About ten minutes pass before Becca and Johnny come back with Denise in tow. Becca looks a little flushed, probably nervous to be hanging out with these guys again after my week long search for Connor.
“Hi Denise.” I greet the woman who hired me while getting the bread out. “It’s nice to see you again. Did you get that issue all sorted out this morning?”
I notice her glance quickly at Ryder before she tells me she got it fixed right up. That’s strange. Although with Ryder as a client, I’m sure most of the issues she has to deal with stem from him. He does seem to be a bit of a troublemaker.
“Okay, well, now that we’re all here, let’s go ahead into the dining room. Everyone grab something and bring it with you and then we can all eat.” I direct everyone to take the things we need and soon we’re all sitting around the table.
“No need to be shy, everyone dig in.” I start by serving myself the first piece. “I’m just the chef. I only cook the food, I don’t serve it.”
We make quick work of dinner, listening to the guys talk about last week’s show and how the writing for the new album is going so far. Before long Ryder is excusing himself, saying he has a date. Denise and Devon leave shortly after, followed not long after by Aiden and Travis.
Becca pulls me aside. “I have an early shoot tomorrow. Are you going to be alright tonight if I go? I really need to get some sleep.”
“Yeah, that’s no problem. The night’s almost over, I’m sure I can manage. Call me after the shoot tomorrow and we can talk.”
She says goodbye to Connor and thanks him for having her over, says bye to Johnny, and I walk her to the door. After giving me a hug, she leaves.
Johnny sticks around for a bit, helping me and Connor bring all the dishes back to the kitchen. He even loads up the dishwasher before needing to leave too. Apparently, he also has a date tonight.
That leaves me here, alone, with Connor. I glance over as he comes back into the kitchen after seeing Johnny out.
“No sense in having a security system if we don’t lock the doors and set the alarm, right?” he jokes. I watch as he runs his hands through his dark hair. How does messing it up more make it look even better? He comes over to the sink where I’ve already got the pans in soapy water, ready to wash.
“I’ll wash and you dry?” He takes off the multitude of silver rings he’s wearing and sets them on the bar above the sink. He also takes off a leather cuff that he wears on his left wrist. I can see something tattooed across his fingers, but I can’t make out what it is from this angle. I pull a dish towel out from the drawer beside the sink and get ready for him to pass me the pan he’s currently washing.
“Is it just these pans that we need to wash?” He asks after passing me the first one and starting on the second.
I manage to grab the pan that he passes me, but I don’t really hear the question because I’m too busy staring at his arms. I can see the muscles flex underneath the full sleeve tattoos he has. I just now notice that his arms are covered in flowers, and many of those flowers are peonies. It’s almost like we have matching tattoos.
“I’m sorry, what?” I sputter when he nudges me with his elbow.
“I said, are you going to dry that or keep staring at my arms?” I feel my face heat as he looks at me.
“Oh, sorry.” I look down and hurriedly wipe the pan I have in my hand. “I was just noticing that we both have peony tattoos.”
He finishes washing the other pan and gives it to me once I’ve put the other one back in the cupboard. After draining and rinsing the sink, he turns to look at me. I quickly turn and put the last pan away before turning back to look at him.
“They were always your favourite,” he whispers, running his fingers down my arm where my tattoo is. “So I knew I wanted peonies on me permanently, that way you’d always be close.”
I feel the same tingles that I did that first night after the show. A breath I wasn’t aware I was holding escapes my lungs.
“You got peonies tattooed on you because of me?” I’ve lost the dish towel somewhere and now I have my first two fingers on each hand tucked into his front pockets, ever so slightly. “I would have never thought that.”
“I got them done after our first tour. The album was successful, and we all had a reasonable payday. By the time that happened, it had already been eight years since I’d seen you. I knew there was no way I was getting you out of my head, so I decided to just go ahead and put you on my skin too.”
He looks down at my lips and then back up into my eyes. Oh god, he’s going to kiss me. I feel his hands come up to push into my hair while he cups my face and slowly tilts his head down, lowering his lips to my face. Warm breath caresses my mouth, and then his lips are on mine, kissing softly. He tilts my head with his hands, deepening the kiss, his tongue slowly massaging mine. Shit, he’s good at this. My hands move of their own volition, exploring the hard planes of abs that I hadn’t noticed in my prior appraisal of his body. Oh, those are nice. I’m going to need to explore those with my tongue later. My hands roam over his skin, moving from his abs to his chest, pushing his shirt as I go. Connor stops kissing me just long enough to reach back over his head with one hand and pull his shirt off, giving me a view of what I’ve just been admiring with my hands.
Tattoos may completely cover his arms, but he has none on his chest. He’s smooth with just a little chest hair, and a small trail leading down into the front of low-slung jeans. Holy shit, he has an adonis belt! I’ve always been a sucker for that muscly V shape that points directly to a man’s package, but I’ve never been fortunate enough to see one in person. I am staring at it in wonder, lightly running my fingers along both sides, when Connor chuckles a little.
“See something you like, babe?” he leans down and whispers to me before slowly sliding his tongue down the outer shell of my ear, making me gasp when a bolt of desire shoots straight to my clit. I don’t know that I’ve ever been this turned on before.
“I’d like to see a lot more,” I breathe, my voice a little shaky. “But I also want you to keep doing that.” He’s started kissing and licking my neck now, with little nibbles here and there. He has one hand back in my hair, holding my head tilted so he has better access to my neck. His other hand is drawing lazy circles on my thigh, just where my shorts meet skin.
“Is that so?” he kisses a line back up to my mouth where he gently licks and sucks on my lower lip before stroking my tongue with his own. “I’d like to see a lot more too.” He slides his hands to my waist, and gently pushes my tank up and over my head, being careful not to snag my hair. The shirt drops from his hand and he reaches around to unhook my bra, then looks confused when he can’t just slide it off. Fucking yoga bra.
“It has to go up and over,” I say. What a way to kill the mood. I pull it over my head myself while he chuckles. “I, uh, wasn’t really expecting anyone else to be undressing me today.” I offer.
“Might I suggest you expect it from now on?” Connor reaches for me again, thumbs skimming my already pebbled nipples. The electricity I feel from his touch jolts through me again. “Because I plan on undressing you as often as you’ll let me.” His mouth is on my neck again. He begins slowly kissing down my chest, stopping to suck a nipple into his mouth, grazing it with his teeth and flicking it with his tongue. He moves to my other breast, showering the nipple with the same affection he showed the first. One hand moves down to the button on my shorts while his lips make their way back to mine. He flicks it open and slowly slides the zipper down.
