Across the Miles (The Not So Bad Boys of Rock #1) (12 page)

“Stop badgering her Nikki, you’re embarrassing her,” he winked, I rolled my eyes, he shook his head and mouthed “you’re adorable.” My jaw hung open; I had no reply. My insides though, they had plenty to say, and it was getting harder to ignore.

After dinner was cleared, and dishes were being washed, Chris and Dek showed up, both carrying an instrument. They settled in, and before long the guys were singing their music and a lot of other songs I knew. Even the rest of the family sang along, and soon I joined in, feeling less nervous with each song. When Sebastian started in on one of their new releases, I couldn’t help myself, I sang loudly along with him, forgetting about everyone around me. I loved that song. When he finished, he sat there quietly, just staring at me open-mouthed.

“You have an amazing voice Brooke. You never told me you could sing.”

My face instantly flushed scarlet red, making him smile even more. “I didn’t realize that I could. I just love that song,” I replied, quietly.

“Well, it was lovely. You’ll have to sing with me again someday, when you’re ready.”

“Maybe,” I giggled. “I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.”

Later, everyone was sitting in the family room, and Thomas asked when we were going to serve dessert. Tracy got up and headed into the kitchen, and I joined her as she dished out cake and ice cream. I had just placed a plate before Thomas when Chris leapt over the coffee table and spun me around, making me very dizzy, and soon I was laughing like a small schoolgirl.

“Brooke! My long, lost sister from another mother!” He tickled his hands over my ribs, not in a sexual way, but in more of a playful, brotherly fashion.

“I always wanted a brother,” I laughed and slapped at his roaming hands. When I caught Sebastian’s eye, he wasn’t laughing, he cocked his brow and scowled before heading to the kitchen.

“Okay you two, break it up,” Natalie laughed. I went and sat down next to Nikki, who had watched everything with great interest.

“So, what are you and Sebastian going to do about your relationship after you go back home?” she asked, sounding innocent enough, but I somehow felt as if she was in protective sister mode.

“Oh, we’re not dating or anything,” I interjected, looking over at Sebastian, who had just re-entered the room. He hadn’t stopped staring at me since the scene with Chris.

“Do you want to take a walk outside?” He asked, leaning over the back of the sofa ,and placing his hands
on my shoulders.

“Sure,” I replied quizzically, before turning to Nikki, who looked satisfied at his request.

He led me out
back, walking over to a small house that sat in the back corner of their lot. We walked inside, and I looked around, taking in my surroundings. The house was no bigger than your typical garden shed, but this one didn’t house plants, it was fully furnished and looked as if it were regularly used.

“This is cool,” I exclaimed, running my finger over the back of the small sofa just inside the door.

“Yeah, mom uses this for when she does her writing.” I looked at him quizzically. “She writes for a local travel magazine.”

“Ah,” I nodded. “I really like your family; they are all very kind and funny. You must have had a great childhood.”

“Yeah, we did,” he smiled. “They like you too, you know. I’m glad you came with me.”

“Thank you for inviting me.” I moved and sat down on the sofa, waiting for him to get to the real reason he had asked me out here.

“Can I ask you something?” he began nervously.

“Sure, I guess.” I looked over and could tell something was bothering him.

“You don’t seem to have a problem with Chris putting his hands all over you. Do you like him or something? I mean, it’s okay if you do; I just need to know so I can back off, if that’s what you want.” His voice hitched a little as he finished that last sentence. He was jealous. I needed to clear up any confusion he had right away.

“No Sebastian, I’m not interested in Chris, not like that. He’s a nice guy, but I think of him more like a big brother. I don’t know, something clicked between us
right away, and I could tell we would get along.” I cocked my head and met his eyes. “So it bothers you when he shows me affection like that?”

He shrugged, looking away embarrassed, before returning his gaze to mine. This time there was no uncertainty in his eyes. “I just needed to know how you felt about him before I took this any further.”

“Where do you see this going?”

“I don’t know exactly,” he moved in front of me, placing a hand on either side of my head, staring deeply into my eyes. “All I know is that it’s taking every ounce of restraint I have not to kiss you right now.”

“You want to kiss me,” I gasped.

“More than anything.”

“Then what’s stopping you?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper.

“Because I’m afraid if I start I’ll never be able to stop,” he replied hoarsely.

“Then don’t stop.”

