Girl With Guitar (12 page)

“I
’d
do some things differently, yeah, but I’d probably still have ended up in music one way or another,” he finally answered, though he still didn’t meet her eyes. “Music was my safe place growin’ up,” he continued. His thousand-yard stare told Kylie he wasn’t seeing the acres of land spread out before him, but something else entirely. “When there was music in my house it meant things were good. Everyone was happy, dancing, laughing, just enjoying being alive. When the music stopped…” Trace’s chest rose and fell as the grin he wore faded and she waited silently for him to finish. But he just shook his head as his eyes unglazed, returning him to the present. His skin held a slight flush and she wasn’t sure if it was from the wind or the conversation.

Kylie let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. A breeze swirled past, sending loose blond strands of hair whipping into her face. “Rae said you were in a band when you first started out,” she offered as she pushed the hair out of her eyes.

“Yeah. I was actually, with a couple of the guys that were at the party last night. But now they’re all married with kids and real jobs, and I’m living on a bus.”

Her mouth gaped open. She couldn’t believe he was serious. “Trace...You have a real job, one I’m sure most of those guys would happily trade their nine-to-fives for.”

He folded his arms across his chest before he spoke again. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Sometimes I just feel like it’s taking over my life.” He paused for a moment and stared up at the sky, as if looking for an answer to a question Kylie didn’t know had been asked. “No, it’s more like I’m missing out on actually having a life because of it. Like you said, won’t be much longer till someone else comes along and replaces me and I’ve given up...pretty much everything for this.”

“You know I didn’t mean that. I was angry,” she reassured him. This was the first time she’d seem him let his guard down. It threw her off balance. Trying to comfort him and keep her own guard up at the same time was nearly impossible.

“Doesn’t make it any less true. It’s not like anyone really cares if I release another album or not—there are plenty of other guys out there singing similar stuff.”

“I care,” she told him, shrugging as if it wasn’t difficult for her to admit.

“Hell, you don’t even
like
me,” he came back at her with a grin.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”
Besides the fact that it’s not true.

“So tell me why you care if I keep recording or not,” Trace challenged.

Kylie took a deep breath, hoping her answer would be coherent and not turn into some mushy overshare. “
Goodbye in Your Eyes
reminds me of my dad. Of the things I would’ve said if I’d known the last time I saw him would be the last time,” she answered quietly, hoping the breeze would blow her words to wherever her dad was. When Trace didn’t say anything she continued. “I was born at 5:38 in the morning, and every year he barged into my room with his guitar at exactly 5:38 singing
Happy Birthday
.” Kylie paused to take a healing breath. “The line you wrote, ‘
Every time that time comes around, I feel your goodbye all over again
,’ one of the best lines ever written as far as I’m concerned.”

One side of Trace’s mouth lifted before he spoke. “Up until now, I’ve pretty much had a smart ass remark for just about everything. You’re the first woman I’ve ever met who can shut me up. It blows Pauly’s mind,” Trace told her with a light huff that sounded like soft laughter. “And mine,” he finished.

“Yeah, well, I’m probably the only woman you’ve ever associated with that has a triple digit IQ.” She bit her bottom lip and smiled to herself.

When Trace didn’t respond, Kylie pushed up off the fence and stood straight.

“Kylie—” he began, but she cut him off.

“We should probably get back. I bet Pauly’s freaking out,” she said, mostly just to keep things from getting even more intense.

“Yeah, okay,” he agreed.

As she turned to step into the golf cart, something wet thudded against her hip. She looked down. Mud was splattered on her jeans and the bottom corner of her shirt. Well, Trace’s shirt. “What the hell?”

Trace returned her puzzled look with a wicked grin and raised eyebrows. “That’s for insinuating I date bimbos,” he informed her, pointing at her mud-soaked hip.

“Oh yeah?” Kylie scooped up a handful of mud and flung it at his chest. Direct hit. “Well
that’s
for standing me up in Dallas.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, another clump of mud splattered against her shoulder. “That’s for going into The Player’s Club and a bedroom with a complete stranger all in the same night.”

“I was totally fine,” she argued as she slung a handful of moist earth that nailed her target a lot closer to his crotch than she’d meant to. “That’s for carrying me out like a cave man.”

“Oh, I’ll show you cave man.” Trace grunted as he ran towards her with two handfuls of black sludge.

Kylie squealed and ran, nearly tripping over her own feet as she tried to scoop up some more ammo. She’d always been a fast runner, but he was faster.

By the time the mud fight ended, they were both panting and caked head to toe with mud.

“No way you’re riding in my golf cart like that,” he told her, gesturing to her mud covered clothes.

