3
One would think that performing the same routines twice or thrice a week would get old quickly. Or at least, that’s what Olivia thought whenever she imagined going on tour as a dancer. Of course she wanted to try it. How could she not, when that was one of the biggest tickets for a dancer like herself? But the boredom! What if it killed her?
As it turned out, nothing about touring as Rick’s leading lady was boring. Far from it! When Olivia wasn’t showing off what she could do with her body to thousands of screaming concert-goers Fridays through Sundays, she was enjoying the sights and sounds of new, unfamiliar cities she never had the chance to visit before. Chicago! Seattle! Atlanta! New York! No two cities were alike in the people or the landmarks available to enjoy. Although her body ached the morning after a show, Olivia would crawl out of her hotel room and go play tourist for a few hours. Sometimes the other dancers came with her. They laughed and took pictures in Times Square. They strolled through the Smithsonian. On a particularly hot Georgian night they went to an outdoor club in downtown Atlanta, where the dancing was hot and the men were hotter. Olivia didn’t go home with anyone that night, but she did get drunk enough to be yelled at by Thomas when they piled into a bus to drive down to Miami.
“You’re lucky we don’t have a show for three days,” he chastised her. “I’d get you fired if you showed up to a show hungover like this.”
No, the performances weren’t boring. Even after cell phone clips of Rick’s concert went up on the internet, people still stormed into arenas to watch him and Olivia do the tango for fifteen minutes. Halfway across the country José suggested that they change parts of the routine here and there. Bend her over the other leg, Rick. Pick her up and flip her backward, Rick. Sneak up behind her when she’s doing a handstand, Rick. Rick, Rick, Rick. He may be “singing” most of the songs, but it was Olivia doing most of the physical work – him lifting her not included.
In fact Olivia had the opposite problem. The routine was too exciting. There was something about the rush of dancing with this man beneath the blinding lights while thousands of people cheered and cried over how skillful they were. Olivia had never before realized how popular Rick Rodriguez was. Well, she knew he was famous and about to come into quite a fortune due to his record-breaking sales. However, until she first saw those screaming fans crying in his presence, Olivia had no idea what kind of catch she had on her hands.
All the more reason to not pursue something with him. To say she wasn’t still attracted to him was a lie. Of course she was! It didn’t help that he flirted with her all the time. Granted, Rick flirted with all the female dancers, particularly a young and talented woman named Fiona Fairweather. I wonder if there’s something going on between them. A part of Olivia wished there was. It would take the pressure off her, and she wouldn’t be so distracted whenever they were on stage and Rick touched her in the way she liked.
***
Miami was the last leg of the domestic tour. Like most of the other cities, Olivia had never been there before, and fully intended on playing tourist when she could. What she wasn’t prepared for was the oppressive Miami summer heat, which made her feel like she was drowning in the air. From the moment she stepped off the bus, Olivia began to choke on the sheer amount of humidity closing in on her. Many of the other dancers had similar problems, including the one who used to live in Florida. “There’s a reason I left this state,” she said while sweat dripped down her sunglasses. “Can we please get in the hotel where I can dry off?”
They were only spending two days in Miami anyway. As soon as they could, they were boarding a plane and flying to Mexico City for the first leg of their international tour. Thomas encouraged everyone, including Olivia, to start brushing up on their Spanish. So I guess I’ll stay in my room looking at dictionaries. Sounded like a fun night.
The crowd in Miami was particularly rowdy. People screamed so loudly that Olivia could barely hear the stage instructions in her ear piece. This was a problem, since José was the one who barked in her ear when her leg wasn’t high enough or when she was falling behind the tempo of the music. He barked at Rick too, and Olivia got to hear this as well. “Both of you are behind two paces. Pick it up during the bridge when you can drop the first two steps.” They were expected to obey with alacrity, smiling at the audience who were none the wiser.
At least Olivia wasn’t feeling so sore and tired at the end of the shows. After a month of touring, her body had acclimated to the rigorous workout she was putting herself through every other night. So when the show in Miami ended, she disappeared into the female dancers’ dressing room and merely sat down. She had rolled her ankle during one of the numbers, but it seemed fine. Nevertheless, she was going to have the tour physician take a quick look at it if she could track him down.
“Hey, I was looking for you.” Fiona appeared beside her. “I’m going to be out late tonight, so don’t wait up for me at the hotel.”
Fiona and Olivia had been sharing a hotel room since Atlanta. She wasn’t a bad roommate, but Fiona was a party girl and had more than once brought some of the party back with her. After a few conversations, Olivia finally got it across that she preferred if her roommate would keep the partying outside.
“Thanks for letting me know.” Olivia brushed her hair in front of the mirror, glancing at Fiona’s fair face in the reflection. “I’ll probably head to bed early. Have fun.”
