Page 35 of The Forbidden Trio

Janie.

He’d touched her that morning. His fingers flexed instinctively, his fingertips still buzzing as if her skin were mere inches away even now.

So damn beautiful. The most beautiful woman he’d ever known. No groupie or porn star or model could ever compare. He wasn’t interested. He only wanted her.

His cell rang and he picked it up. It was Jaden, Ink & Iron’s drummer.

“Hey, little drummer boy.”

“Hey, deluded rock god.”

“Fuck you, Jaden.”

“Fuck you too, Cole.”

He grinned. “What’s up?”

“Just checking on you, bud. Wanted to see how you’re doing.”

“Doing okay. I went to see Janie.”

Jaden let out a long, low whistle. “Brave man. How did it go? Or should I ask?”

“She wasn’t thrilled to see me at first, but we worked it out. She’s having dinner with me tonight.”

“Wow. Sorry, but I would not have put money on that long shot. You must have some damn smooth moves, my man.”

“Maybe.” He got up and paced the little patch of bare floor in the studio. “Or maybe she knows as well as I do that we belong together.”

“That kind of lyric is why we have such a healthy female following. Look, the last thing I wanna do is rain on your love parade, Cole, but it might take some work for her to get over what happened with you two. Well, with you.Toher.”

His drummer wasn’t known for his subtlety. “Yeah, I know. But it’sJanie, you know? If I’m not willing to work for her…”

“Yeah, I get it. Do your thing. Let me know if you want to get all bromance about it and talk about your feelings and shit.”

“Fuck you, Jaden.”

“So you said. I’m comfortable enough in my own skin to be flattered, but other guys are not this cool.”

“Oh,reallyfuck you, Jaden.”

His friend laughed. “Later, bud.”

He hit the End button and tossed his cell onto the desk, then looked over at the piano.

He could either hang in the studio some more beating his head against the writer’s block, or he could go upstairs and get in the shower and stroke off some of the tension in his body.

Tension about Janie.

Those long, lean legs and her perfect, heart-shaped ass…

He’d spanked that gorgeous ass, and she’d loved it. He’d tied her up, played her with hot wax… Was she was still into the kink, or had that been nothing more for her than the explorations of sexually charged youth? No—he knew enough about BDSM and the power dynamic these days to look back and recognize that what they’d had was the real thing. The dynamic had been sizzling hot and the connection when they played hard had been intense.

Amazing. That was something no one could ever forget.

He remembered.

He remembered her tied up with the long scarves she wore around her neck, on her knees on the bed, hands behind her back, every line of her bound body perfection. The way she gave herself over to him in those moments was flawless.

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