Текст книги "Play"

Автор книги: Kylie Scott

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“Sweetie pie? Pumpkin? You screamed so loud my ears are still ringing. I can’t actually hear whatever bullshit you’re peddling right now. Tell me later after I get a couple of stitches put in my shoulder, okay?” He chuckled, the sound rumbling through his chest in the nicest way. “A biter and a screamer. And you seem like such a nice, quiet girl. I’m shocked.”

I pushed the neck of his shirt aside, inspecting his shoulder. “You’re not bleeding. There’ll be a bruise at the most.”

“I’ll wear it with pride.”

Damn, he smelled good. The limo should just keep circling the city until it ran out of gas so I could keep breathing him in. Sex and sweat and man.

“Did you still want to go to practice?” I asked, mostly being polite. The desire to keep him all to myself kept my arms around his neck in something close to a strangle hold. But if he wanted to go, I’d go. Orgasms tended to leave me in a pretty benevolent mood. “I could hang out, listen to you play again.”

“Fuck, no,” he said.

“Fuck, no?”

He snorted, his lips twisted like I was lacking in the mental department. “Home. Bed. Now.”

“You got it.” I grinned.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

We fell out of the limousine, still tugging our clothes into place. Things between my legs were sticky and swollen. Upon reflection, I don’t think I’d make a very cowgirl because my thigh muscles still hadn’t quite recovered from the ride. I really did need to get back into going to Pilates. A mild bit of muscle strain wasn’t wiping the stupid smile off my face, however. More practice was required and odds were, the way Mal kept putting his hands on me, he wouldn’t mind.

“There’s so many stars. Look how clear it is.” I let my head fall back, inspecting the heavens. Fresh from a great orgasm with Mal Ericson at my side, the world was a pretty fucking awesome place.

Mal kissed my chin. He tucked a finger in the waistband of my skirt and towed me toward our apartment building’s front door. “C’mon, your shirt looks uncomfortable. You need to get it off.”

“But nature, it’s beautiful and stuff.”

“Your tits are beautiful and stuff. I’m more than willing to spend serious time looking at them. Will that do?”

“Yes.”

He laughed.

I fumbled the key in the door, clumsy in my haste. The lock turned, the door swinging open, slamming into the wall. Crap, what a noise. It echoed through the hall, up the stairs. We really would break the building before we were through. Mrs. Lucia was going to give us hell for being so loud. She lived on the first floor and considered herself the sheriff in these here parts. No one had the nerve to tell her otherwise. But if I had to, I’d pull up my big-girl panties and deal with Mrs. Lucia.

What I didn’t know was how to deal with the sight of Reece sitting on the stairs with a bunch of flowers in hand. They were every color of the rainbow. I stumbled to a halt, Mal beside me.

Reece bought me donuts now and then. A bottle of wine when we went out for my birthday or his. He didn’t bring me flowers. And he sure as hell didn’t sit on my stairs looking forlorn, a lock of hair hanging over his forehead.

“Reece …” I climbed the stairs toward him.

Mal stayed put, his hand slipping from my grasp.

The color had fallen out of Reece’s face. He looked as white as a blank piece of paper. My and Mal’s disheveled state couldn’t be interpreted too many different ways. Reece looked like a child who’d lost his favorite toy. I don’t think I’d fully appreciated the differences between Mal and him before now. But for all of his joking, Mal was in his head and heart a man. Reece was a boy. I’m not even sure I could explain the distinctions. They simply played in different ways.

“Anne.” Reece gave the flowers a perplexed look, like he wasn’t quite sure how they’d come to be in his possession. “Didn’t realize you’d have company. Sorry.”

I silently held my keys out to Mal. His mouth flatlined. He gave me a harsh little shake of the head and I shoved the keys at him. What the hell did he expect me to do? I couldn’t just leave Reece sitting on the fucking stairs. Mal stared at me and I stared back, silently willing him to understand. God, this was basically my best friend.

After a moment he snatched the keys out of my hand and went ahead, stepping around Reece. Mal went inside, closing the door (not slamming it, thank god).

