Текст книги "Insider"

Автор книги: Olivia Cunning

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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 34 страниц)

“Even though I’m inexperienced?”

“Hell, I think it’s because you’re inexperienced. It’s refreshing. Even other women who don’t have much experience sure don’t make it known.”

Toni gasped as realization dawned. “Oh. So I should pretend I know what I’m doing and muddle through it.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. “Nope. You should keep doing exactly what you’re doing.”

“Then please stop making this so hard. I don’t like it when you laugh at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you, lamb. You make me feel happy.”

Her heart skipped a beat. It seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Maybe she should visit a cardiologist. “I do?”

“You also make me talk too much. I’m going to shut up now and let you suck my hard-as-granite cock.”

He kissed her breathless and then rolled onto his side against the wall. She stared into his dreamy blue eyes for a long moment and then glanced down to see if his cock was as hard as he claimed. Not so unfortunately, she got distracted by his muscular chest. Palms flat against him, she explored the hard contours of his pecs. She found his abdomen to be equally mesmerizing and continued to stroke his skin until she noticed his breath was hitching. When she tugged the sheet off his hip, she recognized his predicament immediately. Long, hard, and impressively thick, Logan’s cock strained toward her. There was no way on earth that she could suck that entire thing into her mouth. She glanced up at him uncertainly, but he had his eyes closed and his lower lip trapped between his teeth. Toni longed to snap a picture of that face. Dear lord, if she included a picture of him like that in her book, every woman who saw it would need a change of panties.

Her gaze returned to his cock. This she was not willing to share with the world. Even though she knew it wasn’t feasible, she wanted him all to herself. Her fingertips touched the hard length of his cock, and it jerked. Startled, she drew her hand away. Was it supposed to do that? Had she hurt him? Maybe she shouldn’t be so bold. Logan produced a sound—half pleasure, half torture—but remained still.

Toni scooted lower on the bed until his navel was at eye level. She kissed his lower belly, delighted by the quivering quality of his flesh beneath her lips. She touched his cock with her fingers again, and Logan drew a shaky breath into his lungs. Did he like that? She thought so, but she couldn’t be sure. She was tempted to ask him, but remembered that he said she’d know what he liked if she paid attention. Steeling her nerve, she bent her head and drew her tongue over the enlarged head of his cock.

“Toni, please,” he whispered.

Please? Please what? She licked him again and waited for his reaction. She liked how a few touches had his breathing labored and his muscles taut. She felt powerful and a little sexy. And really horny. His hand moved to the back of her head. The muscles in his arm tightened, but he didn’t press her forward to force her mouth to take him, though she was pretty sure he wanted to.

As she worked up the nerve to go for it, Toni trailed her fingers down his thick shaft, tracing a vein just beneath his satiny skin. When her fingers brushed over the wrinkled skin of his testicles, he sucked in a deep breath. She wondered what he would do if she . . . Toni shifted lower and kissed the loose flesh beneath her exploring fingertips. She kissed his balls the way he kissed her between her legs, with coaxing lips and slight flicks of her tongue. He squirmed, his hands moving to the sheet beneath him, which he clung to with clenched fingers.

Encouraged that he seemed to enjoy her experimentation, she drew the flat of her tongue over the bulge of one nut and then sucked on it gently. She’d known that this area of a man was incredibly sensitive to pain, but she hadn’t been sure if that was true for pleasure. The deep moan of bliss her lover—her lover—produced exhilarated Toni. What other sexy sounds was the man capable of producing besides making a bass guitar purr?

Her hand circled his shaft, and she lifted her head to stare at his huge cock. It was already seeping fluid. A single drop glistened in the narrow slit at the tip. Toni decided she’d much rather have its lengthy thickness pounding into her hot and achy pussy, but she’d told him she wanted to suck him, so she wasn’t going to change tactics now. You can do this, Toni. She used her hand to direct him into her mouth. Her first taste of him wasn’t what she expected. Salty. Musky. She wasn’t sure if she could take an entire mouthful of his cum. Was she supposed to swallow it? Spit it out? What was the proper procedure the first time you sucked a guy off? Toni decided she needed more experienced friends who would tell her these things. Maybe Reagan would give her advice if she asked, but she couldn’t tell Logan to hold on for a moment while she ran to ask Reagan if she should swallow.

