Punishing Me (Shaft on Tour #6) (20 page)

Closing
my eyes tightly, I gasp. Every inch of him seated inside me has me stretched to
capacity. I can’t focus on anything but the fullness.

His
hand slides up my body, taking my hand. Pressing it to his heart, he leans in
and kisses me softly. “I’m home,” he whispers into my mouth, rocking his hips
in a slow, teasing rhythm.

I
couldn’t agree more.

Our
bodies move together like two puzzle pieces that finally have figured out how
they fit. My cries, swallowed by his passionate kisses. My heart overflows when
my orgasm overtakes me. Tears stream down my cheeks as I cling to him. Pulling
back, he meets my eyes, the most satisfied smile I have ever seen spreads
across his face as he thrusts inside me, again and again.

Wrapping
me tightly in his arms, he pulls me from the bed, holding me flush to his body.
Angling his hips, he thrusts up into me harder, faster, driving himself toward
the edge. Pressure builds, my entire body pulsating against him. Biting down on
my shoulder, he growls, stilling inside me as he comes.

Collapsing
back to the mattress, Dominick pulls me into his chest. Brushing the hair from
my face, I smile at him. “Okay,” I breathe. “You win. We’ll order up.”

A
laugh rumbles up from his chest as he tightens his hold on me. “You’re so cute
when you think you have a choice.”

***

“Dessert?”
I ask when he takes my empty bowl.

“I’ve
got that covered with a little help from Jasmine,” he says, running his thumb
over my bottom lip to catch a drop of stray sauce from my pasta I ordered from
room service. “Gotta promise me somethin’ first, though.”

“Oh?”
I ask, watching his naked body as he piles the dirty dishes and trash on the
cart.

“Yeah,
if the kid asks,” he says moving around the side of the bed and grabbing a purple
gift bag that looks like it came from a child’s birthday party. “This is what
made all the difference.” Settling back on the bed beside me, he pulls a box
from the bag.

Tossing
the bag and tissue paper to the floor, he pulls me into his side and places the
box in my lap. I look at him skeptically before my eyes drift down to the white
box. “Cookies?” I ask, my eyes going back to him.

He
smiles, those dimples on full display as he nods. “Chocolate Chunk Brownie
cookies. Found out the other day from Chase that Jasmine begged her to find
cookies that her Vegan best friend could eat with me while we were on tour so
neither of us would be lonely.”

Excited,
I tear into the box. Grabbing a cookie, I bite into the chunks of dark
chocolate and pieces of brownie. “Mmmm,” I sigh, leaning into his body and the
pillows behind me. “She’s right,” I say, shoving the rest of it into my mouth.

“Don’t
tell her that,” Dominick warns with a chuckle. “They’ll be no livin’ with her
if you go fillin’ her head with that ‘Jazzie’s always right’ nonsense.”

“What
can I say?” I ask with a shrug. “They do make everything better and they
definitely don’t taste like feet,” I laugh, remembering her very opinionated stance
on cookies over pepperoni pizza at Happy Hut.

“Gotta
agree with her there,” he laughs, swiping a cookie for himself. Not bothering
to taste, he shoves the entire thing into his mouth. “Yep,” he says,
swallowing. “Kid can pick ‘em like no one’s business.”

Putting
the box on the bed, I straddle his lap. My fingers slide into his hair as I
stare into the eyes of the man I gave my heart to when I was just seventeen
years old. The ups, the downs, the heartbreak of eight years, it has all
brought me to a place that I never thought I would ever truly reach.

His
eyes soften, his hand gliding over my hip as he stares right back at me. “There’s
that look,” he whispers, pressing his forehead to mine. “What the hell do you
see when you look at me that makes your whole face light up like that?”

I
smile, feeling the blush fill my cheeks. Brushing my lips over his, I kiss him
softly before pulling back. His eyes open slowly, blinking as he focuses on my
face. Staring into the blue eyes that open brighter for some reason when he
smiles and flashes me those dimples, I answer honestly. “I see the man who
loves me.”

