Текст книги "Insider"

Автор книги: Olivia Cunning

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Текущая страница: 20 (всего у книги 34 страниц)

Toni laughed and shook her head in disgrace. “Don’t worry about it. Not getting far in my interviews is officially a trend at this point.”

“Well then, let’s go.” Reagan sprang to her feet and tugged Toni off the sectional. “I need to wash the taste of Logan’s dick-by-proxy out of my mouth.”

Could she really taste that? How mortifying.

Toni grabbed her recorder from the table and tucked it into the pocket of her sweater. She never knew when someone was going to say something important.

Twenty-Two

Logan sidled up to Butch and waited to be noticed.

“What’s up?” Butch said, not even looking up from the page attached to his clipboard.

“I have a few things I need at the hotel tonight.”

Butch could get them anything they wanted. At any time. He’d never let them down yet. One time Steve had tested the bounds of Butch’s abilities by requesting a gold-plated toilet seat in his hotel room in Beijing. It had been installed before they arrived.

“Girls?” Butch asked. It was Logan’s typical request.

“I have a girl,” Logan reminded him.

Butch glanced toward the back of the bus where Toni was finishing up her turkey sandwich. Without jalapeños, Logan’s dick happily reminded him.

“Yeah, but I figured you wanted more than one.”

“If it’s that particular one, one is enough.”

Butch grinned to himself, looking way too self-satisfied for Logan’s taste.

“I need sex toys,” Logan blurted.

Butch didn’t bat an eyelash. “Okay. What kind?”

“All kinds. All sizes. For both men and women.”

“Got it,” Butch said.

“Isn’t weed legal for recreational use in Montana?”

Butch’s mustache twitched. “Nope.”

“Damn. Can you get me some anyway?”

“Logan,” Butch began his long-winded rehearsed speech about rock star vices.

“Fine,” Logan said. “But when we get to Colorado this weekend . . .” He didn’t want to get busted for illegal drugs and suffer the fury of Sam Baily’s wrath, but if it was legal? Sign him up for some of that shit.

Butch nodded in defeat. He had a long standing rule about refusing to obtain illegal substances for anyone while they were on tour, but he couldn’t use that as an excuse in this case. “Just don’t bring it on the bus. We don’t want to cross state lines with it.”

Logan patted him on the back. “Thata boy.”

“Anything else?”

Logan sneaked a glance at Toni, and his heart fluttered at the sight of her. “What do women like? As gifts, I mean.”

“Besides sex toys and weed?”

Logan laughed and whacked Butch on the back again. “Yeah, besides sex toys and weed.”

Butch ticked off items on his thick fingers. “Flowers, candy, jewelry, lingerie.”

“Okay, get her some of that stuff. What else?”

“It would probably mean more to her if you picked out something specific to her.”

Logan pursed his lips and twisted them to one side, trying to think of something special. He snapped his fingers when he remembered something uniquely Toni. “Socks,” he said, pointing at Butch to emphasize his own brilliance.

Butch’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Logan. “Socks?”

“Yeah, get her a bunch of socks.”

“Okaaay,” Butch drawled. “And I thought I’d never be asked for anything weirder than a gold-plated toilet seat.”

“Do you think Toni would like one of those?” Logan teased. “Her ass is precious to me.”

“Nah,” Butch said, shaking his head. “I’m sure she’d think it odd.” He lowered his voice and said under his breath, “Not as odd as socks.”

“And I’ll need a supply of all my usual junk food.”

“You don’t even have to ask. It’s already in your room.”

“And I have an unusual craving for strawberry shortcake.”

“That is unusual,” Butch said, grinning to himself as he jotted a note on his schedule. “Got it.”

Logan was going to write Butch into his will.

“Are you still going white-water rafting tomorrow?” Butch asked.

Logan scowled. He’d completely forgotten he’d scheduled a day trip with a couple of buddies he’d met while rafting the Mad Mile a few years before. Every time he came through Montana, the three of them headed down the Gallatin River. But not this time. He’d much rather spend all day in bed, though he planned to get little rest. “I’m going to have to cancel.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Butch said, his grin broadening.

