Wounded But Not Scarred (New Adult Rockers 2) (19 page)

He’s solid and warm, and I can feel
him throbbing in my palms. More than anything, I suddenly want to take him in
my mouth.

I gently push Blake onto his back
and he surrenders happily. I climb on top of him, unhooking my bra and tossing
it on the floor so he can have a full view of my breasts. I leave my panties on
to tease him.

Sliding between his legs, I move my
hands over his abs and drag my tongue along the inside of his thighs. He
trembles just a bit and makes a deep, guttural sound. First, I slide my hands
up and down his shaft, teasing him and watching him stiffen more. Then, very
slowly, I slide just the tip of my tongue from his root to head, making sure I
drive him wild in the process.

“Christ, Paige!” he bursts out,
fisting the sheets.

I give him a little smile and
continue to lick him from root to tip, and then with agonizing slowness, I wrap
my mouth around his head, sucking hard. He groans again, at my mercy. When I
think he can take no more, I press him all the way into my mouth, pushing him
deep into the back of my throat and loving the way he cries out from surprise
and unbridled pleasure.

I move up and down, sucking hard as
I deep throat him again and again.

“Fuck,” he hisses. “I’m not going
to last much longer.”

“Good.” This is what I want. I want
to drive my fiancé so wild with lust that he can’t help himself so that he has
to give himself completely over to his own pleasure. I feel him jerk in my
mouth, and I know he’s almost there. I ready myself and then Blake cries out
before I feel the gush of warm liquid in my mouth.

“Mmm.” I swallow again and again as
he throbs within me, feeling more brazen and sexual than I ever have in my
life. I’ve never been this comfortable with Blake, this uninhibited.

When he’s finished, he can barely
speak, and he pulls me hard to his chest, cradling my head and murmuring my
name.

“God, Paige, you make me feel so
good. You’re so good to me. I don’t deserve you.”

“Shh. You deserve that and more.”

We lay quietly for a few minutes,
and then Blake begins to trace circles on my inner thigh.

“Mmmm,” I sigh, twitching from the
sensation.

“Your turn,” he rasps, and then
he’s between my legs, pushing my thighs apart, tearing my underwear off and
licking me in every place imaginable.

“Blake...Oh, Blake...” My fingers
are tangled in his hair, and my thighs tremble. I can tell that Blake isn’t
holding back this time, and I never realized how he had held back before. It’s
as if all our walls have finally come down, and he’s no longer handling me with
kid gloves.

His hands are everywhere, pushing
me open, probing inside of me, and sliding around to my ass. I want to protest,
but I can’t because it feels so damn good.

And then his tongue!

As if his fingers weren’t enough,
his tongue works in tandem with his hands, and I’m being touched and sucked
everywhere. The pleasure is too much for my body to take, and I explode,
shouting loudly as I come, falling apart around Blake. I don’t even realize
that I’m crying until it’s over.

“Shh. Shh,” Blake is saying,
pulling me into his chest. “What is it? Was it too much? I just couldn’t help
myself. I’m sorry.”

“No, no.” I wipe at my face,
confused by the wetness. “It just felt so amazing, Blake. I’ve never felt that
way before. It was a whole different level.” I look at the ring on my finger.

The only thing that I’m wearing.

“I just never knew it could be like
this.”

He kisses me tenderly “Neither did
I.”

And then I open up beneath him,
needing him in every way possible, needing to feel as close to him as I
possibly can.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” I
ask, as I wrap my arm tighter around Paige and pull her into me as we walk
across the darkened parking lot.

She nods. “Yes,” she says slowly.
“It was just more than I expected. It was a lot to take in.”

“I know. But your grandma is strong
and she seems to be in really good hands here. And they’re saying she can be
released in a week or two.”

“I know.” But her voice is tiny.
“But she won’t be going home. She has to go to a rehab facility.”

“For now,” I point out. “No one
said she won’t ever go home.”

Paige nods but I can feel the doubt
rolling off her.

While all things considered her
grandma was doing well, it wasn’t quite the visit we had anticipated. It's now
after eight in the evening on Friday, and we're finally headed back to Paige’s
mother’s house after spending the entire day at the hospital.

While the doctors seemed hopeful,
it had been made clear that there was a long road ahead. While Paige’s
grandmother had suffered some facial paralysis, they also learned that she was
going to need to relearn how to eat and to work on her speech. Her grandmother
had tried talking a bit, but it had been difficult to understand her.

The doctors also determined that
some of her gross motor skills would need to be retrained with occupational
therapy. She was going to stay in the hospital for another week or two,
rehabilitating at their own facility, and then she would be moved to an
independent rehab facility.

While the doctors didn’t give a
timetable on how long it would take her grandmother to relearn those skills,
they did say she could go home once they were making good progress.

“I guess, I was just expecting
things to be better,” Paige says, climbing into the truck.

“Paige, your grandma had a stroke.
And not only that, but it was hours before your mom found her. The fact that
she survived is reason enough to be happy.”

“You’re right. I’m being terrible.
I need to look at the positives here.”

She’s quiet on the drive to her
mother’s house, but I can tell that her spirits have lightened somewhat.

Ms. Lawson on the other hand, seems
downright joyful that her mother is alive, and the mood is infectious when we
get back to the house.

