Bulletproof (11 page)

I was about to make love to Sean Jaxon.

Fame aside, that was epic.

Licking his bottom lip, he slowly peeled the shirt off my body, brushing his lips over my shoulder as he pulled my bra strap aside. His tongue traveled up my neck, setting off rockets within me. Every nerve in my body was like a firework and his touch set each one off.

My insides whistled and crackled as I slowly undid his jeans. His hands were feather-light on my thighs until his thumbs gently dug into the soft flesh just below my core. I’m sure his look of yearning matched mine as he leaned toward me, our panting breaths mixing together before our lips locked.

The cool breeze continued to caress us as our long-awaited desires were finally met. The night air captured our moans of ecstasy, and my body was sent to a higher plane as Sean took me on the hood of his Camaro.

It was the best first time I’d ever had.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MORGAN

I glanced across the car and smiled at Sean. He winked back, making my insides sizzle. It’d been two months since the Travis warning, and we’d managed to keep our relationship under wraps. I thought it would bug me, but there was actually something kind of tantalizing about it all. We’d turned Travis’s threat into something sexy and romantic. No one but Jody, Ella, and Cole knew I was dating the gorgeous actor, and I’d let Isabella in on the secret, too, but she already knew anyway. She was livid with Travis and had sworn not to breathe a word to anyone. 

I was happy with my decision to stay at Polychrome Studios. It meant I got to see Sean. He didn’t pull me into any more closets, but he had gotten into the habit of meeting me at my studio apartment after work some nights and on Sunday afternoons. Yes, my own little apartment.

It took me a while to convince him it would be safe enough.
Superstar
aired on TV in mid-September and so far the show was a huge success, which meant the media were hot for Sean. People couldn’t believe Mr. Bulletproof was capable of pulling off song and dance, but he was now making it onto The Sexiest Most... lists all over the place. Fans liked him in this role, and the buzz over whether Harley Barnes and the nineteen-year-old Sasha would eventually get together was hot. Reviews for the show were fantastic, and the ratings were going strong. Even Travis was in a slightly better mood, which made work a little less painful.

For me, life was great.

Peering over my shoulder, I glimpsed my sister in the back seat and felt a pinch of worry. She was home for Thanksgiving. We’d had a quiet family dinner together. I’d wanted to go to Sean’s, but he wasn’t ready to share me with his family yet. I couldn’t hide my disappointment over that one, but he told me to be patient. He wasn’t planning on going anywhere, so what was the hurry. It was hard to argue with that.

Instead, my dad, Jody, Grandma Deb, and I had had a sedate celebration. Cole and Ella had been busy with his foster parents, Mal and Nina, who had popped over to LA for a visit. They flew back to Chicago this morning. Thank goodness Ella and Cole were coming out with us tonight. I was hoping their bright company would get my little sister smiling. She was usually a ray of sunshine, but something was obviously bothering her this weekend.

“Hey.” I reached into the back seat and tapped her knee, trying once again to get her to open up.

She forced a smile.

“You looking forward to tonight?”

“Of course.” Her sunbeam smile seemed dim to me.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

She raised her head to the ceiling. “Morgan, would you please stop asking? I’m fine!” She pushed my hand off her knee. “Seriously, I’m about to go dancing with my best friend, my sister, and Mr. Superstar. Trust me when I tell you, I’m great.”

I didn’t buy it.

Something was off, but I didn’t want to ruin the night by being my overprotective self, so instead I grinned and sat back in my seat.

Sean reached over the gear stick and gently squeezed my knee. I ran my fingers over his hand, loving that I could openly touch him. Tonight would be fun. His brother, Kip, had pulled a few strings for us and managed to hire a private club tonight. Sean had then asked the DJ from Hybrid if he’d come play for us. So the party was going to be me and my friends, with Sean and his. It was the first time we were getting to meet each other’s trusted friends, and I think we were both a little nervous.

Sean slowed and pulled into an underground parking garage. Jumping out of the car, he opened the door for Jody and helped her out. She sparkled him a smile, making me wonder if I was wrong and there was absolutely nothing wrong with her.

I hated when I got like this, but I’d practically been her mother since I was a young teen, and I could somehow sense when something was off. I found it really hard to just let her go. The guilt I’d felt while living in Chicago had been pretty epic, and I probably wouldn’t have been able to handle it if I hadn’t spoken to Jody on a weekly basis. I knew she was a big girl now and could handle things on her own, but I really wanted her to be okay.
Happy
and okay.

Sean took my hand as we walked across the garage and through the black door. We ascended the stairs, the crescendo of music hitting us the higher we got. I squeezed Sean’s hand in excitement and laughed as we came through the door and were met with the excited greeting of Sean’s friends. He let me go and stepped into their embraces before pulling me against him and introducing me. I shook about ten different hands then stepped aside so Jody could meet everyone. A few minutes later, Ella and Cole arrived. I wrapped them each in a hug and then tried not to be bothered with the length of hug Jody gave Ella. Her arms were practically trembling from squeezing her so hard.

Ella pulled back and gave her a sweet smile, her head tipping with concern, but Jody brushed her off, jumping back with a squeal as “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha started playing. She mouthed the words, making Ella laugh, and then the beat kicked in. I jumped over to them and started dancing, our bodies going into a slow-mo move on the word
tip-sy
. The beat kicked in again, and we danced and sang our way through the number, our bodies gyrating together, a smooth flow of water moving through our muscles.

I raised my arms and grinned as Sean’s hands snaked around my waist, his body moving in behind mine. We swayed to the beat, his hands wandering to my hips; my legs crackled as if the energy was flowing straight from his fingertips and filling me. His touch was like magic.

