Tonight You Belong to Me (2 page)

“Jilly.” Everything he’d wanted to say—
I need you, I miss you, I love you
—hung in the air.

“Shit.” She pulled away, trembling hands cupping his cheeks, glaring green eyes shooting poison darts into his heart.

He wanted to die in that moment. She was about to dump him again, and he’d never survive it. Might as well just lay down right here and never get up.

She clucked her tongue. “You are the turd of misery.”

Breathing suddenly became a chore. So did standing. “Lower than the turd.”

Her lips on his jolted him alive, alighted his senses. When she broke contact, he swayed. “Let’s go.” Grasping his hand, she led him outside.

Nothing registered except her warm hand in his, the noise and crowd falling away, leaving only the two of them—Jilly leading, him stumbling beside her, ready to do whatever she asked. Open a vein, pay his pound of flesh, whatever. So long as she became his again.

Chapter Two

Stupid, stupid, stupid
! But hell, for one night, it wouldn’t hurt to live in the past. Jilly’s ache for him went beyond all reason. Judging by his pitiful look, he’d missed her like crazy, too. She yearned for his warmth. Needed him to fill her up with it. The past few weeks, she’d been an empty shell without him.

At the end of the hallway, she punched the elevator button.

His fingers teased the hair at her neck, and she chanced a look. Her heart ached. He wore the same sorry-ass expression, but intoxicated with the heat of desire. He shuffled closer, lowering himself to her height. All lips and hands, he came at her, murmuring her name.

Damn if it didn’t make her woozy, too. Fitting herself against him, a thrill shot up her chest, lifting her to her tiptoes.

True to his old nickname, Slow Hand Danny, his fingers displayed talent for tickling more than the ivories as they slid down the curve of her behind. The bastard. He knew it drove her wild. Her breaths became shallow pants, and she squirmed like some silly schoolgirl on her first date. The hardness in his jeans erased the last of her sanity. She wanted to ride this boy like a wild mustang until she broke him.

A ding sounded, and the elevator doors opened to an empty car.
Hallelujah
.

He twirled her inside and pressed her against the wall, teeth and tongue grazing her neck.

Heat sizzled along her nerve endings, coiling inside her. “Fuck it.” She punched the stop button and clutched his jaw. “Make it good, Danny boy.”

Getting naked with him was always easy. If only it could last a month of Sundays, she wouldn’t have to face the inevitable afterward. They’d still be in the same mess, and getting a straight answer out of him was worse than trying to braid live eels in a bucket.

All that could wait. She couldn’t. Not with his hands down her panties and her dress inching up her waist, and her desire building fast. One quick zip and she brought Danny junior out to play. Oh yes, just what she needed: hot and hard, just for her. Her cherry begged for its sweet massage.

Arm around her waist, he guided them to the floor and sat back. She straddled him, meaning to tease with slow strokes of her fingers. But he felt so good, she couldn’t wait.

“It’d be a shame to waste such a hard on.” Wrapping her hands around his cock, she aimed its head at her center.

His hair flopped when he gave a frenzied nod.

Easing him inside, she trembled with the effort of holding back. Teasing him only tortured her. She needed relief, and bucked against him, lost in bliss.

The elevator bumped into motion.

“Oh, no.” Someone must have pushed the button. It spurred her faster, but no way did they have enough time. The slowing car made her scramble upward. “Oh! It’s enough to make a preacher cuss.” Smoothing her dress, she hoisted him up to face her and zipped his jeans as the elevator dinged.

The doors opened. Still drunk with desire, his lips sought hers, but she dodged them. “Here’s our floor, honey.” She flashed a smile at the middle-aged couple entering the car and tugged him into the hall.

“Our floor?” He stared down at her, blue eyes bright with hope.

It used to be theirs. ’Til he screwed up royally. “Like you said, tonight I belong to you.” Taking his hands, she walked backward. “Enough time to finish what you started in the elevator.” To illustrate her intention of what would follow, she released him and strode off, stopping outside the room they once shared.

He rushed up behind her and nuzzled her neck. “Baby, I’ll do whatever you want. I mean it.”

“Then shut up before I change my mind.” She fumbled the key card through the lock, and they practically fell inside the room. He spun her toward him, kissing her as he lifted her up and carried her to the bed. Easing her down, he struggled to unzip his jeans.

