“Do you know how many guys like that circle around me and the others? Fucking vultures. They want us to jump labels or for one of us to leave the band, go solo, make money for them.” Scowling, he took a swig out of the beer bottle in his right hand. “If I was just some poor schmuck who wanted him to talk to me, I’d be lucky to get a ‘piss off.’ I wouldn’t even exist.”

Molly closed her mouth before she could say the words that wanted to come out. Fox knew these people far better than she did. But the way he’d spoken, he didn’t sound like the man she’d fallen for.

A squeeze around her waist. “Hey, sorry.” He nuzzled a kiss to her temple. “Band got kicked around a bit back at the start. Men like that tried to cheat us into signing lousy contracts when it became clear we were developing a following. Guess it’s a sore spot.”

Leaning into him, she placed a hand on his chest, his body heat caressing her through the fabric. “It’s okay.” She could understand his disdain for people like those who’d treated him in a shoddy manner, but the unexpected glimpse of who he could be in this world planted a seed of worry in her mind about exactly how well she knew him, a sense of burgeoning unease in her belly.

So when a long-limbed goddess with mink-brown hair down to her butt and a dress that might as well have been painted on sashayed over after Fox left to grab them something to eat, Molly wasn’t in the mood to pull her punches.

“I heard you’re a librarian,” the other woman said, her tone syrupy enough that it was noxious. “That’s… charming.” A flash of teeth so white, Molly wondered if they glowed in the dark. “And what a… sweet outfit.” Cue faux laughter, eyes catty.

“Thanks, I’d return the compliment”—oh God, she was going to go to hell for this—“but you look like you picked up your clothes in the red-light district.”

 “This is a ten-thousand-dollar designer dress!” It was a screech.

“Really?” Molly shook her head, deciding she might as well give in to Evil Molly all the way. “That material is $2.99 per yard at my local fabric shop.”

“You know nothing about fashion!” Spluttering, the brunette staged a quick comeback as Fox appeared with a plate. “Foxie, I was just talking to your little friend.” A giggle.

Fox grabbed Molly’s hand. “It’s time to leave this zoo. Here.” He shoved the plate of food into the other woman’s hand. “Eat this. Don’t throw it up later.”

The look on the brunette’s face was priceless. Fighting laughter as Fox all but dragged her out of the glamorous hotel ballroom hired for the party by a celebrity couple who were friends of the band members, Molly waited until they were outside to tug up her skirt past her knees so she could keep up with his pace. He took her down the hallway, through an emergency exit, and past two landings before going through another door and down the corridor to an elevator.

It arrived within seconds. The instant they were inside, he scanned his keycard, pushed the button for the penthouse, and pressed her against the wall, his mouth fused to her own. All she could think about was the security camera, but then Fox licked his tongue against hers, his hand squeezing her hip, and she forgot about everything except his body and her own.

It was as well the elevator was a fast one, arriving at the penthouse level just as Fox was fisting his hand in her skirt to pull it up. Shocked by the blast of cool air that entered the elevator when it opened directly into their suite, she pushed at him. “Cameras.”

“Fuck ’em.” But he tugged her out and pinned her to the wall outside the elevator.

A tearing sound, the force with which he’d pulled up her skirt causing it to rip. Her panties were gone a second later, and he was lifting her up. Locking her legs around his waist, she felt him reach down to release himself from his pants, his knuckles brushing her acutely sensitive flesh. Molly’s gasp was short, ragged. Entering her in a single relentless thrust, he wrapped the hand not curved under her thigh around her throat, his mouth demanding on her own.

Barely able to process the sensations, Molly simply held on for the ride as he thrust in and out of her in a primal rhythm that made it crystal clear who was in charge. She couldn’t move, couldn’t do anything but kiss him, her hands locked tight in his hair while he pounded into her.

She came in a wild clenching that made him groan and rasp something so dirty in her ear that she was sure she was blushing even as her womb spasmed in pure ecstasy. Holding him close, she ran her nails over his nape. It sent him over the edge, his teeth gritted together as he buried himself to the hilt inside her, his pleasure harsh and beautiful to witness.

Molly felt a trickle of sticky wetness along her thigh when Fox finally pulled out of her and set her on her feet. Her knees would’ve buckled if he hadn’t been holding her up. Eyes slumberous, he pressed her to the wall and initiated a kiss as lazy as his earlier ones had been voracious, then reached down past her bunched-up skirt to cup one of her lower cheeks, fondling it with a possessiveness she’d come to expect. As she’d come to expect the way he was after sex.

Finding the willpower to throw her arms around his neck, she kissed him in turn, playing with the ring she loved. “That was nice.” She had no idea what had set him off, but she was a very grateful beneficiary.

“Nice?” He spanked her lightly after zipping up his jeans. “Phenomenal would be a better word choice.”

“How about splendiferous?”

“Is that a real word?”

“Yes. It’s like splendid, only better.”

“Then yeah, I’ll accept that description.” A pause. “You were splendid, darling.”

Biting her tongue to still her laughter at his posh English accent, she put on one of her own. “You too, Foxie dear.”

A pinch on her butt that made her jump before he smoothed over the punishment. “This,” he said, his tone a softer version of the sexy growl that was his singing voice, “would feel better if you were naked.”

“Oh?” Molly played her hands over his shirt. “What about you?”

“Trust me.” He moved his own hand to undo the button and zip on her skirt.

She stepped out of it, nudging the puddle of fabric aside with her toes as Fox pulled up her fitted silk top and dropped it on the floor. Her bra took a second to remove and then she was naked, every curve exposed. Fox stepped back to take a good, long look. “You’re so damn hot, Molly.” Smoky-green eyes lingering on her breasts, the sensitive flesh straining as his look became a near-tactile caress. “The first time I saw you, I wanted to bend you over one of those tables at the party and do you right there—except fuck if I wanted anyone else to see what was mine.”

The things he said… “I didn’t think you even noticed me.”

“Oh, I noticed you—especially this mouth.” A single finger tracing her lips, his next words not the sexual ones she’d expected. “You smiled at Thea, and it was a punch to the goddamn gut.”

It was such a romantic thing to say, and such a Fox way to say it. “I’ve never had a reaction to a man like I had to you,” she admitted. “If you’d crooked a finger, I would’ve probably followed you into a dark stairwell.”

Wicked delight in his smile. “Now you’re putting ideas in my head.” Lifting her up again, her legs around his waist, he initiated another lazy kiss, all tongue and wet heat. It was a stark contrast to the other textures that touched her skin. The well-washed denim of his jeans, the crisp cotton of his shirt, the hard angles of his belt buckle, the heat of his skin, the cool bite of his teeth.

She moaned. “Oh, I like this.”

“You were right though,” he said, nibbling and kissing at her mouth as he spoke. “This feels good, but skin on skin feels even better.”

Running her fingers through the chocolate silk of his hair, Molly raised the topic she’d earlier shelved. “What happened downstairs?” Something had.