“Thanks for having my back, man,” Logan said as he slugged him affectionately.

“Any time.”

Butch pulled out his cellphone to work his usual magic, and Logan headed to the back of the bus to join the others. There were no available seats, so he stood behind Toni and stroked her hair. He didn’t understand his inexplicable need to touch her at all times. It was as baffling to him as it apparently was to the three men gawking at him from around the semicircular booth. The only guy on the bus who seemed to understand his fixation was Trey Mills. Trey offered him a curt nod and knowing smile before wrapping an arm around Reagan’s shoulders and tugging her closer to him in the booth. She giggled when Trey whispered in her ear. They both turned their heads to look to the back of the bus where the door to the lounge stood ajar. Before Logan could blink, the lovers had risen from the table, sprinted through the open door, and slid it shut with a definitive bang.

“And there he goes again,” Dare said with resigned sigh.

“At least you aren’t competing with Ethan today,” Steve said. His gaze darted to Toni. “I mean, those two guys are great friends, you know?”

“Inseparable,” Dare agreed.

“I know about their polyamorous relationship,” Toni said, munching on a plain potato chip. “Reagan told me. So you don’t have to worry about guarding what you say. Why isn’t Ethan here with them?”

“I’m sure he wanted to be, but he’s with the rest of the security team securing the hotel before we arrive,” Max said.

“Are you guys really in that much danger?” Toni asked, pausing with her sandwich halfway to her mouth.

“There have been incidents,” Max said, drawing his brows together.

“There are a lot of crazies out in the world,” Logan said. “And for some reason, we attract them.”

Toni reached into her pocket and pulled out her recording device. She set it on the table in plain sight. A red light blinked steadily on its top. Logan wondered how long the thing had been recording.

“What kind of incidents?” Toni asked, her gaze on Max.

“He’s usually bothered by beautiful women,” Steve said. “I’m the one that crazy dudes want to pick fights with for no reason.”

“Can’t blame a guy for wanting to smack the smug off your face,” Logan said.

“I’m not smug.”

“So you’ve been in a lot of fights?” Toni asked.

“A few,” Steve said vaguely, his gaze trained on the ceiling as he took a draw off his beer.

A few? The guy had been in more fights than Mike Tyson. And he rarely instigated them. Dudes really did pick fights with him for no reason.

Getting no further details from Steve, Toni turned her attention back to Max. “I assume women do some pretty desperate stunts to get you to take them to your bed.”

“They try,” Logan said.

“Max is very discriminating when it comes to bed partners,” Dare said, nudging Max, who was seated beside him, with his elbow.

“I believe in quality over quantity,” Max said, looking amused as he scratched his nose with the back of his hand.

“Unlike Logan,” Steve claimed. “He’ll fuck anyone.”

So that was why guys picked fights with Steve.

“Including me,” Toni said. Logan couldn’t see her face and couldn’t tell by her voice if she was upset or not. “Boy, he must have low standards.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Steve said, reaching across the table to squeeze Toni’s hand.

He was really asking for an ass-beating now. No one touched Toni but Logan.

“Get your hands off of her,” Logan growled.

“Or you’ll do what?” Steve asked.

“Introduce your face to the bottom of my shoe.”

Dare sighed and shook his head. “We get it, Logan. She’s yours. You don’t have to lift your leg and piss on her.”

Max chuckled. “I’m actually enjoying this. How often do we get to tease Logan about his feelings for a woman?”

That’s it, I’m going to have to kick all their asses. The queue for ass-whippings starts here.

Toni lifted a hand to cover his. He hadn’t realized he was squeezing her shoulder so tightly until her gentle touch brought attention to it. He immediately loosened his hold and tried to smooth out any damage.

“He doesn’t have feelings for me,” Toni said. “We’re justfriends.”

