"Hey." Fox tipped up her chin. "You okay?"
Seeing the concern in his gaze, she found the energy to reach up and kiss his jaw, his stubble coarse under her lips. "I can officially say that was the hardest orgasm I've ever had." The confession got her a deliciously male, flagrantly smug smile that wrapped another thread around her already claimed heart. "I used to read that in romance novels and scoff. I mean, who passes out from an orgasm?"
"My Molly."
"Your Molly." Her veins sluggish from the aftereffects, she ran her fingernails down his chest in a light caress. "Do you have to report in for anything today?" There might not be a concert tonight, but the band was constantly fine-tuning the show, part of what made them so good at what they did.
"Nothing that can't wait." He kissed the top of her head. "Do you want to sleep?"
Molly nodded, knuckling her suddenly heavy eyes. "It's been a crazy day." She'd expected to feel scared, humiliated and broken after what had happened, but instead she was content, happy... and proud.
"I survived the world seeing naked pictures of me and knowing they might see a whole heck of a lot more," she said, sitting up to look into Fox's eyes. When the green grew stormy, she shook her head and cradled his face in her hands. "I discovered I'm stronger than I thought. You know what else I realized?"
A shake of his head, his expression unreadable.
"That we don't blame and fracture when the going gets tough. We don't abandon each other." As her father had abandoned her mother in so many ways. "We stand together, and Fox, if we can do that now," she whispered, "can you imagine how strong we'll be in the years to come?"
His smile creased his cheeks, his gaze potent with emotion as he said, "I see you in every dream I have of the future."
"I love you." It spilled out, what she'd held inside for so long because she knew that for Fox, those three words in that particular order meant loneliness, neglect, and rejection.
He froze, but Molly wasn't about to allow her rock star to carry this hurt inside him forever. "I know that statement doesn't have good memories for you," she said, eyes locked to his. "That's why we'll make new ones together."
"Might take a hell of a long time."
"I'm not going anywhere." No fear, no regrets, no other always but Fox. "Just remember, this is me, Molly, saying it to you. And it means my heart."
He brushed his thumb over her cheekbone, his strained muscles easing beneath her. "Say it again."
"I love you," she said, understanding on a storm of emotion that this was the first time in his life he'd heard the words from someone he trusted not to kick him in the heart. "So much. Until it hurts and the hurt is one I want to feel forever."
They slept intertwined, warm and safe--and woke to another phone call from Thea, this time on Molly's phone. Molly immediately put her on speaker. "Thea?"
"You'll never believe what's happened!" The excitement in her sister's voice had them sharing a confused glance, especially when she continued on to say, "I mean, I'm looking at it and I can't believe it."
"Stop rambling and get to the point," Fox growled.
But her sister remained ebullient. "I always knew Schoolboy Choir had some dedicated fans, but this is unreal."
"Thea."
"Sorry, Moll." Thea laughed. "That tabloid site that published the photos? It's down."
"How?" Fox asked.
"Hacked, and a post on a major online bulletin board says it was done by the band's fans. Several other sites that scraped the images have also gone down." Thea sounded like she had the most gleeful smile on her face. "All of a sudden anyone else who reposted the photos is hauling ass to get them off."
"Will this blow back on Fox?" Molly frowned.
"No, I asked the legal team. Everyone heard what Fox requested of Schoolboy Choir fans--they did this on their own initiative."
The print version of the tabloid remained, Molly thought, but the worst they could do there was print stills with the explicit sections blacked out. Though, if the tabloid's management had any sense, they'd stay clear even of that. No paper could survive only on print; the tabloid needed to have an online presence, and printing the photos would no doubt be seen as an aggressive move by the band's fans.
"You haven't even heard the best part." So much glee Thea could've been a cat who'd found a whole vat of cream.
"There's more?"
"Get your tablet so you have access to a bigger screen."
It only took Molly a few seconds. "I have it."
When Thea told her to look up a major entertainment blog, she was leery. "Thea, I don't--"
"Trust me, this is a good one."
