Come Together

Xane gave her a gentle push towards the stairs. ‘Let’s go.’

‘Can’t we nab the double?’

He shook his head. ‘The double’s normally assigned on a rota, but I suspect Elspeth’s going to lay claim to it, and frankly I don’t feel like arguing. If she’s got a room to hide in that I don’t have to go near, then all the better.’

To be fair, Dani couldn’t argue with that logic either. She didn’t particularly relish the thought of spending six months cooped up with his ex-girlfriend any more than he did. ‘OK, so if Elspeth has the bedroom, won’t that make it difficult for Ash to entertain anyway? I mean, he can hardly have an orgy in a bunk bed.’

‘Knowing Ash he’d use someone else’s bed.’

She frowned and wondered again if Ginny really did know what she was getting herself into. Xane made him sound like a diabolical slut. She prayed, for Ginny’s sake, he was exaggerating.

The sleeping quarters occupied the middle section of the upper floor. ‘Top or bottom?’ Dani asked. There were three bunks on each side.

Xane immediately vaulted up onto the middle bunk on the righthand side. ‘Neither.’ He turned onto his back and wriggled a little to test out the mattress. ‘Not bad. Not bad at all. Come on up.’

She ought to have known he’d opt for the middle. After all, he’d spent numerous nights in the centre of a three-way. She shoved the thought of him sandwiched between Elspeth and Steve to the back of her head. It was only her guess that they’d engaged in that sort of sex anyway. Xane had never explicitly said that the three of them had shared a bed at the same time.

Xane rolled onto his side to look at her. ‘Which one do you want?’

All the bunks were identically made up with the same smart black and white coverings, so the only actual difference was the positioning. ‘This one.’ She opted for the bunk directly below Xane’s. Kneeling to crawl into bed seemed less hassle than having to scurry up and down a ladder. She didn’t possess Xane’s height or agility to be able to easily hop up into even the middle bunk.

Dani crawled into her new home and stretched out, getting herself acquainted with the space. A shelf ran along the entire length of the back wall. She also had her own TV/DVD combo set into the wall at her feet, and there seemed to be a multitude of odd little cubbyholes too.

A line of switches sat directly above her head. Dani tested one at random and the lights dimmed. The second closed the curtains, concealing her from the rest of the room.

Xane stuck his head under the curtains. ‘I hope you’re not intentionally shutting me out.’ He crawled in beside her and stretched out on his side.

‘Just testing things out.’ She flicked a few more switches on and off.

‘There wasn’t any of this stuff on the old bus. I guess it’s a welcome improvement, even if we do have to share with Ash. These bunks are easily a foot and a half wider than the old ones. Want to know how I can tell?’ He kissed his index finger and pressed it to the tip of her nose. ‘Because we’re not squashed together like sardines. In the past, we’d have had to be like this if we’d wanted to lie down together.’ He rolled on top of her, with his knees tucked tight against her sides and his body hunched low as though there were no headspace at all above him.

‘Cosy,’ she said, putting her arms around him too. ‘I might be mistaken, but I seem to recall you saying something about my knickers coming off.’

Xane lifted himself on his elbows a little so that they weren’t pressed quite so tightly together. ‘I did, didn’t I.’

‘You did.’

‘Did I cite a reason?’ he teased.

As if he didn’t know. ‘I think you were planning a bit of a workout.’

‘I think I’d need gym clothes for that, wouldn’t I? Not your panties.’

Dani slapped him on the shoulder. ‘Stop it.’

‘Don’t you like my teasing?’ He arched his body at that exact moment so that the swell of his erection pressed tight against the apex of her thighs.

‘Mm,’ she groaned.

‘Is this the “mmm” bit?’ He rolled his hips again, thus teasing her in exactly the right spot. ‘I’ve really fucking missed you, have I mentioned that yet? I wanted your arms around me so much.’ He explored the side of her jaw, nipped her earlobe, then trailed kisses down to the pulse point in her throat.

‘I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.’ She sought a route inside his shirt, clawed at the skin of his back until he growled and pulled away.

Xane breathed out jerkily. His hot hands slid down to her waist, and a second later he had her jeans around her knees. ‘I do like these knickers,’ he said, twanging the side elastic of her bit of Black Halo merchandise. ‘Although I like them down here best, where they can be all pretty but not get in the way.’ They followed her jeans down to her knees.

