Rock Stars Don't Like Ugly Bras (4 page)

By the time they had returned to Luke’s house the weather had taken a turn for the worse, so Amber and Jake found themselves stuck inside for the next few days.  Amber hadn’t even taken Ernie for a walk because of the wind and rain, and instead she just let him have a run around the huge garden. 

Both Amber and Jake were miserable, and Jake’s mood wasn’t improved when Tom called.  His face had lit up for at least five minutes, but then, when Tom said he wouldn’t now be coming back from L.A. until the end of the summer, it fell dramatically.

“What am I going to do without you for the whole summer, Sugar Tits?” he groaned.

“I’m sure you’ll find someone to play with,” Tom replied.

“I’m guessing that’s why you’re not coming back.” Jake said, sulkily picking at a thread on his jeans.  “
You’ve
found someone to play with, haven’t you?”

Tom laughed softly.  “I couldn’t possibly say.  Anyway, the house isn’t ready and isn’t likely to be for a while.  All the shit weather you’re having has slowed them down.”

“Tell me about it,” Jake sighed.  “Okay, but I’ll miss you.”

When he ended the call, Amber looked up from the book she was reading and giggled.

“You’re like a pair of lovers.  Are you sure that there’s nothing physical between you?” she asked.

Jake screwed his face up.  “Ugh, no way.  If I
were
gay, I think Skins would be my beau of choice.  Luke’s too intense and Tom, well…no definitely not Tom.”

“Why?”  Amber asked with a mischievous grin.  “He’s very handsome and sexy.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed on her.  “Seriously?”

Amber nodded.  “Hmm, seriously.”

Jake shook his head, muttered to himself and shuffled out of the room as quickly as his crutches would allow.  After just a few minutes he returned and flopped down on the sofa.

“You honestly think he’s sexy?” he asked Amber

“Yep,” she replied without looking up from her book.  “Very.”

Jake huffed and reached for a magazine, not noticing the amused smile on Amber’s lips.

“Christ, I’m bored,” Jake moaned a few minutes later.  He discarded his magazine and snatched Amber’s book away.

“Hey, I was reading that!” she cried, trying to snatch it back out of his hands. “Well you’re not now,” Jake said with a grin, holding the book just out of Amber’s reach with one hand and trying to fend her off with the other.  “Think of something we can do together Freckles.  I can think of something, but it would involve us being naked.” 

A bored Jake was an extremely annoying and naughty Jake, and he’d been throwing innuendos about all day.

“What about a film?”  Amber suggested. She gave up trying to rescue her book and flopped back into her seat, deliberately ignoring his comment.  “I’ll make popcorn.”

Jake arched an eyebrow.  “One of your silly namby pamby girly films?”

“I’m not averse to an action film or a thriller if that’s what you’d prefer.”

Jake heaved a sigh and pouted.  “I’ve seen all Luke’s collection, about a thousand times over the years.  He’s what you call old school, and doesn’t seem to have any films released later than 1999.”

Amber giggled; she’d seen Luke’s DVD collection and had to agree.  She thought about what she had up in her room.

“Okay,” she replied.  “I’ve got a great film that we can watch.”

“Is it girly?”

“Well, I suppose so, but it’s an absolute classic, and everyone should see it at least once,” she said, pleading to Jake with her eyes.

Jake narrowed his eyes and regarded her suspiciously. After thinking for a few seconds he nodded slowly.  “Okay,” he said, “go and get it.”

“Excellent, I promise you’ll love it.”

“Holy bandido,” Jake whispered.  “That was brilliant.”

Amber leaned forward and peered at him.  “Are you crying, Jake?” she asked, wiping away her own tears.

Jake bit his top lip and nodded.  “Is that your favourite film ever?” he asked mid sniff.

“Yep, it’s so beautiful isn’t it?”  Amber thrust the bowl of popcorn at Jake.  “Here, have some. It’ll make you feel better.”

“God, they were so meant to be a couple.  Why couldn’t they just get their shit together?” he asked, grabbing a handful of butter coated popcorn and shoving it into his mouth.  “They’d had a child together for God’s sake,” he said through his mouthful of food.

Amber sat back and gave a sigh of satisfaction.  Gone with the Wind was her favourite film of all time and she couldn’t believe that she’d actually found someone else to enjoy it with.

