Saved by the Music (Saints & Sinners Book 2) (11 page)

“Nice save, Miss Daniels. I’ll let you have it for now. This charity is my way of giving kids the same opportunities that someone once gave me. I was a fucked-up kid, Ashlee. I got into drugs and was on my way to jail or the morgue when someone helped me turn my life around. That’s why this is so important to me. I want kids to know they’re not alone, that they don’t have to throw their lives away because of what happened to them. I want them to know they can have a safe place to go, a place where they could have a chance to make something of themselves.” He should’ve been surprised by how easy that came out, but when it came to Ashlee, he was more than comfortable sharing pieces of his life.

He wanted her to know everything about him, and then still give him a chance to be the man she needed, but he wasn’t sure if he was ready to go that far yet. Even if she showed she was one step ahead of him. “Is that where the scars on your back are from?”

He took a deep breath and ran his hands over his face, giving himself time to find the courage to have this conversation with her. “No. That’s from what pushed me to the streets in the first place.”

She must’ve seen how hard it was for him to talk about this. That was the only explanation as to why she wrapped her fingers in his, holding his hands like she was his own personal lifeline. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to push.”

He squeezed her hands. “Ashlee, we talked about this. Don’t apologize to me for wanting to get to know me. My dad was a mean, selfish bastard. That’s where the scars are from.”

He expected her to gasp or run in the opposite direction, but she didn’t. She squeezed his hands harder and when he looked into her eyes, he didn’t see pity, just what he hoped was admiration for the man he’d become.

“There’s more to the story, isn’t there?”

“Yes.” He didn’t trust himself to make full sentences right then. The conflict of emotions running through him was making it hard for him to breathe.

She released his hands and his panic grew more intense, but then she stood and took the seat beside him, cupping his face in her hands. “You know you can tell me, right? I would never judge you, Sam.”

He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t talk. He lowered his head to her chest and for the first time in his life, he cried in front of a woman.

ASHLEE

The behind-the-scenes chaos before a Saints and Sinners show kept everyone on edge. There was no chance for quiet processing time when the biggest band on the planet was getting ready to take the stage. She wasn’t a stranger to backstage craziness, but this was on a whole other level. She squeezed the all-access pass, the lanyard wrapped around her fingers, as her security escort led the way to Sam’s dressing room. When he told her about the escort, she thought he was being overly obsessive, but after stepping outside the bus and seeing the crowd of rowdy fans waiting for the guys, she was thankful for the extra thought.

When she reached his dressing room, she stopped in front of his door, debating whether or not she should go in. She knew he would be alone because that was his ritual, but the last thing she wanted to do was interrupt him.

“He’s not gonna bite, you know.” She turned around at the sound of a man’s voice, smiling when she saw Austin leaning against the wall on the other side of the small hallway.

“I just know he likes to be alone before a show. I don’t want to bug him.” She had a pretty good idea of how stupid she looked, and was well aware of how much she was giving away about her feelings for Sam.

“I’m pretty sure seeing you would become his new preshow ritual, darling.” Austin pushed himself off the wall and walked toward her. The man was drop-dead gorgeous, there was no denying that, but his body carried so much tension she wondered how he didn’t just snap. “He likes you a lot, Ashlee, and that’s putting it mildly. And it’s pretty obvious you feel the same way about him. Sam’s the best man I know. Give him a chance.” He kissed her forehead before leaving her alone in the hallway with the security guard, who was doing his best to hide a smile.

She straightened her shirt before wrapping her fingers around the door handle. Taking a deep breath, she knocked, and opened the door to Sam’s dressing room. What she saw next almost made her faint. He was shirtless, wearing a pair of low-rise jeans, showing off the V that made her crazy with lust. His hair was still wet from a shower, and his feet were bare. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her, leaning on it to keep herself from stumbling.

