Lick: Stage Dive 1 Read online

  “Introduce me,” she said.

  “Ev, this is Pam and Tyler, old friends of mine. They’ve also been taking care of the house for me.” He looked relaxed standing between these people. His smile was easy and his eyes were bright. I hadn’t seen him looking so happy before. Jealousy reared its ugly head, sinking its teeth in.

  “Hello.” I put out my hand for shaking but Tyler engulfed me in a hug.

  “She’s so pretty. Isn’t she pretty, hon?” Tyler stepped aside and Pam came closer, a warm smile on her face.

  I was being a jerk. These were nice people. I should be profoundly grateful not every female David knew rubbed their boobs on him. Damn my screaming hormones for making me surly.

  “She sure is. Hello, Ev. I’m Pam.” The woman’s coffee-brown eyes went liquid. She seemed ready to burst into tears. In a rush, she took my hands and squeezed my fingers tight. “I’m just so happy he found a nice girl, finally.”

  “Oh, thank you.” My face felt flammable.

  David gave me a wry grin.

  “Okay, enough of that,” Tyler said. “Let’s let these lovebirds have their privacy. We can visit another time.”

  David stood aside, still holding the casserole dish and bag. When he saw me watching he winked.

  “I’ll have to show you the setup downstairs sometime,” Tyler said. “You here for long?”

  “We’re not sure,” he said, giving me a glance.

  Pam clung to my hands, reluctant to leave. “I made chicken enchiladas and rice. Do you like Mexican? It’s David’s favorite.” Pam’s brows wrinkled. “But I didn’t think to check if that was alright with you. You might be vegetarian.”

  “No, I’m not. And I love Mexican,” I said, squeezing her fingers back though not as hard. “Thank you so much.”

  “Phew.” She grinned.

  “Hon,” called Tyler.

  “I’m coming.” Pam gave my fingers a parting pat. “If you need anything at all while you’re here, you give me a call. Okay?”

  David said nothing. It was clearly my decision if they stayed or went. My body was still abuzz with need. That, and we seemed to do better alone. I didn’t want to share him because I was shallow and wanted hot sex. I wanted him all to myself. But it was the right thing to do. And if anticipation made it sweeter, well, maybe this once the right thing to do was also the best thing to do.

  “Stay,” I said, stammering out the words. “Have dinner with us. You’ve made so much. We could never possibly finish it all.”

  David’s gaze jumped to me, a smile of approval on his face. He looked almost boyish, trying to contain his excitement. Like I’d just told him his birthday had been brought forward. Whoever these people were, they were important to him. I felt as though I’d just passed some test.

  Pam sighed. “Tyler is right, you’re newlyweds.”

  “Stay. Please,” I said.

  Pam looked to Tyler.

  Tyler shrugged but smiled, obviously delighted.

  Pam clapped her hands with glee. “Let’s eat!”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Warm hands pushed up my tank top as the sun rose. Next came hot kisses down my back, sending a shiver up my spine. My skin came to immediate goose-pimpled attention, despite the truly horrible time of day.

  “Ev, baby, roll over.” David whispered in my ear.

  “What time is it?”

  We’d all gone downstairs to the recording studio after dinner for a ‘quick look’. At midnight Pam had bailed, saying Tyler could call her when they were done. No one anticipated that being anytime soon, since they’d opened a bottle of bourbon. I’d stretched out on the big couch down there while David and Tyler messed around, moving between the control room and the studio. I’d wanted to be close to David, to listen to him play guitar and sing snippets of songs. He had a beautiful voice. What he could do with a six string in his hands blew my mind. His eyes would take on this far away look and he was gone. It was like nothing else existed. Sometimes, I actually felt a little lonely, lying there watching him. Then the song would end and he’d shake his head, stretch his fingers, returning to earth. His gaze would find me and he’d smile. He was back.

  At some stage I’d dozed off. How I’d gotten up to bed I had no idea. David must have carried me. One thing was certain: I could smell booze.

  “It’s almost five in the morning,” he said. “Roll over.”

  “Tired,” I mumbled, staying right where I was.

