It feels strange yet appropriate to do the interview in bed, although I’m not sure if that was my idea or Elise’s. Either way, it’s a brilliant one.

As we curl up naked over delivered pizza, Elise turns to me, putting her voice recorder in the space between us. “So, we’ve done the history of Keith Perkins in article one. Article two is all performance-related, with an emphasis on the show experience I had at your local venue gig.”

I raise an eyebrow at her, and she laughs, stretching out with one pink-tipped foot to kick me. “My entire performance?”

“I didn’t include any of that, of course. Despite our current situation, I do know where the lines need to be drawn. And yes, none of what we’ve done tonight is ever going to see the light of day. I promise you.”

There’s a hint of something in her voice that I can’t place. I grasp her chin in my hand, gentle but not letting her look away and hide from me. “Are you okay with where we are right now?”

She sighs, her eyes dropping, but she answers, scratching at her lovely hip as she does. “Personally, yes. Professionally, no.”

I narrow my eyes, needing to understand. This is maybe even more important than even the interview itself. “Explain.”

She drops her pizza to the box, climbing up to her knees and sitting back on her heels. I refuse to be enticed by the sight of her breasts pressed between her arms, but she’s still so sexy and beautiful, it’s hard not to notice.

“Okay, so look, there’s this woman at my office, Francesca. She’s ambitious, always wants the best assignments, and if I’m honest, she’s a pretty good writer. But she gets the cherry assignments because she’s sleeping with the boss. Our gross, older boss.”

I’m looking at her, still not sure where she’s going.

“And because she slept her way to those assignments, it doesn’t matter how well she writes them. She could be Mark fucking Twain, and everyone will discount her because of the way she got there. I don’t want to be that girl. I’m a good writer, and this series means something to me. It’s my first shot at something real and not just . . . well, rumor mill tabloid fodder. And I think it means something to your fans and is good for your image. But I’m not the woman who trades for inside information on her knees.”

My gut tightens as my blood boils. “Have I done anything to make you think this is a quid-pro-quo situation? That I’m going to tell you my deepest, darkest secrets because I fucked you?” I know my voice is too loud by the way she winces at my reply.

Elise’s head drops, her chin almost touching her chest as she shakes her head.

My voice is hard, even as I work to quiet my volume. “Is that why you fucked me?”

I’m holding my breath as I wait for her to answer. She doesn’t realize that it may be the most important question I’ve asked her the whole time I’ve known her.

Elise’s eyes snap to mine, her cheeks flushing with anger as she squares her shoulders, glaring at me as she yells. “No! Of course not. That’s why I’m so fucking torn up. I wanted this. Hell, I want to do it again right now. But I shouldn’t when it could mess up everything I’ve worked so damn hard for. But you’re just so damn . . . irresistible. You drive me fucking crazy.”

I pounce on her in reply, slamming her to the bed underneath me and covering her mouth with a kiss, demanding entry and tangling my tongue with hers. Our bodies press together, and even though I’ve come twice in the past two hours, I can feel a tingle in my cock as it starts to raise its head again.

Once she’s breathless and I know she’ll be quiet for a second, I pull back, looking into her sapphire eyes. “You drive me fucking crazy too. No, we shouldn’t be doing this. For more reasons than you know, but someone I consider pretty smart told me that if I fight this, I’ll regret it. So I’ll take what I can get with you, Elise. We do the interviews, you do the stories, and whatever this is . . . it’s between us, not a thing to do with your work. Can you handle that?”

She bites her lip like she’s actually considering what I’ve proposed, and at first, it pisses me off. I’m laying it all out there and she’s fucking hesitating. But then I realize I’m not laying it all out there. And as much as I’m holding back, she’s making a pretty ballsy career move by agreeing to be with me outside of the interviews, and suddenly, I appreciate that she’s considering so carefully.

