Worth the Trouble Read online

  “Thank you,” I said again, leaning into him. “I’m sorry, Ty. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to spoil your surprise. I’m excited for you, I really am.”

  “You didn’t spoil anything.” He kissed the top of my perfectly-coiffed head—Jay had insisted on hot-rollers and then had swept all my honey-colored hair up into a configuration that looked sort of messy but was actually carefully arranged.

  “New Zealand.” I said it, trying to make it real. Six months away from everyone and everything I knew, in another country. I looked at him, letting it sink it. “This is huge. I mean—really, really huge.”

  “It is.” He nodded. “If we were looking to really make a change, a great big door just opened.”

  “And all we have to do is go through it…” I smiled up at him.

  “One step at a time.” He leaned in to kiss me, his lips soft and full. Every time he kissed me, it was like everything else stopped. The entire world on its axis paused just for that moment. Nothing else mattered.

  “Take me home,” I whispered when we parted.

  He nodded, his hand warm, electric, on the bare skin of my lower back. “Let’s go.”

  Chapter Six

  There was something extremely sexy about watching Tyler shift gears. He drove fast, which I loved, shifting as we wound our way up into the hills towards home. I’d only had a few glasses of wine, but my head felt light, and in spite of not knowing what we were going to do about Jay, I was also incredibly happy.

  When I’d first discovered Tyler had decided to leave the band, part of me had panicked. What were we going to do without Trouble? Tyler’s success on Album had been phenomenal—beyond our wildest dreams, really—but he played a 70s rock star. It was typecasting, sure—but could he sustain that level of success in a show that didn’t showcase rock stars? I never would have said anything to him—but I worried.

  Not that I didn’t have confidence in him—I did. I think I had more confidence in him than he had in himself. He’d hesitated when Arnie told him about this audition, almost six months ago now. But I’d encouraged him. He didn’t want to always play rock stars, did he? I’d encouraged him to audition, crossing my fingers—but we’d never heard back. Until now.

  Now he’d been validated even more as an actor. He’d been cast in one of the biggest franchises in the movie business. Clearly someone with serious decision-making skills and power thought he could do it. I knew he could—he was on the precipice of truly breaking out, moving past Trouble and being thought of as “just a rock star.”

  I was so proud of him. I couldn’t begin to express it fully. I put my hand over his as he shifted again, slowing the car as we neared our driveway. The car purred to a stop and he glanced over at me, giving me a wink as he rolled down the driver’s side window and put in the security code that would open the gate.

  “This is the beginning,” I told him as he steered the car through the gates—they swung closed behind us—and up the winding drive. “Our whole lives are going to change.”

  “I know.” He hit the garage door opener and it opened. Tyler had a collection of cars—half a dozen in all, not including his Harley and Valkyrie motorcycles—and he parked the Mustang at the end, in an empty spot next to the BMW I liked to drive.

  “Are you scared?” I asked.

  “Excited.” He turned to look at me in the dim light. “And… relieved.”

  “Relieved?”

  “I’ve been keeping it in, you know,” he explained. “My diagnosis, and then whether or not I wanted to stay with Trouble. Now, finally…it’s all out there.”

  “Yeah. The press is having a field day with it, though.” I sighed, sliding my hand into his. “Hey, did you tell Alisha McKenna you’d do a follow-up interview with her about you leaving the band?”

  “Who?” He laughed when I nudged him. “No, baby, I haven’t talked to her. Although Celeste said she’s being calling her non-stop.”

  “We saw her at Starbucks.” I made a face. “She said she’d talked to you.”

  “And you believed her?” He smirked.

  “Well, she is your type, isn’t she?” I asked with a sniff. “Curvy redheads—that’s what the guys on the tour bus always said.”

  “Once upon a time, I had a thing for redheads,” he confessed. “Then I met this sassy, skinny blonde chick, and she chased all the other women out of my head.”

  “Is that so?” I turned towards him slightly and my dress rode up, revealing the lace top of my thigh-high.

  “Very much so.” His hand slid out of mine and settled on my knee, massaging slowly. His fingers were magical, sending hot little electrical impulses straight between my thighs. “I don’t even see other women anymore. It’s like they’re not even there. All I see is you.”

