Page 47 of Mic Drop (Passionate Beats #3)

“ Y es!” I scream my completion as my husband throws his head back and roars his.

My body ripples with pleasure streaming through every cell and welcomes Bennett’s weight as he collapses on top of me.

My hand runs down his sweat-slicked back.

How could I ever have thought to walk away from this wonderful man?

He kisses my cheek as he rolls onto his side, taking my limp body with his. “Each time, it gets better.” He pushes my wet hair off my face. “How is it possible?”

With a slow blink, I reply, “I honestly have no idea. At this rate, can you imagine our ten-year anniversary?”

He dons a wolfish smile. “I can’t wait.” His luscious lips cover mine, molding them to his will. “Or twenty. Or thirty.” He pulls back and looks deeply into my eyes. “Sixty won’t be enough. It’ll never be enough for me.”

I believe every word he says, because I feel the same way about him.

Church bells outside our hotel room peel.

“I never imagined visiting Rome. Ma always dreamed of coming here. She told me we’d visit the Trevi Fountain and the Vatican, get blessed by the Pope, see the ruins, eat all the food, and gorge on gelato.

” I smooth a sheet over our sweat-slicked bodies.

“I’m glad to be able to do this in her honor. ”

He pulls me into his embrace. “I’m sorry the Pope is away, but somehow I’m not sure how he’d take to giving me a blessing.” Bennett chuckles. “Wouldn’t want to get struck down by lightning in a fancy church.”

I stretch like a cat, entwining my fingers behind his head and pulling him down to me. When we break apart, I tease, “Then you’d be immortalized as a statue and people would pray to you.”

“I’d be sure to grant them all their dirty fantasies.” He pulls back. “People pray for them, don’t they?”

My head shakes. “I honestly don’t know. But if you were the one reviewing their prayers, I’d bet they would.” I rest my head on his chest. Melancholy, my perennial friend, rears her ugly head. If only I could’ve taken Ma here. She would’ve loved it.

My husband’s palm rests on the middle of my back, as if he knows I’m going into a dark place. “You know,” he begins. “She’s here with you, experiencing everything. You carry Faith in here.” He moves his palm over my heart. Which, convenient for him, is right above my boob.

“I hope so.” I smile as his thumb caresses the flesh under his palm. “I think you said that because you wanted to cop a feel.”

He smirks. “Guilty.” He skims over my nipple, then settles me next to his body. “Right now, though, I want to offer you strength. And you’re lucky...”

When he doesn’t continue, I prompt, “How?”

“Your mother loved you. She even wrote you a last note with all of her wisdom. She was super proud of you, with your physical therapy clinics. She told me so.”

“She really was my biggest cheerleader.” His comment brings me to yet another conundrum.

My return flight is scheduled for tomorrow, and I don’t want to leave my husband.

However, my business requires my attention.

How can I be so happy, so miserable, and so torn all at once?

I need to return to Aroostook and focus on my clinics. Which only ushers in more depression.

“At the risk of ruining our perfect moment?—”

“Don’t.” His lips kiss my nose. “We’ll figure it out.”

I can’t help myself. “My flight back is scheduled for tomorrow.”

He rubs two fingers over his nose, a tic I’ve come to understand he does when he’s thinking. “You can stay with me. UC has a plane and there’s plenty of room. Let your seat on commercial go.”

It sounds so easy when the suggestion pops out of his mouth.

But he doesn’t have a business that depends on him in the Hamptons.

He’s not in the process of building a third clinic and scouting out a fourth location, not to mention running two others.

Although Court’s been doing an amazing job while I’ve been here, in Europe, reconnecting with my husband.

“I can meet up with you in a couple of weeks. Where will you be then?”

A frown mars his gorgeous face. “I don’t know where, but I can tell you I’ll be miserable. The guys will try to cheer me up but won’t be able to. All our fans will see my sorry ass performing without my heart. It’ll be awful.”

“Oh, come on. So long as you’re rocking those black leather pants that Nese got for you. I doubt any of your female fans will even notice.”

My teasing falls flat. “I’ll know. What can I do to convince you to stay with me?”

“I have to focus on my business, the same way you have to tour with UC. It’s what you do—and it’s what I do.”

“I guess so. But if I only have today, I better make sure you don’t forget your husband while you’re away.” His lip ticks upward.

“I’ll try to be as productive as possible and get back to you ASAP. Now that you got rid of both Lissa and Michelle, my job is a lot easier.”

