Fatal Desires (Fatal Cross Live! Book 1) Read online

  “Taylor needs to take better care of his woman,” Braxton grunted, his massive shoulders flexing beneath the ripped up shirt advertising a national chain workout facility. I scowled at his back as he walked over to the cooler to grab a bottled water. I didn’t think that I was Taylor’s woman.

  Speaking of Taylor, where the hell was he? Josh was over in the corner, talking to his sons and instructing them on what was left to be done before the other bands showed up. I took a seat at a small pub table and lifted myself up onto the tall stool. I had to hop a little to get myself seated. Sometimes it really sucked being so short.

  Just as I sat down, Taylor walked in looking like sex on a stick. He wore a thin, white shirt that stretched across his broad shoulders. His jeans were faded and rode low on his hips. His eyes brightened when he saw me sitting at the table, but when they took in the plate, he frowned. Turning for the food table, he quietly filled a plate and grabbed his own drink out of the cooler.

  “You need to eat more than that,” he scolded, rolling some grapes and a few pieces of strawberries onto my plate.

  “I’m really not that hungry,” I shrugged.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked, taking a seat across from me. He raised a brow, waiting for me to reply.

  “Yes,” I smiled, popping a strawberry into my mouth. “I’m fine, Taylor.”

  His eyes searched my face for a few seconds, before nodding and then digging into what was left on his plate.

  “Everything okay with you?” I asked, reaching for his free hand. He stopped eating and looked up at me through those deliciously long lashes of his.

  “It’s fine,” he said, turning his hand over so that he could squeeze my fingers gently.

  He still looked tired, like he wasn’t quite over the jetlag. I didn’t say anything to him, but I was worried that the stress of the new tour would take a toll on him. He’d been clean for just over two years, but he’d told me a few times that sometimes the cravings were there and those days were the hardest.

  How was I supposed to know when he was having one of those days? I wanted to help him beat this, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know if I was even capable of giving him what he needed. I’d never even tried drugs when I was younger. My cousin kept me away from the people in our neighborhood who preyed on the young kids, offering them a little taste. Kane had done his fair share of drugs when he was younger and he didn’t want me going down that destructive road. Maybe I needed to research drug addiction when I had some time to myself?

  “Cora?” Josh called out from the door. “You ready?”

  “Yes,” I smiled, slipping off the stool. I ran my fingers over Taylor’s forearm to get his attention. “Come find me if you just want to hang until the show, okay?” I didn’t know what else to say or do. Maybe, just maybe, he’d open up to me. I hated seeing him this way.

  “Sure, baby,” he smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

  Josh and I worked diligently through the sound check and had the guys ready to perform in no time at all. I grabbed my bag by the soundboard and made my way out to the bus. The back of the venue was cordoned off by a chain link fence, blocking out the fans who’d already gathered at the side of the building waiting for the doors to open.

  The opening bands had finally showed up and it was my turn to take a break before I was needed again. That gave me about three hours before the actual set time for Fatal Cross.

  As I boarded the bus, I squealed as strong, warm hands enveloped me. “Taylor,” I sighed, letting him bury his face into my neck. I was so much shorter than him, so he had to bend at the waist to hold me close to his body. His muscular arms were like steel bars as they wrapped around my body, lifting me up. My legs automatically wrapped around him as he carried me to the back of the bus.

  “What’s wrong, Taylor?” I worried. “Talk to me.”

  “I just need to hold you for a minute,” he mumbled into my neck. “Please, just let me…”

  He was struggling with his demons, and I had no idea how to bring him out of the darkness he had fallen into over the past few days. I was just relieved that he was holding me, instead of trying to find another more dangerous way to cope with the events that had led us to where we were in that moment.

  I rubbed absently on the shaved spot over his left ear, hoping my comforting touch soothed him. His body shuddered with each stroke of my finger. My own body melted into his strong hold when I felt his warm lips press to the spot below my ear.

  “Please, Cora,” he whispered, before biting down on my earlobe. “Let me get lost in you. I need you.”

