward motion of her hips until she finally felt full. So full. Now she just needed some friction.

“Oh God, Melanie,” he said. “You feel so good. So good.”

He felt amazing inside her, but she was too worked up to form words. She murmured something and rode him faster and faster, trying to rub the ache away. More, more, more, she thought. Until the pleasure finally exploded and she called out in bliss. He lifted his hips off the seat to pump up into her, once, twice, and then groaned as he joined her in climax.

She went limp against him, trying to catch her breath and regain her senses, but both eluded her.

He rubbed his mouth against her temple. “You made me come way too fast, baby. I’ll probably to need to fuck you like that a few more times this weekend,” he said, “and then I might be able to keep it together long enough to make love to you slowly and thoroughly.”

She smiled against his shoulder. “I don’t mind the fucking,” she said. “Really, I don’t.”

There was a knock on the window, and Melanie stiffened. Had she really gotten so wrapped up in this man that she’d forgotten they were in a limo parked outside a sub shop? That would be a yes. A yes, yes, oh God, fuck me, Gabe, yes.

Melanie lifted her hips, not quite ready for Gabe to fall free of her body, but she didn’t have time to dawdle. Especially not when the locks thunked open and she heard the door handle lift upward. She tugged her skirt down her thighs and searched for her panties while Gabe shoved his cock down his pants, removed his glove of delight, and started buttoning his fly. Melanie had her panties in her hand when the back door popped open and Nikki appeared, with some guy holding four drinks for her while she held the sack of sandwiches.

She grinned knowingly at Melanie when her gaze landed on the panties in her hand.

“Oh, did I interrupt something?” she said. “I never thought you’d have her out of her panties that quickly, Gabe. You stud.”

Melanie was slightly embarrassed that Nikki had caught her just after the act, but mortified that the good-looking man behind her was biting his full lower lip in appreciation of her sluttiness. Melanie tossed her panties on the seat beside Gabe and sat on them. She found her discarded glasses and fiddled with them, her hands trembling as she tried to get her glasses back on her face.

“It smells like sex in here,” Nikki said as she leaned farther into the open door. “You guys already did it, didn’t you? Or did I interrupt you mid-coitus?”

“Nikki!”

The girl needed to install a filter on that mouth of hers.

“Can’t blame you for jumping him,” Nikki said, giving Gabe the twice over. “Will you look at the size of those feet? You know what they say about guys with big feet.”

Melanie’s pussy clenched as her thoughts immediately fixated on that which correlated with Gabe’s shoe size. And in his case, he fit the statistics.

“I have a really big, uh, foot,” her drink-toting companion said in a deep voice. His brown eyes twinkled as he smiled, and his white teeth flashed bright against his dark-skinned complexion.

“I bet you do. This is Michael,” Nikki said, tossing her head in the guy’s direction. “He saw me struggling to carry my order and offered to help. Since my friends were otherwise occupied.”

“We need to get going,” Gabe said, tapping his nonexistent wristwatch. He had a reddened ring around his wrist from his glove device. Melanie hoped he hadn’t injured himself just to get her off. She stroked his chafed skin, fighting the urge to kiss it all better. She was pretty sure he wouldn’t appreciate the gesture in front of Nikki and her latest lackey.

Nikki climbed into the back of the limo and handed Gabe the bag of sandwiches. She then took the drink cups from Michael one at a time. She passed one to Melanie, another to Gabe, and knocked on the driver’s window so that Parker would lower the glass and she could hand one to him.

“Aren’t you going to sit up here with me, Nik?” Parker asked.

“She’s staying back here with me and Mel,” Gabe said.

Gabe pulled sandwiches from the bag and determined which belonged to whom while Nikki gave her phone number to her very nice-looking drink caddy. Unfortunately, fast-food restaurants didn’t hand those out through the drive-thru window. If they had, Melanie might be tempted to always order her beverages in fours.

“I gotta get me a limo,” Michael said as his gaze flicked from Melanie to Nikki and back to Melanie. “Dude’s got two hotties all to himself.”

Nikki giggled and took her cup from Michael’s hand. “You better call me,” she said, and closed the door in his face.

“Did you give him your real number or your fake standby?” Mel asked.

“Real one.” Nikki popped a straw into her drink and took a long draw. “He was a gentleman. They’re not easy to find these days.”

It didn’t take much to impress Nikki, but she was right about the difficulty in finding a gentleman. Melanie wasn’t sure if it was because men no longer wanted to protect and care for women or if women brought it upon themselves by insisting they were strong and independent. There had to be a middle ground somewhere.

Melanie removed the wrapper from her six-inch turkey club and scarfed down her sandwich. She hadn’t realized how truly hungry she was until she started stuffing her face.

“I love a woman with an appetite,” Gabe said, winking at her.

“Screw you, Banner,” she said with her mouth full.

“Especially one with that particular appetite.”

Nikki giggled. If she started flirting with Gabe, Melanie was going to throttle her. Nikki didn’t require all the masculine attention for herself, did she? Couldn’t she just let Melanie have this one without interference?

