Travis pulled away with a lethargic motion of his neck. He stared down at Derek, with the moonlight reflecting off his dark eyes. Hooded lids, and a sly smile tucked into the corner of his mouth, Travis contained a raw and sensualaura that penetrated Derek to the depth of his being.
“That was nice,” Travis said, with a lazy lilt to his voice.
“It wasreallyfucking nice.” Derek blinked up at Travis, still deciphering the unexpected burn brewing between them. “I thought . . . you were straight,” Derek said slowly. He immediately regretted the statement. Now wasn’t the time to define someone’s sexuality.Great way to kill the moment, MacAlister.
Travis didn’t seem bothered by the question though, and answered with a small tilt of his head. “I’m bi. Always have been. Women are all soft and pretty.” He ran the back of one hand over Derek’s scruffy jaw. “But there’s nothing like the rough friction of razor stubble and the hard muscles of a man’s body.” He leaned down and gave Derek anotherkiss. This time it was harder, more intense. More . . . just more.
Derek’s body tingled under Travis’ lips. He’d never been kissed with so much languid passion. Every twirl of their tongues felt like a revolution of the moon. Each second lasted an hour. He was free to experience every flutter of excitement that lit up his nerve endings.
Those enchanting lips pulled away,and Travis’ eyes washed over Derek. “I’ve watched you on TV. Seen you in concert. But I’ve never looked at you so closely. Your hair is a gorgeous blanket of mink. The angles of your face would make a carved marble statue jealous. And your eyes. They’re the color of emeralds. You remind me of a panther. Majestic. Strong. Beautiful.”
Derek was too dazed to think of anything coherentto say. “Thanks.”
The wind picked up, sending Derek’s long hair flying in all directions, and thunder filled the sky with the heavythwack! Thwack! Thwack!The helicopter blades broke the solitude of the night, and a spotlight landed on them from above. It was met with stunned, wide eyes and laughter.
Travis bolted to his feet first. “Let’s get outta here!”
Taking hold of Travis’ hand, Derek was pulled along the hilly contours underneath his feet. He followed Travis blindly through a maze of brush, staying low, and avoiding the pinpoint of the helicopter’s beam of light. The waiting SUV, alerted by the circling bird in the sky, already on the move with its headlights off, acted as their getaway car as it crept down the street. Derek and Travisjumped into the back seat, and the car sped off under the cover of night.
A bout of laughter suddenly escaped Derek. “You’re alright, Travis. That was fucking cool and fucking crazy. We almost got arrested.”
“Wasn’t my first time running from the cops,” Travis bragged, as he draped his arm over the back of the seat and let it fall onto Derek’s shoulder. He placed a tinykiss on Derek’s cheek with a natural ease, and let out a long sigh. He rested his head on Derek’s shoulder and breathed deeply. “I drank too much tonight.” His voice was sleepy, probably brought on by the motion of the SUV.
Derek wondered about the tender kisses they had just shared, which ended way too soon, and if they were the result of the alcohol and the pot. He looked down atTravis, resting his head on his shoulder, but couldn’t see the singer’s eyes. The smile was clear on Travis’ face though, evidenced by the roundness of his cheeks.
Travis repositioned himself so his arms wrapped around Derek’s waist, and his head rested on Derek’s chest. He snuggled closer and let out another deep sigh. “You make a nice pillow.”
Confusion spun Derek’shead in opposite directions. He wanted to grab hold of Travis’ face and kiss him, push him back on the seat and grind his crotch into this man. He wanted to pull Travis’ clothes off and fuck him in the back seat of the SUV, while the driver took them to the hotel. But something made him hesitate and he didn’t know what or why. He’d fucked plenty of dudes from bands that had opened for Bulletproofover the years, so that wasn’t it. Too drunk to rationalize an answer, he no longer cared about finding one. He brazenly lifted Travis’ chin with the knuckle of his index finger, gentler than he’d ever been in his life. Receptive lips returned an affectionate kiss that warmed Derek down to his toes. His hand glided over the arc of Travis’ neck and throat, down over the mound of his chest and caressedthe display of hard muscles underneath Travis’ T-shirt.
Travis pulled his lips away and pressed his face into Derek’s shoulder. “Not tonight,” he said, quietly. “Can we just . . . hold one another?”
Derek was floored. Never had he heard those words before. “Uh. Yeah. Sure.” He felt Travis relax further, practically melt into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around thesweet singer. It was actually kind of peaceful to just sit there and . . . cuddle. He shook his head slightly, wondering whose thoughts were in his head.
“Is it always about the sex?”
“What?” Derek could barely hear Travis. The guy’s voice was so muffled and low.
“I just want company sometimes.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Thegroupies. Is that all anyone wants from you when you hit it big? Just to get laid and move on to someone more famous with more money?”
“Most of the time, yeah.” Derek knew that the roller coaster of fame was still new for Travis and Reckless. The guy was probably overwhelmed and second-guessing everyone along for the ride, but Derek had no intention of lying or sugarcoating the truth.“Somebody always wants something.”
Travis’ face slipped a little lower on Derek’s chest, and his words slurred heavily. “How do you deal with it? The loneliness?”
“I never really thought about it.” Sometimes Derek felt like a lone wolf, but there was always someone around to share the hours with. Is that all he wanted, hours? A night or two? Didn’t he want someone tospend his life with? Did such a person exist? And how the fuck was he supposed to meet someone if he was on the road for the better part of the year? Travis presented valid questions that, for once, Derek thought about seriously. Questions that Derek didn’t have answers to, and now his head was all fucked up. “I suppose the close relationships with my bandmates make up for it. We’re together all thetime. They’re like my brothers.”
Travis was quiet for a few seconds. “So much pressure all the time. From my band. On stage. The label.”
“I hear ya. I remember when we were first starting out. Everyone tries to tell you what to do. The label wants you to go in one direction. The fans have their own opinion on what they want you to do next. As a band, we have our own agenda,which is all we cared about. We really had to fight to get our voice heard. And then our parents all thought we were working too hard. They kept telling us to slow down, when everyone else was telling us, go, go, go. We didn’t know who to listen to, but we knew that we had to hit ‘em with everything we had.” Thankfully, Felix Osbourne, Bulletproof’s renowned manager with decades of experience,had been there to guide them from the start. Otherwise, God knows how they would have handled so many people pulling them in different directions. “Did you guys think about getting a manager?”
Travis shrugged his shoulder under Derek’s hand. “It’s just someone else who wants to take our money.”
“Nothing is free in this business. That’s for damn sure. Everyone’s got theirhands in your pockets.”
“Sometimes, I don’t know if I want it.”
