Stage Dive 02 Play (19 page)

“I wasn’t with Ainslie,” he ground out.

Everything stopped. “You weren’t?”

“No; I played drums till I calmed down, then I did some drinking with the guys. Davie said to give you some time to cool off. I crashed in Ben’s hotel suite.”

“Word to the wise, next time when it comes to us, try talking to me instead of Davie.”

He let out a slow breath. “Okay.”

“You just crashed in Ben’s suite?” This version of reality differed so wildly from the hateful version I’d been playing in my head. It wouldn’t sink in at first.

“Yeah, I did.” His dark green gaze roamed my face. “I didn’t think when Ainslie came up to me after practice. How it would look and everything. Didn’t think at all and then I didn’t handle it right.”

He paused, but I had nothing. It was all I could do not to burst into tears of relief. Not that I was a crier. I’d blame it on PMS but it was nowhere near my time of the month.

“I fucked up and I hurt you,” he said, deflating. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no, you didn’t hurt me.” I held my eyes wide open, trying to keep my shit together. “I mean, it might have been nice if you’d answered one of my texts but … yeah, no, I wasn’t
hurt
exactly.”

His brows rose and for a moment, he said nothing. “You looked hurt.”

“Well, I wasn’t. I was fine.”

He just watched me.

“Really.”

The smudges were back beneath his eyes. It seemed Mal hadn’t gotten any more sleep last night than I had.

“Everything’s good,” I said, not believing it but hoping he did. Meanwhile, I was still bare-ass naked in the bath, horribly exposed. “Now can you please leave?”

Mal’s brows rose. “You’re alright?”

“Yep. There’s the door.”

“I didn’t hurt you?”

“Noooo.”

“Okay,” he said eventually, thumb rapping out a beat on the edge of the tub. “So the deal is still on and everything’s cool?”

“Sure, I guess so. Why not?” I gave him my very best big, brave smile, clutching the wet towel to my breasts, my knees drawn up to help cover downstairs.

He breathed out hard through his nose, sat back on his heels. This was good. He was accepting it and we were moving on, thank god.

“We’re fine. No worries.”

Then he slowly shook his head. “Christ, Anne. You’re so full of shit I don’t even know what the fuck to say to you right now.”

“What?” My screech bounced off the tiled walls, echoing around us.

“You heard me.”

“But–”

His hand held firm to the back of my neck and he slammed his mouth down on mine. My words were forgotten. His tongue slid into my mouth, teasing me. His hand cradled my head, holding me out of the water. I gave myself up to it, the demanding press of his lips and the scratch of his stubble. I angled my head, getting closer, going deeper and pulling him into me. If I drowned, it’d be worth it.

There was no finesse. Raw hunger took over.

I didn’t realize he’d started climbing into the tub with me until half the water sloshed over the sides. No more of this splashing nonsense, we made a god damn waterfall. He got in, jeans, T-shirt, Chucks and all, his legs tangling with mine. One strong arm wrapped around my waist, holding me to him, the other he braced on the top of the tub. Someone had to keep us afloat because I was too busy getting my hands beneath his T-shirt. I could’ve kissed him for days, but getting him naked was important.

“Off,” I demanded, dragging the material up.

“Hang on.” He pulled back onto his knees. With one of his hands and two of mine, we got rid of that sucker.

The feel of his hot skin and hard flesh was so fine. My fingers couldn’t travel far enough fast enough. I wanted to learn every inch of him. My mouth found his again and yes. I groaned and he clutched me harder. We were pressed together, skin on skin for the most part. My pebbled nipples rubbed against his chest.

Fuck yeah, friction.

Friction was beautiful, but wet denim sucked. I wiggled a hand under the back of his waistband, grabbing onto his tight ass. His hips flexed, pushing against me, grinding into me. There was every chance the bath wasn’t big enough for this. We’d make do. My elbow clocked the side, vibrating my funny bone. It hurt like a bitch. He must’ve noticed, because the next thing I knew we were rolling. More water cascaded out onto the floor.

“On top,” he grunted.

“’Kay.”

His hands slid over my skin, trying to keep hold. “Fuck, you’re slippery.”

The man knew how to use his body. All I could do was hold on, my hands tangled in his long hair. His mouth traveled over my collarbone, up my neck, finishing with his teeth at my jaw. Every inch of my skin broke out in goose bumps. My tummy tensed. A large hand palmed my ass, squeezing. Wet denim wasn’t so bad after all. Grinding my pussy against the ridge his hard-on made felt rather nice. Not as nice as he’d feel bare, but still.

