CHAPTER TEN
“Simon. If you don’t fucking clue in, I’m going to smash my camera into the back of your head.”
He tipped his head back and took a deep breath in, then out.
Two of the most beautiful and sought after women in music were lounging over him and he kept zoning out.
He wanted only one woman. Her lush body fit his as if it had been created for him. Her berry stained lips were the ones he wanted next to his face. Her honeysuckle scent was the one he wanted all over him.
Right now some sweet flower from Lindsey and a spicy fall scent came off Jamie—both mixed to give his already raging headache a little more power. “Sorry.”
“I’m not asking a lot. Just look like you actually want to have these two beautiful women in your lap.” Roman crouched in front of the throne-sized chair. “Now give me sexy.”
Jamie turned his head toward her and pressed her forehead to his. “At least try and look like you’re not going to murder everyone in the place. How’s that?”
Simon let out a half-laugh. “Deal.”
“There we go.” Roman moved around them in his favorite bent-into-a-pretzel style.
Lindsey slipped her arm around Simon’s neck and hovered her lips a breath away from his jaw.
At Roman’s orders, Jamie crawled behind Simon in the chair. Her ridiculously long, coltish legs allowed her to perch on the arms behind him, and she pressed her body flush to his. “Don’t get any ideas, pal.”
Simon grinned. “Wouldn’t dream of it, tiger.”
Roman continued calling out orders to move around for new shots. For the next one, Lindsey straddled Simon and looked over her shoulder at the camera.
A year ago, this would have been his ultimate dream. The unfairness of his complete lack of enjoyment was soul-destroying. At least for the Super Slut he used to be. He’d earned that name and had no problem with his love for women. But nothing could compare with Margo now.
Not even the two amazing women practicing Twister with his body.
“Right there.” Roman knelt down in front of the chair. His camera was clicking away, but with each successive shutter frame the lens rose until Simon was pretty sure it was simply Jamie in his crosshairs. Simon craned his neck and saw the smolder and his skin sizzled off the sexual chocolate simmering between the designer and guitarist.
“Need a room?” Simon asked.
Jamie blinked and cleared her throat, then pressed a knee into his shoulder blade.
Simon choked on a laugh as Roman barked orders. A flash of white drew his gaze to the doorway and he stilled. Jamie’s knee was between his legs and her foot behind his back. Both girls were balancing precariously on either arm of the chair and using his shoulders to prop themselves up.
Margo.
She stood there in old jeans that showed off her incredible legs and curves and a little white tank that made his mouth water. At least until he saw the blank expression on her face. Then she started backing away.
“Margo!”
Jamie’s head swiveled then she looked down at their rather intimate situation and said, “Fuck.”
Simon lifted Jamie and her eyes widened.
“Whoa, cowboy.”
Lindsey hopped down on her own. “Go get her.”
“I’m going.” Simon set Jamie down and ignored Roman’s bark to come back. He clomped across the set, around wires and lights and huge screens. He met Ellie at the doorway and she pointed.
“Hot brunette went that way.”
“Fuck.” He kicked off the too-big-for-him boots. It didn’t matter when he was sitting for the last hour and a half, but now that he needed to move that wasn’t going to work. He picked his way across the equipment still set up for outside shots. He still had three more sittings to do. He spotted her near the large mural that was going to be their next shoot. “Margo.”
She froze.
“Dammit, babe. Why’d you run?”
She hunched her shoulders. “I know you told me to go, but I couldn’t. Seeing them—Jamie and Lindsey all over you. I couldn’t. I just—” She hugged herself.
“It’s for the camera. The entire time all I could think was God, why isn’t this Margo? The only one who fits me is my Violin Girl. No other girl comes even close.” He moved closer. “No other woman could come close.”
She turned around. Her dark eyes were full of emotion, tears starring her lashes. “Seeing you like this, I don’t know if I can do it.”
“I quit.”
“What?” Her eyebrows shot up. “No, you can’t quit.”
“I’ll find another way. Right now. Done.”
“Uh, Simon?” A voice behind him made him turn. Jase, Roman’s right hand man and builder extraordinaire, lifted an eyebrow. “Contract,” he whispered.
“Don’t care.”
Margo took a step forward. “He doesn’t mean that.”
Jase folded his arms. “Oh, I know or I’ll break his spine.”
Simon swallowed down the very real lump in his throat. If anyone could snap him like an overstrung guitar string it would be Jase Rhoderick. He was pretty sure the guy’s shoulders were as wide as he was tall. “Losing you isn’t an option. Period.”
Margo’s hands fell to her sides and her chest rose and fell faster. “But you said—”
“I was pissed off and embarrassed.” He looked at his glowing white feet peeking from the leather pants. “I’m hung over and still pissed off, but not at you. Not really anyway.” His gaze locked with hers. “I’m trying here, Margo. I’m new to this whole relationship deal, too.”
She frowned. “Hung over?”
He sighed. “I fucked up.”
She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s my fault, too. I was so upset last night I did the same damn thing. Woke up on Lila’s couch. I meant to go home. I swear I did.”
A few of the knots in his belly eased.
“I’m sorry.” She looked over his shoulder and her cheeks paled.
“Ignore them.”
“There’s a whole lot to ignore,” she muttered.
Simon had been modeling long enough to know that this was prime Twitter and Facebook-worthy stuff. Jesus fuck, it would probably be on YouTube. But he couldn’t focus on that, even if there were probably twenty people behind him watching. If he let her slip through his fingers now, she’d clam up. He knew her. Knew her down to the bones, no matter what she believed.
And loved her beyond that. If she left him right now, he’d never recover. “You’re it for me, Violin Girl.”
“There’s stuff I need to tell you. Stuff that cannot go on social media.” She nodded to the people over his shoulder. “But I love you, Simon. So much that it scares the hell out of me.”
He moved closer. “Yeah well, the only part that scares me is losing you. So let’s not do that, huh? But you gotta trust me. A little part of me doesn’t mind the jealousy, but a lot more of me wishes you believed I’d never do anything to fuck this up.”
She nodded and rushed to him, her arms curling around his neck. “I know. At least I’m trying to believe that. Nothing feels right without you.”
God, she felt so good.
She pulled back enough that their lips lined up. “You’re the one who brought real music into my life.” Her voice was low and intimate. “Without you, it’s just chamber music, but with you it’s magic.”
His chest tightened. He’d pushed so hard to get back to the band to have that life back inside him, but what he’d really needed to hear was this. “I’m going to kick ass and get back to making music with you again. I swear it.”
Her breath shuddered out. “Good. Because I’d really like that. Your voice belongs with my strings. You know that, right?”
“Baby, it was meant to be from the very beginning.”
He tasted salt on her lips and felt the sorrow fade out inside him. He replaced it with all the love he had to give. This woman was the end of the line. And he wasn’t going to let her go.
Ever.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, just go,” Roman snarled.
Simon broke the kiss and looked over his shoulder. “Oh, shit.”
Twenty people had been a supreme understatement. The entire crew and all the models were crowded into the little garden. Roman stood with his hands on his hips and a frown on his face. “Just know you lost the cover of Rolling Stone if I didn’t get the perfect shot last session,” he said and turned on his heel.
“Worth it,” Simon said against Margo’s cheek.