Lick (Stage Dive, #1)(36)

It was the right answer. My anger melted away. I put my hands on top of his and the grip on me tightened.

“You want me to beat the shit out of him?” asked David. “Just say the word.”

I pretended to consider it for a moment while Mal watched us with interest. We obviously looked a lot friendlier than we had in LA. But it was nobody’s business. Not his friend’s, not the press’, nobody’s.

“No,” I whispered back, my belly doing backflips. I was falling so fast for him it scared me. “I guess you’d better not.”

David turned me in his arms and I fit myself against him, wrapping my arms around his waist. It felt natural and right. The scent of his skin made me high. I could have stood there breathing him in for hours. It felt like maybe we were together, but I no longer trusted my own judgment, if I ever had to begin with.

“Malcolm is joining you on your honeymoon?” Pam’s voice was heavy with disbelief.

David chuckled. “No, this isn’t our honeymoon. If we have a honeymoon it’ll be somewhere far away from everyone. Sure as hell, he won’t be there.”

“If?” she asked.

I really did love Pam.

“When,” he corrected, holding me tight.

“This is all real cute, but I came to make music,” Mal announced.

“Then you’re just going to have to f*cking wait,” said David. “Ev and I have plans this morning.”

“We’ve been waiting two years to come up with something new.”

“Tough shit. You can wait a few more hours.” David took my hand and led me back toward the stairs. Excitement ran rife through me. He’d chosen me and it felt wonderful.

“Evvie, sorry about the mouth mauling,” Mal said, sitting himself down on the nearest box.

“You’re forgiven,” I said with a queenly wave, feeling magnanimous as we headed up the stairs.

“You going to apologize for biting me?” Mal asked.

“Nope.”

“Well, that’s not very nice,” he called out after us.

David sniggered.

“Okay, people, we need to move boxes.” I heard Pam say.

David rushed us down the hallway then closed and locked the bedroom door behind us.

“You put your clothes back on,” he said. “Get them off.”

He didn’t wait for me to do it, grabbing the hem of my shirt and lifting it up over my head and raised arms.

“I didn’t think answering the door mostly naked was a good idea.”

“Fair enough,” he murmured, pulling me in against him and backing me up against the door. “You looked worried about something downstairs. What was it?”

“It was nothing.”

“Evelyn.” There was something about the way he said my name. It made me a quivering mess. Also the way he cornered me, pressing his body against mine. I put my hands flat on his hard chest. Not pushing him away, just needing to touch him.

“I was wondering,” I said. “After our talk this morning, when we, um, discussed signing the papers on Monday.”

“What about it?” he asked, staring straight at me. I couldn’t have looked away if I’d tried.

“Well, I wasn’t sure if you still felt the same way. About not signing them, I mean. You’d had a lot to drink.”

“I haven’t changed my mind.” His pelvis aligned with mine and his hands swept up my sides. “You changed yours?”

“No.”

“Good.” His warm hands cupped my breasts and I lost all ability to think straight.

“You okay with this?” He gave his hands a pointed a look.

I nodded. Talking had gone with thinking, apparently.

“Then here’s the plan. Because I know how you like your plans. We’re going to stay in this room until we’re both satisfied we’re on the same page when it comes to us. Agreed?”

I nodded again. Without a doubt, the plan had my full support.

“Good.” He placed the palm of one hand between my breasts, flat against my chest. “Your heart’s beating real fast.”

“David.”

“Hmm?”

Nope, I still had no words. So instead, I covered his hand with my own, holding it against my heart. He smiled.

“This is a dramatic re-enactment of the night we got married,” he announced, looking at me from beneath dark brows. “Hang on. We were sitting on the bed in your motel room. You were straddling me.”

“I was?”

“Yeah.” He led me to the bed and sat at the edge. “Come on.”

I climbed onto his lap, my legs wrapped around him. “Like this?”

“That’s it.” His hands gripped my waist. “You refused to go back to my suite at the Bellagio. Said I was out of touch with real life and needed to see how the little people lived.”

I groaned with embarrassment. “That doesn’t sound the least bit arrogant of me.”

His mouth curved into a small smile. “It was fun. But also, you were right.”

“Better not tell me that too often or it’ll go to my head.”

His chin rose. “Stop making jokes, baby. I’m being serious. I needed a dose of reality. Someone who’d actually say no to me occasionally and call bullshit on that scene. That’s what we do. We push each other out of our comfort zones.”