Chapter Eight
I sign the check, close the leather holder, and glance at my watch. “We’ve got to hit it, Avery. It’s almost six.”
She frowns. “Really? It doesn’t feel that late to me.”
Her reaction thrills me. “For me, either. Every time I’m with you time flies. So how did our first date go? More memorable than your first kiss?’
She swats me, and I curl over to avoid her hands, laughing. I’ve got to stop giving her crap about that. Especially since the last thing I want to think about is Eric.
“You’re never going to stop giving me a hard time over that, are you?” she accuses spiritedly. My lips pucker as I choke back my humor, but it’s hard. She’s doing a good show of pretending to be annoyed. “And I’m not telling you how our date went. Not after that comment. Besides, it’s not done yet.”
My hand covers my heart like that wounds, but the not done yet part gives me a hard-on. We hardly drank tonight, but I’m feeling kind of buzzed from the supercharged pull between us. We’re sitting so close and I’m fully aware of her. The waiting to be with her is cock-taunting torture.
“I promise never to bring that up again,” I say, a contrite expression on my face. “You know, the part about you getting with my brother first.”
Her lids fly wide and her cheeks grow hot. “I didn’t get with him. I let him kiss me. Once. He tried to kiss me a second time and I wouldn’t let him. I was completely unimpressed with it.”
“I hope you don’t feel that way when I kiss you.”
“No comparison. Not even close.”
I run my thumb down her jaw and her lips part slightly. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could blow off everything tonight? Go somewhere and be alone.”
Then she hugs me. “Today would be perfect if we went to your place now,” she murmurs, her mouth near mine. A shiver moves through me. “I’d be down for that if you were. But you’re not, you’d never let the guys down like that, and I’ve got to work, so we can’t.”
That’s my cue to get moving. Only I don’t want to. Instead I hold her tighter. “No disappearing on me while you work. I don’t care who’s backstage. No interviews tonight. No grabbing a photo for your blog. You stay close all night where I can see you. The second I’m off stage we’re out of there and we’re not leaving my place for a week.”
Giggling, she snuggles closer to me. “Sounds like a good plan to me.” She kisses my chest and my body feels like I’m damn near ready to go at it here in the booth.
I bury my lips in her hair. “I want you so fucking much, Avery.”
“Me, too. I want you so much, Ethan. I have for a very long time.”
It surprises me that relief mixes with the lust flooding me, and I realize that until this moment I wasn’t sure if her wanting to have dinner instead of going to my place wasn’t a stalling tactic of some sort. Strange, but even as good as this has been, that suspicion came to me more than once.
My gaze fixes on the club and I’m positive those doubts have everything to do with being here and the memory of what went down the last time I was at The Cockyard. Eric and Tara. Having my heart ripped to shreds by a girl I loved and being screwed over by my own brother.
But that’s the past. I’m here with Avery. It’s time to stop letting stupid shit cloud that and go with what I feel.
Cupping her face in my hands, I gaze into her eyes, and what’s flickered there all afternoon is now blazing. My warring emotions are put to rest by the rightness of being with her.
I crash my mouth into hers, and the way she moves against my kiss sets me on fire. Her lips part and I slide my tongue inside, and my heart slams against my chest because she’s kissing me like there’s nothing else in the world.
She clutches my shirt, pulling back and tucking her face so that her hair teases my chin. I hear her laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever made out this much in public before. If we keep this up someone’s going to throw a bucket of ice water on us. I’m surprised someone hasn’t already.”
“If we keep this up I’ll have to blow off tonight. There won’t be a choice.”
Her laughter comes stronger and sounds like tinkling bells. “We better get out of here. Much more of that and I’m not going to leave you a choice.”
Yeah, she’s right. It’s time to go, but I stay in the booth, keeping my hands off her and focusing on the mental check list I have to do so my woody will go down.
The guys left over an hour ago. They’re probably at the Bowl by now. The meet and greet has already started. There’s press there and fucking Hugh’s in a mood to run his mouth. I haven’t a clue where Eric is. I need to track him down and I’ve got that feeling again like I should have hunted my brother down first thing after my argument with Hugh and found out what the hell is going on with him.
But even knowing I’ve got all that shitty stuff to look forward to, my erection doesn’t completely go down and it doesn’t make it easier to slip from Avery’s arms and climb from the booth.
As we walk from the club I loop my arm around her. “Where am I dropping you? Your folks’ or Emmy’s?”
“Drop me at my sister’s. I haven’t been home since we reached LA. You won’t get out the door fast at my dads’ house and they’ll will keep me there all night. They’ll insist I tell them every detail of what I’ve been doing on the road and show them every photo I’ve taken. I’ll never get to the Bowl.”
I smile at her. “They care about you. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. But you know how they love to talk and I don’t want to be late tonight.”
“I like your dads. They’re cool.” Hanging with Sean and Skyler is always a kick and they raised one kickass girl. But love to talk is an understatement. She’s right. If I drop her there I won’t see her for days, and no fucking way am I letting that happen.
I tighten my hold around her, bringing my mouth close to her ear. “You could always stay with me and not go to Emmy’s.”
“Can’t. I don’t have any clothes with me. My suitcases got delivered to Emmy’s. I need to clean up, change, and grab a few things if you’re keeping me until morning.”
“Oh, I’m keeping you much later than morning. On second thought, just run inside Emmy’s, grab everything, and don’t stay.”
“I can’t do that,” Avery bemoans, but it sounds like she wants to. That’s later confirmed at the car when she turns and leans back against it, her legs parted, leaving a perfect space for me to step in to. She lifts her face to mine and I crush her against the car.
“I can’t keep my hands or my mouth off you,” I whisper between the rough joining of our lips. Her body aligns with mine, pushing up against my hard-on, and her moans sound as wanton as I feel.
My throbbing erection grinds against her as our kiss moves from hot to searing. She shudders as I tease her and I break the kiss, easing my upper body enough so she can look down and see what she does to me. I do a shimmy against her and she groans.
“I’ve fantasized about this for so long,” she whimpers.
My gaze locks on the rapid rise and fall of her chest. I kiss along the swell of her breasts. “I’m going to show you every fantasy I’ve had about you. No matter how long it takes. Every single one.”
“Have you thought about fucking me against a car?” she whispers, moving her hips like an invitation.
“Against.” I pause to listen to her panting breaths as my fingers join my cock strumming her through her jeans. “Inside. On top of the hood.”
The horny man in me wants to rip off her jeans and bury myself in her pussy right here in the parking lot.
“Where else?” she moans.
I hold her face while I keep the rolling motion of our hips a steady pressure. “Every place we’ve ever been. First thought when I see you: I’d love to fuck Avery right there.”
“You always played it cool with me. Like you weren’t interested,” she says, moving with my kisses and bites along her neck.
“Don’t think I didn’t want to,” I assure her.
Those gorgeous brown eyes flare wide. “Then why didn’t you?”
The blunt answer to that takes root in my brain. I didn’t want Eric trying to fuck you. Being here, with her in my arms, as ready for me as I am for her, makes it beyond sanity that I let my brother keep me from knowing this.
Laying my forehead against hers, I still the motions of our bodies. “The reasons don’t matter, Avery.” And they don’t, not anymore. I’m never going to tell her that I let my history with my brother mess with my head enough that I didn’t go after a girl I’ve ached for.
Having waited six years to make a move on her seems crazy now. It’s what I’ve wanted from the day she barged into our rehearsal space and asked for a job. Me and her like this. And I’m not letting anything get in my fucking way ever again.
Not the band.
And sure as fuck not my brother.