“Oh yeah, what about you?”

Trace looked down at his drenched clothing. “I have to admit, you have much better aim than I would’ve guessed.”

“Why, Mr. Corbin, was that a compliment?”

His head snapped up and he glared at her. “I told you not to call me that.”

“Okay,
Tracey
.”

He shook his head, sending droplets of muddy water dripping from his hair. “I could kill Rae sometimes, I swear. Seriously, you cannot go around calling me that. I mean it.”

“And if I do?”

“Then I’ll—” He didn’t get to finish the threat because a giant clump of mud hit him square in the mouth.

He took off after her, chasing Kylie almost all the way back to the house, both of them deserting the golf cart. Grabbing her around the waist, he carried her kicking and screaming to the man-made pond Rae had told her he’d built himself.

“In you go,” he said as he tossed her in.

“Trace, no! Please, I can’t swim!” she screamed in mid-air. Trace splashed into the water right behind her. Just as he wrapped an arm around her waist to tow her out, she leapt up and dunked him under.

When he finally pushed her off of him and came up for air, she was laughing. Damn near hysterically. “You should’ve seen your face.” Kylie cracked up, bobbing in the murky water.

“You,” he said as he shook his wet hair in her direction, “are not a nice girl.”

“Never said I was.” She smirked at his back as he hoisted himself out onto the grass.

“Guess I should’ve figured that out when you dumped thirty thousand dollars worth of alcohol the drain,” he muttered. Kylie winced at the amount—she hadn’t realized it was so much. But then she laughed, thankful they were able to joke about it. “Truce?” he asked, reaching out his hand to help her out of the pond.

“Truce,” she said, taking it. But she lost her footing as soon as he let go and she stumbled into his arms.

“Whoa, you okay?” his eyes met hers and she felt heat flood to places she knew she shouldn’t be thinking about.

Please kiss me,
she thought at him. But he either didn’t get the message or he ignored it, because he released her as if she’d caught fire.

“I’m fine,” she mumbled as the heavy weight of disappointment settled on her chest.

“We’re going to have to strip these wet clothes off in the sunroom and shower before we head back.”

At Trace’s mention of removing clothing, Kylie’s heart missed a beat and restarted all out of rhythm. “Um, I don’t exactly have anything else to put on.”

“Just grab something of Rae’s and I’ll throw our stuff in the wash,” he said over his shoulder as he walked towards the house.

When they reached the sunroom, Trace was a perfect gentleman, much to her frustration. He handed her a towel, then did not so much as glance in her direction as he stripped down to his boxer briefs and wrapped a towel around his waist. She, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough. The sight of his bare skin had her synapses firing like AK-47 rounds.

He was thick and muscular and had just a hint of a farmer’s tan. Back muscles rippling with each movement reminded Kylie of the horses her grandparents had. Something clicked in her head as she realized what it was that had her practically panting after him. He was loaded, like probably obscenely wealthy, but he did all the work around the farm himself. Still took care of his sisters. Himself. Had callouses on his hands like her daddy did, because he wasn’t afraid of hard work. Okay, and yeah, he was hot as hell and could sing a girl’s panties right off of her.

She peeled her wet clothes off slowly, hoping he’d turn and look, but he just picked up what she’d dropped and darted out of the room. She kept her drenched bra and panties on and wrapped the towel around herself. She was feeling majorly insecure due to the not-at-all-interested vibe Trace was suddenly radiating in her direction.

She headed towards the master bedroom with the intention of using that bathroom to shower, but changed direction at the last minute. Since he was gone, she decided to go ahead and add her bra and panties to the laundry. Borrowing Rae’s clothes was one thing, but the thought of wearing someone else’s underwear freaked her out.

She padded barefoot back towards the sound of a whirring washing machine. Trace was still nowhere to been seen when she finally found the laundry room. She dropped her towel and tossed her bra in the machine. She had just begun to slide her underwear down when the sharp intake of breath alerted her to the broad frame that darkened the laundry room doorway.

J
ust
as she started to rush to cover herself, his gazed locked on hers. The red-hot lust consuming her body was mirrored back to her from his penetrating stare. Suddenly she was overcome by something so much more powerful than want. She
wanted
to be successful in her career. She
wanted
to make her daddy proud. Before this, she thought she
wanted
Trace to look at her like he was right now. But she was past those feelings now. This was a deep aching to the point of painful, physical
need
.

She maintained eye contact as she dropped her panties into the washing machine. “Forget something?” she asked softly. Trace reached past her, still not looking away from her face, though she could feel how badly he wanted to, and tossed the briefs he’d been holding into the machine.