  I knew that I shouldn’t be here. Our history put us both at risk. Taylor was trying to forget his demons, and I was trying to protect my heart. He needed this, but at what cost to me? We’d already found out the hard way that our desires for each other could be fatal. It couldn’t ever work out between us, but fuck, I wanted this…needed him as much as he needed me.

  There were no words spoken as his lips laid a blazing trail from my neck to the line of my jaw. I panted heavily and my body stiffened. He pulled back slightly, and when his eyes fell on mine, I saw everything that made Taylor Vaughn the man who’d stolen my heart on that island. I saw the pain that radiated through him from the guilt of not being there for me when I needed him the most.

  And that alone pushed me to accept the heated kiss that came next.

  His eyes closed at the moment our lips touched. His contented sigh had my hands going to his shirt, tugging it up his back. We parted momentarily so that he could rip it over his head, tossing it on the floor.

  My breasts felt weighted as he pressed his huge palm to my back, pulling me closer to his body. We pulled back from the kiss so that we could catch our breath. His eyes darkened with need, desire, and lust. My own hazel eyes were wet with unshed tears. He noticed and buried his face in my neck again, and I quickly realized that was the place where he felt safe and secure.

  His hands skimmed down my sides, ducking under my tank top in the back. I felt the catch release on my bra, my nipples tingled with anticipation of his touch. He growled softly when he stripped my shirt and bra off in one swift movement.

  Lips, hot and soft as velvet, landed on the spot between the two. He kissed and licked a path to my right breast, taking the hardened nipple between his teeth. I threw my head back and pushed my pussy closer to the hardness behind the fly of the denim jeans he was wearing. The slight bite of pain had me grinding myself against him, needing the friction on that spot that wept for him.

  It felt amazingly right, here in his arms, but the more reasonable side of me wanted to run. Could we ever be good for each other? Would Taylor self-destruct if I couldn’t handle a relationship with him? Hell, would I be able to let him go?

  His thumb replaced his mouth, rubbing circles around the peak. He pushed my body backwards so that I was almost resting against the top of his legs. I buried my fingers into the hair on top of his head to hold me in place as he kissed another trail down the center of my stomach, stopping to nip the soft flesh below my belly button.

  I gasped out in shock when he suddenly stood, holding me close to his bared chest. Skin to skin, my nipples ached as they rubbed against the smoothness of his chest. One of them grazed his nipple piercing and I felt my pussy flood with desire. He tucked my face into the crook of his neck so that he could look over my shoulder as he walked us toward the bunks.

  I didn’t ask him what he was doing. I’d never let a man rule me, but trusting Taylor enough to know he’d never let anything or anyone intentionally hurt me was as easy as breathing. Giving up control to him was a secret only he and I knew to be true. It was the only time in my life that I handed over the reins, and even he knew that was one of the hardest things for me to do.

  He knelt slightly to reach into his bag that laid across his bunk. I heard the unmistakable sound of a box and foil packets, knowing damn good and well he was grabbing a condom. At least this time we were going to be responsible.
I bit back a snort at the thought.

  My back hit the mattress on the bunk directly across from his. This was the bunk that I’d claimed as mine before I even knew he had chosen his. I shook the words from my head that said we were more alike than I wanted to admit.

  Taylor kissed a trail down to the closure of my jeans, using his warm hands to unsnap them. I raised my hips so that he could shimmy the tight material down my legs; the same legs that shook with anticipation and fear.

  “Beautiful as ever,” he cooed, running his finger under the waistband of my black lace panties. Goose bumps raised on the skin there, and I felt my abs automatically flex in anticipation.

  “Taylor, please,” I begged, reaching for the fly of his jeans. He quickly divested himself of his pants, climbing into the bunk and covering me with his warmth. The curtain was drawn, plunging us into darkness in the small sleeping area. There wasn’t much room to move, but there was enough to accomplish what we were there to do.