It wasn’t so long ago Dani had balked at the mere thought of being this exposed, but when Xane crouched over her, looking at her, she knew he wasn’t seeing her hundreds of scars, only the prize awaiting him between her thighs.

‘You smell so sweet.’ He stuck out his tongue, and her body wept in anticipation. He didn’t make her wait too long. His tongue tickled her navel first, before delving lower. He licked along the split of her lips, teasing, tantalising her with the promise of more, so that she arched off the bed towards him, offering herself up.

When his tongue finally touched her clit, the jolt zapped through her like ten thousand volts. She clawed the bedclothes.

‘This bit?’ he enquired. ‘This spot here? Buck for me some more.’

She did, her muscles jumping without conscious input on her part. Wild fire raged inside her whenever he touched her with his mouth.

‘What exactly is it that gets you so twitchy?’

‘Do that again?’

He licked her clit again, using his tongue stud against the underside.

Hell, yeah! That turned her to mush every time. It damn near short-circuited her brain. If tongue studs became standard and more guys were prepared to do this, the world would become a happier place overnight.

‘What about if I tickle this bit too?’ he said, briefly touching her rear entrance.

Oh, God, no. She couldn’t take it. It was too sensitive and too naughty. But then Xane did love being rude. He liked pushing boundaries, doing things in places he shouldn’t. He’d proved several times over how much fun doing those things could be too.

The thought of him sliding into her rear, pounding her hard that way, made her gasp. If the rest of the band turned up while he was doing that, it’d be totally embarrassing. Not that she wouldn’t die anyway if they arrived now, while she had her panties round her knees.

‘Like that thought, don’t you?’ Xane’s breath whispered against her skin. ‘I know you do. You like to pretend you’re all prim, but I know the real you. I know you like it when I put my dirty fingers in dirty places.’

‘Yes,’ she breathlessly agreed. There didn’t seem to be any sense in denying it. Not when she was already reacting to him stroking her there. He tantalised her with the press of one fingertip, pushing it in enough to light up her nerve-endings and make her feel ridiculously naughty. She knew he liked sex that way. She guessed that’s how he’d done things when he was with Steve.

Fuck! She had Steve Matlock in her head again. She wasn’t going there. She wasn’t. Not when Xane was coaxing this much pleasure from her body. It didn’t matter what he’d done in the past, or who he’d loved. He was with her now.

‘I’m thinking I’m going to need to get inside you real soon.’

He rose over her, and began a seductive climb up her torso, marking his ascent with kisses. When he reached the hem of her top, he shoved it up over her breasts, exposing her from her bra to her knees. ‘You are so fucking sexy,’ he growled, his voice a low hum in his throat. ‘Matching bra too,’ he observed before he unclasped it and sent it flying over his shoulder, before latching onto one of her puckered nipples.

Dani reached for him too. She managed to wrestle his shirt from him before he grabbed hold of her wrists and pinned them above her head.

‘Sorry, I can’t have you touching me.’ He rolled his hips as he spoke, driving his leather-clad loins against her pussy. ‘I want to enjoy this. Make it last. But you have me so stoked already with all those little crooning noises you’re making that I’m not sure I’ll last longer than a nanosecond with your hands on me.’

‘But I want to touch you.’ She liked running her hands across his body, every bit of it, though there were a few special places she was particularly excited by, like the indents that ran down from his hips to form a V shape, and the prize that led to. She liked the flat of his stomach too, and his collarbone, and tiny perky nipples. Normally, they were adorned by silver ring piercings, but tonight the left one was missing. A new band of ink decorated a spot over his heart. Closer observation revealed it to be their names entwined within the body of a serpent biting its own tail.

He’d permanently inked her name on himself. There were no tattoos on him that read ‘Elspeth’ or ‘Steve’. Maybe he genuinely was as serious about her as she was about him.

He cried out as she sucked one of his nipples into her mouth. ‘Off. I’m serious, Dani. Don’t. I will boil over.’

‘I can’t believe my body makes you that hot.’

‘All of you makes me hot. Now, back off and stop fighting me. Let me control this.’

‘Am I fighting?’ She tested his hold upon her wrists again. She liked it when he held her down, but she liked being free to touch him and rake her nails across his back too.

