Wanderlust (11 page)

“I hate that virtue,” she said, pushing her bottom lip out.

He grinned and caught her lip with his teeth, nibbling. “Don’t test me. That phone cord over there could make for excellent wrist bindings.”

She turned her head and glanced at the coiling black wire. He wouldn’t, right? Or maybe he would. She had no doubt that he’d had kinky sexual escapades she wasn’t experienced or knowledgeable enough to even conjure up in her mind. She sent him a wary look. “You’re into that kind of thing?”

He laughed and released her arms long enough to pull her dress up and over her head. “What? Tying you up and leaving you helpless while I drive you out of your mind? Oh, I’d be into that. But unfortunately, we don’t have time for that kind of fun.”

Her skin was so hot she half-expected steam to rise up as the chilled office air hit her. He tossed the dress onto the floor, and his fingers adeptly unsnapped her bra.

At the sudden exposure, a twinge of panic seized her. She didn’t look like the groupies he was probably used to—model-thin and surgically enhanced. Her gym membership had expired a year ago, and her boobs definitely didn’t warrant their own zip code. She was real, imperfect, soft. His eyes raked over her bared breasts, her black panties, her body.

“You are so fucking gorgeous,” he said, his voice thick, all playfulness gone.

A nervous laugh bubbled to her lips, ready to dismiss the compliment, but she swallowed it when she met his gaze. His face was serious, hungry, reverent. He wasn’t joking with her or spouting platitudes. No man had ever looked at her like that. Like she was some sort of fantasy.

Her body heated further under his stare and her nipples tightened, anticipating his touch. She smiled at him. “I would tell you that you’re stunning, but you clearly already know that.”

His mouth quirked up at the corner. “I’m glad you agree.”

She laughed and pushed at his chest. “You’re so bad.”

He grabbed her wrist and placed a gentle kiss on her palm. Then he laid her arm above her head, his eyes giving her unspoken direction to stay put. Adept fingers traced paths along her ribs, sending ripples of sensation shooting out like seismic waves. In a silent plea, her back arched toward him. He cupped her breasts and ran rough thumbs across their peaks, causing her breath to catch.

“I’m bad?” He bent down and took a nipple into his mouth, first sucking and then tugging it gently with his teeth.

She gasped, urgent desire drenching the thin silk of her panties. She wondered if she could have an orgasm without him even touching her below the waist. Her control was hovering on the edge already. A deep breath shuddered through her as she tried to reign herself in. She didn’t want this to end too soon. Not without feeling him inside of her.

“What about you?” he breathed, before taking the other peak and giving it the same treatment.

She could barely form words, consumed by the tongue rasping against her breast and the heady scent of man wafting from him.

“Me? I’m not bad.” She shivered as his teeth scraped against the delicate nerve endings. “At least, not usually.”

His finger trailed down the center of her cleavage, down her quivering abdomen, and then hovered at the lace waistband of her panties.

“I think you’re wrong.” He slipped his finger under the lace and caressed her.

She let her head drop back and moaned.

“No good girl would go through the trouble of keeping everything so smooth down here—like she’s begging to be kissed and licked and tasted. I think you’re naughtier than you’re letting on.” His finger found its destination and slid inside, dipping in and out in a languid rhythm.

“Oh, god.” Her body, no longer under her conscious control, rocked against his hand like a desperate, wanting thing. She writhed underneath his careful attention, blindly scraping her fingernails against his arms. “I like the way smooth feels.”

“Bet it makes touching yourself better?” he whispered.

“Yes.” The word came out in a gasp. She couldn’t believe what she was admitting aloud, but it was as if her internal filter had shut down.

He groaned as he eased his hand out of her panties. “Fuck.”

Her eyelids snapped open. “What’s wrong?”

His jaw tightened and sweat glistened on his forehead. “Now you’ve got me picturing you getting yourself off. That’s not fair.”

Her lips curled into a smile, happy that she was affecting him as much as he was affecting her. She may be a good girl, but she could play dirty, too. She grabbed his wrist and sucked the finger he had been using on her.

An expression akin to pain crossed his face. “Okay, screw taking our time. Terrible idea.”

He gripped her waistband and yanked her panties down without ceremony.

“Worst idea ever,” she agreed. She reached out and made quick work of his belt buckle, cursing the creator of such useless devices when it gave her trouble. Once it released, her fingers manipulated the button on his jeans as he dug in his back pocket. The couch squeaked underneath their hurried movements, and Aubrey said a silent prayer that no one would hear them in the hallway.

