The Publicity Stunt

14. Chapter Thirteen

Kace has a four-day break, and he decides to show up to a concert in Chicago. He never told Bri he was going to be there, and he can”t get over this mesmerizing woman putting on a show many artists couldn”t pull off. Maybe it”s because of the way she opened up to him in Florida, but he hasn”t been able to get her off his mind. As much as he wanted to tell her he was over Sasha that night and give in to what he knew they both wanted, he couldn”t. It didn”t feel right.

Bobby brings him backstage after the show, and Kace can”t stop thinking about the new song she performed for the crowd. It was a ballad she”d written recently about falling in love when she least expected it, and every lyric hit him like a bullet. He has to know if it was written about him or not.

Bri steps out of her changing room and jumps when she sees him before throwing her arms around his neck. ”I didn”t know you were going to be here!”

”I wanted to surprise you,” Kace says, holding her tightly against him.

Setting her down, she smiles. ”I”m glad you did. It”s the best surprise I”ve had in a while!”

Tessa walks backstage with a clipboard. ”Babe, the car”s ready to take you back to the hotel. Oh, hey, Kace.”

”Hey, Tessa,” he says and looks at Bri. ”Can we hang out? Or are you tired?”

”Oh, I”ll be awake for at least the next three hours. It takes a while for the adrenaline to calm down. I”m starving, though, so I have room service coming to my room. Do you like pizza?”

His nose wrinkles. ”Depends. We”re in Chicago... what kind of pizza are you offering?”

Tessa laughs and walks away, and Bri smiles. ”The only type worth eating. New York style where the slices are the size of my face. But fair warning, you cannot judge me for the unladylike way I plan to devour at least half of that pie.”

”No judgment, baby.”

She takes his hand in hers and leads him to the waiting car. They sit close in the backseat, and she smells like some type of fruity body wash. His hand stays wrapped in hers, and he swears she vibrates.

”You love performing.”

”I really do,” she says and looks at him. ”It”s weird. It”s like I forget until I”m on stage. After the high wears off, I think I want to step away and hide from the world.”

”You”re amazing,” he says and kisses her temple. ”Watching you is like being placed under a spell. It”s impossible to look anywhere else.”

”That”s the point, isn”t it? If it”s easy to look away from me, I”m not putting on a very good show.”

Kace can”t take it any longer with the way her eyes sparkle as she looks into his, and he claims her mouth, pulling her onto his lap. Her body presses against his, and she has the same need he does as her fingers tangle into his short hair. The adrenaline from the concert morphs into something completely different, and he needs her. Every part of him craves her, and he plans to tell him how he feels tonight. He might explode soon if he doesn”t.

The car stops, and she groans. ”As much as I like this, I really do need to eat. I might pass out soon if I don”t,” Bri says and climbs off his lap.

”I get it,” Kace says and adjusts his jeans before following her out of the car and running past the flashes into the hotel.

They reach the room, and she immediately walks over to the kitchen and flips open the pizza box. ”Like I said, don”t judge me. I”m eating like you do when we go out,” she says with a smirk and takes a large bite of a slice.

He takes a slice, but he”s not hungry. Not for food. But he needs to know a few things first. ”Bri?”

”Kace?”

”Can I ask you a question?”

”Sure,” she says after swallowing her bite.

Laughing, he shakes his head as she takes another large chomp. ”The last time we were together, you mentioned needing a man who treats you the way everyone believes you should be treated. What kind of man is that?”

She finishes the slice and sits down. Reaching for a bottle of water, she takes a drink and tilts her head. ”I guess the best way to describe it is the simple things. I”m someone who cherishes the little things in life. I”d rather share an experience with someone than receive a lavish gift. I want to watch a sunrise and pick wild flowers. The man I end up with should want to harness and protect that side of me. Oh, and chivalrous. I”m a sucker for a man who opens up doors and walks on the street side of the sidewalk.”

”What would you say if I told you that”s exactly what I want to do? For you.”

Her eyes fly up to his. ”What?”

”That new song you played tonight... was it written about me?”

Swallowing, she looks at the ground, and a slight flush creeps up onto her face. ”Maybe.”

”I knew the last time we saw each other, but it didn”t feel like the right moment.”

”What are you talking about?”

Walking around the counter into the kitchen, he pulls her into his arms. ”I”m not in love with Sasha. I”m still angry and hurt because she cheated with someone I thought was a friend, but I don”t want her back. Her and I were just something I tried to force into what I really wanted, and she wasn”t the one. I”ve never just wanted to sit and be with her. Doing nothing and everything at the same time. I never felt with her the way I feel when I”m with you.”

Her chest heaves. ”Really?”

”I think about you all the time. And something about knowing you watch me on the ice makes me want to play the best I”ve ever played. I”ve even started thinking about things in terms of how you might want them. What would you say? What would you do? How can I be a kinder person? And that”s just not who I typically am. But you make me want to be better.”

