Love's Rhythm (21 page)

Lauren’s lips began to tingle. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Her breath grew quick and her stomach flip-flopped.

The note Nick had left for her on his pillow came back to her, six words she thought spoke the truth.
Have a performance to prepare for.

She blinked, suddenly aware every stare in the assembly area was on her. Every stare, including Jennifer’s and Josh’s, who seemed to materialize out of the crowd, Jennifer’s smile devilish, Josh’s goofy. And so very, very impressed.

She blinked, her heart slamming harder into her throat.

And then Nick walked up onto the stage. Nick, dressed in old jeans, a green and gold Australian Rugby Union jersey and a red and blue Murriundah Public School scarf.

Nick.

Lauren’s mouth went dry.

He found her stare with his, gave her a smile, gave the audience another one and then turned to KR and nodded to Thomas.

The little boy all but quivered. “For Miss Robbins,” he said loudly, a beat before twenty-two six-year-olds began singing “Whispers in the Night”, their collective voices rising up with beautiful, child-like harmony. Singing to Lauren the words she knew were forever written on her soul.

“This life of mine is empty

Since I walked away

Taking paths I haven’t seen

Looking for roads I’ve left behind

Searching for an answer 

That was always there

Needing to feel something

Beyond this pain.

And I want to beg but I can’t find the words

And I want to cry but I can’t find the tears

And all that’s left is the shadow of your heart and the ghost of your smile

And the whispers in the night.”

The song continued, words of tormented broken dreams and longing for something lost until the last line faded away. Until the children’s voices grew softer, softer and they finished singing.

Their stares stayed glued to Nick’s face, their expressions so earnest and serious as the last word left them all in nothing but a collected sigh, and then all twenty-two student were looking at her.

Looking at her with joy and hope so innocent that she wanted to cry.

No, that wasn’t why she wanted to cry. She wanted to cry because Nick was standing before her school, her class, the whole world, watching her from across the other side of the assembly area, his smile nervous, nervous goddamn him. She wanted to cry because everyone was clapping and cheering and looking at her, and her class was beaming and she’d never felt so special. So special and loved and…and…damn it, so Nick’s.

She stared at him across the heads of the student body, her heart in her throat.

Oh Lord, what did she do now?

Her lips curled into a slow smile, a second before she realized the assembly area was silent again. Silent. As if waiting.

A silence broken again by Thomas Missen’s loud, clear voice. “As Mr. Blackthorne’s representative I would like to take this opportunity to announce that he is retiring from singing professionally.” The crowd gasped, a shocked ripple rolling over everyone. Everyone that was, except Nick and Thomas. “
And
,” the little boy went on, louder this time, fixing the audience with a stern look, “he plans to take up residence in Murriundah where he will write words for other singers to sing…” Thomas paused, giving Nick a quick glance before grinning at Lauren, “…while spending the rest of the time with his family. If his family will have him?”

Lauren mouth fell open. She couldn’t help it. Her mouth fell open and she gaped at Nick. Really gaped at him.

He grinned at her, and then turned and looked at her son,
his
son, standing to the side of the assembly area. “Josh, you haven’t changed your mind about letting me marry your mum since last night, have you?”

Lauren’s heart smashed into her throat.

Josh grinned back at Nick. “Depends. You haven’t changed your mind about giving me guitar lessons, have you?”

Nick shook his head.

Lauren watched their son’s grin turn to a smile so genuine in its joy it was all she could do not to sob. “In that case, go for it, Dad.”

It was Nick’s turn to smile. He returned his gaze to her face, reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a little red velvet box.

Oh God. Oh God, this is happening. This is really happening.

He held her stare and lifted the lid off the box, revealing a ring made from a bright green pipe cleaner topped with a pink, plastic stone she recognised from the bottom of her class’s goldfish tank.

