He didn't play along. He leaned over and gave her a hot, s.e.xy kiss. "Too f.u.c.king bad. I'm not done with you yet."

Allison almost made a crack about showing his diva, but she stopped herself. Even as a tease, that wasn't fair. Marco hadn't done anything that was temperamental and arrogant rock star. Sure, he had money and a private jet, but he hadn't been demanding of staff anywhere, and he didn't appear to have a ridiculous, overblown lifestyle. He lived like a wealthy man, not a bazillionaire with weird and unnecessary toys, or a million-dollar pool. It would have been b.i.t.c.hy to give him c.r.a.p, and she didn't want to be b.i.t.c.hy with Marco.

She just wanted to be.

She wanted to laugh and smile and relax.

And kiss him until her lips were swollen and f.u.c.k him until she couldn't walk without being aware of what he had done to her.

So she gave him a look. "I said I was tired, not dead. Take me to your chambers, Count Lucky, and unleash the beast," she said, in an overly dramatic British accent.

The corner of his mouth turned up. "I like that accent better than the Southern one."

"Living with Mandy, I perfected it. Though I'm not sure she's ever said the word beast. She prefers ghastly."

Marco stood up and rolled his wet boxer briefs down. He stepped out of them and Allison eyed him curiously. He had the requisite rock star tattoos on his arms, skulls and crosses and a bunch of other things she hadn't explored yet, since the lighting wasn't stellar. He also had a dragon on his calf, and he wore a heavy chain necklace with what looked like a silver human heart dangling from it, valves and all. It made for an intriguing package as he stood there naked. She'd never been into the musician types and had never dated men with tattoos or who wore jewelry that could double as a medieval weapon. That had been Jamie's forte, not hers. So this was a fascinating glimpse of a different type of man, the quote unquote dangerous type.

Ironic, though, that Marco had more money in his portfolio than all of those Harvard Wall Street types she had dated combined.

Plus he had a c.o.c.k the size of the Washington Monument. Holy h.e.l.l.

She'd known there was a lot going on there. She'd felt it rubbing and pressing against her at various points and she'd seen the bulge in his pants, but unleashing the beast was no longer a ridiculous exaggeration.

He knew she was checking him out and he smiled, a c.o.c.ky grin that made it clear he knew exactly what she was thinking. "Like what you see?"

"There's a lot going on there," she told him. "The hair, the tats, the hardware, the huge d.i.c.k... I'm not really sure where to look first."

"Let's just focus on the d.i.c.k for right now." He held his hand out to her. "Let me help you up and find you a towel. My host skills are underutilized. You're probably getting cold."

"It's an intriguing juxtaposition," she said as she stood up, liking the feel of his hand firmly gripping hers. She didn't let go, and slipped her body up against his. "My skin is chilly, that is true. But the inside? I'm hotter than h.e.l.l. Why do you think that is?" She resisted the urge to groan softly at the feel of his hard warmth against her flesh. He was a wall of muscle, not huge, but not skinny like a lot of musicians. He was lean and ripped and felt like she could shove and he wouldn't move. She was tempted to try.

Marco tangled his fingers in her damp hair. She didn't even care how frizzy it looked right now, not when he tugged a little roughly, so that her head came back and they were looking each other in the eye.

"I think it's because you me to fill you up with my hot c.o.c.k."

"Probably," she agreed. "What base is that, Mr. Baseball?"

"Home run." He then surprised her by gently kissing her on the forehead. "But then we can go back and start it all over again."

He didn't give her a chance to respond, which was good, because Allison didn't know what to say. Every time she thought she was on solid ground with Marco, he did something unexpected. Something kind. Tender. It both make her skeptical and vulnerable. She liked him. A lot. Which wasn't a bad thing. If she was going to let a man invade all her private places, she should have a certain amount of affection for him. But every time she told herself to be careful, to keep it from going too far, he did something sweet, that seemed far too honest to be a game.

