The Rock Season (18 page)

McShane

I learned first-hand that Stevie’s whiplash moods were real last night. When I came out of the bathroom and found her curled up in a ball I thought I had supremely fucked things up. But when I listened to her fears, they were mine as well. I knew this wasn’t too good to be true because I could feel just how hard I was going to have to work to get her to trust me. And I was going to earn her trust. There was no other alternative because I loved her so deeply, already, that her presence in my life was a necessity. I wanted to keep her tucked up against my body for the rest of my days. Ok, obsessive and unrealistic, true, but that’s what making love to this Goddess would do to an otherwise sane man.

When the first rays of sunlight filtered into my apartment the next morning and illuminated her pale skin and radiant hair, my heart was light and full of joy. I knew as long as she was asleep, I could watch her like this and not have to worry about anything. What I worried about was which mood would greet me when her eyes opened.

“Aaron,” she called out softly. I ran my fingers down her back and she snuggled deeper into the mattress. “Are you a morning person,” she asked, still with eyes closed.

I chuckled. “I don’t know. I don’t really have a preferable time of the day. Why?”

She turned her face toward me and opened one eye. “Good,” she said and then she flipped over and pulled me to her, kissing me excitedly. My arms wrapped around her and I smiled like a loon.

“I could become a morning person if you greeted me like this every day.”

She pushed me over and straddled me, her long hair cascading around her shoulders. “I’m not always this perky but I feel incredibly good this morning.” She bent down to kiss me and her hand wandered to determine whether I was completely awake. Which I was. And so on board with this turn of events. She sat up and flung her hair back. Her hands came up to her breasts and she pinched her nipples while smiling coyly.

“I was dreaming about you,” she purred as she lifted up and sank down on me.

“GOD, Stevie, what the hell were you dreaming about?”

She giggled and proceeded to show me. Her hips ground against me in a slow rhythm that had me reeling. If I thought she was incredible last night, this morning she was unbelievable. I reached up to cup her breasts and then she leaned forward, her hands supporting her on the wall above my head.

“You feel so good,” I spoke against her breasts as her movements increased.

She was lifting herself up just enough to push me even deeper into her core when she came down. I was quickly losing my mind from the fervency of our coupling. Before I knew what I was doing, my hands were gripping her hips hard. I brought her down roughly, rapidly, slamming her pelvis against mine. She screamed my name and I felt that tightening that told me she was going to come. The excitement of her nearing orgasm spurred me on and I took over the thrusting for her. When her core gripped me, I was done for, my seed spilling into her, my heart racing.

“What an awesome way to wake up,” she cried and collapsed on top of me, her breathing as labored as mine.

Her fears seemed to be gone this morning and I wasn’t sure what to do with that. Did I bring it up? Did I just go with it and pray that she knew how I felt? I was never really good with this whole figuring women out stuff. I was going to have to consult the Oracle...My mother. Later. I was totally not thinking of my mom while I was still inside Stevie.

Stevie exhaled once more and said, “And on that note, I need a shower.” She kissed me and hopped off the bed, skipping over to her bag then into the bathroom. She was gone about twenty seconds when she came out a little more reserved and she sat down on the bed next to me.

“I forgot to actually say good morning. And thank you.” She leaned over to kiss me and I pulled her into me.

“You’re right. You did. And I’m not ready for the hard-core cuddling to end just yet.” I kissed her and felt her smile against my lips before she relaxed into me. She covered me with her body and I stroked her back.

“I guess we know we’re compatible in the morning,” I spoke against her hair. I felt her breath on my chest and it warmed me.

“I guess so,” she answered back quietly.

I wrapped her in my arms, willing time to stop so I could hold her like this forever. But the day had to start. I looked at the clock to see it was 7:30. Breakfast was served at 8:00, for a few more days anyway. When the twins went back to school, we’d eat earlier. I couldn’t believe they were about to be seniors! It was time to start taking them to visit colleges. I was deep in this thought when Stevie started to move.

“Hey,” I said, holding her tighter. “You’re trapped here until you tell me how you’re feeling this morning and how you slept.”

She chuckled. “What if I never tell you, will you hold me all day?”

