One Night with Sole Regret 07 Tease Me (8 page)

Dawn grabbed Adam’s wrist and tugged him back down beside her. “Your inspiration doesn’t have to be a gorgeous, soaking wet warrior of a man rising from the sea in a storm.”

“Say what?” Owen said from near the bar where he appeared to be trying to forget Lindsey was clinging to his arm by using his free hand to down copious amounts of liquor.

Jacob, who was apparently eavesdropping as well, burst out laughing.

“I think inspiration can be found in anything that shakes you up.” Dawn took a deep shuddering breath and pressed her fingertips to her rosy checks. “I don’t know, maybe it
was
his dick that I found so inspiring.”

“Care for a bit more inspiration?” Kellen whispered.

“You don’t have enough time before the show to give me the care and attention I deserve,” Dawn said and kissed his nose.

Adam chuckled. He liked this woman already, but Madison entered the room at that moment, and his entire universe shifted to revolve around her.

“Uh, later,” he said and rose from the sofa.

He approached Madison slowly, watching her out of the corner of his eye as he made his way across the room and paused at the bar for a drink just to see how she would react to his delay. He knew Madison felt uncomfortable backstage—especially when left to her own devices—but she needed to get over her skittishness if they were going to be together. He was pleasantly surprised that she’d showed up in the dressing room on her own so quickly. He figured he’d eventually have to go back to the bus and coax her out. Perhaps she was finally getting used to the idea of being a rock star’s girlfriend. He wondered if she was ready to be a rock star’s wife.

Adam claimed a beer for himself and got a bottle of water for Madison. She didn’t drink alcohol. Ever. When he’d asked her why, she’d told him that her grandfather had been killed by a drunk driver, leaving her beloved grandmother to face the rest of her years a widow. It was strange to Adam how something that had happened before she’d been born had had such an impact on her life. Hell, he’d personally experienced numerous negative consequences at the hands of drugs and alcohol and it had never stopped him from going back for more.

Madison’s searching gaze landed on Adam, and she smiled. Good. She wasn’t mad at him for his deserting her on the bus.

He headed toward her and handed her the bottle of water. She thanked him, but scarcely looked at him. Her gaze was now plastered to the pretty, pregnant blonde attached to Owen’s side.

“Is that her?” Madison asked in a hushed tone.

“Nope,” Adam said. “Owen has pregnant chicks coming out of his ears.”

Madison rolled her eyes at him, but at least it took her attention away from Lindsey and put it where it belonged. On him. “Why did you leave me alone on the bus?”

So maybe she was a tad miffed, after all.

“So you’d have time to think about how I made your body feel.”

“I don’t need time to think about that,” she said. “We both know how your teasing makes me feel.”

“How’s that?”

“Horny.”

He forced himself not to grin in triumph and moved closer so that his chest brushed her shoulder and his thigh touched her hand. “Did you think of a way I can do something about that feeling?”

Not that he planned to do anything about it just yet. He wanted her in an aroused state all night and all day tomorrow, because he was pretty sure she would have to be delirious to agree to the arrangements he’d made at the sex club. He’d almost been too chicken to agree to the scenario himself, but Tony had a way of making a guy agree to just about anything. And in all of Adam’s experiences at Tony’s clubs, the man had never steered him wrong.

“I was mostly thinking about you doing that thing you do with your tongue,” she said, her gaze shifting to his mouth.

“This thing?” He tilted his head and gently sucked on the flesh just under her ear. His tongue flicked repeatedly over the pulse point in her throat exactly the way he moved it when he pleasured her clit with his mouth.

She released an excited gasp, her body going taut beside him. “Just like that,” she whispered. “Only lower.”

He dragged his lips several inches down her throat and repeated the motion.

“Oh,” she gasped breathlessly.

Adam lifted his head and nipped her earlobe. Her entire body quaked.

He was seconds from forgetting his plan to tease her all night and instead head into the nearby bathroom to give her the release she craved. He eased her to the sofa instead, hoping to calm himself down enough to perform later by keeping a few inches between them. Unfortunately, the distance between them didn’t lessen his awareness of her one bit.

“Adam?” she whispered, a beguiling blush on her cheeks.

“Yeah?”