  “You’re such a liar,” I teased, shifting in my seat and leaning toward him. I saw his gaze drop to my cleavage, saw the flash of heat in his eyes. “What’s-her-name, your co-star on Album—she’s hot. You have to admit, she’s hot.”

  It had been a test of my sanity, watching his love scenes with her in Album. She kind of looked like me—long blonde hair, kind of slight—and Tyler once told me, he just closed his eyes and pretended it was me when he was kissing her.

  “You’re just trying to get me in trouble, aren’t you?” He chuckled, his hand moving up under my dress. My breath caught in my throat when he cupped me through my panties and leaned in to kiss me. I gasped when his tongue touched mine, and his fingers slid under the elastic to pet my skin.

  “Nope, you’re officially not in Trouble, anymore,” I reminded him when we parted, hearing him chuckle again as he nuzzled my bare neck. His mouth left hot, wet trails that made my nipples harden instantly.

  “It’s time for dessert,” he whispered into my ear, his finger moving slowly inside of me, making me squirm.

  “We had dessert at the restaurant…”

  “Nuh-uh,” he said, lifting the hand that had been between my legs to his mouth, sucking on his finger. “Nothing as sweet as this.”

  “You know, we have the whole house to ourselves,” I reminded him with a little smile. “You know what that means…”

  “It means I’m going to give my wife at least ten screaming orgasms.”

  “Ten?” I laughed. “That’s quite a number.”

  “I’m up for the challenge.” He waggled his eyebrows. “You?”

  “Let’s go find out.”

  When we’d first moved into this house, we’d been determined to christen every room in it—and we had. Even the bathrooms—all five of them. And the garage—in the back of the Mercedes because it was roomier. Then we christened the patio out back.

  Although we’d only had sex in the ocean a few times—because I swear, sand was impossible to get out of all those little cracks and crevices you didn’t even think about, until you got sand in them. I told Tyler, after the last time we’d had sex on the beach, that I understood the pain of oysters.

  So we didn’t stop in the foyer, or on the stairs. We went straight to our bedroom—Tyler went into our bathroom, and I lit a few candles and slipped off my heels.

  “Don’t you dare take off that dress!” Tyler called from behind the bathroom door.

  “You better hurry up then,” I called back, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Because I just might start withou—”

  The bathroom door flew open and Tyler stormed out, growling at me, and I giggled, holding my arms out for him.

  “Mine,” he insisted, edging his way between my thighs and kissing me, his hands moving through the mass of my hair. Bobby pins went everywhere—not that I cared. “I’ve been thinking about doing this all night long.”

  He kissed my dress off. Every last inch of it, every bit of material that slipped off my body was followed by the hot, wet trail of his mouth. By the time he had me stripped down to my panties and thigh-highs, I was panting and desperate for him.

  He had me just where he wanted me.

  “Ty,” I begged,
but he rolled me to my belly and made me wait some more. My thigh highs came down first, one at a time, and he spent an inordinate amount of time licking behind my knees, making me squirm.

  “Please,” I moaned into the mattress, but then my panties had to come off. He rolled me over for that, easing them down and kissing all around my pubis, but never once parting me with his tongue.

  I was delighted to find that, while he’d been undressing me, he had undressed himself. I reached for him, running my hands over his shoulders, down his belly, but he shifted away when I reached between his legs.

  “Ty!” I protested, eager for him. “You bastard!”

  “Yes, I am.” He grinned, grabbing my wrists and pinning them above my head. “I love making you wait for it.”

  “So mean,” I whispered against his lips as he kissed me. “You torture me…”

  “Sweet torture,” he countered, and I moaned when I felt his cock riding up and down the seam of my sex.

  “Yes,” I agreed, biting at his lip, lifting my hips, trying to nudge him inside me. “Come on, baby—stop teasing me.”

  “You want that?” His eyes grew dark as he rubbed his length up and down. “You want me inside you?”

  “Yes!” I cried, my nails digging into his biceps. “Oh fuck, Ty!”

