His quick exit after the concert suddenly made sense. As did his brush by Cid outside the entrance.
His lack of company did too.
“You’re okay, you know that?” she said.
He tossed his head as the doors opened. “No, I’m not.” He stopped next to her, leaning down so his breath teased her lips. “I’m the guy your mother warned you about.”
He was crowding her, trying to intimidate her, building a wall around himself.
But she saw it for what it was.
He was trying to burn off his frustration by taking refuge in his badass persona. She smiled back at him and tapped the center of his chest with the tip of her index finger.
“Don’t take it personally. My mom is a lesbian. She warned me about all guys, just on the basis of gender.”
Shock registered on his face as Kate slipped out of the elevator.
“What?”
She was on her way down the hallway and felt him watching her. He lost the battle to let it go, and she felt the vibration of his steps as he ran to keep up.
“Kate? What do you mean by that?” She slid her key card into the door, and he pushed it in. “I really gotta know. Is your mom a lesbian? How are you here?”
His eyes were bright with the promise of a distraction. She smiled in invitation. He walked in, and she pulled one of the beers from the minibar, offering it to him before taking one for herself. She took a sip before shooting him a grin. Ramsey was sitting cross-legged on the floor, nursing his beer. He made a “get going” motion with his hand.
Kate sat her beer down.
“Okay, story time. Once upon a time, at a college far from here, my mom had one too many beers and was talking to a young graduate student who challenged her to question whether or not she really didn’t like dick, seeing as she had admitted to having never tried it. Being a lesbian, my mom wasn’t on the pill or any other form of birth control and didn’t have a condom on hand…”
* * *
Ramsey could be a kitten sometimes. He snorted at her from where he was sitting on the floor of Syon’s suite.
“Your mom seriously discussed the merits of clitoral orgasm verses G-spot climax with you?”
“Honest truth,” Kate said. “Look, mister, I’ve been dealing with my mom’s attempts to set me up with her girlfriends’ daughters for years. She’s devastated by my strictly dick sexuality. Blames my dad.”
Ramsey rolled back, ending up on his back, and snickered. He was staring at the ceiling as he chortled.
Syon opened the door, his face shiny from the hot lights of the press cameras. He looked at Ramsey and raised an eyebrow.
“Did you skin him and make a throw rug out of him?”
Ramsey rolled over and flipped him the bird. But he had a smile on his lips. “Have you worked out the bridge on the new song yet?”
Syon grabbed a beer from the minibar and nodded as he twisted the cap free. Ramsey swung his leg up and over his torso so he rolled all the way over and onto his feet. It was the sort of thing she expected of him—powerful, over the top.
He moved over to the laptop and tapped the screen. Syon flashed her a smile before he joined him. They both peered at the screen, lost in the notes, taking solace in what they were, musicians. Kate watched for a moment, struck by how much they needed each other because the people who should have had their backs didn’t.
There was a beauty in the way they hadn’t let it stop them.
A beauty that touched her heart.
She showered to the sound of them working sections of the song, and fell asleep to Taz and Drake joining in. Sometime in the early hours, Syon crawled into bed with her, stroking her and bringing her body to life. She stretched, caught between sleep and the need churning inside her. Too far gone in slumber, there was no way to resist. She welcomed him, urging him between her thighs as she arched to take his thrusts.
He drove into her in the same rhythm she’d fallen asleep to, building up to the crescendo and hammering her through the climax. He ended up flopped onto the bed next to her, both of them gasping for breath. Kate hadn’t quite caught hers when he scooped her up and settled her on his chest.
“Thanks.”
Kate lifted her head off Syon’s chest and looked at him questioningly.
“For rescuing Rams.” Gratitude filled his voice. “I couldn’t get away, and honestly, I don’t think he would have accepted help from anyone else. His family puts him through hell.”
“And he takes it.”
“Yeah.” Syon reached out and cupped one of her breasts. A soft shiver went through her, and he grinned. “Still hungry, baby?”
He rolled her onto her back and kissed her. Slowly, leisurely, teasing her with his tongue as he drew out the kiss. She threaded her fingers through his hair, which was still slightly wet from their last round, arching up and kissing him in return.
“Good.” He pushed up off the bed and moved around to where his guitar was set up. “I want to write something. Light the candles.”
The computer screen was the only light in the room. She got up and struck a match and lit some. Syon opened the balcony door before tossing a towel over the laptop to bury the light. He ended up in the shadows, the city lights buffeted by a thin drape that was ruffling gently.
“Lay back down.”
He was fingering the strings, toying with a melody.
“On your side…face me…”
The candle on the bedside table illuminated her. She felt exposed, in a way she never had. The yellow glow was more sensual than modern light. She stretched out, experimenting with the moment. Time suddenly had little meaning. They might have been in any century. The current between them was universal.
“That’s hot, Kate… I love it. You’re amazing, baby.”
He was fingering the strings, refining the notes as he watched her. The soft silver light coming in from outside gave him a sinister look. All of the hard-cut muscles gained more intensity in the shadows.
“Touch yourself for me…”
She shivered, a little twist of anticipation going through her. Excitement built along with the tempo he was playing.
“Show me how you like to be stroked.”
The evening air blew in, making the candle flicker. One died, reducing the light, but it seemed to be like temptation beckoning her toward it, cloaking her with darkness to bring her deeper into the moment.
She rubbed her hand along her hip, up to where her waist was and then back down.
“Yeah…”
His eyes were narrowed, his lips thin, his jaw tight as he watched her.
“More.”
She trailed her fingers along her hip again, but this time, she stroked across her ribs to one breast. Little ripples of delight ran out from the touch, the look in Syon’s eyes pushing her forward.
Erotic was a tangible thing with him. It was in the way he watched her as much as touched her.
Like now. He was playing a melody, one that was building. She let the increasing tension in the music drive her motions. She stroked her breast and teased her nipple. It drew tight as he shot off a series of sharp notes.
“Pinch it,” he ordered.
She clamped her nipple between thumb and forefinger.
“Yeah…”
He was repeating the chorus, concentrating on the notes.
“Lower. Touch yourself… Show me how you like it…”
She licked her lower lip because it had gone dry. Excitement was brewing inside her, her clit pulsing with anticipation. She lifted her leg and placed her foot against the bed so her thighs were open.
The guitar squealed again.
Her heart accelerated again.
Her breath caught when she touched her own curls. She felt unbearably on display with him watching, but the devotion in his eyes made her keep going.
Syon was still playing, the song rising to a fevered pitch.
“I know you like that little clit touched. Touch it, Kate…rub it…”
She felt linked into the rising crescendo, her heart keeping time with the music. She plunged her fingers into her cleft, crying out when she made contact with her clit.