Finding Her Rhythm (Backstage Pass Series) (11 page)

Taylor looked up at Michael’s brother, listing on the bed, not tracking their conversation, while she got his shoes on. He just seemed odd. Had he been drugged? She hadn’t seen any kind of drug paraphernalia. Not that she would know what to look for. The closest she’d ever
been to drugs was what she’d seen on television and the antidrug films she’d watched in high school.

He’d known Michael was out of town. How could he let himself get into this condition? Although he probably hadn’t planned on being left alone…

“I’ll go pull your car around to the back service entrance so we can avoid the lobby.”

“
Thanks so much, Max,” she said to his retreating back. She had to remember to thank Michael for being such a good guy, not one of those people who got too big for their britches when they achieved stardom. This could have been a publicity nightmare if Max had been a different kind of person. Becca would have been far better equipped to handle this situation.

While she waited, she made one more sweep of the room, looking for evidence of the woman who had left. No toothbrush, no blood, no wallet. Why had she left like that? If she’d been hurt, why hadn’t she asked for help instead of disappearing?

The trip down to the car was probably comical if seen from an outsider. Neither she nor Max were quite tall enough to support such a big man, especially with Daniel unsteady on his feet. But they made it to the back door without anyone falling or crashing into something besides each other.

“
Grab the door,” she told Max as they approached the car. He pulled the door open, and she attempted to maneuver Daniel into the passenger seat. A major stumble and she found herself pinned between the car and a half-dead rock star. He slumped, burying his face into the crook of her neck, and she grabbed him around the waist, afraid he’d hit the ground.

Daniel groaned, his breath hot against her neck.

“You okay, big boy?” she asked.

He groaned again, then pulled back a touch and whispered into her ear,
“Please, please don’t tell Becca. She’ll be so pissed at me.”

“
Aw, Daniel,” Taylor teased. “Are you afraid a little bitty girl will spank you for misbehaving?”

He mumbled something, but she caught the end of it.
“If she finds out, she’ll never let me spank her.”

Taylor froze for a moment. Um… She should have known Daniel might have some of Michael’s dominating tendencies, but hadn’t seen any evidence of it in his teasing banter.

Although this could explain Becca’s abrupt departure the day of the party, the hint of panic in her eyes. Taylor had chalked it up to the same uncomfortable feeling she’d had about riding someone’s shoulders. Considering Daniel’s worried tone, maybe it had been about avoiding something more.

She patted his shoulder awkwardly from her trapped position.
“Don’t worry, big boy. Your secret’s safe with me.”

Max stepped in and helped free her, then guide Daniel into the car. She only hoped he sobered up some before they arrived at the estate, or getting him inside without anyone seeing just might be hell on her back.

* * *

“
Scrambled eggs?”

Was it wrong of her to take secret delight in watching Daniel’s face turn green? Considering that she needed a nice hot bath today to ease the strain in her shoulders and back, she didn’t have an ounce of sympathy.

“Michael didn’t mention you had a sadistic streak,” Daniel said.

She flashed what she hoped was an evil eye.
“Just remember that the next time you decide to hook up with a vanishing woman and get drunk in a hotel room.”

Instead of pushing back like she expected, Daniel frowned in silence, rubbing the back of his fingers over t
he stubble along his jawline. If he thought she was going to apologize for being frank, he was sadly mistaken. She sat across from him at the bar to eat her eggs and toast.

“
Something weird happened,” he finally said.

No shit, Sherlock.

“I can’t remember anything about last night.”

She sat up straighter.
“What do you mean? Like after you got drunk and passed out?”

“
No.” He stumbled over to the fridge and pulled out some Dr. Pepper, frowning at it for a moment before popping the top. “I mean, I don’t remember anything at all. Who the woman was. How we got to the hotel. What happened there… I remember going to the club, though.”

Her face must have told him what she was thinking.

“Give me a break, Taylor,” he scoffed. “I’ve been drinking in some form since I was thirteen years old. It would take a hell of a lot more than what Max said was in that room to get me shit-faced, I assure you.”

“
You called him this morning?” she asked, raising her hand to cover her chewing mouth while she talked.

Daniel nodded.
“I had him tell me everything he remembered. The woman hasn’t returned to the hotel. No one has seen her or an abandoned vehicle.” He shrugged muscled shoulders. “I wanted to make sure he understood how much I appreciated his help. He could have just tipped off that reporter and left me to face the music whenever I was conscious again.”

