watching you yesterday during rehearsals. Jacob should count himself lucky that the other girl was injured. You’re so much better than her.”
“Damon! Don’t say that,” I exclaimed, horrified but at the same time delighted with the compliment.
He chuckled. “I know, but it’s true.” His other hand moved over my bare shoulder, and my skin prickled at his touch, my body silently screaming for more. I turned to him, wanting to rest my face on his chest but fearing I might get makeup all over his costume.
“I miss you,” he whispered then, his mouth so close I could practically taste him.
“Then why have you been staying away?” I asked.
I knew we were both on hectic schedules with preparations for the show, but I still wished he’d find a moment to come to me, a second for us to just be alone together. He was vital to my life now, and I couldn’t do without him.
“Oh, petal, such reproach in your eyes,” he murmured, taking my chin in his hand and tilting my head, preventing me from looking away. “But what beautiful eyes they are.”
I swallowed thickly, my heart hammering. Between my stage fright and Damon’s closeness, I was certain the poor beleaguered organ would soon give out on me. I stared at him. “You use that word like a weapon, you know. ‘Beautiful’ on your lips should be illegal, Damon Atwood. It makes me weak.”
“I stayed away because I’ve been ashamed of my anger, of how I hit Blake,” he confessed suddenly, taking me by surprise. “That’s not the kind of man I want to be for you. Only the weak-willed succumb to their tempers like that.”
“You had a right. If Alicia had come to me and told me she’d slept with you, I’m not sure she would’ve survived the conversation,” I said with a hint of a smile.
Damon smiled in return, his face tilting curiously. “Oh, no?”
I shook my head. “I’d have scratched her eyes out.”
He was moving forward, backing me into a wall. “No, you wouldn’t. It’s not in you, Rose. You’re too kind-hearted. That’s why I love you.”
My gaze widened, my body froze, while my heart battered a frantic rhythm inside my chest. “Wh-what?” I whispered.
Damon seemed momentarily chagrined, like he hadn’t meant to say that out loud. But then his expression transformed, his eyes shone with a fierce possession, and his strong arms surrounded my scantily clad body. All in that one meeting of our eyes, I knew he was telling the truth. In a heartbeat, every look we’d shared flashed through my mind, from that initial fleeting glance across the dance studio the first time I’d heard him sing, to this one. This one that told me I owned his heart, his soul, his everything.
He dipped his head down, his lips brushing mine as he replied emphatically, “I said, I love you.”
One peck. Then, another. He licked across the seam of my lips, coaxing my mouth to open for him. So many feelings threatened to swallow me whole.
He said he loved me.
He said he LOVED me.
I was lost. Completely and irrevocably lost to him. His body melded itself to mine, pushing, seeking, grasping. I wrapped my arms around his neck, kissing him with every fibre of my being. He lifted my legs, and I wrapped them around his torso, our bodies flushed and heated.
I gasped a quick breath, momentarily breaking the feverish kiss to say, “I know this isn’t the time, but I need you, Damon. I need you inside me.”
He groaned, his mouth on mine again, his tongue hot and slick. We each began fumbling with each other’s clothes, not giving a care to the fact we had to be on stage in a matter of minutes. He swore when he couldn’t get to grips with my costume. Luckily, I easily got his fly down, sliding my hand inside his pants to palm his rock hard erection.
I jerked him slowly up and down, loving the silky feel of him. His hands fell away from me for a moment, his head dropping to my shoulder as a deep, rumbly sigh escaped him.
“Fuck, Rose,” he grunted.
“I want you inside me,” I whimpered, still moving my hand along his length. I swiped my thumb over the head and he hissed a harsh swearword, his jaw tight.
“And I want it, too, petal, I want it, too. But right now we have to get ready to go on stage.”
“We have a few minutes,” I murmured seductively. I was like a