“Rhett’s a dude isn’t he?”  Jake turned to Amber and grinned.  “I might just pinch some of those lines.”  He sat up straight and pulled his shoulders back, giving Amber what she guessed was a Rhett Butler stare.  “
No, I don't think I will kiss you,” Jake boomed in a deep voice, “although you need kissing, badly.  That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how.”

Amber started to laugh as she fluttered her eyelashes and fanned herself.  “I was so glad to see you.  I was Rhett, but you were so nasty.”

They both started to laugh, and helped themselves to more popcorn.

“Shit,” Jake said as their laughter died down.  “Amazing film.”

“I thought that you’d hate it.” 

“Nah, it was great, Freckles.”

Amber turned her head to a smiling Jake, and took in his profile.  It struck her that his whole face changed when he smiled.  He was handsome anyway, with high cheek bones, a strong square jaw and long nose, but when he smiled his eyes shone and wrinkled at the corners; in fact his whole face lit up.  She also hadn’t failed to notice how good his body was when he had stood naked in front of her.  He was often described by the press as tall and wiry, but his slim hips and a flat stomach widened out to a broad chest, like a swimmer’s body.  Pretty much perfect in Amber’s eyes.  His tattoos added an edge to his blonde haired, blue eyed appearance and she wondered whether each of them had a story, as she knew Luke’s did.

“What’s the tattoo above your heart?” Amber said, then she gasped when she realised her thoughts had decided to spring out from her lips of their own accord.  “Sorry, I being nosey again.  You don’t have to tell me.”

Jake turned to look at her and smiled.

“It’s fine, but I knew you were checking me out, Freckles.”

Jake shrank back, expecting a blasting from Amber who, he hadn’t realised until now, was actually enjoying this new found peace and tranquillity

“What else is a girl to do, when a rock star stands in front of her butt naked?”

Amber’s grin warmed Jake’s heart.  She looked so happy and cute.

“Too true, you’re only human, after all,” he replied with humour.

“So, do you mind telling me what it means; what do all your tats mean?” she asked.

“Most don’t mean anything.  I got a lot of them done in L.A. and just liked the art.”  Jake took the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head. “Okay, this one over my heart, ‘dum spiro, spero’, well that means ‘while I breathe, I hope’, and I do.  I’m not big on religion, so I always hope that whatever shit life throws at me, something better will come along later to make up for it.”

Amber pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her cheek on them.  “What about the three stars, do they symbolise anything?”

Jake traced a finger along his left bicep, down the star tattoos.  “They are my mum and my grandparents.  I like to think that they’re stars now, up there shining down on me.”

“Okay,” Amber continued.  “The guitar I understand, and the musical notes, so what about…erm the green fish?”

Jake laughed and ruffled Amber’s hair.  “It’s not just any old ‘green fish’ Freckles, it’s a Koi Carp and because it’s green and faces upwards in basic terms it symbolises getting over depression.”

Amber lifted her head up, shocked that Jake had followed his mum into depression.

“You’ve had depression too?” she said, suddenly concerned for him.

“No, I haven’t, but if I feel down I look at that tattoo and remind myself what it did to my mum.”  Jake looked down at the Koi that appeared to be swimming upwards on the left side of his stomach.  “Probably not the most accurate form of therapy, but it works for me.”

“They’re all beautiful.”  Amber placed her head back on the sofa and smiled wistfully.  “When I was a teenager, Luke used to always send me pictures when he had a new one and tell me what they meant.  I could never wait to see what he’d had done.  I love his latest one, his and Martha’s names entwined in the shape of an infinity symbol.”

“Yeah,” Jake said with a smile.  “He bloody adores that woman.”

He wouldn’t always admit it, but Jake envied the love that both Skins and Luke had found.  Yes, it was great hooking up with different women at first, but it had lost its shine a long time ago.  He looked at Amber and without thinking he reached across to take a strand of her hair, allowing his fingers to linger for a few seconds on her cheek.  Jake’s heart jump started as he felt her shiver beneath his touch.

As he pulled his hand back and ran it through his own hair, Jake noticed that Amber’s cheeks had blushed pink and her breathing had hitched slightly.

“You never thought of having one, Freckles?” he asked his eyes capturing Amber’s.

“What, a tattoo?”

“Yeah.”