“Ashlee, you need to stop looking at me like that.” When his voice made her blood boil, she realized she was eye-fucking him from across the room. She couldn’t help herself; the man was pure perfection, and a body like that was made to be admired and worshiped. And she knew just how she would worship that body—with her hands, her tongue….

Shit, I need to get a grip before I lose it.

“It’s not my fault you look like that. Good God, your body is insane. I never get tired of seeing it.” She gestured to his abs and his shoulders, desperate to feel his skin against hers, his arms wrapped around her.

His expression said he knew exactly what she was thinking about, and she should’ve been embarrassed but all she felt was hot. He took a few steps toward her, his arms beside her head on the back of the door, caging her between the wall and his body. She could feel his warmth around her; he smelled so good all she wanted to do was lick him.

“As much as I appreciate your admiration of my body, if you don’t stop looking at me like you want to fuck the ever-loving hell out of me, we’re going to have a problem, honey.”

He nipped her earlobe before pulling away, leaving her in a pool of lust. She had to pull herself together; she was a grown woman, not a teenager for crying out loud. “I didn’t know if you would mind me coming to see you before a show or not. I know you usually like to be alone before hitting the stage, so I can leave if you want.”

He looked conflicted for about a second, and she was ready to bolt from the room and hide out until her embarrassment faded. She was surprised when he sat on the sofa and smiled at her like she was the one thing he wanted there with him. “Stay… I want you to stay, Ashlee.”

She relaxed, but was still unsure of what she should be doing. This was so far out of her element, and she didn’t know how to behave. “Okay. Are you nervous about hitting the stage?”

“Not really. It always comes together the second we all go out there. Come here.” He motioned to the seat next to him and before she could tell her body not to move, she was beside him, resting her head on his bare chest.

The steady beat of his heart calmed her nerves and when she felt his hand on her lower back, it was like she was home. “I feel safe with you, Sam.”

“I know the feeling, honey.” Before more could be said, the door opened and Derek, the band’s tour manager, appeared. He had a huge-ass grin on his face, reminding Ashlee of the position they were in and how it must look, but he didn’t bring it up.

He looked at Sam and jabbed at his watch with one of his fingers. “Hey, man, five minutes till showtime. Let’s do this.”

Sam helped her move then grabbed a shirt from the pile of clothes on the table, and she held back her disappointment when he covered his chest. He smiled at her, taking her hand as they walked to the stage together.

Two hours later, she watched the rest of the guys step off the stage and head straight for Trish, who had Emma in her arms. But Sam came straight for her, and she felt a tug in her heart. Trish looked at them, and if Ashlee feared resentment from her friend, she was way off. Trish seemed beyond happy to see Sam heading for Ashlee.

He was all sweaty, his T-shirt glued to his body, and to her, he was the hottest man in the world. “You’re looking at me like that again.”

“Can’t help myself,” she told him, while her hands traced the muscles on his chest over his wet shirt. She heard him gasp when she pressed her lips over his neck, finally tasting him. God, he tasted so good; she knew she would never get enough. His hands were on her hips and when she nipped his neck with her teeth, he pushed her against one of the speakers.

“Ashlee, what are you doing?” He grabbed her ass and lifted her off the floor. She could feel his erection against her core and she rocked her hips, desperate for the connection. His mouth was on her neck in a matter of seconds, and she moaned at the sensations he was sending through her body.

He moved her hips back and forth against his erection, and she knew she would come if he kept it up. She could feel her orgasm building from somewhere deep inside her. “Oh, God, Sam,” she moaned, not caring that anyone could see them right now.

He stopped moving, took her bottom lip between his teeth, and pulled hard. “Hell no. We are not doing this here for the first time. Fuck, Ashlee….” He slowly lowered her to the floor and pressed his head next to hers on the speaker, his mouth beside her ear. “The first time you come for me, honey, it’ll be on my tongue, and I won’t be satisfied until you’ve come so many times that my name is all you can think to say.” With that, he pushed himself off the speaker and walked toward his dressing room.