No longer the picture of patience, Lex hopped up, wrenched off his shoes, and shucked his pants and boxers. Aubrey allowed her eyes to travel across all the hard angles and smooth planes of his naked torso, and then down, down, down, discovering there was something far sexier than Lex in jeans—Lex out of them. Hot damn. Everything in her coiled in anticipation at the sight of his impressive erection.
His cock.
She let her mind wrap about the crude word and love the sound of it.
Own it.
He’d told her to own her desires and right now, damn was she ready to. Her tongue swiped at her bottom lip.

“Mmm, I like the way you’re looking at me, Ms. Bordelon.” He leaned over and kissed her full on the mouth, surprising her with the level of tenderness he could employ in the midst of their fervor. It wasn’t an I-want-to-fuck-you kiss. It was a kiss you give someone after a really great date. An I’m-into-you kiss. She ignored the stirring in her chest that the affection awakened. When he pulled back, he cupped her chin and tilted her face upward, locking those blue eyes on hers. “I’d love to kiss every inch of you like that, but we’ll have to make time for that later. If I’m not inside you in the next two minutes, I may end up in a straightjacket.”

The intensity in his face and seductive promise in his voice made her shiver. “That makes two of us.”

He braced his arm on the back of the couch and used his knee to part her legs, opening her to him. He made a sound of appreciation, running a knuckle down her slick, aching cleft, and then settled his body between them. “So damn sexy.”

“Please, Lex,” she moaned, the simple touch almost sending her over.

“Easy, baby. Almost time.” While he opened the foil packet with his teeth, the thumb of his free hand caressed her clit, sending sharp bolts of pleasure through her and keeping her right at the edge. He fumbled a bit trying to get the condom out while still touching her, and she nearly resorted to whimpering. Instead, she managed to grab his arm and plucked the rubber from his fingertips, unable to wait another moment. She rolled it down his length, loving the feeling of that steel heat beneath her palm and positioned herself just right beneath him.

She needed him. Right. Now.

“Mmm, trying to take charge, huh?” He nestled himself against her mound, brushing her with the tip of his cock. “That won’t do.”

He took her wrists and pinned them above her head.

She tried to wiggle out of the hold, desperate to grab him and guide inside her but he held her firm and slid in one agonizingly sweet inch at a time. Every nerve ending in her body seemed centered on that one spot where their bodies were connected. She could feel every detail of him—the broad head of his cock, the smooth, hot shaft, the size of him.

“Christ,” he groaned, obviously torturing himself with his pace as well.

Her body protested as it stretched to accommodate him. It’d been so long. But the combination of pleasure and pain took her breath away. She dug her nails into her palms and wrapped her legs around his waist, seating him even deeper.

“Am I hurting you?” he asked, voice raspy, as if he were holding on by a thread. He moved inside her slowly, carefully.

Panic fluttered through her at the thought that he might stop.

“No,” she whispered, loving the feeling of him so snug inside. “I want all of you.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. He slid to the hilt, filling her completely and gradually increasing his pace, until he was driving into her with the same urgency she felt. “Fuck, you feel good.”

She closed her eyes, relishing the hard grip of his hand around her wrists, the joining of their bodies, and the rawness of it all.

He tucked a hand between them and caressed her clit, bringing her closer and closer to climax. It wouldn’t take much. She was so near the edge already, drowning in the man that was Lex Logan. The sights and sounds of the office around her faded into the ether. All her senses honed in on Lex—his spiced scent, the way his dampened hair fell across his forehead, how every kiss she peppered him with tasted like salty ocean air.

“Aubrey,” he ground out, drawing out the syllables. His eyes flared with yearning.

The moved together in perfect rhythm, rocking, thrusting, him holding her down like everything would fall away if either let go. Hard and fast and all-consuming. She teetered on the verge, feeling like she would never be able to gather her thoughts again. Over and over. Closer and closer to the brink. Then, right when she thought she would burst from the pleasure, she careened into orgasm.

She opened her mouth to cry out, but Lex released her wrists and guided her head against his shoulder to keep her quiet, twisting his fingers into her hair. Unable to control the surging force of energy in her body, she bit into his flesh, letting go a muffled scream against his skin. He gasped, in pain or pleasure, she couldn’t tell. Then his body shuddered. A low, guttural moan escaped him as he found his own release.