Talk about perfection! “Mmmm, that is a tantalizing proposition. But I really do want to know.”

She looked up at me and rested her chin on her hands on my chest. “I feel optimistic this morning. Maybe still a little nervous. Physically, I feel incredibly good. I slept great. Any further questions?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Nervous? Anything I can do to ease the nerves?”

She shook her head. “Nope. So what’s the plan for today? Do you need me to take off? I don’t want to be in-”

“Stevie? Can you lose that phrase from your vocabulary? You are never in the way. On the flip side, please don’t feel like you have to hang around if you need to leave. Just know that I’d keep you here permanently if I could.” Shit, was that too much? I searched her eyes for her reaction. The timid smile I got in return said I had a long way to go in proving to her that I was serious.

“Permanently, huh? Be careful what you wish for, Aaron. I don’t want you to regret it.”

Now what the hell did she mean by that?

We opted to shower together, even though I warned her my shower was pretty tiny. There wasn’t much room to maneuver, but we managed to have fun. I loved washing her hair. There was so much of it. She said she had been thinking of cutting it, that it was getting to be too much to take care of.

“You could share some with me, but I don’t know that I could pull off the curly red-haired look.” I held her hair up to my skin and she threw her head back laughing.

“Yeah, I don’t think so. Why did you start shaving? I love it, by the way. It’s very sexy, very you. Just curious.”

I lathered up my hands and turned her around so I could massage her back. She sighed happily under my hands, which of course made me smile. “It got really thin, probably from the twins and the stress of my old job. I started shaving it, I guess when I turned 30. I was tired of trying to piece it together every morning. It’s much easier now. Unless, of course, you want me to go Hair Club for Men or get a hairpiece. I’d do it for you.”

She was giggling like crazy and she turned around. “No way,” she said and looked me up and down. “I like you au naturale. Besides, you have hair in all the right places. Enough for me to run my fingers through.”

And boy did she. She made a liar out of me when she caused me to rise to attention.

“One-trick pony, eh? That looks like a Thoroughbred stud right there!”

I slapped my hand over my face, once again shocked by something that came out of her mouth. She took her turn with the soap, washing my front and then turning me to massage my back. Her hands were magic. And there was not enough room in this damn shower.

“Are you finished playing in here? Because I want to play some more.”

Her eyes flared and she turned off the water. And we played for so long we missed breakfast. When we finally got around to getting dressed I said, “I’m sure there’s leftovers or we can grab something on the way to the shop. I need to be there by ten to open up. And really, you don’t have to hang around all day. I usually stay until the late afternoon on Saturdays.”

She shrugged as she tugged on a pair of jeans. Suddenly I forgot what I was doing. She looked stunning. It reminded me of the show where I had to pat her down. I wished I could have taken my time that day and now I was faced with having that gorgeous body in front of me at work. I was grinning like mad and she stopped dressing to frown at me.

“What are you smiling about,” she asked, hands on her hips, her breasts barely covered by a navy lace bra.

“I’m smiling because this will likely be my best day at work ever if I get to admire you in those jeans all day.” She blushed and I couldn’t resist. I backed her into the wall and my hands caressed her breasts through her bra. Her head fell back and she moaned. “When you blush like that, love, it spreads right down to your lovely breasts and it makes me want to just bury myself here.”

She sighed happily and said, “Well, heaven forbid you hold back, baby.”

I could almost feel myself getting ready for round three when my phone started buzzing in my pocket.

“Shit. We were almost going to go for the record.”

Her hands came up to her mouth and her eyes flared as she looked down at my reaction to her and giggled.

“Schroeder. What’s up?”

“You coming in today, McShane? Because I’ve got time booked at the studio and Callie’s busy at the tattoo shop.”

“Yeah, I’m coming in a bit.”

Stevie giggled and I felt my cheeks get hot at the double meaning there. I cleared my throat and said, “Hey, thanks for watching the twins yesterday. How did they do?”  

Schroeder was quiet for a minute. “They were fine, a bit nervous and down. What the fuck happened?”  

I told him I’d give him the whole story later, but for now I needed to get Stevie fed and over there.

