Pure Iron (9 page)

Mitch settled back to watch the show and, when his dick had wilted sufficiently, he tucked it back into his pants. Then he took Sonia’s hand in his and held on to it for the rest of the show.

The hour was late then show ended. Two days of cumulative excitement and late nights took their toll on Sonia and she could neither stifle nor hide the yawns of weariness. Mick wrapped his arm around her and tucked her protectively into his side. He hailed a taxi, which drove them back to the hotel. Sonia was asleep on her feet they reached their suite. After opening the door, he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed. With more care and tenderness than he had ever shown another woman, he removed her clothing and tucked her into bed. He stripped and crawled in beside her, holding her close and inhaling the scent of her skin and hair as he drifted off to sleep.

They slept late, waking slowly with luxuriant, deliberate lovemaking that somehow seemed more deeply meaningful than their previous coupling. They moved from the bed to the shower where the pace switched from slow and languorous to hard and fast. As they dried themselves off, Mick wondered why he had ever thought marriage would—and being restricted to having sex with just one woman—would be boring. Thus far, he could not get enough of his pretty wife and, it seemed, she could not get enough of him.

“I need to call my parents,” Sonia declared as they ate breakfast.

Mick raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

“Mom and Dad will be so disappointed,” she added with a sad little sigh.

“Why disappointed?” Mick asked, wondering if her parents would come to the same conclusion he had—that he wasn’t good enough for her.

“Let’s just say they don’t particularly like surprises,” she said in a dry tone. She pulled her phone from her purse, then dropped it back in. “I should do this in a quiet place.”

Mick’s own cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and wiped his thumb across the screen to answer the call.

“Hi, Mom,” he answered, then listened to the breathless questions spewing from his mother. “Yeah, we eloped. No, we haven’t known each other long. Yeah, it was love at first sight.”

At that last sentence, Sonia nearly choked. Mick reached over to pound on her back.

“As soon as she’s finished choking, you can talk to her,” he said.

Sonia coughed and cleared her throat and shook her head.

“Yeah, I think she’s shy,” Mick said, grinning at her.

“You’re just like your dad,” his mother commented.

“How so?” he asked, his voice going soft and serious.

His mother sighed in fond memory and something else that made him want to squirm because he was speaking to his mother and mothers just didn’t do that. At least not his. She was immaculate. Of course.

“Your dad was a tomcat when we met,” she said softly. “I think I was the only one who ever denied him … until he put that ring on my finger. For some reason he settled for me and never looked at another woman. He said I made his heart sing.”

“Oh, Mom, he wasn’t settling for you. You’re great and he knew it.”

“Thanks, Micky. Anyway, we were young and impulsive and incredibly hot for each other. The two years I had with him were fabulous.” She sighed again, then continued, “You’re just like him, Mick. You look like him; you have his mannerisms and his personality. If you’ve married this girl, it’s because she’s your one true love.”

“Mom, you know that romantic stuff isn’t real.”

“You’ll see. She’s the one,” she chuckled. “Now let me speak with your lovely bride.”

Mick shook his head at his mother’s romanticism and handed Sonia the phone.

“Er, hello, Mrs. Hendriksen?’

“Hello, Sonia,” a warm, rich voice vibrated over the phone. “I just wanted to personally congratulate the young woman who managed to tame my boy.”

“Er … thanks?”

Mick’s mother chuckled again. “He’s a good man beneath the flash and dazzle. And don’t you worry. If he married you, then he’ll have eyes for no other woman. He loves you even if he doesn’t know it yet or won’t admit it yet.”

“He’s been amazing,” Sonia whispered, while the nasty little voice in her head added, So far.

“Well, dear, I won’t prolong the awkwardness. Have Mick bring you to meet me. I want to see the woman who’s captured his heart.”

“It would be nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Hendriksen.”

“Call me Janice,” Mick’s mother invited and bade her good-bye.

The call ended and Sonia looked at Mick with a slightly stunned expression.

“My mom’s pretty cool,” Mick said with that same grin.

“Yeah, she took the news well,” Sonia murmured, dreading the call to her own parents who, she was sure, would not react with such cheerful equanimity. She took a deep breath and said, “I should call my parents.”

