Finding Emotion (The Last Shot Tavern Series)

Chapter 23

Skylar listened to the last of the melody drifting away. The notes slid into something else in her mind. She pushed to her feet. Her legs had steadied, no longer that trembly type of pathetic she hated. With her notebook and guitar, she sat on the floor again.

The words often came quickly when exhaustion hit her after an episode. It was as if the anger in them took the last of the poison from her and spread it on the page.

But Skylar didn’t have any words this time. Only a melody that continued to shift. It wasn’t angry or hurt or anything like she normally played. No, the lingering notes reminded her of only one person. She kind of wished he was there.

“No way can I record shit like this for my fans,” Skylar muttered, though her hand tightened on the guitar.

“I liked it,” a voice said from near the doorway.

It was as if the music had conjured him. Damon sat against the opposite wall like he’d been too afraid to encroach on her space.

“You would,” Skylar murmured. The melody had been all him, soft and cozy and sweet. Of course he’d like it. She set her guitar aside. “Come here.”

Damon rose and crossed to her, lowering himself beside her without touching. He’d been careful not to touch her without permission ever since she’d told him not to.

Fuck that, she thought and crawled into his lap. She sat facing him, curled her arms around his back, and settled her head on his shoulder. That way, she could breathe in his cotton and sunshine scent and hide her face at the same time.

His hands came up, threading through her hair. When his fingers began slow, tingling circles against her scalp, the last of her tension fled.

She watched the flicker of his pulse in his neck as time stretched. Her chest ached, but it wasn’t painful, not really.

“How much did you see?” she asked, surprised when no tension returned at the thought.

His hands paused in her hair. “See?”

“I must have been so out of it not to notice you when I grabbed my notebook.” He’d been sitting right next to it. She lifted her head, her hands moving to his shoulders for balance as she stared into his gorgeous, aquamarine eyes. “Sorry, I guess I riffed off your song. Don’t worry, I won’t record it.”

“Wait, that was inspired by my song?” Damon’s smile added an extra tightening to her chest. “That’s quite a compliment, Skylar.”

She frowned. “So, wait, you didn’t hear me humming it?” Her eyes shifted to the closed door. She should have heard him enter. She hadn’t realized she could get lost in soft music as well. “I thought…” She hadn’t hated the idea that he’d seen her panic attack, but a part of her had been disappointed. She’d thought he hadn’t interrupted again because he didn’t want a repeat of what happened in the gym.

One of his hands pushed her hair behind her ear, and her head shifted, rubbing her cheek along his hand. “I got here while you played that new melody.” His warm hand cupped her face, his fingers whispering over her temple. “You look tired. Should we return to the suite together?”

That word, ‘together,’ intensified the spreading ache in her chest. She didn’t hate the sound of it. She doubted she could hate anything about Damon.

Her fingers tingled on his shoulders, the sensation flowing over her skin. Cracks weren’t forming like usual. No, this was something else.

Her face lowered to his, and she kissed him. It wasn’t the hard, all-consuming meeting of lips and tongue that she normally dived into. Their lips brushed and clung. He murmured her name, his hands cradling her face as they tasted each other. The angle changed, and the electric sparks flowing over her skin intensified.

She rocked against him, taking the kiss deeper. Her tongue didn’t plunge but stroked, his answering tangle with hers making her want to slide over him. Her chest pressed against his as she pulled back enough to whisper, “Don’t say no, okay?”

Those eyes of his glittered as he stared into hers. “God, no.” Their mouths moved together, the kiss hotter than before. He’d hardened into her rocking, and his hands slipped over her arms and around her back until he gripped her ass to pull her tighter against him.

His body stiffened as if he realized what he’d done. His hands started to fall away, but hers moved to hold them in place.

“It’s okay. I’m not hating it.” Skylar shimmied her ass against his hands.

“Are you sure?” His forehead rested against hers as his breath shuddered in. “I don’t want to do anything you don’t like.”

She was starting to think Damon might get away with anything just because it was him. She trusted him. “This much is good.” She shifted against him again and began to pant. “I’ll tell you if I hit a no. Oh, but—” She bit her lip as her body stilled.

“I won’t touch your clit, Skylar,” Damon promised as his hands mapped the shape of her ass before pulling her into his erection.

The bolt of heat from it had her rubbing her chest against his again as her arms wrapped around his neck. She moaned into their next clinging kiss. Her body had become all sensation.

Normally she had the guys lie flat so she couldn’t feel much besides their dick inside her. She liked this against-the-wall thing with Damon better. Only she wanted skin.

