Author: Bella Andre

It was his turn now to give her the comfort of wrapping the plush cotton around her and rubbing his hands over her curves to dry her off.

She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. “Mmm, that feels good.”

Did it ever.

Now that he had her wrapped up in the towel and fighting his reaction to her nakedness wasn’t taking every ounce of his concentration, he could see the dark smudges beneath her eyes. She was tired, and he knew he was the reason. Not just because of her long drive to Eugene today, but because he doubted she was getting much more sleep than he was. At least, she was relieving a little bit of the pressure by touching herself—

No, that was exactly the wrong road to go down. Later, when she wasn’t right here tempting him, he’d let himself fantasize about how she might have touched herself. Although hopefully soon she’d trust him enough with her heart that he wouldn’t have to fantasize...because he’d be right there with her in the bed.

He picked her up, grabbing a towel for himself as he headed from the shower into his private bedroom at the back of the bus. Without opening her eyes, she reached out to wrap her arms around his neck and nuzzle his still-wet skin.

“Time for bed.”

Her heavy eyelids fluttered open. “Not yet.”

Of course, he also wanted to spend more time talking, teasing, laughing with her, but he was trying to think of what was best for her as he said, “You must be tired after your long day and drive.”

“No,” she swore as he gently laid her down on the bed, “I’m not the least bit tired.” He’d barely wrapped up in a towel and come behind her to draw her against him, her back to his front, when she said, “I want to hear all about your show.”

“It was good.” He stroked her wet hair as it lay spread across his pillow. Her skin smelled like his shampoo, but her hair still held her signature rose scent. “I played the new song I wrote for you.”

She ran her hand down the arm draped across her waist until she could cover his hand with hers. She lifted it to tuck it between her breasts as she said, “They must have loved it.”

Her head fit perfectly beneath his chin, and he barely stifled a groan as she wiggled her bottom more tightly against his hips. “They did.”

“How does it feel to be up there in front of so many people who all love what you do so much?”

“Lucky.” She shifted slightly to look at him over her shoulder as he thought about how to explain it better. “There are millions of kids with guitars. A million more who are trying to get away from their current lives into a better one. I think about that every time I get up on stage, how everyone in the audience is willing to part with time and money they don’t have any extra of to spend a night with me. I’d be nothing without them.”

“Yes, you would.” She gripped his hand tighter against her heart. “Even if you’d never hit it big, even if your songs had never been on the radio, even if you were playing dive bars instead of stadiums, you’d still be amazing, Ford.” She spread his hand flat against her heart so that he could feel it beating against his palm. “Amazing inside and out.”

If he’d thought it was difficult not to make love to her, he suddenly found it was a thousand times more difficult not to scare her off by telling her exactly how much he loved her...and to keep from begging her to love him back just as much.

“How many houses did you sell today?”

He couldn’t see her smile, but he swore he could feel it as she said, “Just one, before I decided to hightail it to Oregon. It was for a family that is going to be really happy with the neighborhood and the nearby beach. Even better, we were able to close the deal without breaking the bank. I hate to see people overextended.”

He would have expected most Realtors to celebrate the higher priced sales, because those sales meant an automatic rise in their salary. Mia had gone from being fairly new in the business to having her own thriving brokerage since they’d first met. But he could easily guess that the reason she had been able to build it so quickly was because she matched people up with the properties that were right for them, regardless of how much they cost or how small her percentage might end up amounting to.

“Having a home is important.” It was something he’d only just learned.

And yet, as she slipped into sleep in his arms, even though they were in his tour bus rather than his new house, just holding her made him feel like he was finally home.

Chapter Twenty-four

Mia had always been a big sleeper. She loved waking up on cool mornings warm and cozy beneath a thick duvet, and would often linger long past the first ring of her alarm clock. But this morning she felt so good, so warm and safe, that she didn’t want to wake up all the way.

No matter how long she’d tried to fight the truth, everything was better with Ford.

Especially this.

After a shower that had teased them both nearly senseless with naked skin neither of them could touch, she’d loved the way he’d curled up with her on the bed. At some point, she must have fallen asleep and he’d tucked them both beneath the covers.

Just enough light was coming into the bedroom of his tour bus through the edges of the blinds that, as she slowly turned in his arms to rest her head in the crook of his shoulder, she asked herself yet again, what did being Ford’s friend mean? A bond of mutual affection is how the dictionary defined friendship, but that wasn’t even close to big enough for what she was starting to feel for Ford. Affection was there, of course, but so was intimacy and attachment and empathy and comfort.

But even if she couldn’t quite define exactly what being friends was, last night when they’d been talking, though she could hear the sensual desperation in his voice, for as much as they wanted each other, she was also absolutely certain that their need to know each other was at least as big.