Mick signaled to the waitress, who brought their check. He charged it to the room and signed it. They departed the restaurant. Mick rested his hands on Sonia’s shoulders. They were rigid, the muscles tight. He flexed his strong fingers.

“You’re tense.”

Her head rolled forward and he began massaging her shoulders as the elevator took them upward.

“I’ll call Jay to help us find a place to live,” he said as his thumbs worked at a particularly tight knot in her left shoulder.

She groaned and asked, “Who’s Jay?”

“Jay’s the band’s agent.”

“You agent will find us a house?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of an apartment, but, yeah, he will.”

“I didn’t think agents did that sort of stuff.”

“He’s more along the lines of an executive assistant to the band than just an agent,” Mick acknowledged. “He sure as hell makes life easier for us and we pay him a damned good salary to do it, too.”

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. They walked to their suite.

“We’re due to check out this morning,” he said. “We’ll stash our gear at the bell desk to meet up with the guys this afternoon. Then we’ll fly back to Monterrey tonight.”

“All right,” she said, thinking of how she would broach her impromptu marriage and moving into Mick’s cottage to Penny. She certainly had no expectation of him moving in with them. That would be horribly awkward, especially if Penny tried to lure him into her bed. Which she just might.

Mick kissed her shoulder and dialed his agent. Sonia pulled her phone from her purse and called home. Her mother answered on the first ring.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Sonia! Sonia, where are you? Penny’s been worried. She called last night to ask us where you’d gone.”

“She didn’t notice I was gone until last night?” Sonia asked faintly and with some resentment.

“How long have you been AWOL, Sonia?”

“I’m not in the military, Mom. I can’t go AWOL. I’m on vacation, remember?”

“You still have an obligation not to worry your friend and family like that. So, where are you?”

Sonia took a deep breath and blurted out the bare facts: “I’m in Las Vegas. I got married two days ago.”

“You’re … what?” her mother screeched. “Married?”

Sonia held the phone away from her ear, certain that another such yell would make her eardrum bleed.

“It’s probably in the tabloids,” she muttered. Then, more loudly, she said as calmly as possible, “Mick and I eloped, Mom. We got a quickie marriage here in Vegas. I found a job at a restaurant here with a big name chef. We’re going to be moving here, to Vegas.”

“Oh, dear,” her mother muttered darkly. “And who is this Mick?”

“Mick Hendriksen. He’s a musician.”

“Oh, Sonia, please don’t tell me you’ve fallen for some penniless artist whom you’re now going to have to support.”

“He’s not a starving artist, Mom.”

“Then what is it? How could my normally sensible girl do something so rash?”

“Can’t you just accept that it was love at first sight?” Sonia asked, absently repeating Mick’s sentiment to his mother.

“You know that’s just a fairy tale, Sonia,” her mother chided. “Did he kidnap you? Drug you? Do you need us to come and get you out of whatever trouble you’re in?”

“I’m fine, Mom.”

“If you say so.” Her mother’s tone was simply distrustful. “So, does this Mick have a last name?”

“Hendriksen. Gavin will recognize the name.”

“Why would Gavin …?” There was a pause while her mother shouted her older brother’s name. Sonia hear her mother say, “Talk to your sister. She’s done something stupid.”

“Hey, sis,” Gavin’s deep voice greeted. “Mom say’s you’re acting like Jordan, you know, stupid. What did you do? Mom and Dad have been worried out of their minds.”

“Hi, Gavin. Do you want the long story or the short?”

“Keep it short and sweet.”

“Okay, here goes. I’ll summarize.” Sonia took a deep breath, gathered her thoughts, and said, “I met Mick Hendriksen. We got married three days ago. I’ve been hired by Chef Joseph Kilrook. Mick and I are moving to Las Vegas.”

Silence answered her. Then Gavin said slowly, “Mick Hendriksen? The lead guitarist of Iron Falcon? That Mick Hendriksen?”

“Yes.”

“Shit, sis. The guy’s a man-whore. What are you doing—oh, do I have to come across the country to beat him up for defiling my sister?”

