Bad Boy Romance: Nick (Romantic Suspense Alpha Male Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Contemporary Short Stories) (Hard Rock Star Series Book 2) (4 page)

I picked up my pace, gradually moving my hips faster,
pushing deeper and deeper inside of her; I could hear the wet, sucking,
slapping sounds of our bodies, and over that the sharp gasps, the catch in her
breath when I rubbed up against her g-spot every few thrusts. The sound of
Olivia’s moans filling my ears was like music, and I played her body by ear,
listening for the noises I wanted to hear the most, touching and kissing and
moving to get what I needed.

I felt her whole body tightening, every muscle tensing; I
heard her cry out, saw her head fall back against the pillows as she moaned
again and again. I held myself back somehow, riding through her first orgasm,
slowing down and then speeding up again to keep myself from tumbling out of control
inside of her.

I built her up again, slowing almost to a stop as she
shivered and sagged underneath me, gasping and panting for breath. I kissed her
again and again, murmuring in her ear about how good she felt, how hot she was,
how beautiful she looked when she came. Soon enough we were both at it again,
pushing each other, moving against each other, and Olivia was twisting her hips
under mine, writhing like something electric.

Finally, when I felt the telltale shivering grip of her
muscles on my cock, I couldn’t hold back anymore. I pounded into her as hard
and fast as I could as liquid heat exploded through my hips, my cock twitching
out of control. I barely even heard my long, low groans of pleasure as I came
harder than I’d come in months—maybe years. I couldn’t even think, I couldn’t
do anything but keep thrusting deep inside that tight, hot pussy, fire flowing
through me and out of me until I was completely and totally emptied out. I was
dripping with sweat, panting like I’d run a marathon, and my arms and legs felt
like they were made of rubber.

“Remember,” Olivia said, between panting gasps for breath.
“You’re not leaving or I tell everyone…you’re…tiny.” I chuckled and wrapped my
arms around her lazily, sliding out of her body and sinking onto the bed next
to her.

“I’m not leaving,” I told her, struggling to catch my
breath. “I am staying right here and as soon as I catch my breath I’m fucking
you again. And again. Until neither of us can stay awake anymore.”

****

I woke up with the light streaming in my face, burning
through my eyelids; the first thing I noticed—as soon as I gave up on trying to
burrow into the pillows and blankets on Olivia’s bed—was that I was in it
alone. I couldn’t hear a single sound in the apartment, no matter how I strained
my ears.
You’ve got to be shitting me. She goes on about me sneaking out on
her in the morning…
I had to grin to myself. If Olivia had sneaked out of
her own apartment, leaving me by my lonesome, I had to at least give her points
for turning my usual trick around on me.

I managed to find my clothes scattered around, and get them
on, wondering to myself if this was some kind of test; was Olivia looking for
me to stay, and prove that I wouldn’t abandon her? Or was I supposed to leave?
I found my phone, and saw that I had more than a few texts on it from the guys
in the band. Nothing from Olivia saying anything one way or another. I told
Mark and Alex that I was okay, told Dan that I’d managed to pull it off with
Olivia after all, and texted Jules that I’d be able to make it to rehearsal—in
that order. I looked around the apartment, trying to decide how to go about
going home to my own place. If Olivia was looking for me to stay—if she’d
stranded me by not letting me know she was leaving—then I had to decide if it
would be better for me to disappear without any notice, or stick around and see
if she came back.

She is not the kind of girl you want to just hook up with
and then ghost out,
I thought, shuddering at the memory of what Olivia had
felt like, the sound of her moans, the way she’d tasted and smelled—everything
about her. I wanted more. If she hadn’t run out on me before I woke up, I was
sure that I would have convinced her to have a little morning delight, as Jules
called it sometimes. A little quickie, something to leave her with a memory. I
definitely wanted to see more of Olivia—that much I knew. I wanted to see her
as much as possible. I wasn’t sure if I wanted what Alex had exactly, but I
couldn’t help but feel more than a little intrigued at the little flash of
Olivia’s personality that I’d seen.
Too bad we’re going on tour in a few
weeks.
I cringed at that; normally tour was great—a different girl in every
city, no expectation from any of them that they’d “land” me or “tame” me or
whatever it was girls tended to think. But it would definitely make it harder
to make any kind of lasting connection with Olivia, or set up any kind of
arrangement to see her regularly.