“I left my panties on the bus.”

Fucking A!

Adam caught movement out of the corner of his eye and groaned inwardly when Gabe stopped in front of him with some woman on his arm. Adam recognized the pretty brunette, but hell if he could remember her name. He’d always been bad with names. Especially when he was fixated on the fact that Madison was sitting beside him without any panties on under her sweet little denim skirt.

“Hey,” Adam said to Gabe’s companion. “You’re the chick from breakfast.”

Madison stiffened at his side. Probably wondering why he was having breakfast with some attractive brunette.

The woman chuckled. “So good of you to remember.”

“You know her?” Madison asked, glaring a hole into Adam’s forehead.

“She’s with Gabe,” Adam said.

Madison nodded slightly and shifted closer so that her arm touched his. He liked the
back off, bitch, he’s mine
vibe coming off of her. “What’s her name?” Madison asked.

“Hell if I remember,” Adam said. “I just remember sitting next to her at breakfast.”

“Adam was too busy thinking about you to even ask my name,” the woman said.

Adam wanted to kiss her in gratitude. But not really. He’d rather kiss parts of Madison that were hidden beneath her skirt.

The woman glanced at Gabe, who’d gone entirely mute and said, “I’m Melanie.”

That’s right. Melanie. Adam remembered now. She was friends with that incredibly gorgeous woman who’d banged Shade in the sauna the same morning they’d had breakfast together. And hell if he could remember that woman’s name either.

“Madison,” Madison introduced herself and smiled at Gabe’s acquaintance.

“So you’ve known these guys a lot longer than I have,” Melanie asked. “Any deep dark secrets I should know about?”

The fact that Madison’s gaze shifted to Lindsey was not lost on Adam. He stiffened, hoping Gabe had prepared Melanie, because if he hadn’t, she was sure to get an earful in the next five seconds.

Madison chuckled. “I might have a few stories to tell.”

“Whoa!” Gabe said, covering Melanie’s ears with his hands. “Great to see you again, Madison. Be sure to keep Adam out of trouble.”

Gabe winked at Madison before he turned Melanie in the opposite direction and escorted her toward Kellen and Dawn. Strange how he could remember
her
name. He was actually glad the pair hadn’t stuck around long. It wasn’t that Adam didn’t like Melanie or that he didn’t think it was important for Madison to get to know the other women associated with his band, he just had a distracting situation going on in his pants and didn’t really feel up to small talk. Especially not when Madison had been stroking his thigh beneath the cover of her skirt the entire time. And she wasn’t wearing any goddamned underwear.

“She seems nice,” Madison said.

“I don’t know much about—” Adam sucked in a breath when Madison’s hand found a particularly sensitive spot just inside his hipbone.

“Does she know about Lindsey?” she asked, her eyes scanning the room, presumably for the pregnant blonde.

“Not sure,” he said. “It’s probably best if she hears it from Gabe.”

She lifted an eyebrow at him. “The way I heard it from you?”

His gaze shifted to his hand, which was resting—none too restfully—on his knee. “I told you about the situation.”

“Only because someone else mentioned it.”

He so did not want to argue with her. “Do you really want to talk about this now?”

“Would you rather talk about wanting a vasectomy?”

“No.”

“Adam, I know it’s hard for you to open up, but if we’re going to make a life together—”

He silenced her with a kiss, his lips lingering on hers until she melted against him. His hand slid up her thigh, stopping just short of touching her pussy. He was a bit afraid of what he’d do once he proved her claim of exposure with his questing fingertips. She groaned in his mouth, and he tugged his lips free of hers.

“If you really want to talk right now…” he murmured, rubbing his nose down the side of her neck.

Madison shook her head and whispered, “No, I really want to drag you back to the tour bus.”

“And do what?” he asked.

Her breath tickled his ear when she said, “Worship every inch of your cock.”

“With your hands?”

“Yes.”

He could practically feel the gentle touch of her fingertips against his sensitive flesh, and his dick jumped with excitement.

“And my lips,” she said, brushing a feather-light kiss against his neck.

He remembered well what those full lips felt like on his cockhead, kissing and sucking and teasing him to the point of madness.

“And your tongue?” he pressed, lost in fantasy land despite the crowd in the room.

