Chapter 5

DIANA

I returned to my solitary home by noon. Overwhelmed by my own emotions, I crawled into bed to wallow in self-pity and misery.

I had majorly messed up. Not only by walking out on a working contract, but by making a complete fool of myself. If Levi told our managers what happened, I’d get an earful from Damien.

I didn’t need him scolding me as if I were still a teenage popstar. Remorse for my actions and attitude kept me in bed for the rest of the afternoon.

My last interaction with Levi played on repeat in my mind. It annoyed me that he was right. I had done him a disservice by prematurely judging him based on the actions of others.

My past had no bearing on him. Being judgmental and arrogant was commonplace in LA, but being one of those people unsettled me. He wasn’t the source of my trauma, and I’d treated him unfairly.

But I still wasn’t sure if I could work with him. I’d operated from the safety of my home for so long, yet nothing there inspired me anymore.

That spark came back to me for a moment in his studio. An inkling of the motivation I’d been deprived of for half a year skirted at the edge of my reach.

Had it been the ambience of the studio, or his presence that provoked it? Anonymous lyricist D. Johnson was known for writing sensual songs.

The artists I worked with came to me intending to tantalize and perhaps arouse their fans through music. But I wrote each salacious word from my imagination, not from experience.

I rolled over in bed with that thought prodding my mind. My brain leapt around conclusions like a dog through hoops.

At the studio, in a momentary lapse of mental restraint, I’d imagined Levi jerking off to my posters. The bulge in his tight jeans gave me the impression he had a decent length to stroke.

As if he’d read my mind, the rock star had practically admitted to it. The rush of heat and the flare of longing in my core had ignited my spark again.

And the longer I stayed in bed mulling it over, the more I knew it to be true. Oblivious to my hand drifting under the blanket, I continued playing in my imagination.

I slipped with a frightening ease into a daydream of Levi, wearing his skeleton paint and watching me with those ravenous brown eyes. My hand rubbed over my underwear while thinking of him pinning me down.

In my head, he shoved his knee between my thighs, whispering wicked promises into my ear. His body heat would spread into my core as he touched me.

I pressed my finger into my clit, rubbing circles over the thin layer of cotton. I shot up, yanking my hand free. Flushed and shocked by the direction of my thoughts, I took a strained breath.

After shaking my head to chase out the lewd dreams, I leapt out of bed. My blood buzzed as if a horde of angry bees flew under my skin.

The tightness in my lower belly protested at the snatched pleasure. But right on the verge of release my entire body hummed, and blessed inspiration returned to me.

I grasped that daydream and the carnal feelings that accompanied it and rushed to my home office. Hyper-focused on the kernel of my former spark, I bent over my desk.

For hours, I lost myself as a new song, inspired by Levi and his music, took shape on the page beneath my fingers. The dampness in my panties didn’t escape my notice, but I was drowning too deep in the flowing river of my imagination to do anything about it.

Instead, I squirmed in my seat, scribbling lines until words blurred together. Bristling, burning from the depths of my aching sex, I dropped the pen.

I braced one arm on the desk and bent forward. With my head on the solid surface, my other hand smoothed over my stomach. My fingers disappeared into my underwear.

Two fingers slid over the sticky fluid coating my pussy. I pressed a digit into my clit, gasping at the instant jolt of bliss from the swollen bud.

“Oh, fuck.” In my head, it wasn’t my hand. I was furiously swirling around my clit, dreaming of Levi’s face in that frightening skull paint between my thighs.

Imagining his tongue tasting me, licking every drop of my arousal, I soared to heights I hadn’t flown in weeks. Legs shaking, hand cramping from my desperate movement, I exploded under my fingers.

The taut string in my pussy snapped as I came undone. Yet it surprised me when I called out during my orgasm.

“Levi. Ah!” Sated by satisfaction, I slumped against the cool surface. As I thought about what I had done, I thumped my head on the wood several times.

A flustered groan rose from the back of my throat. “I can’t believe I did that.” The pages of the notebook fluttered at the breath I blew out.

I reeled back, glancing wide-eyed at the full page of lyrics in front of me. Butterflies on steroids rustled within my chest.

My heart pounded with each breath breaching my lips. A new song. The first one I’d written in six months.

And the fastest one I’d ever created. All thanks to hyperactive sex daydreams of a hot rock star in skeleton makeup. Almost reverently, I placed the notebook with the new song in my backpack.

Tomorrow, I had every intention of returning to Levi’s studio. I’d start with an apology and then present to him what I’d created without divulging its origins.

Already overly confident, Levi didn’t need to know I’d created a new explicit song with his name on my lips. It might worsen the palpable physical tension between us.

Denying its existence wouldn’t make it go away, and I couldn’t lie to myself after what just happened.

“Just don’t tell Levi you want him to fuck your brains out, and this will be fine,” I told myself.

“And that’s easy enough.” If I continued writing songs at breakneck speed, our contract would be a breeze. Surely, I could survive a week or two writing some lyrics and moving on.

After a shower and a pitiful dinner of leftovers, I climbed back into bed. A new irritating notion scratched at the back of my skull.

No matter how hard I clenched my eyes and willed myself to fall asleep, my brain refused until I faced the intrusive thought. I hadn’t imagined the tangible heat between us.

If Levi jerked off to me a decade ago, what were the chances he was still attracted to me?