I wandered around her apartment a bit, looking at the show
posters, at the different things scattered around. Her place definitely smelled
better than mine; I’m not a messy guy, but I’m also not the kind of guy who
buys candles or anything like that on a normal basis. Don’t get me wrong; it
wasn’t like walking in some kind of flower garden at Olivia’s place, but there
was a kind of warm, clean smell to everything.

I decided that I might as well catch a ride from someone;
Olivia either was out doing something and wouldn’t be home soon, or was going
to be away from the apartment avoiding me all day. I found a note pad in her
kitchen with a pen attached to it and decided to leave her a little note.
Good
job turning my own trick around on me! I waited a bit but decided that you
probably made yourself scarce for good reason. I’ll be in touch, unless you
tell me not to be.
I signed it the way I signed all my autographs—it’d
become ingrained habit—and left it where she’d see it as soon as she walked
into the house.

I texted Mark and told him that I needed a ride, and started
walking up the street. The kind of neighborhood where Olivia lived was exactly
the kind to have a bunch of tiny, mom-and-pop restaurants and cafes nearby. I
needed coffee yesterday; with any luck I’d find a Cuban-run place and stuff
myself with some papas rellenas and a couple of shots of café Cubano while I
waited for Mark to get dressed and come get me.

A few blocks down from Olivia’s place I found exactly what I
wanted: a tiny, run-down building with a whitewashed stucco exterior (stained
along the sprinkler line), with a flickering neon sign saying it was open. I
didn’t even pay attention to the name written in Spanish; I just walked in. The
smell of slow-roasting pork and onions and garlic hit me hard enough to make my
stomach almost cramp with hunger. The woman behind the counter understood at
least enough English to take an order—thank God, since there were parts of Dade
county where that wasn’t the case—and in a few minutes I had a big plate of
greasy, fried things, and a few plastic shot glasses of syrupy, foamy, dark Cubano
coffee in front of me on a rickety plastic table. I sent Mark a location ping
and he said he’d be there in fifteen minutes; just enough time for me to scarf
it all down.
I’ll buy him some of those croquetas and a café con leche to
thank him. He’ll never have to know I pigged out before he got here.

****

By the time I made it to rehearsal that afternoon, I
realized that I wasn’t going to stop thinking about Olivia any time soon.
If
she wanted to guarantee that I couldn’t just treat it like a one-night stand,
she definitely picked the right strategy,
I thought as I started plugging
in and checking the levels on everything.

“You’re quiet, Nicky,” Alex said, exhaling a gust of
cigarette smoke from the couch.

“He went with a girl who had already decided not to have sex
with him,” Dan pointed out. “I think our Nicholas is coming down with
something.”

“Yeah but he stayed the night, and from what he told me…”
Mark smirked from the drum kit, where he was adjusting one of the hi-hats.

“Maybe Nick’s actually falling for someone,” Jules
suggested, strumming a quick check of his guitar’s tune.

“I’m just tired, guys,” I said, rolling my eyes. “She had me
up all night.”

“I didn’t think she was the type,” Mark said. “Seems like a
one-and-done kind of girl.”

“Nah,” I said, grinning to myself. “I’m not even sure
there’s an end to her. Once you get her started, I mean.”

“Nicky
is
falling for her,” Alex said, sitting up and
staring at me. “You’re totally into her.”

“She’s fun,” I told him, shrugging again. “She’s smart. And
fuck, man…” I shook my head, remembering the way that Olivia had felt, wrapped
around me, the way she’d sounded, moaning out, the way her breath caught and
she trembled when she got close to climax. “If she hadn’t skipped out before I
woke up, I might not even be here. I’d be too busy making her scream my name.”

“
She
skipped out on
you
?” Dan made a face, his
eyes wide with amazement. “No wonder she’s got him on the hook.”

“Yeah, yeah. She’s an enigma or whatever. Are we going to
rehearse or not?” Alex jumped to his feet and strode towards the mic stand, and
for a little while the subject of Olivia and my feelings about her was
forgotten. We played through the new album from start to finish, stopping to
change something that had worked in the studio but didn’t really come across
“live,” or to change a solo here or there, or to jam out a bit. We took a break
before we had to get into the older songs, to try and decide which ones we were
going to keep on the set list.

I stepped outside the rehearsal space and got my phone out
of my pocket, along with my cigarettes and lighter. I figured that hopefully by
then, Olivia had managed to make it back to her place; it would be a decent
time to text her.
Hey—that was some disappearing act this morning.
Everything okay?
I felt like a fucking idiot when I sent it; something in
the back of my head told me that the reason Olivia had left before I woke up
was that she’d regretted going to bed with me in the first place. But why would
that even be an issue? She’d had a good time—I was sure of it.