Bri stares at him in silence, and he feels the nerves kick in. Maybe he completely overstepped and scared her. Should he offer to stay in a hotel room he didn”t book because he planned to stay with her? Maybe he was too presumptuous to think she”d be okay with just sleeping next to him like before if she wasn”t ready to have sex with him like he thought. Like he wants but can live without.

”Do you want me, Kace?”

”Yes, I do. Whenever you”re ready, I”m ready, but-”

Her lips crash onto his as she flies into his arms, and he wraps his arms around her immediately, holding her in the air. Her head nods to the left. ”Bed”s in that room,” she says, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her heart beats fast against his chest, and he brings her into the room. Setting her on the bed, he pulls his shirt off and smiles when stares with wide, blue eyes. ”Like what you see?”

”Can I touch you?”

”You can touch all of me,” he says, his voice low and husky.

Sitting up, Bri reaches out and touches his abs, her fingers running over his six-pack. ”I”ve never seen a man with real abs before. Defined, I mean. Everyone has abs under various layers of padding.”

”Your dancers have abs,” he jokes.

”And they eat four almonds a day unless I force them otherwise. You eat the meals of three people at any given time.”

Her amazement at his body turns him on, and he needs to relieve himself of his jeans. Slipping them off, he climbs onto the bed and kisses her, his hands running along her body before hesitating for any sign of protest.

”Kace,” she says as he moves to kiss her neck.

”Yeah?”

”For the record, you can touch all of me, too.”

Groaning, he slips his hand under her shirt and cups her breast, squeezing and toying. ”I need to see you, Bri.”

She reaches between their bodies and pulls her shirt off, and even though he knew from touching her bare skin she wasn”t wearing a bra, he still stares in amazement. His lips find her right nipple, sucking the pert pink bud while he toys with the other between his fingers.

”Oh,” she gasps and squirms beneath him. ”That feels good.”

”You”ve never completely lost yourself in bed before, have you?”

The flush he”s learning as her tell creeps up her body, and she shakes her head. Damn that Easton Duffy.

”When I”m done, you”re going to feel like jelly in the best possible way.”

”And what will you feel like?”

He smirks and licks around her nipple while staring into her amazed eyes. ”The luckiest man in the world.”

Her hands reach down to slip into his boxers and take his cock into her small hands. Her hips rock against his leg slightly as she strokes him, and he can smell her need.

”I want to taste you,” Bri says, catching him off-guard.

Five words have never sounded better to Kace, and he climbs off the gorgeous brunette to strip himself of his remaining clothes. He lies back on the bed, and she moves to his waist, laying on her side. Her hands shake in what he hopes is either anticipation or excitement, but she has no hesitation as she wraps her lips around him.

”Oh, yes,” he groans. He reaches down to brush her hair from her face to watch her take him as far as she can into his mouth. ”Bri, baby, yes.”

His words appear to have a strange effect on her, and she takes him even further into her mouth while she strokes the base. She”s not rivaling any porn stars, but he”s never been so turned on as he is watching her do what she wants to give him pleasure. It feels even better than he imagined, and when she moans, he feels electricity shoot through him.

”Bri, fuck,” he mutters. ”That feels so damn good.”

Kace rarely finds his release from oral, but she brings him right to the very brink of coming. Watching how much she enjoys sucking him off, mixed with the adoration he feels for her, creates the most intoxicating feelings.

His hand tugs at her hair gently to pull her back. He swears her eyes have darkened two shades to an almost black color as she looks up at him, and he wants to make her cry out in pleasure. ”My turn.”

Picking her up and placing her on the bed next to him, he kisses her, tasting this saltiness on her tongue, and kisses down her body until he reaches her sweatpants. He hooks his fingers into the waistband and slides them down with her panties, her musky scent making him moan while she lifts her legs to help him get her completely naked.

His hand takes her right leg and places it on his shoulder before kissing down her leg from ankle to thigh. Her left leg opens wide, giving him a full view of everything she offers, and he knows it won”t take much to set her off. Her lips and clit are already swollen, and he rubs her clit with his middle finger.

Bri”s body jumps as she cries out, ”Oh!”

”Does that feel good?” Kace asks, his voice low as he remains only an inch above her sex.

”You have no idea,” she pants, her hips shifting underneath him. ”This might be really inappropriate to say, but Easton couldn”t find my clit. You must have radar detection for as difficult of a time as he had.”

He laughs and lowers his mouth to her, licking her from top to bottom. Her gasp and fingers tangling in his hair tell him it was a gasp of delight. Swirling his tongue around her clit, he massages her opening with two fingers before slowly easing inside her.

Rather than resistance like he”d expect from someone inexperienced at the foreign fingers inside her, she seems relaxed and building towards her climax. It hits him just how much she trusts him and wants to lose herself completely in bed with someone. No, not someone. Him.

His lips close around her clit as he sucks, gently at first, and moves his fingers in slow, lavish moves in and out of her. Within minutes, her body starts to tense around him, and he picks up pace and suction until her body shakes beneath him, her muscles pulsing against his fingers.