Arm around her waist, Fox pressed a kiss to her shoulder, and it gave her the strength she needed. The front page of the site blinked to life on her screen--and it was dominated by a photograph of a grinning Fox kissing Molly on the steps of the hotel this morning.
FOX'S TAKEN, LADIES!!
The accompanying article was relatively small, but it mentioned that Molly was from New Zealand, a librarian, and that her father had been a "disgraced politician." However, they'd spun the facts so instead of her family's past being a tawdry piece of gossip, Molly came out looking plucky and strong, her and Fox's romance a fairytale ending to a tough life.
Astonished, she said, "Did you do this?" to Thea, as Fox glanced at his phone, then stepped out to make a call.
"No, Molly, you did. The media, and more importantly the fans, are charmed by you--you couldn't have done better if I'd scripted everything." Open delight. "God, you were so cute. You even blushed!"
"I'm going to strangle you soon," Molly muttered.
"Like I care. Just keep on being yourself, being the ordinary girl who snagged a rock god." A pause. "Hmm, I'm going to feed that line to the press. Oh, if you want to get caught being adorable with Fox now and then, that'd be--"
Molly hung up on her laughing sister, then looked at Fox when he came to sit back down beside her on the bed. "The video's still out there."
"Yeah, but what dumbass will upload it now, especially when the man responsible has just been arrested and confessed." He held up his phone. "That's the message that came in." Running his hand down her back, he said, "Even if someone is stupid enough to touch it, the piece of shit told the cops he only got about ten minutes of usable footage."
"What?" Molly turned, heart thumping.
"Turns out he wasn't a technical genius. No motion sensors. He just switched on the camera and left it running."
"And"--Molly's eyes widened--"we came in super late that day." A tanker had spilled its load not far from the concert site, leading to traffic being held up for over two hours.
"The scum couldn't get back into the suite to reset the camera because his shift had ended." Fox closed his hand over her nape. "That's probably why the tabloid was building up hype--they were hoping for a big surge of initial customers paying to watch it before word got out about how tame it was."
Molly exhaled because Fox was right. Even if the video did leak one day, all anyone would see was a couple in love, cuddling and kissing and laughing. After surviving the exposure of the still photographs, photographs that could never be totally erased from the Internet, Molly knew she'd be able to handle that. "At least now," she said to Fox, "you have the compulsory rock star sex tape."
He squeezed her neck for the smart-aleck comment. "I can't have that video getting out." It was a snarl. "My reputation as a badass who does dirty, nasty things to women would be in shreds."
Giggling, she leaned into him, her hand on his ridged abdomen. "The media likes us now, but they could turn on us in a heartbeat, couldn't they?"
Fox looked down into her face as she looked up into his. "Yeah, so we don't live for them, we live for us."
"Us," she whispered, her lips parting for his kiss.
The concert the next night blew off the roof. Schoolboy Choir kept playing for two hours beyond the official end time, accepting screamed-out requests from the sold-o
ut crowd. Noah and Abe took the mike a number of times and the crowd chanted "Da-vid, Da-vid" until the drummer surrendered and laughingly added his voice to one of the band's popular songs.
Molly was surprised to find that David could sing, and quite well. All the men could, though none had the ferocious power of Fox's vocal cords. But no one could pound a beat like David, caress the keys like Abe, or the guitar strings like Noah. Their diverse range of talents was what made the band so incredible as a unit.
"Thank you!" Fox yelled into the mike after what they'd announced as their final song. "You've been an amazing audience--and thanks for some other things I'll get in trouble for if I mention them too specifically!"
The crowd roared.
And the band did one more song, pure unfettered hard rock, before leaving the stage. Fox dragged her into a kiss the instant they were clear. He was sweaty and pumped and gorgeous.
"Fuck, man," Noah muttered with a scowl. "I really need a girl backstage."
Fox snorted. "You have about three hundred girls lined up outside your door every night."
"Yeah, yeah, but it's not the same as having a Molly." The guitarist swung his arm around Molly and smacked a kiss on her cheek before heading farther backstage.
