Pause (ROCK HARD Book 2) Read online

  I chuckled. “Always a good time when we play live. It’s my favorite thing.”

  “Your…very favorite?” Her eyes met mine over the rim of her glass, a look I might not have recognized had I not overheard her conversation.

  Could she be as innocent as she appeared? At twenty-four?

  Christ, how was I supposed to resist this?

  It’s her birthday, arsehole.

  “Well, one of my favorite things.” I licked the salt off the rim of the shot of Cuervo the bartender had just handed me. Then I downed it before sucking the wedge of lime between my teeth.

  “I haven’t done that since undergrad,” she said, watching me.

  “Would you like to do a shot together?”

  What was I doing?!

  “Sure.” She nodded at the bartender as he held up the bottle of Cuervo. He lined one side of each of the shot glasses with salt, poured two shots and put a small wedge of lime on each.

  “What are we drinking to?” she asked.

  “My favorite things.”

  I watched her eyes widen a tiny bit as surprise flickered through them. And then understanding.

  Yup. I was going straight to hell.

  She picked up the glass and that sweet, pink tongue of hers snaked out to lick the salt. Then she tossed back the shot, made a face of disgust before grabbing the lime wedge, and finally shook her head.

  “Jesus, that’s why I haven’t done shots of tequila since my junior year of college.”

  I licked my lips. “You only live once.”

  “Will you dance with me, Stu?” Her eyes glittered like two shining beacons in the night, though she belied her nervousness with the way she bit down on her lower lip.

  “Whatever the birthday girl wants.” I took her hand and led her to the dance floor, swinging her around. Truer words might never have been spoken because I wanted her like I hadn’t wanted anyone in a long time. She represented all the things I wasn’t supposed to want and though I normally had no trouble resisting temptation, this was different.

  “…he’s my fantasy, so there has to be an element of desire on his part too. It can’t be a pity fuck…”

  Pity fuck, my arse. The only one who deserved any pity was me, because I was going to break all my fucking rules to be her birthday present.

  The music slowed down and I pulled her against me, swaying with one hand at her waist and the other holding one of her hands in an almost old-fashioned position. Her silky hair brushed against me as we moved, and the featherlight touch made the tiny hairs on my skin stand straight up. Kind of like my cock. I’d gone from no way to fuck yes in about fifteen minutes and my dick was ready to go even if my mind was telling me to slow the fuck down.

  Lindsay wasn’t the kind of girl I could take in the back and fuck against the wall. She would need finesse, a touch of tenderness, even if it was nothing but a one-off. My gut told me she wasn’t all that experienced, and she’d told the girls it had been a year since she’d had sex, so if this was to be her birthday present, I was going to make it better than anything she’d ever had before. I just had to be sure she understood that it was just what it sounded like: One time. Her birthday present. Nothing more.

  I looked down into her pretty face and realized she was gazing up at me with a look no red-blooded man could turn away from. She wanted me to kiss her. Her lips were slightly parted and there was a faint flush on her cheeks, whether from the exertion of dancing or the alcohol or something else, I wasn’t sure. But it was enticing as fuck, and just as I was about to kiss her, she leaned up and kissed me.

  Her mouth was tentative, asking a question, and I had no choice but to answer. I slid my hand around to the small of her back so I could draw her against me and then tilted my head for a better angle. She was probably five-eight or five-nine to my six-three but there was no mistaking the raw need as her lips parted for me. I teased the tip of her tongue with mine, getting a feel for what she liked, but she wasn’t having it. Her mouth opened wide and her sweet tongue collided with mine like a freight train. And, damn, it was hot. There was no hesitation on her part, just a delightfully passionate woman taking what she wanted.

  Fuck me. I wanted to give it to her, but we had to slow down, talk about this.

  “Lass…” I broke away, looking down at her guiltily. She was even more flushed now, her eyes a little glassy and her breath coming in short, staccato little bursts. I ran the knuckles of one hand along her cheek. “I don’t know if this is a good idea.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m not sure you understand who and what I am.”

  “I know who you are, Stu. Maybe even better than you do.”