She was glad he lived in LA. Less temptation after this trip when she was back sorting out her hot mess of a life.

Marco bit her earlobe and she felt a hot stab of desire between her thighs. "I like the way you think," she said. "Never satisfied."

He stepped back and tugged her hand, leading her toward the house. "I bet you can satisfy me if you try hard enough."

"I'll give the old college try." Allison pushed back her hair and glanced behind her. Her clothes and her wet bra and panties were lying by the pool, and she thought for one second that she should recover them, before deciding she didn't give a s.h.i.t. If a California squirrel ran off with her leather jacket, then props to him. He'd look bada.s.s up a tree. Right now she had more important things to do.

They stepped into the house and Allison shivered. The air conditioning wasn't running, but the concrete floor was cold. His house was very mid-century modern, done in a mix of period to the house pieces and contemporary style. She was looking forward to climbing onto a fluffy bed and warming up under a downy duvet cover. But Marco opened a closet, pulled out a towel, and handed it to her.

"I think I'm dry already," she told him. "I drip-dried."

"You're shivering. We could take a shower, but I think the hot tub would be more fun."

The night just got better and better. "I think you're right." She let go of his hand and wrapped the towel around her body, making a knot between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. The softness did feel good on her skin. "Show me to the tub."

"It's by the pool, around the side of the house."

"It is? I never saw it, so I must not know what a hot tub looks like," she joked. "That's not exactly something everyone has in their apartments in Manhattan."

Marco got himself a towel too, but he didn't bother to put it on his body, which she appreciated. "No? Now I know what to get you for your birthday."

"Oh, G.o.d, can you imagine? It would take up an entire apartment." The idea made her laugh.

The hot tub was behind the outdoor kitchen, past what she had thought was an overblown planter box. Marco turned the jets and the lights on, and basically his hot tub became a rave. "I swear to G.o.d if Pitbull jumps out from behind a bush I'm getting the h.e.l.l out of LA," she told him. "Too freaky."

"Of course not," he scoffed. "Pitbull lives in Miami." He winked at her.

"Right. Silly me." Allison dropped her towel next to the stairs and descended into the warm water. "Ah. This is heaven."

"It is." He followed her and sat down on the opposite bench from her. He closed his eyes briefly.

Allison thought the guy had amazing self-control. She had every right to relax after he'd given her a mind-blowing o.r.g.a.s.m. But he hadn't even so much as had his c.o.c.k stroked, let again crossed the finish line, and while he looked edgy, he looked in control. It was d.a.m.n s.e.xy. "Can I ask a personal question?"

"It depends on what it is."

"Why haven't you had s.e.x in a year?"

For a minute she didn't think he was going to answer. He looked to the side, his arms resting on the concrete behind him. But then he met her gaze and said, "I did something I shouldn't have and it made me see I needed to give up alcohol and s.e.x, at least for a while."

So he wasn't going to share. She had to respect that. "Fair enough."

"I'd tell you, but not everyone involved knows what went down exactly. I don't want it getting out."

That stung a little. He didn't entirely trust her not to tell the media. But then she realized she had zero right to be hurt by that. She was still essentially a stranger, and he had to be careful, protect himself. Women probably tried to scam him all the time. "I understand. I'm sorry for whatever it was. It clearly upset you."

"Did you ever step back and look at your life and were shocked by what you saw? I mean, like, thought to yourself, what the f.u.c.k am I doing with my life?"

"Yes," she said shortly. "Yesterday." Harsh truths.

Marco gave a soft laugh. "Yeah, I guess you do get what I'm saying."

She bobbed in the water, maneuvering a little so the jet would hit her back. "It sounds like you did the right thing, though. I hope I can say the same a year from now."

"It's been lonely," he said.

Allison let go of the bench and let the water push her over to Marco. She touched his arms, settling herself onto his lap. "It doesn't have to be lonely tonight."