“Thanks for letting me hang out with you and Melanie back here,” Nikki said. “I was starting to feel left out.” She sighed happily. “I can’t wait to see Shade again.”

“About that…” Gabe said before pausing to glance at Melanie.

She had no idea what his questioning look meant, so she shrugged, and he turned back to Nikki.

“He’s sort of seeing someone special right now. It’s probably best that you keep your distance.”

Oh, so that’s why he’d been asking for her silent approval. Prepared for a meltdown, Melanie swiveled her attention to Nikki.

Eyes downcast, Nikki took a delicate bite of her veggie sub and shrugged. “You win some, you lose some,” she said after a long tense moment.

Okay, who had stolen her best friend and replaced her with this docile facsimile?

“I can still hang out backstage with Melanie while you’re onstage, right?” she asked, her blue eyes large and beguiling as she gazed at Gabe.

Oh, there she is. Holding her cards close to her chest.

“I guess so,” Gabe said while Melanie tried not to cringe. It wasn’t that she didn’t want Nikki to be with her while she felt all awkward and alone watching the show from the wings, but she knew how this woman operated. She’d use every card in her hand to get what she wanted and she wanted Shade, whether Shade wanted her or not. Melanie would just have to keep Nikki away from the man if she could. It would be easy enough to keep them separate when Shade was onstage, but what about before the concert? And after?

“So what are we doing after the show?” Melanie asked as nonchalantly as possible. Gabe had already told her, but she wanted Nikki to hear.

“We’re heading directly to an airstrip and taking a private plane back to Austin. We won’t make it back to my place until really late.” He stroked Melanie’s back soothingly. “You can nap on the plane if you get tired. I won’t be offended. In fact, I’ll likely join you.”

She took a sip of her drink, trying to form the most tactful version of her next question. “And Nikki…” was the best she came up with.

“Oh,” he said, glancing at Nikki’s hopeful face. “Well, uh…”

Yeah, awkward. Melanie was sorry she had to put him on the spot like this, but Nikki would figure out a way to weasel herself into all of Melanie’s plans if she didn’t have Gabe’s backing. It wasn’t because Melanie was spineless. Nikki was just that skilled at getting what she wanted.

“There’s only room on the plane for five passengers,” Gabe said.

“So Melanie can’t fit on there with the band either,” Nikki said.

“Well, Adam and Kellen aren’t going back this trip.”

Melanie’s math brain cringed. It took Nikki a few seconds longer to do her adding and subtracting. “That leaves a spot for me.”

“Sorry, but no. Lindsey’s flying back with Owen,” he said.

“Who’s Lindsey?” Melanie asked. “His girlfriend?”

Gabe visibly paled. “Uh, fuck, I hope not.”

“Who is she then?” Melanie pressed, wondering why Gabe seemed so flustered.

“Just some chick he’s taking home with him.”

“So, then, what am I supposed to do?” Nikki asked, that little lost puppy look on her face. Perhaps Melanie should encourage her to go into acting. Lord.

“You can spend the weekend in New Orleans,” Gabe suggested. “I have a room at the hotel I won’t be using until Sunday night. You’re welcome to use it for free until Mel and I return.”

Nikki ducked her head and stared at the sandwich in her lap.

“That sounds like fun,” Melanie said brightly, hoping Nikki didn’t mope for the rest of the night and wishing more than ever that she’d shoved Nikki out onto the tarmac back in Wichita. It would have saved them both some grief.

By the time they got to the venue, Nikki seemed to be okay with their plan to dump her in New Orleans for the weekend. By focusing on the positive (lush, free hotel room in the heart of New Orleans), Gabe was almost as skilled at manipulating Nikki’s mood as Nikki was at bending men to her will. Melanie had to admit that she was both impressed and grateful that Gabe had handled Nikki so well.

Melanie did a lot of gawking when they got out of the limo. There were so many people lined up outside the arena’s doors that the lines stretched out into the parking lots. There was a loud cheer as Gabe stepped from the vehicle. She guessed his mohawk made him instantly recognizable, even at a distance. He offered the folks waiting in line a friendly wave and instructed the driver to make sure Melanie’s bag made it to the plane heading for Austin after the show and that Nikki’s luggage was taken to his hotel room. Parker grinned at this. Either he thought that Gabe was banging both women separately, but equally, or he felt privileged to know where Nikki would be staying. Alone. For the entire weekend. Melanie gnawed on her lip, wondering if employing Parker to distribute their luggage had been the best idea. She didn’t want the guy hanging around Nikki. She got a bad vibe from him.

Gabe’s arm went around Melanie’s lower back, and he held her securely against his side as they were ushered through barriers. After the third time Nikki got stopped for not having a backstage pass, Gabe wrapped his free arm around Nikki’s waist as well, and he guided them both toward the doors.

Melanie understood why Gabe was touching Nikki in that easy, familiar way of his, but it didn’t stop her from seething. He was hers, and she was not in the mood to share him. Not even a little. And especially not with her best friend.