Amber shook her head and smiled shyly.  “No, too much of a coward where needles are concerned.  Plus if I told my story using tattoos, it’d be a pretty miserable work of art.”

Jake gazed at Amber as her eyes suddenly darkened and he felt the need to lighten them.

“Okay, well maybe I’ll persuade you someday, when you’ve got something good to say,” he whispered.

Amber’s face softened and she nodded.  “Maybe.”

“Hey, if you hang around with rock stars, Freckles, then you’d better be prepared to get tatted up.”  Jake gently poked Amber in the ribs, making her giggle.

As her laughter tinkled in the quietness, Jake suddenly felt something shift inside him.  She was so adorable when she was like this – relaxed and happy.  He had no idea what made her so angry all the time, but he was beginning to think that it wasn’t just him.  Whatever it was though, he suddenly had a need to ensure that she only experienced happiness in the future.

After a week of what seemed like house arrest, due to Jake’s incapacity and the poor weather, Amber and Jake were thrilled when Jake’s ankle improved and he was able to walk without crutches.  The weather was still miserable, but at least he was no longer in pain and could move around much more easily.  They had come up with a colour scheme for most of the rooms in Jake’s house and Amber had surfed the net, purchasing various pieces of furniture for him.  Jake’s heart had swelled each time he’d handed his credit card over.  He loved the shine of excitement in Amber’s eyes. 

To amuse themselves, aside from designing the interior of Jake’s house, they had watched a few of Luke’s action films and a couple of Amber’s chick-flicks.  Amber had also taught Jake how to boil an egg, the fact that he didn’t even know how to time boiling water for three minutes giving her a fit of the giggles. 

“Really, you’ve never boiled an egg?” she asked, wiping away tears of mirth as she peered up at him and watched as he gingerly lowered an egg into the bubbling water with his tongue poking out of the side of his mouth.  

Jake shook his head.  “Never had a need.”

“But, what about when you were looking after your mum?  Surely you had to cook for her?”

“Nah, we survived on sandwiches, crisps and Pot Noodles.”  Jake didn’t look at Amber but continued to study his watch as he timed his egg with the concentration of a scientist.

“Honestly?”  Amber’s shoulders sagged.  The more she heard about his childhood, the sadder she felt.  “Didn’t your grandparents make sure you had a decent meal?”

“Yeah, up until my Nan died when I was twelve.  After that Grandad could barely look after himself, never mind me and Mum.”

Amber looked at Jake’s long legs in his pink, camouflage pattern shorts and wondered how he had managed to grow so tall on such a poor diet.  It was a wonder he hadn’t had rickets or some other such disease. 

Jake clapped his hands.  “Three minutes, Freckles, let’s get that baby out of there.”

As he took the pan from the heat and spooned the egg into an egg cup, Amber buttered the toast that had popped out of the toaster, and cut it into soldiers.

“Here you go,” she giggled.  “Some soldiers for your eggy weggy.”

Jake gave her a delectable smile and cracked the top of his egg with a tea spoon. 

“Freckles, it’s runny,” he cried giving a little hip wiggle.  “I did it.”

Jake took a toast soldier and dipped it into his egg.  He lifted it to his mouth and took a bite.  With his eyes closed, he gave a groan of satisfaction.  Watching Jake enjoy such a simple pleasure, was so endearing that Amber felt a warmth for him like she’d never felt for anyone before.  She gazed at his face and as Jake licked the corner of his mouth she felt her stomach flutter.   At that moment, there wasn’t anywhere that she would rather be than here, spending time with Jake.

“Hey,” she said as Jake smacked his lips.  “How about we have a Scrabble tournament?”

Jake’s eyes flashed open.  “Scrabble?”  His nose screwed up in disdain.  “It’s not really me, Freckles.”

“Ah, come on,” Amber cajoled.  “What else were you planning on doing?  The weather is still crap, we’ve watched the only decent films that Luke has, as well as all my romantic comedies, plus you’ve read every music magazine in the house...twice.”

Jake tilted his head to one side and grinned.  He didn’t have anything planned: nothing that would take him away from Freckles’ company anyway.  He had only watched all those chick-flicks so that he could spend time with her.  They were all garbage – Gone with the Wind aside, of course.

“Okay,” he said, pretending to heave a sigh.  “If we must.”

“Oh goody,” Amber chirped, and skipped off to get the game.

