Page 37 of Fractured Dreams

Her head dropped back, “Oh my God, Tex, oh my God.”

Tex couldn’t stop himself pushing Eden for one more orgasm, wanting her to come undone one more time. All his doubts and concerns about what he was doing with her shoved aside in the rush of having her in his arms, having her wrapped so tightly around him.

His heart was pounding in his chest, his breath rasping as he fought off his own orgasm so he could steal another one from her. He leaned forward, taking one of her jutting nipples into his mouth and swirling his tongue around it before nipping it, then sucking it deep. He alternated between her breasts as she grew tighter and slicker with every deep draw of his mouth, every hard thrust of his hips. When she sobbed out his name and he felt the first rippling clench of her internal muscles around him, he let go of his control, his body finally demanding its own release.

Tex took her mouth in another fierce kiss, absorbing the breathless moans she couldn’t seem to stop making as she shuddered around him. His muscles tightened almost to the point of pain, and with one last hard jerk of his hips against hers, he came, the ecstasy radiating through him dissolving every thought in his head except for one: there was no coming back from this.

Chapter 22

The time had passed so quickly. Eden had spent the last two weeks in a little cocoon of bliss with Tex. They’d slept together, cooked together, talked, and laughed together. And had lots and lots of sex; if it wasn’t her stripping him, he was stripping her. From hot and hard, to slow and sweet, she craved having his hard body against hers. Couldn’t get enough of his touch, his taste, the feel of him inside her, how he looked at her when they were moving together; the expression in his eyes a mix of possessiveness and what looked almost like vulnerability. As if, ridiculously, he thought she had the power to hurt him the way he could so easily hurt her.

Unfortunately, that was all about to change, since Noah was due back the next day, and Eden wasn’t sure how it was all going to work. How they were going to see each other without arousing Noah’s suspicion while they figured out the best way to break the news to him. She’d had a few conversations with her brother over the last three weeks. His initial enthusiasm seeming to have cooled off slightly toward the end of the tour, though he’d said it was going well. Maybe he was just tired. She’d never been on tour, but from what the guys had told her, it sounded draining.

Now it was her and Tex’s last day together, before Tex would have to move back to his place, and they’d just finished breakfast. Eden was puttering around in the kitchen, while Tex was sitting on a chair playing his guitar. He was absently strumming as he stared off into space, but as the random notes came together to form a melody, she saw his lips move as he sang words too quietly for her to hear.

She watched him, the strong jaw, the tanned column of his throat, the black lines visible at the neck of his T-shirt, the flex of his biceps as he played, and she wondered how she hadn’t been this crazy about him for the last ten years.

Her eyes jerked back to his as she realized the music had stopped, the smirk on his face telling her he’d caught her checking him out. A blush infused her cheeks, and to distract him from her ogling she asked the first thing that came to mind.

“Can you sing?”

He cocked a brow. “What do you mean? Of course I can sing.”

“I mean, Connor and Zac are both brilliant singers, obviously. Noah can’t hold a note to save his life. So, what about you? You don’t sing backup so I’m guessing you’re as tone deaf as Noah.”

He drummed his fingers on the wood of his guitar, a half-smile on his lips. “Nah, I’m okay. Not frontman material, but definitely not cat-in-heat bad like your brother.”

Eden laughed. “Okay, so why don’t you sing backup during your concerts then, or on your albums?”

The smile slowly faded from his face and he looked down at his guitar as he picked out some simple chords. Eden got the feeling she’d somehow hit on a sensitive subject. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

He shrugged, looking up and squinting one eye at her. “It’s okay, I don’t mind telling you.” He ran his hand through his hair, pushing it back off his face. “When I was a kid, young, five or six, I used to sing all the time. Constantly. I used to put on shows for my mom and dad. I’m sure I drove them mad.” He smiled ruefully, drawing an answering one from her as she imagined little Tex, cute as a button and putting on performances for his parents.

“One time, I’d learned a new song at school, and I was so excited. I rushed up to Mom where she was sitting at the kitchen table and started singing it for her. I guess you’re pretty clueless when you’re that age, so I was happily singing away to her, not noticing she wasn’t smiling at me like she normally did. Halfway through the song she started crying, told me she loved me, but she couldn’t do it anymore, she didn’t love my dad and she was leaving.”

Eden sucked in a sharp breath, tears welling in her eyes. “Oh my God, why would she say that to you?”

Tex shrugged. “I think she got sick of holding it in. It got to the point she just needed to tell me she was leaving, and I guess that was it. Regardless, it put me off singing. After my mom left, my dad would ask me to sing to him, but I never wanted to. And after a while I didn’t need to, I found the guitar, and that was it. Now she sings for me.” He stroked his fingers over the instrument’s satiny patina.

Eden had to clear her throat before she could speak. “So, do you sing at all? Like, ever? What about karaoke?”

“Yeah, I sing, I just don’t like singingtopeople. Performing. I sing when I’m writing songs—it’s hard not to—and it’s not performing, it’s work; simply getting out what’s in my head. I’ve gone to karaoke with the guys—I swear it’s Zac’s favorite thing to do—but I go to listen to everyone else make fools of themselves, not sing myself. It’s much more fun that way.”

Eden walked around the island, stopping in front of him. He was so tall that even with him sitting and her standing, his head was still at the height of her chest.

She reached out a hand and smoothed it down the side of his face, stroking her thumb across his cheekbone. Her heart thudded painfully at the expression in his eyes as he watched her. God, how was it possible that she was experiencing this kind of intense emotion already.

Although maybe the way she felt about him wasn’t so new. Maybe every time he’d seen her loitering in the hallway as a child and asked her to play with them, every time he’d come back to visit with Noah and asked her how she was, listening seriously to her teenage-girl answers, every time she’d watched him play his guitar, wringing emotion from every chord, that ember had been burning, waiting for the right time to flare to life.

Eden bent forward and pressed her lips to his firm, warm ones and moaned when he took over, sweeping his tongue into her mouth. She was going to end up getting hurt, and right then she didn’t even care.

She was breathing heavily, her heart beating hard in her chest, when they broke apart. “Take me to bed,” she said.

The flare of heat in his eyes replaced the shadow of remembered pain, and she would hurt herself a thousand times over just to make that happen.

Tex stood, hauling her up against him with one arm, carrying her like that until he reached the couch and could drop his guitar on it, then used both hands to lift her so she could wrap her limbs around him.

And then he took her.

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