He kisses me with blatant sexual desire, which rouses what I thought was my dormant libido. I mean, he did give me three orgasms already. It’s never enough with Bennett. Before we can get started, my phone pings with a text.

He breaks away from my lips long enough to order me, “Ignore it.”

“What if it’s Court?” I murmur between kisses, and roll over to grab my cell.

LUKE

Got a proposition for you.

I stare from the text to my husband. These two have been thicker than thieves lately, as Ma would say. What have they cooked up? “It’s Luke.”

One eyebrow shoots up. “Really? What does he have to say?”

I read the text. “What proposition, Bennett? What’s going on?”

Both hands shoot upward. “Me? Why would I know anything?” He shoves the sheets down to our feet and sits up. “We better get moving. Don’t want to make UC’s manager wait.”

I cross one foot over my ankle. “He didn’t say he wanted to meet me.”

His cheeks flush. I knew they were in on this—whatever this is—together. “Really? I thought he did.”

He’s so cute when he tries to lie. Thankfully, he’s bad at it. “Rock Star, what is going on?”

In all his naked glory, he stands and drags me down the bed by my ankles, causing me to laugh. Over his shoulder, he asks, “Why don’t you text him back and ask him where to meet?”

What are these two up to? I shake my head, text Luke, and join Bennett in the shower. An hour later, we meet up with the band’s manager in the hotel’s café.

“You both are glowing,” Luke remarks .

“That’s what marriage will do to you, friend,” Bennett replies, followed by a wink. If I weren’t sure I was the root cause of this scheming, I’d be proud of my husband for calling his manager “friend.”

Luke and Bennett dive into a discussion about the Oscars, and the fact Refocused Destiny officially has been nominated for best song in a movie.

I allow their conversation to go on around me.

After the server delivers our cappuccinos, complete with artistic milk decorations on top, though, I dive into the heart of the matter.

“All right Luke. What’s this big proposition you two conceived without my input? ”

Bennett snort laughs.

“Now, don’t get so touchy,” Luke jumps in. “I’m UC’s manager, you know. When something bothers one of the band members, it’s my job to make sure it gets resolved in such a way as to make everyone happy.”

“By everyone, you really mean Bennett, Coop, Río, Pierce, and Tristan, right?”

“That’s cute,” Bennett pipes up. “Isn’t it cute how she still calls 007 ‘Pierce’?”

My eyes slant toward my husband. I blow on my hot beverage and take a sip, allowing its delicious warmth to spread through my limbs. When neither speak up again, I address the manager. “Please continue. What’s bothering UC that you think I can help with?”

Luke replaces his cup onto the saucer. “Actually, I was going to correct your initial statement. UC is more than only the performers. As you know, we have roadies, lighting, sound and music techs, security, stylists?—”

My hand lands over Luke’s. “I get it. Spill.”

“Feisty.” Bennett sits taller.

“Fine. I remember what you did for Jeb and the rest of the roadies when they were complaining about back pain.”

“I gave them some exercises to do to strengthen their muscles. ”

“Right. But did you know that they now meet daily to run through your exercises?”

“I didn’t know. That’s great.”

“It is. And it got me to thinking. I reached out to a few of my friends who are with other bands. Hunte, Cole Manchester, The Light Rail, you know, big names like these. Want to know what they all have in common?”

I have no idea. Great music? “What?”

As the moment of silence extends, my husband blurts, “Touring physical therapists!”

Both Luke and I turn to Bennett. Luke looks annoyed. Me? I’m shocked. Slowly, I respond, “I’ve heard of this for Broadway shows. Cirque du Soleil. Those sorts of physical performances.”

“Hey,” Bennett crosses his arms. “I’m very physical on stage.” He leans closer to me. “Off stage, too. Right, Sweetheart?”

I don’t have the bandwidth to deal with him right now, no matter how sexy he’s being, so I address my comment to UC’s manager. “What exactly are you saying?”

Luke cracks his knuckles and stares into my eyes. “I’m making you an offer, to be perfectly clear. How would you like to become UC’s traveling physical therapist? You’d be responsible for the band, sure, but also for all the crew and roadies. We have a lot of those.” He bumps fists with Bennett.

“A traveling—” I take a deep breath. “UC’s traveling physical therapist?” Could this work?

Bennett lifts my hand to his lips. After pressing a gentle kiss in its center, he says, “You’re already doing the job.

You got me back to one hundred percent, but it looks as if Jeb and the roadies could use your services.

Who knows what might happen next? Coop could hurt his fingers on a broken guitar string.

Río,” he pauses. “Who knows what our drummer could get himself into next? He’s a wild card. ”