I was hoping he’d stay the night at my place. The little studio apartment was in Burbank, only ten minutes from work. It wasn’t anything flash, but it was mine. I hardly had any furniture, but all Sean and I seemed to need on our days off was a bed anyway.

With the whole clandestine relationship going on, Sean insisted we spend all our time at my place or tucked into booths of unknown restaurants. He often parked in different spots in my neighborhood, hoping people wouldn’t recognize his car. Talk about extreme, but he said it was to protect me more than anything, which was why he’d never spent the night—something I was hoping to change.

I grinned as the song came to an end, spinning to face Sean and draping my arms across his shoulders. I wasn’t sure if he’d mind me kissing him in such a public arena, but he obviously felt safe here, because he planted his big lips on mine and the world disappeared for a second.

The hours ticked by with one dance song after another broken up with the flow of drinks and boisterous chatter. My voice was getting hoarse as I yelled a conversation with Sean’s older brother Kip. He was telling me stories about Sean being the baby of the family and as a kid, how he really was a big baby. I grinned as Kip described Sean crying over a stubbed toe.

“He was the biggest drama queen; you’d think he’d had it amputated.” Kip rolled his eyes. “And you know the funny part? He didn’t even know he’d done it until Helena pointed it out. He saw the blood and started bawling.”

I threw back my head and laughed.

“What lie’s he telling you now?” Sean’s arm wove around my back and he leaned against me. I let Kip take over, the brothers’ banter making me smile. They were obviously close. My eyes skirted the room as they chatted. Cole and Ella were all snugged up on the dance floor. They’d outlasted everyone. “Forever Ain’t Enough” by J. Holiday was playing, and they were dancing to the slow number. Cole dipped Ella, her body swooping down before being pulled back against him. They were so in love it wasn’t even funny.

My insides swelled; Ella deserved this, and I was so grateful she’d found the strength to fight for what she wanted. She and Cole were perfect together. I squeezed Sean’s shoulder, hoping the same for us. It was impossible to deny that I was way past falling for him.

I’d fallen, hard and fast. It had been brilliant and amazing and I wanted it to last forever.

I rested my chin on his shoulder, my eyes moving away from my best friend and landing on my sister. She was watching them too, her face awash with sadness. That pinch of worry nibbled on my insides again, and I slipped out of Sean’s grasp.

“Back in a minute.” I brushed Sean’s cheek with my lips and wove through the party people to get to Jody.

“Hey.” I slipped onto the stool beside her.

She glanced at me but didn’t say anything.

It was a little quieter in this corner, and I didn’t have to shout so loud. I leaned my head against hers.

“You ready to talk about it yet?”

“Talk about what?” she mumbled, running her finger around the glass in front of her.

I frowned. She wasn’t old enough to drink yet. Not to be a Nana about it, but I didn’t like the idea of my sister sitting in a bar drowning her sorrows, especially with straight spirits.

“Whatever it is that’s bugging you.” I reached for the glass, but she shifted it out of my way.

Giving me a defiant look, she downed the clear liquid and slammed the empty glass back onto the table. “I told you I’m fine, Morgan. Please, just drop it.”

“I can’t. You’re my sister and I care about you.” I snatched the glass and moved it to the other side of the table.

Her eyes narrowed. “Yes, my sister, not my mother. You don’t have a right to pry.”

I frowned at her snappy tone. I’d had to put up with a little lip when she was going through her early teens, but after moving to Chicago things became infinitely better. She seemed happy to have me as a mother-figure most of the time, so why the sudden change?

I swallowed, forcing a calm I didn’t feel. After all I’d sacrificed for Jody, I really hated it when she got snarky like this.

“It’s the guy, isn’t it? Did he dump you?”

Jody whipped around to face me, her skin draining of color. “No.”

“Okay, so, what’s the problem? Did you dump him? Are you feeling guilty or something?”

“No!”

My eyes narrowed as I studied her face. “You slept with him, didn’t you?”

Her lips pinched tight, her face blanching as she blinked at tears.

“It was your first time, wasn’t it?”

“Would you shut up?” Jody whispered between clenched teeth.

“Come on, Jo-Jo. You can talk to me about anything. I know first times can be difficult; it doesn’t always go well. I told you about mine.”

“Which doesn’t mean I have to share every detail of mine.”

“He didn’t hurt you, did he? I mean, intentionally.”

“No, it was fine. It was great. It was perfection.” Her sarcastic reply told me it was anything but. Her head dropped into her hand. Damn it, she was drunk!

I gently touched her arm. “It gets better...with time and practice.”

Jody’s shoulder tensed. “I know. I’m sure it will.”

“Are you sure...” I licked my lips, wanting to word things correctly. “Do you care about him enough to keep trying?”

“I love him,” she whispered.

“And he loves you?”

Jody’s gaze locked onto the table, her eyes large.

“Jody?” I touched her shoulder.

“I don’t feel very well.” She slapped her hand over her mouth and stumbled away from the table. I chased after her, cursing myself for not watching how much she’d been drinking. This was a private function; no one would be checking IDs, and Jody would’ve definitely taken advantage.

I pushed the restroom door open as the stall at the end banged shut. Jody’s retching filled the air. I wrinkled my nose and gingerly walked further into the bathroom.

“I’ll go get you some water, Jo-Jo.”

She replied with another heaving retch into the toilet. Closing my eyes, I pushed the door back open and made my way to the bar, feeling like the world’s worst sister. I was so caught up with Sean; I should have kept a better eye on her. As I placed my water order, I realized that I didn’t really know much about her boyfriend. I couldn’t even remember his name. How bad was that? I’d been so busy at work and living in my little love bubble that I hadn’t pressed for more details.

I knew he was a dancer and came from New York, but that was about it. They had dance class together every day, and she had seemed so blissfully happy. They must have tried sleeping together before she came here and it’d gone really badly. Poor thing.