  The mattress shifted as he straddled my hips and put an arm either side of my head, bending down over me, covering me.

  “Guess what?” he asked.

  “What?”

  Gently he pushed my hair back off my face. Then he licked my ear. I squirmed, ticklish.

  “I wrote two songs,” he said, his voice a little slurred, soft around the edges.

  “Mmm.” I smiled without opening my eyes. Hopefully he’d take that as being supportive. I couldn’t manage much more on less than four hours’ sleep. I simply wasn’t wired that way. “That’s nice.”

  “No, you don’t understand. I haven’t written anything in over two years. This is fucking amazing.” He nuzzled my neck. “And they’re about you.”

  “Your songs?” I asked, stunned. And still dazed. “Really?”

  “Yeah, I just …” He breathed deep and nipped my shoulder, making my eyes pop open.

  “Hey!”

  He leaned over so I could see his face, his dark hair hanging down. “There you are. So, I think of you and suddenly I have something to say. I haven’t had anything I wanted to say in a long time. I didn’t give a fuck. It was all just more of the same. But you changed things. You fixed me.”

  “David, I’m glad you got your mojo back, but you’re incredibly talented. You were never broken. Maybe you just needed some time off.”

  “No.” From upside down, he frowned at me. “Roll over. I can’t talk to you like this.” I hesitated and he slapped my butt. The non-tattooed cheek, lucky for him. “Come on, baby.”

  “Watch it with the biting and spanking, buddy.”

  “So move already,” he growled.

  “Okay. Okay.”

  He climbed off me onto the other side of the mammoth mattress and I sat, drawing my knees up to my chest. The man was shirtless, staring back at me with only a pair of jeans on. How the hell did he keep losing his shirt? The sight of his bare chest brought me to the dribble point. The jeans pushed me right over. No one wore jeans like David. And having caught a glimpse of him without them only made it worse. My imagination went into some sort of sexual berserker rage. The pictures that filled my head … I have no idea where they all came from. The images were surprisingly raw and detailed. I was quite certain I wasn’t flexible enough to achieve some of them.

  All of the air left the room. Truth was, I wanted him. All of him. The good and the bad and the bits in between. I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything before in my life.

  But not when he’d been drinking. We’d already been there, made that mistake. I didn’t know quite what was going on between us, but I didn’t want to mess it up.

  So, right. No sex. Bad.

  I had to stop looking at him. So I took a deep breath and studied my knees. My bare knees. I’d gone to sleep wearing jeans. Now I had only panties and my tank top on. My bra had also mysteriously disappeared. “What happened to the rest of my clothes?”

  “They left,” he said, face serious.

  “You took them?”

  He shrugged. “You wouldn’t have been comfortable sleeping in them.”

  “How on earth did you manage to get my bra off without waking me?”

  He gave me a sly smile. “I didn’t do anything else. I swear. I just … removed it for safety reasons. Underwire is dangerous.”

  “Riiiight.”

  “I didn’t even look.”

  I narrowed my eyes on him.

  “That’s a lie,” he admitted, rolling his shoulders. “I had to look. But we are still marrie
d, so looking is okay.”

  “It is, huh?” It was pretty much impossible to be mad at him when he looked at me like that. My foolish girl parts got giddy.

  No. Sex.

  “What are you doing up that end of the bed? That’s not going to work,” he said, totally unaware of my wakening hormones and distress at same.

  Faster than I’d have thought possible given the amount of booze on his breath, he grabbed my feet and dragged me down the bed. My back hit the mattress and my head bounced off the pillow. David sprawled out on top of me before I could attempt any more evasive maneuvers. His weight pressed me into the mattress in the best possible way. Saying no under these conditions was a big ask.

  “I don’t think we should have sex now,” I blurted out.

  The side of his mouth kicked up. “Relax. There’s no way we’re fucking right now.”

  “No?” Damn it, I actually whined. My patheticness knew no end.

  “No. When we do it the first time we’ll both be stone cold sober. Trust me on that. I’m not waking up in the morning again to find you’re freaking out because you don’t remember or you’ve changed your mind or something. I’m done being the asshole here.”

