The Princess and the Porn Star (32 page)

He chewed his lip.

“Music makes me happy,” I went on. “If I have to go back to independently recording albums that less than a hundred people download, or playing at no-name clubs with more bartenders than customers, then…fine. That’s what I’ll do. The fame, the world tours, the money, the awards…” I exhaled hard and waved a hand. “All of that’s fine and good, but not if I have to give up myself to keep them, and not if I have to give you up too. I just… I just don’t fucking care. There’s nothing in that contract that’s worth more to me than who I am and what I stupidly walked away from.”

Lee still didn’t speak.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I am so, so sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” He reached for me, and I didn’t know whether to be relieved or hurt even more as he wrapped his arms around me. Like his earlier flinch, a hug could mean anything. It could be platonic, affectionate, apologetic…

“Neither of us did anything wrong,” he said. “But our circumstances, they’re… Those are things beyond our control.”

Apologetic, then.

I squeezed my eyes shut, forcing back tears. “Lee…”

“We both have careers that, whether we like it or not, have an impact on our personal lives. And
publicize
our personal lives.”

“I know.”

He drew back, taking all the air in the room with him, and lifted my chin with a crooked finger. “But none of that changes how I feel.”

I stared at him, dumbstruck.

“It kills me to even think about you getting hurt because of me,” he whispered. “Because, my God, I love you, Rachel.”

I shut my eyes tight, and a hot tear slid down my cheek. “I love you too, Lee.”

He kissed me. So softly, so gently, he kissed me. I couldn’t tell if the world was caving in under our feet or finally righting itself, only that I’d never felt it move quite so fast as it did right then, right there, with Lee’s lips pressed to mine.

When he broke away, he pulled back just enough to look in my eyes. The weight of his presence was overwhelming. Breathtaking. As he moved in again, so did I, drawn across the narrowing distance by the intense magnetism of
him
.

Our lips were almost touching when he stopped, pausing and taking in a ragged breath. My heart pounded. His lip brushed mine. He came a little closer and finally pressed his lips to mine, not moving, just touching, before he drew back just a little and then came back for more.

He tilted his head, and I parted my lips for him. The kiss deepened. The nonexistent space between us shrank even more, going from a sliver of warmth to nothing but clothes.

We’d kissed before. Dozens of times. Still, there was something about this one that was unlike anything I’d ever experienced, something I could only describe as honest. He kissed me like this was all he wanted, all he needed, just tasting my mouth and breathing me in.

He kissed me. He loved me.

And right then, nothing else mattered.

Chapter Twenty

Lee

We made it to my bedroom. How, I’ll never know, but we made it.

And three steps past the doorway, she stumbled. Then I did. Someone’s center of gravity shifted, and the other followed, and we dropped to the carpet. I caught myself to keep from landing on top of her, but as soon as she hit the floor, she dragged me the rest of the way down.

We tangled up in each other. Kissing, fumbling with clothes, toeing shoes off. A button on my shirt popped off. A seam on her blouse ripped. She gripped my hair, nails biting into my scalp, and I groaned as I pressed my cock against her. We only broke contact when it was necessary to get clothes out of the way, and I kissed her desperately, hungrily, trying frantically to make up for lost time as I tasted her, touched her, tore away the layers that kept me from her.

Panting, I broke the kiss and lifted myself up onto my forearms.

The bed was a few feet away, but we didn’t get any closer to it. The mirrored closet doors were right there, but I didn’t look because there was nothing to see that wasn’t right here in my immediate field of vision, in the close-up view I had of Rachel. Holy fuck, I’d missed this. I’d missed her. Everything about her. And I still couldn’t believe she was here, so I came down and kissed her again because tasting was believing, and I tasted her, and she held me tighter, and…
fuck
. I’d never needed a woman like this.

I needed her. Right now. My God.

“We need…” I licked my lips. “Condom.”

She moaned. “
Can’t wait
.”

“Neither can I.” I pushed myself up. When I offered her my hand, she clasped hers around my forearm and stood. Our eyes met, and we could have easily collided in another hot, knee-buckling kiss, but then we’d never get to the part we both wanted. Instead, I opened the drawer and got out a condom.

Putting one on had never been this complicated, this difficult, not even when I was a nervous first timer. Not that it helped when Rachel lay back across my bed, her legs apart and her pussy ready and waiting.

Finally. Holy fuck.

Rachel squirmed as I climbed onto the bed to join her. She whimpered softly, and when I met her eyes again, hers were already starting to tear up. As I guided my cock to her, she closed her eyes and pulled in a breath, her breasts rising with the swell of her ribcage; she was the absolute personification of arousal, and the fact that she was like that with me—in my bed, under me, wriggling in anticipation of the two of us fucking until we collapsed—drew a groan from my throat before I’d even pressed against her.

And then I was against her, and with one thrust, I was all the way inside her. Oh God. I was inside her, deep inside her, with her legs around my waist and her back arching underneath us, and I needed a moment just to realize that, to comprehend it, to feel her pussy around my cock and her hands on my shoulders.

“Lee,” she whispered. “Lee, please…”

I kissed her hard, and we both shivered as I withdrew. As soon as I thrust into her again, her whole body relaxed except for her pussy, which tightened around me and took my breath away.

Just like on the set of her music video a lifetime ago, our bodies fell into synch, fell into a rhythm, and even though I couldn’t hear that rhythm, I followed it. I had no choice. My body needed to move with hers, hers moved with mine, and we moved together so perfectly, we may as well have been designed for this and nothing else. Even our sharp huffs of breath fell into synch, adding a sharp backbeat to the creaking bed frame and rustling fabric.