Fiona took two other dancers with her, and Olivia assumed that they were going to go clubbing for the evening. She thought she heard something about, “Boys and toys,” and could only smile wanly. Who has the energy for that after all this touring? Olivia preferred to save hers for the international trips. Better to expend energy checking out places like Peru and Argentina than getting smashed in Miami.
Since Olivia wasn’t famous in any way, she was able to take the short walk from the arena to the hotel by herself. She appreciated having some time alone as she breathed the humid air. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than recycled air. She was not looking forward to the upcoming plane trip. The destination, sure, but not the flight itself.
The five-star hotel wasn’t that busy that time of night. Olivia stood in the lobby, fishing for her room key in her purse. Good thing she decided to look for it before getting in the elevator, too, because she sure as hell couldn’t find it even after she began pulling out her wallet, makeup, coin purse, and other smaller tidbits that could obscure the key.
“Where the hell is it?” She had half the contents of her purse emptied on a leather chair by the time she realized she no longer had the key she was given that morning.
Well, this was embarrassing. More embarrassing than anything José threatened her with at the concert that night. This was personal. People watching her on stage wouldn’t know who she was the next day. What she was about to have to do, however? That would remain ingrained in someone’s memory for at least a week.
“Excuse me,” she said to the young man behind the front counter. “I think I lost my key.”
What commenced was exactly what she expected. The attendant interrogated her about her identity, what room she was staying in, and what could have possibly happened to her key. Mercy! Of course, no one was in a huge hurry to get her a new key. That would cost money. Not to mention they may have to change the lock. If Fiona had not gone out late that night, Olivia would have waited for her to come back and apologize in the morning. But Fiona was out until who knew when, and if Olivia didn’t want to be spending the night loitering in the lobby...
“Can I see your identification card again?” This man, with his shiny hair, big nose, and droopy ears, was really starting to get on Olivia’s nerves. Three times now he had asked for her card. If Olivia weren’t careful, she may find herself talking to security. For some reason no one wanted to believe that she actually belonged to the hotel. What, did five-star hotels in Miami get a lot of scammers? Oh, no, what if they thought she was a prostitute? What kind of woman do I look like? Olivia wanted to pull her hair out, but she remembered what her mama always told her. “Be nice to the person behind the counter, and they will be nice back to you.” Yeah, right.
“Is there a problem here?”
The clerk looked up as Olivia turned around. What are you doing here? It was Rick, leaning against the counter as he watched these unfortunate events unfold. “Mr. Rodriguez!” The clerk stood to attention. “No problem, just…”
“Just that your incompetent dance partner here forgot her keycard somewhere.” Olivia took a step back. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll hang out in the lobby until Fiona gets back.” Whenever that would be. With Olivia’s life that day, Fiona probably forgot her key too.
“Now, now…” Rick leaned against the counter, flashing that smile at the clerk, who promptly paled under the strength of another man’s charms. “I can vouch for Olivia here. She’s part of my touring staff. Quite the star, really. One of these days she’s going to be big. You’ll be remiss to think that you once denied her entrance to her own hotel room. Right?”
The clerk looked between Rick and Olivia. He had begun to sweat, probably because of what a big star Rick was, but Olivia also wondered if it had anything to do with the situation at hand. “Of course we will get her a new card. Wait here, please.”
Olivia and Rick stood in silence at the counter while the clerk went off to do as he was bid. After another minute of uncomfortable quiet went by, Olivia finally thanked Rick for intervening. “I’m such an idiot. I have no idea what I did with that card.”
He put a firm hand on her shoulder. “You’re tired. We’ve finished the first leg of the tour. Heaven knows I’ve made blunders these past few days. Nobody cares when I do them.”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Must be nice.”
The clerk returned with a new keycard in his hand. He passed it over the counter to Olivia, who promptly secured it in her front pocket. “Will there be anything else, Mr. Rodriguez?”
“No thank you.” Rick took his hand off Olivia’s shoulder. “But thank you for taking care of Ms. Owens’s predicament. You can bill my room for any charges that have been accumulated.”
Turning to him, Olivia said, “You don’t have to do that. It’s my fault, so I should have to pay.” When Rick did not change his demeanor, she realized that she was not winning this argument. Whatever the charges are, they don’t mean anything to him, do they? All it would have taken was one ticket sell that night to cover the charges.
Rick put his hand on the small of her back and nodded to the clerk. “Thanks. I’ll take it from here.”
Olivia let him escort her to the elevator, tail still tucked between her legs. After he pushed the button, however, she felt compelled to say, “You really didn’t have to do that. Now that clerk is going to think I owe you something.”
“The clerk thinks it?” The elevator dinged and opened. Thankfully, it was empty, allowing the two of them to have some privacy as they rode. “So you don’t think you owe me something?”