“
That wouldn’t have been pretty.”

“
Don’t I know it.”

Daniel’s suspicions shed a whole new light on last night…and the trouble he could have been in.
“You need to be more careful, Daniel.”

He cocked his head at her.
“Aw, Taylor, I think you might care about what happens to me.”

“
Of course I do, you dimwit.”

“
As long as you care about what happens to Michael and the kids, that’s all that matters.”

The serious turn of his voice had her doing a double-take. Daniel cared about his family as fiercely as Michael. He just showed it in a different way.

She wanted him to know she appreciated the precious gift. “I promise you, they are safe with me.”

Those long fingers of his, so reminiscent of Michael’s, fiddled with the can in his hands.
“I need a favor.”

“
Another one?”

“
Boy, you are bitchy this morning,” he said with a laugh.

“
That’s what interrupted sleep will get ya.”

“
But I’m not the only one interrupting your sleep, am I?”

Her body flushed from head to toe as memories of her last night with Michael blew through her brain.

“I see you passed the test,” he said, a smirk appearing on those full lips.

“
What test?”

The smirk changed to a smile in seconds.
“Nothin’. I better head out. Michael won’t be interested in an audience when he gets back.”

And neither was she. A week and a half without the kids or anyone else in the house. She might just be entering a whole new dimension, but fear still trembled inside her. Uncertainty.
She wanted this.
With Michael, she wanted it. She wasn’t going to let some nerves stand in the way.

Daniel turned to leave the kitchen, but she stopped him.
“Daniel? That favor?”

He nodded, though he only twisted part of the way back, leaving his face shadowed and sketchy.
“Would you mind keeping what happened last night quiet?”

“
You mean, from Michael?”

“
Yeah…I’d rather him not know how bad I screwed up.”

The way he drew out that first word intrigued her.
“And?”

“
Could you not mention it to Becca if you run into her around here?”

She studied him from behind, her gaze tracing the tense set of his shoulders and the angled clench of his jaw. He’d
asked her this the night before but probably didn’t remember. “Any particular reason she shouldn’t know?” Not that it was any of Taylor’s business. She was simply…curious.

“
Let’s just say, her image of me is twisted enough as it is.”

She nodded
even though he didn’t look back, and repeated her words from the night before. “Sure,” she said, “your secret’s safe with me.”

With a quick wave he was gone, leaving her to ponder her questions and anticipate Michael’s arrival.

Chapter Ten

If Michael had been any more eager to be inside Taylor, he doubted he could have appeared
even close to stable when his driver picked him up at the airport after a four-hour flight delay. Not that he didn’t get a few questioning looks, but he managed to hold himself together pretty well. And keep his hard-on at half-mast.

Until he found her asleep in his bed.

The moonlight shone in a concentrated shaft across her sleeping body, causing the wisp of a nightgown she wore to shimmer in the dark. It looked just like what he imagined she would wear—sheer and stretchy across her breasts, holding them high and firm enough to make his mouth water. The fullness of the bottom draped lovingly over curves to brush against her midthigh, hiding the parts that made her self-conscious while revealing the mouthwatering muscles of her petite legs. His body throbbed its approval.

She might look like a sexy angel lying there, but his plans for tonight made her more tempting than the devil.

She didn’t stir as he eased onto the bed. His cock throbbed as he straddled her. Whatever her dreams, he intended to invade them, transforming her world into a place of sensual sensations where she gave him control and he pushed her every button to the extreme.

He crouched forward, clasping her wrists and pulling them toward him. He was careful to hold his weight in his thighs, not wanting her to awaken and be afraid because she was pinned down. Whatever had happened to her in the past to develop those fears and insecurities, he d
idn’t want it having any part in their time together.

Just him and Taylor and the pleasure they could bring each other.

Steadily he increased the pressure on her wrists, drawing her to consciousness, into awareness of him. She pulled back a touch, letting her feel the simple restraint. Then her body arched against his, her barely conscious mind reaching for what it wanted. She settled after a moment, and he started again, easing her from dreamland to waking.

When her lashes flickered, he bent to tantalize her mouth with his. He played around the edges until her lips parted, coaxing her where he wanted her to be. Then the kiss deepened, stealing his breath with its intensity. How could this woman make him feel more with one kiss than all of his partners throughout a lifetime? Within seconds she had him shaking.

Incredible.