She was so very wrong about that, but he was still too much of a chicken shit to correct her. Why were jumping out of airplanes and doing back flips on his dirt bike and playing concerts in front of a hundred thousand people easier than telling this sweet woman that he was over the moon for her? It made no fucking sense to him, but it was a fact. Sharing how he felt terrified him to the bone.

“Of course he doesn’t,” Steve said, laughing hysterically.

Several hours later, they left the tour bus parked in the lot behind the arena and a limousine shuttled the band members and their weekend luggage to the hotel—because limousines were far less noticeable than tour buses. Right. Logan convinced Toni to leave her cameras and recording devices locked under the bus, but she insisted on bringing her laptop in case she had time to make progress on her book. Logan, however, was determined that she wouldn’t have a second to spare on work. Tonight and tomorrow were all about play.

“It doesn’t feel right to make someone else do my laundry,” Toni said on the elevator after Logan had collected his room keys from Butch.

She’d wanted to bring her dirty clothes so she could head off to a laundry and wash them. She wouldn’t have time for that nonsense either.

“It’s not a big deal. We pay someone to come clean up after us on every off day. It’s their job. You wouldn’t want to deny them their job, would you?”

“I suppose not, but I should at least pay them out of my own pocket.”

Logan chuckled. Then he brushed her hair behind her ear with one hand. “I don’t think they’ll notice a few extra socks in the mix. Unless they drive themselves batty wondering why the mates to those socks have vanished.”

“I hope they don’t discard them. My sister would be so upset.”

“Your sister?”

She pushed her glasses up her nose with the back of her wrist. “It wouldn’t interest you.”

“When are you going to figure out that everything about you interests me?”

Her slight smile and the blush on her smooth cheeks made him want to kiss her.

“Birdie had a very hard time learning how to dress herself,” Toni said. “One morning she came into my room before the sun had risen, so proud of herself for having picked out her clothes and put them on without help. Her striped shirt was on backwards and her floral print leggings were wrong side out and she had on two different socks.”

The look of love on Toni’s face as she talked about her younger sister made Logan’s heart swell. He wondered if anyone would ever wear that expression while thinking of him.

“I was tired and not ready to get out of bed yet, so I told her she’d done a good job but her socks didn’t match. I was hoping she’d let me sleep a while longer, to be honest. So off she went to find matching socks. But then she couldn’t find the mates, and she was so upset. I helped her search and we eventually found them in my sock drawer. I put them on as a joke and it made her so happy that we were both mismatched, but matching, that it became a regular thing. Every time we go to a store we buy several pairs of socks and divvy them between us. That way we’re always mismatched but matching. It makes Birdie giddy.”

Logan kissed her forehead. “And here I thought you were just quirky.”

She grinned up at him. “I’m plenty quirky,” she said, “but mostly I’m a slave to the happiness of those I love.”

She said the word love so freely, he had no doubt she felt it deeply. And he envied her for both abilities. The elevator doors opened on the top floor just in time to stop him from spouting some sentimental bullshit he was sure to regret saying later.

“This is a nice hotel,” she said, studying the narrow corridor. “Which room is mine?”

“You’re staying with me.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

She poked him in the gut. “Yep.”

He released an exaggerated sigh. “I thought I was going to have to resort to jerking off.”

“You can still do that,” she said so quietly, he almost hadn’t heard her.

“You’d like to watch, wouldn’t you?”

She shrugged, but he remembered what had happened the last time he’d stroked his cock in her presence. She’d become a self-taught expert at sixty-nine.

“I know it turns you on.” He slipped his key card into the slot on his door, glad the rest of the band had decided to stop at the restaurant for dinner before heading to their rooms. With the exception of a rather discreet member of their security team camped out next to the elevator, the corridor was empty. “What else turns you on, Toni?”

“I’m not sure,” she said, scowling with introspection. “I do plan to find out tonight.”

“And all day tomorrow.”

“I doubt we’ll need the extra day to figure it out. I’m not all that complicated.”

“You’re the most complicated woman I ever met,” he said as he opened the door to their room.

She laughed when some of the balloons blocking their entrance floated out into the hall. “Is this the right room?”