  He finally gave me what I’d been begging for, with one delicious shift of his hips. I took his full length, moaning when he started to move. He wasn’t teasing me anymore, and I was already so far gone, I was instantly on edge.

  “That’s it,” he whispered into my ear, curling himself around me, thrusting deeper, harder, as I wrapped my legs around his waist. “That’s my Katie… give it to me…”

  “Ty!” I cried into the heat of his neck, licking the saltiness of his skin. “Oh God! Oh God!”

  “Give it to me,” he insisted, grunting with every thrust. “Oh fuck, yes, give it to me.”

  “Ohhhh now!” I cried, my pussy beginning to spasm, contracting around his plunging length. My climax seared through me, something hot and electric that made me quiver all over and buck underneath him.

  “Mmmmm yeah,” he groaned, nuzzling me, his breath coming hard and fast—but his cock was still hard and throbbing inside of me. “That’s so damn hot.”

  “Your turn,” I whispered, squeezing him with my muscles, hearing him moan softly.

  “Nope.” He propped himself up on his arms, grinning. “That was just one. At least nine more to go for you.”

  I laughed, but then he was pulling out and turning me over, and I wasn’t laughing anymore.

  ~*~

  “I think that’s your phone.”

  “No.” I shook my head, refusing to open my eyes as I snuggle up closer to Tyler under the comforter. “Shhhh.”

  All I wanted to listen to was the sound of Tyler’s heart beating and the ocean waves on the beach outside. I loved it when we could sleep with the windows open. Then I heard it, too. A faint buzzing sound.

  “Katie.” He kissed the top of my head, his arms squeezing around me. “It’s definitely your phone.”

  “Mmm.” I sighed, still not opening my eyes. “Okay. In a minute. It’s probably just my mom. She called yesterday, and I haven’t called her back.”

  “Oh, speaking of moms.” Tyler’s fingers moved lightly over my skin, petting my shoulder and upper arm, sending delightful little shivers through me. “Mine called, too.”

  “Oh yeah, she called me, too.” I’d almost forgotten. “She wants to come over and bring those baby pictures.”

  Tyler snorted. “Oh great, you get to see me naked in the bathtub.”

  “Baby, I can see you naked in the bathtub whenever I want,” I reminded him, sliding my hand down the ridges of his abdomen.

  He chuckled. “Lucky you.”

  “Tell me about it.” I smiled, tracing the dark line of hair running down from his navel. “Hey, you came up short, you know.”

  “Huh?”

  “Ten screaming orgasms?” I reminded him. “I only counted six…”

  “Who says we’re done?” Tyler’s hand moved under the covers, cupping my breast. He thumbed my nipple, making me gasp and open my eyes. Then I heard it again—my phone buzzing.

  “I guess I should get that, before we start the engines again.” I bit my lip, starting to slide across the mattress away from him.

  “Oh no.” He grabbed my hip, keeping me close. “I’ve got four more orgasms to give you first.”

  “First?” I laughed, trying to twist out of his grip. “But what if it’s an emergency.”

  “Orgasm emergency, maybe.” He grinned, lifting the edge of the comforter and diving underneath it.

  I squealed, back-pedaling toward the pillows, but he grabbed my legs, yanking me back under the covers.

  “Ty!” I cried, trying to wiggle away, but he held me fast, nipping at my thighs, soothing the nibbles with his tongue, working his way up toward my sex. I was still swollen and starting to get a little sore, but the feel of him between my legs made my pussy start to throb.

  “Mmmm more dessert,” he said, his voice muffled under the covers. “There’s always room for Katie.”

  I laughed, squirming in his hold, knowing that fighting him was impossible. He was already parting my thighs, settling himself fully between them, and I moaned when his fingers found me.

  “Ty,” I said, biting my lip to keep from crying out when his tongue found me, too. “Oh God… wait… Ty… did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?” His voice was muffled by more than just the covers now.

  “I thought I heard a door. Downstairs.”

  Tyler’s head appeared as he threw the covers back, his head cocked, listening. I listened, too, hoping I hadn’t heard what I thought I had.

  But now there were footsteps on the stairs.