“Of course,” she whispered. “But I mostly want to bury you deep in my—”

The delicious promise of her words was cut off by the arrival of warmed over Cajun food. It was actually a blessing in disguise. Maybe he could get his lust under control if he stuffed his mouth with something other than her tongue and kept his hands occupied somewhere other than beneath her skirt.

Adam practically leapt from the couch before he lost every shred of his willpower, dragged Madison to the nearest corner, and fucked her brains out. He offered her a hand to help her to her feet, but she wasn’t looking at him. Her gaze was trained on the bathroom door.

“Aren’t you hungry?” he asked.

“A little,” she said, still watching the door. “I need to use the restroom. I’ll join you in a moment.”

Adam watched her purposefully cross the room. She’d better not be going in there to work out her sexual frustration on her own, because if she did, he’d make her regret that decision all night long.

Chapter Five

Madison eased the bathroom door open and peered inside. Her gaze landed on the pretty blonde with the enormous belly who was using the mirror to apply lip gloss—probably so she could lure Owen into kissing her. Though Madison had intentionally come to the restroom to corner the woman and get her side of the story, she tried not to gawk at her distended abdomen. It was an exercise in futility. What if the baby belonged to Adam? What if this bitch got to have his child and Madison was never afforded the same opportunity? She couldn’t believe Adam had never mentioned his aversion to kids before. They never really talked about the important things in life. Everything between them was all frivolous and fun. And she was perfectly okay with that for now. But in a couple years she might want to settle down, have a few kids, and then what? She couldn’t picture Adam in domesticated bliss. At all. What would a future with him look like?

Madison stepped up to the second sink and washed her hands, watching Lindsey in the mirror. She didn’t know what she expected the pregnant woman to look like—a giant, walking vagina capable of engulfing six cocks in a single bound? a filthy dumpster with a CUM logo painted boldly on the front?—but she looked deceptively innocent and
normal
, with wide blue eyes and an angelic face. She couldn’t be much over twenty years old. Madison wanted to hate her, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to do so. She didn’t exactly pity her either. Lindsey had spread her legs willingly—Madison assumed—and repeatedly. The woman had to know that pregnancy was always a possibility even if the sex was merely recreational.

Lindsey noticed Madison trying to glare a hole through her reflected tummy and she lowered her arm, rubbing her lips together to spread the gloss evenly. She no longer had Owen to cling to, since she’d had to release his arm long enough to enter the women’s restroom. Even Jordan had restrained himself from following her in here. Alone for the first time since Madison had laid eyes on her, Lindsey looked particularly vulnerable as she fumbled to get her lip gloss in her bag so she could get out of the bathroom as quickly as possible.

Lindsey’s lip gloss missed her bag and bounced off the tile floor before scuttling into a stall. She didn’t bend to retrieve it. Wary eyes on Madison, Lindsey headed for the door. She pressed her back against the wall and slid toward the exit, keeping as much distance between herself and Madison as possible. She acted as if she thought Madison had an incurable infectious disease or was going to beat her to death or something.

Madison couldn’t let the opportunity to talk to the woman in private pass her by. She hurried to block her exit. Standing in front of the door, Madison turned to face her and lifted both hands in front of her chest to get Lindsey to stop.

The woman flinched and shied away. Weird.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Madison said and lowered her hands. “I just want to talk to you.”

“Punch me in the face, you mean?” she said.

“No, just talk. Has someone punched you?” Madison asked. Lindsey’s behavior was setting off all kinds of warning bells. Madison might no longer have a job as a counselor, but she couldn’t shut off the instincts.

“No one here,” Lindsey said, “but I keep expecting someone to.”

“So someone did hit you? Who was it?”

Lindsey bit her lip and lowered her eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it. Did you need something from me?”

Madison wondered if Lindsey realized she was slowly backing away. She obviously felt threatened.

“I just want to talk.”

Lindsey gazed longingly at the blocked door. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

“Adam and I—”

“I don’t think it’s his,” she said hastily, her arms tightening around her belly.

“You don’t think it’s his or you don’t want it to be his?”

She cringed. “Both. I don’t think he’d make a very good daddy. He’s kind of . . . harsh.”

