Cover Me: A Rock Star Romance Read online

  The notes were my favorite part. I hurried unfolding it.

  Because you’re my family, my home. We’ll fill the empty spaces together.

  I thought of the photos he’d given me of our childhood. It only seemed right that my life would progress with him, that there would be more photos of us now and as we grew old together. The only empty space I’d ever had was where he belonged. He filled me up and made me whole.

  “We have to hurry,” Emmy said, hooking her arm through mine and ushering me down the sidewalk. We got another few yards and stopped. Emmy’s brow creased in annoyance. “Cilla?” she called. “Where is she?”

  A yard up from us, Pricilla stepped out from behind a large tree holding her phone to her ear. When she saw her mom’s face, she said something into the phone and quickly shoved it into her pocket.

  “Get over here!” Emmy yelled, spurring Cilla to run over to us.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, rolling her eyes and jabbing her arm in my direction.

  “Thanks, Cill,” I said, untying the charm bejeweled with golden Topaz stones.

  “You’re lucky,” she said.

  “I am,” I agreed, taking the note she handed me.

  “You know Adrian.”

  I grinned. Of course she’d want to meet Adrian. “I can introduce you to him. He’s here.”

  Her eyes bulged and she looked like she might cry or faint or lapse into full-blown hysteria. “He’s here!? You can introduce me!?”

  I nodded. “Sure.”

  As she freaked out and Emmy tried to calm her down, I opened my note thinking it was probably the last.

  Because you say it’s never only anything with me and you’re right. It’s only everything. That’s what I want with you. Only everything.

  I was still nervous, but a good nervous. I wanted to sprint the rest of the way, dart around all the press and run into Derek’s arms. No more running from him, only to him. No more being afraid of giving him everything.

  Only everything.

  That’s what I wanted with him, too.

  Twenty

  Derek

  She should’ve been here by now. “Where is she?”

  Karen stepped in front of me and put her hands on my shoulders to stop my pacing behind the riser where the podium stood. “She’ll be here. Emmy will gag and hog-tie her if she has to.”

  “I hope she doesn’t have to.” By this time if I hadn’t won her over, I never would.

  “Trust me, she won’t. Bess is crazy in love with you, okay? I’ve known her four years now and I’ve never seen her lose her cool, but you make her nervous and emotional.”

  “That doesn’t sound positive.” Nervous and emotional weren’t feelings I’d chose. Happy was a good feeling. “Is she happy?”

  “Bess doesn’t do happy. Take what you can get.”

  Adrian sauntered over, taking a break from posing for the cameras. He loved the paparazzi and soaked up the shower of attention they gave him. “Mind if I say a few words?” he asked. “Since we’re waiting for Bess to get here?”

  “Still trying to steel my thunder, huh?” I smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “Go for it.”

  He jogged up the riser stairs and stepped up to the podium. Cameras flashed and questions burst forth from reports in a garbled rush. “Good afternoon,” he said. “Thanks for coming. Derek Bast has generously agreed to let me say a few words before he takes the podium. First, what I put out to you last week was true. Unholy Union was in the studio, but not in the traditional sense. Derek and I have agreed to collaborate on a new project that features a sample of his first hit release, Cover Me. It’s a project I’m anxious to work on with him as his first client, producing the track under the True North label.”

  All I could do was laugh. Adrian dropped bombs like they were candy tossed out at a parade and the press ate it up. We never discussed me producing our collaboration, but it seemed like the right idea. Neither of us had managers holding our feet to the fires of the big labels. It would launch the song and my new business venture.

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Bess walking along the edge of the crowd. I took a step to go get her, but Karen grabbed my arm. “You can’t run out there. I’ll get her and bring her over.”

  I looked over my shoulder, convincing myself that the enormous backdrop behind the stage would block the real surprise I had for her. The one she’d get to see once this horse and pony show was over and the cameras were gone.

  Karen had reached Bess and was pointing me out. Her eyes found mine and we stared at each other across the wide space filled with flashing cameras and shouting voices. I couldn’t read her expression from this far away.

