That nervous lipbite disappeared and the steel in her eyes hardened. "Of course I'm here, Mr. Brock," she sighed, staring me down. "You summoned me and I had no choice but to come running."
Fuck, how did I screw this up? "That's not what I meant," I protested. God, I just wanted to hold her, but now I couldn't touch her at all. "I was saying, fuck, hello Monique."
Her eyes narrowed. "Hello Tanner." She exhaled forcefully. "Can I get some pictures of your tour bus?"
I clenched my fists. "Strictly business?" I lashed out at her. This was not how I pictured this moment. It was taking everything I had not to shake her silly, then kiss her until she gasped.
"While I'm here," she shot back, every word laced with venom.
Hearing my own words used against me was the last straw. In two steps, I had her pinned up against the bus. She yelped a little, but didn't say anything, only stared daggers at me, holding me ferociously in her dark gaze. I brushed my fingers up her shoulder, then clamped my hand around the back of her neck. "Let's fucking try this again," I hissed. Her mouth was mere centimeters away from mine and at the rate the blood was collecting in my groin area, I didn't have much more brain power left. "It's good to see you Monique. I've been thinking about your body for the past two weeks. Tell me you've been thinking about me too."
"Tanner," she hissed my name in a way that got me impossibly hard. "You arrogant, self-assured son of a bitch...."
"Yeah that's good baby, let me have it."
"Fuck off."
"I'll fuck whatever you want me to."
"Dammit, Tanner," her voice rose higher. "Why do you have to be so infuriatingly...."
"Don't yell, baby, we'll get an audience."
"I told you not to call me baby!"
I could hear voices behind us. "Stop yelling!" I shouted, clamping my hand over her mouth and hustling her up the stairs into the tour bus. "People are going to think...."
She screamed and sank her teeth right into the web between my thumb and forefinger.
"God dammit!" I roared. "What the fuck did you do that for?!"
"I don't know!" she screamed, her eyes glittering. "I'm scared, okay? Is that what you want me to say? You want me to fall apart so you can hold me and be the big strong cowboy?"
"No," I growled. "I want you to kiss my hand all better."
She froze. "Are you playing with me?"
"No," I said, extending my hand. The semicircle bite mark had gone from white to angry red. "Kiss it better, Monique."
Chapter Eighteen
Monique
It was too overwhelming. His nearness, my fear, his desire, my loneliness - they all bunched up in my brain. I didn't know what to do.
So I did what he said. I kissed it better.
The heat of his skin under my lips was scalding. He moved his hand slightly when my lips made contact, brushing my mouth so it was like his hand was kissing me.
That one motion, featherlight but completely in control, was my undoing. I closed my eyes, waiting. There was only one thing that could happen next.
He cupped his fingers under my throat then, and tipped my chin upward. This time I wanted the kiss. This time I was waiting, my whole body shivering eagerly in anticipation.
When it didn't come, I opened my eyes. The fathomless blue depths of his were mere inches from mine. "Ah, there she is," he whispered.
"Are you going to kiss me?" I taunted.
"Yes...but that's not all I'm going to do Monique." His voice was a ragged gasp, terrifying and thrilling at the same time. He was holding me so tightly, I was sure there would be marks on my skin, but his words were holding me even tighter. "I'm going to take my time with you. I'm going to watch you watching me with those eyes of yours, and then I'm going to make them roll back in your head. Does that sound good to you?"
I shivered a little and he clutched me even tighter. "Pretty confident in yourself, aren't you Tanner Brock?" I gasped.
"Yup."
There were no more words after that. Even if I wanted to, protest, my words were stolen by his lips covering mine.
He brushed the tip of his tongue against my lips, finding my weak spot until I gave in with a sigh and pressed against him.
Slow, melting heat spread everywhere he touched, and his hands were soon touching me everywhere. He maneuvered me backwards until my heel caught against the lip of the bunk. We fell backwards in a tangle of limbs.
I wanted this. I had never wanted anything more in my life than to have Tanner Brock's body on top of mine, his hips rolling and undulating with the promise of pleasure to come. But the wanting, no, the longing was too intense. I was losing control too quickly. It was frightening and fear made me angry. I squirmed underneath him, wrenching my hand out from his grasp. "Stop," I panted.
He pulled back. "You sure about that?" he growled, catching my wrist and pinning it above my head.
I arched into him, my body betraying me. "No. Yes. Dammit."
He stared at me, breathing heavily, our bodies fused together. We both knew that if we moved from this moment, this strange, torturous dance we had been clumsily attempting would be over. What came next would decide everything. And he was waiting.
Waiting for me.
Slowly, as if pulled by a magnetic force, I drew my face to the hollow at his neck. His skin, bronzed dark in the low light of the tour bus, was still flushed and overheated. I flicked my tongue out, tasting the salt on his skin, and then pressed my lips there on that spot. I could feel his pulse beating in his throat, strong and sure.
Trailing my lips to the place where his neck met his shoulder, I pressed another kiss, loving how his breath drew in sharply.
The floodgates of desire flew open. I growled low in my throat and then bit down.
He hissed, then growled. "You little...." He cupped his hand around my neck and pushed my head back, dislodging my teeth. I fell back panting. "Try to do it again," he growled, staring at me.
I snapped my teeth at him and he slammed his lips into mine. Holding me down with the force of his kiss, he yanked my shirt up and slid his hands along my waist, then up to my bra. I arched my back and he slid the catch with a deft motion, freeing my breasts from their prison. My nipples were already tightly puckered and as hard as diamonds. My whole body was so swollen with need that I felt ready to burst.
"If I stop kissing you, are you gonna bite me again?" he rasped into my ear as his thumb and forefinger tweaked my peaks.
"Not if you keep doing that," I groaned. Sharp sparks of painful pleasure swirled outward each time he rolled them in his fingers.
He grinned. "Ah, so you like it when it hurts a little?" He cupped my throat again, tighter this time, and my eyes rolled back in my head. "That's what I wanted to see," he growled, his voice thick and choked with lust. "How about if I do this?"
He slid his fingers down from my breasts and under the waistband of my jeans. The hot center of my need was throbbing painfully, and when his fingers brushed against the swollen nub, I drew in a sharp breath and arched upward, but his big hand at my throat held me firm.
"No, you stay right there," he hissed, yanking at my zipper. "I'm gonna have me a little fun, now. You owe me after that bite, Monique. That's my strummin' hand."
He slid his hands underneath my ass, cupping it.
And then he flipped me like a pancake.
I landed facedown on his bunk with a squawk. "What the fuck...?" I demanded, pushing myself back up with my arms.
But he pressed his big hand across my back and pushed me back down. Then he lifted my ass higher, draping my legs over the side of the bunk so
that I was half lying, half kneeling.
"I've wanted to take you over my knee since I met you," he growled, yanking my jeans down to my knees. Then he slid my panties down, a little more slowly, exposing my naked ass to the world. Cool air hit the hot flesh of my core and I shivered. "But this damn bus is too cramped to do it properly, so I'm going to have to settle for...this"