Above the Noise (7 page)

“Becki?” He sighed my name as a question, and his hot breath enveloped my mouth just before his lips took their place on mine.

“Yeah?” It was all I could muster from inside his kiss. His lips were sucking the life right out of me. The guy could kiss, holy shit, could he kiss.

“Can you remind me where second base is?” I felt his mouth curl into a sexy smirk against mine.

“Honey, if you have to ask, you’re not ready for what’s there.” My mouth burned from his passionate kisses and the wayward scruffy traveler look.

“I’m ready, Becks.” He straightened his arms until he hovered over me. He looked down at my cami and tossed his head to the side.

“You want it, you gotta get it yourself, rock star.” I raised one eyebrow and tried to keep my cool when really my insides quaked. The look on his face when he realized it was up to him to get me out of my shirt was a cross between sheer panic and unadulterated lust. He sat back, took each side of my cami in his hands and gently pulled it up and over my head.

I smiled, and his eyes raked over my body, like he was preparing to memorize every square inch. “You’re. So. Beautiful.”

He laid his hands on my stomach and drew them up to my ribcage until each of his hands cupped one of my breasts. I watched every move he made; every shiver, every breath. His thumbs moved across my raised nipples, and then he gasped. My eyes shot to his.

“I’ve never… I want… oh, Becki.” I had no idea what he was trying to communicate and at that moment, it could wait. He leaned down and lightly kissed my lips then kissed my collar bone. He dragged his face across one of my breasts, and as I watched, his lips parted. They touched every part of me, but he didn’t take me into his mouth. Then he repeated the same with my other breast. My eyes closed, my fingers dug into his shoulders, and I arched my back, which increased the pressure of his mouth on me. Still he just touched, didn’t taste. I closed my eyes and with each brush across my overly sensitive skin, I silently begged him to taste me.

“Oh, Calon.” I tangled my fingers in his hair and tried to chase away the nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. Sex for sex’s sake didn’t make me nervous, but what Calon Ridge could do to me would make me lose control. And
that
made me nervous.

He continued down my stomach with his light kisses. My core pulsed. He slid farther and farther down my body until he was almost to the end of the bed. Warm fingers curled inside the waistband of my pajama pants. He revealed one of my hip bones then the other. He christened each with his mouth just as he had my breasts. My chest heaved so much he disappeared from my view as breath filled my lungs. I exhaled, and his face came into view just as his eyes flashed to mine and a sexy grin spread across his face.

“Becks, do you want me to stop?” His curls fell from behind his ears and danced around his face as he looked back and forth from my face to my hips.

I shook my head and reached for the slats on the headboard. I couldn’t speak. I was so turned on I could barely breathe. I could do nothing but focus on
not
coming before he got my pants off.

His legs made their way off the end of the bed, and he stood. His hands left my body for a mere second, and it was like someone stole all the oxygen in the room. I needed his hands on me as much as I needed my next breath. He combed his fingers through his hair then grabbed a handful with each hand. Calon stood perfectly still, his eyes never leaving mine.

I propped myself up on my elbows and tried to slow my breathing, but it wasn’t easy. My body desperately craved him. I watched his face and tried to read his thoughts. He shook his head a little, took a deep breath, shook it again then let his hands fall to his sides. He took his phone from his back pocket and tapped on the screen a couple times then threw it on the other bed. A soulful sound drained from the speaker, and then a beautiful voice softly sang about love. Trespassers William was a band hardly anyone knew, but it shouldn’t have surprised me that Mr. Music knew who they were. “Lie in the Sound” gave me goose bumps all over every single time I let my guard down enough to swallow the lyrics.

“Becks, you’re cold.” Calon’s voice was hoarse, and he grabbed one of the sheets to cover me.

I knocked it away. “It’s the song. Please, don’t stop.”

Calon smiled and nodded then breathed a sigh of relief. He leaned over and placed his hands on either side of my hips. His head hung between his shoulders, and his curls tickled my stomach between my hipbones. He curled his fingers around the top edge of my pants again and pulled them toward my feet. I don’t think he realized I had nothing under them, because he gasped when he realized he had just exposed all of me. He pulled my pants the rest of the way off and leaned over me again, shaking his head.

“Becki, you’re gonna kill me.”

“Come here, rock star. I’ll be gentle.”
What was I saying?
I wasn’t ready.

He grinned and crawled up the bed until he hovered over me again. He lowered just enough for our lips to touch, but he didn’t touch me with any other part of his body. His tongue took over and a quiet moan left my mouth. He kissed my neck just under my ear, which caused even more goose bumps. His mouth travelled down my chest. His lips once again brushed up and over each of my breasts. My nipples screamed for his tongue. I knew what he could do with it when it was in my mouth. I longed to feel it on all the other parts of me. He kissed me in a straight line all the way to my belly button. His tongue grazed around its rim, and I shuddered. He was so close to the part of me that literally ached for him.

“Is this okay?” His head lifted, and his hooded eyes stared right into my soul, and then he smiled, knowing he didn’t need to wait for my answer.

There was a part of me—a very small part, mind you—that felt hesitant to let him go any further. I couldn’t explain it. I was completely overwhelmed. I’d never let myself become so invested in a guy that I felt fearful.