“Yeah, goody,” Jake shouted as she disappeared.  “I’ll make the ginger beer and cucumber sandwiches eh?”

The Scrabble tournament - the best of three games - had been in full flow for almost two hours, and with one game each the levels of competitiveness were soaring.

“No way,” Amber cried.  “There is no such word as twizwaddle.”

Jake grinned and batted his long eyelashes at her.  “There is, it’s an African snake.”

“Oh please, don’t give me that load of old twaddle.” 

“Yeah, that’s it,” Jake said excitedly.  “Excellent, thanks, Freckles.”  He picked up his letters and then set them down again, spelling out the word ‘twaddle’.

Amber groaned and dropped her head into her hands.

“Get in!” Jake shouted, his fist pumping the air.  “Triple word score, that’s thirty points to me.”

“Hardly a mega score is it?”

“Hey, it’s better than anything you’ve scored so far in this game.”  Jake pouted as he looked down at the score sheet.  “Your best so far has been twenty-six.”

“Yes but,” Amber giggled, “you’re still almost ninety points behind me in this game and you’ve only got three tiles left, so I reckon that makes me the winner.  You may as well retire now.”

“I could still pull it back,” Jake said. Then, his eyes suddenly wide with fear, he pointed behind Amber. “What the hell is
that
?” 

Amber quickly spun around, her eyes searching the room behind her.

“What?” she squealed. “What is it? I can’t see anything”  She turned back just in time  to see Jake scribbling all over the score sheet while his other hand tipped the board up.

“Oops, sorry,” he laughed. “You said you’d won, but I can’t see any evidence of that here.”

“You cheating little git.”  Amber reached over and clipped Jake around the back of the head.  “I won and you know it.”  She started to laugh and pelted Jake with Scrabble tiles.

“Be careful, you might maim me with those.”  Jake said, picking the tiles up from the floor and throwing them back. Within seconds, a full on tile fight was underway, with both of them running around the dining room, dodging tiles and scrambling along the floor for more ammunition.  As Amber threw double handed, Jake ducked to avoid them and scuttled around the table, grabbing hold of her waist and dragging Amber to the floor. 

“Jake no!” she cried as he pulled her down.

As Amber landed on top of him, Jake grabbed hold of her hands and started to flap them against Amber’s face.

“Don’t hit yourself, Freckles.  It was only a game, don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“Jake no, stop it,” Amber screamed down his ear.  “I think I’m going to wet myself,” she cried in between gasps of laughter.

“Ugh, dirty girl.”  Jake climbed on top of Amber and, straddling her, he pinned her arms down with his knees.  “Did you wet your pants?” he asked, grinning down at her. .

Amber shook her head, tears of laughter crawling from the corners of her eyes.

“No, not yet.”

“Not yet eh?  What if I tickle you, will that get you wetting your knickers?”  Jake started to tickle under Amber’s arms and down to her waist.  His breath quickening as his fingers skimmed under her top, against cool, bare skin.

Amber thrashed around, kicking her legs and gasping for breath.  “Please Jake, no.”

Jake leaned closer to Amber until their lips were only a couple of inches apart.

“Do you submit, and admit that I’m the Scrabble champion?”

Amber shook her head and grinned.  “Nope.”

“Submit?”  Jake’s gaze landed on Amber’s soft lips. He felt adrenalin suddenly surging inside him.

Amber held her breath, her own heartbeat quickening as she felt Jake’s breath on her face. So close.  “Nope,” she finally whispered.

Jake leaned in even closer. “Submit,” he said softly, his lips whispering against hers.

Amber shook her head and gazed at Jake, her eyes full of lust as she saw the same reflected in his.  Jake released the pressure on Amber’s arms and suddenly the air between them shifted.  Amber raised her hands and cupped Jake’s face as he ran a trembling finger along her jaw.

“Shit, Freckles, you’re beautiful,” he whispered.

Amber smiled.  “So are you.”

“Can I kiss you?” Jake asked as he gently held her little pointed chin.

Amber’s eyes narrowed as she thought about it.  God, she wanted to say yes, but what if she was just building herself up for one almighty fall.  Could she trust him, with even just one kiss because she was sure even just one kiss would ruin her?  Jake Hughes was probably going to be the best kiss she had ever had, or ever would have.  She could tell just from those luscious pink lips of his.

