Caught in the Glow (The Glower Chronicles Book 1) (20 page)

“You could say that,” I said.

“Good. I missed you too. I...” He hesitated. “You played, Avery. In front of an entire packed hall.”

“I did,” I agreed.

“I thought you were scared.”

“I was. But I had other feelings that mattered more.”

He brought his hands to my face, trailing the backs of his fingers over my cheek, down my neck, across the strap of my dress and the peak of my shoulder, along my bare arm. The contact sent a warm shiver though me, but I resisted the urge to pull him closer.

“It felt different, playing with you,” he said. “I could hear... The song’s still not quite right, but I could hear how it could be.”

“You probably always knew how to make it right, somewhere in there,” I said. “You just hadn’t found the way to it yet.”

“You don’t want any credit for helping me get there?”

“A thank you in the credits? A cameo in a music video?”

The corner of his mouth quirked up. He loosened the elastic holding my ponytail and slid it off so my hair drifted over my back. “That wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

“No? Maybe you could show me then.”

He threaded his fingers into my hair and tipped my head, his lips finally finding mine. He kissed me slowly, tenderly, not at all like the night I’d been remembering. But better, because I didn’t have to stop him. I didn’t have to be scared of him. It was me he still wanted. Just me.

I kissed him back, running my thumb over the damp curls at the back of his neck. He shifted closer, and the skirt of my dress edged up my thighs with a tantalizing tickle of fabric. A whiff of his piney aftershave made my head spin.
Yes, yes, yes
, every inch of my body was wailing, but I realized I had one more thing I needed to tell him before we went any further. One more thing I needed to know.

I eased back, my hands at either side of his jaw.

“I’m falling in love with you,” I said.

Colin drew in a startled breath. Before he had to answer, I hurtled onward.

“Maybe I haven’t known you very long, but I think I know you well enough to say I want to be with you. Not just now. Through the recording sessions and the contract negotiations and all the ups and downs that come with this business. For all the celebrations and all the disappointments. I can handle that. I just can’t... I can’t watch some Glower siphon away the things I love about you bit by bit. I’ve already had to watch that once, and it’s the worse thing I’ve ever been through. I don’t know if I could survive it a second time. You have to understand that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. But that’s my limit.”

He was silent for a long moment. “I’ve been thinking a lot, since the last time we talked,” he said. “About... whether I really need to go that far. Whether I could go all in on my own. I didn’t really think so until—the way I felt tonight— Will you play with me again? I want you
there
, being part of my music, not just watching.”

I hadn’t known until he said it how much I’d wanted him to ask. How much I wanted to say yes. “I think you’d have to talk to Joel about that,” I said. “It’s his gig. He might not be pleased about me stealing it.” I paused. “I do want to keep playing, though, one way or another. I think I’m supposed to.”

Colin nuzzled my cheek. “So if I, let’s say, found Joel an even better gig, and there happened to be an opening in my band...?”

I laughed. “I’d still have to sort some things out with the Society. But it would be my honor.”

“Okay,” he said. “I want to try. To see what I can really do, myself. If... If I end up deciding I can’t make it to where I want to be that way, that I need to make some kind of deal, I’ll tell you first. I’ll understand if that means you have to leave. The last thing I want to do is hurt you, Avery.”

“I’m not afraid of that anymore either,” I said.

He smiled. “Good,” he murmured. “Because I’ve already fallen for you.”

His words tingled through me, and then he was kissing me again, more insistently than before. As I tugged him to me, welcoming his tongue with mine, his fingers caught the zipper at my back. They drew it down over my spine with an excruciating slowness, the dress parting against my skin. He left it at the hollow of my back, pressed his palm there to conform our bodies even more closely together, and then reached for the straps. As soon as they were sliding down my arms, he ran his thumbs over the cups of my bra, seeking out my nipples. Even through the thick cloth, his touch sparked against them. I hummed in encouragement as they hardened.

My own hands slipped down Colin’s back, following the lines of muscle until I reached the hem of his shirt. I leaned back to help him pull it off. He took advantage of our momentary separation to dip his head and gently nip my throat. I sighed. The sound turned into a moan as his fingers dipped inside the bra, nudging it down so he could fondle my breasts unimpeded. My head and shoulders drifted back against the mirror, the glass cool against my flushed skin.

Colin unclasped the bra and tossed it aside. He licked one nipple and sucked it into his mouth, his hands sliding up under my dress at the same time. They glided over my outer thighs before slipping between my legs. I arched into his touch. He stroked the needy nub there before brushing down over my opening, stroking the dampening fabric as I clutched his bare shoulders.

When he tugged my panties down, his mouth followed in a scorching trail of kisses to my stomach. He paused just long enough to hitch the skirt of my dress a little higher. Then he was kneeling before me, his mouth on me, laving that sensitive nub and drawing a gasp from my lungs. I arched again, braced against the mirror, as he slicked his tongue over my opening. He sucked and nibbled, savoring me gently but purposefully. Pleasure swelled in my core. His fingers caressed the sides of my thighs as he dove deeper, flicking his tongue right inside me. A jolt of pure bliss shot through me.

“Colin,” I said, my voice quaking. “I’m going to—”

“Please,” he whispered against me. He teased his tongue over my nub and down again, and my pleasure peaked. My fingers tangled in his hair as I bucked to meet him. He kissed me while the waves rocked through me, over and over until they finally ebbed. I sagged against the mirror.