They collapsed onto the couch, a tangle of legs and sapped muscles, breathing as if they’d run a marathon. They didn’t say anything for a long few minutes and the bliss of the moment started to settle down, letting reality slip in with its ugliness. Aubrey squeezed her eyes shut, holding in the idiotic tears that threatened to spill over.

Never.
Never had it been like this. Not with anyone. Not with Gray, not even when things were great between them. A miserable feeling settled in the pit of her stomach. Leave it to her to discover the sex of her life with a guy who would be gone in a week.

Lex wanted to choke the photographer. Hours of posing, setting up shots, getting powdered and re-powdered in the sweltering heat, and dealing with Sean’s foul mood were enough to drive him to homicidal thoughts. The photographer directed Lex to look intense for the umpteenth time. Lex bared his teeth and growled, earning a deep frown from the photographer.

“Not scary, Mr. Logan. Dark, sexy, mysterious . . .” he said in his exaggerated French accent. “Make love to the camera.”

Seriously? Oh, this guy was begging to be kicked in the balls.

“I need a break,” Lex barked, knowing he was seconds away from a meltdown. He grabbed a water bottle from the ice chest and stalked off to the shaded area inside the abandoned warehouse that they were using as a backdrop. He rested his head against the rusted metal wall and stared at the large venting fans in the ceiling, willing them to rise from their corroded state and work. He slid down the wall and sank onto the dirt floor, not caring that the wardrobe chick would shit a brick when she saw his designer black pants dusted brown.

Jared loped through the open doorway and frowned at Lex. “Dude, what’s your deal?”

“My deal?”

“Yeah, you’ve been kind of an asshole the last few hours.”

A sarcastic comeback rose to Lex’s lips, but he stopped it from slipping out. “Sorry.”

He
had
been kind of a prick since Aubrey had left the set. The first hour of the shoot had been great. Aubrey was there in that short dress, flushed from orgasm, looking edible. He couldn’t take his eyes off her. Then, she’d received a call from her boss that had sent her scurrying back to the office. So much for the afterglow.

Since that moment, he hadn’t been able to tolerate much. He had thought that having sex with Aubrey and getting her out of system would fix his fascination with her. That had always worked in the past. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept with the same girl twice. High school, maybe. But screwing her had made things worse. Now, he wanted more than anything to touch her again, to see her let go, to hear her cry out in pleasure without having to muffle it. And God, to be inside her again. He suddenly had a new item to add to his shortlist of things he called amazing.

“You all right?” Jared asked, picking up a discarded screw and tossing it against the wall with a loud clink.

“It’s just too damn hot to be out here this long.” He unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off, leaving only his white undershirt. “And what planet is that guy from?”

“France, I think.” He stepped closer to Lex and squinted. “What the hell happened to your shoulder?”

“Huh?” Lex looked down at the purpling semi-circles. “Oh, nothing.”

Lex tried to grab his shirt, but Jared was quicker. The drummer squatted down next to him, staring at the marks. “Holy shit, are those . . . ?” He leaned forward.
“Teeth marks?”

Lex shoved Jared, who lost his balance and landed on his ass. “Back off, J.”

Jared burst into laughter.

“Dude, you are the master,” he said between guffaws. “You got the prissy reporter to fucking
bite
you?”

Lex clenched his jaw, waiting for Jared to get a hold of himself. “Just keep that shit to yourself, all right.”

Jared wiped his watering eyes. He held up his hands. “Fine, whatever. But if I were you, I’d want the world to know.” He jumped to his feet and brushed his pants, creating a cloud of dust around him. He shook his head. “Damn. I love a biter. That’s awesome.”

“J,” Lex warned.

He put his finger to his lip. “Secret’s safe with me, man. Good job on taking care of business. Now you can pull her off the story anytime you want.”

***

Lex crumpled up the paper he’d been writing on and tossed it at the trash can, missing by at least three feet.

“Hey,” Sean said, flicking a guitar pick at Lex and hitting him in the head. “I thought we were getting somewhere.”

Lex raked his hands through his hair. “Dammit. I know what I’m trying to say, but the words won’t hang together right. I had this song all written in my mind last night, and now I can’t make it work for shit.”

Sean bounced his knees impatiently, his guitar clenched in his hands. “It’s fine. Let’s make it work. Not every song has to be perfect.”

