Aftershock (10 page)

***

His muscles were taut beneath her fingers as she rubbed them along his back. The soft hair on his chest abraded her breasts and stimulated her nipples until they were sharp, hard points. What she wanted more was to feel him inside her, his thick cock taking up every inch of space in her pussy, his balls slapping against her as he plunged into her again and again. She wrapped her legs around him and pulled him as tight to her body as she could, thrusting her hips up at him.

Low in her belly, the tension of her orgasm began to unwind like a tightly spooled steel coil. Her muscles tightened, her pulse pounded as she—

Bzzzzzzz!

Get out of here, you annoying bug. Can’t you see I’m having the best sex of my life?

“Let me turn you over,” he urged. “I want to take you from the back.”

Bzzzzzzzz!

Sydney reached out to smack the irritating bug and hit—her clock radio.

“Good morning, ladies and gents!” The cheerful voice burst from the speaker. “Ready for some hot rock and roll today?”

Huh? What?

Sydney sat up abruptly, shoving her hair out of her face. She looked around, disoriented. She had kicked off her covers and was spread out in bed, naked. Naked? Where was the T-shirt she slept in? The boxer shorts? The annoying voice still spouted in a far too cheerful manner. At last her brain kicked in.

The dream. Holy hell. The dream.

She flopped back on her pillows, aware her body still throbbed in anticipation. Stretching out her arm she slapped the Off button on her radio. That guy was just too disgustingly cheerful for her. She wanted the dream back. She wanted Rick—

Rick!

Holy crap!

In an instant the previous night came flooding back. The touch of him, the feel of him. His scent. The way he filled her, kissed her, licked her—

Get your act together, Sydney.

Right. Act together.

How on earth had she let this happen? Oh, wait. It wasn’t so much that she
let
it happen. An unstoppable force had headed in her direction the moment she and Rick Trajean locked eyes and it just rolled right over her. No matter how many times she told herself this could not happen, ever, it didn’t seem to matter.

I’ll never fall in love
.

Okay, she’d made it her mantra. Repeated it to her co-workers. Some had even laughed at her.

“It’s not like you get a choice, Sydney,” one of them teased. “When the right guy walks into your life, you’ll know it and won’t be able to turn away from him.”

She finally had to accept the fact that the moment she and Rick Trajean were in the same space, some kind of magic happened. He’d fought it as hard as she, but the gals at the office were right. When it happened, you didn’t get a choice. You could only fight it for so long.

Rick felt the same powerful tug she did. She saw it in his eyes. Heard it in his voice. Felt it every minute he’d made love to her last night. Lord, it seemed the minute they were in the same room, they set fire to the air and were caught in a grip of unnamed emotions. It was a wonder no one else had picked up on it yet.

Love? No, no, no. No. That can’t happen. Ohmigod. The Plan!

But last night The Plan had been the furthest thing from her mind. Maybe she could use the three glasses of wine she’d had as an excuse. Or the emotional effect of the music, and—

And the man himself. No doubt about it. One touch of his hand or his lips and all her brain cells shrank out of sight.

God, he was magnificent. He knew just how and where to touch. How to coax and seduce. How to make her believe she was the only woman in the world. How to
feel
.

And that terrified her. The Plan didn’t leave any room for something like this. She had things to prove. To accomplish. She could almost hear Fate laughing at her.

So where was he now? Her bed was glaringly empty. She guessed he’d snuck out while she slept. Okay, good. Right? That meant he really didn’t think it was so special. She’d take her cue from that. Maybe she could wipe the whole thing out of her mind and they could go on with their business as if the past twenty-four hours had never happened.

Yeah, right
.

She needed a long shower, hot coffee, a stern lecture, and she’d be herself again. She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. A scrap of paper on the nightstand caught her eye and she reached for it.

Didn’t want to wake you so early. See you soon? Can’t wait.

Rick

She stared at the note. Not exactly hearts and flowers but better than nothing. And just maybe he was as afraid of this as she was. Maybe he wondered how they’d behave the next time they were together. In public. With the other band members.

