More Than Music (22 page)

As our kiss grew deeper and more intense we sank onto the bed, our limbs tangling together. His chest pressed me down, and I loved the feel of him on top of me, the weight of his body, the brush of his soft hair against my breasts. He was still wearing far too many clothes though. I reached down and ran a hand along the front of his jeans, trying to unbutton them with fingers clumsy from lust. He stood up, and I watched with hungry eyes as he slid his jeans down his hips and off. His boxers fell next, leaving him as naked as I was, giving me a view of his entire, delicious body. And damn, it was a nice view.

I pulled him down on the bed, on top of me, and there was nothing between us now. Our bodies fit together, skin to skin, and it hit me that we were really, finally doing this. He kissed my neck and slipped a hand between my thighs, touching me where I ached the most. That fever overtook me again, the madness that Jared always brought out, making me want more and more of him. I was already so turned on by everything he’d already done to me, it didn’t take long before his talented fingers created a frenzy in me.

“I need you,” I breathed into his neck. “Please.”

“Are you sure?”

“Very.” I grinded my hips against him, and he groaned. I couldn’t wait another minute. I’d lose my mind if I didn’t have him inside me this instant.

He pulled a condom from his jeans, and after it was sorted, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my lips against his, showing him without words I was ready for this. He spread my legs wider and pushed inside me, and I moaned from the satisfaction of finally getting what I’d been craving. He moved slowly at first, a delicious torture as his long length glided in and out, inch by wonderful inch. I lifted my hips to meet him, urging him faster, sliding my hands down his back to his butt to pull him deeper into me. We were as close as two people could be, and yet it wasn’t enough. I wanted Jared to own me completely, to capture my body just as he’d already captured my heart.

“More,” I breathed into his shoulder.

He grabbed my hips and rolled us over, pulling me on top of him with a teasing smile. “Show me.”

I sat up and took a moment to appreciate the way he filled me completely in this position. He watched me, eyes drunk with desire, while I began to move, rolling my hips and making us both cry out. He let me set the pace, and I moved against his body at the perfect angle to drive me higher and higher. His fingers smoothed along my thighs, up my stomach, to coax my nipples in a way that sent pinpricks of pleasure to my core. My back arched while I rode him, my movements growing faster and more frantic, our breaths turning to gasps. Waves of pleasure crashed through me, and he gripped my hips and bucked under me while every part of my body trembled in sweet release.

When the tremors passed, he rolled us over again in one smooth gesture. “My turn.”

I couldn’t believe he was still going. All the other guys I’d slept with would have been done by now, but clearly all of Jared’s experience was paying off. With one hand, he took my wrists and forced them above my head, holding me down while he rocked into me, hard and fast. He crushed my mouth with his and tugged at my lower lip with his teeth until I was whimpering for more.

“Yes,” I cried, “Yes, yes, yes.” This was what I’d wanted: a frenzy, a bonfire, a torrent of Jared pounding into me and claiming me as his own.

I wrapped my legs around his hips, drawing him deeper into me, and with his powerful thrusts he brought me close to the edge again. It seemed impossible so quickly after my last climax, but my entire body tensed up, from my fingers down to my toes. It was too much, it wasn’t enough, and I never wanted it to end. I let go, losing myself in Jared the way I lost myself when I played guitar, when the music took over and made me whole. I broke apart into a million pieces, and he shuddered inside me, emptying himself with a few last thrusts.

We clung to one another, our naked bodies rising and falling in sync with each breath. His face was so close I could count the gold specks in his blue eyes, the dark lashes above them, the rough hairs on his chin. I was sure he could even feel the pounding of my heart through his skin.

He brushed sweat-soaked hair off my face and then kissed me, soft and gentle this time. “That was amazing,” he said in a sleepy, content voice I’d never heard before. I hoped I’d soon come to know it as well as his real smile.

“Mmm…” I kissed him softly. “Even better than I imagined.”

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. “So you thought about this a lot? With me?”

“Oh, stop.” I covered my face with a hand. “As if that’s a surprise. You know what you do to me.”

“Nope, maybe you should show me.” He nuzzled my neck, and I wanted him all over again. Jared really had become my addiction.

“When do you need to get back?”

“I told the guys I was seeing someone tonight, so I’m yours as long as you want me.”

“Good.” I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him hard. I didn’t plan on letting him leave for many, many hours.

J
ared kept me up most of the night, and even though I arrived at Dan’s studio the next morning bleary-eyed and barely coherent, it was totally worth it.

As I headed into the kitchen area, I overheard Hector say, “I was starting to wonder if you’d lost your game, man.”

“Me?” Jared asked. “Never.”

The guys all greeted me, and when I met Jared’s eyes, my pulse raced, knowing the secret we shared. I felt like I was wearing a giant neon sign that said “SLEPT WITH JARED LAST NIGHT.” He’d returned to his room early this morning, and now wore a T-shirt with a stylized outline of Loki’s helmet from
Thor
and
The Avengers
. He must have a never-ending closet full of villain shirts.