“Let me, before you hurt yourself.” Though what poetic justice that would be. No, first she’d take her fill of him until she was chugged full.

Freeing his cock, she locked her legs around his. She intended to leave him ridden hard and hung up wet, too sodden with her to think about another woman.

Another woman
? “Wait.” She fumbled in the nightstand drawer and handed him a condom. “Put this on.”

Looking sheepish, he did as she said, then guided himself into her. “Jilly….”

“Are you all right?” She’d been so busy trying not to look into his baby blues, she hadn’t before noticed the dark circles rimming his eyes, his skin paler than normal.

“Being away from you is killing me.” He rocked his hips, filling her a little more each time.

Oh, just the way she loved it. Needed it. She closed her eyes to concentrate on the sheer deliciousness of it. “I caught you with your pants down, babe. You think the sun comes up just to hear you crow.” She gave an extra hip cha-cha for emphasis.

“What?” He stilled above her. In her.

Talk about killing her! Surely he couldn’t have run out of gas already. She thrust upward to kick start him again. “You’re full of yourself. And you’re bringing this up now? Why?” She knew he was guilty as homemade sin.

“It’s the only time you’ll listen to me without running away.” He moved out of rhythm with her. Screwing her out of a final decent screw.

Damn him for yapping. “Don't let your mouth overload your tail.” If he didn’t get busy soon, she
would
run away. To buy a vibrator, always hard and humming, without any emotional baggage or yammering. Probably her best bet. But if she could find one with a sweet mouth like his, she’d be happier. Oh, and a warm tongue that knew how to nuzzle her outer parts to make her inner parts catch fire. If they didn’t make such a contraption, she might have to invent one.

He slowed, blue eyes crinkled in confusion. “Sorry, what?”

“You’re talking too much, baby. Fuck me!” She didn’t care how desperate she sounded. She needed completion.

Head ducked, he slammed into her, hard and hot again, filling her, the tip of his cock hitting all the right spots.

“Yes!” Finally. Waves of pleasure built inside her, sending her writhing upward, her body begging for the grand finale.

Tossing his sweaty hair back, he shuddered then fell atop her, rocking with her, cradling her. “Jilly,” he murmured against her shoulder. “Don’t leave me.”

She pushed at his hips, pinned beneath his weight, fighting to wriggle. “Don’t stop. I’m not there yet.” The crest of the wave she wanted to ride receded, leaving her behind. “Come on, baby,” she whined.

Their heads jerked in unison toward the door as it burst open and banged against the closet. Two burly men stomped in. The second shut the door behind him with a quiet click.

She barked a screech, shoved him away and yanked the bedspread to cover her exposed lower parts.

He refastened his jeans as he jumped up. “Get the fuck out.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” the taller one said to her then turned to Danny. “But your time’s up.”

What about her time? Lord, she’d never find completion. “What’s he talking about, babe?” The man had the scariest face she’d ever seen, all snarls and bared teeth. Maybe he was all bark and no bite?

Danny held out an arm as if to protect her. “It’s nothing, Jilly.”

The shorter man moved forward. “It’s not nothing to Charlie Kenton.”

Beneath the cover, she straightened her panties and dress as she asked, “Who on earth is Charlie Kenton?”

The taller thug leered at him. “A very generous soul who’s tired of waiting for his money.”

The shorter man ambled closer to her. “Maybe we’ll stay here and finish your honey while you go get it.”

She snarled to hide her quivering. “Try anything, and you’ll regret it.” She didn’t need it that bad. The man had fallen out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

Danny inched forward. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“Right. I have no dog in this fight.” The way the shorter man cracked his meaty knuckles, he meant business. The kind of business she despised.

The two thugs tilted their heads and blinked, like two monkeys waiting for the organ grinder to play.

Danny flailed an arm. “Like I said, she’s not involved.”

“Oh.” The taller one said, then his frown disappeared. “That doesn’t change anything.”

“Look,” he said. “I’ll have it tomorrow, after the show.”

“What show?” She snapped straight. He never called his gigs a ‘show.’ Had he signed a contract without her?

Glancing back, he blurted, “Opening for Bobby Benoit. I’ll explain later.”

