Stone: At Your Service (Carolina Bad Boys #1) (10 page)

“
Especially since you’re gay.” His eyebrow lifted and with it, the corner of his mouth.

“
Right.” I sat in the chair opposite him, smoothing my hands over the cover of
Ride
. “Right. But why does she have to be so damn cute? And how the hell does she write this stuff?”

“
You know what they say, practice makes perfect.”

I pinched my eyebrows
hard enough to blot out unwelcome images of her with other men. “Fuck. I hope not.”

“
Did you even start reading at the beginning?” Suspicion lurked in his tone as he squinted between me and the Book of Ball Busting Delights.

Surprise, he
’d caught me.

“
Skimmed for the sex.”

He started laughing but I added,
“Listen to this, man:

Breakfast. With Jase wearing his regulation low-slung towel and nothing else as he sat in front of Avery, watching her every move as she scooped up the delicious omelet he’d made. Nervous from his unwavering attention, she licked her lips. Jase’s mouth dropped open, his dark brown eyes trained on the tip of her tongue. She repeated the same lick on her bottom lip, more slowly.

A
roused awareness buzzed through Avery. She rolled her neck and arched her back. Then she blushed, as timid as a schoolgirl, which was exactly what she was. A shy college co-ed with a cruel, cruel secret she couldn’t confess to anyone, because she’d already tried that, only to be told she was a pathetic little liar.

  Pushing away the past she couldn
’t change, Avery focused on Jase, a man she shouldn’t want. She had no interest in her free lay roommate. None. She was sure of it. Baskin Robbins 31 flavors? More like Frito Lay. She giggled as she sipped from her cup of coffee, rich and dark from the beans he ground every morning first thing.

Setting his fork down, Jase elbowed his empty plate aside to put his joined hands on the table. That simple smooth move brought him several inches closer to her face.

“Is something funny, Ave?”

She
gulped a little too quickly on the hot java. “No,” she choked out, eyes falling to the fluffy remains of her breakfast and the last bite of toast on her plate.

“
I don’t think so either. You know . . .” He crossed his arms behind his head, leaning back in his chair. His biceps bulged, his pecs tensed, and he pulled his lower lip between his teeth before letting it pop back out. “I came all over my chest and belly last night after you left.” One hand drifted down to rub the swath of tan skin and brown hair on his bare chest . . . all the way to the loose knot of the towel where the hair thickened.

Heat prickled
Avery’s skin and her mouth opened for a shaky breath. It pushed her breasts against the thin cloth of her top, and Jase hummed, “Nice tits.”

Her nipples pearled to attention.
“Jase
—
”

H
is voice smoldered from across the table. “So I was thinking. I help you out every morning.” He waved a hand around the kitchen then stood with fingers slowly loosening the towel around his waist. “Maybe you could help me out, every night.”

She shook her head but remained seated and still, waiting to see what he
’d do next.

His fingers unclenched, the towel
barely held in place. Walking toward her, he hunkered down. The towel parted between his strong thighs, revealing a muscular landscape she wanted to explore.

“
A little arrangement, Ave, that’s all I’m talkin’ about. Is that sweet pussy wet for me?”

“
No.” Urgency and arousal dripped into her voice no matter how desperate she was to deny it.

“
I bet it is.” A dimple dove into his cheek with his gorgeous smile. “I bet it is,” he repeated, sliding away. Turning his back, he started running the water in the sink. “But that’s okay, the lease is for another six months and I like a challenge.”

“Great, hoss, that’s just great. We’re fucked, aren’t we?” Nicky pushed up from the bed, plucked the book from my fingers, and tossed it beside the TV. “I’ll take you to a strip joint, let you get your rocks off there.”

“
I don’t want a strip joint.”

“
Yeah, I got that. You want Leelee friggin’ Songchild.” Flipping my fedora to me, Nicky held open the door to our room, hurrying me out.

I
swatted his ass as I strode past. “Nah. I just want you, babe.”

****

The whorehouse-princess castle vibe was in full swing when we hit the lobby, only this time it was more dimmed lights, fake smoke, and speakeasy.

A
squawking call went up from amid the overflowing chairs and sofas care of Jacqueline, who stood on top of a couch. “It’s Nicky Love and Stone!”

I dipped my hat in her direc
tion, murmuring to my beau, “What’s with the glad rags?”

“
They’re videoing the flash-mob tonight.” He one-finger waved at a behemoth male cover model dressed in a zoot suit being mobbed by a bunch of groupies.

“
Flash-what?”

“
It’s a scene videoed with the Con attendees. It goes on the LitLuv website and YouTube, showcasing this year’s theme.”

I took in the feathers, beads, headbands, and sharp suits
all around. “Roaring Twenties?”

“
RAWRing Twenties,” Nicky said before being enclosed in one of Janice’s hugs that usually turned into full-on manhandling.

Jacqueline
and Missy pulled me between them, but Leelee was missing. I scanned the party crowd looking for her, locking onto LaForge instead. He salivated over a group of readers, distinct with their red lanyards. Ignoring the ridiculous ache in my chest over Leelee’s absence, I scarfed down several slices of pizza Missy plated up from the box in the middle of the table. I chased it with a red Solo cup of wine that made my taste buds burn. But who was I to complain, it was alcohol, and it was free.

The congested room quickly
heated to inferno level. I stood to lose my jacket and threw it over a sofa. Preparing for a long, hot night, I pulled loose the tie Nicky had so meticulously knotted, rolled my sleeves up my forearms, and dipped the fedora farther over my right eye.

“
Oh holy
hell
,” Jackée breathed.