A few seconds later, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I
flicked ash off the end of my cigarette and slipped my phone out to see if it
was Olivia. It was.
I had to go into the office. Editor wanted the interview
ASAP, so I thought it’d be best to work from there.
I rolled my eyes; it
was a good excuse, but it felt like just that—an excuse.

I’d like to see you again. I mean…if you had a shitty
time then I get it, I won’t bug you. But if you had a good time…
God, I
sounded like I was in high school again. I couldn’t think of a better way to
say what I wanted to say; I sent it even though it sounded like some pathetic
dude who never got laid.

I went back into the rehearsal space and threw myself into
work, pushing Olivia to the back of my mind. My phone buzzed in my pocket at
one point but I made myself ignore it; I wasn’t going to be like those chicks
that stared at their phones waiting for an answer, fingers itchy to send
another message. I’d just get around to it when there was another break. We
started discussing which of the songs we wanted to be on the core set list—the
songs we played every show—and which we’d keep on the secondary list to have
something to change things up. The tour was going to be pretty long; it would
drive us all crazy to play all the exact same songs every single night of it.

“Crack some beers,” Jules said when we’d all decided we’d
had enough for the afternoon. We might do a little more practice in the
evening, but Alex wanted to spend some time with Mary since he knew we’d be
leaving on tour in a couple of weeks.

I threw myself onto the couch and opened my pack of
cigarettes; I’d need to stop by the Circle K on the way home and get another—I
was down to four. Mark handed me a beer on his way to the enormous beanbag
chair on the other side of the couch, and I raised it in the air as I lit my
cigarette and took the first drag of the smoke. I slipped my phone out of my
pocket and finally—finally—checked my messages.

It’s not that I had a bad time or anything. I just…you
have a reputation, Nick. You have to admit that about yourself. I like you and
the sex was amazing but I’m not sure how much I want to trust you.
I
frowned at my screen and took a quick sip of my beer. For the first time in my
life, the fact that I slept with women freely was truly biting me in the ass.
Olivia wasn’t trying to get me to ‘change my ways’ or convince me that she was
woman enough to keep me from wanting anyone else; she was actually pushing me
away.

“Hey,” I said, holding my hand up to stop Alex before he
left. “Didn’t
Record Spin
say they wanted to arrange a tour journal with
us?” It had been something that Ron had brought up before Olivia had even
interviewed us.

“Yeah,” Alex said, nodding. He looked at me for a moment and
then started grinning. “Oh man. You want to bring that girl on tour.”

“Nicky got bit, man,” Jules said from the beat-up wingback
chair he’d thrown himself into. “He’s chasing that tail.”

“You guys liked working with her yesterday,” I pointed out.
“She’s the best interviewer we’ve worked with the entire time we’ve been doing
this shit. Why not Olivia?”

“Think about what you’re doing, man,” Dan said, looking up
from his sketchbook. “If you really want to win her over, you’re going to have
to be clean-nosed on tour. No flirting with anyone else, even.”

“I just think it’d be a good idea,” I said, shrugging. “If
she doesn’t want to do it then they can send someone else out with us. But
she’s the best option.”

“I’ll have Ron make the call,” Alex said, looking at me for a
long moment. “If she’s up to do it, then yeah, she’s the best one we’ve dealt
with so far. I wouldn’t mind having her around.”

“You have to let her work, though,” Mark said, giving me a
little grin. “If you get her all distracted or keep her in your bunk all the
time, all she’s going to get in some pictures that aren’t fit to print and an
article about fucking guitarists.”

“I’m not going to interfere,” I insisted. “But it does give
me a chance to flirt with her a bit and get to know her.” I grinned. “She thinks
I’m just going to move on to the next bimbo that crosses my path.”

“Well that is what you would normally do,” Dan said, raising
an eyebrow.

“Nah. This time I’m going to see what a steady lay is like.
Get some routine in my life.” Mark snorted.

“She’s going to ditch the tour in a month—fifty dollars on
that. Who’s in?” I rolled my eyes as the rest of the guys gave their estimates:
Jules said Olivia would last two weeks, Dan said she’d last the whole tour but
never speak to me again, and Alex put in for me to go the distance—six months,
with the ‘relationship’ ending two months after the tour did. I refused to bet
on it at all; I still didn’t know exactly how long-term I wanted things to be.
I just wanted a chance to see where it went, and having Olivia on the bus would
be a good way to do that.