Cheeky. Olivia wished that she were in such a silly mood right now. “I might owe you the fifty bucks it’s going to cost, but that’s not what he’s going to think at all.”
“And why’s that?”
Olivia leaned against the railing as the elevator surged upward. “Because you’re famous. Because you’re practically a rock star. Because you’re a man.”
“Deep. And maybe you and I are just friends?”
She could only give him a surreptitious look. “Work colleagues, is more like it.”
Antsy Rick continued to shift between his feet, teeth biting his bottom lip as his large hands tapped against the railing. “So we’re not even going to mention it, huh? That whole thing that happened a couple of months ago.”
Olivia bristled. “What is there to bring up? It happened. I’m not saying it never happened. There’s just no reason to talk about it.”
“Oh, come on.” Rick kept a respective distance, but Olivia noticed the exasperated way he looked at her. “I get wanting to be professional after it happened. Better than losing our shit over hormones when we’re going to be working together in a stressful situation for months. Except the other extreme is stupid too. You’re right, that guy probably thinks we’re banging. I’m a rich celebrity guy, like you said, and you’re a pretty, athletic woman whom I’m friendly with. Obviously, we’re banging. And you can’t even totally deny it, because we did do it. Or should I not mention that?”
Olivia couldn’t tell if he was frustrated or egging her on. “It bothers me, okay? I’m not ashamed of it, but I don’t want it getting in the way of my career. I’m not established like you.”
“So after we make you one of the hottest dancers in the industry… we can talk about it?”
“What is there to talk about, Rick?”
Now she was the frustrated one. Olivia clamped her hand on the railing and put her other hand on her hip, elbow effectively keeping him on the other side of the elevator. He, however, snorted and relaxed his posture. “It was a good time, for one thing.”
Breath shot out in disbelief from Olivia’s mouth. “Fantastic. You’re the type of guy who wants to talk about his conquests.”
“Conquests? Please give me a bit more respect. I don’t think of you as a conquest.”
Why hadn’t they reached her floor? “I didn’t mean it like that. I meant… oh, never mind.”
Right before they finally reached her floor, Rick stepped forward and paused the elevator’s ascent. What the hell! Olivia wasn’t afraid he might do something, but she was not in the mood for more of this discussion.
“Come hang out in my suite with me.” What was with that sloppy posture and mischievous look in his dark eyes? “As work colleagues.”
“Why would I hang out with you as a work colleague?”
“Fine. Friends. Can we at least promote whatever this is to friendship?”
Olivia pressed her hand against her forehead. “You’ve got me all wrong. I like you fine. You’re a decent guy and better dance partner. I don’t even mind talking to you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I’m hesitant to call you a friend for many reasons. Least of all the sex we had.”
“Why, then?”
“Because you’re a famous rock star and I’m a girl who works for your company? If we’re seen hanging out together, people will talk. For good reason, apparently. Since I guess I’m so pretty.” She couldn’t help but grin.
“Do you want to come up? Look, I’ll buy you whatever room service you want. You want chocolate cake? We’ll get a cake. Shrimp? I’m sure they have it. We’re a hop away from the Gulf Coast.”
Boy, he was persistent. “Why do you want to hang out with me? Aren’t there other girls you could be spending your time with? Hey, don’t you have any friends?”
“Sure I have friends! Except do you think I’m gonna hang out with José in my free time? Don’t know if you noticed, but most of the people on this trip with us are, uh, work colleagues.”
“Like me.”
“I like you in other ways. Like… we could be friends. Totally crazy concept, isn’t it?”
Olivia stepped in front of him and resumed the elevator. She undid the request for her floor and rode the rest of the way up to Rick’s suite. If nothing else, she would get to say she checked out a sweet suite in one of Miami’s nicest hotels. It has to be better than the standard room Fiona and I are in. “I’ll stay for an hour or so. Order me spaghetti. I need carbs.”
“Carbs it is. I love carbs.”
Must be nice to be a man then. If Olivia didn’t watch it, she would bloat like a stuffed bag after eating too many processed grains. In her line of work, she had to be careful about every bite. Not that it stopped her most of the time…
Rick’s suite was one of the only ones on his floor. Olivia didn’t doubt that the others were for not only the rich, but the famous as well. How many superstars walked these halls? How many political dignitaries? Business tycoons? Hell, how many plebeians like her could ever say they walked these hallowed hotel halls? I’m a groupie. Shoot. She tried not to laugh as Rick opened his door and let her step in ahead of him.