The band!

Oh, lordy. They had business to take care of, and she couldn’t afford to not be on her game. She was sure Rick felt the same way. They couldn’t let anyone else know what was going on with them. At least until they figured out themselves what it was and how to handle it.

But just for a moment she hugged a pillow to her body, inhaling the lingering scent of him and remembered the feel of his hands and mouth on her body. She closed her eyes and let last night unroll like the replay of a movie, reliving every word, every touch. Enjoying the intensity of the unfamiliar emotion that swept over her whenever she laid eyes on him. Just for a second she wanted to wrap it around her.

Just for a damn second, okay?

All right, Sydney
.

Today was Sunday. No work today. Damn that alarm, anyway. She’d been so lost in the moment last night she’d forgotten to turn it off. But since she was up, she’d get her day started. She would take that long, hot shower, wash her hair, and hopefully scrub some sense into her brain so she could get back to being Sydney Alexander.

If that was even possible.

Because somehow, after last night, she was no longer sure who Sydney Alexander was. Because Sydney Alexander didn’t give in to the intense attraction and emotion that propelled her into bed with Rick Trajean. Sydney Alexander didn’t expose her feelings to anyone. Ever.

Right.

She wished, just for a moment, she had a close girlfriend she could call to share a pizza with. Someone who’d answer questions for her. But as driven as she was, she’d left no time in her life to form that kind of relationship. Even the men she’d spent time with—few and far between—had been more of an afterthought. As obsessed as she was with giving Aunt Janine a big “fuck you,” she hadn’t taken time for anything else. What she wouldn’t give today for a friend to dump her confusion on and get some feedback.

With a sigh of reluctance she dragged herself from the bed into the bathroom. As she stretched she couldn’t help wondering what Rick was doing today. Who he was with. Where he—

Stop it!

Dress. Go out and do something
.

What was happening to her?

She started to turn on the shower but realized her body was sore in places that hadn’t been touched in a long time, at least with such intensity. Instead she drew a hot bath and sprinkled in some scented bath salts. Fixing herself a cup of coffee from her Keurig she carried it into the bathroom and set it on the edge of the tub. Then she eased into the hot water and sighed with satisfaction.

Idly, she touched first one nipple then the other, recalling the feel of Rick’s teeth on them as he’d climaxed. When she brushed a fingertip over each one, the pulse in her cunt set up a rhythm again, a signal of the resurgence of need.

No, no, no! Not good!

She picked up her mug and sipped from it as she sent orders to her brain. She had to wash away his touch and the sensations it aroused in her. How was she supposed to stick to her plan, when all she could think about was being naked with him again?
How magnificent he’d looked in all his glorious nudity. And whatever this indefinable
thing
was that stretched between the two of them, she had no idea how to handle it.

Damn it, Sydney. Cut it out
.

With a deliberate effort of will she forced her brain to shut down while she soaked in the tub. When the water cooled off, she kicked up the lever for the drain and stood, wrapping a large towel around her body. Five minutes later, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, she fixed another cup of coffee, retrieved her Lightnin’ folder from her briefcase, and carried it all out to the patio. This was where her focus should be. The Plan. The Big Plan.

Only, after last night, it was damn hard.

The mid-May morning was pleasantly cool, with just enough heat from the sun. Spreading everything out on the patio table, she sipped her coffee and studied the sheets of paper in front of her.

Her brain had been on speed drive ever since Linc Forrester met with her and handed her the Lightnin’ assignment. The name alone had her thoughts sizzling. Linc had provided a T-shirt with their current logo, a lightning bolt on a blue background, but her ideas were so much bigger than that.

Her sketches were all centered around a massive, jagged thunderbolt striking down from a cloud mass, surrounded by sparks of electricity. The band’s name flowed across the bottom in script, all of it covered with a sprinkling of glitter. She had shown everything to Rick who frowned at first before buying into it, albeit with reluctance.