"I don't just mean physically," he said, his eyes searching hers.

"I know," she whispered. "It doesn't have to be that either tonight."

His hand gripped her waist as he held her tightly. "It already isn't."

She swallowed hard, indulging herself by running her lips over his beard scruff. She'd wanted to do that since the minute she'd first seen him. "Why me, though?" she asked, which was breaking her golden rule of all interactions with men. Never, ever ask them why her, because inevitably the answer wasn't going to be the response of a romantic movie. It wouldn't be quote-worthy, and it was always be disappointing, because no one could match the expectation of that weighty question. But it was out before she could stop herself.

"Because you didn't want to," he murmured, his thumb brushing her nipple. "And I don't mean that I wanted the challenge. I mean that I knew if you did, it would be because you really wanted to. Because you really wanted me."

That did something really bizarre to her insides. Allison felt lightheaded, though she tried to convince herself it was the heat of the hot tub. "I do want you." The implication lay heavy in the air between them. They were dancing around bigger issues, and nothing they were doing was typical of a hookup. They were sharing too much, being too honest. They weren't really even flirting, they were talking.

They both knew it.

And neither of them was going to acknowledge it.

So Allison took the path of least resistance.

She reached down and stroked his c.o.c.k under the water.

Marco had come close to telling Allison the truth about that night in Austin, but then common sense had won out. He would never be able to look Robert in the eye again if the truth became public knowledge. Nor did he want to destroy his night with Allison. It was self-serving, but there were some secrets that needed to stay that way.

He trusted her, but not implicitly. Maybe he would never one hundred percent trust anyone ever again, no matter how much he wanted to. But he could enjoy Allison and her hand squeezing firmly over his shaft, drawing up to the tip, then down to his b.a.l.l.s again. He liked the way she rested on his lap, and the way her eyes sparkled with mischief. He was glad he hadn't just taken her the night before or first thing tonight. He liked the growing rapport between them.

"What have you got there?" he asked her, studying her bottom lip. G.o.d, he wanted to bite her again, hard. He wanted to hear her moan. And he wanted to finally bury himself deep inside her.

"A big c.o.c.k, that's what I've got." She closed the s.p.a.ce between them and kissed him. "I want to ride this big c.o.c.k."

"I bet you're like a bull rider, all tight thighs and arched back." His b.a.l.l.s tightened, d.i.c.k throbbing at the visual. He wanted to just shift and take her right there, pump up into her, but he didn't have a condom. "Let me know when you're nice and warm and we can leave the hot tub and head straight to bed this time."

"Now is good with me."

"There's no hurry," he said, just to be a tease.

But it was a miscalculation. Allison wasn't one to back down from an implied dare, he should know that. She just shrugged and settled onto his lap, her bottom replacing her hand on his c.o.c.k. "Okay. Whatever you want."

It took him two seconds to decide what to do. Marco stood up in the hot tub, setting Allison aside. She gave a squawk of protest. "Come on. Now." He wanted to take her hard and fast, then do it again with more exploration. But first, he had to get her out of his system.

"Okay, yeesh. Calm down." She made a face as she leaned back to slick her hair in the water.

"No. I'm not going to calm down until I've come inside you." He lifted her up into his arms and walked out of the hot tub, enjoying the slippery, warm feel of her in his arms.

She didn't struggle, though she gave him a look he couldn't decipher. He went straight for the back door to the house, ignoring the towels he had gotten for them, when he had been wanting to be polite. f.u.c.k polite. He was done. He needed to make her his. There were condoms in his suitcase, left over from earlier days of touring, and he reached down and unzipped the side pocket, and grabbed a row of silver packets. Then he set Allison down and marched her up against the wall of his living room.

Her eyes widened. Her mouth dropped.

But she didn't protest.