The shorter man chose that moment to pound his fist into his jaw. As Danny sailed downward, she scrambled across the bed to scream into his sinking face, “Bobby Benoit?” For years, she’d idolized him, especially his ability to make every song sound like his personal story.

From the floor, he groaned, “Yes.”

Her hair tumbled past her shoulders as she glared down at him. “With who? Lace?” Bad enough they’d cut her loose and hired Lace to sing with him instead. But to open for a big name act like Bobby? That really burned her biscuits.

The tall man dragged Danny to his feet. On his way up, he pleaded, “Can we discuss this later?”

Her lower lip jutted out. “You don’t have a later, buster. If they don’t finish you off, I might.” No wonder he didn’t come crawling back to her. He’d moved on! And moved up a few floors.

The short one guffawed and smacked his partner’s arm. “Hey, let’s let her have at him first.”

“Nah. She probably weighs all of a hundred pounds. What damage could she do?”

“Plenty.” Glad she still wore her heels, she stomped one shoe to the floor, then the other, and furrowed her brow. “If you’re on the verge of stardom, why’d you borrow from a loan shark?” Of all the stupid things to do.

The short man held Danny’s arms behind his back as he said, “For a blind date. Do you believe it?”

The tall one landed a punch to his gut, and he folded over, eyes bulging.

Jilly wanted to punch him, too. “You blew all that money on 1Night Stand? Why didn’t you just ask me out yourself?” The fool man had champagne taste and a beer wallet.

Still winded, he wheezed, his mouth moving, but no intelligible words forming.

The tall one scrutinized her head to toe. “If I knew you’d be waiting for me, doll, I’d buy a one-night stand, too.”

Right, as if she did this because she was desperate? “You don’t understand. We lived together. I loved him.”
Still do, but damned if I’ll admit it now
.

“Past tense?” The short guy flipped Danny back to an upright position. He hung limp in his arms.

She huffed. “Until he cheated on me.” The pain of it came back fresh. Finding him in a lip lock with Lace. Her hands working his cute butt. If she’d arrived two minutes later, they’d have been at it like two dogs in need of a hosing.

The short man peered around Danny’s head to wince. “You cheated on her? You must be nuts.”

His hair flew as he shook his head. “No. Lace.”

The tall one landed another punch that sent his head backward in an unnatural way.

Jilly reached out. “Do you have to hurt him so much?” Although a piano player, Danny had the physique of a fighter, but avoided physical altercations. Still, he could give any movie star a run for his money in the looks department.

The tall man flexed his hand. “If he’d pay up, we could leave.”

“Then pay them, babe.”
Before they beat you to a pulp
.

“Tomorrow,” he ground out.

If only they still had a stash of cash. “What happened to the money you were saving? Did you blow it on her?”

Blood trickled from his mouth. “After you kicked me out, Rick let me crash at his place. He must’ve found the money I’d saved and skipped town the day before rent was due. He left me broke.”

“Oh, boo hoo.” The short man blew through his teeth.

“It’s true.” He twisted in the man’s grip. “I was saving to buy an engagement ring.”

The other man socked the other side of his jaw.

Jilly could hardly breathe. “For Lace?” So soon? Oh, God, or had he been cheating with her for months? Her head swirled with too many thoughts.

“No,” he moaned. “For you. I love you, Jilly. I always have.”

Warmth blossomed in her heart then froze. “Then why’d you cheat on me with her?”

The short man yanked him up. “Yeah, what’re you, blind? She’s gorgeous.”

She sent the thug a smile. “Thank you.”

With a sudden burst of energy, Danny flailed. “Lace kissed me. I didn’t want anything to do with her. She knew you were coming backstage. She knew you’d see us. I think she wanted to break us up.”

“But she cried, and told me how sorry she was.” Unbelievable. Lace had acted so sweet, but that’s all it was: an act. Jilly forced her fury into hiding.

“Come on, Jilly. She took advantage of your sweet nature.” Another punch to his gut made him double over.

Now why hadn’t that occurred to her? “I’m sorry, baby. I’m the one who’s been blind. With jealousy.” She plopped to the bed. “I’m swinging my legs from a dime.”

“What?” asked the shorter man.

“I’m ashamed of myself,” she said.

The tall man winced. “You were jealous of him?”