His fingers untangled from the bedclothes and he stroked her hair gently with one hand. “Feels good, baby. You’re so beautiful. I’m crushing so hard on you right now.”

Okay, she would totally swallow. Now she just had to excite him enough to get the opportunity. She drew him deeper into her mouth. Deeper. Deeper. Triggered her gag reflex. Drew away abruptly, choking and retching in a most embarrassing fashion.

Her stomach still clenching with spasms, she buried her face in the mattress beside his hip. Humiliated, she prayed an alien would beam her onto the mother ship and fly her to a distant galaxy.

Logan touched the back of her head. “Are you okay?”

“Don’t laugh,” she pleaded, her voice muffled by the bedding.

“I’m not laughing. You don’t have to deep throat it. The head is the most sensitive part anyway.”

She knew that. Everyone knew that. Okay, so maybe she hadn’t known that. But now she did.

“Do you want to try again?” he asked. “Or can I rip off your shirt and fuck your gorgeous tits?”

Her eyes widened. What? How would that be any fun? Or even possible? She lay there for a while trying to picture how one had her tits fucked.

“Toni?”

She lifted her head to look at him. “You can fuck my tits some other time,” she said. “I’m going to try the blow-job thing again.”

He bit his lip, and she could tell he was trying really hard not to laugh. She slapped his belly and eyed the thing that had tried to choke her to death.

“Would you hold it against me if I gave you some instructions?” he asked.

“I’d be relieved actually.” Perhaps he would save her from embarrassing herself again.

“Hold the base with one hand,” he said.

She shifted into a more comfortable position on her knees and one elbow, and used her free hand to grab the base of his cock.

“Not quite that tight,” he said breathlessly.

“Sorry.” She loosened her grip.

“Perfect. Nothing hurts worse than a pair of sharp teeth scraping over the surface of your cock.”

“Nothing?”

“Few things,” he amended. “So keep your teeth covered with your lips, like this.” He demonstrated by drawing his lips in over his teeth.

“Have you done this before, Logan?”

He laughed. “Uh, not personally, no.”

She mimicked his teeth-covering technique and looked at him for approval.

He stroked a stray piece of her hair behind her ear. “Have I mentioned that I’m crushing on you hard?” He snatched her glasses off her nose and set them down on the bed beside him.

She nodded, still making her I’m-about-to-suck-your-cock face.

“Go ahead.” He nodded toward his lap.

Her shoulders tense with nerves, she directed him into her mouth, but didn’t make the mistake of shoving him down her throat this time.

“Can you take it a little deeper?”

She took another inch of him.

“That’s perfect,” he said. “Are you okay?”

“Mmm-hmmph.” She became aware of her saliva dripping down his shaft and onto her hand.

She released his cock to wipe her hand on the sheet and tried to suck her spit back into her mouth.

“Don’t try to be neat,” he whispered. “Slobber all over it. Sloppy and wet is sexy.”

If he said so. She returned her hand to his shaft, cock head pressed against the roof of her mouth, teeth properly covered by her lips, and waited.

“I’ll tell you how I like it best, but if it’s too much of a challenge, don’t worry about it. I’ll like anything you do.”

She was definitely up for a challenge, as long as it didn’t involve his cock all the way down her throat.

“Suck as you pull back, hum as you go down. Not too deep. Don’t choke yourself.”

She felt awkward doing the motions at first and had to think really hard about what she was doing—especially the hum thing—but as she got the hang of it, she became aware of how vocal Logan was getting. He definitely liked this.

“Pull back just a little more,” he gasped, “so your lips bump over the rim—Oh God, just like that.”

His excitement was infectious. Her hips began to writhe involuntarily. Her panties were entirely drenched, her pussy a throbbing, swollen, far-too-empty place of longing.

“Rub . . . Rub your tongue . . . against . . . when you go down.”

She worked her tongue against him.

“Fuck yes, baby! Just like that. Faster now.”

She was doing it. She was pleasuring him.

“Hey, Logan,” someone called from the front of the bus. “The meet and greet is about to start. Are you coming?”

“Almost,” he called, his back arching off the bed. “Almost.”