“You hear that?” he asked.

“What? No.” The only thing I could hear was my heart pounding. And anyway, who cared? Now wasn’t the time for listening. It was the time to feel and I felt fucking fantastic sitting astride him. Luckily I knew how to prioritize. I fit my lips to his, kissing him deep and wet.

He broke away, turning his head aside. “Wait,” he said, followed shortly by, “shit.”

Distantly, from ever so far away (like the next room), there it was.

“Malcolm? Honey?” It was a woman’s voice, accompanied by several sets of feet. We had company.

What on earth?

“Mom?” he answered, his face skewed with disbelief.

Oh shit, he’d left the front door open.

“We got an earlier flight,” his mom called. And for the record, she sounded like a very nice woman. But shit, I didn’t want to meet her like this. What a wonderful first impression.

“You did?” asked Mal.

“That’s not a problem, is it?”

“Your parents are visiting?” I queried in a furious whisper. “Right now?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and whispered back, “Did I forget to mention that?”

“Mal? Honey?” his Mom called. “Everything okay?”

“No, no. Not a problem at all, Mom. Everything’s good.”

“We were just so excited when you told us about Anne.”

“She is pretty damn exciting.” He gave my breasts a long look. “Got to agree with you there.”

“We really wanted to just get here and meet her. I guess we should have warned you.”

His grin was pure evil. Hell itself would have been jealous. “Oh, you want to meet Anne? Because she’s right–”

I slapped my hand over his mouth. “Don’t you fucking dare,” I hissed.

Crap, the things he thought were amusing might just get one of us killed. In this situation, it was most definitely his life on the line. Despite the laughter in his eyes, he nodded, pressing a kiss to the palm of my hand. Slowly, I removed it, my eyes narrowed on him.

“What was that?” asked his mom.

“I was just saying she’ll be home from work soon, Mom.”

“Wonderful.”

“Sorry,” he mouthed to me, laughing silently.

“Asshole,” I mouthed back.

He grabbed the back of my head, bringing my lips to his. If only I didn’t love kissing him so much.

“Son,” a deep voice said from the other room.

“Hi, Dad.” Mal rested his forehead on my shoulder. “Don’t come in.”

“No, no. We won’t do that.”

“There’s a lot of water on the floor,” his mom said, matter-of-factly. “Aren’t you a bit old to be splashing around like this? What on earth were you doing? Where does Anne keep her mop?”

“Kitchen cabinet,” I whispered.

“Ah, kitchen cabinet, Mom. Thanks. Guess I got carried away.” Mal rested his head against the back of the tub. He rolled his eyes to the side, checking out the floor. “Look what you did, young lady.”

“You’re the one that climbed into my tub,” I replied quietly. Sure enough, the bathroom was pretty much flooded. Water had spread across the floor, a stream of it leading out beneath the door and into the living room. “What a mess. We better clean this up.”

“Sorry, pumpkin. I don’t mind picking up my shit and all, but I’m a rock star. Rock stars don’t mop. It’s just not done.”

“You help make the mess, you help clean it up. Boundaries, Mal.”

“You don’t understand.” He shut his eyes, face tight with fake despair. “These are the hands of an artist. Would you expect Bonham to mop?”

“Who?” I asked in confusion.

“John Bonham.”

“Right. Well … if John Bonham got water on the floor, yes, I would expect him to mop.”

“Well, he can’t. He’s dead.”

I cocked my head. “What … who are we even talking about?”

“You don’t know who John Bonham is?” Mal asked, his voice rising.

“Shh. Your parents are going to hear us.”

“Sorry. But c’mon, pumpkin, you have to know who Bonham is. You’re fucking with me, right?”

“Sorry.”

“Ah, man,” he sighed, shaking his head slowly, mournfully. “I’m not sure I can stick my dick in a woman who doesn’t even know who John Bonham is.”

“‘Stick your dick in’?” I asked, my brows probably touching. “Did you actually just say that?”

“Make love. I meant make love … of course. I would never just stick my dick in you. I would make mad, passionate love to this sweet, sweet body of yours for days, no, weeks. It would be beautiful, pumpkin. There’d be little angels, and birdies, and you know … all just hanging around, watching. Perverts.”

“Right. You are so full of shit.” I smiled, cautiously, climbing to my feet.

