Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 82010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82010 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
“You’ve watched my career?”
“I came to see you last time you were in Sydney,” he admitted, a coy smile tugging at the corners of his soft lips. “I have hours and hours of footage of you – interviews, concerts, music videos…”
“Wow.”
“I love you, Sawyer. I’ve always loved you.”
“Jake I-”
“Shh,” he commanded, placing a gentle finger over my lips. “It’s too soon for you. I’ve sprung so much on you in just a few days. I don’t need you to say it back. Not yet. I just needed you to know that this isn’t some lame attempt to relive my youth, or to mess with your head. I’m back here because I was fucking miserable trying to live without you, and I owed it to both of us to return to you and try. If you knocked me back, at least I’d done all I could and I wouldn’t spend my life with regrets.”
Before I had chance to rethink my decision, I craned my neck to the side and leaned in to kiss him. His body stiffened for a brief moment, no doubt from surprise at my forwardness, but then he relaxed into the kiss, winding his fingers into my hair and dipping his tongue into my mouth. Neither of us had shaved yet, and the sound of our stubble scratching together sent delicious shivers down my spine. Everything about him felt right. He’s a strapping man – built, strong… yet he has the most tender touch I’ve ever experienced. Our bodies fit together perfectly, our cocks resting at a similar height, enabling our arousals to rub together.
“I need to go,” I whispered, reluctantly pulling away from his mouth. “How are we going to do this?”
“Work together you mean?”
“Um, yeah,” I muttered quietly. The shame I felt embarrassed me – it felt like I was letting him down. Even so, going public with this was not, and will never be, and option.
“Don’t worry – I promise not to pounce on you in front of the guys. We will find a way to do this, baby. I promise.”
“Baby – you can’t call me baby.”
“You don’t like me calling you baby?”
“No I… I, um…I do like it. But you need to be careful you don’t slip up when we’re not alone.”
“I won’t let you down, Sawyer,” he promised, cupping my cheek. “You can trust me.”
I wished I could say the same, but in truth, I didn’t know if he could trust me yet. Despite how wonderful his arms felt when they were wrapped around me, I still didn’t know if I would run for the fucking hills the first chance I got.
“I’ve really gotta go,” I said. Leaning over and lightly kissing my forehead, Jake nodded.
“Don’t be too hard on Claire. You know you’ve been acting like a complete shit to her ever since I got here?”
“Yeah,” I agreed, sighing. “But in my defence she’s annoying as fuck at times.”
Laughing softly, he rolled his eyes at me.
“Go on, go,” he said, shooing me towards the door. As my hand pressed down on the door handle, he gripped me from behind and positioned his lips against my ear.
“If you jack off in the shower, make sure you think of me,” he whispered, ensuring that I would indeed be jerking off in the shower.
“You’re gonna kill me, Jake Reed.”
“But not before showing you the world, Sawyer Knight.”
Inhaling deeply and trying to ignore the throb in my cock, I eased away from him and opened the door. After quickly scanning the corridor to make sure no one saw me leave, I practically sprinted to my suite. Once the door was closed behind me, I slid straight to the floor, propping my back up against it and letting my head fall into my hands.
Then I inhaled for what felt like the first time in hours.
“THANK YOU, LONDON – AND GOODNIGHT!” I called out to the twenty-thousand plus people in front of us, screaming our names and waving banners with our faces on in the air. The crowd went crazy, jumping up and down and screaming so loudly the stage vibrated beneath my feet.
The lights dimmed, and after unhooking my guitar from around my neck and pulling out my earplugs, I ran off the stage with the guys following behind me.
“Fucking amazing show!” Kip hollered, clapping me on the back as we jogged down the steps backstage. He was right – this feeling was like an addiction. The crowd, the atmosphere, the music… it’s euphoric. Glorious. It makes you feel like a freaking god.
“Sure was!” I agreed, wiping the sweat from my forehead on the back of my forearm. We were swallowed by our security team as soon as we hit the bottom step. Jake and Neil flanked me either side, ushering me towards the exit.
“The car door is open and waiting for you,” Jake told me, even though I was fully acquainted with the protocol. Nodding, I continued down the large corridor and to the exit. With one arm shielding me, Jake used his other to open the fire door where we were met with arena security who guarded the doors while we made it to our respective cars. Somehow, photographers had found a way into this private part of the arena grounds, they always do, and I looked to the ground, ignoring them as they yelled my name and tried to blind me with flashing lights.
“Amazing show,” Jake whispered to me with what can only be described as a proud smile. He didn’t need to touch me for me to feel him all over my body. Sliding into the back seat next to me, his warm breath swept over my face, his spicy aftershave teased my nose, making me want to bury my face in his neck so I could inhale the full scent of him, and his gaze brought prickly goosebumps to my skin wherever his eyes landed on me.
As soon as Neil slipped into the front passenger seat, Jake immediately shifted into ‘professional’ mode. It was like he had an inbuilt switch that turned him from lover to bodyguard in an instant. Diverting his gaze to the windows, flicking his eyes from one to the next as if looking for any signs of threat, he straightened his body, squared his shoulders and didn’t look me in the eye again.