‘Seriously, woman. You can have your turn soon, but you need to keep your hands off me, or else me and my hard-on are going to have to take a little trip to the bathroom.’

‘How’s that going to help?’ She pictured him standing under the bright fluorescent light, his erection hugging tight against his body.

‘You’d be amazed what a bit of icy water can do.’

She didn’t want him to cool off. ‘Wouldn’t you rather slip it someplace warm?’ She lifted her hips to collide with his. He hadn’t forbidden her that, or her giving him kisses.

He made a shocked sound, and his eyelids closed.

Xane shook himself, but not before Dani had used his moment of distraction to free her hands and unfasten his fly. She didn’t care if he went from nought to ninety in sixty seconds. She wanted him now.

‘Which part of not touching me didn’t you get?’

‘Every part.’ She thrust her hand inside the back of his leather jeans in order to dig her fingertips into the lovely springy muscles of his arse.

Xane made more of those high-pitched noises, which she decided she rather liked. However, while his arse was glorious and totally squeezable, there was another part of him she was more desperate to feel.

Dani brought one hand between them to encircle his shaft. He was definitely upright, so hard the skin was stretched taut and he was leaking copiously. She massaged the fluid into his length, while watching his expression carefully so as not to push him over the edge. She loved stroking him and the feel of all that power in her hand.

Xane kept his eyes tightly closed and his teeth gritted. Each breath came out like a wheeze.

‘No, don’t stop,’ he pleaded, when she dared to take her hands off him.

‘I thought you said I was going to push you too far if I touched you.’

‘You should touch me,’ he said, revising his opinion. ‘You should touch me all over … everywhere.’

‘I’ve a better idea. Why don’t you put this –’ she gave his erection a squeeze ‘– where we both know it wants to be?’ She was more than ready for him.

Immediately, he twisted at the waist and tried to fish something from his back pocket.

‘No,’ she said, realising that he was searching for a condom. ‘You don’t need to dress up.’

Xane turned back to stare at her. ‘You’re sure?’ They’d both been given clean bills of health, and he knew she’d started taking birth control pills. ‘Has it been long enough?’

‘Yeah. Make love to me, Xane. I want to feel what it’s like when there’s nothing separating us.’ She’d never made love like that.

‘I want to feel that too.’

It took a bit of wriggling to line things up, mostly because their trousers were still snagged around their legs. She didn’t care. She’d been waiting in fevered anticipation of this moment from the day she’d swallowed her first pill.

‘Oh, oh, God!’ It was absolutely worth the wait.

Chapter 9

Xane held himself still, savouring the moment. He was balls deep inside her, and the walls of her pussy were hugging him so tightly he feared for a moment he genuinely would lose control and come on the first thrust like some gauche boy. He’d totally forgotten how good this could be. Not that there was anything wrong about sex with a condom, but it was so damned smooth without.

‘You feel so –’

‘Yes,’ she agreed, instinctively understanding. ‘Move a little.’

Just a little. Yes, he thought he could do that without blasting off into space. He lifted his hips, hated the loss of contact and slid back down. Dani groaned right along with him.

‘Oh, God, you feel so good.’

Agreed. Totally agreed. Though what came out of his mouth was more a guttural groan.

When it came to sex, Xane had done almost everything at least once. Even this, way back in the dim days of his youth, before Black Halo hit it big and he got wise to the ways of the world. But none of his past partners had ever meant anything to him. None of them ever came close to touching his heart in the way Dani did. They met and hooked up, fucked and moved on, with the one exception of Steve, and he was gone and no longer an option. The thought left him momentarily choked, but then he stared down at Dani and all the dark shadows in his life rolled away.

Xane wasn’t sure he believed in soulmates, but if they did exist then Dani was definitely his, because that’s what it felt like, being deep inside her sans condom, that they were meant to be bound together. That the only way the universe could continue to exist was if they remained joined in this way.

Beneath him, Dani struggled against the confines of her clothing. ‘Get these ruddy things off.’ She managed to dislodge her shoes. Xane helped her rip her jeans off, whereupon her legs wrapped tight around his back so that her heels dug into his arse.

That was even better. He pushed deeper, and his body locked into a rhythm that paid no regard to his sanity. To be fair, he didn’t care if he was a blubbering wreck at the end of this. It was too damn good to stop.

