Wild Collision, page 10
“Hey, douchetard,” I counter.
He grins from ear to ear. “That’s my girl.”
“I’m not your girl.”
His smile falters a little, the other three watching us with shrewd eyes.
“Sure you are,” he croons. “But keep telling yourself you’re not.”
“Where’s the chick with the nice ass and big boobs?” Rush asks, trying to peer behind me as if Kira is hiding there.
“I heard that!” Kira calls out from the back. She rounds the corner, drying her hands. “Ugh, it’s you.” She mock gags, but she’s now looking at Rush the same as he is her—like he’s a piece of chocolate she wants to devour. Slowly. Letting it melt in her mouth.
I leave Kira to start the orders, while Hollis continues to stand across from me.
“Are you coming by the studio when you’re done here?”
“Don’t I usually?” Normally, if I’m working here I don’t go to the studio, but lately my dad’s been requesting my appearance every day.
He bites his lip, and damn him it’s sexy. He glances to his right, making sure the guys are occupied giving their orders and then lowers his voice.
“Tonight, stay late—I want to show you something.”
“What?” I ask hesitantly.
“It’s a surprise.” He smiles, and it’s a genuine, almost shy and nervous smile.
It’s the smile that does me in and I nod. “Okay, I’ll stay.”
“Thank you,” he mouths the words before joining the other guys to order.
I might regret what I’ve agreed to, but his sincerity has me believing I won’t.
Kira slides a finished sandwich my way and I wrap it up before tabbing it into the register. I do it three more times before Cannon hands me a card and I swipe it. “See you guys later,” I say with a smile, because despite myself I’ve actually come to like all of them.
Rush winks at Kira. “See you later.”
As they file out I wait for the door to close before turning on Kira with a raised brow and one hand poised on my hip. “Later?”
“Oh, don’t give me that look. After I saw what he was packing at the gym I decided I would be an absolute idiot to miss out on that peen while I had the chance.”
I shake my head. “You are crazy.”
“I am,” she agrees. “I’m also going to have crazy, hair-pulling, screaming orgasm sex tonight. You should try it sometime. Maybe you wouldn’t be so uptight.” She winks at me and I stick out my tongue.
The girls at the table in the corner glare at us. It’s only then I realize the guys only paid us attention and didn’t glance in their direction at all. Oops. I’m not even sorry. Not even a little bit.
When my shift ends at six o’ clock I say goodbye to Kira who has to stay until close and hop in my car, heading to the studio. Between school, work, and the studio I’m rarely home anymore—basically only to shower and sleep. Luckily, I have fewer classes next semester and will hopefully have a chance to breathe—I just have to survive that long.
I set the bag with my sandwich on the passenger seat. I made myself a sub before I left since I haven’t had dinner and I’m starving. I should head straight to the studio, but it smells so good I can’t help but sit in the parking lot of the Sub Club and devour it before putting the car in drive.
Inside the studio the front lights are dimmed to attract less attention from the outside. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who have wandered in here thinking the studio is an art gallery or museum. I’m losing my faith in humanity and their ability to read basic English.
I stroll into the room and barely say hello to the guys before my dad has me sitting beside him helping with the controls. He’s taught me a lot in a short time, more than I’ve learned in school. I’m happy he’s actually letting me participate. Any time he’s been in here recording with his band I haven’t been allowed to touch the controls—mostly because Uncle Mathias is a control freak, so I’ve only made sure they have food, coffee, and whatever else they might need.
But now I’m getting to do what I really want, what makes me happy, why I know my future is in music. I don’t want to be on the front lines, but behind the scenes is where I belong, making the magic happen.
I smile the entire time I work, my body moving with the song. I feel it. I live it.
This song has a faster beat, almost a pop edge to it compared to the first one they recorded. I love it just as much, but in a different way.
It doesn’t take a genius to see The Wild has what it takes for longevity in this business. They have the same thing Willow Creek has and it’s something rare. My dad was able to recognize it in them when other studios didn’t—but once they realized my dad wanted to sign them to his new company then they started to take more notice. But The Wild? They put their faith in my dad, and I’m glad they did. The smile he wears is contagious, like these guys have become his other children and I can see how proud he is of them and we’re only in the recording stage.
We’re all so in the zone we don’t realize how much time has passed and that it’s another late night. Reluctantly my dad calls it a day and everyone begins packing up to head out. Hollis goes through the motions, giving me a warning look telling me I’m not to leave. I give him a smile in return.
“I’m going to stay and clean up,” I tell my dad. “So, don’t worry if I don’t get home until late. I might see if I can crash with Kira,” I add, because if whatever Hollis wants to show me takes a while I might have to.
He nods and gives me a hug. “If you do come home, drive safe,” he warns. “The deer on the mountain are a nightmare right now.”
Don’t I know it. When I was seventeen I hit one and it was traumatizing. I cried, not for the ruined front end of the car, but for the poor deer who lost her life. When I called Dad sobbing, he thought I killed an actual person.
“I will,” I say in reply and he smiles, saying goodbye to the guys before heading out. Cannon, Fox, and Rush head out too, waving goodbye.
