Chapter 30
Tease – an action Aurora will never admit to enjoying no matter how much she secretly does
Aurora
I wake when arms wrap around me and lift me from my bed. I slap at them. “Need sleep.”
“Shush, baby. Go back to sleep.”
“Jett?” What is he doing here?
He kisses my forehead. “I’m here. Go back to sleep.”
“You’re the one who woke me,” I grumble.
He lays me down and I force my eyes open. I scowl when I realize where I am. “What am I doing in your bedroom?”
“I told you. This is where you belong from now on. No more sleeping apart.”
“I thought the agreement was null and void when you ran away this morning.”
“Do you want to sleep, or do you want to talk?” he asks as he climbs into bed with me.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? I’m taking a nap with you.”
“You? Mr. Rockstar who spends all of his free time bungee jumping over rivers and hiking up volcanos wants to take a nap?”
He wraps his arm around my middle and snuggles into my back. “Yep.”
“But—”
He places a finger over my mouth. “Shush, baby. Get some sleep. We can talk later but first you need your rest.”
I debate arguing with him but then a yawn hits me. I do need sleep. Growing a baby is exhausting.
“Fine,” I mutter. I’ll sleep in his comfortable bed because I’m exhausted and I’m already here. But I’m not snuggling with him. I have some pride.
When I awake sometime later, the room is dark. Shit. How long did I sleep? I still have several items on my to-do list to finish. I better get back to work. I try to roll out of bed but an arm stops me.
“Where are you rushing off to?” Jett asks.
I tug on his arm. “I need to work.”
“It’s dinner time. The workday is over.”
“Crap. Mike is going to kill me.”
“Mike isn’t going to kill you. You have the week off. You shouldn’t be working this much.”
I groan. Not this again. “I’m not arguing with you about this.”
“Good. Because I have a trip planned for us.”
“A trip planned for us? What makes you think I want to go anywhere with you?”
“Because you love me.”
I growl. “And you made it perfectly clear how you feel about me when you fled the house this morning without responding.”
He sighs before reaching over and flipping on the lamp on the nightstand. “I was hoping you’d accept my grand gesture without us having to rehash what happened.”
I snort. “Have you met me?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“You’re not going to make this easy for me, are you?”
“I repeat. Have you met me?”
He chuckles. “Yes, I have. You’re my feisty girl.”
“Wrong. I’m not your anything.”
How dare he? How dare he claim I’m still his? Has he lost his mind? I start to climb out of bed, but he stops me again. My belly flips at how gently he places a hand around my waist to avoid injuring the baby.
No. Damn it. No! No belly flips. This is the man who didn’t simply ignore me when I said I love you to him. He ran out of the house and didn’t return until I was sleeping.
“Please let me explain.”
A part of me I’m not proud of warms at the pleading in his voice.
“Explain how you’re a coward?”
“Yes.”
I motion to him. “Please proceed.”
“No one’s ever told me they love me before.”
I rear back. This can’t be true. I know he didn’t grow up with parents or a family of any sort but his bandmates are his family. They love him. Surely, they’ve told him so.
“No one?”
He shakes his head.
“Gibson never said ‘I love you, bro’ to you?”
Another shake of his head.
“Cash? Dylan? Fender?”
He cocks an eyebrow. “Can you imagine Fender saying I love you?”
My nose wrinkles. “Not really. I figured the grumpy bass player would never fall in love. I have a folder prepared with the best places for rockstars to retire when they’re too old to take care of themselves.”
He chuckles. “Of course, you do.”
“Don’t laugh. Your name is on the folder, too.”
He sighs. “I deserved that.”
He deserves a hell of a lot worse but how can I kick him when he’s down? No one’s told him they love him before? He’s thirty-one years old. No wonder he has issues with relationships.
Okay, fine. I’ll put on my big girl panties and handle this the way an adult should.
“So, when I said I love you what happened? You panicked?”
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. Damn. How can I not love him when he looks at me with tenderness in those piercing blue eyes? I’m such a goner for this man.
“Not at first. First, excitement filled me at the idea of someone loving me. I couldn’t believe it. This wonderful woman who’s having my baby loves me. It was a dream come true.”
“And then the panic came?”
He smiles at me. “You know me so well.”
“I thought I did,” I mutter. Stupid me. I thought he’d respond to my declaration. Not with words of love. But with some sign of happiness. I didn’t think he’d run out of the house at the first opportunity.