Reece offered me a stiff smile. “This is awkward.”

What an understatement. I sat down beside him, resting my elbows on my knees. “Nice flowers.”

“They’re for you.” He handed them over, the scent sweet and heady. He didn’t meet my eyes.

“Thank you. They’re beautiful.”

“I was worried about you.”

The statement sat there like an accusation. I didn’t know what to say. Emotion had never been my strong point. I was woefully unprepared for this mix of sadness and guilt and whatever the fuck else he’d bought in on his boot heels. Mom had taught me a long time ago to play it safe and keep your mouth shut.

“You two worked things out,” he said.

“Yes.” On the other hand, my mom was a beyond-shitty role model. Reece deserved better. “What’s going on here?”

“I got to thinking about things. About us.” He shoved a hand through his hair, pushing back the floppy fringe. I’d always adored the way he did that, the accompanying toss of his head. But my heart didn’t roll over and give it up to him. Not like it did for Mal. Reece had waited too long.

“Us?” I prompted, both angry and bewildered.

His smile was far from happy. He nodded toward the upper floor. “Thought he was gone.”

“So did I. Apparently, I misunderstood.”

“Guess that’s good for you. Think it’ll last?” His voice wasn’t unkind exactly. But the question garnered an immediate reaction.

I sucked in a breath, an honest answer eluding me. My happy-sex high hadn’t dissipated enough for brutal honesty, not with Mal waiting upstairs. My mind didn’t want to know. Mom had always said love made you stupid. Guess I hadn’t learned that lesson yet after all. “I don’t know. But I hope so.”

It was still relatively early but the building sat in silence. Our voices barely made a dint.

Reece rose to his feet, moving slowly like he’d been hit. “I’m going to go. See you tomorrow.”

“Reece,” I said, my voice tight and high. Something was breaking right there beside me and like so much lately, I didn’t think I could fix it. I couldn’t give Reece what he’d finally decided he just might want. “I’m sorry.”

He hung his head. “It’s my fault, Anne. I was an asshole. I was too stupid to see what was right in front of my eyes until it was too late.”

I had nothing. Absolutely nothing.

He waited a moment, lips skewed with disappointment perhaps. Then he started moving.

“Night.” He jogged down the stairs, taking them two at a time, obviously eager to get gone.

“Bye.”

I sat there, holding my flowers, staring into space. I just needed a moment to get my head together. The world was so strange. Nothing made sense. A minute later Mal came out and sat down beside me. He leaned over, sniffed at the bouquet. His hands bashed out a beat against his thighs, but he said nothing. Finger tapping seemed to mean restless or busy thinking things out. This savage piece of percussion was something altogether different.

“Reece left,” I said, breaking the silence.

“Mm.”

“This has been a strange day,” I said, quite possibly making the understatement of the century.

“Strange good or strange bad?”

“Both.”

“Mm.” He grabbed the back of his neck, sucked in a deep breath. “You breaking up with me here or what?”

My head shot around. “You want to break up?”

He didn’t respond. For a minute or more, I said nothing and neither did he. We had apparently entered into some messed-up contest of wills. When I gave him a questioning look, he simply raised a brow, waiting me out.

“I couldn’t just leave him sitting here. He’s my friend.”

Mal jerked his chin.

“Was I supposed to let you two arm wrestle over me or something? Because that was never going to happen.”

“We screwed and then you sent me on my way with a pat on the head.” The low, cold way he said it didn’t help at all.

“No,” I answered, matching his tone of voice. “Come on, Mal. You know that’s not what happened. I sent Reece on his way. You I asked to wait in my home. To give me a chance to speak to him.”

He stared at me and I stared straight back.

“Don’t do this,” I said.

“God!” He scrubbed at his face with his hands, growling in frustration. “I fucking hate being jealous. Hate it.”

“Tell me about it.” I threw up my hands in equal frustration. “You are aware that a healthy portion of the vagina-owning population wants to do you? Don’t even get me started about the penis-wielding people, because there’s quite a few of them into you as well.”