He patted Toni on the back of the head—a signal she didn’t understand—and then exploded in her mouth, bathing her tongue with thick, salty fluids. She swallowed, still using the techniques he’d showed her, until he finished spurting and cursing under his breath.

She released him from her mouth, the muscles in her face and throat aching, but damn if it hadn’t been worth it. She had totally gotten him off. He’d come. In her mouth.

He lifted his head off the pillow to focus on her. “Did you swallow that?”

Still gasping for air, she nodded.

“Fuck, woman.”

He grabbed her and tossed her onto her back on the bunk. What? He shoved her skirt up around her waist and grabbed her panties in one hand, yanking them down her thighs. He pulled one leg free of them before spreading her legs wide, climbing between her thighs, and thrusting his still-hard cock deep into her hot, wet cunt. She cried out in excitement—twisting in spasms of delight, her pussy clenching around his driving cock. As his erection subsided, he pulled out in frustration and slid down her body. Two fingers plunged into her pussy, and his mouth latched onto her clit. He quickly worked her into a frenzy, his fingers thrusting in and out of her, his lips and tongue massaging her clit until she was rocking against his face and calling his name. She exploded like a supernova, her entire body engulfed in mindless pleasure. As she drifted down from the stratosphere, Logan moved to wrap her in a tight embrace.

“I can’t wait to keep you in my hotel room for an entire day and show you all the dirty things I want to do to this body,” he whispered.

Eyes wide, Toni’s body stiffened. She wasn’t sure if she should be excited or nervous by the prospect.

“Your pussy tastes so sweet,” he said. “I’m going to start you off by licking it for hours.”

Okay, excited it was.

Ten

Chaos.

Toni had expected the meet and greet to be thrilling, but things had gotten completely out of hand. Her idea of making this a media event had only added to the mayhem. The band didn’t seem to mind the extra attention, or maybe they were used to the insanity, but security was struggling to keep those with legitimate VIP passes separate from those trying to sneak in separate from those who had heard the radio broadcast and had a protester in tow separate from the press. It was a valiant effort, but they ended up with a big mix of crazy. Toni had no hope of keeping up with most of it, so she decided to stick near Logan, who had taken it upon himself to screen the fans with protesters. Toni had her camera rolling and her voice recorder running and was doing her best to get the blasted release forms signed by anyone who might end up recognizable in her footage and jot down notes at the same time. While Toni was the Queen of Multitasking, everything started to run together in an indistinguishable mix of unfamiliar faces and garbled words. She hoped events weren’t always this overwhelming for the band. How did they put up with this day after day?

“So have you ever actually listened to any of our songs?” Logan asked a woman holding a sign that read Exodus End Should End Now.

“Our church group has studied your lyrics,” she said, her eyes bugging out of her head as they shifted from Logan to Max, who was laughing at something a fan said, to Dare, who had a three-foot circle of space around him and a completely inapproachable look on his face. The church woman actually squeaked in terror when the sexy lead guitarist’s eyes met hers.

“We have lyrics?” Logan glanced at Toni. “Is that what you call the words Max belts out?”

The woman tore her gaze from Dare to look at Logan. “What?”

“I don’t think this one is acting,” Logan said to Toni. He’d already discovered three of the “protesters” had been fans in disguise. It hadn’t been difficult. Eventually they started gushing about being in the presence of musical greatness.

“Why does your church group study Exodus End’s lyrics?” Toni asked, stuffing a release form into the woman’s free hand.

“Its evil message corrupts our children.”

“Can I ditch the lady now?” asked the fan who’d somehow talked her into joining him backstage. Maybe he’d succeeded because he was a boy of fifteen or so who had the most innocent-looking face. Well, except for the nose, eyebrow, and lip piercings. “She’s nucking futs.” The woman gasped and the kid glared at her. “What? I said ‘nucking futs.’ Clean out your ears, old lady.”

“How did you get her to come backstage with you?” Logan asked.

“I told her I wanted to be saved. Can I go talk to Mills now? He’s my idol.”

“Good luck with that,” Logan said. He slapped a backstage pass into the kid’s hand and nodded in Dare’s direction.

Logan tilted his head at the church lady and scratched his jaw with one finger. “So which songs did you analyze? I’m trying to remember which ones have an evil message.”