Her hands found his shirt hem, and he helped her skim it over his head before his lips were on hers again. His taste was also like sunshine, the slide of his tongue against hers so fucking perfect. She mapped out his chest, thin but toned, the skin soft. Her thumbs swiped his nipples, and she felt an answering throb in her own as her chest tried to press against him.

She broke the kiss to drag her own tight top over her head. Her fingers hesitated at the front clasp of her bra. She didn’t let anyone see her breasts, not anymore. She took the bra off anyway, leaning forward to press her breasts against his skin.

“Don’t—” The word ended in a moan as their bodies shifted together. Her nipples had become tight little buds, ones that throbbed like crazy as they dragged over his chest. “Fuck, do it. Touch them.” Only she didn’t want to part their bodies enough to give him room, rocking against him faster so he’d shift along her nipples even more.

His hands moved, his fingers sliding along the plump sides of her breasts, adding more sparks. “Your skin is so silky, Skylar.” He kissed her again, all lips, before sliding his hands between them. The calluses on his fingers added just enough tease, and his palms sliding over her nipples made the heat she was feeling below erupt. He didn’t pinch or pull or twist. Just that steady slide and brush as they arched into each other.

It had become too much. “Naked,” she moaned into his mouth. “We need to be naked.”

Only neither of them wanted to part to do it. They fumbled with each other’s pants, her leather horrible to strip off. She cursed and gave in, standing so they could both drag the material down. Her breasts dangled as she bent, and he let out a humming sound as his mouth closed around her nipple.

His sucking shot through her, and she forgot about the damn pants clinging to one foot, instead grabbing his head to pull his face tight against her as her knees hit the floor. His mouth was wet on her breast as his hands found her ass again. One moved down the cheek and between her legs, swirling around her desperate entrance.

A spiral tightened inside her. “Oh, fuck!” She pushed down, taking his fingers deep. His mouth continued to suck even as his fingers curled and plunged. Her body gave out as the orgasm took her.

When her eyes could focus, she found Damon’s head had lifted. His gaze drifted over her face.

“So beautiful,” he murmured. His fingers shifted inside her, and her body shuddered. “I want to watch it again.”

Skylar’s body was only too eager for a repeat. Air swirled around her breasts as she lifted and plunged, riding his fingers with those intense jewel eyes of his watching her every moan. It didn’t take her long to tip over the edge again, and his other hand pressed on her back, urging their chests together. The slide of her nipples intensified the pulse.

When his fingers slipped out, she shuddered. Grabbing his hand, she pulled it to her mouth, tasting herself on his skin as she sucked his fingers deep.

He arched up. His hard erection slid along her entrance, but not inside.

Damon groaned. “Condom. Now.” He fumbled for his discarded pants, pulling out his wallet and the foil packet inside.

She lifted up enough to stare at the glistening tip of him. Just that one slide had rubbed her wetness all over him. Two orgasms had her dripping. She shuddered as a voice echoed inside her.

Damon paused with the condom in his hand. “Skylar?”

She took it from him, rolling it on with an extra squeeze.

His head fell back against the wall as he panted through it. “Don’t play with him, Skylar. I already want you too much.”

She held him steady as she lowered to take him inside herself. Her arms wound around his neck as she lifted and lowered, the slickness of her increasing the pace. His mouth closed around her nipple again, and it felt good, just like him being hot and hard inside her should have, only she’d gotten too fucking wet.

“Don’t hold out for me,” she told him, working herself over him a little faster.

His head tipped back, the pulsing heartbeat in his neck wild as he stared at her. She squeezed on her next downward thrust, making him pant. “Wh-what are you saying?” His hands grabbed her hips, stilling her with him buried to the hilt.

She shrugged. “Two orgasms seem to be it for tonight. It happens sometimes.” She bit her lip. “Sorry, I’m not one to fake it.”

“I don’t want you to fake an orgasm.” Creases raised on his forehead as the adorable man tried to think. “We should stop then.”

“Don’t be a saint.” She rolled her eyes, clenching her muscles again and watching the flush move through him as he tried to endure. “You got me there already, Damon. I want you to enjoy it.”

He shook his head. “Not without you. The G-spot does it for you. This angle isn’t right. Lean back.”

She shook her head. “I got too into it.”

“Fuck.” He thrust into her before he controlled it with a shudder. “Sorry. I liked hearing that. I’m feeling a little possessive.”

“Possessive?” The idea of it sent a zing through her. Damn, she liked that.

“Let’s try something.” Damon pulled her tight and rolled on top of her.

After…after what had happened, Skylar was always on top. Her hands clutched at his shoulders in fear of the panic that was sure to come. Only it didn’t. Damon’s body was touching every inch of hers, and all she felt was that spreading ache and heat in her chest.

He stared down into her eyes. “Okay?”