The suite wasn’t as impressive as she expected. Sure, it was big, but it was hardly gaudy. There was a big screen TV, a large bed, and lots of plush seating, but for the most part Olivia could only gauge that the expensive pieces were the minimalistic art hanging on the walls and adorning flat surfaces. I wonder if this is his sort of personality. If one looked at Rick Rodriguez, they would not guess he was rich or famous. Well, maybe rich if they knew his jeans were designer. For the most part he was a casual guy who talked easily to others. Down to Earth. No wonder so many women loved him. He was the perfect guy in their eyes. Handsome, funny, rich, and able to make their dreams come true. Few can say they screwed him, at least. Olivia belonged to some special club somewhere. She wondered how long it would take for her to get her membership card in the mail. If I screw him some more, do I get a gold card? Is it a punch system? Screw ten times, get the eleventh one free? Wait…
Rick picked up the telephone by the bed and dialed zero. “Hello?” Oh goodness, he was actually doing it. “Yup. I need the most chocolately thing you have. Brownie? Awesome. Send it up with some spaghetti. Two plates, please.”
“You want me to get fat,” Olivia said, collapsing in one of the soft chairs. She left her legs spread open as her spine slipped down the back of the chair. “Fine. Keep in mind you’re the one lifting and spinning me during the shows. Your funeral. Or hernia, whichever comes first.
“I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Rick joined her in an adjacent chair, a beer in his hands. Not any regular beer, however. The high-end stuff that was only released in limited quantities. At least he had good taste in beer. “One night of carbs and chocolate won’t wreck you.”
“Spoken like a true man.”
“Okay, I won’t pretend to know what it’s like to gain five pounds from looking at a meal.” Rick rolled his eyes all the same. “I’m willing to take the risk. Want something to drink?”
“Water’s fine.”
“That’s boring.” Rick got up and perused the selection of alcohol. “At least have Pepsi.”
“Look, we’re already pushing it with the food. Just give me water.”
“Next you’ll want to do some sit-ups before we eat.” Nevertheless, Rick got her a glass of ice water. The food arrived about fifteen minutes later.
It wasn’t so bad, hanging out with him. Olivia wasn’t sure how much they really had in common, yet sitting at a table, chatting and eating sloppy food like spaghetti was humor in and of itself. Rick ate like a total dude, shoveling food in his mouth with his hand clamped around the fork handle instead of holding it like a damned human being. At first Olivia was appalled, but then she remembered all the men in her family who ate as if they were about to go back out to the farm and tame them some wild horses.
Why do guys do that? Did they not care? Did nobody teach them how to eat right? It wasn’t attractive, and it made a mess. Yet it somehow did not detract from the handsome face that was Rick Rodriguez. Olivia caught herself sleepily staring at his stubble, the stark angles of his face, and those soft brown eyes that looked like they were ready to start trouble. When Rick asked her what she was looking at, Olivia could only pretend that she was spacing off.
After dinner they stacked up the dirty dishes on the cart they came in on and lounged in front of a large screen TV hanging above the inactive fireplace. It was too late in the year for any interesting shows to be on, so Rick left it on a movie.
“You know everyone went out to party tonight, right?” Olivia said during a commercial.
“Who?”
“Fiona and the others. They went out clubbing.”
“Of course she did. Fiona loves clubbing.”
“You know this?”
Rick flinched as if he caught himself saying something he shouldn’t. “That’s what I hear.”
“Hmmm.” Olivia leaned in, her eyes comically searching Rick’s face for a hint of bad behavior. “How close are you to Fiona, Rick Rodriguez?”
“Not close at all.” He answered that way too fast. “I mean… we’ve hung out a few times. I don’t know many details about her, though.”
Rick kept looking ahead, as if glancing at Olivia would make him come undone in his lie. “You’ve totally banged her.”
“Now, now…”
“I see how it is.” Olivia crossed one leg over the other. “You like playing with your dancers. No wonder you go to their auditions. Gotta make sure we’re your type.”
She made sure to smile when Rick finally turned his head toward her… but she didn’t smile for long. Not when Rick made such a dour face, his need to defend himself surely rising. “It’s not like that,” he said with such certainty.
“Isn’t it?”
“No. Why? You only go to the auditions for artists you wanna sleep with?”
Olivia shrugged. “Maybe. I’m not picky.”
“Neither am I. Unless I’m scouting out actual talent.”
“Do I have talent?”
The suite was silent aside from an antique clock ticking behind them. “You wouldn’t be my dance partner if you didn’t have any talent.”
He said it so sincerely that Olivia was almost caught off guard. There’s a compliment I don’t get every day. “Uh, thanks.”
“No problem.” There was that cheesy grin again, in case Olivia was getting too comfortable with the compliments. “Sorry if I ever made you feel uncomfortable.”
Now what was that for? Was Olivia coming off as uncomfortable? Apparently. “I don’t feel uncomfortable. Well, maybe now I do. What do I know? I’m confused.”