The woman glanced nervously at Toni. Toni was sure it was because she looked “normal.”

“Isn’t he gorgeous?” Toni asked her.

She looked at Logan. Really looked at him. Her expression softened. “Maybe if he cut his hair,” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

Logan laughed. “I cut several inches off of it just a few weeks ago, but I’m not going any shorter. The ladies like to pull it when . . .” He lifted his eyebrows suggestively, and Toni finally found a woman who could blush more crimson than she did when Logan teased.

“Well, I never,” the lady gasped, a hand trembling at her neck.

Logan scowled. “That’s unfortunate. You really should. Not that I’m volunteering. I’m thinking about getting a steady girlfriend.” Logan moved his gaze to Toni. “A sweet girl who gets easily embarrassed. Has brains. Mismatched socks. And big boobs.” He held his hands out two feet in front of his chest. “Really stacked.”

Toni smacked him in the arm, but her heart was smiling. She’d never expected him to consider her girlfriend material. She tucked the idea in the back of her mind. She’d get all goofy about it later when some stranger wasn’t shaking her head in disapproval.

“Did your whole congregation come to protest the concert?” Toni asked the woman.

She shook her head. “Some of ’em don’t blame the band for Jeff’s suicide, but that sweet boy changed when he started listening to Satan’s music.”

Toni’s heart rose to her throat. “I’m so sorry. Did you know Jeff well?”

She nodded curtly. “He was my grandson’s best friend. At least when they were boys. They grew apart in junior high. Didn’t even talk to each other in high school. Our Timothy still cared, though. He still cried when he heard the news after Jeff shot himself. Thought maybe he could have been a better friend to Jeff. And then maybe Jeff wouldn’t have . . .” The lady broke off, pulled a tissue out of her pocket, and dabbed at her eyes. She noticed that Toni’s eyes were also leaky, and she reached into her purse to offer a second tissue to the bleeding heart beside her. Feeling foolish but no less empathetic, Toni dabbed at her eyes with the proffered tissue.

Logan reached out and squeezed the woman’s shoulder. “My condolences. I know how hard this is.”

“How could you possibly know how hard this is, rock star?” she sneered.

“When Vic killed herself, I thought the pain of her loss would kill me too.”

Vic?

Logan glanced at Dare, who was talking to the kid with the shiny new backstage pass.

The woman covered Logan’s hand and squeezed. “I’m sorry about your . . .”

“Friend,” Logan said. “She was our lead guitarist’s high school sweetheart. They dated into their twenties, so we all knew her well. Everyone thought Dare would marry her someday. When she lost the baby . . . The doctors said her hormones were off balance and that’s why . . .” Logan swallowed and closed his eyes.

How had Toni missed that in her research? She wrapped both arms around Logan and hugged him as hard as she could. Dare Mills was next on her list.

“If it makes you feel better to have someone to blame, I completely understand,” Logan said to the woman. “I can’t hold that against you if it makes your grief easier to bear.”

“That boy,” she said, nodding at the young Exodus End fan she’d accompanied, “he reminds me a lot of Jeff. I guess that’s why I followed him in here.” She smiled as she watched the kid chatter excitedly with his guitar hero. “He looks happy to be here. I’m glad I could give him that.”

“Well, since you’re here, you might as well have a beer. I promise we won’t sacrifice any goats in honor of Satan tonight.”

She laughed. “It’s not nice to poke fun at a helpless old lady.”

“Helpless? I don’t see a helpless old lady. Though you must be terrified to be in the same room with Max, and who can blame you.”

Toni chuckled and finally released her hug. Logan wrapped an arm around her to keep her from moving away.

“Which one is Max?” the woman asked.

“That tall one over there in the leather pants.”

The woman craned her neck and gasped when she caught sight of Max in a crowd of female admirers. “The tall one with the short hair?”

“Yeah, he’s our lead singer. He comes up with most of our evil lyrics.”

“Now that one is easy on the eyes,” she purred.

Toni bit her lip so she wouldn’t laugh.

“Go introduce yourself,” Logan suggested. “He’ll get a kick out of it.”

“I think I will,” she said, stopping to grab a beer out of the nearest cooler as she wandered off in Max’s direction.