He grasps my hands and pulls me near until I’m forced to straddle him. “You do know me.” I open my mouth to respond but he continues. “You know me better than anyone. The only other person who knows about Cindy is Gibson. And I didn’t tell him. He found out because I had a nightmare and was calling out her name.”
The thought of him having nightmares about the death of the little girl has my heart breaking.
I place my hands on his cheeks. “Cindy’s death is not your fault.”
“If I agree, will you forgive me for running away from you?”
“I want you to agree because you believe it. Here.” I tap his heart.
He captures my hand and lays it against his heart. “I’m working on it.”
“Close enough. I forgive you.”
His eyes light up. “You do?”
I shrug. “What can I say? I’m an idiot when it comes to you.”
He palms my neck to bring me near before his mouth slams down on mine. I moan and he thrusts his tongue into my mouth. His taste is wild, the same way he is. I thread my fingers through his hair to keep him close.
I feel him harden and lengthen beneath me. I shuffle forward until his hardness hits my core where I need it.
“Yes,” I hiss.
This is what I need. This is all I need.
Jett wrenches his lips from mine and lifts me before setting me next to him.
“What are you doing?” I gasp out.
“We have an appointment. I don’t want to miss it.”
“But.” I motion toward his crotch.
“We’ll handle this later.”
“What appointment could be more important than this?”
He rolls off the bed. Once he’s standing, he offers me his hand. “I wasn’t going to tell you but I guess I have to.”
“You’re not telling me anything. You’re teasing me.”
He helps me off the bed and kisses my forehead. “You enjoy it when I tease you.”
I stick my bottom lip out in a pout. “Not when my panties are damp and you’re not removing them from my body.”
His eyes close as he groans. “Don’t make this hard.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re already hard.”
He chuckles. “Now, who’s the tease?”
I shrug. “If it gets me what I want.”
“I thought you wanted some maternity clothes.”
My brow wrinkles. “Maternity clothes?”
He cups my stomach. “For when little Crimson grows.”
“Crimson?”
“Another kickass rockstar name.”
I groan. “The next thing I know you’ll want to have another baby and name her Clover.”
He grins. “Not a bad idea.”
I lift my eyebrows. “You’re not running away to base jump in the Grand Canyon at the idea of having another baby?”
He shrugs. “I haven’t felt much like base jumping lately.”
I slap my palm on his forehead. “Are you feeling well? Do I need to make an appointment with the doctor?”
“Maybe having a family with you is enough adventure and I don’t need anything more.”
My heart melts. Those words are practically an I love you in Jett’s world. But I know better than to point out the observation. The rockstar drummer is skittish. Witness the running away this morning.
“What’s this about an appointment and maternity clothes?”
His eyes sparkle. “I knew you wanted some maternity clothes.”
I’m not excited about buying clothes because I’m getting as big as a house, but I’ll do pretty much anything to make Jett happy.
“Go on.” He releases me and pushes me toward the bathroom. “Get ready to go. Our appointment is in an hour.”
I refuse to budge. “We don’t need an appointment to buy clothes.”
“We do if we want privacy.”
Ah, now I understand. “You’re worried about being recognized.”
He stalks toward me. “I don’t give a shit about getting recognized. But my time with you and Elton is precious. I don’t want anyone interrupting it.”
I nearly swoon at his words. My knees go weak and I find it hard to catch my breath. But there’s a reason Jett calls me his feisty girl.
“We are not naming our baby Elton.”
“You don’t like it? It’s a good name.”
“For a boy.”
“Don’t be judgmental.”
“I’m vetoing the name. End of discussion.”
“Fine. Elvis it is.”
I growl. “You’re going to drive me crazy before Little Bean is born.”
“Then, we’ll be even since you drive me crazy all the time, feisty girl.”
I do the mature thing. I stick out my tongue before whirling around to march toward the bathroom.
“Be ready to leave in fifteen minutes,” Jett hollers after me.
“Whatever,” I mumble.
Once I’m behind a closed door, I slump against it and place a hand over my racing heart. I was pissed as hell at Jett for walking out on me this morning. But now I’m ready to be all in with him again.
This rockstar is not going to be easy to catch. But catch him, I will.
Or I’ll break my heart.
It’s a toss-up at this point.