Logan batted his way through the red balloons, sending them bouncing off each other and the ceiling and Toni. There were several vases of flowers, tiered trays of chocolates, a silver bucket with chilling champagne, and the biggest strawberry shortcake he’d ever seen sitting on a table. Several sacks, which Logan assumed contained the requested sex toys, were lined up against the far wall, and half a dozen sets of lingerie had been artfully arranged on the bed. The outfits ranged from a sweet but short white lace teddy to a flirty babydoll made of a pink gauzy material complete with fur trim to a leather corset and thigh-high boots. Butch had overdone it again.

“It’s the right room,” he said, a blush coursing up his neck. When he’d requested such items, he hadn’t realized it would look like he was taking his brand new lover on a freaking honeymoon.

“What is all this?” She came into the room, glancing around wide-eyed, and set her messenger bag down by the door.

Embarrassed, he shrugged. There was no way in hell he was admitting that this was his idea. “I guess the guys thought it would be funny to tease me about our first night together in a hotel.”

He turned his head to peer at her sidelong. Was she buying it? A balloon bounced off his face when she volleyed it in his direction with the palm of her hand. He sent a barrage of balloons back her way, but very few managed to touch her. The helium kept sending them toward the ceiling before they could connect. But she was laughing as she fended off his attack with a swatting hand, and his embarrassment over discovering he was a romantic sap was quickly replaced by a buoyancy in his heart. Must be the balloons. He grabbed one in his hand and Toni’s arm in the other, tugging their bodies together with the balloon squashed between their bellies.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her face flushed with laughter as she stared up at him.

His arms circled her back and his hands slid down to her ass to tug her closer. “There are too many balloons in this room.”

The balloon squeaked in protest as their bodies came closer together.

“Don’t break—”

Pop!

They both jumped at the sound and then burst out laughing. He couldn’t resist kissing her smiling lips. When he drew away, she cocked her head to the side and scrutinized his face.

“So how did the pranksters know I like strawberry shortcake?” she asked.

Just play dumb. “What strawberry shortcake?”

“That family-sized one over on the table. I can’t wait to devour it.”

Logan turned his head to pretend to notice the pizza-sized cake covered with strawberries and whipped cream for the first time. “That is huge. Strange coincidence that it happens to be your favorite.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, not sounding the least convinced. She pulled away and darted across the room. “So what’s in the sacks?”

She’d probably believe his bandmates would tease them by filling their room with sex toys, so he didn’t try to stop her.

Her brow crumpled as she pulled a package out of the first bag. “Socks?”

She held up a clearly marked package containing a dozen pairs of plain white tube socks.

“More socks?” She pulled out another pack of tube socks and another.

Logan snorted and burst out laughing. He hadn’t been specific about the kind of socks.

“Why do you need so many socks? Are your feet cold?”

He shook his head. “Toss me a bag and I’ll show you what they’re for.”

He ripped open the package she tossed to him and rolled up the sock, tucking the bulk of the sock into the open end so that it formed a soft ball. Standing next to the far side of bed, Toni watched him as he did the same on about half the socks in the pack, setting each ball in a neat pile on his side of the mattress between her new corset and lace teddy.

“That’s a strange way to fold socks,” she said, fingering the soft fur that edged a tiny pink thong.

He lifted one of the balls and tossed it up and down in one hand.

“Sock ball fight!” he announced before throwing the sock at her and catching her in the shoulder. He managed to pummel her with several sock balls from his pile before she dove behind the bed for cover. A moment later her head poked up over the mattress and she threw a recovered sock ball at him, missing him by a mile. He bounced a ball off her head before she disappeared below the edge of the mattress again.

“No fair!” she cried. “I don’t have any ammo.”

“You have five bags of ammo,” he said, tossing another sock ball at her.

“No prepared ammo!”

He heard the sound of plastic tearing. A sock went sailing over the bed in his direction.

“Sock snake!” she yelled. “It’s poisonous.”