She fitted him like a glove. So, so perfectly.

‘Lift up,’ she insisted a moment later. ‘I want to see.’ She released her grip on his body, so that he could raise his body as far as his hips. Her gaze, which had been fixed on his face, rode down his body. Xane followed her line of sight and watched his cock dipping into her pussy. Oh, hell, yeah! That was hot.

‘Can I touch?’ Her cheeks grew cherry-pink at the request.

She could touch him anywhere she liked. He nodded, still incapable of speech.

Dani’s fingers scisssored around the base of his shaft then drew upwards to stroke her clit.

She’d been really self-conscious about satisfying her own needs when they’d first met, but he’d taught her it was OK, that she should never hold back from taking what she needed, or asking for it.

‘Let me,’ he managed to gasp. Even though it was hot as fuck watching her stroke herself, he liked to pretend he was a gentleman. He used his thumb a moment, until a better idea struck him.

He inched up the bed a fraction, so that their hips weren’t quite so perfectly aligned. It meant each time he moved, his shaft stroked against her clit. The angle appeared to do something else too, because she was suddenly panting.

‘Fuck. That’s good.’

Xane smiled on hearing her swear. While most of his acquaintances and all of the band were foulmouthed beasts, Dani, as a rule, was far too nice to use such language. She always blushed after using even the mildest expletive.

‘Tell me that again.’

‘So-o good.’

‘I meant the same as you said it before. The uncensored version.’

She gripped his waist tight, head shaking. ‘Can’t.’

‘I want to hear you scream it. I want the whole world to know how good this is.’

She kept her lips pressed tight.

‘I can’t get enough of fucking you,’ he told her. ‘I want you always.’

‘I love you,’ she said right back at him, and he knew it was true. He saw it in her face, her eyes.

She was so beautiful. He was the luckiest man on earth to have found her.

‘How close are you, Xane?’ she muttered against the bare skin of his shoulder. They were sandwiched together again. ‘Because I’m so close … I’m going to … want us to get there together.’

‘Say it, Dani. Tell me how good it is, and I’ll be right there with you.’

She shook her head, while mewling hard.

Xane eased away from her a fraction. ‘You’re not going to say it. You’re refusing?’ He pulled out, though it damn near killed him to do so. He wasn’t far from the point of no return himself. ‘Reckon I can persuade you.’

He flipped her over and used the wetness seeping from her pussy to lubricate the slide of his cock against her bottom.

‘Oh, fuck!’ she blurted immediately. ‘You’re not going to. Not here. People might arrive.’

‘You think? That’d make for an interesting conversation, don’t you think? Hi, guys, this is my girlfriend, Dani. She’ll be joining us on the tour. We’ll shake hands in just a moment, as soon as I’ve done fucking her in the arse.’

‘You wouldn’t!’ she protested. He noted that she didn’t actually order him not to.

‘Just giving you a little encouragement. He pulled her up onto all fours, and slid back into her pussy. His back was virtually against the bunk above, but he didn’t give a damn. He suspected the restriction even added a certain something.

Not content with driving them both demented with his thrusting, he teased her back entrance again, and wiggled a finger inside.

‘Fuck!’ she swore. ‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’

Xane wrapped his arms tight around her body and pinched her already steepled nipples. ‘That’s right,’ he encouraged. ‘Say that naughty word, you naughty girl.’

‘Fuck,’ she said again, as he drove them both flat against the mattress.

‘Uh-huh. That’s right, Dani. God, I love fucking you.’

She matched his pace, slap for slap, their bodies slick from the exertion and completely attuned. Xane rode the wave right into oblivion. Lost his focus completely and came hard, aware that she was flying right along with him.

When he finally came down off his high, Dani lay breathless and still quaking beneath him. She nuzzled against his cheek. ‘You’re a bastard sometimes, do you know that?’

‘I thought that’s why you loved me.’ He squeezed her tight.

‘I think I’m lying in a puddle.’

Yeah, that was the hazard of skinny-dipping. Things tended to get a little messy afterwards. ‘Roll over. I don’t mind lying in it.’

‘For real? I take my last comment back. You’re an utter saint.’