“I didn’t think I’d ever get rid of her,” Logan said before stealing a kiss. Someone lifted their cellphone to take a picture. Logan spun toward the camera and pulled Toni behind him. She understood why he wouldn’t want anyone to have photographic evidence of him kissing her, but it still made her chest ache and her ire rise. She pulled out of Logan’s grasp and marched toward Dare. She still owed him a hug. She couldn’t imagine how hard it would be to lose an unborn child and have the baby’s mother commit suicide over the tragedy. No wonder he tried to keep strangers at a distance.

Eleven

Logan spun around, wondering why Toni had suddenly stomped off in the opposite direction. Had she wanted her picture all over the Internet with speculation about why he’d been kissing her in public? Kissing her in front of everyone hadn’t been his brightest move, but he couldn’t help it. He liked to kiss her. And he didn’t mind who knew it. Yet he knew how brutal people could be to the significant others of famous people, so he wanted to protect her from the bullshit. Hadn’t she recognized that? Where in the hell had she gone? He scanned the room for a mane of thick brown hair.

When Logan spotted her with her arms wrapped around Dare, his jaw dropped in disbelief. Dare knew that Logan liked her. Where did he get off putting his hands on his woman? Maybe Mr. Know-It-All wanted to prove to Logan that he wasn’t ready to commit to her. Maybe Mr. Can-Do-No-Wrong thought this would make Logan give up on her. The bastard.

Logan stalked across the room and shoved Dare in the shoulder. “Get your fucking hands off her, Mills.”

Dare looked at him as if he were speaking Klingon. “What?”

“You heard me. Don’t touch my woman.”

Dare blinked especially hard. “Your woman?” He grinned wickedly and then tugged Toni closer. “I think she missed your memo. Looks like she’s with me.”

Logan’s arm moved of its own volition. He honestly hadn’t meant to punch Dare in the face. It didn’t actually register that he’d hit him until Logan drew his stinging knuckles away from the nose they’d connected with. Before Dare could retaliate, Toni had Logan by one ear and jerked him down to her level.

“What is wrong with you?” she bellowed.

He’d never seen her angry before. Why was his fly suddenly so tight?

“Me? You’re the one hanging all over Dare.”

“I’m going to fuck you up later, Lo,” Dare said. He held his head tilted backwards with the bridge of his nose pinched between two fingers. One of the security guards was forcibly directing him toward the bathroom.

“I wasn’t hanging all over Dare,” Toni said. “I was hugging him.”

Logan pulled her hand off his ear and straightened to his full height. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at her. “Same difference.”

“It is not the same. At all. And since when am I your woman?”

“Since I popped your cherry.”

She gave him a frosty stare. “I would have let any member of your band pop my cherry,” she said. “You know that, right? I just wanted it over and done with. I didn’t care who did the deed.”

His heart twisted in his chest, cutting off his ability to take a decent breath. She couldn’t mean that.

He glanced around at their spectators. Maybe the meet and greet wasn’t the best place to discuss this. He grabbed her arm and tugged her toward the bathroom. He’d forgotten that Dare was already in there until he was confronted by a pair of grass-green eyes above a freely bleeding nose. No way was he confining himself with that caged tiger.

“Did you come to apologize?” Dare asked as he stuffed a tissue up one nostril. “It won’t save you. I’m still going to fuck you up.”

“Actually, I forgot you were in here,” Logan said.

“Figures.” Dare shoved him aside and left the room. The roadie, who went by the nickname T-Bone, grabbed the first aid kit and scurried after Dare.

When they were alone, Toni yanked out of his hold. “Why are you acting like such a jerk?”

She thought he was a jerk? Ouch. “I-I don’t know.” He’d never felt so confused before in his life. And worried about what someone else thought of him. And afraid that he’d done something that she’d never forgive him for. He was less concerned about Dare fucking him up than he was of Toni’s disapproval.

“How could you think I’d mess around with Dare? Especially right in front of you?”

“I didn’t just think it, I saw it.”

“I was hugging him, Logan. What you said about him losing his baby and the mother committing suicide, it made my heart ache and I needed to hug him.”

So she’d been behaving like a first-class sweetheart and he’d been behaving like a first-class asshole. “It wasn’t even Dare’s baby. It was Max’s.”

