Rock Steady (16 page)

Tom turned and gave her a mock salute. He disappeared, Drake falling into step with him.

“So, now that the work is done”—Kate appeared in the doorway—“is it girl time?”

Jewel grinned. “If there is food involved, you’re on.”

Syon’s wife smiled. “Food and shopping.”

Jewel grabbed her bag and punched off the lights on the way out of the room. Most of the crew was kicking back after a day of stage building and sound checks. Their work wasn’t done. They’d be at it again in the morning. But there was music going at the other end of the floor, where one of the suites had been opened up as a party room. Hotel staff was arriving with food, and drinks were flowing.

Syon Braden looked up as Kate came into sight. He disengaged himself from the crew he’d been talking with and came down the hallway toward his wife.

“I’m going to spend as much of your money as possible,” Kate informed him.

“Hmm…” he growled softly as he leaned down and pressed a hard kiss against her lips. She wiggled, but he held her and kissed her for a long moment before allowing her to get away.

“Buy something lacy,” he said, looking behind her at Yoon. The bodyguard shared a look with Syon before Kate reached over and grabbed Jewel by the wrist.

“Come on… Let’s make our escape. I think the testosterone levels in here might be toxic.”

“Possibly,” Jewel agreed.

They ended up in the elevator, heading down to the ground floor. Yoon was with them, and another man who looked just as deadly as the Asian bodyguard.

“This is Steven,” Kate said, introducing the stranger. He offered Jewel a nod.

“Ramsey and Taz are feeling protective of you after your little run-in back in Portland,” Kate explained.

“What?” The doors opened, the two bodyguards exiting first.

Kate shrugged. “Trust me, you can argue, but you are never going to win, especially now that you and Ramsey are involved.”

“We’re not involved,” Jewel said.

Kate shot her a questioning look.

Jewel felt her cheeks heat. “You guys are like some weird medieval clan who knows everybody’s business.”

Kate laughed as they made their way past the entry doors. Outside, the paparazzi waited.

“Kate, are you pregnant?”

“Jewel, are you Kate’s lover?”

The cameras flashed as Yoon and Steven closed the doors of a limousine to give them privacy.

“We all live in one another’s back pockets during concert season,” Kate offered with a shrug. “So everyone knows Ramsey spent the night in your room.”

“We didn’t have sex,” Her cheeks caught fire as her memory offered up exactly what they had shared. Kate didn’t miss it either.

“I’m a virgin,” Jewel spat out. It was a defensive move, and it backfired.

Kate’s mouth dropped open. “Ramsey deserves more credit than I thought.”

Jewel drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Well, he doesn’t like hearing anyone tell him he’s got a good heart. Just remember, I warned you.”

“Oh, that I know,” Kate said. “The first month I was on tour with these guys, we tangled.”

“Yeah?”

Kate nodded.

“How did you end up on tour with Toxsin?”

It was a safe topic and a fun one. Kate’s eyes glittered with merriment as she launched into a tale of torn pants, a partner who was too scared of heights to get into a helicopter, and Syon Braden ambushing her into joining the tour to keep the band in leatherwear.

By the time she’d finished, the limo had slid quietly up to the main entrance of an upscale shopping mall. Kate happily bounded through the doors while Jewel hung back, sure there was a surcharge just for entering. But Kate’s bubbly personality was infectious. Jewel was drawn into their expedition, even when it ventured to the top floor where the designer-label dresses were. Here there were plush chairs to sit in while waiting, and racks of unique feminine apparel that delighted the senses with their style and crafting.

Jewel indulged herself by trying on a sapphire-blue dress that gave her heart palpitations when she glanced at the price tag. The moment she left the dressing room, the style specialists brought over shoes and even an expensive leather purse that matched the dress perfectly.

“That makes you look like a million bucks,” Kate said from where she was standing on a viewing box with three full-length mirrors surrounding her.

“You too,” Jewel responded. Kate had on a cotton dress that complemented her red hair.

“It needs alterations.” Kate pulled on the middle of the dress. “I wish I had your bustline. I always have to get a size bigger.”