“We’re not done,” Colin informed me, setting off on a path of kisses up my torso. “
You’re
not done.”

I wasn’t going to argue with that. I dragged his face to mine, kissing him hard, wanting him to feel every shudder of the bliss he’d given me. He lifted me off the table onto my feet.

“I realized I’ve never seen you completely naked,” he said, already guiding my dress down my legs. “I think it’s time we fixed that oversight.”

I grinned. “As long as you join me.”

He offered a happy murmur as I yanked off his belt and unzipped his jeans. As he stepped out of them, he swept me up and laid us down on the thick rug. It was softer than I’d expected against my back.

“Okay?” he asked.

“Not quite,” I said, and shoved him over as I rolled onto my knees. Leaning over him, I kissed him on the mouth before charting my own path down his throat, across his chest, delaying to run my tongue across each nipple, smiling at the hitch of his breath.

“Avery,” he mumbled as I reached the dip of his taut stomach, followed by an inarticulate sound as I jerked down his boxers and took the length of him in my hand. I stroked up and down that silky hard flesh, circling my thumb over the glistening tip and sliding the wetness there back over the shaft. His hips quaked and his erection twitched as I lowered my mouth over it.

I didn’t have much practice at this particular act—Mateo had always gotten awkward when I’d suggested it—but I was happy to experiment. I eased my lips down Colin’s length, and the groan he made reverberated into me. As I raised my head, I teased the soft skin with the edges of my teeth before rolling my tongue around him.

“Oh, God,” Colin said, sounding choked. He gripped my hair with a tug that made me look at him. The blatant desire in his eyes sent a bolt of electricity through me.

“If you keep doing that, I’m not going to make it,” he said roughly.

“Make it to what?” I teased, even though the core of me was aching all over again. I slicked a finger up and down his length. He drew me up beside him as he kicked off his boxers. We kissed fast and desperate, wetness seeping between my legs at the feel of him pressed against me. His hand traced the curve of my waist to my hip.

“I want inside you,” he said.

“Who’s stopping you?” I muttered, and Colin laughed. He kissed me again, more deeply this time, drawing it out until I was quivering against him. Then he fumbled in his discarded jeans for his wallet.

I raised my hips as he penetrated me, hooking my ankles behind him. That first thrust came so hard and eager I moaned. He thrust again, gliding deeper and deeper with each cant of his hips, until mine were arching to meet his every stroke. He kissed my cheek and my neck. His teeth grazed my shoulder, and I dug my fingers into his back.

His hand slid beneath me to lift me so we connected even more tightly, and he hit that wanting place inside me even more firmly. I cried out as my pleasure surged, and surged higher, until it seemed I’d never find the end of it. Then with one final plunge it crashed over me, and I came apart, pulsing and gasping against him. Colin sped up, his swift strokes carrying me through the aftermath, his sides tensing and trembling beneath my hands. With a cry of his own, he followed me into release. His thrusts slowed until he settled onto me, his head tucked against my shoulder.

After a moment, he rolled onto his side, pulling me with him. We cuddled on the rug as our breaths slowed together. I was walking my fingers along his bicep, taking an obscure enjoyment from feeling the firm surface of the muscles beneath his smooth skin, when a knock rattled the door.

“Mr. Ryder?” an unfamiliar voice said. “Someone sent down a bottle of wine.”

Colin pressed his face to my chest, shaking with silent laughter. “That’s a new one,” he whispered to me. “Thank you,” he called out toward the door. “Can you leave it outside? I’ll grab it in a bit.”

“Um, yeah. Sure.”

As the footsteps shuffled away outside, I tipped my head to look into Colin’s eyes, brushing back the dark hair that had fallen across his forehead.

“I have the feeling that’s going to happen to us a lot,” I said.

He studied me with a smile spreading across his face. “That’s a price I’m willing to pay if it means we’re
doing
this a lot. I guess we’ll just have to get used to it.”

Then he drew me in for one more kiss—one I knew for sure was far from the last.

A Note to Readers

Thank you for reading
Caught in the Glow
! If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving a review. Honest reviews help bring a book to the attention of more readers.

If you’d like to be notified when new books in The Glower Chronicles are released and receive a bonus scene from Colin’s point of view, you can join my mailing list here:
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To see where the series is headed next, check out the next book,
Caught in the Rush
, on Amazon (or turn the page for more info).

I love hearing from book fans, so feel free to write to me at
[email protected]
. You can learn a little more about me at my website,
www.evachase.com
.

Happy reading!

Next in The Glower Chronicles

Caught in the Rush
(The Glower Chronicles Book 2)

Fiona Wilde has always lived up to her last name, but a night in the emergency room was more than she bargained for. Now six months clean and sober, she's thrown herself back into the only job she feels qualified for—guarding the emerging stars of L.A. from the demonic Glowers—while getting the rush she craves from casual encounters, always leaving before anyone can leave her. When her teen TV star client's hot older brother Will arrives home for spring break, she sees the perfect opportunity for a fling with a built-in end date.

Then the Glowers launch an unexpected attack, leaving Fiona scrambling to keep her client safe even as Will steals past the walls around her heart. With the demons closing in and the starlet rebelling, the stability Fiona has clung to is slipping away. Her growing connection with Will might be the thing that saves her—or the thing that tears her apart.

Out January 5, 2016.
Pre-order now
!

Watch for
Caught in the Dream
(Mateo’s story), coming soon!

Caught in the Glow

Book 1 in The Glower Chronicles

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This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.