  Christ, it was like she could see right into my soul with that comment, but I couldn’t let it distract me. I had to make her understand.

  “I know what you want, what girls like you want, and I can’t give it to you.”

  “The only thing I want is one night with you.”

  3

  Lindsay

  “You don’t know what you’re asking,” he said, his voice throaty and low, the gleam in his eyes as sexy as it was nerve-wracking. It was intense. Hell, he was intense.

  “I’m not a virgin,” I said, lifting my chin a notch. “I’ve been fucked before, Stu.”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re not the kind of girl who’s interested in my kind of fucking,” he said, his eyes darkening.

  “I guess it depends on your definition of fucking,” I replied, determined not to lose my nerve. “If you’re nothing but a three-pump-chump, then no. That’s not what I want. But if we’re talking about the kind of sex that’s so good it makes you temporarily blind, so good your eyes roll back in your head and your body can’t stop shaking… I’d be totally down for that kind of fucking.”

  “When was the last time someone fucked you so good your eyes rolled back in your head?” Stu asked, looking down into my face.

  I pulled my lower lip between my teeth as I looked up at him. “Never.”

  “If you’ve never experienced it, how do you even know it really happens?” he asked in a gravelly voice, holding me closer.

  “I’ve read about it, and several of my friends have, um, attested to the fact that it really happens. And dammit, it’s my turn to experience it.” I might have lost a little of my bravado, because I would never recover if he rejected me at this point, but I couldn’t let him see the insecurity raging through me.

  “Do you have any idea what I’m going to do to you if we do this?”

  “Probably not, but I can’t wait.”

  I wasn’t sure what it was about those words that turned him on, but the next thing I knew he’d crashed his lips to mine, yanking me firmly against his chest, his tongue pillaging mine like we were alone instead of on a crowded dance floor. God, how many times had I fantasized about this? And the real thing was so much better than anything I’d imagined. His lips, his mouth, his tongue; it was all a tangle of deliciousness and those hands I loved were now cupping my backside, holding me a willing prisoner as we kissed.

  He slowly pulled away, his eyes opening as mine did.

  “Are you sure you want this?” he asked. “One night is all this can be.”

  “One night is all I’m asking for.”

  Our eyes stayed locked and then the look he gave me was one of pure mischief sprinkled with a touch of predator. Like he was going to devour me and already knew how much we were both going to enjoy it. My knees shook a little just thinking about it, but then he threaded the fingers of one hand through mine and tugged me back to the bar.

  “Time for another shot.”

  “I don’t need to be drunk…”

  “Trust me—you do.”

  Eeek. What had I gotten myself into?

  We did another shot and to my surprise, he led me back out onto the dance floor. We danced, we drank, and we kissed. Boy, did we kiss. And hot damn, no one had ever kissed me like Stu did. Soft and hard, rough and tender, with tongue and clos
ed-mouthed. It was like he ran the gamut of kissing, from the most chaste to the absolute dirtiest, and he set my body on fire every time he did it.

  “Let’s go back to your place, lass.” He whispered it against my ear as we slow-danced for the fourth or fifth time. It was after two in the morning and Lexi and her husband, Zaan, were making out on the dance floor too. She’d told me a little while ago to take the limo and leave once Stu and I were ready. She and Zaan, and the rest of the band, planned to party all night.

  We’d all come to the club in a limo tonight, another part of Lexi’s wonderful birthday surprise. She’d also assumed we would all be drinking heavily and the limo would be available to drive everyone to their respective houses, even if the driver had to make multiple trips.

  “We can take the limo,” I murmured.

  We went into the backstage area, which was mostly abandoned now since the band and their guests were either drinking, dancing, or mingling, save one of the club’s security guys guarding our things. I grabbed my purse and Stu picked up his leather jacket. The band’s equipment had been handled so he grabbed my hand and we went out to the waiting limo. The driver recognized us and opened one of the back doors. Stu let me crawl in ahead of him and I landed on the seat with him practically on top of me.