“The shit you say …” He sputtered out a laugh. “Fuck.”

The storm seemed to be over, thank god. I leaned my head on his shoulder, needing to get closer. Happily, he let me.

“I don’t usually fight with other people,” he said, rubbing his cheek against the top of my head. “In the band, I usually keep the guys from ripping into each other over stupid shit. Tell a joke, get ’em smiling again.”

“You’re the peacekeeper. But you were ready to rip into Ben the other night.”

“About you. You’re turning out to be kind of a mind fuck for me, pumpkin.”

I frowned.

“Not saying you mean to be.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t make me feel any better.”

We sat in silence. Eventually, he lifted the flowers out of my arms, stood, and headed down the stairs. The only noise the entire time was the soft thud of his shoes on the worn wooden steps. Carefully, he placed the flowers on Mrs. Lucia’s doorstep, before returning to sit beside me. A statement had been made by confiscating those flowers, but what exactly did it mean? That was the question. Mal Ericson was quite the mind fuck himself. And he went on tour in a couple of days. It’d be foolish of me to ignore this oh-so-salient fact. I tugged at the buckles on my boots, all agitated. Too many emotions were stirred up inside of me.

He did that.

“When I was sitting up there, waiting for you, a couple of things occurred to me,” he said.

“Yes?”

“Well, you’re my girlfriend for real now.”

I stopped breathing for a moment, thrown. “I think I needed to hear you say that.”

“You have been for a while. Didn’t mean for you to be, but you are. I just have to get used to it.”

Of course, when he put it like that I sort of wanted to physically hurt him. Instead, I sat and waited to see where he was going with this.

“Don’t get mad,” he said. “Just stating a fact.”

“I’m not mad.”

“Liar. See, now this is why we should have gone to counseling when I suggested it right at the start.”

“What?” I scrunched up my nose. “When did that happen?”

“Day after I moved in, when we were sexting.”

“We weren’t sexting, we were just texting. You said you wanted to get a dog too, if I recall correctly. So I really didn’t think you were serious about counseling.”

The slow curl of his lips made something hot and delicious unfurl deep in my stomach. “Pumpkin, I’m always serious when it comes to you. Even when I’m messing around, I’m still serious as shit. Whatever you need, whatever I have to do. It’s been that way since we met. Haven’t you noticed yet? We’re fucking destined or something. I can’t help myself. It’s pathetic, really.”

“Huh.” I stuffed my hands beneath my thighs, giving his words a moment to sink in. “That’s what you figured out waiting upstairs?”

“Yep.” He shuffled closer, pressing his hip to mine. “Think about it. Things were shit and then I met you at the party and you amused me. I wanted more time with you and then I saw Ev’s side boob and Davie threw me out so I had to move in with you. I wanted to sleep with you and we accidentally broke your bed jumping around on it so you had to crash on the couch with me. I wanted to have sex with you and you got bored on the ride home and jumped my bones. See? Destiny.”

I burst out laughing. “That’s beautiful. But I’m not sure it completely makes sense.”

“It’s fate, Anne. Written in the stars. Leave it the fuck alone.”

“You’re crazy.” I hung my head and sighed. What else could I do?

“That’s better. Can’t stand it when you’re sad either.” His arm slipped around my shoulders, drawing me in against him. I grabbed hold of his fingers, just hanging on.

That was better. Everything would be okay. But there was still an issue I was curious about. “Why did you ask me to be your fake girlfriend?”

He shrugged, looked away. “I wanted to spend time with you. You make me happy.”

I scrunched up my forehead. “That’s all it was?”

“That’s pretty fucking important. Guess with Davie pairing up I was feeling a bit lonely or something. I thought we could be friends.”

I just stared at him.

“Needed a chance to get to know you a little better, just you and me alone. Moving in seemed a good way to do that. And you needed the help. Okay?”

“Okay.”

We sat in silence for a moment.

“Whatever shit you’re telling yourself, stop it,” he said.

