Rocked to the Core: Rocked, #3

By Clara Bayard

Why does doing the right thing feel so wrong?

Liss is trying to chase her dreams on her own terms, but memories of Joe, her rock star ex, haunt her day and night. She fights for happiness and discovers a life she can call her own.

How do you move on when your heart belongs to someone else?

But when Joe and his band come back to town and back into her life, his presence reignites her passion for him and threatens to topple the delicate balance of her new existence.

Love is a fire that can nurture or destroy, but you can't tell which until you surrender to the flames.

Length: 19,000 words
Series: Rocked, #3
BBW New Adult Rock Star Romance

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clara Bayard
• Release date: May 16, 2013
• ISBN: 9781497746176

Book preview

Rocked to the Core

By Clara Bayard

Rocked Series, #3

Copyright © 2013 by Clara Bayard

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About this book

Why does doing the right thing feel so wrong?

Liss is trying to chase her dreams on her own terms, but memories of Joe, her rock star ex, haunt her day and night. She fights for happiness and discovers a life she can call her own.

How do you move on when your heart belongs to someone else?

But when Joe and his band come back to town and back into her life, his presence reignites her passion for him and threatens to topple the delicate balance of her new existence.

Love is a fire that can nurture or destroy, but you can't tell which until you surrender to the flames.

One

His hands fist in my hair, pulling my mouth down to his. The softness of his lips is a sharp contrast to the desperate hardness of the kiss. His tongue drives inside my mouth, tasting and searching deep.

I wrap my arms around his waist and splay my hands against his naked back, warm and slick with sweat. Inhaling his scent sends every nerve in my body humming and I spread my legs to get him closer to me. Closer to being inside me.

Babe… he murmurs against my lips.

I let my hands answer him, sliding up his back, over his strong shoulders. My nails scrape against his skin as he reaches between us. The calloused pads of his fingers dance down the swell of my belly, familiar and soothing. It seems like a million years ago that I feared his touch there, shrank away from it.

But now, every inch of me is known by him, adored by him. There is nothing sexier and I purr, adjusting my position to grant him access to my most private of places.

He slides a fingertip over my crease, his breath catching slightly as he fells the moisture there, how ready I am for him. But instead of pushing inside, he retreats. A soft kiss on my mouth and then his head dips, tongue sliding over my skin.

In the soft light of the room I watch him, my bronzed god, lean and strong.

A trail of heat follows his journey down to my chest. One of his hands circles my hip as the other lifts a breast to his lips. He sucks the tight peak in, coaxing a shudder of pleasure from me with his talented tongue and teeth. With the perfect amount of pressure, he tortures me delightfully, making my heart thunder under the soft fullness of my breast.

I moan and cling tighter to him. Please, Joe…

He chuckles. Relax, babe. We have all the time in the world.

Oh, right. I'd forgotten. Calmed by his words, I pull him down onto our sides, legs tangled together, bodies entwined the way we should always be.

Joe's mouth works its way back up to my neck as his fingers keep teasing my nipples. He laughs again and I am startled.

What's so funny?

His breath is hot against my throat when he speaks. I can hear every tiny sound you make here. When I pinch, or tug. He punctuated each example with the corresponding action. Different little noises for each. Like you're an instrument I play.

I smile and run a hand up over his stubbled cheek and to his spiky hair. You're quite adept at playing this instrument, Mr. Hawk.

He sucks at my neck where my pulse is pounding. It is my favorite.

Mmm. Let's see what other tunes it can play.

Joe skims his hands down my sides and turns us so he is on top of me. He braces on one arm and stares down into my face as I shake my head to push a lock of hair from my face, unwilling to take my hands off of him for even a second.

He hooks one of my legs over his and presses against me. His hard length is silken fire between my thighs and I sigh.

He freezes at the sound. What?

I'm just happy. This is where we belong.

The heat of his skin dissipates quickly and turns icy. Where pleasure had warmed me, I start to shiver from the loss of it.

Joe's face grows cold too, his bright blue eyes gone steely. Then why did you leave me?

I didn't. I'm right here.

The hotel window slams open and a chilly wind whips through the room. I look over and see trees outside straining against the gale but when I turn back, he's gone. The bed is empty and I'm so cold and so alone.

Joe, I scream, but my voice is tiny and lost in the roar of the weather outside. No!

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I sat up with a start, the cry still echoing in my head. Alone, but not in a cold hotel. I was at home in my own bed, but that fact did nothing to comfort me. I curled my legs up and hugged them to my chest, letting my head sink to my knees.

My heart was pounding and I cursed silently. I'd thought the dreams were gone. It had been weeks since the last one. But every time I believe things were getting better, my brain betrayed me and dragged me back down.

All that saved me from another lengthy session of wallowing in misery was the alarm on my phone going off. My head cleared a little and I remembered why I'd set it so early.

I climbed out of bed and swayed on my feet for a moment. Warring sensations filled my body and made me dizzy. Arousal clung to me from the dream, the memory of Joe's hands on me. But the anguish of missing him shot through it like a dagger.

Shake it off, I ordered myself, bumping into the bed and then the