Page 75 of Lick
Next he reached over and turned off the water, stepped out, and grabbed two towels. One he tied around his waist, the other he patted me dry with.
“That was good, right?” I asked as he dried off my hair, tending to me. My body still shook and quivered. It seemed like a good sign. My world had been torn apart and remade into some sparkly surreal love-fest thing. If he said it was only okay, I might hit him.
“That was fucking incredible,” he corrected, throwing my towel onto the bathroom counter.
Even my grin quivered. I saw it in the mirror. “Yes. It was.”
“Us together, always is.”
Hand in hand we walked back into the bedroom. Being naked in front of him didn’t feel weird for once. There was no hesitation. He discarded his towel and we climbed onto his giant-size bed, gravitating naturally toward the middle and each other. We both lay on our sides, face-to-face. I could slip into a coma, I was so worn out. Such a pity to have to close my eyes when he lay right there in front of me. My husband.
“You swore at me,” he said, eyes amused.
“Did I?”
His hand sat atop of my thigh, his thumb sliding back and forth over my hip bone. “Gonna pretend you don’t remember what you said? Really?”
“No. I remember.” Though I hadn’t meant to say it, neither the cuss word nor the declaration of love. But I had. Big-girl-panties time. “I said I was in love with you.”
“Mm. People say stuff during sex. It happens.”
He was giving me an out, but I couldn’t take it. I wouldn’t take it, no matter how tempting. I wasn’t about to diminish the moment like that.
“I am in love with you,” I said, feeling awkward. The same as when I’d said I trusted him, he was going to leave me hanging here too. I knew it.
His gaze lingered on my face, patient and kind. It hurt. Something inside me felt brittle and he brought it straight to the fore. Love made spelunking look sensible. BASE jumping and wrestling bears couldn’t be far behind. But it was much, much too late to worry. The words were already out there. If love was for fools, then so be it. At least I’d be an honest one.
He stroked my face with the back of his fingers. “That was a beautiful thing to say.”
“David, it’s okay—”
“You’re so fucking important to me,” he said, stopping me short. “I want you to know that.”
“Thank you.” Ouch, not exactly the words I wanted to hear after I admitted I loved him.
Rising up on one elbow, he brought his lips to mine, kissing me silly. Stroking my tongue with his and taking me over. It left no room for worry.
“I need you again,” he whispered, kneeling between my legs.
This time we did make love. There was no other word for it. He rocked into me at his own pace, pressing his cheek against mine, scratching me with his stubble. His voice went on and on, whispering secrets in my ear. How no one had ever been this right for him. How he wanted to stay just like this as long as could. Sweat dripped off his body, running over my skin before soaking into the bedsheet. He made himself a permanent part of me. It was bliss. Sweet, tender, and slow. Maddeningly slow near the end.
It felt like it went on for forever. I wish it had.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Adrian went ballistic over the bruises on David’s face. He didn’t seem too pleased to see me again, either. There was a brief flash of shark’s teeth before I was hustled into a corner of the big dressing room out of harm’s way. Security stood outside, letting only those invited into the inner sanctum.
The show was in a ballroom at one of the big, fancy hotels in town. Lots of twinkling chandeliers and red satin, big round tables crammed full of stars and the pretty-people posses that accompanied them. Luckily, I’d worn a blue dress, the only one that remotely covered everything, and a pair of the mile-high shoes Martha had ordered. Kaetrin, Bikini Girl, David’s old friend, had been on the other side of the room, wearing a red frock and a scowl. She was going to get wrinkles if she kept that up. Happily, she got bored with pouting at me after a while and wandered away. I didn’t blame her for being mad. If I’d lost David, I’d be pissed too. Women hovered near David, hoping for his attention. I could have high-fived someone over the way he ignored them.
There was no sign of Jimmy. Mal sat with a stunning Asian girl on one knee and a busty blond on the other, much too busy to talk to me. I still hadn’t met the fourth member of the band, Ben.
“Hey,” David said, exchanging my untouched glass of Cristal for a bottle of water. “Thought you might prefer this. Everything okay?”
“Thank you. Yes. Everything’s great.”
Wonderful man, he knew I still hadn’t recovered enough from Vegas to risk the taste of alcohol. He nodded and passed the glass of champagne off to a waiter. Then he started slipping out of his leather jacket. Other people might put on tuxedos, but David stuck to his jeans and boots. His one concession to the occasion was a black button-down shirt. “Do me a favor and put this on.”
“You don’t like my dress?”
