Chapter 25
Aspen
I’m going to kill Penn.
For all Joz’s misgivings about being here, he’d thrown himself into Mom’s party. He’d charmed every guest, batted off my brothers’ not-so-subtle probing like a pro, and he’d even played a couple of his hit songs. Every single heterosexual woman in attendance had virtually swooned.
Including me.
And anyone who knew me would confirm I was not the swooning kind. With Joz, though, I was different. Less stiff, corporate, uber-professional woman determined to succeed in a patriarchal world, and more young, hetero woman who had fallen hard for the kind of man she swore she never would.
I’d seen enough relationships with rock stars end in crushing heartbreak to keep well away, but for all his public persona, Joz wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met.
Maybe if our lives had collided a few years ago, when he was in his self-confessed drugs and drink phase, I’d have put him in the same box as all those others, but he wasn’t that man any longer, despite the crushing guilt he carried over his ex-girlfriend’s death.
I caught Joz’s eye as my brother Roman bent his ear about something. Joz winked, and I swooned that little bit more. I was about to head over and rescue him when my cousin Asher approached me.
“You know you haven’t stopped looking at him all night.” He slung an arm around my shoulders and kissed the top of my head. “Love looks good on you, Aspen.”
“Love?” I fake-laughed, his comment a little too close to an admission I wasn’t ready to make to myself yet. “A bit early for that, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t. I fell in love with Kiana the night I met her.”
“You always have been a romantic.”
“It’s good to see you let your hair down.”
“You make me sound like a crusty old spinster.”
“Not at all. Just a woman who has always put business first, sometimes to the detriment of her personal life.” He let me go as his wife came over, and the way he looked at her like she hung the moon made me ache.
“He looks at you like that,” Kiana said.
I frowned. “Huh?”
“Joz.” She grinned. “When he thinks you can’t see him, he gazes at you with hearts in his eyes. That man is a goner.”
“What is with you two tonight?” I flicked my hair over my shoulder and made a big fuss of smoothing my dress. “First, your old romantic husband keeps blathering on about love, and now you’ve gotten in on the act.”
“Hey, less of the old,” Asher said.
“Don’t worry. You’ve still got it.” Kiana stood on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “You seem happy, Aspen, and I don’t think it’s an overreach to say it has a little something to do with a certain musician.”
“Anyone would think I was a miserable bitch before,” I grumbled. “A woman can be complete without a man on her arm, you know.”
Kiana nodded. “Oh, I agree. I’m not saying otherwise. I’m only telling you what I see. You’ve got this glow about you.”
“Probably all the orgasms.” Penn gripped the tops of my shoulders and squeezed.
I glanced behind me and rolled my eyes. “Oh, great. Reinforcements. For your information, commenting on my sex life is liable to earn you a knee to the balls.”
He chuckled. “Gotta get near me first.”
“Nope. I’ll just have Gia do it when you least expect it.”
He winced. “She would, too.”
“Oh, I know. Now, if you assholes, Kiana excluded, will excuse me, I have an intervention to make.”
Ignoring their laughter, I made my way over to Joz and Roman, who’d now been joined by London and my dad.
I was only joking earlier about ‘the chat’, but I wouldn’t have put it past any of the men in my family to take a chance to embarrass me or Joz—preferably both—for their own amusement.
When I got within earshot, however, the first thing I heard was London asking if he could have an advance copy of the album Joz had just finished recording.
I inserted myself into the group. “No, you can’t.”
As though it was the most normal thing in the world, Joz slid his arm around my waist and pulled me into his side. “The boss has spoken.”
London made a disgusted sound, Roman muttered, “Told you so,” and Dad…. Well, Dad simply looked at where Joz’s hand rested on my hip and nodded in approval.
“Come on, sis. We’re family,” London pleaded. “That comes with perks.”
“Since when? You can stream the album when it releases like the rest of the world.”
“That’s my girl.” Dad grinned, his gaze shifting from me to Joz. “Although it looks like I’ll be passing that moniker on pretty soon.”
“And this is where we make our exit.” I hooked my hand through Joz’s elbow and yanked him away from my family before Dad got all maudlin and embarrassed me further.
“You have an incredible family,” Joz said once I’d created a safe distance between us and them and found a quiet spot away from the rest of the guests.
“I’m sorry they’ve monopolized you.”