He shoved her hard enough that she gasped as air left her lungs. Water dripped down her shoulders, over her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Gooseb.u.mps rose on her skin and he reached a finger out and followed the path of a droplet, over her taut nipple and down onto her hip. Which he gripped firmly, yanking her leg over his own hip. She stared into his eyes, her own wide with desire, shock, antic.i.p.ation.

Marco kissed her hard, taking her mouth with hot, wet thrusts, mimicking what he wanted to do to her with his c.o.c.k. Then he tore open a condom with his teeth and jerked it out of the package. He would have expected her to be the kind of woman who helped him roll it down onto his c.o.c.k, but she didn't. She just leaned against the wall, waiting. Waiting for him to take her. To be in charge. The touch of her fingers on his hips was light, comfortable. Intimate. They were something more than two people f.u.c.king each other, and they both knew it. It was terrifying and exhilarating and everything he had wanted this moment to be in his self-imposed s.e.xual exile.

So he drew the moment out, teasing her p.u.s.s.y with the tip of his erection, sinking softly into her moist opening, then easing away, never joining them. Allison started to shift restlessly, her fingers digging into his flesh. He liked the way his ragged breathing met with hers, the way her legs shifted apart for him, their skin slick from the hot tub, bodies warm.

"Stop teasing me," she murmured. "d.a.m.n it."

He was teasing both of them. He was so ready it took everything he had to hold back, his shoulders tense, jaw clenched, d.i.c.k painfully erect. "You want me to stop?" He kissed her again, unable to get enough of her lips. He had never been a guy who needed to kiss a woman continually, but with Allison he couldn't stop himself. He liked that soft joining. "Is that what you want? Me to stop?"

"I want you inside me," she said, her voice dropping down into a desperate and hoa.r.s.e whisper, her hips grinding against him.

It undid him. He couldn't hold back any longer. "Done." Lifting her leg higher on his hip, he took her to the hilt with one hard, deep thrust.

Allison groaned. He paused, clamping his eyes shut, processing the sensation of her body wrapped around him. Then he moved, not bothering to start slow, but going for a hard, sharp rhythm that had her b.r.e.a.s.t.s bouncing and her back and a.s.s slamming into the wall. He liked the sound of her being shoved backward into the drywall by the sheer force of his penetration and the low, guttural cries of ecstasy she gave in harmony with his thrusts. He would have moaned too if he could have breathed. He felt an insanely urgent need to just own her, to pound into her until he collapsed against her. When she came hard, her nails digging into his hips, her s.e.xy sounds cut off without warning, her mouth and eyes wide, he was grateful that he could release the last tiny sliver of control he'd been gripping.

He followed her, his o.r.g.a.s.m well worth the twelve-month wait. He burst inside her, one hand cupping her breast tightly, the other ground into her a.s.s. A growl ripped from his mouth and he buried his face into her neck. Holy f.u.c.king f.u.c.k. He rode it out, hard, and then brought it to a slow conclusion, letting his c.o.c.k throb inside her, his body pressed against hers from head to toe. "h.e.l.l yeah," he managed to say, putting a lot of effort into lifting his mouth from the little cavity above her clavicle bone. "Did that satisfy your request for s.e.x against the wall?"

Allison surprised him by taking his cheek and forcing his head up. She kissed him with a deep, satisfied sigh. "Yes. Yes, that most certainly did."

"Good." He could admit it, he felt proud that she seemed a little stunned.

h.e.l.l, he was a little stunned himself.

Reluctantly, he pulled back out of her. The little sigh she gave had him reaching up and stroking her cheek before he even realized he was going to. She turned toward his touch and her eyelashes fluttered, eyes briefly closing before those deep, rich brown orbs pinned him with a stare.

There was a question in it, but he didn't know the answer.

So Marco ignored it, scooping her up into his arms. She felt good there, and he liked the trust she showed him. "Let me give you the ten-cent tour of the rest of the place. Starting with my bedroom."