“She’s still there? On her own volition? Damn, McShane. Nice work!”

I told him what he could do on his own volition and he was laughing as he hung up. Unfortunately, I’d missed watching her finish getting dressed. She was wearing a gorgeous navy blouse with just enough skin showing that I knew I’d be sporting a semi all day. Life was good.

Stevie

Aaron was a god. That much was made perfectly clear the second time he rocked my world this morning. He tried to blow it off and say he had a lot of built up tension since he’d met me, but I knew things were only going to get better in that department. He was so strong and passionate. And patient. God! I was torn between feeling really at ease with him and worrying about when the other shoe was going to drop.

We wandered over to the big house and I pointed out where I had planted the bulbs yesterday. His father had a lovely garden going, but there was a lot of real estate that could be given some TLC. If the McShanes let me stay around for a while, I intended to have at it.

“I see you eyeing the yard. I’m sure it would make my father very happy if you wanted to garden with him. He was very disappointed that he couldn’t have a vegetable garden this year. He bitches every time he has to go to the Farmer’s Market.”

I had stopped walking and was looking around. I noticed a sunny patch on the side of the house with the remains of a garden from last year. I blew a curl up out of my face and smiled. Oh, this could be fun.

“I haven’t been able to really garden since I lived at home with my parents. I loved spending hours outside, planting flowers and food. In college I helped start a community garden near the UC Santa Cruz campus and worked there every weekend. I bought a townhouse after I graduated in Palo Alto with the money from the sale of my parent’s place, but it only had a deck in the back so I had to settle for container gardening.” I looked up at Aaron and gave his hand a squeeze. “I could really have fun back here.”

His expression was loving as he scooped me up against him and kissed me. And kissed me. And kissed me until we heard a throat clearing behind us.

“Morning, Pops. Sorry we missed breakfast.”

Mr. McShane was standing on the back porch with a glass of iced tea in his hand smiling down at us. “Not to worry, son. I’m glad the two of you had some time together. You working at the shop today, yeah?”  

Aaron nodded, leading me up the steps toward the kitchen. He stopped in front of his Pops, who looked really excited for us.

“Stevie’s going to come with me. Do you need anything today? I thought we could take a walk after dinner-”

“It’s alright, son. Your mother and I are going out on a date tonight and we plan to do some walking. You two just enjoy yourselves. Stevie, thanks for humoring an old man yesterday. I hope you are right about those Asiatic lilies you talked me into.”

I beamed at him. “Care to make a wager?”  

His eyes narrowed and he grinned wickedly. “Be careful, lassie. This old dog used to be quite a gambler.” He was such a flirt, much more outgoing than Aaron.

I raised an eyebrow at him and said, “If I’m right about the lilies, how about you let me get you some produce growing on that side over there.”

His eyes lit up and he turned to see where I was pointing. “That sounds like a winner for me. What do I get if I win?”  

I looked at Aaron and shrugged, not knowing what he would want. I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, “What do you want, McShane?”

He laughed out loud and slapped at his thigh. “How about ye let me take that car of yers for a drive. I used to have one back before Aaron was born. I wouldn’t mind getting under that hood again.”

I don’t know what it was about these damned McShane men, but I was completely unable to resist.

“You can take her out anytime you like, Mr. McShane. She needs a little tune-up. I haven’t had the right tools to do it. Her timing’s a little off.”

He frowned and looked down at my car with me. “I’m sure I’ve got what ye need, Stevie. Whenever ye’d like to work on it, let me know. This could be fun.”

I gave his forearm a squeeze and turned to Aaron to find him shaking his head at me with that astounded look on his face. Had no one ever been good to his family before? Had he dated such callous, self-centered women it was so unbelievable that I would want to know these people? They were important to him! Not to mention they were just great people! I’d somehow managed to get Grandma Samadi to talk to me about her life in Afghanistan. I’d learned how to crochet from Grandma McShane, something I’d always wanted to learn. And I got to garden and maybe even work on my car with his father! This was a dream come true for me! It was in no way a burden or something I’d have to put up with to be with him. I needed to show him this. Somehow. Right now I needed breakfast.