“Please…” Jewel responded. “I’m the girl stuffing tissues in her bra because I think I should look like you.”

A tailor arrived, claiming Kate’s attention. Jewel used the moment to escape to the dressing room. She took one last longing look at herself before she took the dress off and hung it carefully back on the hanger. She left it in the dressing room.

They made their way to an unmarked entrance that led them to a private Italian restaurant.

“Paparazzi-free zone,” Kate said with a flourish of her hand. “Something I undervalued the idea of just a short year ago.”

Jewel accepted a menu before answering, “They are insane.”

Kate shook her head as she turned a page in the menu. “I ended up in a fountain once, trying to escape. Taz rescued me. Yoon is his cousin.”

The bodyguard was seated at another table with Steven.

“Honestly, I think this is a little overreacting,” Jewel said. There were no prices on the menu. That meant it was way out of her budget. The money Tom had given her was about to be yanked out of her “resettlement fund.” At least the place smelled amazing.

“Good luck convincing the boys of that,” Kate informed her with a hint of mirth in her voice. “Ramsey in particular.”

Jewel had broken off a piece of bread and pointed it at Kate. “That’s hitting below the belt. Where’s your sister spirit?”

“I went through a fountain; you got run off the road,” Kate countered. “Besides, I’ve got my hands full with my man-child husband. I’m sort of hoping you’ll throw a saddle on Ramsey.”

Jewel snorted at the mental image, but the look of expectation in Kate’s eyes sent a shiver of anticipation down Jewel’s body.

* * *

The party was still in full swing when Jewel made it back to the hotel. The mood was changing though, the vibe shifting to something more along the lines of “Red Light District.”

Somewhere down the hallway there was a different song being played. It was deeper, with more bass.

“The boys are working,” Kate said.

Kate crooked her finger at Jewel and then laid it against her lips as they neared the side of the hotel where the presidential suites were located. Kate slid her key card through the door and opened one side of the double-door entrance slowly.

The music spilled out like vapors. It wrapped around them as Kate gestured Jewel inside. There wasn’t any artificial light on in the suite. Instead, there were candles, their golden light illuminating Syon and Ramsey as they played near the open patio doors.

It was captivating. Ramsey was leaning back, the guitar across his groin as he fingered the strings. There was no denying how deep his music ran—she would have sworn she saw it flowing out of his soul in that moment. Kate kicked her shoes off, so her heels wouldn’t disturb the moment. Jewel did the same and moved closer as Syon and Ramsey continued to play.

The pair were connected somehow. Jewel wouldn’t be so arrogant as to say she understood it, only that she knew she was witnessing a connection that ran soul deep. It was Toxsin’s foundation, that thing that so many people didn’t credit the rockers with having.

Dedication to their music.

Sure, it was heavy metal.

But in that moment, there was an undeniable beauty.

They finished and plunged the suite into silence. There was a laptop on the table in front of them. Syon punched something on it, and the screen lit up. It was muted, but with only the candlelight in the room, it seemed bright. Ramsey leaned over and looked at the screen, both of them staring intently at whatever was there before Syon touched a stylus to the screen and made a change. Ramsey nodded in agreement.

They cued it up again, filling the suite with sound once more.

Ramsey locked gazes with her. Her breath got lodged in her throat as he pumped the music out while watching her. A chill raced across her skin and down her spine, leaving her nipples hard and her toes curled. She wanted to sway with the tempo, let her hips follow along in time with the rhythm. He was gauging her reaction, watching her to see what her response was. She got the impression she was seeing a part of him very few people had ever glimpsed. It was the thing she’d seen on stage, just glossed over by his performance persona.

This was who he was. The demon he embraced instead of fought.

It was fucking beautiful.

The music was reaching its finale. Kate moved closer, her body flowing with the melody. She stretched up and kissed her husband. He pulled out the last few notes as his mouth claimed hers. Kate was between Ramsey and Syon, in contact with both of them as she stretched up onto her toes to kiss Syon. Ramsey didn’t move away—he was finishing up the last of the notes, still watching Jewel, still waiting to see what she’d do.

