Hell Bent (Rock Bottom #1) (22 page)

Their eyes drift from my face, to Aurora’s, to my hand, and back.

“Izzy, we checked her out for the day because she was excited to see you. She doesn’t get excited over much anymore, so we’d let her stay even if there was nothing else involved.”

“Good, but you’re getting everything else anyway.” Handing her the keys, I squeeze her hand around them, staying there for a second before letting go. “Three keys. One will give you access to an apartment less than a block from the hospital so you have a place to stay that is close to her. The other two will start the cars that were delivered to your house an hour ago.” They start to interrupt me, but I hold up my hand so I can finish. “The bank has been contacted and your house has been pulled out of bankruptcy and paid off, along with any medical bills that aren’t covered by Aurora’s insurance. Everything is yours free and clear, because this little girl deserves to spend as much time as she can with you while she’s getting better.” Scooting Aurora off my lap, I stand and take her hand. “Meg has all the paperwork regarding everything, as well as the open position list for the company. I’d love to make you guys a part of the family.”

“But you don’t even know us,” her father speaks up for the first time since they got here.

“I’ve done my homework. I promise. Now, you guys are more than welcome to come with us on our adventures today, or you can come back later and pick her up.”

Looking toward her husband for a second, she shakes her head. “We’ll stay for a little while to make sure she’s OK.”

Smiling, I look down at Aurora. “Are you ready to become a superstar?”

Her eyes light up and she begins to bounce on the balls of her feet. “Can I sing?” she shouts excitedly. “Do I get to sing?”

“You can sing, you can play instruments, I’ll teach you how to record music. We can do whatever you want to do”

“Uh,” her mother hesitates. “What if she breaks something? She’s four, it’s bound to happen.”

I shrug and grab Aurora’s hand. “If something breaks, I’ll replace it. I doubt she can do more damage than some of the guys that come through, so it’s not a big deal.”

Before she has a chance to change her mind, I lead Aurora out toward the elevators and down to the main floor so we can get to work.

“What’s this one?”

“That,” I say, kneeling down next to her, “is a steel guitar.”

“Can I play it?”

“Absolutely. Climb up on the stool, and I’ll turn it on.” 

After she’s situated, I hand her a slide and sit down next to her so I can show her what to do. It doesn’t take long before she looks up and notices the piano in the center of the room. Grabbing my hand, she slides off the stool and tugs me with her. She lifts the cover and smiles sweetly at me again. She knows she’s going to get whatever she asks for when she smiles at me.

“Will you sing me a song this time?”

I drop down next to her, kicking off my shoes so I can feel the pedals under my feet. I don’t
need
to be barefoot while I play, but it’s how I’ve always been. 

“What would you like me to play?” I run my fingers across the keys and begin to play something upbeat, but she quickly stops me. Resting her head against my shoulder, I can tell she’s getting tired, and when I check the time I realize her parents will be back any time now. They left us after lunch, telling us they would give us some time to play alone.

“Play a love song.”

“A love song? Are you sure?”

With a soft nod of her head, I agree. Quickly running through all the songs I can think of, I settle on “Break In” by Halestorm and begin playing. I completely forget the camera I set up, recording everything Aurora did today for her parents. It’s a ‘just in case’ type of thing. They’ll have it if something happens to her, or she’ll have it when she’s older.  

I’ve never been happier to stand in the shadows in the control booth and watch what happens on the other side of the glass. When Meg told me that Izzy and Aurora were down here, I figured I would find a disastrous mess and a four-year-old banging shit and hanging off things like a monkey. I didn’t, even for a second, think I would find Izzy playing piano and singing. What started out as covers quickly turned to one of Alex’s songs and is now something that must be an Izzy original. It’s a love song like Aurora requested, but at the same time it’s a song about loss. The words "breathe, feel my heart beat, repeat", continue to run through my head long after she’s done singing.

“She’s damn near perfect, isn’t she?”

The soft, feminine voice startles me. I must have been so focused on what was going on that I didn’t hear the door open. The couple standing beside me must be Aurora’s parents.

“She doesn’t believe me when I tell her, but yeah.” I smile and turn my attention back to Izzy as she continues singing. “Yeah, she’s perfect.”

“We thought Aurora was crazy, but she wouldn’t stop talking about the nice lady from the hospital. No one is nice nowadays, but I’m starting to think it’s because Izzy has it all. So when she called and asked us to come down, I couldn’t say no.”

I chuckle. “Yeah, she’s hard to say no to.”

“You’re him, aren’t you? The Bennett guy she spoke of earlier.”

“Bennett Price, ma’am.” I reach out, shaking both of their hands. “Nice to meet you folks.”

“She’s going to be a good mom. I can tell that she’s nervous, but she doesn’t need to be.”

I’m glad that someone else can see the same things about Izzy that I do. I tell her every day the same things that this woman just told me, but Izzy doesn’t believe me.