Now, however, she was more than willing to let their attraction come back to the forefront for a little while. With the best looking man who had ever graced the earth this close—and naked beneath the bedcovers with her—how could she resist pressing her lips to his chest where his heart was beating slow and steady beneath her ear?

And how could she resist lightly running her hands down over his warm skin?

And why on earth would she be stupid enough to give up the chance to keep raining more kisses all across his chest, his arms, and then down over his taut abdominal muscles as he continued to sleep?

She knew how much energy he put into his shows and how deeply he slept afterward. And it was a very good thing that he was so exhausted. Because there were so many other places she wanted to touch, to kiss before he woke up and decided to stop her in the name of growing their friendship first. Ever since he’d stripped off his jeans and boxers in the shower last night, she’d been utterly distracted by the need not only to look, but also to touch.

And to taste.

She hadn’t been flirting with him when she’d asked if he was bigger now than before. Because...wow. She licked her lips in anticipation as pure female instinct claimed her so that she simply had to lean down to press a soft kiss to the hard ridge of his erection.

Ford’s groan came first, quickly followed by her name on his lips and his hands in her hair. “Mia—”

She’d promised to stick to the rules last night. But this was a new day, and while she still agreed that they should keep working on their friendship before they had full-on sex, she couldn’t see how being puritanical about things was a good idea, either.

For Mia, falling in love with someone wasn’t only mental, it wasn’t only inside the heart. It was also physical. So before he could say or do anything more to try to stop her, she slicked her tongue over him in one long, delicious stroke.

He automatically bucked up into her waiting mouth, and she was just shifting to take him deeper when he used his hands in her hair to lift her gaze away from his groin. The slight pinch of his grip on her scalp sent her arousal ratcheting up even higher.

“Last night,” he ground out, “we agreed not to do this. Not yet.”

“I didn’t break our promise last night, and I’m not going to break it today, either. We won’t have sex. Just this.”

She knew she was pleading, but she was desperate for him not to stop her. Because coming this close to such pleasure and having to pull back was a very bad thing. Very bad. And wasn’t it true that the definition of what sex actually was could be a wide and cloudy one?

“Ever since last night in the shower, when you told me why you haven’t taken care of yourself, I’ve needed to put my hands and mouth on you, Ford. Not just for you...but for me, too.”

Finally—thank God—he curled his hand over hers so that she was gripping his erection even harder beneath his hold. Together they stroked him, and she couldn’t tell her moans from his as they sounded off the bedroom walls of his tour bus.

Being like this with him again was so perfect and beautiful and sexy. She felt so close to him and knew if he tried to stop her now, she would die...because she needed this, needed at least some completion after all these days of stopping after super hot kisses.

Mia shifted up onto her knees on the bed, her long hair falling over him as she took him into her mouth. Ford’s hands moved back into her hair, and together they found a perfect rhythm, one that was so natural, one that felt so much a part of her that she wondered how she’d managed without having him in her life for so long.

Using her lips and tongue, she took him up, up, up, then reveled in sending him all the way over. Ford was always strong, always in control, so those few moments when he gave himself completely over to her were incredibly precious. She couldn’t remember ever being so aroused before, yet she honestly believed she didn’t need anything more than what they’d just done—simply because it felt so good to give him pleasure.

When she could finally catch her breath, she looked up his chiseled body and asked, “Feel better now?”

“No.”

Before she knew it, Ford had hauled her up his body, then shifted them so that she was lying in his place on the bed and he was levered over her. He nipped hard at her lower lip as he slid his hands through hers and held her immobile with one arm pulled up on either side of her head.

“Not even close to better.” His teeth found one of her earlobes next, right before he growled, “Not until I get my mouth on you, too.”

She nearly came apart right then and there, with her hands held firmly in his and his tongue tracing the tendon from her lobe to her collarbone. And when his mouth closed over her nipple, all she could do was arch up into him and beg for more.

“Please,” she said, even though she’d never been a woman who begged anyone for anything. Only Ford had ever reduced her to this. And when he gave her exactly what she needed by scraping his stubble from one breast to the other, her pleas gave way to just his name, which fell from her lips over and over again.

She would have wrapped her legs around him to pull him closer, but he didn’t just have her hands pinned, he had her legs trapped beneath his, too. Ford had been the most dominant lover she’d ever had, and for once in her life she’d loved letting someone else lead. But after they’d broken up, she’d never let a man lead in bed with her again.

Only, now that he had her exactly where he wanted her, she couldn’t deny that it was right where she wanted to be, even though just minutes earlier when she’d been touching and tasting him, she’d been the one in control of their pleasure.

Maybe, she found herself thinking with the few brain cells that were still operational, this time around neither of them would need to be in charge. And if this morning was any indication, this new balance between them—both as lovers and as real friends—would make things even hotter than they’d been before.

He kept her hands in his as he rained kisses along the undersides of both breasts, then down over her stomach. “You smell so good,” he said between kisses. “I can’t wait to taste you again.”