Chapter 19

Jude

I woke up the next morning feeling Ava’s soft legs tangled up in mine. My right wrist ached but it wasn’t horrible. I could still ride in Vegas without any problems. I lifted my head up from the pillow to gaze down at Ava as she slept peacefully alongside me, with her tight bottom nuzzled up against my groin.

I didn’t care that we had a plane to catch in the next few hours. I just wanted to stay wrapped up in Ava’s arms and legs. I wanted to savor the peace and quiet that came with having Ava in my personal space.

I nearly slipped back into dreams when I felt Ava’s hips squirm suddenly. Her ass cheeks rubbed against me suggestively. I forced my eyes open to stare at the back of her head. Her dark hair was pillowed out around us. It still smelled of shampoo from the night before. I waited to see if she would do it again.

“Jude.”

The whispered plea, followed by writhing, forced all my blood to pool between my legs. I pressed a kiss against Ava’s bare shoulder as I leaned over to see that her eyes were closed but pleasure was sketched out across her face. Another sex dream. She was having another sex dream about me.

It filled me with smugness when I realized that I was the center of her dreams. I smoothed a hand across her ass cheek while guiding her leg back to hook over my hip. Reaching down, I shuddered when my fingers brushed up against the heat of her core that was already wet and ready for me. I nibbled on the side of her neck while she continued to writhe against me while I rubbed her. Soft moans were escaping her lips as her hips rocked against my hand.

Shudders wracked her body when an orgasm came over her. I didn’t waste any time by sliding myself into that wetness with my own groan of relief. Ava’s eyes opened immediately as she twisted around to look at me. Her cheeks were flushed from coming.

“What are you doing?” she whimpered when I thrusted into her deeply. “Oh, God. I was having a dream that we were doing this.”

“I know, baby,” I murmured, pulling her leg back even more. “You said my name, and I gave you what you wanted.”

Her head sank back into the pillow with a shaky sigh. “I don’t know how you manage to do this to me but it’s insane how you make me feel like this every single time.”

“It’s only going to get better from here on out.”

I rolled her over onto her stomach. Without breaking contact, I ignored the ache in my wrist as I pulled her back into me. Her hands gripped the sheets while she looked back over her shoulder at me in a mixture of desperation and embarrassment. I smacked her ass cheek before sitting up on my knees to let go of myself. She’d had her own orgasm. It was time for mine.

The headboard pounded against the wall but I didn’t care as I watched our skin smack against one another’s in a rippling effect. Ava’s pants were growing louder, bordering on screams at times. The sheets ripped off the corners of the bed while Ava bucked up again in another earth-shattering release. Those muscles clenched down on my cock hard. Grinding my teeth, I rammed into her harder and harder until I finally spilled into her with my own cry of relief.

We both collapsed against the bed, panting heavily. I reached for Ava’s hand, and we laid there for a long minute, catching our breath. The tips of my fingers and toes were tingling, a sign of an amazing release. I couldn’t even remember the last time it had felt this good back to back. It had been a long time. A really long time.

Ava rolled onto her back to stare up at the ceiling. Her nipples were hard, and goosebumps covered her skin. I’d never seen anything more beautiful and erotic as she laid there next to me, completely sated.

“How does this keep getting better as times goes on?” she asked, breathless. “You would think that it would get old eventually.”

I furrowed my eyebrows at her in confusion. “Who says sex has to be boring after a while? What rock have you been living under?”

“A small one.” She hesitated and added, “I never did it again after you.”

“You haven’t?” I propped myself up on an elbow to look down at her in surprise. Her cheeks reddened visibly. “You really haven’t been with any guy since me? In high school?”

She pulled the sheets up to cover her chest. “Well, I’ve been a bit busy trying to get through college and build my career.”

“Not even a one-night stand?” I pushed, still shocked. “I mean, no going out for drinks with friends to meet some dude in a bar?”

“Nothing like that. I really didn’t have any friends in college who liked to drink. I stayed in the library during frat parties. I just never got around to finding a guy that I was even semi-attracted to. I’ve been busy,” she repeated.