“What? What are you talking about now?”

“Reece.” He rested his head atop of mine. “You’re worrying about him. Stop it.”

“Mal …” How could I explain this to him? The words were weighted in lead, impossible to get out. I hadn’t been thinking about Reece, but now that he mentioned it …

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

I wiggled out from underneath him, needing to see his face. Since when could he read me and why couldn’t I do the same? He appeared calm and sure, beautiful as sin. His lips sat slightly apart, his eyes serene. Suddenly, the words weren’t so impossible to find after all.

“I hurt him.”

“Maybe. But he’s the one that left you hanging on. He hurt you too.”

“But I fix things,” I said. “It’s what I do.”

“You can’t fix this.” He toyed with my hair, wrapping the short strands around a finger.

“Why not?”

“You going to dump my ass? Send me packing?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

He smiled and shrugged. “There you go.”

“You make it sound so simple.”

“It is. I’m your boyfriend now, which means there’s no room for your hipster admirer. He’ll just have to lick his wounds while we lick other things.” He raised a devilish eyebrow.

My head filled with so many needy questions. A hundred and one ways to beg him for reassurance. No god damn way any of it was getting past my lips. He was so insanely perfect and I’d had him inside of me. My body buzzed with the memories, sliding straight toward overload. I wanted him again. Maybe I should just shackle myself to his ankle and be done with it. This could be the answer.

“I didn’t want to upset you,” I said. “But I needed to talk to him alone.”

“Yeah, I know. I was being a dick.” He moaned, looked to the heavens. “That enough of an apology?”

“You’re sorry?”

“Yeah. I get Reece is part of your life. I’ll try to be nice to him.”

“Thank you.”

His hair was in his face again. Carefully, I tucked some behind his ear and then cupped his cheek.

“Hey, crazy eyes. Operation Fake Girlfriend is off,” he murmured. “In case you were wondering.”

“It is, huh?”

“Way I figure it, we’re together until we decide we’re not together anymore. Let’s not put too much thought into it. Let it sort itself out, yeah?”

It was a sound plan, considering we’d only started sleeping together less than an hour ago. “I approve.”

“Glad to have you on board, Miss Rollins.” He covered my hand with his own, pressing it against his face. “I don’t wanna be unduly crass or any shit like that, but I’m worried about something.”

“What might that be?”

“Your shirt.”

I opened my mouth, shut it. “My shirt?”

“I think it’s chafing you. Subconsciously like.” His eyes were intense, his expression grave.

“My shirt is chafing my subconscious?”

“No, I believe it’s chafing the delicate skin of your nipples and the area around … what’s it called?”

“The areola?”

“Yeah, that bit. ‘Cause it’s all pink and sensitive, you know? It’s delicate, so I believe my concern with regards to the harsh and unyielding nature of your shirt is real important even though you have yet to acknowledge the discomfort it’s causing you.”

“You know you could have been one hell of a salesman.” He was so convincing, I almost felt bad for the soft cotton of my long-sleeved top,. “I’m wearing a bra. But my nipples really appreciate your concern.”

“Yeah, your bra’s in on it too. They’re both against you.”

“No way!” I said. He made it damn hard not to smile.

“I know, right? Thank fuck I’m here to deal with these things.”

“How about we go upstairs and I take my shirt and bra off, would that ease your mind?”

“I’d definitely feel a lot better if you did that, yes.”

“Well, alrighty then. Race you.” I jumped to my feet, barreling up the stairs, giggling. Mal’s arm came around me from behind, lifting me off my feet, pulling me back up against his chest.

“I win,” he said, and carried me into the apartment where we both won, big-time.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Fingers were playing with me. Clever fingers.

My alarm hadn’t gone off for work yet. It was just before dawn. Sleep, however, wasn’t an option with him stirring me up the way he was. Since when was Mal a morning person? Answer, since he wanted sex.

God bless him for his base desires.

I lay on my stomach with him beside me, the hardness and heat of his body a wonderful thing to wake up to. Ever so gently, he stroked me between my legs. He trailed his knuckles softly back and forth along the seam of my sex. Everything low in me tensed in approval. I arched my pelvis, giving him better access to my pussy. We’d dragged my mattress out into the living room, away from the destruction of my wooden bed frame, and gone at it again last night.

“You awake?” he asked, voice husky from sleep.

“No.”

He trailed kisses down my spine, making me get all quivery. The graze of his stubble made for a delicious tactile sensory whatever. Yeah, I was still half asleep.

“Okay, don’t mind me. I just need something. Shouldn’t take too long … I’ll try not to disturb you.”

“Mm, thanks.”

His hard-on prodded my thigh. Then a strong hand slid beneath my hips, lifting. “Up,” he said, sliding the soft bulk of a pillow under me. “This is sweet. Anne, really, your ass looks great raised up like this.”

Wet fingers slid around my clit, turning me on like nobody’s business. He circled and stroked and tickled in turn, touching me just right. My thigh muscles tensed, knees digging into the bed. Damn, the man knew what he was doing. I clutched at the sheets, already breathing hard. It would be futile to try and express exactly how much I enjoyed having him touch me. Especially when my brain had shut down for the duration. I moaned in disappointment when he took to kneading my butt cheeks instead, trailing his fingers up and down my thighs.

“Wider,” he murmured, pushing my legs farther apart. The mattress shifted beneath me as he moved into place. From behind wasn’t my favorite position, but I had no doubt Mal could make it work. The man had skills.

There was the crinkle of a condom wrapper as he changed over to teasing me one-handed. Even just one of his hands was pretty damn good. Then the broad head of his cock nudged my sex. I squeezed my eyes shut, pushed back against him, groaning as he slid into me. With his cock filling me, there was no room for thought. I could only feel.

So damn good.

The way he gripped my ass, his fingers digging into my flesh, gave this tiny thrill of pain. He was truly a whole-body experience, quite possibly involving the astral plane. There were all the usual five senses and then something more I couldn’t begin to describe. Something addictive only he could give me. If my brain had been working, I would have been worried about this.

Big hands stroked over my back. Then the heat of his body covered me. Teeth nipped the lobe of my ear, stinging. My shoulders hitched and my muscles clenched.

“Ah, yeah. Fuck, that’s hot.” Mal pushed himself hard into me. Like he could get any deeper … as if. “You’re a lazy lay in the morning, Anne.”

“Hmm. I did all the work last night in the limousine.”

He chuckled, his chest moving against my back. Then he flexed his hips, pushing in, then drawing out, making every inch of me tremble. With his arms set on either side of me, he proceeded to fuck me leisurely into the mattress. My butt jiggled and it didn’t matter one iota. Not with Mal buried inside me. It seemed to take forever for him to pick up the pace. And he called me lazy. I needed more. Pushing my hips back against him, I urged him on. He got the message, moving faster, going harder. Sweat dripped off of him, onto me.

Gray noise filled my ears and white light filled my head. So damn close I could taste it. The sublime knot of tension drew tighter, but it wasn’t quite enough.

Yes.

YES.

But no. Shit. Damn it.

Mal ground himself against me, groaning. His cock jerked deep inside me.

I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding myself tense until I collapsed facedown on the mattress. Made it kind of hard to breathe. I turned my head to the side, concentrated on catching my breath, on letting go of the ache. I’d almost gotten there, a first for the position.

Never mind, I just needed to think happy thoughts. Good thoughts. You couldn’t win every time.

Mal pulled out of me and fell onto the bed at my side. Outside, birds were singing. The faint hum of traffic came from not too far away. Nate was clumping around in the apartment next door.

“Anne?”

“Yes?” I rolled onto my back.

Mal was busy pulling off the used condom and tying a knot in it. Then he rolled off the mattress and walked into the bathroom.

“What, Mal?”

The toilet flushed. He walked back out, face carefully blank. We’d only been sleeping together for approximately five minutes and this felt weird. Like all relationships didn’t have their average sex moments. But did he know? I couldn’t tell. Maybe he was about to ask about breakfast or comment on the weather.

I pulled up the sheet, covering myself. “What’s wrong?”

“Is something wrong there?” he asked, tipping his chin.

“What, with me? No.”

“You sure about that?”

“Yes.” Mostly.

He knelt at the end of the mattress, watching me. “We need to talk.”

“Okay.”

“You won’t need this.” He grabbed the sheet, pulling it down, exposing me.

Right, fine. I started to sit up, needing to be in more of a position of power. The big ape grabbed my ankles, dragging me down. My back bounced on the bed, teeth clattering.

“Hey!” I squeaked.

“Let me explain what I mean by ‘talk. ‘”

His hands moved up my legs, spreading them wide. Cool as can be, he lay flat on his stomach, face level with my sex.

“Mal.”

“I’m not talking to you,” he said, fingers gently folding back the lips of my sex.

“You’re not?”

“No. You had your chance to communicate with me and you chose not to. You let this relationship down. Feel bad, Anne.” His breath tickled my still-sensitive pussy. It made feeling bad damn hard, frankly. Impossible when he flicked my clit with the tip of his tongue. My hips shot off the mattress but his hands were there, holding me down. “Hello, Anne’s clitoris. It’s me, Malcolm, your lord and master.”

“Oh, god, no.” I covered my face with my hands. “Please don’t.”

“Shh. This is a private conversation.” He brushed hot, feverish kisses up and down the lips of my sex. My stomach tensed so hard it hurt. “Look at you all pretty, pink, and excited. Don’t worry, I’ll look after you.”

“If you don’t stop talking to my vagina I’m going to kill you.” I put a hand down, trying to cover myself. The bastard slapped it. Hard too. I would get him back for that later.

“You’re beautiful, Anne’s pussy. Just beautiful. And I’m not mean like her. I’m on your side and I love you very much because you feel fucking amazing wrapped around my dick.”

“Malcolm, I mean it. You’re ruining oral sex for me forever. Cut it out.”

“Bullshit. You’re dripping wet. We’ll never get these sheets clean.”

“Oh, god.” My back bowed as he dragged his tongue up the center of me, finishing with a flourish at the top. I saw stars. “Too much.”

“Not even close.”

I whimpered.

He laughed.

His mouth covered my clitoris and his tongue went to god damn town on me. I writhed, out of control, but it made no difference. Hands banded around my thighs, holding me to him. There was no escaping the terrible, all-consuming overwhelming pleasure. He sucked, flicked his tongue, and generally unleashed an unsurpassed wealth of oral talent upon my unsuspecting sex.

The bastard.

Who even knew teeth could be used like that?

I came in under a minute, crying his name. My heartbeat thundered through my head and my whole body shook. I lay sprawled across the mattress, letting the aftershocks have their way with me. Endorphins had pickled my mind. Tears slid down my face, the orgasm had hit me so hard, so fast. That had never happened before. Hurriedly, I brushed them away. My heart seemed suddenly too big for my chest. The orgasm had engorged it somehow. It couldn’t be healthy.

From next door came banging on the wall. “I already knew Mal’s name, Anne. But thanks for the reminder.”

I used the last of my energy reserves to give the wall the finger. “Morning, Lauren.”

Distantly, there was laughter, male and female both. Our neighbors sucked.

“We need to kill them or move,” I said. “I’m open to either option.”

“You know, you talk tough,” said Mal, “but inside, you’re all soft and wet and really quite tasty.”

I choked back a laugh. “Glad you approve.”

Mal crawled up, pausing to wipe his mouth on the sheet. He laid his head on my shoulder, snuggling into me. That was good, I needed him near. The glut of emotions felt more manageable with him close, even if he was the cause of all the chaos.

“I think my legs are broken; they won’t work.” Not that I’d actually tried yet. My brain was too floaty for any movement.

He pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Next time, just tell me you need more.”

“You’re a monster,” I whispered.