She took a few seconds to find her composure before heading out to the bus.
What the hell was that?

If someone had told her a dirty mouth would set her skin on fire, she would’ve laughed in their face. Now she would give anything to hear Sam’s dirty talk as he fucked her into oblivion. Knowing that once they went there, she would never come back from it. She was so lost in a cloud of lust that she didn’t see Tyler as she walked down the hallway. The next thing she knew, she was pressed against a warm, hard body that wasn’t Sam’s. “Distracted much, Miss Daniels?”

“Something like that,” she told him, trying to sound as normal as possible. But judging by the grin on his face, she wasn’t succeeding.

“You two remind me of Jar and Trish, always circling around each other but never giving in. A piece of advice, darling? Give in to him because he’s a stubborn one. He won’t let you go.” As Tyler finished, she heard women’s voices coming from the end of the hall. Looking up, she saw Sam being circled by at least ten women who were pulling at him.

Security was struggling to keep them off him, and something snapped inside her when one of the women ripped Sam’s shirt from his body. She had never been the jealous type, and she knew he had told her the truth about the groupies, but seeing her man being mauled by crazy women was not okay with her.

“Go stake your claim, darling.” She could barely hear Tyler’s voice over the pounding in her head.

She power walked to the end of the hallway, not paying attention to the guys’ eyes on her as she headed straight for Sam. She was a foot away from the chaos when she caught one of the security guards telling her to stay away. Well, if he thought she was just going to stand there, he’d better think again.

She made her way through the circle of women around Sam, getting pushed and shoved in the midst of her crazy plan. When he saw her, he motioned to the security guards to get her the hell out of there, but she took two steps toward him, pressed her hands to his chest, and whispered in his ear, “Lift me up.”

He looked at her like she was speaking another language but when one of the other women pushed her, bringing her flush against Sam’s body, she heard him groan. She knew it was now or never to send these relentless women a message, so she grabbed his hands and guided them to her ass. The instant he touched her, he squeezed so hard she knew she was going to have marks. Rising on tiptoes, she whispered again, “Lift me up.”

He did so and she wrapped her legs around his waist, her heels digging into his ass. He pushed her against him, and she was pretty sure he lost track of where they were. She didn’t care as she wrapped her arms around his neck and lowered her head toward his, stopping inches away from his mouth. If he wanted this, he was going to have to do the rest.

“Ashlee.” He whispered her name like a silent prayer and closed the distance between the two of them.

His lips weren’t soft and gentle, not that she expected that; they were rough, marking her just as much as she was marking him. She nipped his lower lip, urging him to keep kissing her, and boy, did he ever. He brushed his tongue over her lips, urging her to let him in and when she did, she felt his groan all the way down to her toes. Her hands were in his hair, and he was pushing her against his hard cock. She was moaning, begging for more when she heard someone whistle. He must have heard it too, because he slowly pulled away from her.

The passion and need in his eyes no doubt matched hers. When he slowly lowered her, he grabbed her hair, tilting her head to the side. “You ever do that again, you better be ready for me to fuck you against the wall, honey, because I won’t stop till you’re begging me to make you come.”

Chapter Eight

ASHLEE

The last of couple days had been pretty chaotic; being on the road was not for the faint of heart. She had always considered herself a pretty strong person, but after seven days, she desperately needed to refocus and recharge. The only way she knew how to do that was by doing something that always made her feel grounded—volunteer work. After checking in at the hotel that morning, she and Trish decided to take some time to visit a battered women’s shelter one of her friends operated.

As much as she wanted to stay at the hotel and be with Sam, she needed to be away from him to give herself some thinking time. They were moving so fast, and she knew that by making the first move she set things in motion that couldn’t be stopped. That didn’t mean she knew how to handle the emotions swimming inside her. She was still keeping something from him, something big. She knew she needed to tell him, but the fear of losing him was overwhelming. He had become such a big part of herself in such a short amount of time; she didn’t know how she would handle losing him.