“Alright! No moping about!” she
calls gaily when we walk in. “Let’s celebrate!” We round the corner to the
kitchen and hear a cork pop and Marybeth Lawson is laughing as she pours
champagne into three flutes.

“Momma!” Paige laughs. “What are
you doing?”

“I just told you! Celebrating! It’s
not every day that my only child gets engaged. Now get your behind over here
and drink this champagne.”

Paige laughs again, and she
squeezes my hand as Marybeth hands us each a flute. She raises hers in the air
to toast us.

“To my beautiful and talented
daughter, Paige, who amazes me every day, and to Blake, the man who has made my
little girl so happy,” her voice breaks from emotion, “I wish you both all the
happiness and love in the world!”

“Cheers!” I say, clanking glasses,
as I take a large sip of champagne.

“Yum!” Paige drinks her entire
flute, and Marybeth quickly fills it again.

Paige and I get comfortable on the
couch, and Marybeth orders a pizza, but not before apologizing profusely for
not having a delicious meal cooked for us. Paige waves her off and pours
herself a third glass of champagne. By the time she’s finished her third glass
of bubbly, she’s visibly happier and more relaxed.

“So, Momma,” Paige begins, once the
pizza arrives and Marybeth has served us on nice plates to make up for the take
out. “Tell me about Jackson!” Her words slur together just the tiniest bit, and
I have to admit that I’m enjoying this slightly buzzed version of Paige.

Marybeth turns bright red. “Right
now?”

“Oh yes. Right now.”

I grin; Paige isn’t backing down.

“For goodness’ sake, Paige. You
don’t waste any time,” Marybeth complains. “I told you that we were friends
back in high school.”

“Yes, and he moved away and got
married, then divorced, blah, blah, blah. But now that he’s back, what
are
you?”

“Well, we’re dating. Alright? After
we reconnected at your release party, we realized that we had both had a crush
on each other back in high school, and those feelings still seemed to be there.
So whenever he’s had some free time, he’s come up to Bristol, or we’ve met
halfway in Farragut.”

“Ooohh. Meeting halfway.” Paige raises
her eyebrows.

Marybeth narrows her eyes at Paige.
“I’m a grown woman, and I can date whomever I like.”

“Oh, Momma. I didn’t mean it like
that. I was just giving you a hard time. I’m happy for you, truly I am! And
Jackson always seemed like a nice guy.” She turns to me. “Didn’t you think so,
Blake?”

“Sure, sure.” I’m caught off guard
being pulled into this conversation. I had been a happy observer.

“Well, there’s nothing else to
tell, really. Right now we just have to settle with seeing each other when we
can. I plan on going to Nashville to see him too, but obviously I can’t right
now with Grandma in the hospital. I have my work here in Bristol, and he has
his work at your daddy’s label, so we’re doing just fine seeing each other most
weekends.”

After that, Paige doesn’t press for
more details, and I can tell that Marybeth is relieved. I know it must be
strange for Paige to suddenly see her parents both start to date again around
the same time. Especially, with her own love life taking off. It’s like all
three of the Lawsons seemed to find love at the same time.

We spend some more time with
Marybeth and then finally go upstairs to bed.

“I’m going to let y’all sleep in
the same room since you’re engaged now,” Marybeth says sternly, though she’s
smiling. “But no funny business!”

“Oh my gosh, Momma,” Paige flushes.
“Please don’t even say it!”

We go into our room and close the
door. “As if I would ever get busy with my momma right next door,” she says
horrified.

I laugh, and pull her towards me.

“Blake Evans! Don’t you dare!” she
hisses, swatting at me.

I can’t help but laugh. “Don’t
worry. We’ll keep things clean in your momma’s house.”

She rolls her eyes and we change
out of our clothes and climb into the double bed in the guest room.

“Was this your room?” I whisper
after the lights are out, and I’ve cozied up behind Paige.

She shakes her head. “I asked momma
to turn that room into an office the second I moved to Nashville.”

“Why?”

“No good memories in there. Didn’t
want to come back over to this house and look at a room where I spent so much
time alone and sad.”

Oh.

“I’m sorry, baby.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s all happy
memories from here on out.”

And she’s right.

If Paige and I thought we were starting
to become popular before, we damn well skyrocketed to popularity once news
broke that we were engaged. I don’t know exactly how it spread, but I’m sure
someone told someone who told someone in Nashville, and by the first week in
December, it made national news.

If you didn’t know who Blake
Evans or Paige Lawson was before, you’ll know who they are now. H-O-T new
country artists whose growing popularity is only getting bigger now that the
two have announced they are engaged!

There was some variation of that
blurb all over the place, and we were constantly met by paparazzi wherever we
went. Paige was taking it in stride, but I could see it was an adjustment for
her too. Ben and Ryan didn’t seem to mind too much, but they weren’t getting
the brunt of it like Paige and I were.

As we picked up our tour, staying
in the south and near our country roots, the audiences got crazier. Instead of
them being jealous, they seemed to love us all more and we actually saw our
album sales double.

About two weeks back into the tour,
and one week before we were wrapping up for a Christmas hiatus, Paige comes
bursting out of our hotel bathroom, holding her phone. Her hair is only half
blow-dried and she’s pale.