Rock Me Deeper (Licks of Leather #5) - Jenna Jacob Page 0,16

took the good with the bad and merely shrugged it off. But once in a while, he’d reach his limit—usually when I’d push his buttons too hard—and get angry and start ranting…saying things that didn’t make a lick of sense. Like now with his whole light-headed, hardheaded, makes no difference speech. Light-headed and hardheaded were two totally different things, but I didn’t think now was a good time to point that out.

“I swear to fuck, Caris, if you weren’t already beaten to shit, I’d turn you over my knees and spank your sexy ass red.”

A naughty thrill slid through me.

“So, you’re into kinky sex now?”

The second the question left my lips, I wanted to take it back. I had no idea why I’d asked. It wasn’t like Syd was going to magically open up and tell me all his dark, dirty secrets. The man had been like Fort Knox when it came his feelings, aspirations and what had happened in his past before we met. I, on the other hand, had stupidly confessed every wretched detail of my life when we were together. Syd knew I’d felt safer aimlessly roaming the streets than trapped in a foster home with unstable and alcoholic fake parents.

The night Syd had spotted me huddled against the frame of a grocery store loading dock, he didn’t say a word. He simply sat down a few feet away and scoped out the alley. After a couple of hours of sitting there silently, he glanced over his shoulder and told me to get some sleep. Told me I was safe and that he wouldn’t let anyone mess with me. His fierce, protective nature stole my heart then and there. We stayed together, hiding from the cops and social workers, for over a year. Syd rarely failed to find us a safe place to sleep or food for our bellies. He listened to me ramble on about becoming a famous artist and opening up my own gallery one day, never once laughing or making fun of my lofty dreams.

Yet in all those months we’d spent together, he’d never once told me why he’d chosen to live on the streets, too. Each time I’d broached the subject, he’d change it or promise to tell me later. Of course, later never came.

To this day, I still didn’t know why Syd had been wandering the streets, lost and alone, like me.

“Maybe. Why? Does that turn you on?” His suggestive tone awakened my traitorous hormones.

It does, like a damn a lightbulb.

Everything about Syd turned me on. Then and now. Of course, I had to save that secret and the naughty thoughts filling my head until I was back home, alone, in my bed.

“The food sure smells good,” I said, nodding toward the room service tray, praying he wouldn’t call me out for changing the subject.

“Yeah, it does.” A knowing smirk tugged his lips. “When you’re up to it, I’ll help you into the pj’s Mia dropped off for you,” Syd said, gripping a flat stack of white and yellow fabric in his hand. After crossing the room, he eased to the mattress bedside me. “Then we’ll eat.”

“I’m ready.”

I sat up and Syd helped me drag the silky top over my head. The material was soft but still scraped against my wounds.

“You doing okay?”

“Yeah.” I nodded, focusing on the balcony instead of my screaming nerve endings. “Would it be all right if we ate outside?”

“It might be a little chilly, but we can if you want.”

“It’s way warmer here than it is back home.”

“It’s still warmer at yours than it is mine.”

Earlier, when he mentioned a house on the lake, I imagined a huge log cabin with a massive wraparound porch, surrounded by tall fir trees. Syd had always loved the water and nature. The two summers we’d spent hiding in the woods, we’d wait until midnight, then go skinny-dipping in the lake that surrounded Diamond City. I could easily picture Syd’s place having a huge covered dock lined with various speed boats.

When I’d first discovered Syd was the bass player for Licks of Leather, I wasn’t at all shocked. Strumming his old beat-up guitar—his one and only prized possession—Syd would sing me to sleep each night after we made love beneath our big pine tree in the woods. His songs not only soothed me but provided an escape from the harsh realities of life.

Yeah, I was jealous he’d made it out of Diamond City and achieved monumental success. Syd hadn’t let his