Madelynne Ellis - Come Together

Given the mournful look in his eyes, she doubted he’d have chosen anyone.

‘OK,’ she agreed, though it was hard not to try and dig deeper and attempt to console him, when the sadness rolled off him in such tangible waves. ‘Did the others choose him?’

‘Tell me how you are. I’ve been worried sick about you facing those bitches alone. I wish you’d let me come with you.’

If she’d done that, things would very quickly have got out of hand. ‘One of those bitches is my mum. And I needed to do it alone.’ Despite dreaming for years that he’d ride up and rescue her from captivity, she’d realised that the only way to truly be free of her past was to sever the links for herself. The final showdown between her and her mum hadn’t been pretty. And, Lord help her, there’d be no going back. ‘Besides, you had plenty stuff of your own to sort out.’ Such as tour preparations and grieving, and finding a way forward for the band. All those things were more important than having him hold her hand while she dealt with her screwy family.

‘Will they leave you alone?’

She nodded. Rather more permanently alone than she’d really wanted, but her mum wasn’t prepared to see reason. She wasn’t interested in Dani finding happiness, only in keeping her on a very short leash. Dani wasn’t about to discuss it with Xane, but she had about sixty quid in total to her name now. The Sisterhood had reclaimed everything that was officially theirs, which pretty much accounted for everything she owned that wasn’t jammed into the suitcase she’d left with Ulf. ‘Let’s discuss it later, eh? How long until the show starts?’

‘Not long.’

‘Long enough for me to wish you good luck?’ They both needed to push past events aside and to start living in the present again.

Xane eyed her thoughtfully, while he rotated the ring piercing at the centre of his lower lip. ‘What did you have in mind?’ The way his eyes suddenly glittered told her exactly what he was envisaging. In some ways he had the ultimate one-track mind. Her problem was that she couldn’t resist reacting to him. She could never get enough of his hands on her skin, or the feel of his warm body pressed tight to hers, coupled with that was the fact that he was the most beautiful man she’d ever met – all long inky hair, hard body and wicked-as-sin smile. If she stared at him too long, she sometimes forgot to breathe.

She rubbed a hand across the band of scars that girdled her hips, determined to ground herself a little. ‘Good luck.’ She lifted both her brows and shoulders.

‘That’s it?’ Xane quirked one eyebrow. ‘You come dashing into my dressing room right before I go on stage and all I get is two words?’

‘Would you rather I made it three?’

‘Depends on the words.’ He fixed on his prince-of-darkness mask. The one the fans went wild for, the one that made the girlies’ panties wet. It made her pretty giddy too, but then everything about him called to her. She moved closer to him, drawn as though he were magnetically charged, tilted her head up towards him.

‘Is there time?’

‘Always, for this.’ His tongue met hers and slipped teasingly between her lips. It was barely any step at all between that and being so slippery with need that she was grinding her hips against his body in a hungry imitation of coitus. Xane had always been able to unmake her with his kiss. The man had a tongue so wicked he could probably overcome the Queen of Darkness with it … oh, hang on, he had. Elspeth was his ex.

Xane slid one hand down her back and rested it at the base of her spine. Then both his palms skimmed over her bottom. He pulled her closer. ‘When you were late, I started thinking maybe you weren’t coming back. That those dreadful women had got to you and poisoned you against me.’

It still amazed her that he feared she’d leave him. She’d follow him to the ends of the earth and beyond. Dani pushed her hands inside his shirt again, traced the contours of his steely abs, while with her lips she sought his nipples. They were both pierced, though he appeared to have removed one ring.

‘Xane, they couldn’t stop me loving you even before we met, they’ve no chance now.’ Their arguments were stupid and their logic flawed. Besides, even if it all ended tomorrow, it’d still have been worth it for the time they had spent together.

‘We’ve about ten minutes before they’re going to want me backstage.’

‘Yeah?’ Dani teased one of his nipple rings, sucking it into her mouth, so that she left a darker patch on the midnight-blue fabric of his shirt. Xane hissed and arched against her, so that she could feel the growing swell of his erection pressed tight to her pussy. For all the horrors in his life, his ability to get turned on never seemed to diminish.

‘I just want you to know that’s not nearly enough time to do all the things I need to do to you.’ He cupped the side of her breast, rubbed her already tight nipples with the heel of his hand. ‘You’re so mine when this show is over.’

‘I’m already yours.’

Xane kissed the top of each breast then kept on dipping his head lower. His hands led the way, releasing her fly and tugging down her jeans so that they hung around her thighs. ‘It’s been agony without you.’

Oh, hell! He was going to raise her temperature to fever point and she’d end up burning, while he rocked the roof off the goddamned stadium. Still, she didn’t want him to stop. No way.

‘That’s a very pretty pair of panties you have on.’ He curled one finger into them. They were black, with the Black Halo band logo embroidered on the front. Her best friend Ginny had purchased them online and insisted that she wear them, claiming Xane would love them. She didn’t know about love, but he certainly seemed bemused by them. ‘I didn’t think they were on sale yet.’

‘Internet,’ she squeaked, as his kisses edged closer to her pussy. He tickled the curve of her belly, then her inner thigh.

‘I hope these are official and not bootleg.’

‘Do I have to forfeit them if they’re illegal merchandise?’ She tensed, waiting for the first touch of his tongue against her clit, while also wondering if he’d edge down her knickers, or suckle her through the cotton. Knowing Xane, he might simply rip them right off.

‘They’re coming off anyway.’ He lowered them just far enough to expose her already pink and begging clit.

Xane’s tongue made contact, sending a supercharge of energy hurtling along her synapses. Her legs almost buckled beneath her. Dani clasped hold of his head and clung on for dear life, her fingers woven into the black strands of his hair.

Every one of Xane’s kisses melted her, no matter which part of her body he touched, but when he kissed her here, in this most private place, she struggled to maintain her calm. He made it virtually impossible not to thrash and scream from the pure, raw pleasure he fed her.

‘Need you to come for me, Dani. I want to go out there with your taste still on my tongue. I want to howl at that crowd, welcome them to the show with your scent on my skin.’

Just the thought of that … oh, boy, it undid her. ‘Fingers – I need your fingers,’ she insisted.

‘Like this?’ He slid two inside her, used them to fuck her, while he rolled the soft pad of his thumb against the base of her clit. Perfect. Absolutely perfect.

Someone hammered on the outside of the door that she hadn’t realised he’d pinned her against. ‘Xane, two minutes.’

Dani shook as the pressure built inside her. Bright pinpricks of light flashed across the insides of her eyelids as she squeezed her eyes closed. ‘Oh, God! I don’t think I can …’ Not while she knew there were people outside waiting for them.