Times Are Changin’

Ireland

Four Months Later:

“The
horses,” Jazzie says, grabbing for her glass of chocolate milk. “They were in
the backyard when I got home from school. I got to ride one wearing my princess
dress and everything. There was even a Prince Charming. Oh,” she sighs, hugging
her cup to her. “It was the really realest bestest day of my life!”

“I
bet,” I say, grabbing a slice of own little veggie pizza. Minus the cheese, of
course. “You’ll have to show me the video when we get back to the house.”

“I
now call this Shaft meeting to order,” Hunter says, slamming his fist down on
the table in the party room of the Happy Hut. “Let’s get the business out of
the way so that we can get to the fun stuff. There’s a Skee-ball machine
callin’ my name and a kid tellin’ me she is gonna put a hurtin’ on me.”

“Kid
cheats,” Dominick grumbles beside me, making me laugh.

“Own
your loss, punk,” Jazzie fires back, glaring at him from my other side.

Being
our first weekend home, now that the tour is over, Jasmine said we needed to
party. Who were we to deny her? Without another word, Hunter called up the
Happy Hut and rented the whole damn place out for the day for a private party.

“You
know, you don’t have bang on the table, shithead?” Henry asks, shifting his
beautiful little girl, Kara, in his arms so she can sit back against his chest.
“We are all here. So say what you’ve gotta say.”

“There
have been a lot of things changing around here,” Hunter says, winking at Chase.
“We’ve gained family members. And thanks to my mad reproductive skills, have
another coming in the near future.”

Chase
smiles, placing a hand over the baby bump starting to become more prominent on
her small frame. She is glowing, everything about her shows just how excited
she is for the baby. Jasmine is too, especially learning from Hunter and Chase
that her new baby brother, more than likely, won’t be interested in her
princess stuff at all.

“After
a long discussion on tour,” Camaron interrupts Hunter before he breaks out into
song about his aero-dynamic sperm. Again… “Along with long talks with everyone
in our circle and the label, we have decided not to renew our contract with the
label when it comes up.” She smiles at Aiden, “With none of us wanting to be
away from home as much as the hectic tour schedule they had us on, and Aiden
and I also wanting to start a family of our own, we all agree this is best.”

I
can’t say I was surprised to hear from Cam that she wanted a baby. She had a
very hard time coming to terms with everyone around her starting a family. As
much as she loves Aiden, it was hard for her because she was afraid that in
trying to flip the page they were on in their life, she may lose him. Funny
enough, Aiden was a bit disappointed finding out that is was Chase, instead of
Camaron, hiding a pregnancy. He immediately agreed that she go off birth
control and they begin planning their family. Of course, this meant the moment
she threw the pills away, control freak Anal Annie instantly began his
organization and planning out of every detail and scenario.

“We
aren’t going to stop making music,” Gray adds between bites of pizza. “Which is
why we have decided to start our own label.”

“Evil
Wiener Productions!” Hunter whoops, throwing his fist in the air. “Shaft will
continue to produce music that kicks ass. Along with the solo stuff Ireland has
been working on.”

“It’s
not anything anyone has done,” Aiden says, “It’s just that we need to move
forward and do our own thing. I also like the idea of having all the control
back in our court.”

“Of
course you do,” everyone says in unison.

“Construction
will start on a proper studio and workshop as soon as we tear down that old
shower house. This way we can record at home. There will still be travel,
though not for a while. When we do go back on the road, our tours will be
broken down into smaller dates with a lot of smaller venues, balancing out the
huge arenas that lack the intimate feel the guys have admitted to missing. The
great thing is that with this label being all ours, we can set the schedule so
that it isn’t overwhelming on our family.”

Dominick
leans into me at Camaron’s mention of the shower house. His lips brush my ear.
“I’m going to want to visit my sex shanty before it comes down.”

My
stomach flips at his words, already counting down until everyone is asleep
tonight.

I
can’t say that I haven’t found myself waiting for that other shoe to drop.
There are times I catch myself scrutinizing things and letting shit from the
past eat at me until Dominick notices and reels me back in. He is quick to
remind me that if the other shoe ever drops, he will be quick to put it on my
foot and let me kick his balls up into his eardrums with it.