While she thinks, I decide to tilt the odds in my favor and I move in, suckling a spot in the curve of her neck I found that she likes, and she leans to the side, giving me more access. It’s all I need. I know I’ve won. I give her tender skin a little more, biting gently, just enough to leave a mark, but I know it’ll fade in minutes as I lick over the spot, soothing the sting.

Elise sighs happily, stroking her fingers down my back. “I can handle it.”

I grin into her shoulder before pulling her back up to sit opposite me, and I sit back, recognizing that my cock is half-hard . . . guess I do need at least a little bit of time before I’m ready for full action again.

“Fine. You’ve got thirty minutes before I take over again . . . so hit me. What questions do you have?”

She looks flustered, my move from seduction to business making her spin. “What?”

I raise my eyebrows at her, teasing as I set a timer on my phone. “Thirty minutes. Twenty-nine and fifty seconds now. Better get some questions done or article three is gonna be a hard write.” I scold her teasingly.

Elise laughs, going along with me, but not before teasing me back. “And what happens in thirty—twenty-nine—minutes?”

I let the smile drop off my face, the dark need shining through. “In twenty-nine minutes, I’m shoving you face down in this bed, grabbing your arms behind your back, and taking you again, banging your hips so hard your ass will be bright pink when you leave. Next question?”

I see her shudder, the heat rising between us already, but she rallies, pulling herself together. With a quick reset of the recorder between us, she starts.

“Okay, history . . . check. Performance . . . check. What about your personal life? What do you do when you’re not on stage and not driving me crazy with want?”

I stutter, trying to figure out how I’m getting out of this when she’s hitting too close to topics I’d rather leave alone. “What do you mean? Are you already turning stalkery on me?”

She laughs, shaking her head and pushing at my chest playfully. “No, but like, take me through a typical day, a typical week in the life of Keith Perkins. What do you do all day, all night?”

I hesitate, quickly trying to edit my day to leave out any mention of Carsen. “Well, I get up, get coffee, and run errands like everyone else. I normally work out just before lunch, and I spend a big chunk of the afternoon writing songs, playing music. I don’t know, just usual stuff, I guess.”

Elise is scouring my face, and I wonder if she can see through me. It has to be the biggest gap-filled schedule in history. I mean, seriously? I gotta figure out a hobby to throw in or something.

“Wow, that’s really . . . boring,” she says before laughing self-consciously. “What do you do that your fans would be surprised about or would like to read about? Hobbies, activities? Any secret fetishes?”

Whew, I guess I dodged that one a little. “If there was, I’m pretty sure that’d fall under our previous agreement about not being in the article,” I say with a wink.

Elise grins, biting her lip even as her nipples crinkle at the meaning of my words. “Fair enough . . . thought I’d just slip that in there for my own curiosity. But really . . . hobbies, activities?”

I try to think of something. In the few seconds that I have to consider, I throw out a lot of ideas. Star Wars? Too nerdy. Pro wrestling? Please. Baseball cards? Where’s my collection? I’m stumped and stumble for anything. “Well, not really a hobby, I guess, but I like being outside. I try to go camping, hiking, fishing, and hunting occasionally, that sort of thing. I’ve got a couple of ATVs and a parcel of land out in the mountains. I like to escape out there. No TV, phones, or Wi-Fi. It’s just nature, clean air, and waking up with either the sun or my own body’s needs. It helps me recharge away from everything. I always do that before and after summer tours, catch the spring blooms and the fall leaves turning colors. Makes everything else seem a little less impressive when you see the things Mother Nature can do.”

I see her eyes soften as her mouth silently repeats what I just said, and I know she’s mentally making a note for another quote. I like that she hears something important in the things I say. I work for days, sometimes weeks to make a song say just what I want to convey, but I rarely do that on the fly while talking to someone.

But somehow with her, it comes easily. I just open up, and what comes out seems to be right.

“Okay, my turn,” I say, picking up a pepperoni and chewing it thoughtfully. “Why aren’t you seeing someone?”

Her jaw drops, and she glowers at me, mock-outraged. Okay, maybe not quite mock. “That’s not fair! I asked you an easy one and you’re coming back with the big guns.”