The poisonous sock snake landed on the bed near his hip. She peeked up over the bed to see if her projectile had hit its target. Logan seized the sock, pretending to fight off its venomous fangs. The harder she laughed, the more he escalated his theatrics. He flopped onto the bed on his back, struggling to keep the sock from tearing out his throat, until the vicious creature got the better of him and connected with his jugular. Sock still gripped in his hand, he threw his arms wide.

“He got me,” he gasped and then went still.

“Oh no!” Toni cried. “I need to suck the poison out.”

It took every ounce of Logan’s will not to move as she jumped onto the bed with him and lowered her mouth to his throat. Her soft sucking kisses did all sorts of tingly things to the snake in his pants.

“I’m too late,” she said brokenly, sniffing theatrically.

“Keep trying,” he whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

Her soft kisses on his throat strengthened, drawing a shudder from him. He was now wishing the snake had bitten him a bit farther south.

“Oh God,” he said, lifting the sock in the air. “The snake is attacking again.”

Toni leaned away to watch him struggle with the sock once more.

“Not there!” he yelled as he aimed the sock for his crotch. “Anywhere but there!”

Toni grabbed the sock to help him fend off the attack. “I’ll save you.”

He expected her to pull the sock away, but she bumped it against the thickening ridge in his pants.

“Oh no,” she said. “He got you again. I’d better suck that poison out too.”

She jerked open his fly, and he laughed. “God, I love you,” he said. And then he sucked in a deep breath.

Toni went still, and her eyes lifted to meet his.

“U-u-ukuleles. I love ukuleles,” he said. “Highly underrated instrument.”

“Uh-huh,” she agreed. “Now, hush. It’s going to take a long time to get all this poison out.”

It didn’t take all that long really. Her technique was perfect. The way her mouth sucked, lips rubbed, throat vibrated—perfect. Her hand tugging gently at the base of his shaft, long hair tickling his belly as her head moved—perfect. The sounds she made, the way she looked, her scent, her remembered taste—perfect. His sweet, sweet Toni—perfect.

I’m in big trouble here.

Logan’s back arched as his pleasure intensified. He wasn’t ready for the building pleasure to end, but she’d fully conquered his resistance and he couldn’t help but let go.

“Toni?” he whispered hoarsely as he tapped the back of her head to let her know she was about to get a mouthful. His belly tautened as he found release, his bliss so intense he swore he saw stars behind his tightly clenched eyelids.

Toni tensed as he filled her mouth with cum, but she swallowed every drop and then slowly pulled away, releasing her suction with a soft pop.

Winded, she lay down beside him, rested her head on his chest, and traced the outlines of a tattoo here, an abdominal muscle there.

“That’s the second time you’ve tapped the back of my head when I’ve gone down on you,” she said, tilting her head so she could look up at him. “Am I missing something?”

He grinned at her. Was it weird that he was glad she didn’t know what it meant? “It’s the universal signal for I’m coming, in case you don’t want that stuff in your mouth.”

“Oh,” she said. “Am I supposed to swallow it? I meant to ask Reagan about proper protocol, but I forgot.”

“It’s up to you,” he said. “It won’t hurt my feelings if you pull off at the last minute or spit it out.”

“If I pull off, will I get to watch it come out?”

“Do you want to watch my cum spurt?”

She grinned deviously and nodded. Her hand slid down his belly, and she touched his softening cock. “Right now,” she said.

He laughed. “I’m not a teenager anymore, lamb. You’ll have to give it at least twenty minutes.” More like forty, but who was counting?

“Can I have some of that strawberry shortcake you ordered for me while we wait?”

“If you like.” It had to taste better than his cum.

She sat up and poked his nose. “I knew it!”

“You knew what?”

“You did all this romantic stuff for me. The balloons. The cake. The socks. These totally inappropriate clothes. The flowers and chocolate. All of it.”

Let’s not forget the sex toys. Wherever those were.

He scowled and shook his head. “Did not!”

“Oh,” she said, sliding from the bed. “Well, that’s too bad. I was going to allow the sweetie who went to all this trouble to do anything he wanted to my naked body.”

His cock twitched. “Anything?”

“Yep.” She crossed the room and stuck her finger in the whipped cream topping on the shortcake. She sucked it off with the same skill she’d just showed his very appreciative dick. “Anything.”

“Even anal?”

“Any thing. But since it wasn’t you, I guess it doesn’t matter.”

He was torn between owning up to his ridiculous gifts and getting to do anything he wanted to the beautiful woman biting into a juicy strawberry with a look of bliss on her face.

“It was me,” he said. “Well, I asked Butch to have this all brought to our room to surprise you. Apparently, I wasn’t clear that the socks should be unique and colorful.” And now that he knew that her sock collection was a product of many special moments between herself and her little sister, he was actually glad he’d botched that one.

“Thank you. This was all really thoughtful of you.”

He sat up on the bed and rubbed a hand over his face. He actually didn’t feel like a complete idiot for bringing a smile to her face. He actually felt happy that she was pleased.

“So now I can do anything I want to you?” he asked.

“Not anything,” she said.

“Aw, man.” He slapped his thigh.

“You have only yourself to blame. You should have told me the truth from the start.”

“I was embarrassed,” he admitted. “I don’t normally do this kind of thing.” And he wasn’t sure what had compelled him to do it this time.

“It was very sweet of you.”

“Exactly,” he grumbled. He hauled himself off the bed and kicked his jeans off before sitting at the table where she was still picking at her strawberry treat with her fingers.

“New friend?” she asked, nodding toward the sock he still held in his hand. He’d completely forgotten it was there.

“Attack snake!” he shouted and touched her boob with his sock. “Oh no, she’s been bitten. She’s too young to die!”

He wrestled her sweater off over her head and sent her bra flying across the room in his haste to suck out the poison and save her precious life. She was laughing so hard by the time he freed her of her constrictive clothing, she couldn’t catch her breath.

“This snakebite looks all swollen and red,” he said, dipping his fingers in whipped topping. “Better put some salve on it.”

He loved the way she shuddered as he drew his cream-dipped fingertips over her hardened nipple. Her giggles turned to sighs of pleasure as he lowered his head to lick and suckle the tip of her breast.

“Thank you for saving my life, sir,” she murmured, threading her fingers through his hair.

“My pleasure.” He tilted his head back to look up at her. There was a far juicier cream he wanted to sample at the moment. He slid a finger down her belly toward his preferred destination. “Will you shave for me?”

She rubbed her jaw, checking for beard growth. “I shaved just this morning.”

“I’ll even let you use my razor.” She probably had no idea what he was sacrificing by offering his favorite blade. “You’ll find it in the bathroom.” That was where the team that delivered the band’s day-off luggage and set up their hotel suites always put it for him.

“I’ll try it,” she said. “But I’ve never been good with sharp objects. Prepare a tourniquet.”

He chuckled, not sure how he’d apply a tourniquet to her lady parts.

She kissed his forehead and scooted out of the chair to head for the bathroom. “I’ll pretend I’m doing this for you, but I’m really doing it for me.”

He was definitely going to make the effort worth her while. “And will you wear one of the sexy outfits I bought you?”

She came to a halt just outside the bathroom door and turned to stare at the disheveled pieces of lingerie on the bed. “Which one?”

“You choose.”

Would she go for the sweet white lace negligee or the more daring black leather corset? He planned to see what she looked like in each of the pieces by the end of their stay.

She scooped all five of the getups into both arms and carried them toward the bathroom. “I’ll try them on and see which one looks the least terrible on me.”

Least terrible? She was joking, right? “You’ll look hot as hell in all of them, I guarantee it.”

Her self-depreciating smile let him know she didn’t believe his words. Apparently he didn’t compliment her enough. He wondered how obnoxious he’d have to get in order for her to feel as attractive as he found her.

She entered the bathroom, and there was a series of thuds as a collection of somethings tipped over in succession.

“Logan! What in the world are all these things? There’s a rainbow of dicks in here!”

Ah. She’d found the sex toys.