“I thought you’d already be in the shower.” His steely glare hardened but Kylie didn’t miss the tremor in his voice.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” she quipped, breaking eye contact to pick her towel up off the floor. Suddenly she was very aware that her skin wasn’t one connected entity like she’d always believed. It was made of a zillion tiny individual cells that singed and tingled violently as Trace scrutinized them.

“Nothing about you is disappointing,” he rasped. An inferno raged between her thighs and she just barely resisted the urge to grab the towel around his waist and pull him to her.

“Two compliments in one day. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were starting to like me,” she said as she wrapped the thick white terrycloth around herself. Now that she was covered, his eyes raked over every inch of her body, touching all the places she wanted his hands to. He’d caught a glimpse and it seemed he’d liked what he saw, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

“Please go get in the shower now,” his strained voice pleaded.

Rejection spread like lava over her exposed flesh. Until she looked down at the front of his towel. “Seriously, go. I need a minute.”

“Just one minute?” she asked, stepping closer to him. “Well, that is disappointing.”

Trace closed his eyes as Kylie ran a finger lightly over his bare chest, but he didn’t move or even flinch. Drunk with power, she took another step closer. His skin was hot like she’d anticipated, and pulled taut over his muscles. She desperately wanted to replace her finger with her tongue.

“Shower with me?” she suggested softly, careful to keep any hint of pleading out of her voice. Not that she wasn’t prepared to beg if need be. An intense throbbing had taken over her entire body. It was like nothing she’d ever felt before and it had her seconds away from crying out for him to touch her.

But he shook his head no, eyes still closed, the muscles in his jaw clenching almost in time with her own pulsating ache.

“Please look at me,” she whispered. He opened his eyes. They burned so fiercely she feared she might melt under the heat. Her body warmed to a dangerously high temperature from the inside out. If she wasn’t so turned on, she’d be scared.

This would make her like all the others and she knew it, but she wanted him because of who he really was. The guy she’d seen here at his home and through his sisters’ eyes. Not because of the fame or the reputation. More like in spite of them. In her mind, that made their circumstances different. And it wasn’t like she was trying to marry him or anything. After tomorrow night, who knew if she’d ever even see him again? She sure as hell didn’t, and that made her want him that much more.

“Then just make love to me and I’ll shower after, all by myself.” Her words were still lingering in the air when Trace let loose a guttural growl and lifted her off the floor. She wrapped her legs around him as if it were natural instinct and gave in to the urge to claim his mouth as hers. Because she had to.

His thick wet tongue pressed hot into her mouth and she heard herself moan. She hadn’t known a kiss could feel like love but Trace made a job of it, licking and sucking and gently biting at her lips until he’d tasted every inch of her.

He pressed her against the wall in the hallway outside of the laundry room and trailed firm kisses from her jaw to her throat. She moaned again loudly, wondering if normal people moaned during kissing. She massaged her way up the hard arms that held her until she reached his neck. Running her fingers through his thick hair, she relished in its softness. He groaned and she covered his mouth again.

He smelled of damp earth and tasted of water and want. It was beyond a bad idea and Kylie knew that anything that felt this amazingly good would be followed immediately by hell to pay. But, God forgive her, it was worth it. When they finally made it to the shower, she was trembling with need.

Trace turned the water on ten degrees past scalding and Kylie braced herself as the water covered her. Pulling her close from behind, he devoured her neck with his mouth and a whimper tore from deep inside of her. Her knees threatened to give out but arms of steel steadied her as he turned her around to face him.

“You’re even more beautiful soaking wet.” His voice was so thick and deep it almost sent her careening over the edge then and there.

“Please, Trace. I need you.
Now
,” she begged shamelessly.

As if he’d waited a lifetime for those exact words, he grabbed her and lifted her again, pressing her against the tile shower wall. It was cold against her back but she was burning up.

“Aw hell,” Trace groaned, along with a few other choice words.

“What? What’s wrong?” Kylie was entering full-blown panic mode trying to figure out what she’d done wrong.

“Condom.” Trace looked around as if one would appear in the shower.

“Um, are there any under the sink?”

“No, Kylie. There aren’t. I don’t bring women here.” He lowered her to standing and braced an arm on the wall beside her head.

Oh. And
oh
, that made her want this so much more. She didn’t even think she
could
want this more, but there it was. “Trace, I’m on the pill. Have been for the past year.”

“What are you saying?”

“I think you know,” she said softly, tensing for the awkward dose of rejection about to spill out all over her. The water pouring over his perfect skin made Kylie want to lick every inch of him.