  Then he was kissing me all over again and this time there was no restraint. He sat up and tugged me onto his lap. He slid a hand beneath my black miniskirt and cupped my ass, something he seemed to enjoy doing a great deal. I was wearing a tiny black thong, so my backside was bare, but he wasn’t in a hurry to get beneath it. Instead, he was kissing me again, his hands exploring my thighs with interest, fingers warm on my skin.

  “Let me look at you, lass.” He stared down at me, and now that our faces were so close, I noted how long his eyelashes were. Was that considered hot on a guy? I thought so. Of course, I thought everything about Stu was hot, and despite how much I’d had to drink, I was strangely sober now that we were alone. As if I wasn’t going to risk forgetting a single second of what was to come.

  “Come up here.” He guided me over him so I was straddling his thighs, my skirt up around my hips, legs bent at the knees. “I’ve been waiting to see these all night.” He reached out and lifted one of my breasts out of the cup of the black corset Lexi and I had bought just yesterday. It was tight and mildly uncomfortable, but it sucked in all my curves, gave me a tiny waist, and lifted up my massive boobs so I had cleavage. And now one of them was hanging over the top.

  I wanted to be mortified but he sighed and lowered his head, closing his warm, wet mouth gently around the nipple. He swirled his tongue around and then sucked a little harder, making me gasp with pleasure. It felt so good, my eyes fluttered closed and my head fell back. I wanted to watch, but more than that, I wanted to feel. He’d freed my other breast now and was moving back and forth between them, licking, sucking and kissing, until my nether regions were on fire and every nerve in my body was awakened with need.

  “Fucking beautiful,” he murmured, his face buried between my breasts. “If you were mine, I’d rub my cock between them every night.”

  I must have moaned because he chuckled. “Like that idea, eh?” He cupped my breasts with his hands. “Tell me something, lass.”

  “Mm?”

  “Do you know what a Jacob’s ladder is?”

  I frowned, trying to wrap my head around a question like that in the middle of making out. “Well, it’s got multiple meanings. It’s what you call the rope ladder with wooden rungs for access up the side of a ship. It’s also a plant. And in biblical terms—”

  “Bloody hell, lass. I’m talking about sex. Piercings, to be specific.”

  I probably looked ridiculous, sitting there blinking in confusion, and he just smiled and shook his head.

  “Get on the floor,” he said, nudging me between his legs.

  I slid down, tucking my knees beneath me and watching as he unzipped his leather pants. He was commando underneath—I shouldn’t have been surprised—and my mouth watered a little as his cock sprang free.

  It was freakin’ huge.

  Like, monstrous.

  I’d never seen one that big and my mouth opened a little.

  Jesus, could I even wrap my lips around that thing?

  “This…” He stroked his hand down his erection. “Is a Jacob’s ladder.” He moved his hand, holding his penis up so I got a view of the underside, and this time I gaped. When he’d said piercings, I’d thought maybe a barbell at the tip or something, but holy shit, this was… I had no words for what I was looking at. The underside had a row of piercings, small barbells on either side of a center bar that was beneath the skin. They were one on top of the other, about half an inch apart, vaguely resembling a ladder. Jacob’s ladder. Holy hell.

  But they were in his penis.

  His massive, erect penis.

  And he wanted to put that inside of me?

  Crap, had I bitten off more than I could chew or what?

  “Yay, nay, or you want out of the car right now?” he asked, laughing.

  “Oh, definitely a yay, but… I’m guessing they don’t hurt?”

  “I don’t even know they’re there unless I’m balls-deep inside of someone, and no one’s ever said they hurt when they’re inside you. And I always make sure a woman is wet enough not to hurt her.”

  Our eyes locked and I swallowed, excitement surging through me. This might have been the sexiest thing I’d ever seen, and I was suddenly anxious to taste him. I leaned forward but he stopped me, catching my chin between two fingers.

  “Tonight is about your fantasies,” he said softly. “Only do this if you want to, yeah? I just didn’t want you to be caught off guard when you saw the piercings.”

  “Do some women take one look and run?” I asked wryly.

  “Not usually, but it’s happened a time or two.”

