Lead (Stage Dive 3)

“We’ll do both,” he said, giving my fingers a squeeze.

“Okay.” I breathed deep, shuffling a little closer toward the heat of his body. The scent of a room after we had sex was the best. In a perfect world I’d bottle it and carry it on me always.

“You mind if I crash here with you?”

“No. I’d like that.” I pulled up the blankets, turned off the light. It felt so nice and normal. So right. He kept hold of my hand the entire time.

“Tired,” he mumbled.

“Sleep,” I said.

A nod.

And we slept. I had the most amazing dreams.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Lena, do something with your life.” Jimmy teased.

“I am,” I said, fiddling with my camera while sitting on his bench press.

His fists pounded into the punching bag, smack, smack, smack. Little wonder my groin felt tender this morning given he had all that strength at his disposal. Vaguely related, my god, the view. He wore only a black pair of sweat pants and tennis shoes. Beneath the bright lighting, his skin gleamed godlike all of his gorgeous muscles on display. The lines of his face so distinct, the determined set of his lips, I could have watched for years and never gotten bored.

“Watching me working with the bag isn’t doing something.” Hands stilled and he sucked in deep breaths.

“I’m taking pictures of you too.” I held up the shiny new camera and clicked off a few in demonstration. “You don’t mind me taking your picture, do you?”

“No.”

“Excellent. Can you take all your clothes off for me please? I’d like to get some nude shots.”

He gave me the look.

“It’s for artistic purposes, I swear.”

“I don’t think so.” He undid the straps on his glove things. They weren’t the full traditional boxing gloves, but less bulky.

“I’ll make it worth your while.” In a move that should have been beneath me, I toyed with the v in the neckline of my sweater.

“How?” His eyes darkened with interest.

Oh, the thrill of having some small amount of sexual power over this man. I got giddy on just the thought of it, my hormones rushing about like crazy. “All sorts of ways. I’ll have you know, I can be very inventive when motivated. You just have to trust me.”

He walked toward me, all slow and casual. But his eyes told a different story. “You playing with me, Lena?”

“No.” I lowered the camera. “You let me lead last night. It wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“When you kissed me?”

“Yes.”

He bought his face close to mine. “When you made me lie on top of you?”

“That too.”

“Thought you didn’t like my sweat,” he said, taunting me. “In fact, I distinctly remember you saying as much, and telling me to go shower.”

“Do not hold that against me. I was trying to resist you at the time, it was a survival thing,” I groaned in desperation, my mouth watering for the taste of him.

Then my cell started ringing over on the other side of the room. Jimmy jogged over and grabbed it, checking out the screen. “Who’s Alyce?”

“My sister.” I waved a hand dismissively. We’d barely talked in the last year or so, whatever she wanted could wait. Me kissing Jimmy, on the other hand, could not. “Let it go. I’ll call her later.”

With a sly smile he tapped the screen and put the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

No f**king way. My face fell, it plummeted.

“Yes, this is Jimmy Ferris her boss.” He paused, listening. “That’s right, I’m from Stage Dive.” Another pause accompanied by a smug grin my way. “Thanks, didn’t know you were a fan.” Again he listened. “Lena has mentioned you to me, yeah. She actually told me a bit about how you f**ked her boyfriend and now you two are getting married. How’s that working out for you?”

“Jimmy. No.” Shit, shit, shit. I put the camera aside and started the delicate process of getting my ass over to him, hobbling across the padded gym area floor. “None of your business.”

The bastard took a step back, and then another, lengthening the distance between us. His face was serious now, mouth a harsh unimpressed line. Apparently whatever he was hearing did not please him.

He snorted. “I don’t think so. Thing is Alyce, at the end of the day, you stole your sister’s man. Unless you’re calling to finally apologize to her, I don’t really see what there is to talk about. I don’t much give a shit if it was true love or whatever. You did wrong. You wanna know how I know that? Because I did a similar thing to my brother. It’s a dick move made by insecure shits, but you know what, Alyce? At least I have a dick. What’s your excuse? ”

I mimed sliding a blade across his throat, still hopping toward him as fast as panic and a med boot would allow. When I got within snatching distance, Jimmy slid an arm around my waist, stopping me from reaching up. I stretched and strained but my mediocre height was firmly against me.

“You’re not helping,” I hissed. “Stop it.”

“Yeah, I guess I am Lena’s protector. Or maybe I’m just the only person prepared to call bullshit on this whole situation.”

“Give me the phone.” I tried to climb him to get closer, but my fingers slid over his slippery sweaty shoulders. Damn his hot body.

My sister’s voice sounded small, far away. I couldn’t quite make out the words. Her tone however carried fine, all worked up and pissed beyond belief. You could just bet the perfect princess wasn’t enjoying this conversation one little bit. Part of me kind of enjoyed that, but the larger part wanted to tear Jimmy to pieces for sticking his nose in where it did not belong. Despite everything, I did not need to go to war with my sister. And war was exactly where we’d be if he kept this shit up.

“Give it to me.”

He ignored me.

“Jimmy!” Frustration bubbling over, I slapped his face (I know, I shouldn’t have, but I did). It got an immediate reaction. He scowled down at me, then he slapped me good and hard on the ass in return. I yelped, my wobbling butt cheek on fire.

“Don’t do that again, Lena,” he said.

“Give me the phone.” I grabbed at his arm, trying to force the far-too-damn-strong limb down.

“You are f**king kidding me,” he said into the cell, voice incredulous. “Why on earth would you ever imagine your sister would be willing to step in and be one of your bridesmaids when you’re marrying her ex? Why should she save your ass, huh? This friend of yours that dropped out, you f**k her man too?”