Rock Me Slower (Licks of Leather #3) - Jenna Jacob Page 0,74

if I caved and let my primal hunger run free, the aftermath was a guaranteed one-way ticket to sob city.

Warring between immeasurable pleasure and soul-crushing pain, I latched on to the first excuse that fluttered through my brain.

“We don’t have a condom.”

“I can easily remedy that.” A wolfish grin speared his lips as he started to pull from my hand.

“No, wait.” I gripped him tighter and stroked faster. “I’ll get you off like this.”

“What about you?”

“I-I’m fine. My head is pounding so hard right now, an orgasm might make it blow off my body.”

The carnal gleam in his eyes instantly vanished. Remorse lined his face. “Dammit, Mia. Why didn’t you say something?”

“I just did.” I flashed him a sassy smirk.

With a testy growl, he pried my hand from his cock, grabbed the shower gel, and quickly began lathering up. “As soon as we’re done, I’m drying you off and tucking you back into bed. Then I’m going downstairs to fix us some breakfast and get you some more pain meds.”

“You don’t need to go—”

Ozzy pressed a soapy finger to my lips and shook his head.

“Stop arguing with me.”

“Fine.”

“Thank you.”

As promised, forty-five minutes later, Ozzy returned to the bedroom carrying a tray crowded with coffee, orange juice, bacon, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, and fluffy biscuits with butter and jelly.

My stomach growled like a lion.

“Sounds like I got here in the nick of time.” He chuckled.

“You did. I was about to start chewing my arm,” I teased as I sat up and crossed my legs, giving him room to set the tray on the bed. “Lucia is spoiling us all rotten.”

“She didn’t make this. I did,” he replied indignantly.

“You did not.” I laughed before taking a gulp of coffee.

“I did, too. I know how to cook.”

“Since when?” I drawled, totally convinced he was bullshitting.

“I had to do something to keep from losing my mind when we broke up.” He shrugged. “So, I taught myself.”

I was so stunned by his confession that my mouth fell open. With a shaking hand, I set my mug back on the tray. “You were losing your mind?”

“Well, yeah. Weren’t you?”

“Yeah,” I whispered, unable to meet his stare…unwilling to let him see I was still haunted by the pain we’d inflicted on each other. “When you left, I stayed up all night waiting for you to come home. I was afraid to leave in case you came back. I didn’t want to miss you. But after two weeks, the fridge and pantry were empty. By then, I knew you were on tour with the guys, so…”

“So?”

“I-I had to start living without you again.”

“And followed through with the meeting you set up with Zattman?”

I nodded.

Ozzy cupped my chin and tipped my head back, forcing me to gaze into his tormented dark eyes. “I didn’t want to leave you, and I certainly never wanted to lose you. And I still want to kill that prick for hurting you. I’m sorry.”

Like a sword, his heartfelt apology sliced the raw and partially scarred wounds wide open again. Using the pad of his thumb, Ozzy brushed the tears from my cheeks. Leaning in, he pressed a soft kiss against my forehead.

“But you didn’t leave me any other options, Mia.”

“I know. I was so focused on seeing my name on a marquee, hearing the roar of the fans greeting me, like they did you and the guys, that I was blind to everything…especially to the things that really mattered.”

He shook his head sadly.

“When you told me that you’d been the deciding vote on whether or not to put our song on the Licks album…” I paused and sucked in a shaky breath. “It ripped me apart.”

“I know. But it wasn’t personal, Mia. I truly loved you with all my heart.” Loved. The way he used the word in past tense sliced my soul in two. “But I couldn’t do that to the guys. It was a business decision. Nothing but a business decision. Yeah, we’d been filling arenas and earning the big bucks for a couple years, but I knew putting a ballad on that album, at least back then, would be a huge mistake for the band.

Swallowing the lump of regret and pain clogging my throat, I nodded. “I shouldn’t have pushed so hard.”

“You always pushed…you still do. That’s why you’re such a successful artist.”

“But I ended us.”

“No. Your ultimatum and going behind my back ended us, sweetheart,” he murmured softly.

“I know. I shouldn’t have done that to you…to us.” I placed my hand