Half-awake at the sound of Sebastian’s voice, she shifted her head in her sleep. The tangled sheets were wet with sweat, clinging to her naked body as she turned and discovered she was not the only one in the guestroom bed. His hot mouth glided over her shoulder to her collarbone, and from his lips an incoherent growl of arousal stirred the air and registered in her ear.

He flicked his hot tongue against her earlobe, and pleasure transformed her face. Alexandra squeezed her eyes shut, relaxed her jaw, and arched her neck in anticipation. She moved her hands slowly over the covers to meet the wicked throbbing between her legs, stopping in confusion about what was going on here. For Alexandra, this was out of character, particularly in front of Bash.

Wait, this cannot be happening
…

None of the details around the room came into focus. To her senses, they might as well have been floating weightlessly in a black void. All she could see, hear, smell, and taste was Sebastian Sullivan. He was more than enough to make the rest of the world disappear, yet it still did not make sense. With thoughts too hazy to understand the sensual onslaught of his touch, she was past any awareness of whether she was dreaming or seriously in need of a jolt to wake up before her secret was exposed.

Slick and slippery, his body ground down on her, getting closer despite the covers that separated them. Alexandra’s head was spinning. The room was so damn hot, but his lips were even hotter.

Oh my freaking god—this can’t be real.

A frantic realization registered just then. Her skeptical brain protested, but the voice of reason was drowned out by her thundering heartbeat and the blood rush of excited awareness. She opened her startled eyes and stared into what she was sure was Bash’s face.

He left a ticklish kiss in the center of her forehead between her eyebrows, making her eyes drift shut, now blind to reality but open to the possibilities. This could be real. Sebastian swept distracting feather-light kisses down along the slant of her cheek in a silky trail to her lips. He moved her hand away from her mound and pinned her wrists over her head.

“Stop trying to do everything yourself,” he groaned into her open mouth. A heated moan burst free as he nibbled at her lips, as though the sound of her pleasure tasted good to him.

Bash hovered over her with his palms flat on the bed. His pelvis pressed rhythmically between her parted thighs, battering the shores of her body with just the sheet to break the waves. It only heightened the tease of his slow, circular movements on her hips. She could still feel the nudging probe of his steely erection pushing harder and harder by degrees against the fabric, like he might have eventually torn through. She wanted him to get past the barrier, but then he would know.

Writhing beneath him, feeling his hard shaft stroke against her swollen clit, she murmured deliriously, “God, Bash. You don’t know how badly I want this.”

That’s not what I should be saying.

She fumbled in vain for the right words to tell him she was not who he thought she was before things went any further and he found out on his own. Instead, another feverish exclamation of desire spilled free.

“No…wait. Mmmm…God, Bash…wait…I have to…I need to tell you something,” she stammered.

Bash needed to know Alex Roberts did not really exist.

I’m Lexxi Rock.

No, I’m Alexandra Storme.

Alexandra could not think straight with Bash’s hands sparking fires all down her body. The erotic play sent the sheet lower, with friction dragging it over her quivering stomach and down her slender thighs until there was nothing left to shield her.

He paused above her, waiting for whatever profound announcement she stopped him to make, but Alexandra sharply whimpered dissent at the interruption. Her hips bucked in response to the intimate skin to skin contact when the rest of the sheet slithered away, and her legs wrapped around his waist to hold him prisoner when he tried to get up.

“Don’t go,” she pleaded feverishly.

“Just tell me!” Bash commanded in a fierce whisper. He put his forehead against hers, cupped her face in his hands, and stared directly into her eyes, waiting.

Alexandra turned away from his challenge. Her fingernails dug anxiously into his muscular shoulders. She somehow knew everything would change if she confessed. He ran his fingers through her short black hair and gently tugged her head back, forcing her to look at him again. His gaze dropped to the exposed curve of her neck. Emitting a lusty growl, Bash planted his fiery mouth along the ridge and sucked at her throbbing pulse. His nibbling teeth, his heated lips, nipping and kissing their way down to her chest.

He breathed raggedly into her cleavage. “Why can’t you just be honest with me?”

Alexandra bit back a guilty sob, tossing her head from side to side in confusion at her inability to do exactly that. His hands sensually kneaded and caressed the small globes of her breasts and toyed with her hardened, sensitive nipples in a way that erupted a swarm of sensations below Alexandra’s pelvis. His straight, white teeth painlessly held hostage a nipple as he flicked his hot, wet tongue against the tip.

“Bash!” she gasped. Her back arched, allowing her breast to press more deeply into his mouth.

Bash’s free hand coasted down to her mound, dipping his fingers into her needy center and tickling the soft skin between her legs. Briefly again, realization tried to push past her blissful ignorance.

If he’s touching me like this, then he knows, right?