“Kylie, listen to me. I do not fuck without condoms. Ever.”

“So don’t fuck me, Trace. Make love to me.”

The man who had eleven number one hits in the first few years of his career, who’d escorted models, actresses, and countless beautiful women to red carpet award shows and other celebrity-filled events, who appeared perfectly comfortable in the middle of what Kylie considered an orgy, looked completely and utterly lost.

“I-I don’t make love either, Kylie Lou.”

“You could try,” she said softly. “Please? For me?” There it was. The undeniable proof that she’d fallen. Far and hard. She was begging. And she never, ever begged. For anything. Ever.

“I don’t know if I can.” Trace let his eyes drink in every inch of her wet naked body.

She ran a hand slowly down his chiseled arm. Softly at first, before gripping him harder and pressing herself closer to him. “I’ll be gentle with you.”

Trace’s answering moan echoed off the walls. “This how it’s going to be with you? You making me do all the things I’ve managed to avoid my whole life?”

Kylie smiled the most seductive grin she could manage. “Hope so.” Placing her mouth on his, she pulled him back to where they were before. Back to her wet writhing body, that ached with a need only he could soothe.

Trace used one hand to clutch her chin and hold her still while he explored her mouth with his tongue and his other to open the slick, folded flesh between her thighs.

Kylie’s whimpers grew louder than the water raining down on them. She spread her legs further, giving him full access. He moaned into her mouth as he slid a finger into her opening.

“Maybe I changed my mind,” Kylie said against his lips. Trace pulled back but she didn’t let him go far. “Maybe I want you to fuck me instead.”

“All in due time, darlin’.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth he dropped to his knees and used his fingers to open her even further. Glancing down at him kneeling before her in the steamed up shower almost caused her to come right then. His thick wet tongue pushed against her in slow, torturous licks.

“
Oh my God
.” Suddenly she was frantic and panting. “Yes, I definitely changed my mind.” Trace licked her harder, dipping his tongue inside of her.

She was definitely not going to live through this. Kylie’s legs threatened to give out and she reached for something to grab. A bar on the shower door was helpful but probably wouldn’t last long under her death grip.

Reaching up to cup her breasts, Trace licked his way north until he was standing. “My sweet, wet girl. So tough on the outside and so soft and sweet on the inside.” He clamped his mouth down on hers and Kylie tasted herself on his lips. Metal clanged and the sound echoed around them. Yep, the bar on the shower door was now hanging from only one end.

Trace either didn’t notice or didn’t care. He lifted her above him, smiling when she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her stomach muscles clenched tightly in anticipation. Fear washed over her.
What if she was bad at it?

Kylie felt the tip of him entering her and she bit down on his bottom lip. She needed him inside of her
now
. Her inner walls were pulling and gripping him tightly as he pressed inward. God, he was huge and thick. She couldn’t imagine how the whole thing would actually fit since his
finger
had felt like a stretch.

Trace groaned, letting the sound out slowly as he pushed inside of her in one deliciously painful thrust. Something pinched and tore and the intense pressure was too damn much to handle quietly. Whimpers of mingled pain and pleasure escaped Kylie’s throat. She clenched her eyes shut in an attempt to survive it. When she let herself look into his, they were wide with panic.

“Kylie? What the hell?
Oh God.
” He shook his head and Kylie clenched him tighter. She should’ve told him. But then he might have turned her down. He slammed his hand hard against the shower wall, causing her to flinch.

She couldn’t stand the sadness she saw filling his eyes as he shook his head back and forth. Like he hated himself. Her mouth opened and she said everything and anything she could think of to make it better, so he wouldn’t stop. “I wanted this, wanted you. Wanted you so bad, Trace. I needed it to be you.
Please
.”

The veins in his neck bulged as he closed his eyes and inhaled sharply. “Dammit, Kylie. Stop,” he commanded without looking at her.

She tried, but she couldn’t force her body to quit sliding up and down his length in a desperate effort to get him to the place she needed. When she did it was pure molten pleasure. It felt so good Kylie lost the power of speech for a moment. And then she was hit with an overwhelming wave of panic. Because it was too damn good. The kind of good that ruins you for everyone and everything else. Nothing would ever be this good again. When he finally opened his eyes, the look he gave her told her that was exactly what he’d intended. Until he’d realized she was a virgin. Trace grabbed her arms, forcing her to stop moving. The cold sting of rejection seized her.

Please no.

Once she was still, he withdrew from inside of her and lowered her to standing. Kylie had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from crying when he turned and shut the water off.