“
Oh holy Stone!” Janice elbowed between her friends. “Back off, bitches.” She scanned me from hat to toe, fumbling in a hemp bag that crossed over her chest. Tonight she was back to her John Lennon shades, this time tinted purple.

She pulled out her cell
phone and caught me staring at the glasses. “Purple, as a reminder against purple prose.”

“
Huh?”

She buttoned my lips between two fingers
, and I
flailed
for a second. “
Shh.
You don’t need to worry about it, big bad beautiful man. It’s a writer thing.” Releasing my lips, Janice twirled a finger in the air. “Now, turn around for me.”

I pivoted before I thought better of it then rolled my eyes when I heard giggles from the girls behind me and the click of cameras.

“Soooo hot.”

“
Le sigh.”

“
I’d die for a bite of that butt.”

I recognized the last as Peachtree
, and my now fully admired rump clamped tight as I spun around. Janice frantically tap-tap-tapped into her phone.

“
Y’all are tweeting my ass?”

“
Technically, I don’t tweet.” Missy hovered behind Janice who had dropped into a chair. Dressed in a silvery gray flapper dress with long strands of pearls, of course, she slapped a riding crop—or whipping crop, depending on how you looked at it, fucking semantics again—against her hip, probably just to watch me shudder. “I get other people to do it for me.”

I pressed my palms onto the table, unwittingly giving a great view of my backside to a bunch of brazen women behind me
. More smart phones started clicking on my posterior.
Posterior?
Fucking hell.

“
His gorgeous glutes are going viral!” Janice showed her phone around.

“Meat market,” Nicky murmured. Grabbing my hand, he whirled me around and into a dip, his hazy, evening sky eyes dancing above me. “Aren’t you glad you’re off the menu, darlin’?”

There were more claps, more camera flashes
. I fought with my dominant side, willing myself to remain docile in Nicky’s arms.

“
As long as you don’t drop me, partner,” I drawled.

A
young woman marched over as I straightened up. She wore a white feather boa, a scarlet smile, and held a light meter in her hand. “Bravo! Bravo! Fantastic chemistry! Can you do that when we film the scene? A
leetle
more UST, yes?” She made a square out of her fingers with us inside the box. Backing off, she talked into the mic headgeared beside her mouth.

“
What the fuck was that?” I asked.

“
Jules Gem. She scripts this shit all year long. Don’t mess with her. She’ll cut your gonads off and send them home to Gigi in a gingham-wrapped package.”

And here I thought that was Missy Peachtree
’s job.

He
tugged me back to the circle of sofas where I squeezed between Jacqueline and Janice. All dolled up in beaded ivory, Jacqueline’s mocha-colored skin contrasted with her dress. She turned slightly away to chat with a newcomer. Janice, on the other side, took the opportunity to run her fingers up my thigh.

I dipped the hat even lower over my eyes while I gently dislodged her
hand from my leg with a tender
there-there nowhere near my groin
pat. As the huge lobby grew even more packed, I scoped the area from time to time, hoping to catch a glimpse of Leelee. The talk around me ranged from tweets and texts to something called Pinterest as we watched Jules Gem finalize her staging. When the conversation turned to shop talk—not the greasy, dirty garage shop talk I was used to—but New Adult, Romantica, Regency, and something called
mm mmm
, I gave up being subtle to stare unblinkingly at the elevators across the lobby.

When I turned
back to the group to answer a question from Nicky that sounded like
wah wah wah
in my ears, I caught sight of a woman crossing the room. A pair of long shapely legs in fishnet stockings ending in spiky black heels filled my vision. I followed the clinging jet-black dress to curvy hips, full breasts, a pouty red mouth . . . and a razor-sharp, midnight black bob. The girl was stacked. Now not only did I feel like I was being unfaithful to Nicky, I was cheating on Leelee, too.

Diving into the brightest green eyes as the woman slinked in front of me, I finally
recognized Leelee. She wore one of the many wigs that had spilled from her luggage at check-in. I did a double take and came back for a third round. She looked vampish, not in an Elvira way but in a fuck-hot film noir Hollywood way. All the blood in my body took a southern route to my cock.

I
immediately stood up and took off my hat. Ma had instilled southern manners in me from the get-go, and even though I was beginning to see myself as the manwhore my reputation made me out to be, this woman deserved to be treated like a lady. It all came back to me in an instant.

“
Leelee, you look exquisite.”

She
blushed, the sweet pink color painting her cheeks. She kissed me to the side of my mouth, words heating against my skin. “My, Stone, don’t you look rakish.”

And the gawker-geese
sighed altogether, “Swoon.”

“
Tweeted
and
Facebooked,” Janice chirped.

Janice and
Co. were cut short when Jules Gem started shouting. She could’ve stood on a table to be seen like everyone else did, but instead she’d been lifted onto the shoulders of two Coverdales.

Her boa flapped and her gums flapped too from behind a
true-blue bullhorn. “Okay, kids! You have your instructions, yes? Make our viewers and friends who can’t be here
feel
the vibe. This is our rendition of the RAWRing Twenties. The first dance is the Charleston, so step lively. Then we’ll switch partners for the tango and canoodling. This is going out live, so I’ll signal the change like this.” She twirled a finger in the air just like Janice had to get a better view of my ass. “You can’t
look
at me, because that would kill the scene, but you must pay attention to me at all times.
Capiche
?”

Thankfully, she shut the hell up and started a countdown with her fingers.
3, 2, 1
then she whispered . . . through the megaphone, “And action.”

Big band music blasted out of the speakers
, and Nicky spun me into the middle of the floor.