“I hate to stop them since Aurora is having such a good time, but…”

“Don’t even worry about it. Izzy would probably live here twenty-four-seven if I didn’t make her come home every night. Pressing the intercom button, I lean toward the microphone. “Pretty girls, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Aurora’s parents are here to pick her up and we have reservations in a bit.” 

Showing them the door that connects the control room with the live booth that the girls are in, I follow in behind them. After a few minutes, Aurora and her parents leave, leaving me alone in the booth with Izzy. She sits back down on the piano bench after shutting the video camera off, smoothing her skirt out over her thighs with a wicked smirk.

“I missed you today,” she whispers, letting her fingers drift over the keys. I straddle the bench beside her, inching as close as I can. Fiddling with the hem of her skirt, I run my lips across her shoulder.

“I missed you too. You didn’t have a skirt on when you left this morning.”

“We spilt chocolate milk on my pants, and this was all I had here that stretched enough to fit.”

“It’s cute. I like it.” I caress her thigh with my fingertips, forgetting the second my skin touches hers that she spent the day with a child or the fact that anyone could walk in and catch me touching her. Brushing her hair out of the way, I breathe against her ear. She smells fucking amazing, like strawberries and rain. “Play me something.”

I can tell that I have her flustered already when she has to clear her throat before she speaks. “Any requests?”

“Whatever your heart desires.”

Inching my hand higher, I hold her in place with my other hand on the base of her spine. I graze the tips of my fingers over the soft lace blocking me from what I actually want to be touching.

“We can’t do this in here.” She laughs nervously, but the sound quickly turns into a quiet moan when I shift the elastic aside and sweep my fingers through the wetness that is already there waiting for me.

“I don’t see anyone stopping me.”

Letting her hand fall from the keys, she grabs my wrist. I fully expect her to get shy and push me away, but she doesn’t. Holding my hand in place, she rocks against me, meeting my eyes and never looking away.

“What do you want?” Izzy’s mouth falls slack but she doesn’t answer me so I slow my movements. “Answer me, or I’m gonna stop completely and we’ll just go get dinner like we planned.”

She whimpers, shaking her head. “Fuck dinner.”

“How?”

Sliding her fingers up the piano, she leans forward to pat the lid. 

“You want me to fuck you up there?”

“No,” she moans, grinding her hips to create friction against her clit since I stopped moving completely. When she realizes that I’m not going to do anything until she tells me what she wants, she stands. Grabbing my hand, she pulls me to my feet and steps around to the side of the piano. Patting her hand on the lid again, she licks her lips. “Please.”

The whispered plea has me crashing my lips against her. I sweep my tongue across her mouth, demanding access. Stroking her tongue with mine, I grip her hips, pulling her tight against me and my erection hits against her stomach, making me groan.

Izzy pushes me back until my ass hits the piano. Lifting myself, I slide back and she steps between my knees. Running her nails across my thighs, she inches one hand under my shirt and over my abs. I’ll never get used to the way she touches me. It’s both confident and uncertain, thought out and spontaneous. I never know what I’m going to get with her. It’s a daily mystery and keeping me on my toes makes me love her more.

Slipping her hand under the waistband of my jeans, her fingers wrap around my cock. Her slow movements as she pulls me free of my pants kill me, but I love the torture of her skin on mine. As she wraps her lips around the tip of my cock, I fall back on my elbow. Her hair falls in her face, hiding her from me, so I push it back and hold it out of the way.

For someone who was so hesitant when she first noticed the three bars pierced through my cock, she has no issue using them to drive me insane now. She uses them to her advantage, putting me on the edge far before I want to be. Tipping my hips, I grip the edge of the piano as every muscle in my body tightens.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fucking hell, Izzy.” I don’t know what I’m swearing about more. My body should be focused on the pleasure she is giving me, but the cramp seizing the muscle in the back of my leg is agonizing. Determined as always, Izzy doesn’t relent until she knows I’m done, and it isn’t until she stands up that she notices something is wrong.

“What? Did I hurt you?”

“Fuck,” I groan, stretching my leg out. “No, my leg is cramped.”

“Oh.” She bites her lip as she steps back so I can stand up, and I know she’s doing her best not to laugh at me.

It takes me a minute, but by the time I finally am able to stand upright, she is no longer hiding her laughter. Grabbing her hips, I pull her to me.

“Find that funny, do you?”

“Yes.” She giggles.

“I was having a great time until my body decided to betray me.”

Tucking her face into my neck, she continues to laugh through a yawn. “I hate to say it but watching you bounce around like a kangaroo with your dick doing the helicopter was kind of a mood killer. I mean, I love you, but flaccid dick bouncing is not sexy.”

I laugh with her, kissing the top of her head. “What now?”

Would I spread her out on the piano and feast on her? Would I fuck her until neither one of us wanted to move anymore? Hell yes I would if she said to. Mood killed or not, it wouldn’t take me long to get it back.

“Feed me.”

“OK.” I pull away, but she tugs me back. Tipping her head back, she smiles. 

“Feed me then take me home and finish loving me.”

Gripping her chin, I slowly run my thumb across her cheek.

“Isabelle Irons, I will never,
ever
, be finished loving you.”