Bound to Please(9)

Ruby. Her sweet body had felt so good under his hands, and the way she melted against him when he kissed her, the way she gave herself over to his control—it got him hot as hell. She was so beautiful in her delicate submission.

“When was the last time you got laid, anyway?” Yvette asked with a smile.

He had to think. “Um, Seattle? Maybe it was Vancouver. It was a blonde, that much I remember.” The Riders had just finished their first big tour, and everything was blending together: the gigs, the towns, the women. Just one giant blur of time, with nothing standing out except the exhilaration of performing in venues that seemed to get bigger in each city they played.

Mark had a hard time picturing Ruby becoming part of that blur. With her huge blue eyes, gorgeous black hair, and delicate frame, she had immediately caught his eye when he’d walked into the trendy bar. But it was so much more than her looks that had his cock as hard as granite. He smiled. Hell, she knew what a Bazantar was and probably knew more about jazz than he did. And it intrigued him that she seemed to have no idea who he, or his band, was. She seemed perfect.

An insane desire to discover her flaws overcame him. Maybe she snored or didn’t recycle. Maybe she was a horrible driver. Maybe she wore flannel pajamas instead of the silk lingerie he could so easily picture her in.

“So, you ready?”

He glanced back to Yvette. She was on her second glass, but the wine seemed to have calmed her a bit; her fingers weren’t their usual preshow fidgety selves, and she didn’t look quite as ready to crawl out of her skin.

“Yeah. Should be a good crowd.” Ruby had promised to come. He couldn’t wait to play for her, couldn’t wait to see her again.

Yvette grinned at him. “So. This Ruby is different.”

Sometimes it seemed Yvette could read his mind, and it could be downright annoying. He decided to change the subject. “You’re just jealous because I get more girls than you do.”

She leaned back into the limo seat and gave him her sassiest smile. “You’re just looking for the perfect girl to replace me.”

“Maybe I was. Ten years ago, when I met you and I thought a pair of perky tits and angel’s voice equaled perfection.”

One of Yvette’s signature husky laughs burst from deep inside her throat. “And when I heard you play the first time in that dive bar? I did consider switching teams.”

He took off his glasses and polished them with the edge of his T-shirt. “Well, I think the fact that I don’t possess a vagina would have been a pretty large deterrent for you.”

She nodded sagely. “Indeed.”

“Anyway, I finally accepted the fact that I’d never get in your pants. I’m cool with it now. And you can have my leftovers.”

“Mark, even I don’t have the stamina to take up your leftovers.”

“Not many do.”

“So.” Yvette gave him a playful nudge. “You gonna get some later?”

Yvette loved to hear the details of Mark’s encounters. “I don’t know. She said she’d come to the show.”

Yvette raised a brow. “Huh.”

“What, huh?”

“I saw you come back from the patio with her. You definitely had her all a-twitter.”

Mark grunted.

“You keeping this one on the downlow or what?”

“No.” He slid his glasses back on. “Maybe. I don’t know.” Normally he shared everything with Yvette. But for some reason he wanted to keep this thing with Ruby between the two of them. He didn’t want to share her. In any way.

She grinned. “Interesting.”

“What?”

“Mark has a girlfriend,” she began chanting in a singsong voice. “Mark has a girlfriend.”

He couldn’t help but laugh. “Fuck off! I just met her, and we leave town in twelve hours. Not to mention the small fact that we live on opposite sides of the country. I’ll never see her again after tonight.” Oddly, that last sentence was hard to say, or think.

“Unless we decide to record here. Then we’d be here a couple of weeks. And I gotta say, I like Emmett’s setup. Very old-school. Hardly any digital.”

Mark had already been leaning toward recording here, but he had to admit the thought of seeing Ruby while he did so was helping cement the deal. “He said he could fit us in as soon as we want.”

“I’m game, and Jake’s down with whatever.”

“Yup.”

So that was it, then. They’d be here for a couple of weeks, and he could see Ruby again. Reaching for the stereo controls, he turned up the volume until a loud, steady thump from a White Stripes tune blasted through the speakers and filled the limo.