I
have yet to have to do it, and most days am sure I won’t need to, but it is
good to know he is prepared to take a cock kick if he jacks shit up.

“Yo,
kid,” Dominick says to Jazzie, “Time for the sweet stuff.”

Without
a word, Jazz jumps from her chair and bolts for the cookie counter where Marina
stands waiting. She says something before stepping around the counter and
helping Jasmine carry over a tray with a cookie sandwich big enough to be a
hubcap on my car.

“Ireland
look!” Jazzie screams, trying to walk faster, but Marina steadies her.

Dominick
shoves our plates out of the way. Pushing his chair back, he drops to one knee
beside me just as the girls place the large cookie sandwich in front of me.
“Looked on Google for days to find a Vegan cookie recipe that even came close
to those cookies we ate on the night you finally let me back in. Marina helped
me get this shit right.” Taking my hand in his, he entwines our fingers.
“Ireland, I love you. I believe I have since the first moment I laid eyes on
you, even if I didn’t realize it then. The last few months have been the
happiest in my entire life. You have taught me that love isn’t about being
enough for someone. It’s admitting you’re nothing without them.”

“I
told him,” Jazzie interrupts, shoving between us. “If he’s gonna give you a
ring, he has to give you a cookie too.”

Looking
over at the cookie, I laugh at the words written on it in white icing: Say yes,
ya big buncha crazy.

My
hand flies up to my mouth, a tear slipping down my cheek as I blink rapidly at
Dominick. Moving Jazz to his knee, he holds up a ring with a bright purple
stone. Everyone around us are laughing, crying, or cheering, but none of it
matters to me the moment I see the smile spread on Dominick’s face when I nod.

“Are
you sure?” Hunter asks, laughing. “He isn’t even paper trained.”

“Yes,
actually, I am.” Flipping Hunter off over my shoulder, I hold my other hand out
for my fiancé to put on my ring. Jazzie yanks a chunk free of the cookie and
runs like hell. Taking Dominick’s face in my hands, I smile at him, seeing the
blue in his eyes soften like it does every time he smiles at me. “I’ve never
been so sure of anything in my life,” I reply, then I kiss my man.

No,
my life is not a romance novel or some chick flick come to life where nothing
ever goes wrong. I don’t want predictable and boring. I want real. Dominick and
I argue, and sometimes I want to smack him in the head with a shoe, but we also
make up. This generally leads to totally fucking hot make up sex, so it’s not a
bad thing to get a little worked up.

No
matter the problems we may face, at the end of the day, we go to bed loving
each other with everything we have because that is what we promised we would do.
Dominick says I have taught him things about love, but it goes both ways. I’ve
learned that you can overanalyze everything about your entire life, in fear of
being hurt, and miss out on something really great or you can take a chance and
embrace the things in your path which could lead to you finding everything
you’ve ever wanted.

Months
ago, in a hotel room in Philly, Dominick Bradford told me he loved me and asked
me for a chance to prove it. After over eight years of dreaming to hear those
words, I shook off the fear and put my faith in the man who still held my
heart. It was and will always be my biggest gamble. I bet all I have on him
that night, and I win again every time he smiles at me.

First, and foremost, the
biggest thank you will always be to you.

Nearly three years ago, a
group of crazy rockers invaded my thoughts and took over my brain as if they
owned me.

Because they do… I firmly
believe that they always will.

Throughout the entire
Shaft on Tour series, and the many places my boys have taken me, I have had an
overwhelming amount of support. None of the last few years would be possible
without each person who has taken a chance on the craziness that makes it from
my head to the page.

The emotions of
officially ending this series have been bittersweet, I love each of these characters
as if they were real and standing beside me. At several times while writing
this book I questioned being able to even type the words ‘the end’... So, as
you may have noticed, I DIDN’T!

Please believe me when I
say that this is NOT ‘goodbye’. A simple ‘goodbye’ would never do them justice.
This is ‘see you later’. There is so much in the works, and soon, all will be
revealed.

It has been a hell of a
ride and the best is yet to come!

XOXO,

Cat