In his excitement he crowded closer, rubbing his groin against the softness of her lower belly. She st
iffened. After a moment, she pulled hard at his hold, struggling to break free. The nightmares had come out to play.

She simply confirmed what he’d suspected all along. Someone, somewhere, had made her afraid of the very thing her body wanted, her mind needed.
Taylor’s submission was about stepping outside of her worries, her fears, shutting them off so she could only feel. Some asshole had taught her that letting go, turning that control over to someone else, led to pain.

Well, she’d learn differently with Michael. H
e spoke to her in the dark. “Taylor, be still.”

She froze, her chest ris
ing and falling with her panting breath. He could almost feel her mind come online, fully awake and afraid.

“
Who am I, Taylor?” He didn’t release the clasp around her wrists, wanting to anchor her to the present.

She blinked at the insistence in his voice, giving him his first glimpse of her forest-colored eyes in the darkness. A few deep breaths, then he sensed her attention zeroing in on his face. He held still, letting her look her fill, measure the feel of his body against hers.

No shadows between them tonight. No mistakes.

“
Michael,” she breathed.

Of its own volition, his body rubbed against the silk of her nightgown once more, rewarding them both for her answer.

“Again,” he growled.

“
Michael.”

He bent
closer, his mouth sucking along her collarbone, down to the bound treasures. “Again,” he demanded against her skin.

“
Michael,” she cried as his mouth found the erect tip of her breast through the stretchy lace.

He groaned, the feel of her
trembling beneath him building his own need. But he wasn’t giving in. Not this time. Their first night had come and gone too quickly. Tonight he would make her feel every second.

Every inch.

Slowly he brushed his body along hers, absorbing the silky slide of the gown, the softness of the skin at her thighs, the slight rasp of the lace. Her body heat burned him through her clothes, enticing him closer.

He returned to her mouth.
She opened immediately.
Good girl.
Slipping his tongue inside, he played, coaxing her to follow him, teaching her how to please him. He explored the landscape of textures. He sucked her full, moist lips, then once more skimmed his tongue along the inside.

His excitement built like their first time. Their first kiss. He growled in frustration, needing his hands. He would touch every inch of her before the night was through, inside and out.

Raising her arms above her head on the mattress, he pressed firmly. “Stay.”

His movements choppy, he retrieved the straps from hi
s bedside table and secured her spread-eagle in the middle of his king-size bed. This time she didn’t struggle but instead watched him through wide eyes that seemed to absorb every ounce of moonlight in the room. Walking from one side to the other, he studied her from every angle.

He’d never seen anything sexier.

The light tan of her skin faded to pale cream in the dark, even creamier against the bright blue of her nightgown. The material shimmered as she moved, drawing his eye to all the secret places it settled. Places he couldn’t wait to revisit in more detail.

Finally pausing at the end of the bed, he waited, knowing how badly she wanted him to move.
Not yet. “Baby, you are so sexy like this.” Slowly, he fisted his cock with his hand, giving her a chance to watch it all.

“Look what you do to me.” Stroke by tight stroke. He grew harder under her
avid gaze. Her hips shifted on the mattress as best they could while strapped down, need overriding her fear of exposure.

“Do you want me to play with that pretty pussy, Taylor?”

Her legs strained again, but silence reined.

“Tell me, Taylor,” he said, hardening his voice.

Finally that soft whisper in the dark. “Yes, please.”

Inside, he smiled. Only a good girl would say “please”.
After long moments he moved, kneeling in the V of her legs. Her smooth skin called to him, distracting him from the momentary relief of his hand around his cock. Instead, his aching palms quested over the hills and valleys of her sculpted legs. A trembling sigh escaped her lips.

“
Oh, Michael.”

That’s right. It’s me touching you.

He squeezed and kneaded the muscles, loving the firm resistance. Down to her toes, where he massaged each foot until those precious moans filled the room. Then meandering up to the heat radiating between her thighs. His fingers skimmed beneath the edge of the silk, which he’d left on to give her an illusion of modesty. Now he forced it back until it lay in a bright line across her belly button, exposing the vulnerable juncture of her legs, the gentle curve of her lower abdomen, and every inch in between.

Every bare inch.
Holy shit.

She jerked, trying to pull her thighs together. To hide from him.

“No.”