“Thought I’d let you pick your own,” he said, and everyone laughed. Well, Lauren assumed everyone was laughing. To be honest, she wasn’t paying them any attention. Not when Nick was making his way toward her. Not when he was weaving his way through the mass of cheering students all clapping and calling out, “Go Nick!” and, “Go Miss Robbins,” and chanting, “Kiss, kiss, kiss!”

Not when he was standing right before her, pipe cleaner ring in his fingers, his gaze on her eyes, his breath fanning her cheeks.

“Marry me, Miss Robbins? Be my plus one forever?”

She stared up at him, mouth open, pulse pounding.

Oh God. Should she say yes? Should she?

Are you kidding?

No. She wasn’t.

She took the ring from his fingers and slid it on to hers. They could make it work. They
would
make it work. Because without Nick the rhythm of her life wasn’t just wrong. It was incomplete. She understood that now. He made her laugh, he made her smile. He made her heart, her soul, sing. Her Nick. Not the world’s anymore. Just…hers.

“You drive me mental, Nick Blackthorne,” she whispered.

“You drive me crazy, Lauren Robbins,” he whispered back, a second before he lowered his lips to hers and kissed her.

Just as the chanting, clapping, cheering students told him to.

About the Author

Lexxie’s not a deviant. She just has a deviant’s imagination and a desire to entertain readers with her words. Add the two together and you get wickedly fun erotic romances with a twist of comedy, sci-fi or the paranormal.

When she’s not submerged in the worlds she creates, Lexxie’s life revolves around her family, a husband who thinks she’s insane, a cat determined to rule the house, two yabbies hell-bent on destroying their tank, and her daughters, who both utterly captured her heart and changed her life forever.

Contact Lexxie at
[email protected]
, follow her on Twitter
www.twitter.com/lexxie_couper
or visit her at
www.lexxiecouper.com
where she occasionally makes a fool of herself on her blog.

Look for these titles by Lexxie Couper

Now Available:

Death, the Vamp and his Brother

The Sun Sword

Tropical Sin

Suck and Blow

Triple Dare

Dare Me

Savage Australia

Savage Retribution

Savage Transformation

Coming Soon:

Twister

Suspicious Ways

Dark Embrace

Let the games begin…

Suck and Blow

© 2011 Lexxie Couper

Talent agent Frankie Winchester is a hellion. Her motto is all a girl needs is a fun time, a fast car and an awesome masseur on speed dial. There’s only one person who could beat her at anything. Alec. Bane of her high-school existence, a kid whose parents were as working class and loving as hers were rich and distant.

When celebrity landscape architect Alec Harris spots Frankie at an exclusive Sydney house party, everything comes rushing back. The memory of being the “cheap-money” kid, trying and failing to prove himself—and impress his dream girl, Frankie Winchester.

Unexpectedly partnered in a wildly sexy game, the delicious friction ignites a scorching sexual tension. But there’s more than a playing card trapped between them. Frankie refuses to admit that kiss shook her to the core. Alec wants nothing less than her full surrender.

Warning: C’mon, the book’s called Suck and Blow. What more warning do you need?

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Suck and Blow:

Someone ran into him. Hard. A firm, warm body slamming into his side as if the person hadn’t been watching where they were going but was in a damn hurry to get where ever it was.

He stumbled to his left, a chuckle rising to his lips as he turned to face the someone, his hands instinctively reaching out to steady them on their feet, his fingers curling around biceps both smooth and firm.

And looked straight down into the wide, blue-grey eyes of Francesca The Gun Winchester.

Oh, boy.

His mouth went dry. Just like that. His mouth went dry and his breath caught in his throat. The precise moment their eyes met, ten years were wiped from his life and he was the flustered, horny teenager aching to impress the girl every guy at his school and hers wanted to date.

“Errrr…” He licked his lips, his pulse quickening as he watched her gaze track the path of his tongue.

Say something, you idiot.

“I’m not really sure,” he murmured, his voice deeper and huskier than normal, “but I think you kiss better than I do.”