There was an awkward silence for the century. The clock kept ticking, and Olivia shifted slightly farther away from Rick on the couch. What’s bothering me so much? Was it the implication that he was sleeping with some of the dancers? Was it Olivia coming off as someone who was uneasy around him? She had half a mind to berate him for making these odd feelings swarm her stomach.
No, no, those weren’t feelings of awkwardness. Those were feelings of pure foolishness. Look at him, why don’t I? Handsome, talented Rick, with his boyish charms and somewhat rugged good looks. It almost wasn’t fair. Why did he have to be so distracting? Not that Olivia wanted to necessarily have sex with him again. Maybe I do. A little. Was it possible to have a “little” sex? And anyway, that didn’t solve the dilemma of things getting complicated with Rick some more. If they slept together again, well…
So of course that devilish man was pushing himself forward, his nose mere inches from Olivia’s as his lips searched for hers.
She should have pushed him away. She should have taken a stand. They were colleagues. Friends at the most. Lovers they were not supposed to be. That complicated things and made Olivia’s life harder. She didn’t need a man distracting her from the important things, like her work, and her… and her…
Oh, her body wanted attention. A lot of it. Right now.
Rick pushed her onto the couch, her head hitting a decorative pillow while his body overtook hers in fewer than five seconds. He did not kiss her with the same power he did back in the dance studio, however. There was a bit of trepidation in this kiss, as if he waited for her to say no and to kick him away. Why would I do that? Deep down Olivia still knew all the reasons this was a bad idea. Yet when she got what she subconsciously wanted, nothing made more sense than making out with a rock star who was just as interested in her.
So what if he fooled around with his backup dancers? So what if he would probably be bored with her in another two weeks? So what, so what? Those were things for people who didn’t like having fun and living in the moment to fret over. Olivia wasn’t going to be like that right now. She would wait until the next morning, when reason returned and she groaned into her pillow – and not because Rick did something to make her groan.
“Wait.” Rick sat up, sigh escaping his throat. Confused, Olivia stared at him, his eyes crossing and his hand disappearing into his lap. “You’re right. It’s a bad idea.”
Olivia ran her fingers through her tangling hair. “Terrible idea.”
“The absolute worst.”
“We would totally regret it.”
“It’s not like the last time was that good anyway.”
“Hey, now.”
“Sorry.”
Olivia leaned her elbow against the back of the couch, the movie completely forgotten now. So forgotten that Rick had to scramble to pick up the remote and turn the whole thing off. Once the remote fell back on the end table, Olivia said, “The reasons for not having sex are pretty big. For one, I don’t want you disrespecting me because you thought I was easy.”
“What? I don’t think you’re easy. And even if you were, what’s wrong with that?”
“Wow, you’re something else.” Olivia scratched her head, almost in disbelief. “I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy who said something like that.”
“I don’t get it. I hear stuff like that all the time. What’s wrong with casual sex?”
“Well, the other issue is if it would start interfering with our work.”
“Right.”
“So we shouldn’t.”
“Definitely not.”
“We got it out of our systems already. Move on.”
“Yup.”
They kept saying such things, and yet Olivia kept moving closer to him, and yet Rick continued to ease his head toward hers. The words, “Terrible idea to keep doing it,” were on one of their lips when they kissed, Olivia’s arms instantly wrapping around his shoulders and Rick’s hands clamping on her sides. It would only be a matter of seconds before he copped a feel.
Ah, there it was. Rick’s hand grabbing her chest and squeezing for dear life. The sudden pain and discomfort were in reality delectable, especially since Olivia reveled in the physical strength emanating from this man. She admired it whenever they danced together… how many men could pick her up like that without hardly breaking a sweat? Few. Very few. And now to feel that strength pushing into her as Rick kissed her throat and clutched her breast? This was how he seduced her last time.
Olivia had one brief moment of clarity to make a staunch decision. She moved her hand to his thigh, warm and firm beneath her touch, and brushed her fingertips against his zipper. When Rick grunted against her throat, Olivia whimpered in turn. He was hard. Her decision was to either move forward or stop this based on that.
Granted, men got hard easily. Olivia’s experiences told her that all it took was one fleeting promise of sex and a man was up to attention as if he would never get the chance again. Yet she also knew that it could take time, even when a man was his most willing to get the show on the road. This is one willing man. The crazy thing? How willing he was to be with her… and after they had done it once already.
Maybe this was a medical necessity. In their line of work, Rick and Olivia were always revving up the passion and physical desire for one another. It came with the territory of dancing like that together. Maybe sex was necessary. A reset button. A vessel for expressing those needs when they needed to the most. Olivia wouldn’t deny it. She was attracted to Rick and wanted to have sex with him again. Right now. She pushed herself against him, legs wrapping around his waist while his mouth searched for bare skin beneath her baggy T-shirt. His jacket slipped off his body and landed on the floor. Whatever he was thinking, it was definitely not related to stopping!