“It doesn’t have to be—” He stared at Sean as if he were seeing a stranger. “What the fuck? Are you kidding? Since when do you want to settle for lame, mediocre crap?”

Sean lowered his guitar and got to his feet, his tone as sharp as his blond spikes. “Like the song I wrote? Is that the crap you’re talking about?”

“Bro, get over yourself,” Lex snapped, getting tired of Sean’s angry outbursts. “This isn’t all about you and your stupid song.”

He scoffed. “Oh, you don’t have to tell me that. I know what everything is always about. You. Welcome to the Lex Logan show, everyone! Pretty boy lead singer who thinks he’s the only one smart enough to put words together on a page. The one who’s going to drive this band into the goddamn ground because he can’t get his head out of his ass and write!”

Lex clenched his fists and stared at his now unrecognizable best friend. “Whatever, Sean. Just get the hell out of here. Go write some nursery rhymes for us.”

“Yeah, fuck you, too.” Sean flipped him off and slammed the door behind him, shaking the walls of Lex’s room.

“Asshole,” Lex muttered and shoved the coffee table with his feet, tipping it over in the process. How was he supposed to get anything done when Sean was more concerned about his precious ego than the damn band? Since when was it a fucking competition? They were all on the same sinking ship—if one failed, they all did.

Lex rose to his feet and paced the short length of the hotel’s living room like a caged tiger. He mumbled lyrics aloud, trying to piece them together in some sort of logical order. The night before, while Aubrey had slept in his hotel room, he had scribbled out three different song starts—each fraught with promise. Now they were a jumbled mess battering around in his brain. He slammed the side of his fist against the wall.

A break. He needed a break. He rubbed the sore spot on his shoulder.

No.

He needed Aubrey. Tonight. Preferably naked.

***

Lex parked his car in front of Aubrey’s house and climbed out. He hadn’t seen her since the photo shoot. He had tried to catch her at the office, but the receptionist had told him that she wasn’t there. He’d expected her at the band’s rehearsal at the studio, but she hadn’t showed. Now he was worried. Had something happened? Was she regretting sleeping with him? He hoped not. He hoped she was ready for a repeat performance, because God knew he was.

The blinds in her front window flickered with blue television light. Good, she was home. He knocked on the door lightly and rocked back and forth on his heels while he waited for her to answer. But no one came.

“Aubrey?” he said, knocking again. “It’s Lex. Are you in there?”

He heard a shuffle behind the door then a hoarse voice. “Lex, this isn’t a good time.”

He frowned. “Come on, babe. Don’t make me talk through the door. Let me in. I promise I won’t bite. Of course, I won’t mind if you do, again.”

There was a pause and then the lock turned over. She cracked the door open and peered out, her expression flat. “Please don’t announce things that my neighbor can hear. We can talk tomorrow, okay?”

She started to close the door, but his hand shot out and stopped it.

“Hold on a sec,” he said, scanning her face. “What’s going on? This isn’t about this morning, is it?”

She sighed. “No, this morning was . . . fine.”

He raised his eyebrows. “
Fine?
If that’s your reaction to fine, I’d love to see what you do when it’s great.”

Her mouth hinted at a smile, but didn’t quite accomplish it. His heart clenched at the hollowness behind her eyes.

“A lot has happened since this morning.” She stared at him for a moment and then stepped back, letting the door open wider. “I guess you may as well come in. You need to know anyway. Your name is involved.”

He frowned and stepped into her living room. Even though it was only eight, she looked ready for bed in pink striped pajama bottoms and a white cotton camisole, her face scrubbed clean. An open photo album and her laptop cluttered her coffee table along with a king-size bag of gummy bears and a Yoo-hoo. He sat on the couch as she flicked on a lamp.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

She sank into the corner of the couch and gathered her knees to her chest, looking more girlish than he had ever seen her. “Besides my heartless slaughter of all things made of sugar?”

The little joke heartened him, but the strain around her eyes didn’t lift.

She grabbed her remote control off her side table and aimed it at the television. “Watch for yourself.”

A replay of the six o’clock news began. She fast-forwarded until she found what she wanted. The female anchor began to speak.