  “Tear,” he demanded, pressing the foil pack against my mouth. I took the wrapper with my teeth as he pulled the end between his fingers, tearing it open. I discarded the piece left in my mouth by turning my head and puffing out a quick burst of air, sending the piece somewhere off into the darkness. I couldn’t see what he was doing, but by the movement of his hand, I knew he was sheathing himself for our protection.

  Fingers danced along my hipbone, moving to the spot between my legs. At the same moment he took my lips again, I felt him press a finger against the slick folds of my sex. I rotated my hips and pivoted upward so that he could slide in with ease. His thumb rotated on the swollen nub that ached for his touch with each stoke to my dripping pussy.

  “You’re always so wet for me, baby,” he whispered in awe, releasing my lips so that he could slide down my body. He didn’t go easy on me when he pushed my legs out to the side, burying his face where I yearned for him most. He ate at me like a starving man, devouring every drop of desire my body had created just for this man. I couldn’t see him, but I could feel everything he was doing. Without my sense of sight, every touch…every tender lick was registering in my brain. I struggled to push his head away when the intensity grew to be too much. He growled out a warning and I obeyed him, dropping my hands to the sheet at my sides. Fisting the material, I bit my lip to keep from crying out loudly, fighting the impending release I knew was about to shatter my world.

  “Come for me, Cora,” he demanded. “You are mine. You’ve always been mine. I’m not letting you run from me again.” His words were cut off when he buried his face into my sex.

  I thrashed my head from side to side, refusing to let my body release. I wanted to let go, but I just…couldn’t. There was so much rolling around inside me that I wouldn’t let myself focus on what he was doing.

  The night on the island.

  The romantic dinner for two.

  A child.

  A pregnancy that didn’t last.

  “Shh, baby. Don’t cry,” he begged. I hadn’t even realized that he’d climbed back up my body and was now nose to nose with me, wiping away a stray tear in the darkness. How did he know?

  “I’m sorry,” I apologized, forcing myself to stop the tears. “I’m sorry, Taylor.”

  “Let me take the pain away, please. I need you just as much,” he demanded, his voice deep and commanding.

  “Help me forget, Taylor,” I whimpered, accepting a soft press of his lips.

  “Yes, baby…anything you need,” he panted, kicking my right leg out to the side so that he could fit between my legs.

  “I need you,” I whispered.

  “Let me love you,” he stated, as he took my lips again with force.

  It wasn’t a question or even an intention of things to come, because the next thing I felt was his hardness pressing against the opening of my sex. He’d barely pressed forward when my body opened up and accepted him like he was destined to be there.

  We both swore as he seated himself to the hilt inside me. The stirrings of the climax I had tried to deny myself turned into blazing fire as he wrapped his arms around my back and buried his face in my neck, the place he found comfort.

  My hips raised to meet his punishing thrusts, my nails scored his back as he increased the depth and intensity of his strokes. Our grunts and mewls of excitement only spurred him on, and I found myself raising up to meet him every time.

  “Come for me, Coraline,” he demanded, grabbing my tiny hand into his larger one and tucking it between our bodies. Together, we slid my fingers to my clit, rotating the area as one. As I touched myself the way I knew would help me achieve release, Taylor pressed firmly the way he remembered it drove me mad. “God, I can feel you clamping down on my cock, baby. Come on. Come for me.”

  “Taylor,” I grunted, feeling the stirrings of an explosive release. I was so close.

  “Cora,” he groaned out, rotating his hips one last time before I exploded beneath him. It wasn’t long before he followed behind me.

  He stayed above me, kissing me and petting the side of my face as I bathed in the post-orgasmic haze of our release. I didn’t want to move, because this state of peace I was in was something I’d missed since our last encounter. When he held me after sex, I knew that whatever we’d just shared wasn’t just two people looking to get lost in each other for one night. The unspoken magic that flowed between us was hot as fire and dangerous as sin, and I knew that eventually, I’d fall in love with Taylor Vaughn.

  That was…if I hadn’t fallen in love with him already.