  “Jay.” I looked at Tyler, feeling my heart lurch in my chest.

  “I thought she was spending the night at Sabrina and Rob’s?” He sat back on his heels, his gaze sweeping over me, completely naked on the bed, and I could almost read his thoughts.

  “Something must have happened.” I swung my legs off the bed, reaching for my robe, which was draped across a chair. “Maybe she got sick? Oh crap, I bet that was Sabrina on the phone.”

  “Come back.” Tyler groaned, his voice muffled in a pillow now.

  “I’ll be right back.” I promised, smiling back at him over my shoulder. “She probably just ate too much junk food. I’ll get her some Pepto and tuck her in bed.”

  “Then come back and tuck me in.” He rolled onto his side, propped up on his elbow. The covers fell across his hip and just looking at him made my mouth water.

  “Promise,” I promised, slipping out into the hallway.

  We’d put Jay in a room down at the end of the hall—far enough away that I could have loud, if not screaming, orgasms, but not so far, we couldn’t hear her if she needed something. I saw her door shut and the light go on as I padded barefoot down the hall.

  “Jay?” I called, knocking gently on the door. “Are you okay? Did you get sick?”

  I waited for a response—I’d spent the week reading about teens, and “a sense of privacy” was apparently an important thing, and from my own not-so-distant teen years, I knew this was actually the case. I used to hate it when my mother would just walk into my room without knocking. Or, somehow even worse, knock briefly and then open the door without waiting for a response.

  So I knocked again. “Jay? I just want to know you’re okay.”

  “Go away!” Her voice was pillow-muffled. And it sounded like she’d been crying.

  Crap.

  “Jay… honey?” I cringed at my own invasion, but I turned the knob and eased the door open. “What is it?”

  She was face-down on the bed, her hair in a long braid down her back—to keep it out of chubby, grasping baby-hands, I was sure—wearing a pair of her new jeans and a pretty, paisley peasant blouse. She was fifteen, but to me, she looked so little and vulnerabl
e in the middle of that double bed.

  “Are you all right?” I went over to sit on the edge of the bed beside her, putting a hand on her back. She flinched but didn’t say anything. “Are you sick?”

  “Yes.” She nodded into the pillow, not pulling her face from it. “I’m sick. Very sick. Go away.”

  “Do you need anything?” I stroked her hair, smoothing the little flyaways down. “Some Tylenol? Pepto?”

  “Noooo.” She shook her head, sounding like she was holding back a sob. “Just… go away.”

  She took a deep breath and turned her face to the side, away from me. I could see mascara smudged on the pillowcase. Poor thing. She’d been crying.

  “Please, Katie,” she whispered. “Just go away. I want to sleep. Okay?”

  “You sure?” I squeezed her shoulder. “I could get some ice cream. We could hang out and talk about… whatever…”

  “Noooo!” She howled, turning her face into the pillow again. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs, and just watching her broke my heart.

  “Okay,” I relented, knowing now that whatever had happened, I was going to have to ask Sabrina. Jay wasn’t going to tell me, at least not tonight. “Do you want me to turn the light out?”

  “Yes, please.” She sniffed as I went over to the door.

  “If you need anything, we’re right down the hall,” I told her softly, flipping the switch to leave her in darkness. “Goodnight, Jay.”

  “G’nite,” she whispered as I shut the door behind me.

  I padded back down the hall and found Tyler sitting up in bed, his ear to his cell phone.

  “Right. No, I get that. Of course.” Tyler waved me in and I shut the door behind me, going to sit cross-legged on the bed beside him. “I totally understand... I will. Okay. Yep, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  Tyler tossed his phone on the bed and looked at me.

  “Who was that?” I asked, although from the look on his face, I thought I already knew.

  “Jay’s no longer welcome over there.” Tyler put his head in his hands for a moment, shaking it.

  My heart dropped to my toes. “What happened?”

  “What happened?” he repeated, looking at me, incredulous. Then he was up, stalking around the room. He grabbed a pair of jeans, yanking them on. “Holy fuck. I knew taking this girl in was a bad idea. Goddamnit, Katie…”