I flex my biceps at her, deadpanning. “Damn right, they’re big guns.”

She groans at the cheesy joke but turns thoughtful as she ponders her reply. “Okay, if I want honesty, I’ve got to give honesty. Just know that I’m already ready with my next question, Mr. Perkins.”

I smile but gulp, glad that I’ve got a few moments to figure out how I’m going to get out of answering what she wants to know. I knew it was a risk, but I really do want to know the answer. Elise is so gorgeous, smart, and funny, I don’t understand how someone hasn’t snatched her up and slapped a ring on her finger.

“Well, I grew up an only child,” she starts, looking shy again, “so initially, I was a little socially awkward. I had a good family, I told you about Grandma, but still, I was a little awkward at first. By high school, I’d figured out how to fit in, but I suspect that had a lot more to do with how I developed physically than emotionally.”

She gestures to her bust and I make a low wolf-whistle. “Mmmhmm, I can see how you might be distracting for a teenage boy because you’re damn well distracting a fully-grown man.”

I’m teasing a little, but I feel my cock as it jumps in response to my eyeful of her lush tits.

Elise laughs, her eyes darting down to my rising third leg. “Yeah, well . . . high school was fine, and then I went away to college. I was . . . serious. At least more serious than people expected me to be. I guess because I’m blonde and a bit bubbly, people expect me to be an airhead or an easy lay. So I had to work twice as hard for professors to give me the grades I deserved, and I avoided guys for the most part because every time I’d try to date someone, I’d instantly get treated like brainless arm candy. I dated a bit after college, thinking it’d be easier once the frat boy mentality ended, and I did find a few guys who’d grown out of that. Including Trevor.”

I try to hold in a growl when she says his name. I don’t even know him, but I already hate him because his name is on her tongue. “Trevor?”

She smiles, seeing right through my question with a hint of amusement. “He’s a chef, a really good one, actually. We met at a club. I was there for work . . . seeing who was out, what they were doing, and who with. He’d been there for a nightcap after a late closing. We hit it off, dated for a few months. But mostly, we just met at the club and hung out afterward.”

I hear the code for ‘fucking all night’ and it riles me up even more. I know I’m not exactly planting a flag on new territory, but I know how I feel about the thought of her with other men. “What happened?”

She smiles sadly, fidgeting with the sheet. “He had an investor dinner. Invited me as his girlfriend, asked me to entertain the wife of the investor. Be the little lady for him. And I was happy. I was fucking proud to do that for him. Until the dinner.” She shakes her head, remembering. “It was just the four of us. I thought it was going well. Everyone was talking, laughing, and when Trevor and the investor started talking figures, I was trying to help him, talking up the success he’d had, but he basically told me to shut up. Not in those words, but degrading enough. I sat there at that dinner and realized he didn’t respect me at all. Just wanted me to sit still and look pretty, just another piece of arm candy. And so I got up, excused myself to the restroom, and walked out. When he called later, yelling about how I’d embarrassed him, I just told him goodbye and hung up. I still think I should’ve yelled, fought with him about it, but really . . . what would be the point in that? I’d already seen who he was inside, what he thought of me, and I was done. Better to just move on, right? That was about a year ago, and I just haven’t found anyone who interests me since then.” Her eyes meet mine, and she blushes. “Until now, I thought maybe I’d just missed the boat on good guys.”

The silence that drops over us seems to press me toward Elise, enveloping me and urging me to take her in my arms and ignore the so-called ‘professional’ side of what we’re supposed to be doing. My phone dings, the thirty minutes up, and with a breath of relief, I cup her chin in my hand, leaning in for a sweet kiss.

“You deserve so much more than that, Elise,” I whisper when the kiss breaks and I pull back, just enough to look into her eyes. “I want to hear all the things you have to say. Truly.”

She smiles, cupping the back of my neck and scratching lightly. “And you will . . . after. If I recall, you made me a promise?”