“But Owen would make a good father?”

Lindsey smiled and stroked her stomach with both hands. “I think so. Don’t you? Owen’s so sweet. The best of the bunch.”

Madison scowled, wholeheartedly disagreeing with Lindsey’s opinion. Of course she
was
a tad partial to Adam. And even though he didn’t seem keen on having kids, she knew he’d be a great father if he opened himself up to the love a child offered. And how could he not?

Lindsey gave the door one last look of longing and then took several steps backward to lean against the wall beside the paper towel dispenser.

Madison took a few steps forward, but kept some distance. She didn’t want to spook the woman into silence. “I happen to think Adam would make a fine father,” she said. “If he’d just trust himself. Lots of people have trust issues. They don’t trust other people. But Adam doesn’t trust himself. Once he gets past that . . .” Madison realized she was prattling on, as if trying to convince Lindsey that Adam would be the best father for her baby, and that was the opposite of how she felt. “So you’ve latched on to Owen because he’s the most sympathetic to your cause. Does that about sum it up?”

“He was the first.”

Madison’s jaw dropped. “You were a virgin?”

Lindsey snorted on a laugh. “Uh, no. He was the first that night. With Kellen. And then Shade. And after that it really got out of hand. But Owen was nice to me. Even afterwards. And he doesn’t have to love me to be a good father. I’m not pursuing him for myself. I just want our baby to grow up knowing his daddy, that’s all.”

Our
baby. Lindsey really was convinced that Owen was the father. And Madison didn’t buy that Lindsey wasn’t interested in Owen for herself. It was obvious that she had a crush. Whenever Owen was in the room, she lit up like a laser show and made sure she was close to him at all times. Heck, she was surprised Lindsey hadn’t dragged him into the bathroom with her. How devastated would Lindsey be if she found out Owen wasn’t the father of her child? Madison was certain she’d be crushed. But wanting something—no matter how strongly—didn’t make it a reality.

“What are you going to do if the paternity test shows that Owen is not the father?” Madison played devil’s advocate.

“I’ll worry about that after the baby is born. But I know this baby is his. I can sense it.”

More like she was fixated on the idea. And Madison wasn’t sure that even a paternity test would change her mind about the parentage of her child. Madison wondered if Owen had it in him to be mean to the woman, because he was going to have to take the initiative to break Lindsey’s unhealthy attachment. There was no way Lindsey was going to give up on him if he kept being so nice to her.

“Has he talked to you about having a paternity test before the baby is born?”

Lindsey’s face went ashen. “Before?”

Madison nodded. “He hasn’t mentioned it?”

“No. We haven’t had much time to talk. I never realized how busy he would be on tour. I’m already exhausted just trying to keep up with him.”

He was probably being difficult to keep up with on purpose. Madison didn’t know who she should feel sorrier for—Owen or Lindsey.

“Have you been talking to Owen a lot since . . . the night it happened?” Madison asked. If they’d been corresponding secretly, Lindsey’s infatuation might make a little more sense.

“Only in my dreams.”

Obsession could turn ugly quickly. Madison needed to warn Owen. Surely if he knew what he was dealing with here, he’d stop encouraging Lindsey to think he was the moon and stars. Or maybe they were meant to be together. As disturbing as Madison found that thought, such a solution would make things easier for everyone. If Owen actually loved this girl and wanted to be her baby’s daddy, then she wasn’t going to be a buttinsky. Madison just got the feeling from what Owen had said earlier that this was entirely a one-sided love affair. Which meant someone would get hurt. She hoped it wouldn’t be the child.

“Is there really a paternity test that can be taken before the baby is born?” Lindsey asked, staring down at her knotted hands.

“Yeah. Two types, actually.”

“I’ll have to look into it.” Lindsey released her grip on her own fingers and wrapped both arms around her belly.

“I wish you well and hope your baby is loved by both of his or her parents,” Madison said.

Lindsey lifted her head, locking gazes with Madison, and then smiled.

“But if that’s not possible for whatever reason, you can do this alone, Lindsey. Lots of women do.”

Lindsey’s eyes narrowed, and her careful smile vanished. “But they shouldn’t have to raise a child alone.
I
shouldn’t have to.”

She had Madison there.