The words fell from his lips, uninhibited by his befuddled schoolboy’s brain, each one making his heart beat faster.
Jesus Christ, Harris, you
are
an idiot.

He couldn’t stop looking at her. He couldn’t remove his hands from her arms. He couldn’t let her go. She was right here before him, staring at him with an expression he didn’t have a hope in hell of deciphering on her exquisite face. Her smooth skin was warm against his calloused palms, her soft, sweet perfume threading into his body with every breath he took.

Christ, Harris. Do something, will you?

But before he could, Frankie raised one straight eyebrow and lifted her chin. “I don’t think we can be certain based on one kiss, do you?”

Alec’s heart slammed hard into his throat. “In that case,” he said, lowering his head a fraction closer to her, “you better kiss me again.”

“Should I now? Maybe
you
should be the one to kiss
me
?”

“And have you say I beat you once again?” He shook his head, enjoying their banter far too much. His balls ached and his dick was so hard it hurt. He wanted to kiss her like hell, but here he was—as usual—loving the sound of her voice.

Storm-grey eyes studied him from behind half-lowered lids, a small grin playing with her lips. “Should I go find a playing card again? Will that help?”

“Depends? Do you need a Ten of Hearts to hide behind?”

One dark, straight eyebrow lifted. “I don’t hide from anything.”

“And yet, I’m noticing a distinct lack of kissing going on here.”

“Maybe you’re not as clever with that tongue of yours as you thought?”

He chuckled. “To quote someone very close to me, ‘I don’t think we can be certain based on one kiss, do you?’.”

Frankie’s chin tilted. “In that case, you better kiss me again.”

Alec lowered his head closer still to her upturned face. “If you insist, Fran—”

She didn’t let him finish. Her lips found his and there was nothing chaste or hesitant about her kiss. She dipped her tongue into his mouth, swirling it around his. Her hands slid up his chest, her fingers resting lightly on his collarbone before, with a low groan, she pressed her body to his. Her breasts crushed against his chest, sending dizzying waves of pleasure through him. Her thighs moved against his legs, their smooth, leather-encased length playing with his senses. Ten years ago those legs had been the stuff of his unbidden fantasies—legs both soft and toned he’d imagined wrapped around his waist. Now, it wasn’t just his waist he wanted them wrapped around. Now, he wanted them wrapped around his head as his tongue explored the sweet, damp slit of her pussy.

Now, he wanted…

She rose up onto her tiptoes, stroking the stiffening pole of his cock with the soft mound of her groin, sucking his tongue into her mouth as she did so and it was his turn to groan.

Jesus, she was driving him wild.

His hands raked her back. He wanted to touch her. All of her.

It takes more than a rock star to rock your world. Sometimes you need a friend.

Tropical Sin

© 2011 Lexxie Couper

A
Bandicoot Cove
Story

McKenzie Wood has just spied her ticket out of tabloid journalism. A rumor-shrouded rock star who thinks he’s incognito at Bandicoot Cove resort. With a little help from her BFF she’ll be on her way to serious work in no time. Aiden’s perfect for the job—pulse-pounding gorgeous, and probably gay. After all, she’s never seen him date anyone.

Aiden Rogers admits it’s pretty damned pathetic that he can rush into burning buildings, but not have the guts to tell McKenzie he’s in love with her. No way can he tell his best friend he’d like to do some seriously sinful things to her, especially since she’s never shown one iota of sexual interest.

Nick Blackthorne looks forward to some “unfamous” down-time in his home country. He’s surprised to find his creative muse stirred—more like brought to rigid attention—by a couple so sexy that all he can think about is the three of them. Together.

Three bodies move together as one, and the music becomes a smoldering beat that rivals the island’s heat. When the truth inevitably comes out, the heat might be enough to save three souls…or end up just another sinner’s lament.

Warning: One plus one plus one equals OMG sex, are-you-freaking-kidding-me orgasms and some serious mind-blowing climaxes. 

Enjoy the following excerpt for
Tropical Sin: