Backstage (The Barter System Book 4) Read online

  In the utter darkness of backstage, where it was quiet, she struggled to hold back tears. The stagehands were closer to the front now, putting final touches in place. She set her palms flat against the wall and did a few standing push-ups in an attempt to increase blood flow to her brain.

  To herself, she said in a whisper, “If you fuck this up, you will never, ever forgive yourself. Think. Calm down and think. You can do this! God, please let me do this. Where are the lines? I know them. Please…please don’t let me fail Madeline.”

  A painful sob broke free as huge hands rested gently on her shoulders and she jumped sharply.

  “I won’t hurt you. I need you to listen to me. I’ve been in this business for a long time. You’re locked up. All you have to do is relax and breathe. Everything is going to be fine.”

  The deep voice shouldn’t have been familiar but it was. There wasn’t an ounce of fear inside her at the stranger’s touch and Mikayla trusted her instincts. Massive calloused hands moved over her shoulders, kneading carefully at her neck and upper back.

  She folded her arms against the wall and rested her forehead against them. There was an hour remaining. Nothing she was trying on her own was working.

  At this point, she was willing to try anything.

  “Harder, please. I’m not delicate.” The man’s hands paused before working into her muscles with more force and she groaned. “Thank you.”

  “You’re shaking.”

  “I’m going to embarrass my sister. I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown.” Her breath hitched and she swallowed hot tears. The lump in her throat was agony. “I knew my lines this morning but now…they’re just gone and I don’t know why. I’m going to fail.”

  “Focus on your breathing. You will not fail.”

  “You sound so sure.”

  “I am sure,” he said firmly.

  “What’s your name?” She knew who was behind her and it made her heart race.

  “Isaiah.” He gave no additional information but she didn’t need it. His hands never slowed their movements on her shoulders as he gradually eased tightness she hadn’t realized she had.

  “Do you want to know mine?” she asked him quietly.

  “I know who you are, Mikayla.” His voice had a gravelly quality to it and hearing him say her name was a vindication of months of unnatural stress.

  “You’re Ezra’s brother.” At last. Swallowing carefully, she focused on conversing with a man who’d been an enigma. “My sister refers to you as a magician. That girl can be awful cheesy but you’ve made her so happy.”

  “I’m glad she’s been pleased.”

  Several times, she overheard the other workers mention the elder brother who co-owned the theater. No matter how many times she tried to wait to introduce herself, she seemed to just miss him. Once, she heard someone talking on a radio up in the rafters but when she called out, there was no answer and the radio went silent.

  The more difficult it was to meet him face to face, the more Mikayla thought about it. If she was being completely honest with herself, Isaiah Zelder had become something of an obsession.

  “Pleased is an understatement,” she murmured. “I usually get to know everyone I work with. Why…has it been so hard to meet you?” He didn’t respond so she asked, “Did you like the muffins?”

  “They were delicious. You were thoughtful to bring them. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I know I’m pushy. If you’re shy…”

  Isaiah laughed but it wasn’t a happy sound. “It isn’t shyness. I avoid showing myself to pretty young actresses. I’m scarred. Most people find it hard to look at.” She instantly started to turn and he held her still. “Let me help you, Mikayla, not cause unnecessary stress.”

  She turned anyway and took his hand when he tried to back into inky darkness. “Please don’t go, Isaiah. I’ve seen lots of scars. I may not know how you feel but I’m not most people. I don’t frighten even a little.”

  Mikayla tugged him into the low light. He was huge. She put him around six-seven, two-twenty-five of rock solid muscle. He had dark hair, dark eyes, and absolutely beautiful lips.

  A crescent-shaped scar ran from the middle of his forehead, around his temple, over his cheek and jaw, slicing at an angle down the column of his neck. Reaching up, she placed her palm over it and he sucked in a sharp breath.

  This was why he actively avoided her, the reason he spent his time in the shadows.

  “Wire, right?”

  His frown caused the edges of the scar to whiten. “How do you know that?”

  “My oldest brother has a similar scar from a hay-baler. The wrapping mechanism got jammed and the wire sliced through two shirts and a half-inch of flesh and muscle. We were thankful it didn’t go through bone since it crossed over his heart.”

  Mikayla touched his shoulder and it was obvious that the man may have once been accustomed to touch but he wasn’t anymore. It wasn’t that he flinched.

  He leaned into it.

  “It stretches from here,” she ran her fingertips diagonally across his chest to his waist and around to the small of his back, “to here.” His muscle mass was unreal.

  To cover her reaction, she shrugged casually. “I’m sorry the scar has taken so much from you. It didn’t slice open an artery or blind you so that’s a hard-core bright side.” Tracing her finger along the puckered skin of his temple and down his neck, she murmured, “It was really close.”

  Isaiah was still while she talked and touched him, his lips slightly parted. “I have no clue how to respond.”

  The joy, the relief she felt at finally being able to look this particular man in the eye bubbled up, and she covered her mouth at the laugh that escaped.

  “If you only knew how often I hear that.” Almost giddy, she informed him, “This is the best massage I’ve ever gotten and I’m willing to beg you to keep going.”

  Her heart stumbled when he smiled cautiously. When she returned it, it spread to his eyes. Knowing she had to rein in her crazy, she turned and assumed her original position. He went back to work, moving firmly over her shoulder blades and low back before returning to her shoulders.

  In under a minute, Mikayla felt like she was melting. His hands were extraordinary.

  “I doubt it makes you feel any better but I have one of those dark birthmarks on my hip that’s about the size of one of my hands. Looks like someone slapped the shit out of me. I only wear boy shorts. I wore them way before they were popular. I used to accuse my parents of doing it to be able to tell Madeline and me apart.”

  The sound of his soft laughter made every inch of her feel amazing.

  Isaiah traced his fingers over her back, sides, and arms until she shivered from the stimulation. He gathered her hair and let it fall. Starting at her hairline, he raked his nails over her scalp and through the length.

  Never in her life had a man spent half as much time touching her body and even when they had touched her, they’d only cared about the “hot spots.” After three warm passes over her head and through her hair, Kayla realized she was breathing too rapidly and her heart was pounding.

  “Oh my god…” Until the words were out, she didn’t realize she’d spoken aloud.

  Isaiah’s fingers went to the outsides of her thighs and up over her hips, massaging her waist and low back. He hit a particularly sensitive spot just above the cleft of her ass and she pushed back into him with a moan that betrayed how sensually he was affecting her.

  His body was close enough that the movement dragged her ass over the hard ridge of his cock. She didn’t correct the movement. It didn’t even cross her mind to do so. Everything about him drew her in a way no man ever had.

  Extending her arms, she straightened her torso and leaned back into his chest, resting her head at his shoulder. He seemed to curl around her and his heat sank through their layers of clothing, warming her completely.

  “Mikayla…” Isaiah’s voice was a low growl in the thick silence and sh
e pushed her hips back, rubbing against him purposely, feeling how aroused he was for her.

  She wanted more and she wanted it now. He inhaled deeply in an effort to control his reaction but she didn’t want him to control it. She wanted him to unleash it…all over her.

  “Isaiah.”

  “I…want you.”

  His honesty moved her as much as his touch. She might not technically know him, and he might think badly about her later, but he was the first man she’d truly wanted in a long time and she refused to deny herself.

  Turning, she nodded and pulled him down for a kiss. “Yes.”

  Chapter Two

  Isaiah tasted like mint with a hint of coffee and flavored tobacco. Mikayla found the blend interesting and familiar.

  He allowed her to explore for a moment before taking control. One hand in her hair, he held her still as he sucked her lower lip between his teeth, nibbling it delicately. His tongue swirled around hers and it sent intense sensations through her breasts and between her legs. She clenched them together to ease the ache.

  Male musk and machine oil wafted from his clothes and it reminded her of home. Isaiah Zelder was a man who worked hard and got dirty. A character trait she had always appreciated but rarely seemed to attract.

  Then he delivered the kind of kiss she’d always needed a man to give her. The kind that told her he was in the moment and there was nowhere else he’d rather be.

  His body was hard and warm. Thick arms wrapped around her and she’d never felt safer. Odd, considering the circumstances. The only thought in her head was getting her hands on as much of his skin as she could.

  Isaiah wore an unbuttoned shirt over a t-shirt, jeans, and heavy work boots. She slid her hands under the hem and placed her palms against his taut abs, rubbing them along his sides. Raking her short nails lightly over his skin, she traced the waist of his jeans, unbuckled his belt, and unfastened the denim clumsily.

  She’d never been so anxious to touch a man before and it wasn’t like her at all.

  Using the tops of her fingers, she coasted beneath the fabric and found that the base of his spine was even warmer than the rest of him. Narrow hips led her back to his groin beneath his boxers and she wrapped her hand around his cock. His breath strangled in his throat and he broke the kiss to stare down at her.

  Eyes wide as she registered that her fingers didn’t meet her thumb, she murmured, “Wow.” Lifting her face, she took her lower lip between her teeth.

  He smiled gently. “I won’t hurt you, Mikayla. I promise.”

  Tilting her head, she stroked the thick length and watched his body tighten in a way that made her nipples furl. “I know.”

  “Your needs come first.”

  The meaning of the words didn’t even register until he’d moved her hands away, picked her up, and walked toward the back where it was darker. He set her down on a carpeted ledge that ran up to a fire exit at the rear of the building. There was a strip of lights that kept it from being pitch black. Mikayla leaned back on her hands to watch him.

  Her pelvis was just above his waist and he worked her skirt up her legs until it lay gathered at her hips. Even in the darkness, her white boy shorts stood out against her skin.

  He traced his fingers over the outline with a smile and she sighed softly. His blunt fingertips slipped beneath the fabric and she held her breath.

  Working them out from under her ass and down her legs, he placed them beside her. As he ran his hand over her folds, she couldn’t stifle her gasp of response. Bending at the waist, he rested the bends of her knees on his shoulders.

  One of his huge arms draped over her, lying on her stomach. The fingers of that hand raked through the small patch of soft curls above her mound and made her head drop back. As if he had all the time in the world, he petted her for a moment before using two fingers to separate her folds and bare her clit.

  When he lowered his mouth, lapping from the entrance of her pussy to the fold above her clit and back again to dart his tongue inside her, she moaned his name and felt his body go even harder. The penetration was a shocking pleasure and her calves flexed against his broad back.

  Mikayla lifted her head to watch him in the pale light. He reminded her of a huge, beautiful demon. Dark and sensually devastating as he ate her into oblivion. His hand slid beneath her, caressing the skin of her bare ass before stroking a thick finger into her pussy. She ground her hips against his mouth and tried to rein in her body’s chaotic reactions.

  His attention to detail, the sense that he was exactly where he wanted to be, and the pleasure he seemed to take in the act itself, made her body coil tight as it chased the release he offered.

  So softly that she barely heard him, he growled, “I could eat you for days.”

  It was impossible to suppress the tremors caused by his words, by the way his mouth and fingers worked over her flesh, and the fact that they could be discovered.

  Within a handful of minutes, she suddenly came and it shocked her. It was usually difficult for her to reach climax. There was no doubt that he’d accomplished it easily as her body tightened and the orgasm rocked through every cell, heat traveling from her low back to the base of her skull.

  The walls of her pussy were slick and hot. In her sexual history, she’d never responded so strongly to a lover. She knew it wasn’t just his skill or the fact that she was painfully attracted to his physical body.

  There was something about the way Isaiah touched her. He took the time to show her and then give her what she needed. His focus was intense. Everything about him was sexually stimulating.

  She refused to question her desire to unravel the mystery of who he was.

  Instead of raising his head, Isaiah started over. Adding another finger, he increased the pressure inside her. She could feel him scissoring, stretching her, and realized he was preparing her for his size. There weren’t many sexual partners in her past but no one had ever made certain she was fully ready.

  “Again,” he told her with hushed urgency. “I want to make you come again.”

  She reached up with one hand and unlaced the bodice of her dress, exposing her breasts. They were average in size but her nipples had always been incredibly sensitive. Mikayla rolled it between her thumb and finger. Her head dropped back as she imagined his mouth on them, working them with his perfect lips.

  When Isaiah realized what she was doing, he licked over folds that had never been so wet and straightened, lowering her legs to his sides. Then he lifted her upper body and captured her nipple as if he’d read her mind. One hand stayed between them and the sensation of his thick wrist against her belly as he continued to stroke his fingers in and out of her body was almost too much.

  Her moan wasn’t as loud as it would have been if they’d been somewhere private, but it startled her in the silence. His thumb slipped over her clit, his other arm held her torso close as he suckled her. Burying her fingers in his hair, she massaged his scalp and whispered his name. The strands were thick and silky; more sensory input that made her lift her legs and wrap them around his waist.

  “I’ve never been so desperate for a woman in my life,” he said against her skin.

  He was fully supporting her weight and she used the freedom to touch as much of him as she could. Isaiah drew firmly at her breast and it sent a clenching signal to her lower body that she couldn’t deny. Cupping his face, she tugged and he released the taut peak with a soft pop. Her palms held his cheeks as she lifted closer; her need to kiss him was all that mattered.

  “Isaiah. Please…please.”

  He increased the speed of his strokes as his lips devoured her, sucking her tongue into his mouth in the same rhythm his fingers pushed into her body. The strength of the second orgasm astounded her. She clutched his shoulders as he absorbed the sounds of her pleasure with his kiss.

  Stroking her down, he told her in soothing tones, “That’s it. Pleasure and relaxation are all I want you to feel right now.”

  He work
ed a condom from his wallet and tore it open with his teeth while he held her tightly against his chest. The sense of calm that surrounded him had her hands coasting over his upper body. If there were a way to hold onto such a sensation forever, she would do it.

  “I need to feel you around me, Mikayla.” She nodded. She had never wanted anything more. “I want to be part of you, if only for a little while.”

  “I want you inside me, I need to feel you.”

  He rolled the condom to the base of his cock and gathered her to him with both hands. Then he lifted her gently, almost reverently. His grip on her ass was secure as he stroked himself along her cleft and lubricated himself in the slickness he’d created.

  Then they were moving but she didn’t care. All of her hugged him, wishing she could get closer. When Isaiah set her back against a wall in deeper shadow, she felt him bump the entrance of her pussy and held her breath in anticipation. He stroked carefully inside, pulling out and pressing forward again, getting a little deeper with each thrust.

  Again, he took his time, being careful with her in ways no one had ever been. Every inch of her was tuned to his touch and she could feel the liquid heat from her own body slicking her inner thighs. After what felt like forever, he was fully seated and she stretched tight around his length.

  His forehead rested on her shoulder and his words were hot on her skin. “I’ve never experienced anything as perfect as your pussy wrapped around me. I could die from the pleasure.”

  She tugged his hair and he lifted his head. Mikayla could barely see him, but dark pupils sparkled as he stared into her eyes. Cupping his face in her palms, he closed his eyes as she planted kisses across each cheek before settling over his lips. They stayed like that, kissing, while he throbbed deep at the core of her. Time didn’t matter.

  Finally, she pulled back and whispered, “I’ve never been so filled before. You didn’t hurt me at all.” She stroked her thumbs over his cheeks beneath his eyes and smiled with tears in her eyes. “I remember. I remember my lines, Isaiah. Thank you.”