Whoa! Olivia’s zipper came down, Rick’s sturdy fingers doing anything but fumbling as they entered her jeans and stroked her between the legs. Fire blazed in Olivia’s gut, claiming the last of her sensibilities and any lingering morals she may have had. That’s it. We’re doing it. She opened her legs, her nod to Rick that he should do whatever the hell he wanted. Like stroke her slit beneath her lingerie and make her writhe on the hotel suite couch.
“Do you want me to?” Rick asked, voice low and heavy, the same tone he used in certain songs. The songs about sex. “Because I will.”
The man played guitar. His fingers were strong, and he knew how to use them inside and outside a woman’s body. Like now, when not one, but two fingers easily slipped into Olivia, showing her how ready she was for him.
With clothing obstructing them, Rick could not thrust into her with his fingers as readily as he may have liked. He made do, shoving deep inside, curling Olivia’s toes and making her squeeze her eyes shut. “Yes,” Olivia belatedly said. “Keep doing that.”
Rick’s teeth nipped her breast through her T-shirt, nearly catching her nipple in his mouth. Olivia squirmed, head bumping against the arm of the couch while her feet pulled as far apart as possible – her jeans strained against her skin and muscles. Go faster. Rick couldn’t. Not like this. He could only tease her with his fingers, demonstrating what he could do to her with other parts of his body.
Olivia yanked her shirt up and diverted his oral attentions to her chest, which until that point had been secure in her bra. Not anymore. Not when Rick got the idea to put his mouth to good use on one of her tips.
Between the fingers and his mouth, Olivia was completely seduced. There was no turning back again, and this time she wanted nothing more than to make proper love to him in bed. Except they were on a couch now. A couch that was quickly falling away from her as she summoned an orgasm in the pit of her stomach and moaned into Rick’s ear.
He sat up, pulling away from her but not ending their tryst. Good thing, because Olivia was nowhere near finished.
“This is nuts,” Rick said, as Olivia straddled his lap, topless, her hair falling between them as she kissed his chin and felt for his hardness between his legs. “I swear I didn’t plan on this when I invited you up…”
Olivia silenced him with a deep, heavy kiss that knocked the breath out of their chests. Her hand found what it was looking for and promptly dropped his zipper. “I didn’t plan on it either, and yet here we are, sucking face and getting ready to…”
“To?”
“Something that rhymes with suck.”
Rick had that shit-eating grin on his face when Olivia knelt on the couch and lowered her head to his lap. Speaking of suck. There was something she had been itching to do ever since the first time weeks ago.
Even now she was impressed at how hard he was, both in her hand and in her mouth when she parted her lips over the tip of his head. Rick jerked into the couch, groaning as he clapped his hand on her ass and dug his fingers into her jeans. The sensation made her warm between the thighs. His fingers, the orgasm… both conspired to do anything but shame her for how she felt. And she certainly was not ashamed to draw her tongue along his shaft, reveling in his heavy scent that made her headier with every passing second. As Olivia took half his length into her mouth and worked the rest of it with her steady hand, she imagined herself straddling him again and taking this rock star inside her like nature intended. I’ve done it once. Worth it. If Rick could fuck her like that against a wall, then what could he do to her in bed? On a couch? On the floor? Whatever he did, Olivia wanted to feel him on top of her, behind her, bearing down on her and smothering her with affection that filled her with gratitude. Yes! She stopped thinking about their positions. She stopped worrying about her career. She even stopped wondering what would happen if others found out. Olivia only cared about being with Rick right here and right now, whatever felt right.
“Damn, girl.” Rick pulled Olivia’s hair out of the way and rubbed his thumb against her cheek. “Don’t let up.”
She had to, if only to ask, “Why? You gonna come already?”
“You want me to?”
“Not if it means I don’t get this thing in bed.”
“Finalmente, I thought you would never say that.”
Olivia teased him for a few more seconds, rocking her body against his as her tongue danced and swirled around his skin. Her only hope was that she was prepared to take him the moment they got to bed – which they were heading to now, ripping off their clothes along the way – so she wouldn’t miss out on a perfect opportunity to have the lay of her life.
She hit the bed, naked, Rick crawling on top of her while spreading her legs and wrapping them around him. His hardness hit her slit the moment her head hit the nearest pillow, and here Rick Rodriguez came, their most primal instincts taking over as Olivia Owens got to fuck the world’s hottest rock star in a five-star Miami hotel room.