Next she went over her list of promo items. The new logo would be used on the T-shirts, smartphone cases, tablet covers, pendants, buttons, key chains, and numerous other items. The media would get all the items as gifts in packaged kits. A messenger would deliver them to the locals and others would be handed out at stops on the tour. The rest would be sold at concerts and through the Web site she was having designed.

According to Wikipedia, “Objects struck by lightning experience heat and magnetic forces of great magnitude.”

Sydney had adapted that to a tag line that read “People struck by Lightnin’ experience emotional forces of great magnitude.” She’d repeated it out loud dozens of times just to test both the sound and the way it rolled off the tongue. She was sure it was a phrase the media would pick up and run with. Now, having heard their music live, she was even more convinced of it. She smiled to herself as she drank her coffee and looked over her notes, images dancing in her head. Yes, this was definitely going to work.

She leaned back in her chair with her coffee cup, enjoying the soft morning breeze. The Plan was still on track. If she focused on nothing but business, maybe she could control what she felt for Rick Trajean, personal feelings she didn’t know how to handle. Park them in a corner of her brain. This week and next, she would prep the band for their media debut. Calls would be made. People contacted. The final details for media day ironed out.

She knew in her gut this would work. She and Lightnin’ would explode on the music scene like—well—like lightning.

Damn straight.

***

“So tell me all about everything.” Meredith Trajean popped a grape in her mouth and hitched herself onto the barstool next to her brother.

Hungry and with a need to be grounded by his family, Rick had dropped in at his mother’s unannounced and begged breakfast from her. Sitting at the breakfast bar, drinking coffee, watching his mother scramble eggs, and listening to his sister framed his life in a normalcy he badly needed, especially now.

The abrupt entry of Sydney into his life unsettled him, in more ways than one. Beneath the surface, he sensed a driven woman, one as focused on her goals as he was on his. Maybe more so, which kind of frightened him. Even further beneath lay the warm, passionate woman whose bed he’d shared last night. A woman who opened herself to him in a way he was sure she’d never done before with anyone.

He had no idea what falling in love was like, nor did he expect it to happen with the speed of light. But Sydney Alexander was breaking through his self-imposed discipline. This was way more than sex. He’d spent the most incredible night of his life with her. Could still feel the silk of her skin, the softness of her curves, her wet heat gripping him. In seconds, he was hard as steel.

Quit thinking about it
.

If he didn’t discipline his brain, he’d embarrass himself in front of his family.

What he really needed to do was figure out how he was going to handle this. He had the distinct feeling a relationship scared her as much as it did him. They both had goals and didn’t want anything that would distract them from reaching them.

Besides, what if their night together was nothing more than the heat of the moment? The heady environment? That first spark of attraction? What if, the next time he saw her, she acted as if nothing happened? Pretended it was all just business? He hadn’t called her because he wasn’t sure yet what to say when he did.

“Hello. Anyone in there?”

He realized Meredith was waving her hand in front of his face and jerked himself back to reality. After all, wasn’t that why he was here?

“I can hear you, brat.” He grinned at her. She’d grown into such a lovely young woman. In two months she’d be on her way to the university and he wanted to send her off locked in a suit of armor and a chastity belt. Or maybe accompanied by an armed guard. It wasn’t too many years ago he’d been a horny teenager with just one thing in mind.

“Not a brat any longer, big brother.” She stuck her tongue out at him in a playful gesture. “Anyway, I asked you about the hot chick you took to the band party last night.”

Rick stared at her. How the hell had gossip traveled this fast? “Where did you hear that?”

She grinned. “I know all. It’s about time you realized it.”

“Daisy Nestor’s sister was at the party last night,” his mother answered as she scooped eggs onto plates. “Daisy was on the phone to
your
sister at practically the crack of dawn, wanting the whole scoop.” She turned and set two breakfast plates on the counter. “I told Meredith not to stick her nose in your business.” She grinned. “But as your mother, I reserve first right of interrogation. So. Is there a woman in your life you’ve been keeping secret from us?” She fetched her own plate but, instead of sitting down, stood so she faced him.