They switched positions. Dani rested her head against his chest, breathing quietly. Only after sex did she ever seem entirely at ease in her own skin. Still, he took care not to touch her anywhere that would make her self-conscious. He’d got her to be comfortable around him when she was nude, and it would only damage that to draw attention to her scars in any way.

‘How long do you think we have?’ she asked. Pretty soon the rest of the band would find their way here, and they start their long journey around Europe. There weren’t quite as many stops on this tour as they’d played on past tours, but the venues were all considerably bigger. It’d be gruelling, but the fans needed a chance to say goodbye to Steve as much as they did.

He just couldn’t keep Steve out of his head, though the multitude of endorphins currently flitting around inside him helped keep at bay the melancholia that normally overwhelmed him when he thought about his friend. ‘I’m not sure. Not very long.’ He thought she probably meant to leap up and get dressed, or at least pull on her nightwear while there was no one around who might see her naked and ask awkward questions about the rows of regimented silver scars. ‘Why?’

Her pretty mouth opened into a smile. ‘Because, handsome, I’m not done with you yet. Have you any idea what it’s been like, having to be apart from you? You’ve taught me to –’ She paused and covered her mouth with her hand, but her shy smile had him intrigued. So too did the crimson blush that spread across the top of her cheekbones.

‘Go on,’ he coaxed, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze. ‘I’ve taught you what exactly?’

‘To expect … and, well, to like certain things. Then when you weren’t around, well … there wasn’t any action happening.’

‘There wasn’t any at the studio either.’ So they’d pulled fifteen-hour days. The best way not to get maudlin about the fact she hadn’t been around had been to apply himself to the music. The miracle had been that Ash hadn’t objected. No doubt he was making up for fourteen days without pussy right now by banging Dani’s friend Ginny and whoever else had smiled sweetly at him.

Dani threw a sceptical glance in his direction. ‘So my nightly phone calls didn’t prompt you to any sort of activity?’

He grinned, remembering the tension that had flooded his body every time they’d spoken on the phone. Most of those times, the sexy talk had indeed resulted in him heading to the nearest quiet corner to decompress. ‘That doesn’t count,’ he said. ‘Anyway, I bet you were doing the same thing.’

‘I was not!’ she huffed, then dug her teeth into her plump lower lip. ‘All right, once or twice, but only in the dead of night when I was sure Ginny wouldn’t overhear.’

He laughed. ‘That’s cute.’ It tickled him how uptight she could be about some things. Her years of abuse had conditioned her to think badly of herself for seeking pleasure. Her mum and those dreadful women had a lot to answer for. If he had his way, they’d be locked up for their crimes, but Dani was insistent that it would result in more harm than good. Mostly, though, he suspected she simply didn’t want to relive the pain.

Dani looked at him contemplatively, as though she’d tuned into his thoughts.

‘What?’ he asked.

She shook her head, casting off the sudden darkness. ‘I just realised, I’m naked and you’re not. Get undressed properly otherwise it’ll look really slutty if anyone comes in.’

Like she wouldn’t be covered up and hidden at the sound of the first footstep.

Even with the curtains drawn, she’d be convinced the guys were all lined up on the other side watching them via X-ray vision. Although, to be fair, if they had X-ray goggles, they probably would be.

‘How’s this going to work?’ she asked, seeming to realise what she’d just said.

‘Don’t worry,’ Xane said, tucking her against him. ‘They probably won’t even remember you’re here. In fact, if you’re really unfortunate, that’s exactly what’ll happen, and then you’ll have to put up with four naked male bottoms wiggling about in front of your face in addition to mine.’

The notion instantly sobered her. ‘You mean, you all strip off in front of each other?’

‘Have you seen the size of the bathroom? Babe, it’s like a locker room in here. There’ll be so many arses waving about you’ll not be able to look in any direction without being mooned.’

‘It’s not their backsides waving about I’m concerned over. What if I walk into one of them and they’re hard?’

‘Then tell him to get it out of your face, or I’ll tear the fucking thing off.’ He wasn’t having anyone making any moves on her, and, while he trusted Spook to be a gentleman, he didn’t put it past Ash or Paul to try it on. Ash didn’t understand the concept of exclusivity, total man-whore that he was. As for the new guy, Iain, well … who knew a damn thing about him? With any luck he’d turn out to be gay.