“What about Kerslake, you know him? How about Wilk, never heard of Wilk?”

“I know Grohl. He’s great.”

“Oh, no. Fuck, honey. Not Dave Grohl. I mean, he’s a good guy and there were flashes of definite genius back in the Nirvana days, sure.” His hands slid from my waist down the sides of my thighs, holding me steady. “Whoa, where’d they go?”

“Hmm? Mal, stop.”

He stared straight at my sex, studying it. A little line sat between his brows. Deep down inside, I could live without him doing that right now. The man’s parents were on the other side of the door. The woman who’d given birth to him was busy cleaning up the mess we’d made. So not the time to be getting familiar with me. Quizzing me on famous drummers could probably also wait.

“Can you not, please? And where’d what go?” I threw a leg over the side of the bath, stepping down carefully onto the slippery floor. Getting the hell away from his overly intrusive eyes. My robe hung on the back of the bathroom door, fortunately. I hadn’t thought to bring in a change of clothes and my work wear sat in a soggy heap in the corner.

“Your pubes,” he said, angst filling his voice. “Where are they?”

“I wax.”

His nose wrinkled up in obvious disgust. “Well, stop it. I want cute carrot-colored pubic hair like on the top of your head. I deserve it.”

I bit back a smile. “You’ve given this a lot of thought, haven’t you?”

“It’s been almost a week. I had to have something to beat off to.”

“You’ve been masturbating to the thought of me?” I asked, thrilled. Clapping would probably be uncool, plus his parents might hear.

“Do I have a dick, Anne?” Mal climbed out, water running out of his soaked jeans, flowing out of his Chucks. What a beautiful wet disheveled mess.

“Given the size of the bulge in the front of your jeans, I’m going to answer yes to that question, Malcolm.”

“Then, yeah, of course I’ve given this a lot of thought. I’ve been thinking about your pussy constantly, what it looks like, what it tastes like, how it’ll feel.” He towered over me, half naked and dripping wet. The dripping-wet part was definitely going around. “Why do you think I was on Ben’s couch last night? No one else I wanna fuck. It’s gotta be you.”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“You gonna give me shit about not being romantic like you did last time?”

“Nope.”

“Nope?” His fingers toyed with the collar of my robe. Not undoing it, just hanging on.

I gripped the waist of his jeans and lifted my face, pressing my lips to his. “All I heard was blah blah I’ve been thinking about you constantly. Blah blah it’s got to be you. It was perfect, pure romance.”

He grinned. “You’re crazy.”

“We might have that in common, yes.”

“I definitely need you to know I have a dick.” He rubbed his lips over my jawline, making me shiver.

“Show it to me later?”

“Since you asked so nicely.” He drew back slightly. “Shit, we’re not going to start acting all nauseating like Davie and Ev are we?”

“Isn’t that how we’re supposed to be behaving?”

“Yeah, but it was funny while we were faking it. If we’re doing it for real …” He left the thought hanging.

My lust cooled significantly, chilling me. Because
for r
eal meant people getting hurt. And
people getting hu
rt most likely meant me. It might also mean him, yes. But the odds were not in my favor. I already knew how much it would sting when our fake relationship ended. But a real relationship? That would be so much worse.

“I, um … why don’t we just take it easy? See how it goes,” I said.

“Can’t stop now.” He rested his forehead against mine. “We really fucking need to have sex, Anne.”

“Yes. But things don’t have to change if we start sleeping together.”

“They don’t?”

“No. It’ll be fine.” God didn’t smite me. Who knew, it could even be the truth.

“Cool,” he said, cocky grin back in full force. He held one big hand aloft, waiting for me to high-five him. “Damn, we’re good.”

I slapped our palms together, before slipping my fingers between his and holding on tight. “We so are.”

When it came to his parents’ visit, Mal went all out.

He threw on dry clothes and mopped out the bathroom while I hid in the tub behind the curtain. All in all, he got his parents out of the apartment quite quickly. I heard his mom asking about my decimated bed (because the bedroom doors were wide open too). Our on-and-off, real-and-fake relationship was slowly destroying my apartment and its contents. Though hopefully the water spillage hadn’t done too much damage.

Mal mumbled an explanation about the bed and his father changed the topic of conversation. What the hell had he told them? Now they probably thought I was some sort of sex fiend, knowing him. Though the real reason, that we’d been jumping on the bed like a pair of idiots, wasn’t something I wanted his parents knowing either.