  “I think it’s time to turn the microphone over to the man who asked all of you to come out today,” Adrian said, pulling my attention from Bess. “Ladies and gentlemen, Derek Bast!”

  I wouldn’t get to talk to her before my announcement. I wanted to give her a hug, a kiss, a few words—something before my big apology in front of God and everyone.

  I took the stairs, plastering a smile on my face and gripped Adrian’s hand as he passed me. “Shock and awe those bastards,” he said, laughing.

  “Hello,” I said, battling lions in my chest. “I need to correct a wrong today that was an unintentional oversight on my part nine years ago.” I scanned the group in front of me and ran my eyes along the outer edge to find Karen and Bess. Bess stood, frozen, a few yards away from the foot of the riser stairs. I motioned for her to join me. “Most of you know who Bess Halprin is and not because she’s had the misfortune of being named in tabloid articles about me lately. She’s the publisher of The Scene and also my best friend, the girl I grew up next door to and the woman I’m in love with.”

  Mummers rose in volume as Bess climbed the stairs. “I owe Bess an apology. The summer before our senior year in high school she helped me write a song. That song was Cover Me. It launched my career and I never gave her credit for helping me write it. The worst part is that I only realized what I’d done a couple days ago. I lost this woman nine years ago and never knew why. I never looked inward and tried to identify with her feelings. I’ve been asking myself why—why didn’t I credit her? How could I not? It wasn’t premeditated. I never gave it a thought.

  I reached out and took Bess’s hand. She trembled, her eyes wary behind her glasses. Wary of me and the crowd gathered recording every word. “I know why, Bess. It’s not a good excuse, but it’s the truth. You know I don’t lie.”

  A faint smile crossed her lips.

  “It’s the same reason I wouldn’t think to credit my mom or dad if they helped me figure out the right lyrics. They’re family and they always help me. You’re family. You always have been. You’ve always helped me. But it wasn’t right to claim Cover Me as my own. It’s as much yours as mine. It’s us. Every word, every melody. It’s catching lightning bugs at dusk and giving in when you begged me to let them out of the jar, holding you while you cried when your grandpa passed away, blowing out birthday candles while you smeared my nose with cake frosting. Cover Me is every single moment of my life that you’ve been a part of.”

  Bess held my hand so tight it was going numb. She blinked back tears and I could tell she was doing her best to keep from breaking down in front of everyone. I took a step closer to her and held her other hand, too.

  “You cover me with laughter and light, understanding and patience, loyalty and friendship. Whenever times got tough, you were by my side. When I got my license and wrecked my first car, it was your window I knocked on that night. It was you who stood up to my dad the first day of spring break in eighth grade when he grounded me until school started—and somehow got him to let me go swimming. It was you who took the rap for throwing rocks and breaking The Kiplinger’s window, even though nobody believed it.”

  I chuckled and she laughed with me, cracking her fragile façade. Tears fell down her cheeks and her face turned red. I pulled her to me and held her, stepping farther from the p
odium. “I’m sorry, Bess. Will you please forgive me?”

  She sobbed openly, tucking her face into my neck. “Of course I will.”

  The click of cameras was deafening. I held up my hand. “Adrian and I will have a date for the release of our collaboration soon. Thanks for coming out.”

  I hurried Bess off the riser to shouts of her name and mine along with various questions. The record had been set straight, my apology made and it was time to be alone with her, because she was mine with nothing standing in my way anymore.

  God, what a relief. I seriously doubted ever figuring out what I had to apologize for. Now that it was finally put to rest, it was like a door opening and a gust of warm air blowing us through. We were moving on. Together. Like we always should’ve been.

  The press closed in on us from both sides as I rushed her behind the backdrop and through a partition on the other side where security officers would make sure we had our privacy. Adrian would be back at the podium any minute taking questions and directing attention from me and Bess.