There was nothing gentle in the way Rick made love to her that night. Good. After a month’s worth of rebuilding sexual tension, the last thing Olivia wanted was gentle. She didn’t want to be used like a doll either, but she was all for Rick thrusting into her at a startling speed, his grunts released with every breath as his mouth sucked her skin here and kissed her body there. Blinded by these events, Olivia grabbed his shoulder with one hand and the bedspread with the other. Her toes curled tighter with every penetrative thrust, Rick reaching deep within her in search of that elusive place that no other man had managed to find before.
Just when Olivia thought she was about to lose her mind – blissfully so, at that – Rick kissed her, stalling within her core. What a damn tease! Here he was, filling her up until she couldn’t be filled anymore, his cock still as hard as it was in her mouth five minutes ago. It drove Olivia wild, her need to be satiated almost as strong as her need to breathe.
The cruel bastard pulled out, leaving Olivia to pine and moan as her fingers tried to finish the job themselves. This seemed to amuse Rick, who watched in half-fascination as his randy dance partner discovered how wet he had left her in her sorry state.
“You gonna finish me off?” Olivia asked through her teeth, none too happy to see the way Rick stroked himself. If he thought he was getting a finishing shot, he was sorely mistaken. “Save that for me.”
“Why? You want it?” He teased her, but Rick’s eyes were glazed over, wild, his voice reflecting his mental state as he swallowed Olivia’s naked body with those dark, dark eyes. Take me, now. Olivia wanted to gaze into them as he fucked her mercilessly, sending her to a paradise no woman had felt from him before. She was sure she was the first. “’Cause I will give it to you.”
Olivia sat up with him, her legs instinctively tilting her over until she knelt on the bedspread. Both legs slowly opened, her arms pulling the pillow forward as she continued to look over her shoulder at Rick. “What are you waiting for?” Wet, wet, wet. Olivia licked her fingertips and reached between her legs, not a bit ashamed to blatantly show Rick how her arousal trickled down her thighs at the thought of him taking her like this. A man with that kind of body? The same kind that tossed her around a stage and lifted her without a problem? The sheer amount of power he kept in those hips was a gift straight from Heaven. “Here’s your invitation. Don’t stop ‘til I’m done.”
She had barely removed her finger in time before Rick yanked her hips back, her bare thighs meeting his as Rick’s cock shot straight into her.
The momentum behind his thrusts made Olivia fall forward, the pillow catching her startled moan with a mere muffle. Rick held her hip with one hand and searched for hers with the other, his thrusts unrelenting, deep, and shaking her core as his heat matched hers in intensity.
With the pillow to catch her cries of pleasure, Olivia did not hold back what her body urged her to say. Words of encouragement, desire, and even incoherent shouts dissipated into the pillow and then the rest of the bed as she attempted to match the speed of his thrusts. This became moot when Rick lifted both of her hips into the air, her knees lifting off the bed as he held her down and focused on taking her as she invited him to.
Olivia was going to lose it. Especially when she stroked her wet, swollen nub, her fingertips grazing against Rick’s cock as it made her his own. “Don’t stop,” she whispered into the pillow, aware that Rick could not hear her. “I’m so…”
Her second orgasm hit her long and hard. The kind that would have buckled her knees if they were still supporting her on the bed. Instead she was left to kick the air, legs jerking in his hands as her loins danced in delight at how good it felt to be purged of the sexual tension mounting between them. Because Rick had now fully mounted her, and poor, hedonistic Olivia lost her senses in a single instance. When they returned, it was with a powerful moan breaking free of the pillow and begging Rick to finish her with whatever he had.
She damn well knew what he had. He gave it to her, his own moans joining hers as his orgasm filled her with what she craved. One long thrust followed the next, and while Olivia gradually came down from her orgasmic high she still felt this bitter need to take Rick within her and accept the most intimate part of his body. Even as her orgasm ended and he still rode the last of his out, she welcomed all of him, sighing at how whole she felt.
“Es mio,” he growled into her ear, pushing himself into her once more even though they were both finished. “You like it when I speak Spanish, don’t you?”
Olivia wished she could remember any in that moment, but her brain was wholly purged, and she was lucky to know English. “I’m human. Don’t move.”
“Why?”
“Because I like feeling you inside of me. I’m easy like that.”
He gave her a few more languid thrusts in order to remind her of what she liked. Even as he lost his hardness, Olivia could not say she minded. She did mind, however, when Rick pulled out and slumped down beside her, his face overcome with weariness and his body rippling with the same. Olivia curled up beside him and tried not to think of where things would go from there.
***
Although physically exhausted, Rick had never felt so emotionally alive. His arm wrapped snugly around Olivia’s shoulders, her soft cheek and softer hair resting against his bare chest. Way to go, pal. That wasn’t him feeling like he had yet another notch in his bed. Quite the opposite. After weeks of pining and realizing how much he wanted Olivia again, here he was, also realizing what kind of trouble he may have signed the both of them up for. Olivia was right. If they ended up fighting or otherwise not getting along because of what sex did to them, then the tour would be in trouble. The alternative is not having sex. Which was really worse?