  “Well, I’m all in. And yes, I want to do this.” I reached for him, wrapping my hand around that fantastic cock and gently using the pointer finger of my other hand to trace the barbells. Then I traced them again with the tip of my tongue, as curious as I was aroused. Just imagining it inside of me made me wet and my insides clenched with anticipation.

  He hissed out a breath when I closed my mouth over the head, sucking lightly. There was probably zero chance I could deep throat him, since I’d never done that with anybody before anyway, much less someone this big, but tasting him was wonderful. The tangy flavor of the pre-come leaking from the tip made me want more and I slid another inch into my mouth.

  “Ah, lass, that’s beautiful.” He’d fisted my hair but was simply holding it, watching me taking a few inches into my mouth before stalling out. “Just like that… Don’t worry about how deep, just use your hand… Fuck, that’s hot…” I sucked harder, using both of my hands to hold and stroke him, and I heard his breath catch as his hold on my hair tightened. “Ah, fuck, yes, take me, lass…” He shot off in my mouth, pushing a little deeper and I nearly choked as I swallowed.

  “Bloody hell.” He tugged me back up and onto his lap, taking my mouth for another kiss that had every inch of me on fire. “We’re too close to home for me to fuck you now, but let’s get those panties off.”

  I moved off his lap to allow him access and he slid them down, tossing them aside. “Right here.” He brought me back on his lap and positioned me so his cock was between my folds. “Nothing happens without a condom,” he said, meeting my questioning gaze as I stiffened. “This is just foreplay.”

  I relaxed into him and closed my eyes. This was like high school all over again, but hotter and sexier and a lot more delicious. Those barbell things were rubbing against the tender skin of my labia, and it was wonderful. Hard but smooth, adding friction to an already highly sensitized area.

  “Make yourself come, lass,” he whispered against my mouth. “Just rub on me until you get there.”

  I sighed, arching my hips and rocking up and down. Those hard little metal balls hit my clit and ever
ything started to spiral. I wanted to feel ridiculous, getting off this easily, but he’d been touching and teasing me for hours. My body was a charged explosive ready to blow and when he took my mouth again, those big hands cupping my ass, everything went white. I made a sound, something raw and primal, and he held me tight against his groin as I rode out the orgasm.

  “So fucking beautiful,” he murmured, kissing my closed eyelids. “Next time you’re going to scream my name, yeah?”

  4

  Stu

  I helped her smooth down her skirt as the limo pulled to a stop in front of Zaan and Lexi’s house and I mostly stuffed my dick back into my pants even though I was still hard as granite, so that wasn’t working too well. My T-shirt covered most of it so we ran to the garage where Lindsay punched in the code that opened it. We practically ran through the house and up the stairs, into what I assumed was her room. I kicked the door shut behind me and grinned.

  “Everything off, love.”

  She hesitated for a fraction of a second, and I could practically see the wheels turning. Saggy boobs. Thighs that touched. Shit that most guys—at least not real men—would never be thinking about in the seconds before having sex with a gloriously sexy woman. If she were mine, I’d make her walk around naked every minute we were alone, just to prove to her how much I loved her soft, curvy body. She wasn’t mine, but this was her birthday fantasy, so I wasn’t going to muck it up by letting her overthink things.

  I quickly shucked my own clothing, reaching down to grip my dick.

  “He’s ready for you, lass. Come on, now.”

  She met my eyes and slowly slid her skirt down, so she was naked from the waist down. The corset thing she was wearing was a bit askew after our session in the limo and she slowly turned her back to me.

  “Can you, um, unzip me?”

  “I can.” I put a hand on her hip as I eased down the zipper, letting the fabric fall away. I wrapped my arms around her from behind and pressed soft kisses on her shoulder. “You’re beautiful, Lindsay. I cannae wait to be inside of you.” I tended to slip into a bit of Gaelic when I had too much to drink or wasn’t paying attention, so she had me distracted as hell. I kept one arm firmly around her waist, keeping her close to me, but used the thumb of my other hand to gently stroke one of her nipples. She was starting to forget about how self-conscious she was; I felt it in the way she relaxed against me.