he made it home.
‘How come you’re in here?’ He had to admit he was intrigued. Normally the crew managed to keep the groupies away from the dressing room. Plus, they ensured that anyone hot and available had on a pink-trimmed backstage pass. This girl didn’t have a pass, or if she did it was damn well hidden.
‘Were you looking for me?’
No, he wasn’t being big-headed, just honest about the way the world worked. Girls only came backstage for one thing.
Xane, crowed the voice in his head. Women always wanted Xane. He scared the hell out of them, but they still creamed their panties if he so much as sneered in their direction.
Ash shut the voice off.
The girl peered up at him, as if she wasn’t entirely sure. ‘Um …’
Ash clocked her gaze shifting from his face to the open doorway.
‘It depends …’
Told you, dumbass, his subconscious cackled. She’s after Mr Geist.
Fuck, it pissed him off that he didn’t come top of the Black Halo popularity chart, despite being the most obliging member of the band. Looking hot wasn’t everything. You had to know how to tickle their fancy too, and it helped if you weren’t a total screw-up. Strange how the latter part never seemed to apply to Xane, who was the most messed-up fucker Ash knew.
‘Depends on what?’
She flicked him another glance, this one rather more assessing than the last, which heated him up around the collar and made him wish his jeans weren’t so damn spray-on tight.
This girl was just his type. Naturally pretty, with eyes like puddles of liquid gold, over which two carefully defined eyebrows formed slightly quizzical arches. And shaped perfectly too, wide across the hips and skinny around the middle, with those stocking-covered legs to top it all off.
He swore, if she was here for Spook, he was totally going to lie about the guy’s sexual preferences, and thank you, God, that Mr Screw-Up Geist was already out of the picture.
Ginny tilted her chin. A playful smile tweaked the corners of her mouth. ‘On whether you’re free right now?’ she said without blushing.
‘I don’t charge.’
Startled, she laughed, covering her beautifully kissable lips with one hand.
Ash watched appreciatively as her mirth reached the centres of her whisky-gold eyes. Yes, he was naughty, but sometimes he just couldn’t resist.
Damn! Was it wrong that he wanted to pin her against a wall and prove that he was everything she was looking for with a bone-melting kiss, prior to slipping her his boner?
Yes, Ash, it totally is. After all, it was just possible that she’d turn out to be the tea lady, making sure they were all set with post-show nibbles. He’d done that once, banged some girl over a desk and then found out that she was the secretary to the chief secretary, and had only stepped into the room to see if the snack selection needed replenishing. Well, he’d had the munchies, just not for bourbons and custard creams.
‘And what is it exactly that you don’t charge for, Mr Gore?’
Ash coaxed her fingers away from her pretty mouth; the anticipation of kissing her now a growing urge. ‘I reckon you can guess.’
‘Maybe, but I’d rather you spelled it out for me. I wouldn’t want to think we were talking at cross purposes.’
Good point. No sense in being misunderstood. Not that he thought it very likely given the way her fingertips were dancing over the side of his throat heading towards his collar bone.
‘A nice …’
Immediately, her fingers fisted around the frayed neckline of his shirt, and her golden eyes lit up.
Ash deliberately paused to further gauge her response, before adding, ‘hard’ and ‘fuck’.
Her breathing hitched and a pink stain spread across her cheeks, but she held his gaze, and he liked her for that.
Her lips parted in order to let her tongue sweep across them, leaving behind the sheen of moisture. ‘And how much do you charge for the second fuck?’
Holy Mary, he was done for! He’d never before been propositioned for round two before he’d even hit first base.
Squealed at.
Proposed to.
But not optioned for a sequel. This girl had balls.
‘I daresay we can reach an accord.’ He leaned into her touch, loving the way it spread warmth through his body, and prompted her to splay her fingers across the front of his T-shirt.
‘Hope so, because I’m looking for someone who can keep me buzzing for the whole night, not just for five minutes.’
Ash tilted his head forward ready to claim her lips. ‘That won’t be a problem.’ He prided himself on his ability to go all night.
Sure, he normally stuck to a kiss, fuck and goodbye routine to keep the drama level set to low, but sharing a whole night with her wouldn’t be a hardship, and it definitely beat spending the night fretting over the backlash the music press would unleash come eight o’clock tomorrow morning.
Those vultures were going to love tearing shreds off them.
‘So pleased to hear it,’ she said, drawing his attention back to her by sliding her hands into his hair. Her lips plastered to his. Ash let her have her way. Allowed her to explore the contours of his face, the four studs set in a line in his left ear, even the calluses on his fingertips, while she devoured his mouth.
This one was going to be a right handful to keep in check. But he was OK with that. Better a woman with some spark than one who hadn’t the faintest clue how to handle him, or who believed that sex was something men were entirely responsible for.
Ash tugged the clip from her hair, releasing her messy ponytail. He liked long hair. Liked the way it framed a woman’s face, and how it tickled his bare skin when he held her tight.
‘You’re totally cool with this?’
‘Um, yeah.’ She was kidding, right? He was always game for an easy lay.
‘Cool, because you’re seriously fucking sexy.’
Her attention transferred to his torso, hands sliding inside his shirt, before moving on to squeeze his arse, then settling on his belt buckle. ‘I want to rub myself all over you. God … those abs …’
Belt opened, her hands were then on his stomach, then pushing inside his underwear to capture his rapidly hardening cock.
Ash thickened immediately. He’d barely touched her and yet she was all but ready to devour him. God, yes! A sound escaped his throat, the sort he had no control over making. She knew just how to squeeze him right to drown out all the crap in his head and make the tension drop out of his limbs.
‘What?’ he asked, realising that she’d stopped and was staring at him. ‘You’re not going to tell me you really shouldn’t be doing this, are you? Or that you’re really a nice girl who normally wouldn’t dream of doing something like this with a guy like me.’
‘Hell, no.’ She squashed her breasts against his torso. ‘I was thinking how fucking gorgeous you look like that with your T-shirt up and your cock out. Lickable,’ she added, swiping her tongue around her lips. Instead of actually licking him, she lifted her top and unhooked the front fastening of her bra. Her breasts spilled free, giving him a rather glorious view for a few brief seconds before she snuggled up tight against his waist and captured his shaft between their soft swell. ‘I love seeing guys get turned on,’ she said. ‘And watching them come. I like it when they get me wet, and then I can rub it into my skin. What do you like?’
‘Girls who know how to fuck.’
She