Beauty from Surrender

"I don't know. You tell me," she laughs as she begins kissing my mouth. When she stops, she pulls back. "What do you think?"



"Hmm. I think I'd go with chicken cordon bleu."



"Funny…I was thinking jerk."



"Heeey!"



"Just kidding," she says as she leans in for a quick kiss. "Be right back."



I put my hands behind my head and my eyes soak up every inch of Laurelyn's beautiful naked body as she leaves the bed. I don't know how I'm lucky enough to love this beautiful woman and have her love me back. I never dreamed something so wonderful could be possible.



I'm in the middle of enjoying my euphoria when I hear a sound that doesn't belong to my phone, so I can only assume it's Laurelyn's. It's six o'clock and now I'm the one wondering who would be contacting her at this time of morning.



I admit I debate grabbing her phone from the nightstand to see who it is and what it says, but I don't. Instead I tell her about it when she returns to bed. She doesn't hesitate in reaching for it. She chews her bottom lip as she reads it and I remember that being something she did when she was perplexed.



"It's from Charlie." Great. Another man who's going to try to come between me and this woman I love. "He says the bus is leaving at eight instead of nine."



Suddenly, there's a huge elephant sitting in the bed between us. We both know the bus leaving means it will take her away from me. We're finally together after all this time and we've admitted how much we love each other, but there are all these complications we haven't had time to discuss. We have completely different lives, with so much distance between, and I have to wonder where I fit into all this.



There's one thing I know for certain. "I just found you and I'm not ready to let you go."



She tosses her phone on the bed. "I don't want to go, either, but I don't have a choice. We have a show in Austin tonight and the band is depending on me."



I rack my brain for a solution, even if it's only a temporary one. "You don't have to ride with them. I'll hire a driver with a limo to get us where you need to be."



She doesn't hesitate. "Okay, but all my stuff is on the bus. I need clothes, so I have to run down there before it leaves."



"Sure. How far is Austin from Dallas?"



"Umm…probably three hours or so," she says.



"And what time is your show?"



"I think it's at eight." She picks up her phone and then confirms, "Yeah. Eight o'clock."



I'm doing the math in my head. "You have a show in fourteen hours and it's a three-hour drive to get you there. I should probably factor in an hour for you to get ready and another hour for you to be there early. If I give you thirty minutes to get down to the bus and back, that should give us at least seven hours in this hotel suite before we have to leave."



She grins as she leans over to kiss me. "What in the world could we possibly do for seven hours in this suite with a king-sized bed and our choice of enormous tub or gigantic shower?"



I pull her over on top of me. "We're gonna continue making up for lost time, but seven hours won't come close to covering it, so we'll pick up again after your show tonight."



"I can't think of anything I'd rather do."



"I'll order room service and have breakfast waiting when you return. You want your usual? An omelet and orange juice?"



Her pleased expression tells me she likes that I remember her favorite breakfast. "Yeah. I'll take my usual. Although I've yet to find an omelet as good as Mrs. Porcelli's."



"And you won't until you're back in Australia with me." There it is—a huge complication we'll have to tackle at some point. But not now.



I change the subject quickly. I don't want her to put too much thought into my statement before we're able to discuss our plans for the future. "The quicker you get down to that bus, the quicker you'll get back so we can start on our seven-hour marathon."



"Then I'd better hurry."



Chapter Eleven



Seven hours. I thought it couldn't be done—and it probably couldn't with any other man—but who was I kidding? This is Jack Henry we're talking about. The man is an absolute sex machine. Hmm, lucky me.



It's crazy. We're riding in the back of the limo on the way to Austin after a seven-hour sex-a-thon and my thirst for him is no more quenched than it was when I rode that elevator up to his suite last night. This man can make me want him just by breathing.



I try to distract myself with conversation. "Addison called this morning when I went to get my things from the bus. I told her the whole story about us—you and me. She wasn't happy that I'd kept it from her all this time." Saying she wasn't happy is minimizing her reaction. She was downright pissed off.



"She's your best friend. I would be worried if she weren't upset."



"She's in Wagga Wagga with Zac. Did you know that?"