She wanted to laugh at the growl in her brother’s voice. Gavin was built like linebacker, had a fourth degree black belt in mixed martial arts, and was known as the neighborhood badass. He’d been the one to scare the bullies away when she was a child. His reputation had prevented her high school boyfriends from attempting anything more than a chaste goodnight kiss.

“Gavin, I’m happy. Be happy for me? Please?”

“Hey, sis, I’m happy for you.” His voice softened. He’d always had a soft spot for his cute little sister. “But if he hurts you or cheats on you, I’ll kill him.”

She giggled at his protectiveness. “Mick’s not as big as you, but I think he could hold his own.”

“Honey, ain’t no one as badass as your big brother.”

“Of course not, Gavin. Now let me talk to Dad. I’m sure Mom’s given him an earful.”

“Sonia, if you need anything, any help, you let me know.”

Her heart melted at her brother’s love. “Yeah, I will. Thanks, Gavin.”

“Love you, sis.”

“Love you, too, bro.”

Some footsteps, a bit of rustling, some indistinct conversation preceded her father’s light tenor: “Baby girl, what in the hell have you done?”

“Hi, Dad, how are you?”

“Don’t ‘hi, Dad’ me, young lady. Explain yourself.”

She rushed through the summary of events again. A long moment of silence followed while her father controlled his temper. Then he growled, “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t fetch you home right damn now, Sonia.”

“I’m a legal adult, Dad.”

“Let me talk to that bastard who’s taken advantage of you,” he demanded coldly.

Sonia held her phone out to Mick. “Dad wants to talk to you,” she explained softly, her expression twisting with regret.

“Hello, Mr. Houlihan,” Mick greeted calmly.

What followed was a long, low, growled list of imprecations and threats if he ruffled so much as a hair on Sonia’s head. His initial reaction was to spout his own dark, profane threats, but he forced himself to endure the calumny, understanding that his wife’s father merely wanted to protect her.

“I understand, Mr. Houlihan. I can take care of Sonia.” He smiled when he saw her bristle at that statement. Her glower expressed that she could take care of herself, thank you very much.

With a final threat, his father-in-law hung up.

“Well, that was awkward,” he said.

“I’m so sorry. They’re a bit over-the-top sometimes.”

“They love you,” he stated. “So do I.”

“You—?” Sonia’s jaw dropped in surprise.

He set the phone down and wrapped her in his arms. “Oh, yeah, Mom called it. Apparently, it’s a Henriksen trait: when we fall, we fall hard.”

“I thought you just wanted in my pants.”

“Oh, yeah, I want that, too. A lot.” He rolled his hips against her, letting her feel the strength of his arousal. “But you’re so much more than that. You make my heart sing.”

Sonia looked up at the handsome man and thought that her unwontedly impulsive decision had far better consequences than she could have ever imagined. Wet heat slicked her core and her breasts swelled and felt heavy.

“Make love with me, Mick.”

“You don’t have to ask twice,” he replied and lowered his lips to hers for a slow, gentle kiss that had her sighing into his mouth.

They savored each other, drawing out the pleasure until Sonia pleaded with him to let her soar. Before her cries and moans could break his control, he moved down her body and anchored her to the mattress with a burly forearm braced across her hips. His broad shoulders kept her thighs spread wide. Thus restrained, he used his remaining hand and his lips, teeth, and tongue to propel her to greater heights of ecstasy. He drove her from one orgasm to the next while he wallowed in the heat and smell and taste of her. Then he crawled back up her body and flipped her over, raising her hips to his rampant cock. He groaned as he eased into her body, groaned again as he withdrew, watching his thick rod advance and retreat inside her hungry flesh. Soon, she was begging him again, pushing her ass at him, crying for him to go more deeply into her body, to fill her and never leave. Her desperation snapped his frayed control. He plunged into her body, desperate in his own right to make her shatter with extreme pleasure and to find his own delayed release.

They lay entwined when Mick’s phone played the refrain from Band on the Run. He reached over and picked it up.

“Yeah?”

“Hey, man, we’re here.”

“You’re early.”