Allison let Marco carry her to bed with zero protest. Normally, it wasn't something she liked. It felt too ridiculous at her age and her height. It was like letting a guy haul around a giraffe in his arms, and usually she forced a set-down. But she let it ride with Marco because her legs were like wet noodles and her head felt abnormally heavy. She wasn't sure she could walk if she tried.

She had asked for it and Marco had given it to her, and she wasn't sure she had a coherent thought in her head, or a single bone left in her body. When he had thrust into her she had been more than ready, yet somehow unprepared. He'd been teasing her and she'd known it would feel good, but she hadn't antic.i.p.ated how... complete it would make her feel.

Something had happened in that moment when she and Marco had looked into each other's eyes, his hard pounding inside her knocking her back against the wall. She didn't know what it was, but it had shaken all rational thought out of her head and had both thrilled and terrified her. She wasn't someone who confused s.e.x for something else. That other thing that she couldn't even put in words in her own d.a.m.n mind, let alone out loud, it was so ridiculous.

Jamie always told her she wasn't in touch with her emotions, and Jamie was right. But as Marco carried her into his bedroom, kicking the door shut behind him with his foot, she felt in touch with a lot of things. She felt happy and lazy and content and aroused and giddy. She felt all the things that were good and exciting and when he made out like he was going to toss her on the bed, she laughed, a free, genuine laugh.

He laughed with her. But then he looked at her, and his expression morphed into one of l.u.s.t. She could feel his c.o.c.k hardening against her hip. She wondered briefly what he was thinking, what had knocked the laughter off his lips, but then he actually did toss her onto the bed and she forgot to wonder. Holy h.e.l.l, that was hot. He looked fierce and like he couldn't wait to devour her. His erection was thick and ready again. She liked to think that it was all her, but most likely it was just due to his self-imposed celibacy.

It was a crazy thought, that she had been the one he had broken that vow with, and after finding her footing on his burnt-orange bedding, she went on her hands and knees and crawled toward him. She wanted to touch him. Taste him. The blinds were open in the bedroom, illuminating the bed from the backyard patio lights. It was a foreign concept to her-this indoor, outdoor living. Not to mention the concept of leaving windows uncovered and not having a million people creeping on you. It only added to the sense of freedom and abandonment she felt since she'd left New York. Not reality, but exactly the break she'd needed.

Marco deserved a thank you for giving this to her. So while he made a sound of pleasure in the back of her throat, she put her palms on his thighs and sucked the tip of his c.o.c.k like he was an ice cream cone she wanted to savor. He wasn't the only one who could tease. She brushed her fingers across his flesh, coming close to his b.a.l.l.s but never touching them, all while her mouth and tongue teased at his tip. Then before he could lose patience, she wrapped her fist around the base of his shaft and squeezed gently while she took him deep into her mouth.

The sound he made was very satisfying. It was a hissed curse, and it made her more determined than ever to drive him crazy. She went up on her knees to get a better angle, bending her head down low. He grabbed her a.s.s, hard. Finding a rhythm, she moved up and down on him, slicking his flesh with her tongue, lightly feathering her fingers across his b.a.l.l.s, other hand still gripping him firmly. Marco's body was tense, his hips thrusting toward her, and he took over the rhythm, his hands moving to her hair. He yanked hard enough that her eyes watered, but she didn't mind. It was s.e.xy as h.e.l.l, and as she turned him on, she turned herself on.

Pulling back to take a breath, she swallowed hard. "Do you like that?" she asked, voice ragged.

"f.u.c.k yeah." He urged her back onto his c.o.c.k. "Don't stop. Please."

She obeyed, glancing up the length of his body, past the muscles and the tattoos and the sprinkling of hair, at his strong jaw. His eyes were locked on her, his fingers still twisted in her hair. With each draw of him into her mouth, she felt a tug between her thighs, and the intensity of his gaze only made her all that more desperate. She broke eye contact and, without warning, he shoved her off him.