“Let’s make a deal,” Rick said, trying not to sound like a game show host. He failed, and Olivia laughed anyway. “All right, let’s be an item through the tour. Holding this back is not going to work. I at least would be a lot happier if we could keep this up and then… I dunno… reevaluate when the tour is over.”
Olivia lifted her head, sleepy curls draping across Rick’s skin. “Are you asking me out?”
“Hmm. Maybe.”
“Nothing serious. Just sex.”
“Maybe not just sex. You may not believe me, but I don’t exactly have a million friends in every location waiting to hang out with me. We could go on dates on our days off. Ever been on a date in Argentina? It’s a hoot.”
“So, casual. Like friends with benefits.”
“Think bigger.” What was Olivia’s deal? She was always underplaying what they had going on. Woman is way too focused on her work. Rick could admire it to a point, but she needed to have fun too. “A trial run at something bigger.”
Uh oh. He probably scared her off with that one. “So…” Olivia propped herself up on her elbows, bare feet kicking in the air behind her. She had a beautiful curve, beginning with the base of her neck and dipping against her spine until it caressed the firm, muscular bump that was her rear. Wish I were down for doing her like that again. Next time. If he could convince her to have a next time. “You’re asking me to be your girlfriend. Without asking me to be your girlfriend. You don’t like committing, do you?’
Funny that she would say that, when Rick was trying to dance around her sensibilities. “I have nothing against committing. Yet like you keep warning me, it doesn’t make sense to base our decisions on the heat of the moment. We’re living in a hazy fantasy right now. We should be responsible. Have our fun while we’re traveling and working so closely together… then decide how serious we want to make it at the end of the tour. What do you think?”
“I think you want to stick it in me some more.” Olivia drew a circle on Rick’s stomach, her finger continuously sliding into his navel. “Not that I’m against that, mind you, but we’re both right in that we shouldn’t rush into something. Who knows how we’ll feel at the end of this tour, right? Besides, you’re a famous guy. It would make sense for us to be seen together while on tour, but it’s something completely different back in the States. I also have to think about where my career is going and what I want to do with my life… besides…” That wistful smile suddenly turned into a frown. “I know I’m not the first woman you’ve roped in like this. How do I know you’re going to be serious anyway?’
Rick would pretend that he didn’t hear that. My reputation precedes me. “So it’s totally decided. We’ll do what feels right and talk more later.”
He had to admit, he felt pretty smug about that. Olivia continued to roll her eyes, but she did not protest Rick’s schemes. I’ve got her for a while, anyway. Rick couldn’t ask for more than that right now.
Well, maybe he could.
Against Olivia’s wishes, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and grabbed his jeans off the floor. He pulled them on, not bothering to zip them up as he wandered over to his papers left to rot on a coffee table. “I’ve got a new song in the works,” he said matter-of-factly. “Wanna see it? You would be the first one.”
He handed her the paper with the lyrics to “Starlight Samba” written on it. Olivia lazily lifted her arm and took the paper out of his hand, her eyes meandering over the lines as she rolled her head onto the pillow and took a deep breath. Rick sat on the edge of the bed and waited for her reaction. After all, this was the song he wrote about her all those weeks ago. Since then he had started tweaking it, determined to make it a single – maybe the lead single – off his next album, whenever that would be.
“Nice,” Olivia said. “You definitely have red blood flowing through you, Rick.”
He looked up. “How’s that?”
“Please, this song is all about dirty raunchy sex. Not that it’s a bad thing, but I’m wondering if that’s all you can write.”
“Well, it’s a sequel of sorts to ‘Midnight Tango.’”
“I get that, loud and clear.” The smile on her face was almost smug enough to blow Rick out of the water. “You’re a man who likes his themes. No wonder dancing gets you all horny. You know how to reach a woman where it counts. Right in the G-spot.” She flopped onto the pillow, eyes closing.
Rick sneaked over and snatched the paper away again. He put it back in his folder of workable songs and wandered into the bathroom, readying himself for bed. Whether or not Olivia stayed the night remained to be seen, but either way they had to be up fairly early to fly to Mexico City. The real fun of the tour is about to begin. He still thought that when he climbed back into bed, arms wrapping snugly around Olivia’s body. She snored lightly, mouth open as hot air blew past her teeth. Poor girl was completely wiped. So was Rick. He quickly went to sleep, thinking of nothing more complicated than dancing with a beautiful girl and then making long, sweet love to her. He supposed there were far worse things to think about when in bed with the pretty girl of his dreams. Bonus that she can dance. Rick fell asleep with a self-satisfied grin on his face.
He couldn’t wait for Latin America. He had so many things to show Olivia.