  “Oh my God, Derek.” Bess stood beside me, gaping at the back of the property. Where the rickety stairs had been, I’d had a crew working night and day building an enclosed gazebo that perched on the cliff overlooking the beach. It was two stories and had a new set of stairs, our private walkway down to the ocean.

  She pointed to the weathervane and clapped a hand over her mouth. I had it custom made—a rush job. In the metal banner that spanned the center, the words True North were cut out. On top, a man’s hand reached skyward trying to catch the north star.

  The breeze changed directions and sent it twirling. The sun glinted off of the metal. I threaded my fingers with hers and we ran up to the door of the gazebo. “Bess, this is our place. True North isn’t a song. It’s a feeling. A place. A person—you. It’s not something I want to share with the world and it’s not something I can do justice to by putting it into words.”

  I ran my fingers through her hair and held her head in my hands as she let the tears fall again. “I’m done with being onstage and behind a microphone. The next level is producing records. I’m building a home right here where our feet have crossed hundreds of times. I want it to be with you. I’m putting in a studio for me and a giant office for you to work remotely when you can. You can be here or not be here, but it’s as much your house as it is mine. You’re my family. You—”

  She dove for me, pulling my head down to hers and pressing her lips to mine. Her face was wet and she made tiny sobbing sounds in her throat. I pulled back and brushed the tears from her cheeks. “Are you happy, Bess?”

  She smiled and let out a cough of a laugh through her tears. “I’m happy.”

  I held her face in my hands and stared into her dark blue eyes. “Do you trust me?”

  She blinked slowly and exhaled. “Completely.”

  A surge of relief and overwhelming desire shot through me. I opened the gazebo door, picked her up and carried her inside. “Welcome home.”

  Bess

  I couldn’t take my hands off of him. I didn’t even want to look from his face to see the inside of the gazebo. My eyes kept welling with tears.

  He did it. He figured out why I couldn’t trust him and proved that I could. I didn’t think it would be so simple, but Derek always had a way about him of making the most impossible tasks easy. “Thank you for not giving up on me. I know it seems stupid that I didn’t just tell you why I was holding a nine year grudge. I have issues. I know. I’m working on it.”

  His green eyes filled with humor as he smiled. “Bess, I know you. You don’t want to put anyone out or seem needy by asking for what you want, and you’re afraid if you do, you’ll end up disappointed. You don’t have to explain it to me. You’re brave for everyone but yourself, so I’m going to be brave enough for both of us.”

  He walked to the center of the room and lowered us onto a futon. The windows enclosing the gazebo were covered with off-white material blinds that let in dim light. Above us open beams formed a starburst that met in the center of the round roof. The room wasn’t finished, some of the wood needed stained and the floor was bare wood subflooring, but it was incredible. “I can’t wait until we can open the blinds and see the ocean.”

  “I can’t wait to open your dress to see you.” He laid me down and leaned on his elbow gazing down at me. “I’ve missed you.”

  I closed my eyes as he lowered his lips to mine. I was out of my bubble, but safe and warm in Derek’s arms. Our gazebo was a new kind of cocoon, one we shared. We entered as two people coming together and we’d leave as one.

  His lips covered mine and his tongue sparked lust through my nerve endings. I was torn between wanting to lay still and trace the lines of his face, in awe of this man I’ve loved forever being mine and wanting to tear his clothes off and lick every inch of his delicious body. The anticipation of being emotionally intimate with him was even greater than that of making love for the first time.

  “Bess,” he whispered against my cheek, “the odds are pretty good that I’ll fuck up again. I’m going to do my very best not to and to keep your feelings in the forefront of my mind at all times. But, if I do, will you promise me that we’ll talk about it and fix it? I can’t spend my life worried that I’ll screw up and lose you again and not even know why.”

  He looked down at me and I saw him as he was now, not the boy next door, not the eighteen-year-old I banished from my life. Derek Bast the twenty-seven-year-old star who had come storming back into my life, torn down my defenses and made me see I’d never stopped loving him. “I can’t imagine not having you in my life for one second. I know we fight and you have a bad temper and I get nuts, but if this is home base for us then this is where we’ll both be—working things out when we need to and forgiving each other always.” I stroked his cheek and ran my fingers over his lips. “Promise.”

