Blame it on the Tequila by Fiona Cole (the reading strategies book txt) 📕

the feel of him still stretching me, the feel of his naked skin under mine—a dream I wasn’t sure would ever come true.

“That,” he breathed, “was so much more than I ever expected.”

He finally managed to support himself and pull back enough to hold on to the condom and slip free. As soon as he was gone, I already wanted him back.

Tossing the condom in the trash, he returned to hold me in his arms, brushing my damp, tangled hair out of my face so he could reach my lips.

Our kisses were lazy and slow and just as good as the frantic.

“Hold on,” he muttered just before lifting me up and turning us to the bed. As gently as possible, he laid me back and rolled beside me.

“You, Nova Hearst, are wild.”

I rolled to my side, fingered the supernova tattoo along his ribs. “Nonsense. I’m just trying to keep up with the rock star.”

“Psh. You may kill me.”

“Hopefully not. I’d like a repeat soon.”

“Oh yeah?” He leaned forward and pecked my lips, nipping the bottom one. “I think I can stay alive for that.”

“Good.”

“How about you show me what you’re working on over there,” he nodded toward the notebook on my nightstand, “and then we can shower.”

“Mmm,” I hummed.

“Have you ever had shower sex?”

“Can’t say that I have.”

“Good. I’ve only been dreaming about it since that first time I walked in on you.”

“Pervert,” I joked, shoving his shoulder.

He rolled on top of me, flicking my piercing. “Yup. And I can’t wait to show you every single perverted thing I ever wanted to do to you.”

“Yes, sir,” I breathed.

Fulfilling Parker’s fantasies after denying us for so long sounded like the perfect night, and we set about doing just that.

Twenty-Four

Parker

“So, this is what the great Nova, woman of the wild, does when she disappears into the woods?” I sank deeper into the warm water until it reached my neck, not taking my eyes off her. “Skinny dip?”

I’d seen her climb into the hot spring, confident in her nudity, but I didn’t want to miss a single peek if she decided to stand up and give me a show. It’d been about a week since that night in the hotel and I refused to miss a second of it. So, when we had a few days break between shows without promo, I asked Nova to show me what she loved. It was the perfect way for us to connect away from everything.

“When the mood strikes,” she answered flippantly, skimming her hands along the water. “Or whenever I need to get clean. Sometimes, I don’t have access to showers.”

I breathed a laugh, taking in the woman with the Sierra Nevada vista behind her, naked in a hot spring, her hair curling like flames licking at the mountain range. I remembered the girl who hesitated to show me her art and blushed at every compliment. I took the then and now and merged them into something more beautiful than what lay at the surface.

“When did you become so wild?”

She gave a coy smile from under her lashes and winked. “It’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for. They’re the rowdiest lying in wait for someone to share it with.”

“Oh, yeah. I think it was all that porn you watched.”

She tipped her head back, a laugh bursting from her lips. “I never should have told you.”

“You should have sent them to me so we could watch together. You should have video chat me and let me watch you. In fact, let’s make that a rule from now on.”

“You couldn’t handle it,” she challenged.

“Puh-lease,” I joked, putting on my best valley girl voice.

She bat her lashes. “I’m too wild.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

I pushed away from the edge, venturing into the middle to close the gap. “Show me later.”

“We’ll see.” Despite her doubtful answer, she leaned back, arching up to bring her pebbled tips to the chilled air.

At my growl, she giggled and submerged back in the water.

“In truth, I’m really not that wild. Usually when it’s only just me.”

“What about with the girls?”

“Sometimes. Rae can really pull it out of me. The third time we hung out, we went to a frat party, and I ended up dancing on a table.”

“Damn. That would have been a sight to see.”

“From the vague flashes of memory, I’m not sure it was.”

“So, is that how you met Rae and Vera? At a college party?”

“Yup. It was love at first eye roll. We were people-watching in separate places in the room and very unimpressed. I caught her eye roll about the same time I did mine, and we clicked. In an odd way. When we saw Vera do the same, we roped her in.”

“They’re an interesting bunch.”

She smiled and looked out at the sun slowly descending, causing the mountains’ shadows to creep closer across the vast desert toward us.

“Did you miss not going to college?”

“No,” I answered easily. “Not even a little bit.”

She looked back at me, her nose scrunching up. “Yeah, I can’t see any of you doing that. God, could you imagine Oren as an astronaut?”

Shaking my head, I remembered Oren barely making a front flip off of the stand his kit was set up on at the end of the concert last week. “Not at all. He’s the very definition of someone dying after asking, what does this button do?”

“Yeah, space is definitely safer with him on drums.”

Steam rose up, curling around her like I wanted to. The sun setting behind her cast her in a halo—she looked like an angel. My hands twitched to reach for her, and after so many years of denying myself, I didn’t hesitate to close the distance. I gripped her hips, and her arms snaked around my shoulders as I sat back on the bench someone before us created. She straddled my lap, and instantly I hardened at the brush of her core against my cock.

She sucked in a shaky breath, and I considered pushing inside her right here, but