She stilled, breathing for long moments. Wanting the decision to obey, to submit, to be hers, Michael waited. Seconds ticked by. Taylor’s thighs trembled, then widened a little. A little more. What
leeway the straps gave her he compensated for by claiming the space between her legs with his body, crouching forward until his lips met the rounded top of her mound. So soft, just like the squeak that escaped from her lips. He brushed back and forth, his cock pounding at the smoothness.

“
Oh, baby. What have you done?” he asked against her skin.

H
er voice whispered through the darkness. “I wanted you to like it.”

“
I do,” he growled, his tongue sneaking out to play. “I really do.” Now his palms forced her wider so he could sample the glistening wetness along her labia. Placing firm lips around her proud little nub, he sucked hard, marveling at her responsiveness as she bucked beneath him.

He listened to every hitch in her breath, every moan from her lips as he ducked and
discovered. They evoked the same high as drawing a complicated rhythm from his guitar. His body started to shake, but he refused to cave.

“
Taylor, let’s make you a little more comfortable.” This time, he wielded his lips with intent.

Her warmth
and spicy scent engulfed him as he pressed his tongue inside, then back up to flick over her pulsating clit. One arch of her hips and he was lost, nipping, sucking and pressing her to her first orgasm, though he kept his hands anchored at her thighs as a reminder.

He wouldn’t give her the fullness she ached for until he gave it to her the old-fashioned way: cock-first.

Her cries filled the room, then drifted into heavy pants. They breathed in tandem for a minute, Michael reestablishing his control breath by breath. The bedroom had been his first show, the place where he’d trained to direct the mood of his audience, always guiding his partners where he wanted them to go with a cool head no matter his level of excitement. With Taylor, he felt on the verge of shattering every second. Not like him at all.

But every second of the conflict
told him his own end would be that much sweeter.

* * *

For once Taylor was too worried about swallowing her tongue to obsess about the size of her stomach and thighs. She should be petrified to be strapped down like this, but only one thought had pounded through her brain from the moment he made her say it:
It’s Michael
.

Nothing else mattered.

Even now he inched closer, covering her body with his hard heat. He balanced on his elbows as he reached for the neckline of her gown. Slowly, oh so slowly, he ripped it down the middle until he had clear access to what he sought.

She couldn’t
stop him, even if she wasn’t tied down. The mere sound of tearing fabric, the subtle brush of cool air against her breasts, the look on his face as he peeled the ruined gown away—everything combined to reawaken a body she’d thought was done.

His large hands massaged her breasts, forcing them to overflow in a way that had her watching every stroke. She literally couldn’t look away. Then those strong fingers whispered across nipples that begged for more. But he didn’t forge ahead, instead taking long seconds to coax them to standing with delicious friction and focus.

She might just die before this was over…

With unerring accuracy his knee nudged forward, settling his firm thigh directly over her open, wet pussy. A rapidly dwindling part of her w
anted to cringe away, hide how wet and open she was. The part reveling in his precise play of her body drowned out any complaints.

His two-
pronged attack had her panting again in seconds, straining to be free. The resistance only heightened her pleasure. Being tied down, and only tied down, would have been way too vanilla for Bradley.

Taylor thought her whole body would explode.

Good thing the kids weren’t here, because that wicked tongue soon had her screaming—when it wasn’t blocking the sound against her mouth. He laved her neck, her collarbone, her nipples, and even farther to her pussy. He remembered every secret spot to touch, and just how to touch it. Hard, soft, slow, or a slight sting. Every second bringing her to the heights of arousal, as if her first orgasm had never been.

When she was shaking and hoarse, he covered himself in a
condom. She wanted to marvel at the sight of him, but he’d returned her to the place where sensation ruled. She needed him, pounding inside of her, making her complete.

But first…

“Michael, please,” she gasped, trying to form the words she wanted.

He leaned forward to nuzzle her neck, bringing his cock directly in alignment with the part that needed him most.

“Are you okay, hon?”

A sensuous tilt of his hips and she gasped her approval. He slid through her juices, letting her feel every inch of what he had to offer. Root to tip, no surface left untouched. It was almost a relief when he pulled back to enter her, but she didn’t expect him to stop.
No, don’t stop.

“Did you need something more?” he asked.

A nod was all she could manage.

“Ask.”

That hard command actually loosened the constriction in her throat. She obeyed, drawing in a long breath and some semblance of sanity. “I want to touch you.”

His head cocked to the side as he studied her, his body
still working down below. Oh God, would he just enter her already?