The Price of Love (Rockin' Country Book 2) (9 page)

“That’s it, you two, pretend like I’m not even here,” Damien told them as he continued snapping away.

Hannah’s eyes lowered as she saw him moving in closer to her. She felt the slight brush of his lips against the back of her neck and smiled slowly, using her other hand to clasp it around his thigh.

They were lost in their own little world as they continued to touch each other, sometimes softly, sometimes with more force. Garrett whispered words into her ear, causing her to blush and giggle, and at some point, she turned so that she sat on his lap. It was the most fun she’d had with him in front of someone who wasn’t a part of their inner circle.

All too soon, Damien stopped snapping and laughed at the two of them. “You’re gonna explode my camera lens. You can definitely tell the two of you have chemistry. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

“Hey, man, can you send me some of those?” Garrett asked, his voice quieter than normal.

“Sure thing. You have a gorgeous wife, and together the two of you are smoking. I would love to photograph you for an art magazine if either of you are ever interested. Just keep it in mind.”

They both nodded as they made their way off set.

“I kinda feel like he’s asking us to do a porno,” Garrett whispered.

She laughed so hard she snorted before going into the dressing room and changing back into her street clothes.

“Don’t forget to bring that outfit home with ya. We might make it our own,” he reminded her.

In answer, she threw the bra over the door at him, smirking when he whistled. Coming out here and spending time with him was one of the best decisions she had ever made.

*  *  *

“I
can’t believe I’m leaving tomorrow.”

Hearing those words come from Hannah’s mouth cut Garrett to the core. He couldn’t believe their time was already at an end. It felt like this revolving door was never going to stop, and he had to keep himself from going to a place he knew he wouldn’t be able to pull back from. Being pissed on her last night in California would not do either of them any good. He wanted to have good memories to get him through the long eight weeks that would follow.

“Me neither.”

It was hard to fathom that she wouldn’t be lying here in this exact spot with him tomorrow night. They were on the balcony, spread out on the lounger there. He could hear the ocean and knew if he bothered to open his eyes, he would be able to see the moon reflecting off of the water.

“You sure you’re not going to get in trouble for not recording tonight?” she asked as she snuggled closer, sighing when his arms tightened around her.

“Really don’t give a fuck if they’re mad. I told them you’re leaving tomorrow. I figure they should know what the hell that means.”

They were quiet for a few minutes before she cleared her throat. “As soon as I get back to Nashville, I’m going to be running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I start tour rehearsals the day after tomorrow. I heard from Shell today, they approved the CD and the photography that Damien took. They’re moving forward with releasing at the end of the month, and then the first full week of October, I go on tour.”

He worried about her, that she was pushing herself and it was for him. “I don’t want you to kill yourself with this schedule.”

She sighed. “I keep thinking that once it’s over, I get a full year and a half with you. It’s worth it. You know being tired and rundown is a part of this business and it’s something that we can’t help most of the time. I’ll be tired everyday if it means I can spend more time with you.”

When she spoke those words, it gutted him. It felt like he wasn’t going the extra mile like she did. “I hate that if feel like you put more into this marriage than I do. It makes me feel like a shitty husband and less of a man,” he admitted.

“It’s easier for me. I don’t have to clear my schedule with three other people. I can make my own decisions without getting it cleared, for the most part, and then when I’m ready to go, I only have to get one or two plane tickets. I don’t mind making the sacrifice. Besides,” she kissed his jawline, “you surprise me all the time. This isn’t going to be permanent.”

Everything she said, he knew as true, but it didn’t make the situation any easier in his eyes. “Fuckin’ hate this.”

“Don’t be a Negative Nathan on our last night together for a while. We both knew what we were getting into when we decided to do this. We either work at it or we let it fall apart.”

“Talk about a role reversal.” He grinned at her. “Usually I’m the one telling you to let it go.”

She shrugged, smirking. “I’m workin’ on it.” She turned serious. “What’s going on with you? You’re never like this.”

“I don’t know.” He ran his hand through his hair. It was getting longer now that they were recording. It was kind of a superstitious thing that he didn’t cut it while they were in the studio. “I have a bad feeling and I don’t know why, I don’t know what about. I just don’t want you to get on that plane and go away from me tomorrow.”

“I have to, Garrett.” She kissed his neck sweetly. “I don’t have a choice.”

“I wish I was rich enough to buy you out of your contract.”

Hannah laughed. “That would be awesome, if we even had that much money together. I’m sure if we sold our houses, cars, and got all of our stock options together that we could. I don’t want to quit forever though, just for a few years to experience life. Who knows, maybe I won’t want to go back to it and we’ll have to see what can be done. We don’t know the future.”

She was right, they didn’t know the future, but he knew that he didn’t want to let her go. He didn’t want to spend the next eight weeks trying to find five minutes here and there to call her. Knowing that they didn’t have a choice didn’t make it better.

“It’s because I’ve been here,” she whispered. “It’s always harder when you leave me. I cry for hours, especially after I take you the airport.”

“You seem fine, every damn time,” he accused.

“What good is it to let you know how bad it tears me up, when you have no choice? All it would do would be to make you feel like crap. I don’t want that for you, so I hold it together until you get on the plane and I get out to my car. It’s hard and it gets harder every time. It is what it is. We can’t change it right now, no matter how much we both might want to.”

“This sucks,” he laughed. “We’re both at the top of our games in our own musical genres, and our asses have to go and fall in love.”

“We can’t help when we fall in love.”