Before she could figure out how to convince him to finish what they’d started, he opened the shower door. The cold blast of air hit her so hard she lost her breath. Wrapping her arms around her wet naked body in an attempt to stop the shivering that was rocking her, she watched helplessly as he stepped out of the shower.

“Cold?” he asked softly.

Talking equaled tears coming, so she nodded and looked away. A surprised squeal escaped her throat when she felt herself being lifted again. Strong sure arms carried her bride-over-the-threshold style to the king-sized bed in the next room.

He laid her on the mattress and stared down at her naked form. “You’re too damn beautiful for your own good. Hell, you’re too damn beautiful for
my
own good.”

Kylie smiled nervously up at him, unsure of what was coming. “My hair’s going to get your pillows all wet,” she said, leaning up so he could put a towel under her if he wanted.

“Baby, when we’re done, I hope you’ve soaked the whole damn mattress.”

Relief flooded her entire body. As did a much needed warmth. Before she had time to laugh at him for being so crazy, Trace straddled her, cutting off anything else she’d planned to say. The thick ridge of his erection pressed against her. “It’s your first time, Kylie. We’re going to do this right.” Leaning down, he sucked each of her breasts into his mouth, pulling each nipple with his teeth until she moaned his name.

Heat began to build between her legs as he slid off of her. She was warm and wet and ready. Spreading her knees apart with his hand, Trace eyed the juncture at her thighs like a forbidden dessert. “Even this is beautiful,” he said reverently, trailing a finger through her wetness.

Kylie blushed and twitched at the unusual compliment. “Trace.” Her knees tried to snap together but he held her open.

“It is. It’s perfect.” Lowering his mouth to her, he placed gentle licks between her legs until she was arching off the bed. His tongue seemed to be apologizing for the rough treatment his dick had just given her. Not that she was complaining about either. Though his mouth on her oversensitive flesh was so intense, her body strained to pull away.

“Where are you trying to go, darlin’?”

“Mmm.” She couldn’t answer because she couldn’t form any actual words at the moment. She wanted to touch him but her hands were fisted in the comforter beneath her. If she let go, she feared she’d rocket out into space. She was losing control. Part of her hated the feeling. But that part could shut the hell up because what Trace was doing to her was so good she was seconds away from screaming.

Sliding his hands upwards, he tickled her inner thighs and she squirmed. Still licking her clit gently, he pressed a finger deep inside and Kylie’s body stiffened. Moans and whimpers and sounds she couldn’t recreate if her life depended on it, tore from her throat. Pleasure ripped down the middle of her so hard she gave into the urge to scream just to release some of the pressure. Trace didn’t even flinch as she rocked and jerked, nearly kneeing him in the head in an attempt to get some relief from the unrelenting assault of his mouth.

“Oh no, baby. We’re not even close to being done,” he growled against her center.

Oh God.

She’d have to beg him then. Her words came out in a frantic rush. “Trace,
oh God.
Please. Trace, I can’t take anymore. Please.
Please.”

But he didn’t stop. He added another finger inside her and increased the pressure of his tongue. It was too much. Her thoughts fled and she lost herself in a sea of swirling ecstasy. The room was spinning hard and fast, or maybe just the bed was, but she couldn’t figure out how to make it stop. His mouth moved upward and he replaced his tongue with his thumb on her clit. He braced his muscular frame above her smaller one as his thumb moved in tantalizing circles. His breath tickled her face. “Look at me, Kylie Lou. I want to look into those beautiful blues when you come.”

She forced her eyes open and met his sweltering stare. Her mouth tried to form a word, a plea, something. But nothing came. Actually,
she
came. But no words did. Trace locked her in his gaze as her body trembled and convulsed of its own accord. He pulled his fingers out of her slowly and she whimpered at the absence.

“Can you handle more, baby?” he asked just before he sucked his fingers into his mouth. The same fingers that were covered in her wetness.
Jesus.
His eyes held a challenge she hoped she could meet. But she was too weak to answer out loud so she just nodded.
Yes, please.

This time when he slid himself inside of her, it didn’t hurt at all. Her hips rose, rocking in the same slow, rhythmic pace he set for them. Finally able to release the handfuls of comforter, she wrapped her arms around him, digging her fingers into his back in an effort to pull him down on her.

“No, no, no, little miss I call the shots. You’ve been demanding and in control for long enough. My turn now.” Reaching behind him, he pulled her hands away and gripped her wrists firmly enough to cause a slight pinch of pain. He pinned them above her head and continued sinking into her and withdrawing while staring into her eyes from above.

Leaning down, he whispered into her ear. “When I’m finished, you’ll barely be able to stand me
not
being inside of you.”