Calon’s lips brushed the skin below my belly button. The guitar in the song whined one pluck at a time, and the soft tapping on the cymbals matched my heartbeat. I was lost in Calon and the music when I felt his hot breath trickle down over me. He gently pressed my legs apart and looked up at me again. I couldn’t take my eyes off him; the curls, the eyes, the broad shoulders, and the defined arms. That’s when I realized, he was still fully clothed.

“Stop.” A pang of relief ran through my chest when he immediately stood and ran his hands through his hair again. I wasn’t sure I could handle all of what I knew he could give me and still guard my heart with the little piece of wall that was still left.

“I’m sorry, Becki.” He licked his lips and rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s fine. I… I was just going to say, you’re still dressed. I’m feeling a little selfish here.” I pushed myself up the bed a little, smiled, and nodded toward my nakedness to make light of the situation, but the nervous tension in my gut wouldn’t let up. My body wanted him so badly it ached, but something in my heart was scared to take it all in. To take
him
all in. I closed my legs a little.

“I just wanted to kiss you. I wasn’t planning on going any further than what I’ve already been doing. Just kisses. But, I’ll stop if you want me to.”

Oh. My. God. He wasn’t ‘priming the pump’ as Shawn used to call it. This was a selfless act. This was all for me. He was getting to know my body. It just so happened Calon Ridge used his mouth to navigate.

“Don’t stop.” I growled out the words and hung my head backwards and drew in a deep breath. There was no way I was laying down again. I needed to watch what he was about to do. I had no idea how a guy goes below a girl’s waist without taking it any further than kissing. How do you—

A deep groan interrupted my thoughts. “Becks, you’re beautiful. So fucking beautiful.” He pressed my legs open again and bent forward. His breath heated my already hot center. He maneuvered one of my legs farther than the other and shifted so his body was almost perpendicular to mine. His face moved closer to me, and he tilted his head a bit. He breathed in a deep breath then placed his lips on the ones he hadn’t kissed yet. Long, soft, caresses. He kissed me there like it was my mouth but again without his tongue. It was like true a first kiss all over again, complete with that anticipation of the guy slipping you the tongue and being unsure if he was going to. Each peck brought me closer and closer to coming without him doing anything more than lightly touching me with his lips. Just then, his mouth pressed against me with just enough pressure to enflame me. I could feel the roll of the tension growing like a wave about to crash.

He left that spot and kissed the insides of both my thighs, one at a time. He continued down from my knees to my ankles then stood at the end of the bed and kissed the tops of my feet and each toe one at a time.

“Mmmmm. Becks.” He lifted his eyes to mine, climbed up the bed, bringing the sheet along with him. He lay on his side next to me and covered us both up. “Thank you for trusting me. I just wanted to kiss you.”

I WASN’T SURE
I was digging the vibe I got from the guys of Smiling Turkeys. We probably should’ve met them prior to signing on to the tour, but we were so stoked about getting the opportunity to open for them, we just sort of pounced.

Becki had warned us against jumping into something too quickly, because we’d been screwed over so many times and lost big gigs and possible contracts before. But, we just wanted to sign on that line and live it.

One of the band members of Smiling Turkeys called mid-week to tell us they added a date to their tour and we needed to be ready by Friday to follow them out to some night club on the outskirts of town for some secret celebrity birthday. They were all hush-hush about who the celebrity was, like they couldn’t trust us with the information. Dicks.

We sat in their studio for an hour past what was supposed to be the start of
our
studio time. Instead of playing, we listened to them argue over which cover they were doing for their encore.

Their studio was over the top. First off, it was huge with not only the set up for the band but enough space to have a small house party. There were two big sitting areas with black leather furniture placed perfectly around the edges of geometric design throw rugs. There were framed photos of the band with famous people in the industry and a signed electric guitar displayed under a small spotlight that hung from the black drop ceiling.

It was beyond me why you would need all of this crap around you while you rehearsed. I couldn’t imagine what it cost them for the space. Maybe they thought all the extras would inspire their music. We practiced at Mitchell’s when the bar was closed, and Buzz never charged us a dime. For me, the smell of stale beer and the history of all the bands that had ever played on that stage were my inspiration. Luckily, all that came for free.

“Dude, fuck you. Everyone wants to do ‘American Music’, so let’s just agree on that.” Frank played guitar, he seemed pretty cool, but he and Max, their lead singer, rubbed each other raw the whole time we were there. I got the feeling no matter what Frank wanted to play, Max wouldn’t have agreed to it.

“Oh, so because you, Troy, Ben, and Steve want to play Violent Femmes, that’s everyone? Well, Frank, I counted and there are five of us, not four.” Max walked over and got in Frank’s face.

Frank didn’t flinch. “Well, if we’re voting, I’d say we have the majority.”

Max had wild black hair, short but all over the place. He wore a long black leather coat everywhere and always had half a snarl on his face. I’d seen him enough times on the sleazy tabloid news clips that ran on the local LA stations. I wasn’t his biggest fan. I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t just sing both songs for their encore. Crowds love lengthy encores.

“Nope. We’re playing ‘Lump’, and that’s it.”

“Fine, Max.” Frank threw his hands in the air. “I just think that crowd we’re playing to may not even know that song. The Presidents of the United States didn’t really make it onto a whole lot of ‘Best of’ lists. But, whatever.”

Are you kidding me?
Dude with tough looking coat rules the roost? That’s bullshit. Spider, Manny, Bones, and I had been together since elementary school and never had stupid arguments like that. Not even when we were twelve. What a dick.

“You guys need to practice?” Max looked over at us like we were an afterthought.