“Yeah.” Her breath shuddered as the tension left her. She wrapped her arms around his back. “Wanting to plunge deep?” She started to shift her legs wider so he could go for it.

Damon used his hands to close her thighs instead, his thrust following and bringing sudden sparks.

Skylar clung to him as her body woke the hell up.

“Did I get it?” Damon groaned, his body shaking as he held himself still.

Her hands shifted to his ass, wanting another stroke, but her mouth had gone too dry to say the words. She tried to arch into him, but Damon had control. He shuddered under her movement, but didn’t plunge into her like she needed.

“I need some feedback here, Skylar.” He searched her eyes. “Is this okay?”

“Yes,” Skylar managed to say. She dragged his face down to take his mouth, thrusting her tongue inside as he finally moved for real.

Every stroke worked over exactly what she needed. She made one of those mewling sounds she hated, which broke the kiss and released her voice. The ‘yes’ was easier now, and she chanted it as her body wound tighter and tighter. Damon cried out, his hips erratic as he thrust.

Skylar screamed from the intensity of the orgasm that ripped through her, her nails digging into his shoulders as she held him to her, needing that contact to find her way back. Her whole body was twitching in a bizarre way as he held her tight in return, his weight collapsing against her.

Their heartbeats pounded together as they tried to catch their breath.

Damon slipped out of her as he rolled them so she could be on top. She’d turned into fucking putty, she realized, her limbs loose and kind of melty. She snuggled her face into his neck, breathing him in like a craving.

Her eyes popped open, but her body was too mellow to gather any tension at all, even before his hands began massaging her back.

Skylar thought she should say something, but the first thing that came to mind, gratitude, seemed stupid. She’d failed to orgasm quite a bit since the incident and always chalked it up to a learning curve. Every guy she’d been fucking that she’d told to come anyway had just, well, come. Pretty quickly, too, which had made her feel superior and in control.

She hadn’t been in control of this last orgasm. Not at all. It was hard to mind, not when she felt so good.

“I hadn’t tried that position,” she admitted.

Damon’s hands paused in their massage. “I was worried I’d overstepped.”

Skylar lifted her head. The heat that had grown in her chest seemed to explode and leak out of her mouth. “I really fucking like you, Damon.”

His answering smile made it so she could breathe again. “I really like you, too, Skylar.”

Damn, that made her even warmer. “So, what? Are we saying this is a thing now? You know, you and me?” She frowned. “Because fucking like that felt different. But maybe that’s the orgasms talking?”

One of his hands moved to her hair. “It wasn’t fucking for me. It was definitely more.” The scalp massage had her head lowering into the crook of his neck.

“Oh. Okay,” she murmured. Her lips moved over his shoulder in a kiss, but she tasted copper. “Shit, I hurt you!” She started to raise her head again as she remembered the way her nails had dug into him.

Damon’s hands urged her to relax as his laugh rumbled under her ear. “You just clung really hard. I’m proud of the marks, actually.” His hand stilled in her hair. “I’ve never thought I was good at sex. I mean, you’re only my third partner.”

The idea of numbers made Skylar flush. She’d lost count a long time ago and had added scores of partners after the incident, mainly to bury the number six down deep, far from her conscious mind. “Fuck, that makes me feel like the slut he called me.”

Damon tensed against her. “Who called you a slut? Was it another of those texts?”

She’d forgotten he’d seen one of Jack’s texts. She patted his shoulder. “Down, boy. I don’t need you defending my honor. The truth is, I enjoy sex. No one is going to take that from me.” Especially not her ex, who seemed to want to so badly. Words pushed at her lips, ones that would share her fears from the day she’d had with him. She swallowed them instead. Her fingers rasped over the stubble on Damon’s cheek. “Oh, and you in no way suck, sweet face.” She lifted herself up to stare down at him. “You’re the best I’ve ever had. I said as much in those videos today, but it’s not a lie now. And that’s saying a lot, coming from me.” Her smirk didn’t sit quite right.

Damon’s finger brushed over her lips, making the attempt at glibness fall away. Damn, he could create tingles anywhere on her with his magical fingers. “I wasn’t lying before. I really, really like you, Skylar. Exactly as you are.”

Her cheeks heated, and she lowered her head to his shoulder again. She couldn’t be blushing. She didn’t blush. “Don’t get all sappy. I already said we were a thing.”

“The word you’re looking for is ‘couple.’” His arms wrapped around her in a hug that added more of that stupid ache to her chest. “But we don’t have to label it if you don’t want to.”

All the warmth, and the incredible orgasms from before, combined to make her sleepy. She snuggled into him, naked and vulnerable and yet somehow comfortable, because it was him, as she drifted off to sleep.