I giggle beneath him and play with the wild strands of hair poking out from his head. “I have to say that was a first for me.”

Trip raises his head and looks me in the eye. “What was?”

I shrug. “An orgasm.”

His eyes widen. “You’ve never had one before?”

“Oh, I have, just never with someone else involved.” A blush creeps over my cheeks as I admit that out loud.

“Really?” He lifts an eyebrow and grins. “Get ready, sweetness. There’s a whole lot more where that came from. I’m the self-proclaimed Orgasm King.”

I laugh. “By yourself doesn’t count.”

He shifts his hips and slides his still erect shaft back and forth inside me. “You know it’s true. I just gave you two in less than fifteen minutes.”

“Mmm…maybe you better show me again so I can see if you warrant that title,” I tease.

“It’ll be your pleasure.” He smirks as he goes to work kissing on my neck.

TRIP

Holly leans back against my chest and I wrap my arms around her before kissing the top of her head. It’s been a long time since I’ve cuddled like this after sex. Normally I stick to fucking in a neutral space so I can easily escape without all the expected sappy time after the fun. But this time is different. I want to be here with Holly. In fact, just like I was afraid of, now that I’ve gotten a real taste of her sweetness, I’m fucking addicted.

She traces light circles on my forearm with the tips of her fingers. “What are you thinking about?”

I sigh. “About how I’ll never be able to leave this place now.”

“Oh?” I hear the curiosity in her voice. “Why’s that?”

“Because of you,” I answer truthfully. “You’re a pretty amazing woman.”

She turns in my arms and throws her legs over one of mine while we sit on the shop’s counter. “I’ll never be able to look at this counter again. Every time I see it, I’ll think of you…us…and tonight.”

“Who says it has to be just tonight?” I ask with optimism. “I’d be willing to stick around a little longer.”

She turns her gaze up to mine. “Don’t you have bands to manage? Won’t they miss you?”

I shrug. “They’re kind of on break right now. Besides, maybe if you and I work out, you’d come on the road with me for a while, after we get this business back on the right track.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t know, Trip. Being around famous people just isn’t my thing. I’m just not into the whole drug and party scene—not to mention what jackasses they are. Look at Jackson for crying out loud. He’s just gotten a little taste of fame and he’s so full of himself he can barely see straight.”

My heart sinks. “Not all famous people are like that, and for the record, I’m almost positive Jackson’s always been a douchebag.”

“You’re right. I don’t know how I missed it all these years. I guess now I understand why my dad won’t listen to reason about my mom. He still loves her after everything she’s done to him—us—and lets her walk all over him. I never understood why he did that, but I guess I’ve been sort of doing the same thing with Jackson. He’s never really treated me very well.”

“I’m glad you got away from him, and who knows, maybe your dad will wise up one day too.”

“I don’t think he will. He’s still giving her money, which is a bad thing considering she’s a drug addict.”

“Bill told me about her,” I say, not wanting to pretend that I don’t already know Bill and Grace’s history.

“What did he say?” she whispers.

My stomach ties in a knot as I think about Bill trusting me with his HIV secret, and making me promise not to tell Holly or he’ll expose my identity to her, which would be bad. She just sat here and said she hates people like me. I need more time to prove to her I’m a decent guy. I like having her around, and I want to keep it that way.

She’s still waiting on me to answer her, so I say, “Not much, just that the two of you no longer get along and he talked a little about why that was.”

“I can hardly look at her. She doesn’t even look like my mom anymore. Every time she comes around, I’m reminded of how she chose drugs over us, and despite everything my dad is always willing to help her. I just don’t understand. I’m so scared I’ll be like her someday. That’s why I went away to college and was studying psychology. I guess I was hoping if I understood why addicts do the things they do, I would be able to stop that from happening to me.”

I tip her chin with my finger, making her look up at me. “You won’t be like her. You’re too smart for that.”

Holly gives me a sad smile. “I hope you’re right.”

“I know I am.” I kiss her lips.

She bats away a tear from her eye. “I’m sorry I’m crying. I know that’s a guy’s worst nightmare after sex.”

I wipe another tear from her beautiful face. “Holding you in my arms is far from a nightmare, Holly. I’m glad you’re opening up to me. It means you trust me.”

“I do trust you. I know I gave you a hard time when you first got here, but that’s only because I love this track and I didn’t think someone who looked like you could care about this place the way I do. You’ve proved me wrong since you’ve been here, putting all the work into getting to know everything about the place and us. I never did thank you for convincing your friend to go into business with Dad. That was really amazing, so…thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” I smile.

“I still don’t know much about you though. Tell me something about yourself—something personal.”

I clear my throat. If I want to be with this girl she might as well know the darkest details about me. “I was married once.”

She instantly stiffens in my arms. “Ma—married? When?”

“I was nineteen, and stupid. It didn’t end well.”

“What happened?” Holly asks as she sits up straighter in my arms.

I pinch a strand of her blonde hair between my fingers and twirl it as I gather my thoughts. “The typical thing that happens to most marriages involving young people—she found someone else, but neglected to tell me about it until I caught them together.”

She gasps. “That’s terrible! You found them in bed together?”

“No. I used to play in a band, and when we took a quick break, I found Jessica, my wife at the time, practically fucking some dude in the corner of the bar. I didn’t think Jessica was a willing participant, so I reacted like any other man protecting his wife would. I grabbed the guy and nearly beat him to death, thinking he was forcing himself on her…only he wasn’t. She had been seeing the guy behind my back for as long as we had been married.” I take a breath. “I ended up going to jail for assault that night. They both pressed charges against me. She told the cops I hit her that night too, but I didn’t. I have a fucked up criminal record now because of her.”

Holly looks up at me. “Trip, that’s…I don’t know what I can say other than I’m sorry that you had to go through that.”

I give her a sad smile. “It was a long time ago. I learned how to deal and move on from it.”

“Is that why you’re the way you are?” she questions softly.

“What do you mean?”

She sighs. “The first night I met you at the bar, you went from me straight into the arms of another woman. Then when you came here and kept coming onto me the way you did, and how you seemed like the type that never took anything seriously, I figured you only wanted to have sex with me. I labeled you as a player without ever knowing you because I never dreamed you had this other side to you.”

“A non-player side, you mean?” I tease.

“That, and how smart you really are.” She taps the binder lying on the counter top. “In the couple weeks you’ve been here, you’ve organized this place and helped point out all the spots where Dad was losing money. I can see you believe in this place, and want to help it succeed. That made me change my mind about you, and I even found myself thinking about you more and more often.”