“Well, can I?” Jake asked again.

Amber nodded.  Sod it, she wanted to be ruined by this man.  Her body was on fire at just the thought of the possibilities.  She fizzed with excitement as Jake’s head dipped lower.

“This is going to be immense,” he whispered.

As their lips touched, Jake groaned.  She tasted sweet and heavenly like nothing he had ever tasted before.  He ran his tongue along the seam of Amber’s lips, gently enticing her to open up to him and as she did, Amber moaned quietly into Jake’s mouth.  The noise was so erotic that it sent an electrifying pulse right down to his groin.

“Freckles,” he groaned as he slid his hand behind Amber’s neck and pulled her deeper into the kiss.

Amber could feel a swell in the pit of her stomach as the heat flooded through her and down between her thighs.  God, he felt wonderful, and his hard body pressed against hers sent her mind reeling.  She clutched at Jake’s back, digging her fingertips into his hard muscles as their kiss deepened and intensified.  She was right, no kiss had ever been this good.  Jake Hughes really knew what he was doing, and Amber was a prisoner to him as his skilful lips and tongue controlled her.

As Amber’s hands moved from his back, to grab at his hair, Jake’s own hands moved to cup her breasts, the feel of them making him hard.  He stopped kissing her, for mere seconds, just to check that she was okay with where they were going with this.  Amber craned her neck and pulled Jake back towards her mouth.  He continued his delicious assault on her, his mouth slowly working its way down her neck and across her collarbone.  Amber shifted beneath him, pushing her hips upwards so that Jake’s erection was rubbing against the seam of her jeans.

“Oh my God,” she groaned and tilted her head back, giving Jake a better access to the pale, soft skin of her neck.

“Shit, Freckles, we need to stop,” Jake groaned even though his body told him otherwise.  “If we don’t, then…”

“I know,” Amber gasped breathily as she pushed her breasts closer to Jake’s chest.  “But you feel amazing, this is amazing.”

Jake fought with himself.  He knew that this was going too fast.  He wanted to do this properly and not make Amber feel like every other girl he’d had sex with.  He wanted her to feel special, but shit, she was so enticing and addictive.  As Amber whispered his name, Jake slowly pulled away.  He moved his hands to her cheeks, not wanting to relinquish his hold on her.  He needed to touch her.

“God Freckles, you’re awesome.  That was…fuck.”  Jake dropped his forehead to Amber’s and wrapped his arms around her.

“Jake, maybe we shouldn’t…” Amber stumbled over her words, not sure what to say.

It had been the most beautiful and sexiest kiss that she’d ever experienced, but this was Jake, the man who, up until she’d seen a different side to this womanising joker, had irritated her beyond belief. 

“I know,” Jake groaned still on top of her.  “I just had to kiss you though.”  He looked down at her and his heart thumped rapidly in his chest.  He didn’t know what had happened to change things between them, but it had and he was glad because it was incredible.  With her long blonde hair fanning out around her, and her gorgeous silver eyes full of nervousness, Jake realised that she wasn’t just cute and pretty, she was beautiful. 

“So, what now?” Amber asked with trepidation in her voice.

Her mind was in turmoil.  She wanted Jake so badly, but was petrified that she’d end up hurt again.

Jake slid from on top of Amber and onto his back, looking up at the ceiling in silent contemplation.  Amber watched him, unsure of what to say or do as he was obviously regretting their actions.

“Jake it’s fine,” she muttered, finally breaking the stillness in the room.  “Let’s just forget about it.”

He moved to his side and snaked his arm across Amber’s stomach, pulling her closer to him.  “Do
you
want to forget about it?” he asked leaning forward to drop a kiss onto Amber’s lips.

Without hesitation, Amber shook her head.

Jake grinned widely.  “Okay, we take this slowly, Freckles,” he said.  “I don’t  want to fuck this up.”  And he really didn’t.  Amber was different to his countless other conquests. It surprised him, but he wanted to see where things went with her.  It was a pretty scary thought, but a good thought at the same time.

Amber turned her head to face him.  “Okay.”

“I really like you, and I think we could be pretty awesome together.”

“You do?” Amber asked shyly.

“Yeah, I do, but you have to know I don’t really do the relationship thing.” 

Amber stiffened against him, and Jake realised that she’d misunderstood him.  He gently ran a finger down her cheek.