"He's right," Fox said, dimple on display, "it's not the same."
She had to kiss it, to his chuckle. "You must be exhausted," she said afterward, exhilarated from having witnessed what she knew was a concert that would go down in rock history. "Starving, too."
"It hasn't hit yet--I'm riding on adrenaline." Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, his energy sky-high from the rush of performing, he headed toward his dressing room. The concert attendees who'd won a backstage pass through a radio contest hadn't yet been escorted up, so it was an easy walk.
David and Abe were standing outside their rooms, swigging on chilled bottles of water. Abe threw a bottle to Fox, who caught it one-handed. Noah appeared in his open doorway the next instant. "That might be the best concert we've ever done."
"I hope the crew got it all on tape." David glanced at Molly after she returned from Fox's dressing room with a fresh T-shirt for him, his own thrown out into the crowd as had become tradition. "What did you think, Moll?"
"Incredible, a legend in the making." The entire crew had stopped and listened as much as they could, not wanting to miss out. "Now what you need to do is get some food into your bodies, followed by a good night's rest."
Abe, David, and Noah grinned at her before saying, "Yes, Molly," in unison.
Well aware she was being teased, she made a face at them.
"Don't worry, boys." Fox tucked Molly to his side. "She'll be far too busy to hassle you tonight or tomorrow morning."
Molly elbowed him. "You are so not getting lucky tonight."
Noah hooted just as one of the crew called out a warning that the backstage fans were about to come in. Leaving the band in the corridor, Molly slipped out of sight. She had no problem with being known as Fox's girl, but she had no desire whatsoever to be a celebrity.
Fox winked at her as she entered the dressing room, and she knew he understood. Just as she understood that he thrived in the spotlight, in the surge of energy that came with performing live, and in interacting with the band's fans. If he'd needed it all the time, they would've never worked, but he was a musician at heart, liked the peace of home to create.
So they fit.
Chapter 39
Her rock star did get lucky that night--as if she had any chance of resisting him. She kissed his throat when he collapsed on top of her, tasting the salt and untamed masculinity of him, her fingers weaving through his hair.
On her wrist sparkled the white fire of a diamond bracelet he'd given her before the concert. Molly was almost afraid to ask what it was worth--she'd probably never wear it, she'd be so worried about losing a stone. "Don't," she murmured when he pushed himself up to his elbows. "I like you there."
A grin, his hand fisting in her hair to hold her in place for his kiss. "I need to get some more fluids into my body. Especially since you've just wrung me dry." Another slow kiss before he left her pleasured and sated body--to her shuddering moan--and walked out of the bedroom area of the coach. "You want a drink, baby?" he called out.
"Yes, please."
He came back with a sports drink for himself and a bottle of lime-flavored water for her, since she didn't like the taste of the sports drinks. Sitting up, she drank as he guzzled his standing up. Molly enjoyed the view, a smile on her face. Tattooed and muscled and all man, Fox could walk around naked as much as he pleased--for her eyes only.
Finishing off his bottle, he put it on the bedside table and opened up the safe built into the bedroom closet. "What're you looking for?" she asked, her attention on his gorgeous shoulders, and on the puzzle tattoo on his arm that she'd almost totally figured out.
It made her goofy with happiness that she knew him that well.
"This." Withdrawing the flat blue box, he got back into bed as her mouth dropped open.
"You didn't get me something else?" She put aside her own bottle.
"The bracelet's part of a set. I wanted to give you the necklace when you were naked so I could see it lying between your breasts."
Her lips twitched. "You are such a guy."
Grinning unabashedly, he hooked the necklace around her neck. "Oh yeah, I like this visual."
It was a simple pattern, two strands knotted together to hang along the line of her cleavage. Timeless, classic... and from the fire in the stones, each was of flawless clarity. "I'm going to pretend this is cubic zirconia," she said, "so I can wear it without freaking out."