  “I never thought you were an asshole, David.” Or at least, not exactly. A jerk maybe, and definitely a bra thief, but not an asshole.

  “No?”

  “No.”

  “Not even in Vegas when I started swearing at you and slamming doors?” His fingers slid into my hair, rubbing at my scalp. Impossible not to push into his touch like a happy kitty. He had magic hands. He even made mornings bearable. Though five a.m. was pushing it.

  “That wasn’t a good morning for either of us,” I said.

  “How about in LA with that girl hanging off me?”

  “You planned that?”

  He shut one eye and looked down at me. “Maybe I needed some armor against you.”

  I didn’t know what to say. At first. “It’s none of my business who you have hanging off you.”

  His smile was one of immense self-satisfaction. “You were jealous.”

  “Do we have to do this right now?” I pushed against his hard body, getting nowhere. “David?”

  “Can’t own up to it, can you?”

  I didn’t reply.

  “Hey, I couldn’t bring myself to touch her. Not with you there.”

  “You didn’t?” I calmed down a lot at that statement. My heart palpitations eased. “I wondered what happened. You came back so fast.”

  He grunted, got closer. “Seeing you with Jimmy …”

  “Nothing was going on. I swear.”

  “No, I know. I’m sorry about that. I was out of line.”

  My pushing hands turned to petting. Funny that. They slid over his shoulders, around his neck to fiddle with his hair. I just wanted to feel the heat of his skin and keep him near. He made for an emotional landslide, turning me from sleep deprived and cranky to adoring in under eight seconds. “It’s great that you wrote some songs.”

  “Mm. How about when I left you with Adrian and the lawyers? Were you mad at me then?”

  I huffed out a breath. “Fine. I might admit to being a bit upset about that.”

  He nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving mine. “When I got back and they told me what had happened, that you’d taken off with Mal, I lost it. Trashed my favorite guitar, used it to take apart Mal’s kit. Still can’t believe I did that. I was just so fucking angry and jealous and mad at myself.”

  I could feel my face scrunch up in disbelief. “You did?”

  “Yeah.” His eyes were stark, wide. “I did.”

  “Why are you telling me this now, David?”

  “I don’t want you hearing it from someone else.” He swallowed, making the line of his throat move. “Listen, I’m not like that, Ev. It won’t happen again, I promise. I’m just not used to this. You get to me. This whole situation does. I dunno, I’m fucking rambling. Do you understand?”

  Later, he mightn’t even remember any of this. But right now, he looked so sincere. My heart hurt for him. I looked into his bloodshot eyes and smiled. “I think so. It definitely won’t happen again?”

  “No. I swear.” The relief in his voice was palpable. “We’re okay?”

  “Yes. Are you going to play the songs for me later?” I asked. “I’d love to hear them.”

  “They’re not done yet. When they’re done, I will. I want them perfect for you.”

  “Okay,” I said. He’d written songs about me. How incredible, unless they were the uncomplimentary kind, in which case we needed to talk. “They’re not about how much I annoy you sometimes, are they?”

  He see-sawed his hand in the air. “A little. In a good way though.”

  “What?” I cried.

  “Trust me.”

  “Do you actually state what a pain in the ass I am in these songs?”

  “Not those words exactly. No.” He chuckled, his good humor returned. “You don’t want me to lie and say everything’s always fucking unicorns and rainbows, do you?”

  “Maybe. Yes. People are going to know these are about me. I have a reputation as a constant delight to protect.”

  He groaned. “Evelyn, look at me.”

  I did so.

  “You are a constant fucking delight. I don’t think anyone could ever doubt that.”

  “You’re awful pretty when you lie.”

  “Am I now? They’re love songs, baby. Love isn’t always smooth or straightforward. It can be messy and painful,” he said. “Doesn’t mean it isn’t still the most incredible thing that can ever happen to you. Doesn’t mean I’m not crazy about you.”

  “You are?” I asked, my voice tight with emotion.

  “Of course I am.”