I slid my arms under her and hooked my hands under her shoulders, using her body for leverage to drive myself deeper. She gasped. Then she rolled her hips, and I damn near lost it because she took me at just the right angle, and she was so tight, and so wet, and…
fuck
.

She looked up at me, her eyes wide and her pupils enormous. Her hair was splayed across my pillow, getting more disheveled with every thrust, and when she swept her tongue across her lips, I couldn’t help the groan that escaped mine.

Then she reached up and grabbed both sides of my neck, and she’d never kissed me like that before. Desperate, violent, completely in charge, and so, so hot. She kissed me as forcefully as I fucked her.

With a helpless whimper, she broke the kiss and fell back to the pillow as her back arched off the bed. Her pussy clamped down on my cock. Her whole body shook.

And I couldn’t take another second.

I fucked her deep and hard, fast and furious, thrusting as much as I could before my orgasm peaked and fell. It finally did, and I collapsed over her.

My mind slowly came back online, my awareness expanding beyond Rachel and me. Of the reasons we hadn’t been together recently, and the reasons we were back together now.

I got up and got rid of the condom. Then we got under the covers together.

“Are you absolutely sure about this?” I slid my hand up and down her upper arm. “About…us?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation.

“It’s going to have ramifications on your career.”

“I know.”

“And there’s always the possibility of my career having ramifications on us.”

Rachel lifted herself up onto her elbow and looked at me as she absently brushed some unruly hair out of her eyes. “I know what you do. I know what that means.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Just like in the beginning, if I had a problem with it, I wouldn’t be here.”

“You’re sure, though?” I caressed her face with the backs of my fingers. “I’m on-camera having sex with other women.”

She didn’t even flinch. “I know.” She put her hand over mine and let our fingers lazily link together. “And the tabloids are going to have a field day with that, but…” Rachel swallowed. “After the last few weeks without you, I just can’t make myself care what everyone else thinks.”

“As long as it means I get to have you,” I said, “then neither do I.”

She smiled and lowered herself against me. I wrapped my arms around her, and she slid her foot down the inside of my calf and stopped against my ankle.

She snuggled closer and murmured, “I’m gonna fall asleep like this.”

“Go right ahead. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Yeah, but you don’t have a plane to catch in a few hours.”

“I’ll make sure you make it.” I closed my eyes and kissed the top of her head. “I promise.”

“Okay.” She released a long breath. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

She was right. She fell asleep.

And I didn’t go anywhere.

Epilogue

Rachel

BET THAT WAS AN ‘INTIMATE’ CEREMONY—Olivia Taylor Marries Porn Star

Eighteen months after they met on the set of the controversial “You Ain’t Even Kissed Me Yet” music video, pop star Olivia Taylor, 28, has wed the adult-film icon known as Buck Harder, 31, this past weekend at an undisclosed location. The wedding was attended by what was undoubtedly a bizarre mix of guests consisting of family, friends and “colleagues” of both the bride and groom, including several of Harder’s former “co-stars”.

The couple, whose real names are Rachel Taylor and Lee Peyton, quietly filed a marriage license in Los Angeles County last week. The wedding apparently came as a surprise even to the odd couple’s closest friends.

“I didn’t know they were engaged until the minister showed up,” says Harder’s close friend and frequent co-star, Mimi Snatch.

“We all got invites to a birthday party for Buck,” Taylor’s sister, Lynnette, tweeted afterward, “and the next thing we knew, it was a wedding.”

Fans were kept in the dark until after the fact, but once the news broke, followers flooded Twitter with congratulations. The hashtag #congratsOliviaBuck has trended worldwide since the groom and former porn star tweeted, “Surprise! I just tied the knot with the love of my life!”

Moments later, the bride announced: “I am now Mrs. @BuckHarder, and couldn’t be happier!”

Perhaps she couldn’t be happier, but her former record label, Risen Star Records, never did warm up to the idea. Despite the success of
Battle Cry
, Risen Star Records dropped Taylor two months after her reconciliation with the porn star, citing “a difference of opinion” about Taylor’s image and “its reflection on Risen Star Records.”

In December of the same year, Madding, Inc., signed her for an undisclosed amount, and after months in the studio with producers, Taylor released her critically acclaimed album,
The Truth About Love
.

“All the passion and energy of her previous albums combined,” raves Jams Weekly. “So much more than you’d expect from a pop album!”

Wavelength Magazine
proclaims: “Award engravers, start putting the name ‘Olivia Taylor’ on your dies, because this album is a sure thing to sweep the Rock N Rhapsodies, the Grammies and everything in between.”

“The Truth About Love
is a flawless masterpiece,” says
Chord Strike Magazine
, “What Taylor lacks in control of her personal life, she makes up for in spades with eloquent lyrics and a spectacular voice.”

Madding, Inc. has yet to comment on the marriage of their starlet to the former porn star.

Peyton left the adult-film industry late last year.

“It’s been a good run and an incredible experience,” he said, announcing his “retirement” during his acceptance speech for the Skinman’s dubiously prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award, “and I’m thrilled to end my career on such a high note.” In the same speech, he thanked now-wife Taylor for her “unflinching support” and “endless patience,” echoing her nod to him while accepting a Rock N Rhapsody award during their first public appearance as a couple.

No word on whether Taylor will be adopting Peyton—or perhaps Harder—as her married name, or how the Taylor clan feels about the latest addition to their family. Prior to confirming her relationship with Peyton, Taylor famously joked that her mother “would kill her” if she dated a porn star.

The couple is rumored to be briefly honeymooning in St. Croix, likely returning just days before Taylor begins her sold-out world tour to promote her new album. It remains to be seen if her marriage to the retired porn star will affect album sales or concert attendance.