Idol (VIP, #1)(34)

“The animal?”

“That’s what I call the crowd.” I run my fingertips over her arm. “It’s a living thing, Libby. More than just individuals, a whole entity. You can feel it swelling up around you. It’s like…” I bite my lip trying to put the feeling into words. “How do you feel when you sing?”

She blinks in clear surprise, and her cheeks flush pink as she thinks about it. “I don’t know… Sometimes it’s the only way to get all the pain out of my soul. Other times, it’s like I’m flying.”

“Exactly,” I say, stroking her side. “Now imagine it at full throttle. You’re flying at supersonic speed. And all that energy just lights you up, until you’re hotter than the sun.”

“It must be something.” She’s gazing up at the ceiling as if picturing it.

“The rush is addicting.” I lean down and kiss the tip of her nose. “Almost as good as sex with you.”

Her pink lips quirk. “We haven’t had sex yet.”

“Don’t remind me.” I find that fragrant spot on her neck that makes her shiver. “Fooling around with you is better than anything I’ve done before.”

It’s the truth. Shocking, and yet it fills me with a strange relief, as if I’ve been wandering forever and finally come home.

Libby cups the back of my head, holding me to her. Idly, her fingers move through my hair. I close my eyes in pleasure, and her voice comes out soft. “I used to…”

“Used to what?” I prompt. That fine blush grows, chasing down her neck. I follow the heat with my fingers. “Libs.”

She takes a quick breath and talks in a rush. “I used to dream about what it’d be like performing at a concert.”

I rise up on my elbows. She tries to avoid my gaze, and I touch her cheek. “You have the talent. Why didn’t you try?” Why is she hiding here? This place is slowly suffocating her. She has to know this.

Libby shrugs a shoulder, her attention focused on my tattoo. “I’m a homebody. Hell, going to class in college was adventurous for me. And my parents…” She shrugs again, turning her head to the side, the pillow cradling her cheek. “Well, what they had to say about the life wasn’t entirely complimentary.”

“Warned you away, didn’t they?” I can understand that. There’s a lot of shit in my world. Still, it pisses me off. They had to know she had talent, that she was curious to see where it could lead. And they stomped it down before she could even try.

She pushes out a self-depreciating breath and glances at me from under her lashes. “They’d flip their shit if they knew I’d taken up with you.”

“Are you with me?” I ask carefully. If I have to fight ghosts, I want to know now.

Warmth floods my chest as she reaches up and traces my eyebrow. “I’m in this bed, aren’t I?”

“Fuck yeah, you are.” I kiss her mouth because I have to taste her again.

She makes a hum of pleasure. “I’m torn between demanding you go get those condoms and keeping you right here.”

My hands roam lower, filling themselves with her plump ass. “If it wasn’t for my blue balls shouting at me, I’d be all for staying right here.”

“Talk to you a lot, do they?”

I grin against her neck. “Yes. Right now, they’re saying, ‘If we don’t get acquainted with Libby’s pretty *, we’re going on strike, and we’re taking the dick with us.’”

She laughs. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“It’s a bluff. They’ll cave in a heartbeat. Besides—” I lift my head and grin. “My dick had decided never to leave your side.”

“Goof.”

“Only for you.”

Our peace is broken by a sudden slamming on the front door, followed by a familiar feminine bellow. “Killian James, get your trashy butt out here before I call the baby daddy police on you!”

I freeze, horror prickling my skin, as I stare down at Libby.

She’s gone still beneath me, her eyes wide as saucers.

Then they narrow. “I’m assuming you know the person trying to knock my door down?”

I give her a weak smile. “Yes. That’s Brenna James. My cousin and all around pain in the ass.”

Said pain in the ass is still pounding on the door and bellowing my name. If it wouldn’t upset my Aunt Anna, I’d kill the little brat.

Libby glances toward the door and back to me. “You knocked up your cousin?”

“Ha.” I glare at her and reluctantly pull away. “You’re a riot.” Grabbing my shorts off the floor, I haul them on and button them. “I’m letting her in before someone actually does call the cops. It’s happened before.”

When I’m greeted with silence, I turn and find Libby frowning at me. My back stiffens. “You’re not seriously questioning this.” I take a step back toward her. “Because I’m all for getting in that bed and demonstrating, in thorough detail, how you’re the only woman in my life.”

“Kiiiilliaaaaan!”

I swear Brenna’s screech could raise the dead.

“I think we’d have an audience,” Libby deadpans. She hasn’t moved from her spot. Less than five minutes ago, I was in there with her, warm and content. I’m cold now. I want back in.