Fox pauses outside the door, giving Hollis an inquisitive look but Hollis waves him on. Fox’s eyes seem to narrow in warning and Hollis ignores him.
With a shake of his head, Fox disappears with the others.
“I really do have to clean up,” I tell Hollis.
He has his hands shoved into his pockets, his shoulders drawn forward. “I’ll help then.”
Between the two of us we make quick work of picking up the trash and then I wipe everything down with a disinfectant, getting rid of any traces of stickiness.
While I’m wiping down the counters Hollis excuses himself to prepare for whatever it is he’s going to show me. When I finish I wash my hands before entering the room.
I find Hollis in the booth at the upright piano and he waves me into the room.
“You play?” I ask as the door closes behind me.
He grins. “Shocked are you?”
“A little,” I admit.
“I learned piano before I realized I could sing. I kept having lessons though.”
“Your mom was encouraging then?”
He smiles fondly. “Oh yeah. She knew from the time I was a baby music was in my soul. She went without so I could have lessons. She’s always been proud of me, even when I feel like I don’t deserve it. Now sit.”
He scoots over, making room for me on the bench.
“I wrote a song the other day—normally Cannon writes our music or it’s a group effort, but … I was inspired.”
He wets his lips and those golden eyes focus on the keys beneath his long strong fingers. There’s something sensual about his hands. The veins running through them, the quiet strength they possess.
He begins to play, the sound of the piano bleeding into me. His fingers move across the keys quickly, creating a melody unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. I can’t help but think even my Aunt Emma, an incredible piano player, would be envious of his raw talent. I’ll have to ask him why he doesn’t play piano on any of their songs.
Then, he opens his mouth and begins to sing and I know immediately the words, the passion, pain, and hope woven into them are about me.
“I don’t know how to prove this to you,
so I put pen to paper, my heart on my sleeve,
bleeding out for you. Here I stand, just a man telling you this is real.
This spark isn’t a flickering ember, it’s every star in the sky.
I’ll give you the world.
I’ll give you me,
if you just see this is real.
I’m here to stay, to make you mine.”
He turns then, his eyes connecting with mine. I wipe away the tears falling freely.
“I want to give you the world,
whatever you ask it’s never too much.
Anything it takes to make you mine.
Please believe me when I say,
this is real.
Oh baby, this is real.”
The whole time he sings I can barely contain my emotions. Everything I’ve put into avoiding him, to keeping him at arm’s length, is ripped away.
It’s only me, him, and the sound of his voice wrapping around us in this tiny room. There’s no denying this anymore.
As his voice fades and the last notes of the piano linger in the air, we look at each other, there’s so little distance between us and it heats from the intensity radiating between us.
My eyes flick down to his lips, and his breath catches. He presses a warm hand to my cheek, fingers tangling in my hair.
Neither of us moves, only a breath between us waiting for the other to make the first move.
I know I’ll have to be the one to close the distance, after all I’ve done to keep him at arm’s length. Getting to know him, only to avoid him. It’s funny how I think of him as being not a good guy, but really I’m the one who’s been cold and distant.
His fingers flex against my face as if he’s fighting to not pull me closer.
I close my eyes and before I can second-guess myself I press my lips to his.
He doesn’t move at first. I think maybe I’ve shocked him—I think I’ve shocked myself too.
I start to pull away in embarrassment, but then his left hand joins the right in cupping my face and he angles his mouth over mine. He deepens the kiss, taking and giving, breathing life into me. I’ve never had a kiss feel like this one before. Simultaneously igniting a fire within me and turning me into ice.
I press closer to him, seeking, searching, needing.
He grabs my leg, hooking it over his hip until I’m sitting fully in his lap. Normally I would be embarrassed. I’ve been with guys, but my experience is limited and I’m not the boldest person.
He tilts my head back, trailing a scorching row of kisses down my neck before he reclaims my lips once more.
I’ve never understood why some people use the word devour when describing a kiss, but now I get it, because it’s exactly what he’s doing to me.
Completely and utterly devouring me.
His kiss reaches into the deepest part of my soul, awakening something I didn’t even know slumbered there. It roars at finally being unleashed and I roll my hips against his, my whole body aching. I tremble with need.
If I thought this heat simmering between us was strong before our lips touched, it’s now enough to decimate the world around us. I kiss him back like my life depends on it, without him I’ll cease to exist.
I need more, though.
I slide my hands under his shirt, his skin heated beneath my palms. He lets out a throaty growl and it stirs something inside me.
I push his shirt up higher and he lifts his arms so I can remove it completely.
His hands move down to my hips, his fingers digging in with a bruising pressure. Something about it makes me feel more tethered to his soul.
If I was smart I’d stop this right here, right now, but I’m tired of doing the right thing. I’m tired of always being the good girl. I’m tired of denying myself what I want.
And I want Hollis Wilder more than I want anything else in this world.
I want to keep feeling this magic humming within my veins.
I want to keep feeling as alive as I do in this moment.