A glint in his eye, Fox tumbled her onto her back. His hand was warm on the mound of her breast as he touched her in a way that said he was simply enjoying being with her. "Didn't I tell you? All your jewelry is fake."
"Liar, liar, pants on fire." She pretended to punch his jaw, then wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's stunning, Fox. Thank you."
"You're welcome." His thumb brushing over her nipple, the light in his eyes dimming as he said, "You can ask me for anything you know. I want to give you the world."
"I know." Molly caressed his nape, unsure what was wrong. "The fact is you're the best present I could've ever received. I'm not a greedy or possessive person, except when it comes to you--there, I'm afraid I'm awful."
"I like your kind of awful." An intense look, his voice rough. "Always be possessive and greedy about me, Molly."
"Something's bothering you." She could sense it with every cell in her body, had even before the concert. "Talk to me."
Bracing himself on his forearms above her, his lower body tangled with her own, he blew out a breath. "I got a call from Tawanna this morning to say my half sister Lauren's been trying to get in touch with me again." A hardness to his jaw. "You saw her right after Abe was hospitalized."
Molly connected the dots. "Linen shift, shiny bob, called you Zachary?" At his nod, she remembered what he'd said then, about everyone wanting something, and her protective instincts bristled. "What does she want?"
"She's trying to sell me some sob story about her husband losing his job and their house being repossessed by the bank." His expression was grim. "I checked it out the first time she asked months ago. They have enough money coming in from investments to live a stress-free, normal life, but she's used to luxury. Enough to lower herself to asking me to support them."
Aware of Fox's loyalty, his generosity, Molly knew his half sister must've done something horrible to cause the breach that clearly existed between them. She took a guess. "Has Lauren ever made any effort to stay in touch except to ask for money?"
"Hell no." Fox snorted. "I reached out after she turned twenty-one, figured maybe she hadn't ever been in touch herself because it would create friction with her parents. I wasn't planning to mess that up, just wanted to know her."
Molly nodded, her heart aching. She knew exactly what it meant to find a sister; her relationshi
p with Thea was an integral part of her life. So she could understand Fox's need to reconnect, hoped desperately this story would have a happy ending--even though Fox's tone made it clear the hope was a futile one.
"You know what she said?" Fox's shoulders tensed. "That she didn't associate with trash like me and she'd appreciate it if I didn't flaunt our relationship, as it might taint her reputation in the circles in which she moved."
"That bitch." Molly put one of her hands on Fox's cheek. "You don't have anything to feel guilty about then." When he would've argued, she pressed her fingers to his lips. "You do feel guilt--because you're a good man with a huge heart." A heart strong enough to have survived the rejection and neglect of his childhood. "But here's the thing: you might be related by genetics, but she's a stranger to you in every other way."
Fox's expression was intent. "You're not going to tell me to make nice with my family, all that stuff?"
"Lauren isn't your family. She's toxic, and you can't let her get to you." Weaving her fingers into his hair, Molly said, "I'm your family. Noah, Abe, David, and Kit are your family." She picked up his wrist, kissed the strange characters above his pulse point, which he'd finally confessed were from a made-up language he'd created as a lonely eight-year-old. "You told me this means loyalty. That's what family is, whether of blood or of the heart."
She kissed the characters again. "If Lauren has children later on, and you want to reach out to your nieces and nephews, I'll go with you." Molly wouldn't blame the children for the sins of their mother. "But Lauren doesn't deserve you."
He settled more heavily against her, the green of his irises rich against the jet-black of his pupils. "There's something else I haven't told you."
"I'll spank you later. Now talk."
It made him laugh, his shoulders shaking. "So fucking strict." Thrusting a hand into her hair, he kissed her the pure Fox way, all tongue and sex.
She was close to melting when he sat up and brought her into his lap so they were face-to-face. "When I was eighteen," he said, "I decided to give my mother another chance."
Molly's throat grew thick. She knew how much courage it must've taken for him to do that. Wrapping her arms around him, she held him as he spoke, but to her surprise, though she'd expected bleak pain, his tone was even, his eyes unshadowed.