He turns his head briskly to look at me. "Addison Donavon is in Wagga Wagga," he laughs. "I guess that explains why Jim couldn't find her in the U.S. Incredible. She was in the same town as me all that time." He seems to be thinking about something. "It nearly killed me but I went to Ben's apartment to beg him for information about you after you were gone. He took great pleasure in withholding those details."



"I'm sorry Ben was such an ass."



"It's okay," he laughs. "I had an opportunity to see him again. He applied for an internship at Avalon and I took great pleasure in telling him to fuck off. You can't imagine the shock on his face when he walked into my office with his résumé in hand. It was priceless."



"I bet he could've shit his pants. You should hire Zac. Addison told me he hadn't found an internship yet. They finished in the middle of the school year so all of the positions are taken by the previous class."



"I will if it's what you want." He's holding my hand and his thumb is rubbing the top of mine. "I'll do anything you ask of me." I watch as it slowly moves back and forth across my skin, and I'm reminded of where it was earlier as it performed a very similar motion. The memory ignites sparks that travel up my arm and down to the core of my groin. I press my legs together and wiggle in my seat to try to relieve the increasing desire, but it's useless. There's only one fix for it.



The sweet, seductive sound of "Don't Forget to Breathe" by Bitter:sweet begins playing and it only adds to my escalating arousal. Jack Henry takes notice of my growing restlessness. "Baby, are you all right? Do you need the driver to stop?"



The bathroom is not what I need right now. I'm embarrassed to admit that we made love all day and I still want him. That can't be normal. I swallow and clear my throat before I croak out, "I'm fine."



I try to remain motionless, but it's one of those sensations where it feels like I have an itch and I'll lose my mind if I don't scratch it.



He relinquishes hold of my hand and places it on my bare thigh to comfort me, not knowing it's like an accelerant being tossed onto a wildfire. "You're so on edge that you can't sit still for two seconds. I'm sorry if you're sore because of me."



I am a little tender but it has no bearing on the other thing I'm feeling right now. "I'm not sorry." I study the divider between the driver and us. "He can't see us at all?"



I think Jack Henry could be catching on. He grins as he answers, "No, not with the divider up."



"And he can't hear us?"



He's definitely catching on to where I'm going with this, judging by his face. "Not unless you scream."



"You've been known to do that to me." I'm taunting him and we both know it.



"Only because it's what you wanted."



I put my hand on his thigh and begin massaging the muscle beneath his jeans. "That's true. It's what I always want."



I lean over to press my lips against the side of his neck below his ear and kiss that special place that drives him crazy. I move my hand up his leg and when I feel how hard he is already, I migrate my mouth upward and hover over his ear, whispering breathlessly, "I'm going to take off all of my clothes and when I'm finished, I want you to fuck me until I come."



"Anything you say."



I drag my finger over his bottom lip. "That's my good boy."



I increase the music's volume and unfasten my seatbelt so I can begin the show. I might not have a pole in the back of this limo, but it won't keep me from giving Jack Henry one hell of a performance.



I twist so I'm facing him and reach into my hair to pull out the pins holding it in place. I shake my head as it falls and fluff it with my hands. I just screwed it up for tonight's show but that's not the one I'm concerned with at the moment.



"You have beautiful hair." He reaches for a lock and I smile as I scoot away from him. There will be no show if he touches me while I'm stripping. "No touching the back-seat stripper."



"Back-seat stripper, huh?"



I wiggle out of my denim jacket and begin to unfasten the buttons on my ivory sleeveless top. He watches as each and every button reveals a little more skin. I do it slowly to tease him while it builds his anticipation for what awaits him beneath the soft cotton of my shirt.



I regret that the bra and panties are simple white lace, but I never expected to have a need for sexy lingerie while on tour. Sex was the last thing I thought I'd be having while traveling from town to town, so I'm lucky I managed to have this matching set.



Note to self: make a lingerie run ASAP.



I remain out of his reach on the other side of the car as I peel my shirt back and drop it to the limo floor. I reach into the elastic waist of my skirt and panties to slide both down my hips until they puddle at my feet around my boots. I slip each off, one at a time, and then add them to my growing collection of clothes on the floorboard.