I couldn’t help the smug grin tugging at my lips. It was thrilling to know that Ava hadn’t slept with any other guy after me. She was still my first while I was her only. That thrilled me beyond anything else.

“Try not to look too satisfied with that information,” she said. “Maybe I should go out there and sleep with some other guy to see if I’m settling on your skills in bed.”

“That’s an insult,” I said and climbed over to pin her playfully to the bed. “I don’t think I could let you go anyway. I’d have to kick the guy’s ass for touching you.”

Ava waggled her eyebrows at me with a giggle. “Well, you won’t have to worry about it. I’m pretty much stuck.”

“Damn straight you are, baby.”

I leaned down to press a heated kiss to her lips but the sharp trill of the hotel phone ringing interrupted us. I drew back with an annoyed sigh.

“It’s probably Chuck,” I said, releasing her wrists. “Checking to make sure we check out on time to get to Vegas.”

Ava’s face clouded over as I rolled off her to grab the phone next to the bed. I felt the mattress shift as she got up to pad into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

“Hello?”

“Oh, good. I’m glad you’re awake, sunshine.”

I rolled my eyes at Chuck’s voice. “Yeah. I’m awake. We’re getting ready to get up for the day.”

“Good,” he said shortly. “I need you here tonight for press and interviews. Don’t be fucking late. Got it?”

“Got it.”

The pleasurable haze from the night before and the morning faded away to the chaos of traffic on the highways. Cameras flashed in our direction as we walked through airport security. I scowled in irritation at the paparazzi that followed us. I didn’t mind the fans who came up to me for autographs. It was the damn paps who came up with bullshit stories that I was growing tired of.

I didn’t relax until we were on my private plane an hour later, high above Texas. I let my head sink back against the seat cushion to enjoy the whir of the plane’s engines. Ava’s hand was twined in mine the entire time but she pulled back after a little bit.

“What’s going to happen now?”

I opened my eyes to look at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Why are we going to Vegas?” Ava looked equally confused. “I mean, with everything that had happened yesterday, I assumed…”

She trailed off when I shot her a skeptical look. Not caring that she had pulled away, I placed a soothing hand on her bouncing knee. Anxiety was taking over her again.

“My wrist is going to heal just fine,” I said. “It’s not the first time that I’ve gotten hurt, Ava. Bones heal. Muscles get repaired. Everything is going to be fine.”

“So, you’re still going to continue this tour around the country?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” I asked, thoroughly confused. “I have to. My contracts need to be fulfilled. My fans would be disappointed if I stopped over a small sprain.”

“It doesn’t seem like a small sprain,” Ava remarked, shaking her head. “I don’t know what it is but I can’t shake this feeling that something is going to happen.”

“It’s just nerves, Ava, from last night. This is my life. I know how to handle a bike, believe it or not.”

“You crashed,” she pointed out, looking at me then. “I don’t think I can sit through another show if you’re going to crash again. It’s too traumatic for me.”

Resentment flared in me when I realized the answer that she was seeking from me. I focused on the window then as her knee shifted away from my hand. I didn’t even bother trying to reach out and touch her again.

This was my life. I couldn’t count how many times I had broken bones, sprained limbs, or even had a concussion. It was just a part of it all. Crashes happened more than Ava realized but she was stuck on a minor one because of what happened with Andy.

“Believe it or not,” I started, turning to look at her, “I am a trained professional. I know how to get out there and handle stunts. I’ve been doing this for quite some time, Ava. This isn’t like when we were fifteen years old, trying to be cool. This is my job. And I’m going to keep doing it.”

A shadow flickered over Ava’s face. She shifted uncomfortably in the seat next to me as she crossed her lean legs.

“Right,” she said, a bit flatly. “I completely understand. You are a professional at this. I just can’t watch anymore, okay? I’ll do the article from what you tell me, but I can’t sit through these shows any longer.”

A headache pounded in my head again. I didn’t even bother responding because I could sense where this conversation would go. A fight. I didn’t want to risk another fight when the last one had me hitting the bottle and then crashing the next night. I didn’t even want to point out that Andy’s accident years ago had happened for an entirely different reason. I knew that Andy’s name would send Ava over the edge that we were teetering on together for what like the millionth time.