“What are you talking about?” I asked innocently while I poured my coffee into a disposable cup.

“Jared spent the night with someone,” Hector said, in a singsong voice. Whoever said guys didn’t like to gossip clearly had no idea what they were talking about.

“First time since we’ve been on the show,” Kyle added. He raised his eyebrows at me, but I couldn’t tell if he was suspicious or giving me a warning or what.

I focused on adding sugar and cream to my coffee. “Good for him.”

“It’s been so long I was worried about him,” Hector said, slapping Jared on the back. “Thought he was getting soft in his old age.”

Jared coughed into his cup of tea. “Do any of you find it odd we’re standing here talking about my sex life? No?”

“Nah, everyone talks about your sex life.”

Jared flipped Hector off, and the guys all laughed. I felt bad that he had to keep up this act with his two closest friends, but they’d also just confirmed that he hadn’t been with anyone else in weeks too. Thank you, guys.

Jared caught me yawning and gave me a knowing grin. “Tired?”

“I’m just stressed about the show, that’s all.”

“I hear that,” Kyle said while he refilled his coffee. “Hard to believe there are only two weeks left.”

Two weeks and two bands per team. We’d made it into the semi-finals, and win or lose, soon all of this would be over. This week’s votes were crucial, though, since if we made it to the finals, we’d get a spot on the tour across the country. But the competition was also stronger than ever, since only the best bands remained at this point.

“The Quiet Battles are pretty popular, so we really need to bring it this week,” Jared said.

“Can we beat them?” Kyle asked.

“I think so, but it’ll be close.”

Hector grunted. “We’ve come this far. We are
not
going home now.”

I hoped he was right. Being sent home now, when everything we wanted was within our grasp, was impossible to consider. It just couldn’t happen; my brain rejected the idea completely. Of course, The Quiet Battles probably felt the exact same way, but only one of us would be on Team Dan a week from now.

We finished up and headed to our practice room to get started. My hand brushed Jared’s hip as I walked past him, and it sent a little thrill through me, touching him right under the other guys’ noses without them knowing. Even though I wished we could be open about our relationship, I couldn’t deny that having a secret romance was pretty damn hot, too.

Dan was already waiting for us, reading something on his phone.

“Oh, hey,” he said, when we entered. “Great job on Saturday. I just heard from Steve that your version of ‘Enjoy the Silence’ was the most downloaded song this week, so congrats on that.”

“No shit?” Hector asked, and the rest of us made similar, shocked comments. Being number one was huge. Not only did it mean more money in our pockets (granted, not much after the show took its massive cut, but still better than nothing), but all the downloads translated to votes. That made our chances of staying to the finals even better—assuming people loved this week’s song, too.

“We’ll have to find some way to top it for the next show,” Dan continued. “The theme is, ‘Tainted Love,’ so I guess they want some messed-up love songs. Any thoughts?”

“Bad Romance,” Jared said immediately.

“The Lady Gaga song?” Kyle asked, looking at his brother like he was crazy.

“We can do a rock version of it, make it dark and twisted.” He grabbed the mic and sang the chorus, his voice rough and sensual. The same voice that had cried out my name only hours ago. It nearly turned me into a molten puddle right there in the studio, and when he winked at me, I knew he’d intended that.

“Interesting choice,” Dan said. “It will definitely stand out.”

“I like it,” I said, and Jared gave me a smile full of naughty thoughts. Yes, he was definitely doing this on purpose. Not that I was complaining.

Hector tapped a drumstick against his hand. “I don’t know…”

Dan pulled up the song on his phone, and we discussed how we could tweak it for our style. There was no actual guitar in the song, so we could interpret it in different ways. I played the main melody for them with some heavy distortion on my guitar, and that finally convinced Kyle and Hector.

“One other thing,” Dan said. “For this week’s show, the mentors have to do a performance of one of our songs with each band still on their team. Pick a Loaded River song you want to cover, and I’ll join you for practice every other day.”

We let Kyle choose, since he was the biggest Loaded River fan. He wanted “Nothing Breaks Me,” a song I’d heard a million times growing up, with grungy guitar riffs and gritty vocals that would sound great with Jared singing them. It shouldn’t be too hard to learn, but now we had two songs to perform, not one. Dan bumped our rehearsal time to eight hours a day, and combined with all the added publicity we had to do for the semi-finals, that meant we’d barely have any time to breathe this week.

W
e spent the rest of the day rehearsing the new songs and then dragged ourselves back to the hotel. We had tonight off for a rare change, and I couldn’t wait to take a nice, hot shower and relax. Preferably with Jared.

As soon as we walked into the lobby, we could tell something was wrong. Everyone turned to look at us and not in a friendly way.

“What’s going on?” Hector asked.

“I don’t know,” I said.