  Chapter 14

  Taylor

  I climbed out of the bunk slowly and quietly, trying to not wake her up. She’d fallen asleep after we’d made love. She’d let me drown my sorrows into the only heaven that gave me peace anymore. She had her own demons she worked through, and I was probably the biggest asshole in the world for using sex to help myself cope with the things that were going on in my head. The guilt of not being with her when she lost the baby was the biggest one. The guilt of possibly being the reason for the baby’s death was the second.

  After getting a quick drink, I returned to her bunk, sliding in slowly. She was so tiny that I had plenty of room to snuggle next to her without discomfort. I closed my eyes in bliss when she wrapped a delicate arm over my chest, her thumb absently traced the cross tattoo on the left side of my ribs. I found myself rubbing the outside of her elbow with my thumb, finding more comfort in that small gesture than I should have.

  Cora was a contradiction. She was tiny, but she was also as strong as an ox. She’d worked with her cousin for several years, choosing not to go on to college. I’m sure Kane paid her more than any other tour manager I’d met. She was well worth the money. I knew that I couldn’t steal her away to work for Fatal Cross, but I was going to try.

  I laughed to myself, imagining how that would so not go over well.

  A little voice in the back of my head said that it could happen if I made her mine.

  My thoughts were interrupted when her body jerked awake. She gasped, cursed, and pushed at my shoulders, “Oh shit! Get up, Taylor! I have to get back to work. Why the hell did you let me sleep?”

  “Because you were so content and soft,” I smiled, kissing her lips. I had to pull away or we’d have missed the show because we were too consumed with being tied up together, burning up the sheets.

  “Work first,” she scolded as she climbed over my body…naked. “Playtime later.”

  “Hey!” I barked, grabbing her arm and looking around the bus to make sure there was no one around to see her naked.

  “What?” she asked, confused, cocking her head to the side.

  “You’re naked,” I snarled, very possessively.

  “So?” she shrugged.

  “Someone could’ve seen you, Cora,” I admonished, glaring at her. She had no idea how I would kill one of the guys if they ever saw her naked.

  “It’s not like they’ve never seen a naked woman,” she laughed, rolling her eyes. That wo
man was too damned independent for her own good.

  “And they will never see you naked,” I promised. “Or I’ll kill them…dead.”

  “Come on, grumpy pants, we have work to do,” she smirked, pulling a tank top over her head and sliding into her jeans. She pushed me toward the front of the bus, hopping on my back as I descended the stairs and giggling as I bounced her as I walked.

  Braxton was standing by the back door, watching the bus intently. I didn’t say anything to Cora, but she noticed. I felt her stiffen on my back. “Why is he always watching people?” she whispered.

  “He’s always been that way, but he’s a good guy, Cora,” I said quietly, not thinking it was my place to say anything about our silent drummer. “He’s loyal and protective of everyone. He’s the type of guy you want on your side.”

  I felt her nod and relax, tightening her hold around the top of my shoulders. My drummer slid in the door and didn’t acknowledge us as we approached the building. I let her slide down my back before we walked through the door.

  “Thank you for staying on board with us,” I said, pulling her to my chest. “I’m glad you said yes.”

  “Me, too,” she smirked, standing on the tips of her toes so she could place a loud, smacking kiss to my lips. She pulled the door open and bounced inside, throwing a wink over her shoulder. “Even if you didn’t give me the option to say no.”

  The sexy sway to her hips had my cock twitching to get back inside her sweet heaven. Damn, she was going to be the death of me.

  Chapter 15

  Coraline

  Watching Fatal Cross on stage was always a treat. The band was harder; grungier than my cousin’s band. Taylor was currently standing with his legs splayed apart, his guitar slung low across the tops of his thighs and his head thrown back with his eyes closed tight while playing their newest single.

  His jeans hugged his ass perfectly, and I knew this because he’d just turned to walk away from my spot at the side of the stage. My mind wandered back to just a few hours ago when my nails were deep in those firm muscles as he brought me so much pleasure.