Diva (Ironclad Bodyguards Book 2) (29 page)

She drew out the last trill of notes, bringing the song to a close, then reached behind her to kill the electronic beat. By the time she turned back, people were applauding. No, shouting. Screaming. Her heart bloomed like a flower. She felt proud, sad, avenged, stripped naked, and held up by all these friends who meant the best for her.

Then she saw someone in the front row who wasn’t clapping or screaming, just staring back at her. Dark suit, red tie. Wise, beautiful eyes.

Ransom. He’d made it after all.

“Oh my God,” she said. “Oh my God, oh my God. Ransom.”

For a minute she didn’t know what to do, then she smiled and did the only thing she could do. She pretended she was going to dive into the audience, into his arms. She had him for a moment—he shook his head sharply—but then he wagged a finger at her and smiled.

She gestured for him to come onstage and join her, and somehow he did. The security guys helped him clamber up over the barriers and jump onto the platform, and then she was in his arms. He took her guitar and held it out of the way, and hugged her close, pressing his forehead to hers.

“Lola Mae. Beautiful girl.” His fingers spread on her back, warm and firm. “Sorry I’m late.”

“I sang you a song.”

“I know. I heard it.” His eyes shone from the lights. “It was so good.” His fingers twisted in her hair, tugging with a sudden intensity. “I loved your song. I love you. God, I love you so much.”

“I love you too. I’ve missed you.” The crowd had gone quiet. She didn’t want them to listen to this private moment, but she couldn’t seem to let Ransom go. “I’ve missed you so much.” Her eyes welled with tears. “Please don’t leave me again.”

“I’m not leaving you again, I promise. I’ve come back, because I never should have left in the first place. I love you, even if I shouldn’t. That’s just the way it is.”

She tilted her face up and he kissed her in front of everyone.
I’ve come back. I love you, even if I shouldn’t.
Lola happened to believe there weren’t any
shoulds
or
shouldn’ts
when it came to love, but maybe that was because she was a dumb kid. She melted against his front, grasping his lapels to pull him closer as his mouth moved over hers. His kiss was an apology, a pure, passionate confession, and Lola forgave him for hurting her, because they were both wiser now. All the tension and emptiness of the past few weeks ebbed away as they reconnected.

But a hundred thousand pairs of eyes still watched them. She became aware of pockets of voices in the audience. “Gilberto,” they cried. “It’s Gilberto, her bodyguard.”

She pushed away from Ransom to look over his shoulder at the spectators.

“Is your set over?” he asked. “Maybe you should send them all home.”

“Yeah, I should tell them good night.” She looked back at him. “But you ought to say hello first.”

She turned him around and wrapped an arm around his waist, and held the mic with the other hand. “This is Ransom, everyone. Not Gilberto. But you were right, I love him. I’m so in love with this man.”

There were whoops and fist pumps as the crowd bobbed and weaved as far as the eye could see. It wasn’t an angry, primal weaving, like in Barcelona, but happy weaving, a dance without music, a dance that came from the heart. Festival fields and beats would always be her life, and these ravers would always be her people, but she could have other things too, like sweet, wistful songs and older, responsible boyfriends.

“Thanks for listening to my heart tonight,” she said to their uplifted faces. “I love you. Thanks for giving me a chance.”

The mass of people roared their support as she looked over at Ransom. He’d come back. He was staying. She leaned close and spoke in his ear so he could hear her over the crowd, and repeated what she’d just told the audience. “I love you. Thanks for giving me a chance.”

Deal

R
ansom guided her
backstage, his eyes scanning the crew and bystanders out of habit. He wasn’t her bodyguard anymore, but he still wanted to protect her. Her official bodyguard, Caleb, flanked her other side as they made their way to the hired car. Once they found it, Caleb walked around to the far side to give them a moment of privacy.

Ransom gazed down at Lola. Was she returning to L.A. tonight? Was she exhausted? Was she available?

What now?

“I’m staying at a hotel downtown,” she said. “Do you… Would you… Do you have to head back to your soul singer?”

“No.” His gaze strayed down to her lips. “Someone else is watching my soul singer.”