  “I’m crazy about you too. You’re beautiful, inside and out, David Ferris.”

  He lay his forehead against mine, closing his eyes for a moment. “You’re so fucking sweet. But, you know, I like that you can bite too. Like you did in Vegas with those assholes. I like that you cared, standing up for that girl. I even kind of like it when you piss me off. Not all the time though. Shit. I’m rambling again …”

  “It’s okay,” I whispered. “I like you rambling.”

  “So you’re not angry at me for losing my temper?”

  “No, David. I’m not angry at you.”

  Without another word he crawled off me and lay at my side. He pulled me into his arms, arranging an arm beneath me and another over my hip. “Ev?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Take your shirt off. I wanna be skin to skin,” he said. “Please? Nothing more, I promise.”

  “Okay.” I sat up and pulled the tank top off over my head, then snuggled back down against him. Topless had a lot going for it. He tucked me in beneath his chin and the feel of his warm chest was perfect, thrilling and calming all at once. Every inch of my skin seemed alive with sensation. But being like this with him soothed the savage storm within or something. It never occurred to me to worry about my belly or hips or any of that crap.

  Never mind the lingering scent of booze on his skin, I just wanted to be close to him.

  “I like sleeping with you,” he said, his hand stroking over my back. “Didn’t think I’d be able to sleep with someone else in the bed, but with you it’s okay.”

  “You’ve never slept with anyone before?”

  “Not in a long time. I need my space.” His fingers toyed with the band on my boyleg shorts, making me squirm.

  “Huh.”

  “This with you is torture, but it’s good torture.”

  Everything fell quiet for a few minutes and I thought he might have fallen asleep. But he hadn’t. “Talk to me, I like hearing your voice.”

  “Alright. I had a nice time with Pam, she’s lovely.”

  “Yeah, she is.” His fingers trailed up and down along my spine. “They’re good people.”

  “It was really kind of them to bring us dinner.” I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t
ready to confess I’d been thinking about what he’d said about my becoming an architect. That I’d started questioning the almighty plan. Saying I was scared I’d stuff up and somehow ruin things between us didn’t seem smart either. Maybe the fates would be listening and screw me over first chance they got. God, I hoped not. So instead I chose to talk trivial. “I love how you can hear the ocean here.”

  “Mm,” he hummed his agreement. “Baby, I don’t want to sign those papers on Monday.”

  I held perfectly still, my heart pounding. “You don’t?”

  “No.” His hand crept up, fingers stroking below my breast, tracing the line of my rib cage. I had to remind myself to breathe. But he didn’t even seem to be aware he did it, like he was just doodling on my skin the same way you would on paper. His arms tightened around me. “There’s no reason it can’t wait. We could spend some time together, see how things went.”

  Hope rushed through me, hot and thrilling. “David, are you serious about this?”

  “Yeah, I am.” He sighed. “I know I’ve been drinking. But I’ve been thinking it over. I don’t … shit, I didn’t even like having you out of my sight the last few hours, but you looked like you needed to sleep. I don’t want us to sign those papers.”

  I squeezed my eyes tight and sent up a silent prayer. “Then we won’t.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes.”

  He pulled me in tight against him. “Okay. Okay, that’s good.”

  “We’re going to be fine,” I sighed happily. The relief made me weak. If I hadn’t been lying down I’d have landed on the floor.

  Suddenly he sniffed at his shoulder and underarms. “Shit, I stink of bourbon. I’m going to have a shower.” He gave me a quick kiss and rolled out of the bed. “Kick me out of bed next time I try to come in smelling like this. Don’t let me cuddle up to you.”

  I loved that he was talking about our being together like it would be an everyday thing. I loved it so much, I didn’t even care how bad he smelled.

  True love.

  CHAPTER TEN

  The gong of the doorbell echoed through the house just after ten. David slept on against my back. He didn’t stir at all. With a couple more hours sleep I felt happily half human. I crawled out from beneath his arm, trying not to disturb him. I pulled my top and jeans back on and dashed down the stairs, doing my best not to break my neck in the process. In all likelihood it would be more deliveries.