He raised a hand to cup my face; while the other brushed back the hair from my eyes. I tilted my head, bringing my lips up to his, and our mouths met gingerly, skin brushing lightly together. A warm sensation spread throughout my body, and I shivered reflexively at his touch. A smile spread over his face, and I felt his lips turn up slightly, hearing a soft chuckle escape his throat. I inched toward him, curling a hand around the back of his neck, drawing him even closer. This time, I took the lead, planting both lips firmly against his, covering them completely. Both of his hands pressed gently against the side of each cheek, holding me in place, and he worked his lips slowly over mine, taking time to draw me in. The viper bites rubbed over my bottom lip, and a low moan escaped my throat, causing my lips to part, allowing his
tongue to graze lightly across the front of my teeth. His mouth consumed me; breathing ceased to exist, and I didn’t care. If I were to perish now, here in his arms, with his lips against mine, I know my life would be complete. In my line of work, I have tasted the finest foods and sampled the finest wines, but I can honestly say that I have never savored anything as sweet and satisfying as Sebastian Miles. I pulled back, and a smile slowly spread over both of our flushed faces.

“You’re cute when you blush too,” I murmured in his ear, as he leaned back against the sofa, pulling me with him. He groaned inwardly as I hovered over him, my hair spilling across his face. He tucked the errant strands behind my ear, and in the process his thumb brushed over my cheekbone.

“You are so beautiful, Brooke,” he whispered. I closed my eyes, leaning in to kiss him again. “If I had known that giving you a compliment would have garnered a kiss, I would have been tossing them out all week,” he chuckled softly.

“Just shut up and kiss me again.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Sebastian~

My heart was beating right out of my chest, having her this close caused that kind of reaction. Seeing her with Chris, in his arms like that, laughing and so at ease, it hurt. I love Chris, he is like a brother to me, and if she were to tell me that she wanted him I would back off, I wouldn’t be happy, but I would back off. I had to find out if that was what she wanted, no matter how scared I was of the answer.

“You don’t seem to have a problem with Chris putting his hands all over you. Do you like him or something?

“No Sebastian, I’m not interested in Chris.” She had said.

“You want to kiss me,” she’d asked shyly.

“More than anything.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

“Because I’m afraid if I start I’ll never be able to stop.”

“Then don’t stop,” she’d whispered.

When I cupped my hand behind her honey colored
hair, the silky strands spilled between my fingers. Then, my lips melted against hers, and I instantly felt right at home. I had been right, kissing her was amazing, and I didn’t want to stop, I wanted to keep doing it for the rest of my life. Nothing I had ever done before with a woman compared to the intimacy I felt in that simple kiss. In that one kiss, we shared everything, and I knew right then that I had fallen for her, hard.

Brooke~

Sebastian had gone out for an early morning jog; it was barely dawn when he slipped out of the house. I was still in bed, although awake, when I heard him leave. Last night had been amazing. His family had welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like a part of their extended family. That kiss we shared left me reeling, I thoroughly enjoyed having his lips on mine, and he had been the perfect gentleman, not taking it any further than a simple kiss. Well, a lot of kisses, some simple and some a bit more intense. His kisses left me breathless, wanting more. That scared me. I crawled out of bed and into the shower, hoping the hot water would wash away some of the confusion I was having about what we were doing. I couldn’t possibly consider having an intimate relationship with him, for various reasons. I barely knew him, he lived too far away to get involved, and one-night stands were not for me. No, I was looking for more. I deserved more. I wanted romance. I wanted forever. We didn’t know each other well enough to promise that. Hell, who knew if I would ever hear from him after this week was over. So much floated through my mind in that short period, but at the end of my shower I knew that I would be leaving here with my dignity intact. I wouldn’t sleep with
him. I would kiss him and snuggle all he wanted, but anything more would have to wait. If he wanted me, he would have to prove himself.

When he got back, I was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, reading the paper. He wandered in, drenched in sweat and looking incredibly sexy. How was that possible? He slammed a bottle of water before turning to greet me, pulling the earbuds out first.

“Aren’t you up bright and early, it’s a gorgeous day out there, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a run.” He pulled off his shirt, exposing a well-defined chest and back dotted with tattoos. “Do you want to do anything special today?”

I stared at him, eyes locked on his tattoos, unable to speak. There’s a large bird of prey spreading across the expanse of his upper back, it’s wings spread in mid-flight, and in it’s talons it holds what appears to be a snake, the body of which spans down his spine. On his left pectoral is the title of their first number one hit, “Heart is on Fire”, and low on his waist are two sets of stars, three in a row, and they run perfectly along the deep V of muscles leading to his pelvic region. I licked my lips nervously; only one word came to mind at that moment. Sexy. I got up and leaned my back against the counter, my heartbeat suddenly erratic.