“Well…” She looked deliciously anxious. “Will you… Can you…”

“Yes. I’m coming to your hotel. I’m staying all night. Actually, I’m staying for as long as you’ll have me, but we can talk about that later. Right now, I have to find my rental car. I parked…” He gave a rueful laugh. “I parked a long way from here.”

“We’ll have the driver take you to your rental, then we can drive your rental to the hotel. Is that okay?” She turned to Caleb. “Can we do that?”

He shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

She turned back to Ransom and grasped his hands, twining her fingers with his. He was aware of Caleb watching, of people gawking at them from beyond the metal barriers that surrounded the backstage area. He helped her into the car, then climbed in beside her while Caleb settled into the front passenger seat. Ransom felt sympathy for him. How many times had he been an unwilling witness to a client’s private, emotional craziness?

They could wait until they were alone to hash through everything, all the concessions and adjustments and avowals they’d doubtless make in order to be with one another. For now, he only held Lola’s hand, rubbing her fingers between his. They talked about safe, easy things like his flight from Vegas, and the rental car mess. She gasped when he told her he’d quit his job.

“I would have been fired anyway.” He nodded toward Caleb, but hell, thousands of people had seen their onstage kiss tonight. Plenty of cameras had recorded it for posterity; it was probably already posted online. “I don’t know if it was any more honorable to quit first.”

“There’s nothing dishonorable about what happened between us,” she insisted in her diva voice. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m not sure my boss would agree with you.”

“I’ll talk to him then. I’ll explain.”

He shook his head. “You don’t have to. He’s not my boss anymore. And it’s all right, baby. I had to quit to have more time with you. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

She studied him, her pretty blue eyes clouded with gravity. “Yes, but that wasn’t what
you
wanted.”

“I guess you could say my priorities have changed.”

She buried her head against his shoulder. “I hoped that song would convince you.”

“I was convinced before the song.” He cupped her face and stroked a finger across her cheek. “But the song was beautiful. They’ll play it at our wedding, yeah? If you don’t figure out in time that I’m too old for you.”

“You’re not too old.” She pulled his face down and pressed her nose to his. “I’m twenty-one now, so we’re only sixteen years apart.”

“Sixteen and a half,” he said as she licked his chin. His cock throbbed, hardening to stone. “But who’s counting?”

She found his length in the dark, furtively stroking him. He had to stop her, or he’d lose control of himself and really give Caleb something to be embarrassed about. He’d been in that situation too many times also, watching clients go at each other as if he were only a statue, or a painting on the wall. “Wait,” he chided in a whisper. “Wait until we’re alone.”

“But I want you,” she whispered back.

Oh, God. It seemed to take forever to find the rental car. Caleb offered to drive, but Ransom drove instead, so he wouldn’t be tempted to assault Lola in the back. Lola sat very still in the passenger seat as he navigated Sacramento’s streets, but he was constantly aware of her presence. Her closeness.

He felt like he could breathe again.

All the travel hassle had been worth it, quitting his job, disrupting his life, everything. Now that she sat beside him, he understood how empty his life had been since he left her. He’d been missing a whole part of himself, the part Lola nudged to life with her vibrant energy and emotional depth. He didn’t understand why the universe had chosen to pair them as soul mates, he just knew it had happened.

When they got to the hotel, Caleb helped carry Ransom’s luggage as the three of them headed upstairs. The young bodyguard said goodnight to Lola with grave professionalism, then shot Ransom a fleeting smile before he disappeared into the adjoining room. Good kid. Not sleeping with her.

“Caleb’s closer to your age,” he said as they went into her room. He threw his wardrobe bag over a chair. “Better looking too. Why not him?”

She pushed him back against the door as it closed behind them. “Because he’s not you,” she said. “And I want you.”

“You want me, huh?” He kissed her long and hard, burying his fingers in her hair. Blonde, not pink. God, she tasted like sugar. “I’ve missed you so much, baby. I’ve been waiting all this time to hold you and make you mine.” He pulled her right against him, against the pulsing, agonizing solidity of his shaft. “How do you want it? Soft and sweet?”

“No, nothing soft. Nothing sweet. I want it hardcore.”