“I know everyone thinks this pregnancy is all my fault and I somehow deserve what happened because I not only had sex for fun, I enjoyed every minute of it with every last member of the band. But every man on that bus was having sex for fun. And if they say they didn’t enjoy it, they’re liars. So how is it any different when I do it? Because I’m a woman? Because I’m supposed to be the responsible one? Why doesn’t any of the responsibility fall on any of these men? Because they’re rock stars and it’s expected that they sleep around? Or is it because people have it in their heads that I’m a gold digger?”

Madison forced herself not to nod and to just listen to the woman’s tirade. Lindsey shook her head at her as if she could read Madison’s thoughts.

“I don’t give a fuck about money,” Lindsey said. “I just want what’s best for my baby. I tried to do it by myself and I failed, okay? I can’t even afford a place to live. No one will hire me in my condition. Would you rather I go on public assistance instead of making one of these men own up to their responsibility? Is that what you want? The taxpayers to be punished for what we did? Yes,
we
. It takes two to make a baby.”

Or in this case
five.
Or was it
six?
Madison opened her mouth to speak, but Lindsey still wasn’t finished with her tirade.

“Sheezus, why do these guys get to play the victim because
I’m
pregnant? No one forced any one of them to put his dick in me.”

Madison couldn’t argue with her logic. It happened to be true. There was a gross double standard in the world when it came to sex. And it wasn’t fair.

“Besides,” Lindsey continued, throwing her hands out for emphasis. “I was safe! I was on fucking birth control pills, and I took them every day like I was supposed to. Despite what people are saying about me, I did
not
try to get pregnant. I did not
want
to get pregnant. But I
am
pregnant, and I’m sick and tired of trying to be nice to all these dickheads and their jealous girlfriends while I take all the blame and responsibility for the entire situation!”

Madison wasn’t sure if she should admire or be leery of Lindsey’s sudden backbone. She’d been hiding it all evening—Madison wasn’t sure why—and this woman wasn’t all she seemed. “Lindsey . . .”

“Screw you.” Lindsey shoved off the wall and strode toward the exit, apparently too angry to waddle. “And if you really think Adam would make a good father, you need to have your head surgically removed from your ass.”

Lindsey shoved Madison aside, wrenched the door open, and slammed it behind her, leaving Madison to gawk. Did she really come across as having her head up her ass? Madison wondered if the reason she so enjoyed anal sex was because she was so used to the feel of her head up there and she got off on it.

Madison used the restroom, taking a moment alone to get her thoughts in order. Perhaps confronting Lindsey had been a bad idea, but at least she knew where the woman stood.

By the time she joined the band, crew and guests for dinner, all of the food had been claimed. She noticed that Owen had saved a plate for Lindsey though. Bizarre. Madison was sure he was just looking out for the baby, but she’d never encountered a man as thoughtful as he was. Especially toward someone he claimed not to be interested in. It was no wonder Lindsey clung to him.

Adam beckoned Madison to sit beside him and share what little was left on his plate. “I didn’t know you would be so long,” he said. “I would have stopped Jacob from getting thirds.”

“You might have tried,” Jacob said to his plate of empty crawdad shells. “But you would have failed.”

“Crawdad populations dwindle drastically when Jacob’s in the region,” Owen said from beside her.

“And your point would be?” Jacob asked, reaching across the table to steal a crawdad off Lindsey’s plate.

Madison wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t sure how he could stomach more spicy food. Just thinking about eating more crawdads made her want to hurl. “I’m not that hungry anyway.”

“I’m sure Adam could offer you a protein shake to tide you over—” Owen’s words were silenced by Adam’s hand in his face.

Lindsey was concentrating so hard on her plate—and not looking at Madison—that it was a miracle the piece of plastic didn’t melt beneath the heat of her gaze. Madison would never say anything about their private conversation in front of all these people. She could only imagine how hard it was for Lindsey to sit among them knowing what everyone must be thinking of her.

Madison stiffened when Adam’s hand slid up her leg, pushing her skirt up until she felt a cool breeze against the heated flesh between her thighs. If anyone’s head had been under the table, she had no doubt they could have seen parts of her normally concealed by her panties. The panties she’d left on the bus.