Her epiphany flitted away as quickly as it had arrived, and her thighs spilled open wider to revel in his penetrating touch. Whimpering with need, she clasped the back of his head while he excitably ran his expert tongue from one nipple to the next, causing her body to instinctively move up and down his thrusting fingers. The most exquisite ecstasy accompanied each stroke. The building tension expanded and filled her up to where combustible pleasure was ready to ignite. Faster and faster, he beckoned for her to come. She cried out, ready to release.

“All you have to do,” he groaned against her chest, “is let yourself be free.”

There was no holding back. It was now or never.

“Bash, I’m not who you think—”

An explosion of euphoric pleasure snatched the admission from her lips. The rest of the words never made it out. Her body erupted in vivid gold and violet flames of rapture, and the fire instantly engulfed all of her in an explosive orgasm.

“Fuck, yes!” she cried out, amazed after the fact that it was probably loud enough to wake the dead.

Alexandra’s eyelids popped open and she jerked awake in a panic. Praying she did not actually scream out loud in the midst of the erotic dream that had the covers kicked to the floor and her body dripping with sweat, she sat up and looked around. No one came running, and that was a damned good sign in her books.

She hurriedly patted down her chest, confirming she was still wearing the dark blue pajamas she had on when she went to bed. Looking over at the full length mirror at the corner of the room, she saw her reflection. Her face was flushed with embarrassment at what just happened.

“What am I, back to living like a teenager?” she muttered.

She quietly climbed out of bed and tiptoed to the bathroom. A cold shower was definitely in order.

The water hit the tiles of the shower with a soothing whisper as she undressed. After double checking to make sure the door was locked, she slipped beneath the spray.

“Ugh! When did this become my life?”

Well, that’s simple. This became my life the minute I lost track of who exactly I am.

Groaning, she yanked down a washcloth from the shelf next to the shower, and washed away her frustration.

Or am I washing away my self-satisfaction?

Whatever.

She allowed her mind to make the connections, and spoke into the spray of the shower, “It all began when I cut off my hair after deciding the best way to avoid the notoriety of being Lexxi Rock, world famous rock star, was to dress up and pretend to be someone else. What the fuck was I thinking?”

The tepid water cascaded over the crown of her head, plastering her dark raven locks of hair to her scalp. The longer tendrils dripped water into her face, and she sputtered, blinking her eyes to clear them. It was hard to believe that only a month ago, having showers was a thirty-minute ordeal that involved shampooing and detangling her purple, knee-length hair. That might have been her signature look as Lexxi Rock, but boy was it a hassle. Looking back, she was not sure it was worth the extra upkeep, just for the privilege of swirling the mass of purple waves around and around while rocking out on her guitar whenever she performed in concert.

With her career on hold, she had no regrets about cutting it all off so she could hide in plain sight and be close to her father during his initial bout of pneumonia. Now that her father was back to square one after the house fire, she had even fewer regrets about cutting off her tresses and dying her hair black to adopt the persona of Alex Roberts,
nephew
of Maxwell Storme. It was the only way she could think of to be close to him without bringing the media baggage of celebrity life along with her. In retrospect, her only misstep was she could have been anyone—definitely a female anyone. She wished she had not settled on the first idea that came to mind.

It was a dumb idea, thinking it would be easier to throw the paparazzi off her scent by playing the role of a guy.

Just a matter of changing my wardrobe.

Yeah right.

It was too bad she did not figure on meeting her father’s neighbor, Sebastian Sullivan, the sexy firefighter next door who, in an ironic twist, turned out to be gay, and had the hots for Alex Roberts. Still, she could not even regret that part. Bash saved her and Dad last night from what could have been disaster, and now she was staying in his house to avoid a hotel stay that would surely bring her presence in Tucson to light.

There was only one downside to her charade. Coming clean would also mean she was sure to break Bash’s heart and lose the trust of someone who had become a good friend.

Well, maybe two downsides, because she had fallen for Bash, and Alexandra Storme almost definitely was not his type.

CHAPTER TWO

“Fuck my life,” Alexandra whined to Eva over the phone.

Her best friend had phoned her via video call just after her shower, and now, on the other end of the line, she was chortling. Alexandra was in the middle of complaining about her dilemma, and Eva had the nerve to laugh in her face.

“This isn’t funny, Eva! This is a disaster,” she said, pouting.

“I’m sorry,” Eva answered. She struggled to get her fits of laughter under control, forcing a twitch of a smile out of Alexandra at her lack of success. “I know this is a big deal for you, but it’s a little hard to take you seriously when you’re, with you…wait, where in bloody hell are you, anyway?”

Alexandra began to giggle too at how ridiculous she probably looked, hiding under the covers this way. Morning sunlight speared through the blinds and penetrated the blanket where she camped out since waking up from that unnerving dream.

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