Page 3 of Grip Me Tight
I lean a hip against the island. “Stella, did you ask Emma or Don about it?”
Stella rolls her eyes to the ceiling, shaking her head. “As if I’d gossip with Emma. My girl is laced straighter than anyone. Now my book club is a different matter, but I can’t talk about you boys there because everyone is on that Facebook business and I’m not one to be sharing stories about my family. I prefer TikTok, hotter men over there, but I follow Paul Hollywood on Instagram. Whew. That man can bake me a cake any day of the week.”
I blink, trying to not picture the woman we know as Nana Stella ogling anyone, but I regularly send her stuff from her book wish list and she’s got some spicy tastes. “Stella, that woman and her boyfriend are lying.”
She pats me on the arm. “I knew it wasn’t true, or Don would have flown out as soon as the piece aired, but just in case, this should be a reminder to keep your famous bits under wraps.”
I can’t help but laugh as she smiles, her eyes crinkling up. “Really, Stella. It’s all good. I’m careful.” Abstinence is best after all, or at least easiest sometimes, and I can’t even remember when I might have been with someone last. It definitely wasn’t Allflix Natasha and her boyfriend, no matter how many talk shows they go on.
“You’d better be. If either of my boys gets in trouble, I will take it as a personal offence.” An oven dings and Stella brushes her hands against her apron, heading around to check the sound. She pops up again. “You should join my book club!”
“Maybe, Stella. We’ll see when I have some time.”
She hums under her breath. “You need to make time. Creativity needs to be nurtured not pushed.” Stella raises an eyebrow at me as she pulls a pan out of the oven. “It’s not actually like giving birth, you know. Go on, now. We’ll talk later.”
I give her another one-armed hug before exiting out of the double French doors to the large deck. I step down the lawn seeing Ajax standing by the pool, where he’s stretching to show off those Viking tattoos. Laughter drifts up to me and I inhale the fresh air. Nothing in New York or L.A. smells like fresh summer air by a lake. The sun is shining, and I’d bet my new car that Noah is working on his pretty-boy tan in one of the loungers. I pick up my pace. “Hey asshole, do you need to stretch before you jerk off?”
Ajax whirls towards me with double middle fingers extended before doing some fancy back-flip dive into the pool. I round the low wall separating the lawn from the pool area, ready to crash on the lounger next to Noah when I notice the guys aren’t alone. Next to Noah’s dark blond head, which is gelled to cover model perfection as always, is another blonde, only this one is a silky curtain covering the ripest curves I’ve ever seen. Fuck me.
If this is the Whitlock’s castle, then I just found its princess.
Sterling is stretched out like a goddess in the lounger, her legs tan and glistening with some kind of girl glitter that probably tastes like candy. Dark glasses cover her eyes, and I can’t tell if she’s looking at me or not. She’s intently watching the pool and I turn to see Ajax doing some kind of fancy stroke as he glides through the water.
I swirl the ice in my cup, tapping down the jealously suddenly snaking through my body.
I have no claim on this girl. I lost it when I walked away five years ago.
Noah holds up his drink in a toast. “Hey man, glad you made it. How was the new ride?”
I tear my eyes away from the soft skin of Sterling’s belly, watching as she tugs her bottoms up. This is the first time I’ve been back here in what? Four years? Five years? I do the math. Five years. She was eighteen and I was nothing close to Prince Charming.
But that night tore me open, her innocent kiss unleashing something in me I haven’t been able to let go. I’ve tried to purge it with my music but seeing her again, here, in the flesh is an assault to my senses. I’ve seen her a handful of times in those years, briefly after a show she attended with her parents, and when she facetimes her brother, but never where I could reach out and touch her.
Not that I would.
Noah would kill me if he ever knew how obsessed I am with his baby sister.
How I watch her Instagram account, analyzing every guy she poses with. The embarrassing amount of times I leave a party to hole up in my hotel room, watching her YouTube channel and pretending I never walked away from her that night.
I hate myself for it. The Whitlocks gave me everything. I wouldn’t be Tanner Steele, lead singer of Kingmaker if it wasn’t for them. I wouldn’t be anything.
And how do I repay them? By fantasizing about all the filthy ways I can make Sterling mine? By acting exactly like my mother would, with no thought to anything or anyone else except what I want.
I just need to make it through a few days here. Noah’s been bugging me about how I’ve missed every Fourth of July at the lake for the last few years. And this is the five-year anniversary of signing our record deal. All the guys are going to be here, and I’d never hurt Emma and Don by staying away. I need to treat Sterling exactly as I should – which is like my own baby sister. I look at her again, trying to remember the skinny, pale kid she was instead of this goddess before me. “Hey Sterling. Long time no see.”
She doesn’t even move her head. “Hey.”
See. I can do this. Annoying baby sister.
The woman next to Sterling, however, has her sunglasses off, big brown eyes locked on me, and her mouth open in a little “oh”. Slade calls it “the blowjob face”. I give her the full stage smile as Sterling exhales a long breath. “I’m Tanner.”
The woman flushes, and a sound that can only be described as a squeak comes out of her mouth, but I get distracted as Sterling sits up, brushing her hair back over her shoulders so it falls away from the tiniest bikini top I never needed to see. Her breasts also have that glittery shit on them, drawing attention to the way they jiggle as she moves, making my mouth water. Goddamn it. I knew it was a mistake to come. I haven’t been in this house for more than twenty minutes and I’m already ashamed of myself.
I flop into the empty lounger between Sterling and Noah, assuming it’s where Jax was sitting before he decided to show off in the pool. I should just go back inside but it’s too nice out and I’m a grown man. I can resist temptation. I pull my sunglasses down over my eyes so I can at least pretend I’m not gawking at my best friend’s baby sister. She pulls one tanned leg up, and I try not to picture myself sliding my hand under her thigh and helping her spread them for me. Fuck. This was a bad idea. I grab a magazine from the stack that’s on a tray next to the lounger and start flipping, not paying attention to any of the photos.
“By all means, make yourself comfortable,” Sterling drawls. “Tanner, this is my friend Claire, who normally possesses the ability to talk. Claire, Noah’s best friend Tanner.”
“Tanner Steele – I am such a big fan.” Claire reaches across Sterling to hold out her hand. Sterling’s stomach dips as her friend’s arm grazes the glistening skin and I force myself to look away.