  His eyes closed for a moment as I stroked his cheek again. “This is it,” he said. “The next level of success.”

  “Just don’t invite the press in to review your next show,” I said, squeezing his butt.

  His eyes gleamed and he gave me an evil grin. “Let’s see what The Scene has to report about this unholy union.”

  Before I could laugh, he kissed me again and trapped the giddy feeling inside me. He got to his knees and held my eyes as he opened my dress and took it off me, setting it aside. I laid there with my chest heaving, wondering how having his eyes on me made me more restless than having his hands on me. “Do you know how beautiful you are?”

  His fingertips trailed up my inner thigh. “Do you know my favorite part of you?” I asked.

  One side of his mouth hitched into a grin. “I can only imagine.”

  “No, you can’t.” I reached up and put my finger below the corner of his lips where his chin creased. “The dimple that’s right here sometimes when you’re truly happy. It doesn’t show when you’re smirking or joking around, only when you smile like you can’t hold back.”

  “Then you must be the only person in the world who’s ever seen it.” He laid back down beside me and pushed my bra straps aside before unhooking it in the back. I tugged his shirt off before his hands wrapped around my breasts and massaged.

  “That feels good.” I set my glasses aside with my dress, stretched and enjoyed his fingers and the slow way they stroked and squeezed.

  Derek kissed my neck and trailed his lips down over my breast. “I’m going to make love to you. Do I have all of you, Bess?”

  I ran my hands over his shoulders and wove my fingers through is hair. “Every ounce.”

  He took my nipple into his mouth as he pushed my underwear down my thighs. I shimmied the rest of the way out of them and made quick work of taking off his pants. When we were both naked, I shifted under him and bent my knees, wrapping my calves around his thighs. His hard cock nestled between my pussy’s lips.

  We stayed like that for a long time, kissing and holding hands, sliding and rocking achingly slow aga
inst each other. I felt his heart beat against my chest, his pulse in his neck thrummed under my lips, my hands memorized every curve and dip of muscle and bone I could reach.

  When I couldn’t take it any longer, I spread my legs wider and tilted my hips so the head of his cock was at my entrance. “Make love to me, Derek,” I said, prodding him gently with my heels.

  Up on his elbows, he bent his head down and kissed me, devastatingly sweet and lingering. When he pulled back, his eyes were swimming. “I love you, Bess.” He thrust his hips and entered me, slow and steady to the root.

  I inhaled and arched my back. He filled me, stretched me, made me his. “I love you, too,” I whispered, raising my head to reach his lips. His hands held my head and our kiss deepened and became frantic as he thrust and pumped and my hips rose and fell, faster and faster.

  “You feel even better than I imagined,” he said, panting. “So wet and tight. So hot and greedy.”

  “This is how I imagined,” I said, moaning. “…knew you’d be amazing.” My body was a live wire. Every touch of his chest against my sensitive nipples was charged. His pelvis grinding against mine had my clit throbbing.

  He rolled us over and sat me up on top of him. The new angle made him slide in even deeper. I let out a whimper and leaned back, gripping his thighs. I rode him slow at first, taking him all the way in then thrusting back and forth before rising and falling down onto him. The combination sent me straight to the edge.

  “Let me see you come, Bess,” he said in a hoarse, raw voice. He gripped my waist and lifted me up and down on his cock a he thrust hard and fast. I held my bouncing breasts and squeezed my nipples. His cock hit the right spot and rubbed over and over. “Oh. Oh, God. Don’t stop. Right there. Oh, Jesus…”

  The room spun and went black as I came hard and lost control. Derek let out a loud groan. “Jesus. Fuck.” He pounded me down onto him hard, my slack body riding out the last body-wracking shocks of orgasm, and came inside me.