”Oh, Kace,” she moans before tugging on his hair and shouting, ”Holy shit!”

He helps ease her down, and he chuckles. ”I think that”s the first time I”ve heard you swear.”

Bri”s chest rises and falls with deep breaths, and she looks down at him with hooded eyes. ”You were right.”

”About?”

”He had no idea what he was doing. But you? You know exactly what you”re doing.”

Reaching for his jeans, Kace takes out a foil packet and opens it quickly. She watches him slide it over his length before moving up to settle between her legs where his face was moments before. He”s so turned on and hard, he throbs.

”I”m going to go slow until you tell me otherwise, baby.”

”I feel like a ticking time bomb, Kace,” she says. ”I need you. I need to feel you.”

”God, your honesty is so goddamned sexy,” he moans and slides into her, hissing at how tight she is around him. ”Fuck, baby.”

He moves his hips and watches her face change from the O shape of her mouth to a sexy smile when she catches him watching her. Lasting long probably won”t happen this time around, and he wants to make sure she comes with him. Stilling inside her, he reaches between them to rub her clit and bring her as close as possible before shifting his hips again.

”Kace,” she murmurs. ”Move. I need you to move.”

Removing his hand from her, he moves to cup her face with his forearms on either side of her body. ”You feel so damn good, Bri.”

”Did you rub me because you”re already close?”

The heady look in her eyes makes him still. ”Just this first time around.”

”Let me go on top?”

”Fuck, yes,” he says and flips them over without ever removing himself from her body.

The level of experience she has makes him unsure how much he needs to help her along, but the moment she starts moving her hips, he knows she has a rhythm down.

She”s a performer who also dances, genius.

Watching her grind against him, finding her own pleasure, makes him crazy. Her small body has the most perfect curves, and he loves how unabashed she rides him.

”Touch me,” she pants.

His large hands slide up her body from her hips and toys with her chest. He twists her nipples between his fingers, and she throws her head back while her body moves against his faster. Her pelvis grinds into his with an almost frantic need, and he knows she”s close. Her entire body starts to tense, and he stares at a flush he hadn”t noticed earlier working across her chest.

”Kace!” she cries out, almost as a scream, as she shudders against him. ”Oh my God!”

Bri collapses on his chest, and he brushes the hairs stuck on her sweaty forehead away from her face. ”Better or almost as good as my mouth?”

Her lips kiss his chest. ”Better. So much better.”

”I need to come, baby,” Kace says and flips them back over.

”Take me, Kace. I want to see you fall apart.”

Moving his hips, he thrusts long and slow at first, but to his surprise, she slowly brings her legs up and sets them on his shoulders. He didn”t think she could feel any tighter, but she tightened down on his cock in this new position, bending her damn near in half.

”Holy baby Jesus,” she gasps.

”Hold on,” he grunts, shifting for better leverage to pick up his pace as she clamps around him. Part of him worries he might hurt her, but he watches her face to know whether he needs to pull back. ”Fuck me, you”re so damn tight.”

”Kace...” his name falls from her lips as another cry of pleasure comes out, and he has never known a woman to orgasm so quickly in succession before.

Clamping around him while her muscles pulse as she comes, pushes him over the edge, and he finally finds his release. ”Bri, baby, fuck!”

After his vision returns, he pulls out of her and lowers her legs to the bed. He tugs off the condom, tying the top, and tossing it into the wastebasket to the right before falling on the bed next to her.

Kace pulls her against him. ”Are you okay?”

”You know how I said it would take at least three hours before the adrenaline wore off?”

”Yeah.”

Her head rests on his arm while her legs intertwine with his. She kisses his chest and looks up at him. ”I didn”t factor in mind-blowing sex with the hottest man I”ve ever met in my life.”

He smiles. ”Mind-blowing?”

”I don”t quite feel like jelly, but that was unlike anything I”ve ever experienced.”

”I was a little worried.”

Bri furrows her brows. ”About what?”

”Because this means so much. I”ve had sex just to have sex in the past, but that isn”t what this is. And I never want to hurt you. I wanted to make love to you, and your trust in me is almost overwhelming. There was no resistance or holding back.”

She laughs, and Kace loves the sound of it. Craves it when they”re not together. ”This means a lot to me, too. Everything when I”m with you means so much, Kace.”

His lips find hers, and he toys with the wet hair at the base of her head. This is how it should always be.

”Okay, I have a confession to make,” she says.

”What”s that?”

”I”m still hungry. How about you?”

Stomach growling on cue, makes him laugh. ”I could always eat.”

”I”m going to grab the box and eat in here. I”ve always wanted to eat in bed, naked, after making love with someone. Who knew you were going to fulfill fantasies tonight, Kace?”

He almost asks what other fantasy he fulfilled, but she hops off the bed and walks naked into the kitchen to retrieve the pizza box. When she comes back with the food and more water, he thinks about how he could do this for the rest of his life. He”s been known to fight falling quickly for women, but he could easily fall in love with Bri. Hell, he might already be.