“I think it was the other way around.” He tucked my hair behind my ear, his fingers grazing my neck along the way. Goosebumps erupted everywhere he touched. “I couldn’t get enough of the stories they told about you.”
I groaned. “Great.”
“They were all harmless.” He flashed a grin. “Mostly.”
“I don’t want to know. Come on. Let’s find Mom and say goodnight. It’s getting late.”
“It’s not even eleven.”
“Like I said, late. I’m tired.” I stared at him pointedly.
An amused smile played around his lips. “Are you hoping to have your way with me again, Spitfire?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I plan to do.” I spied Mom on the far side of the living room chatting to her best friend, Babs. “Wait here, otherwise we’re never getting away. Babs has an eye for hot guys young enough to be her son.”
“Hot, huh? What other adjectives would you use to describe me?”
“Stop fishing for compliments.”
I headed over to the sound of Joz’s laughter behind me, and I could not strip the smile off my face. Asher was right. I’d fallen in love with a fucking rock star.
Not that I had any plans to tell Joz. He hadn’t made a single comment that would lead me to believe his feelings ran deeper than lust, and I wasn’t planning to voluntarily have my heart stomped on.
“Mom, I’m beat.” I yawned for effect. “I’ll make sure I see you before I leave in the morning.”
“You better had.” She hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks. “Don’t leave it so long next time. I miss my baby.”
“I’m twenty-eight, Mom.”
“Doesn’t matter. You’ll always be a baby to me. Wait until you have your own. Then you’ll understand.”
I nodded, seeing absolutely no point in ruining her birthday by telling her I had no plans to make babies.
I wasn’t the mothering type. She had London and Roman for that, although neither of them had shown any interest in settling down either.
Roman had been married once, briefly, but that ended years ago, and he hadn’t had a serious girlfriend since.
As for London, he was having far too much fun playing the field to settle down.
“Aren’t you going to bring that fine man of yours over to say goodnight, Aspen?” Babs asked.
“No, she isn’t,” Mom interjected. “I love you, Babs, but you’re as transparent as glass. He’s twenty-six years younger than you. Behave.”
Babs cackled. I shot Mom a grateful look, gave her a final hug, and took off.
“Let’s go.” I captured Joz’s hand and beelined for the stairs.
Luckily, no one stopped us, although Asher’s knowing smile as I passed made me want to stomp on his toe in my pointiest stilettos. He was right, and he knew he was. Worse, he knew that I knew it, too.
Family. Pains in the asses, every single one of them. They knew too much, saw too much, said too much.
I was fucking lucky to have them.
Someone had been in my bedroom and turned down the covers.
Not only that, but there were pink and white rose petals scattered all over the comforter, as well as a bottle of champagne, two glasses, and a bowl of strawberries on the nightstand.
Next to them was a box of twenty-four condoms with a smiley face written on a Post-it note.
“I’m going to kill Penn.” No one else would’ve done this.
Joz chuckled and picked up the box. “He must think I have superhuman staying power. Twenty-four is over the top, even for me.” Opening it, he took one out.
“Even for you, huh?” I unzipped my dress and let it fall to the floor, then stepped out of it. “What’s your record?”
“I don’t recall.” He crooked his finger, beckoning me. “Besides, I’ve forgotten everyone before you.”
“You have all the right spiel, don’t you?”
“Aspen, shut up.” Snapping a hand around the back of my neck, he yanked me to him. His mouth crashed against mine.
I barely got a breath in before my back hit the wall. His hands were everywhere at once—in my hair, clasping my hips, diving into my panties like he had to have me this second or he’d die.
I felt the same way. I clawed at his clothes, desperate for skin-to-skin contact.
He wasn’t gentle, and neither was I. Fumbling with his belt, I finally got the thing open and burrowed my hand into his boxers, wrapping my fingers around his erection and giving it a hard tug.
He let me go long enough to push his pants and underwear down to his knees.
Batting my hands away, he rolled the condom on with practiced ease, shoved my panties to one side, and drove into me in one brutal thrust.
Groaning, I hooked one leg over his hip, pulling his hair, scratching my nails over his skin, biting his lips. This was how it was with us: raw, a little unhinged, zero to a hundred in less than a second.
“Aspen, fuck. I can’t—”
“Same. Don’t wait for me.” My voice was ragged as I tilted my pelvis, grinding against him. “There. God, yes, there.”
“Waiting, but hurry up.”