“Okay.” He didn’t even sound the slightest bit perturbed.

“I mean it.”

“Mm-hm.”

“But the worst part is, I feel something for you,” I said, because fair was fair. Love was a stupid word. I’d heard it from various people and it rarely meant what you thought it did. Somewhere along the way, that word had turned into a pleasantry, not profound and weighty as it should have been. No, Love wasn’t what I felt. This was different, more complex. I couldn’t even think of a word for it. “I only feel it a tiny bit … probably just because of the great orgasm, so it’s not like it’s a big deal or anything. It’ll pass.”

With a sigh, he went up on one elbow and put an arm around me, pulling me up against him. When he rolled onto his back, I went too. I lay sprawled across him. There was no better thing. Apart from what he’d just done to me, of course. One hand stroked my back, while the other lay behind his head.

“A miniscule amount, really.” My thumb rubbed over his nipple, back and forth, back and forth. I seemed to have entered some stream-of-consciousness state and I didn’t have the energy to fight it. “You probably couldn’t even see it with a microscope.”

Another sigh from the man.

“Well, maybe one of those lab ones, but not a kid’s toy one. The magnification wouldn’t be–”

All of a sudden we rolled again and I was on the bottom with the weight of Mal’s body pushing me deep into the mattress.

“Hi,” I said, just a bit discombobulated by the abrupt change in position. He’d barely given my head to time to stop spinning from the previous shift.

“Been thinking.” He watched me, eyes intense. “Want you to do something for me.”

“Okay.”

“Need you to come on tour, least for a while. See what you can manage, okay?”

My engorged heart basically burst. My insides were officially a mess. “Need?”

“Yeah, need.” His forehead furrowed. “Things are happening and I know you’ve got questions but I need you to not ask them right now. I just … I need you with me. I deal with stuff better when you’re around.”

“Stuff like the other reason why you wanted me around that you wouldn’t admit to last night?”

Guilt slid across his face. “Yeah.”

“We’re going to have to talk about stuff eventually.”

“Yeah, we are. Yours and mine both.”

I froze beneath him, not answering. But he just patiently waited me out. The words were stuck inside my chest with the rest of the clutter. It was hard to find them. “You’re right. I know. And I’ll try and work something out about the tour.”

Work would survive. Reece owed me. He wasn’t going to like it, but he sure as hell owed me. Between Tara and the new guy, Alex, my shifts could be covered.

“Thanks.” He nodded, gave me a small mile. “And it’s okay about the feeling something thing. I get it.”

“You do?” What a relief, because I still wasn’t sure I did. I’d never even said anything close to resembling those words.

“Yeah. You don’t need to keep babbling about it.”

“I wasn’t babbling.”

“You were, but that’s okay.” His fingers toyed with my hair. “The timing isn’t great for me, pumpkin. I didn’t need shit getting any more complicated. But like I said last night, we see where this goes. Agreed?”

Sounded like a solid plan. “Yes.”

“You’re good for me. You take me any mood I come in. I don’t have to be always happy or on around you. You roll with any shit I say and give as good as you get. You don’t let me push you around if it doesn’t suit you and you haven’t asked me to buy you a fucking thing.”

I arched my brows and “ooh”ed. “God, I’m so slow. It hadn’t even occurred to me. Can I have a Porsche?”

“Sure. What color?”

Holy shit, he would too. If only to mess with me. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly, shook my head. “You never hesitate when I ask for something.”

“You don’t do it often. I figure if you’re asking, it’s something that matters.”

My eyes did not tear up again. I had allergies or something, probably to feelings. And you had to know, this man, he made me feel all the things all the damn time. “I don’t really need a sports car. But thanks.”

“Let me know if you change your mind.” He smirked, obviously having known full and well his agreeing would freak me out. Cunning man.

“Ev wants to organize a dinner tonight with the parents and everyone,” he said. “You good with that?”

“Sure. They’re nice and their place is beautiful.”

He stilled, studying my face. “Yeah, it is nice. Glad you like it there. They mean a lot to me.”