I lean back and my elbows land on the piano keys with a clang. Neither of us pauses at the sound. He continues to kiss me, like we have all the time in the world and no time at all.
My fingers delve into his silky hair, pulling him closer.
We’re a tangle of limbs, tongues, and feelings we cannot voice.
It’s overwhelming.
Consuming.
He picks me up then, my legs tightening around his waist and my arms wrapping around his strong solid shoulders. He carries me out of the booth and into the room. He lays me down on the couch, the cool leather like a bucket of ice against my heated skin. His warm body is over mine in an instant, covering me like a second skin.
Both of us are wild, uncontained, a fire that can’t be controlled or tamed.
He spreads my legs and I gasp helplessly against his lips when his thick hardness presses into my core, straining against the zipper of his jeans.
A small voice shouts at me to stop this now before things go too far, but I tell her to shut up and let me live my life.
This is my choice and I choose Hollis.
At least for now.
My fingers go for the button on his jeans and he freezes, his hand covering mine, halting my movements.
Surprised golden hued eyes meet mine, his lips parted slightly.
“We don’t have to,” he pants, slightly out of breath.
I look up at him, lust clouding my vision but surety strong in heart. “I want this. I want you.”
He swallows thickly. “Are you sure?”
I nod, rubbing my hands over his smooth chest, and the light smattering of chest hair between his pectoral muscles. More trails below his naval growing darker in color.
“I need to hear you say it,” he growls.
“I’m sure.”
In a heartbeat, less even, his lips are on mine once more.
I kiss him back with fervor. I can’t get close enough to him. I need more. I need him.
I push at his shoulders and he sits up. I climb into his lap, taking his face between my hands as I kiss him deeper. The stubble on his cheeks rasps against my palms.
His hands dig into my waist as my hips move against him. My body shakes with need.
It feels twenty degrees hotter in the room than it was before and sweat already dampens both of our skin. I release his lips and he looks at me with hooded eyes as I sit back and peel my shirt over my head. It falls somewhere on the floor behind us.
His eyes flick down to my breasts straining against my bra. He swallows thickly before he slowly raises his intense gaze to mine.
“We’re so fucked,” he whispers, his voice gruff, raw, and utterly delicious.
I tilt my head, my hair falling forward to tickle his chest as my mouth finds his ear. “I thought that’s what we were doing.” I take his earlobe between my teeth and give it a small bite before claiming his lips once more.
Sex has never been like this for me before—and we haven’t even gotten to the actual sex part. This is intense, the stuff you read about but don’t think actually exists. But here it is happening to me, with Hollis of all people. But the way he looks at me, the way he kisses me, it makes me feel worshiped.
We take our time undressing one another.
It’s not hurried or frantic, even though desperation surges through my veins.
I find my bare body pressed into the cool leather and Goosebumps speckle my skin.
His lips leave mine, and he kisses his way down my body.
My fingers tug on his hair and he growls low in his throat.
He looks up, his eyes shimmering with a need for approval.
I nod once, my lips parted but I can’t find the words to speak.
I have to give him credit. I know he’d stop if I wanted to—it doesn’t matter we’re both buck ass naked. But I don’t want to stop. I’ve been fighting my attraction to him for weeks, trying to do the right thing, but I can’t deny this any longer. I don’t want to. Whatever this is between us, we’re both smart enough to know it’s rare. I don’t have any expectations of it going anywhere, not with someone with his reputation, and if this is all I get I’ll take it gladly.
My heart threatens to burst out of my chest.
My back arches off the couch as his tongue latches onto my center.
“Oh my God,” I moan, my fingers clawing at the couch, at anything that I can hold onto.
He does magical, wicked things with his tongue. Things I didn’t even know were possible.
I find myself panting his name and he smiles against me. With a gasp and then a cry I fall apart, my legs shaking. I’ve never orgasmed so hard in my life and he wasn’t even inside me.
Something tells me he’s going to kill me—at least it’ll be a pleasant death.
I run my hands along the planes of his chest, down his abs, lower—he grabs my hand and growls, “Not yet.”
Before I can blink he has both my hands pinned above my head in one of his, his grip strong. I know I could break it if I wanted, but I don’t. I know I’m not in any danger.
With my hands trapped, he takes his time peppering kisses all over my body. When he swirls his tongue around one of my nipples and then the other I make an embarrassing squeaking noise and he smirks.
I try to get my hands loose then—if only to wipe the smirk off his face, but he shakes his head and I give in, stilling once more.
He nips at my shoulder, leaving a stinging bite he then soothes with a swipe of his tongue. It might leave a spot but I can’t bring myself to care.
Minutes pass as he explores my body, taking his time, memorizing every curve and dip in my body. I won’t be surprised if he can draw a detailed map of it later.
He still refuses to let me touch him, growling every time I try to get my hands free. I succeed once and he then clasps each of my hands in one of his. It presses his hard body closer to mine, so really I think I’m winning here.
When he finally lets me go he reaches over, picking his jeans up from the floor. He grabs a condom from his wallet and rips open the foil, rolling the condom down his considerable length.