She pushed off his jacket and yanked at his tie. He took over undressing himself lest she choke him to death in her impatience. He’d teach her the art of restraint someday, the art of delay and seduction and longing.

That day was not today.

When he was naked, she moved her palms across his chest, his pecs, his shoulder, his abs, then down to his granite-hard cock. He grasped her hands and told her to wait.

“I want you now,” she whined.

“Be good.”

He tugged off her tiny shorts, her miniscule crop top and bra, then grasped her ass and lifted her in his arms. As he carried her toward the bed, he noted the location of windows, closets, doors. Bodyguard stuff, but then his mind was back on her, or more specifically, what he might do to her. They had weeks now, months, years. There was so much to do to her.

He dumped her on the bed and went to his luggage for a condom. After considering a moment, he grabbed a handful, along with a vial of lubricant he deposited on the table beside the bed.

“You brought lube?” she asked.

“Of course. I know you, Lola.”

He crawled onto the bed and forced her legs back, and leaned down to trail his tongue up the center of her pussy. She whined and clutched at his shoulders, arching for more. As soon as he tongued her clit, she went wild and flailed beneath him. Jesus, he’d missed this. He grasped her legs tighter and told her to be still.

“But I want you,” she moaned in an extremely loud voice. “I want your cock in me.”

“Okay, now the whole hotel knows. But listen to me.” He wrestled her to stillness and made her meet his gaze. “We’re doing this my way. First I get some pussy, and then I’m taking your ass.”

“Oh God. Wow.”

He nodded at his wide-eyed lover, then sank down again to jam his tongue into her wetness. He took his time, exploring her, nibbling, pinching, teasing her to a fever pitch as he drifted on her scent. When she was close to coming, he stopped. She yanked at his hair but he only laughed and ordered her to turn over.

“Please, let me come,” she begged.

“Oh, you will. You’ll come the way
I
want.”

She made a sound between frustration and excitement. “With your cock in my ass?”

“You know a better way? Now put your face in the fucking pillow, and get that butt in the air.”

“Yes sir,” she said, melting into submission at his tone. Good God, her tight, round ass was about to make
him
melt into submission. He needed to be inside it as soon as possible, but he wanted to get her a little more worked up first. He massaged a finger over her clit and was rewarded with a lusty cry.

He shushed her. “Caleb’s next door, and he doesn’t want to hear you getting your ass fucked. Put your face back in the pillow like I said.”

She obeyed for the few seconds it took him to put on the condom, which was longer than he expected her to comply. Then she was looking back at him again, riling him up with the hunger in her gaze. He kept one hand pressed over her clit as he used the other to slick up her hole.

“Don’t use too much,” she said. “I want it to hurt when you push in.”

“You fucking flirt.” He pinched her clit until her hips bucked. “Face. Pillow. Now.”

Lola sucked in
a breath at the sight of his huge, hard cock looming behind her. She wanted him so bad. She needed his power, his expertise in this. His protection, even when he made her hurt. Just a little, though. Just enough for it to be a submission, a sacrifice.
I want you. I’m yours.

He spread his fingers on her back as she prepared to accept his girth. “Tell me if it’s too much,” he murmured. “If you can’t find the words, tell me with sounds.”

Then he was pressing into her and she was making all the sounds, every agonized and sex-starved utterance. The head of his cock forced open her ring, causing a dull, rising pain. She reached back to touch his legs and ground herself. She felt objectified and rectal-fied. She felt stretched open and erotically surrendered.

And safe.

He worked her clit, sending shivers of pleasure through her entire body even as his thickness caused intensifying discomfort. She forced herself to relax and open to his invasion, then he was sliding deeper, and her high pitched sounds of agony deepened to sounds of excitement. She turned her head to the side, heaving a gasp.

“Please, please…”

He paused mid thrust. “Please what?” His voice rumbled with strain. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No, no, no, no.”

“You want it deeper? Harder?”

“Please.”

He made her turn her head back into the pillow and then he gave her what she wanted, a hard, steady ass drilling. His thighs held her trapped, and her wrists were collected in one of his huge, strong hands and held over her head. The other hand flitted over her clit with the precise amount of dexterity needed to drive her crazy.