“Whatcha thinking about there sweetheart?” he teased, knowingly. “You’re thinking about that kiss last night aren’t you?”

“No,” I snapped, maybe a little too harshly, “I mean, why do you assume that’s what I’m thinking about? I’m not that kind of girl Sebastian.”

“I know, and I respect that, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep doing this. Does it?” he asked softly, planting a soft kiss on my dry lips, effectively moistening them with
the warmth and wetness of his own.

“I don’t know. I guess not. I mean, I would like to continue.” He leaned down and placed his lips over mine; consuming me once again. The kiss started out slowly as he teased my mouth. He slid a hand around my neck, pulling me closer, and I whimpered as he crushed his unyielding body to mine, never breaking the kiss. He gently pushed and pulled against my mouth, leaving my lips swollen and begging for more. When we finally broke apart, my body was flushed with excitement and I felt weak in the knees.

“Tell me you didn’t want that, that you didn’t feel what happened just then,” he demanded breathlessly. My back still against the counter, his palms flat against it, trapping me beneath him. The smell of him was intoxicating, never mind that he had yet to shower after a sweaty run, he smelled delicious and warm, and extremely comforting. I couldn’t think straight when he was this close. I had to choose my words carefully.

“I’m feeling a lot of things, Sebastian,” I pressed the flat of my palms against his rock hard abdominal muscles, pushing him back, I needed some air. “And yes, lust is definitely one of them.” His mouth curled up slightly to one side, the viper bites jutted out against the tightened skin. “But,” it curled the opposite way, the bites returned to their sexy position, “I’m not ready for more right now.” I crossed my arms protectively over my heaving chest, and turned my back to him, blowing out a heavy sigh. He approached me slowly, slipping his arms around my waist but not holding too firmly, and rested his chin on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I know I’m pushing too hard, too soon. I’ll back off if that’s what you want. I like you Brooke,” he pulled the hair away from my face, and placed a kiss
against the delicate skin below my ear, “but I’ll wait as long as you need. I’m going to shower.”

I watched him walk away, then made my way out to the sandy beach, plopping down when I reached the furthest point I could go before the receding water tickled my toes. I just needed to make it through one more week; I couldn’t let him wear me down. I had to be strong. I had been down the road of love before, and I had no intention of making that wrong turn again anytime soon.

My last real boyfriend had been Devon, and we were only nineteen when we met and fell in love, we’d had sex way too soon in our relationship, but somehow we had managed to press on and make it work. He had been a nice guy, and he even proposed, but I had turned him down, convincing him that it was too soon, we had our whole lives ahead of us, or so I thought. We were both in culinary school and had high hopes of making it big in the industry one day. We continued dating, every few months he would ask me again, seeing if I was ready. I hadn’t been. Looking back, I guess that should have been a clue.

One night he was supposed to pick me up from work, I had been giving it a lot of thought and decided that I was ready to finally throw caution to the wind and say yes. I had run away from commitment for so long, and I was tired of running, I wanted to be loved and cherished by someone. Devon would do that; he already had. I waited and waited; it wasn’t like him to be late. I left the restaurant, heading down an unusually quiet strip of downtown. There weren’t any cars in sight; that was strange. Up ahead I saw flashing lights, someone must have gotten pulled over, I picked up my pace and continued walking toward my apartment, dialing Devon’s number again as I walked, it went straight to voicemail. I was only fifteen feet from the flashing lights when I saw
it, Devon’s mangled car, it was upside down and another car appeared to be attached to it. I wasn’t sure how it happened, but the next thing I knew I was on my knees, crawling to the car, reaching through the shattered window trying to get to him. Why wasn’t anyone helping him? My hand caught a shard of glass, leaving a large gash behind my left thumb, I didn’t care, I had to help Devon. Then I felt a pair of hands at my waist, pulling me backward, I kicked and screamed to fight them off but it was no use, they were stronger. “He’s gone,” a kind voice had told me, I shook my head violently, refusing to believe it. We were supposed to get married; he loved me when no one else had. He couldn’t be gone; but he was, and I was alone, without love or someone to hold me. It should have been a familiar feeling for me, after all it was all I had ever known growing up, but Devon had shown me what it was to be in love. We may have been young, but we had loved like we were older.