She purses her lips, daring me to renege on the words I spoke earlier. If it were anyone but Elise, I’d think there’s no way they could go from such an emotionally revealing conversation to thinking about sex so quickly, but I can see the truth in her eyes. For her, everything was part of the foreplay that I teased her with during that first interview.

The vulnerability she shared, she needs to close it back off. We’re seeing each other in a different light, accepting the complexities, but it’s time to be vulnerable in a different way.

I kiss her softly one more time, a smacking sound as our lips caress each other, and I make sure she’s good before pulling back, my voice hardening just the way we both need. “Elise. Lie on the bed, face down, and stick that perfect ass up in the air for me.”

She grins hugely and immediately moves as I instructed, going even further and placing her crossed hands at her lower back for me. She remembers, and that sends another little thrill up my spine. She remembers exactly what I told her I was going to do to her sweet body, and if she’s going to be this good then she deserves that I be just as good in return.

I line up behind her on my knees, running a fingertip down her spine and watch as she arches so prettily, her ass spreading a little, showing me a hint of her little pucker. I wonder if she’s ever had her ass kissed before. If not, she’s about to find out what it feels like.

I scratch my fingernails up her thighs to the globes of her ass, the skin smooth and unblemished, making me want to watch it pink up under my hand. Instead, I spread her ass wide, exposing her tight little asshole again and already wet pussy to my eyes. I dip down, kissing her cheeks, getting closer and closer to her asshole as she circles her hips, chasing my kisses, wanting my licks. “Oh fuck, Keith, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to make you feel amazing before fucking you as hard as your body can take,” I promise. “Now . . . tell me if you want this.”

Elise’s breath catches, and she looks back. “I . . . yes. First time for everything, and you . . . yes.”

My chest warms as I give her what she wants, licking a long line from her clit to her ass with the flat of my tongue, and Elise cries out, a shockwave wracking her body.

I rest my cheek on the fullness of one globe, watching as I use a finger to dip into her wet pussy, spreading her honey up to her asshole and circling it slowly.

“Have you ever been taken here, Elise?” I can feel her tensing underneath me, but she’s lifting her hips toward my teasing finger and she whimpers softly.

“No, just . . . a finger once.”

I groan, making up my mind. “Mmm, good girl. I’m gonna take this ass, Elise. Be the first one to fill you up, come deep inside you as you cry out at how good it feels. But not tonight. You need some prep before I can fuck you like that. Do you want that?”

She nods against the bed, and I can see her juices dripping down her thighs.

“Good. Now don’t move.”

I leave her there, face down, ass up in anticipation as I hop off the bed to reach the nightstand. I watch her eyes follow me, but to her credit, she doesn’t move at all, ready for me to take her as I promised. I quickly roll the condom on, assuming my position behind her once again.

Moving behind Elise, I slip a finger deep inside her pussy, coating it and moving up to tease her ass. She shivers, whimpering again as I line up my cock with her pussy and slowly, oh, so slowly, slip my cock inch by inch into her, and my finger millimeter by millimeter into her ass. Her ass clenches, and she whines deep in her chest.

“Relax. Breathe and push against me. I won’t hurt you.”

I can feel her tensing, convulsing against the intrusion, and then with a big exhalation, she relaxes some. I go slowly again, slipping my finger in and out of her ass as I pump my cock in time until I’m seated fully in her, cock and finger. I stay still, letting her adjust to the fullness.

She cries out again, but it’s in pleasure. “Yes.”

“You okay?” I tease, wiggling my hips a little. “Think you can take it all?”

She grunts, turning to look back at me with all the sassiness that I’m already coming to appreciate. “I need you to move. Fuck, Keith . . . move.”

I grab her crossed wrists with my other hand, pinning them to her back and giving me leverage as I piston my hips, slow and easy. I can feel her clenching around me, pushing her hips in time to fuck me back, and her pussy gets even wetter.

