Love's Rhythm by Lexxie Couper Page A

breath.
    “And then you asked for more, and I knew I had more to give you. So much more. I have more to give you, Lauren. I have fifteen years of more to give you, if you’ll let me, and then a whole lot more.”
    “No.” She shook her head. The ridiculousness of the situation struck her. Here she was standing in her best friend’s bedroom wearing only a shirt and underpants as the world’s biggest rock star told her quite clearly he wanted her. Again. The world’s biggest rock star who could have anyone he wanted, who had women and men throw themselves at him on a daily basis, wanted her.
    Say yes.
    She shook her head again. “No.”
    “No you won’t let me, or no, you won’t tell me who Josh is.”
    “Both.”
    He took another step toward her. “Lauren, please.”
    She stared at him, eyebrows knotting. “Nick, do you have any idea what you did to me fifteen years ago?”
    “I think I do. And I want to show you how fucking sorry I am.”
    “I can’t let you do that.” She caught her bottom lip with her teeth, hugging herself. “I barely survived the last time you left. Now, it’s not just…” She bit on her lip again. “I’m just a school teacher in a small town that doesn’t have a single set of traffic lights, and I like that. You’re Nick Blackthorne. You date royalty and fly in private jets and have women send you their worn underwear. You’re talking about competing, Nick? I can’t compete with that . I can’t and I won’t. It’s not fair to me, and it’s not fair to Josh.”
    Nick’s eyes flared that same black heat. “He’s a lucky guy, this Josh.”
    Lauren swallowed. “I like to think so.”
    “But tell me, Lauren,” he murmured. “Does he make you feel like this?” He destroyed the distance between them in one step to capture her mouth with his.
    The kiss was deep and thorough and utterly possessive. It claimed her lips and rendered her knees weak. His hands cupped her face, his fingertips coming to rest on her temples, his thumbs stroking her cheekbones. His tongue delved into her mouth, seeking hers. Finding it, mating with it. She wanted to stop him, she knew she should—it was insane to let him kiss her like this—but the second the notion of pulling away entered her mind it was washed away by the waves of desire and need Nick’s kiss sent surging through her.
    She moaned, surrendering herself to that desire. For a moment, just a moment. Surely she could allow herself one more moment?
    Nick moaned back, a raw sound so full of want her head swum. His heat seeped into her, his body hard and lean against her. So hard. All of him.
    She shifted, rolling her hips. His erection pressed to her belly, and not for the first time in her life of being kissed by him, she wished she was taller. She wished she was his height so her sex could align with his. She needed to feel its long, thick length on her mons. Just for one moment…
    “Fuck, I love kissing you.” Nick’s groan, uttered against her lips, sent ripples of tight heat into her core. “It’s like kissing a horny angel.”
    His tongue swiped over hers before she could respond. Or maybe she did? Maybe the whimper in her throat and the thrust of her hips harder to his body was her response? She wasn’t sure anymore. Wasn’t even sure what she’d been doing before this kiss. Her mind didn’t seem to be hers anymore. It was lost to the pleasure welling inside her. All due to Nick’s lips, Nick’s tongue, Nick’s kiss. Her blood roared in her ears and her pussy throbbed. She slid her hands up his torso, the sculpted muscles beneath her palms tensing at her touch. She liked that. Liked the effect she had on him. She skimmed her fingertips over his nipples, her sex squeezing as they puckered into tighter points under the material of his shirt.
    His shirt. Lord, why hadn’t she removed his shirt along with his jacket? Just to be sure he hadn’t been bruised when he hit the ground back at school? If she’d removed his