She realized he wanted her honest, knee-jerk response.

Isn’t that what you crave from him as well?

It was.

She was in motion without further thought. Moving toward him, letting herself be caught in his gravitational pull. He was waiting for her, his eyes glittering with anticipation. She smelled him as she got closer, the scent of his skin filling her senses. It drove her insane, and she was happy to dispense with sanity.

All she wanted was the madness he stirred in her.

She flattened her hands on his chest, slipping between the open fronts of his vest to connect with his bare skin. The nipple bar was warm, and she teased it, turning it with a gentle touch as she watched him.

He curled his lips back and bit the air between them. He cupped her nape, squeezing it just hard enough to send a jolt of awareness down her spine. But he didn’t kiss her. He released her and set his guitar aside. The candle flames flickered as he turned and scooped her off her feet, carrying her through a doorway into one of the two bedrooms the suite offered.

The door closed behind them, leaving the candlelight behind. The darkness suited her. She wanted to do everything she’d always shied away from. All of the things the night was fabled to be full of.

She wanted those. All of them.

Immoral or not. Maybe even more so if there was depravity involved. To put it bluntly, she wanted to sin.

She slid her hands into his hair and gripped it before he found his way to the bed. He sucked in a harsh breath as she angled her head and kissed him. She was hungry and went after his mouth with the appetite of a starving woman.

Ramsey let her legs down onto the bed and captured her nape as he kissed her back, hard.

She purred with delight.

Not a soft, cat sound. More like a lioness. She didn’t want to be petted; she wanted to take what she pleased.

And it was right within reach.

She kissed her way down his neck. His skin was hot and soft, but the muscles corded as he lifted his chin and stretched out to offer himself to her. She kept going until she found the bar adorning his right nipple. She licked it, drawing a word of profanity from him.

It filled her with boldness.

She reached down and found the ties holding his leather pants closed. She tugged at them and lifted her head when they didn’t release easily. It took a moment before she loosened them completely and opened them.

His cock sprang out, hard and hot. She teased it with her fingertips as she slipped lower on the bed.

“Jewel—” He caught a handful of her hair, stopping her.

But it was the stress in his voice that pleased her. She teased his cock again, drawing her fingers from the tip to the base and then back up. He shuddered, his body responding instantly.

“My turn,” she muttered determinedly. “And you’re going to just take it.”

His grip tightened in her hair, his features hard as he contemplated her. Jewel didn’t leave the matter open to his opinion though. She leaned down, pulling her own hair until he released it. She heard him suck in his breath as she teased the head of his cock with her lips.

“Holy shit!”

He growled when she opened her mouth and took the head of the organ between her lips. There was a slight salty taste. She drew her tongue across it, suddenly finding a use for all the coarse suggestions her ex-boss had delighted in vocalizing.

With Ramsey, they suddenly lost their seediness. Became something she was eager to try. She wanted to drive him to the extremes he’d pushed her to. Wanted to know she wasn’t alone in being susceptible to his allure.

So she opened her mouth wider and sucked more of his cock inside. The part that didn’t fit, she clasped her fingers around and stroked.

“Jewel…” His voice was stressed. “Stop…”

She doubled her efforts instead, using her tongue on the underside of the head, moving up and down as she hollowed her cheeks and sucked. She pumped her hand down to the base and cradled his balls in her fingers.

He made a sound that delighted her, because she recalled feeling so strained when he’d been going down on her. He was close to orgasm, and she had every intention of pushing him over the edge. He fisted a hand in her hair again, pumping his hips toward her. She felt him straining to bury more of his length inside her mouth a moment before he started spurting.

Victory was sweet. She savored the way his grip tightened in her hair and the frantic motion of his body as he thrust toward her. She kept his cock inside her mouth, sucking hard.

He collapsed on the bed, his chest rising heavily as his eyes rolled back. “That was…fucking…awesome…”

He was spent, his body relaxing as sleep claimed him. She enjoyed the sight and sometime later ended up slipping into sleep next to him.

It felt right.