As I pump into her pussy, I start to move my finger in her ass, just little thrusts in and out, but she notices and arches even more. “You like that? You like my cock in your pussy and my finger in your ass? Filling you up. You want that? You ready for more?”

Her voice is hoarse as she begs, surrendering herself to me. “Fuck, yes. More.”

I give it to her, thrusting faster and rougher, slamming into her pussy with everything I have, timing my thrusts in her ass to fill her completely and then leave her empty and wanting. “I’m going to let go of your hands, Elise,” I grunt between deep breaths to keep up with my frantic, powerful fucking. “I want you to rub your clit, pinch your nipples for me. I’m going to overload your body, but you can take it. You can take it all, and hold on until I tell you to come. Can you do that for me?”

She nods, and I let go, watching with pleased delight as her hands move exactly where I told her. I can feel her fingers blurring across her clit, the pulses immediate around my cock and my finger. I speed up, slamming into her as I push her into the mattress, pounding her body with all of my strength.

“That’s it. Your nipples, your clit, your pussy, your ass . . . all mine.”

She cries out, and I know she’s almost at the point of no return. I’m throbbing just as much, holding on with only the strongest of wills as I give her a couple more thrusts before I’m unable to hold out any more. I growl, my voice rough as I order her. “Come for me, Elise. Do it now.”

I rain a handful of smacks on her ass cheek, feeling the gush as she comes, covering me down to my balls in her juices. Her muffled scream fills my ears, making me come too, shouting out my release as I bury myself as deep as I can go, pulse after pulse shooting from my cock.

The only thing that would make this even more perfect was if I was busting deep inside her, feeling her body taking all of me deep inside her.

In the almost reverent silence that follows, I pull out of her ass slowly, pressing my body forward to lie on top of her, still inside her sweet pussy.

I kiss her shoulder, her neck, her cheek as she recovers from the onslaught before she turns toward me, reaching up for a kiss on her swollen lips. I soothe them with a lick before nibbling her earlobe and tugging on it between my teeth. “Mmm, your thirty minutes starts now.”

She laughs, sighing happily. “I’m renegotiating terms. Five-minute grace period between transitions. I . . . I can’t even breathe right yet.”

I lay another kiss to her shoulder before pushing up to take care of the condom and get a warm, wet washcloth, which I use to gently, carefully clean her. “I think we can do that. Deal.”

We spend the whole night like that . . . talking about nothing and everything, then devouring each other again and again. Somewhere in the early morning, we fall asleep tangled in each other, her head pressed to my chest. But when we wake up, we do it all over again.

It’s not always the same, but that doesn’t matter. Whether it’s me going down on her, her sucking my soul out through my cock, or any of the positions we end up in, it’s all delectably perfect.

Eventually, after a particularly intense mid-morning session, I need a shower, but Elise elects to stay in bed, passed out from all the times I’ve taken her. I’m smiling as I shower, overjoyed at how good last night went. Elise is amazing . . . responsive, open, brilliant, funny, sweet. And most of all, her sass. She’s everything I could ever want.

If only the timing were better and she wasn’t a reporter who could crash my whole life to ashes. But as long as we keep this what it is, we should be fine. More than fine, judging by last night. I come out of the bathroom, releasing steam to the bedroom as I towel dry my hair.

I see the empty bed and grab a pair of sweats, thinking to track Elise down for a late breakfast.

As I walk down the hall, I hear it. Voices. Not just Elise. She’s talking to someone. As I step into the kitchen, I see Elise, wearing one of my black workout t-shirts, so huge it drops down to her thighs, her obviously freshly-fucked hair pulled up in a messy knot on top of her head.

And she’s smiling, talking to . . . Sarah.

Before I can say or do a single thing, the back door opens and Carsen comes barreling in like always, her voice announcing her long before her head pops around the corner. “Daddy! Guess what I did on my girls’ night with Aunt Sarah?”

She freezes when she sees Elise, and I see everyone’s eyes cut to me, Elise’s jaw dropping as Carsen covers her mouth with her hands.

Fuck.