He allowed her to clasp their hands together and entwine their fingers. In truth, he loved when she held his hand like that; it made him feel more connected to her. “I’m sorry that I’m having such a girl moment. This isn’t like me at all.”

“I know that too, but at the same time, we’ve had a heck of a lot happen to us since we met. We’ve not known each other for a year yet and we’re already married. You have to admit, we’ve done things at a crazy pace.”

Slinging his arm around her neck, he pulled her to him, burying his face in her hair and breathing deeply. “Eight weeks, right?”

“Eight weeks,” she confirmed. “Eight more weeks and then I’m with you for over a year. It’s been approved, I’ve executed my clause, and nothing can stop it, not even legal action. This is mine to do with what I want. What I want is to follow you around and be your own personal groupie,” she giggled.

“My own personal groupie, huh?” he raised his eyebrows.

“I’ve never been a groupie before, but I would love to be yours.” She giggled again.

He couldn’t tell if she was being serious or not, so he decided to see what she would do. Instead of bemoaning the fact that she wouldn’t be here, he wanted to bury himself inside of her and forget about what they had to face. Garrett licked his lips and lowered his voice. “If you were my groupie, I’d have you bent over that table over there.” He pointed to the coffee table that sat where he sometimes used his laptop.

She cocked her head to the side, not sure if she understood what he was saying to her. “You would, huh?”

“I would.” He nodded, but didn’t say anything else. He wanted her to make the decision on her own, if she wanted to do this or not. He had to admit, he’d often wondered what it would be like to have her the way he’d had other women, but he was scared to tell her that. He didn’t want her to think less of him.

Hannah bit her bottom lip, contemplating if she wanted to do what he was obviously suggesting. It could be fun, and it would definitely make for a memorable last night in California. She wore a tank top and a skirt from where they had gone to dinner with his family earlier. Her brown eyes met his green ones. There she could see that he wanted her to do this, but he wouldn’t pressure her. He wanted this to be her decision and not his. If they were going to do this, it was going to be because she wanted to.

Disentangling herself from his arms, she stood up and kicked her shoes off before walking over towards the table. Once she got there, she looked over her shoulder at him. “Is this where you want me?” The harsh breath that she heard from him was enough to convince her that she wanted to do this; she loved to see his control slip, even if it wasn’t fully.

“Down on your knees and face forward,” he told her.

Hannah could hear him behind her as she kneeled. He had gotten up off the lounger and was walking towards her. She closed her eyes, wanting to experience this fully. She could feel the heat from his body as he came up directly behind her. Goosebumps appeared on her arms and her nipples hardened as she heard him work the belt that he wore then the slip of his zipper; even the sound of the material of his pants dropping caused moisture to pool at her core. This was exciting her way more than she’d thought it would. After a moment, she heard him lower so that he was also on his knees, but even on his knees he was much taller and bigger than she was.

Hannah shivered when he moved the hair back from her neck and then attacked the side with his mouth, nipping and biting the skin there. Tipping her head back slightly, she gave him more room to work, the invitation to take it a step further. Her mouth opened as she felt his long fingers tangle in her hair and exert pressure, pulling it back further for him.

“You like this?” he questioned as his other hand slid down her neck, stopping to cup her breast before moving further down her body. His fingers played with the hem of her skirt at her thigh before diving under. “You didn’t answer me.”

Hannah couldn’t. Her throat felt like it had closed, and all she could do was nod and make noises. She reached out and gripped the table hard as his hand encountered the barrier of her panties. He pushed them aside and she moaned.

“Answer me, or you don’t get it.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I like it.”

He groaned then, removing his hand from where it was and moving it to her hip. He toyed with the string of her underwear there, before flexing his wrist and yanking, ripping them off her in the process. The next moment he was pushing on the back of her head.

“Bend.”

His command was terse, and when she didn’t follow through quickly enough, he layered his strong body over hers, pressing her against the coolness of the table. His hands went to her side where her arms lay and grabbed them, stretching her across the surface and then curled her fingers around the edge. “You hold on here,” he instructed, his breath hot against her ear.

She nodded, not sure if he wanted her to speak. It didn’t matter anymore when he plunged hard into her, causing a sound she’d never heard from herself to rip forth out of her throat. She heard a similar one come from his.

“It doesn’t last long with groupies,” he warned, his voice deep and dark in her ear. “I only care about one thing and that’s getting off, but with you, I’ll make sure you get yours too.” He licked the edge of her ear, nipping at her earlobe.

Hannah wasn’t sure she could handle this, the feelings that were coursing through her body. He owned her; it wasn’t sweet, it wasn’t intense like normal, this was more animalistic than anything she had ever felt before in her life. “Reaper,” she breathed out, the choppiness making it sound like it was ripped from her body.

“What did you say?” he asked, his fingers digging into her hip, bringing her fully flush with his body.

“Reaper,” she moaned again.

It was as if her calling him Reaper in that moment caused something to break inside him. He hauled her up from the table and plastered her back against his chest, never stopping the rhythmic thrusting into her body. Without warning he felt his body tighten and knew that it was going to be over, he couldn’t stand having his wife like this. She trusted him, more than he ever thought she would, and it did things to him, things that he couldn’t control. “Sorry,” he apologized as he pumped inside her body, biting her neck when the feelings became too much.

Her breath was heavy as she felt the warmth spill out of him and into her body. She needed more, and she needed it now.

“I got you.” His hand trailed from her hip to where they were joined.

“Feels good,” she told him, her bottom lip between her teeth. Her hand trailed down her body and pressed his harder into her.