“Current mayoral frontrunner Emile Bordelon, who is running on a platform of family values and is well-known for his outspoken stance on the city’s loose alcohol regulations and public intoxication laws, may get to use his daughter as an example if he wins office. Aubrey Bordelon, his only surviving daughter, was seen at Sway Sunday night with Lex Logan, notorious playboy lead singer of rock band Wanderlust. An anonymous source reported that Aubrey was clearly intoxicated and had to be helped out of the bar after falling.”

Lex groaned as a grainy cell phone picture of Aubrey on the floor of the bar flashed across the screen. His teeth clenched. “That dickhead. Anonymous my ass.”

“Earlier in the night, Ms. Bordelon reportedly attended a Families Against Drunk Driving benefit honoring the life of her sister, Ashley, who was killed in a drunk driving accident in 2000. Aubrey, who was behind the wheel the night of that accident, spent thirty days in a juvenile rehabilitation program to deal with her alcohol issues. Now, ten years later, it appears as if she’s fallen off her path. In addition to this incident at Sway, Aubrey is also rumored to be the woman receiving a lap dance from Mr. Logan in this YouTube video taken at Candies, a strip club downtown. The video has received thousands of hits in a matter of days.”

Aubrey snorted. “That’s not because of me.”

They showed a clip of Lex’s lap dance with his body blurred from the neck down.

“What the hell? Being shirtless isn’t allowed on the news? They make it look like I was dancing naked or something.”

“
His opponent, Mayor Cavanaugh, stated that the incident was regrettable and suggested that the senator’s intense attack campaign may have distracted him from seeing the issues in his own family.
A statement from Senator Bordelon is expected by our ten o’clock broadcast. Stay tuned.”

Aubrey lowered the volume with a tired look on her face.

“This is completely ridiculous,” Lex said, shaking his head. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She leaned her head against the cushions. “It doesn’t matter. One grain of truth can be blown into epic proportions in politics, especially when your dad is such a hardass in his stance on things.”

He frowned. “You had to go to rehab at sixteen? How L.A. of you.”

She gave a humorless laugh. “That kept me out of juvenile detention. My father pulled strings to get the judge to require treatment instead of punishment for my crime. Kiddie rehab and then a strict all-girls Catholic school for my senior year. I’m glad I didn’t have to go to jail, but it was still scary. The night of the accident was only the second time I had ever been drunk in my life, and suddenly I was inpatient with all these teenagers who had serious addictions.”

“I’m sure that’s exactly what you needed right when you were dealing with your sister’s death.”

She shrugged. “Definitely not a contender for the highlight reel of my life. I’ve never felt more alone. I had killed my best friend. My parents couldn’t bear to talk to me. I don’t know what I would’ve done without Grayson. He was the only one who didn’t look at me like I was a stranger after the accident. The only one who didn’t blame me. I guess that’s how we ended up dating. He made me feel normal.”

Lex bit his tongue. He didn’t like her ex. Something about him rubbed him the wrong way. But now was not the time to criticize the guy. “I’m glad someone was there for you.”

She rubbed her hands over her face. Even taut with stress, she was beautiful. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be laying this on you. My boss gave me an earful today about letting my personal life interfere with work. She was pretty pissed that you had to help me out of a bar. She sent me home today to get myself together. I think she’s going to pull me off the story.”

A dart of panic raced through his veins, surprising him. Wasn’t that exactly what he had wanted from the start? “That’s not necessary. And you don’t need to apologize for talking to me. I did demand that you let me in.”

She smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. You basically forced it out of me.”

Aubrey’s cell phone buzzed loudly against the table. She grabbed it and frowned at the caller ID. “My father. I have to take this.”

She took a breath and then answered it. Lex couldn’t hear what was being said on her father’s end, but he watched as Aubrey’s face changed from dread to disbelief to anger as the conversation stretched on, her father doing most of the talking. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re kidding, right?”

Her dad squawked louder on the other end, but Lex still couldn’t decipher the words.

She shook her head. “Dad, I’m not an alcoholic. I was
never
an alcoholic. I was at the strip club on assignment. Can’t you give me the benefit of the doubt?”

She paused, listening to her father’s reply, her face hardening. “I’m sorry it reflects badly on your campaign, but I’m not the one running for office.”

She rose to her feet and started pacing. Lex could hear yelling through the phone now. She raised her voice in response. “You know what, Dad? That’s fine. You go on television, wash your hands of me. Disown me for all I care. I don’t take any money from you anyway. I’m not apologizing publicly. I
did nothing wrong
this time.”