Toni stared at him open-mouthed for a long moment before licking her lips. “I thought she was Dare’s girlfriend.”

“She was.”

Toni sucked a deep breath into her chest and blew it out with a fierce scowl.

“That better not end up in your book,” he said.

She shook her head vigorously. “I won’t put anything in the book that could potentially hurt one of you.” She lowered her head. “Or all of you.”

He believed her. If she’d told him that pigs had finally evolved wings, he would have believed that too. “I’m sorry for being a jerk,” Logan said. “I just . . .” He stared at the wall behind her. How could he put this? “I didn’t like seeing another man with his hands on you.”

“Obviously.” She chuckled, and he shifted his gaze to hers.

She was smiling. He felt as if the weight of the world had lifted off his shoulders.

“You don’t hate me?”

“Why would I hate you? I’m your woman, aren’t I?” She tilted her head and winked at him.

He grinned, his head swimming with happiness. “Yeah.”

“Go talk to Dare.”

“Do I have to?”

“You sucker punched him in the nose, Logan. Don’t you think you at least owe him an apology?”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah. He’s going to kick my ass, you know.”

“You probably deserve that. But I’ll kiss it and make it better.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.”

“So you’d let me?”

“Let you what?”

“Do things to your ass.”

Logan gawked at her.

She lowered her eyes. “Forget I asked that.”

“Depends on what you have in mind. No strap-on dicks allowed in my bedroom.”

She laughed. “Why would I use a strap-on . . .”

Her eyes widened when she apparently figured it out. She was still so innocent and he was so enjoying making her naughty. Logan stroked her hair from her lovely face and tucked it behind her ear. He stared down into the inquisitive brown eyes hidden behind thick glasses and couldn’t help but smile. It was a permanent condition when she was around. What was it about this woman that had him in knots? God, he hoped he didn’t fuck things up with her. Yet he figured it was inevitable. He tended to fuck up everything eventually. Except his music. It was the one thing he had under perfect control, but maybe that had more to do with his bandmates, the crew, and his anal-retentive manager than it had to do with anything he did. “You’re beautiful. We’ll try things—some of them so naughty your glasses will steam up.” He kissed her forehead before leaving the room to seek his well-deserved ass-kicking.

Pissed off and out of sorts, Dare had let his guard down and was completely surrounded by a collection of lead-guitarist worshipers (mostly male) and rock-star -dick worshipers (mostly female). Logan knew exactly how to earn Dare’s forgiveness. Free him from the hell of adulation. At least Dare considered that hell. Logan wouldn’t mind a little more of it.

“Hey, Dare,” Logan called over the crowd. He had no chance of making his way through the flock of admirers. “We need you in the dressing room. Pronto.”

Dare gave him a measured look. He obviously knew Logan was lying. Now he just needed to decide which was the lesser of two evils—fans he’d allowed to get too close or one of his best friends who was currently on his shit list. Logan thought Dare had decided to take his chances with the crowd until he lifted one finger, said, “Excuse me,” and the crowd parted before him like the Red Sea.

Dare stalked toward the dressing room which was labeled Band ONLY—No Guests, and Logan followed him, hoping there were witnesses present behind that closed door in case Dare actually killed him. He was such an easygoing guy until someone pissed him off.

Dare stormed into the dressing room, and Logan closed the door behind them. They probably should have knocked before barging in. A rhythmic pounding of flesh on flesh came from the couch on the opposite side of the room. Logan couldn’t see anything but one feminine foot poking over the back of the sofa, but he could hear a whole lot.

“Yes, Steve. Oh yes!”

Well, that explained where Steve had been during the meet and greet. His head appeared above the sofa back, and his confused gaze shifted from Logan to Dare.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Steve asked as he took in the bit of bloody tissue Dare had shoved up one nostril.

“Logan.” Dare pulled the tissue out of his nose and dabbed his nostril on the back of his hand to check if it was still bleeding.

“Don’t stop, baby. I’m almost there,” crooned a woman from somewhere beneath Steve.

Steve continued to stare at his bandmates, but he was moving again. The sound of wet pussy getting pounded was unmistakable. “Did you punch him or what?”

“Yeah,” Logan said, raking a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean to. Well, yeah, I did. I overreacted when I saw Toni hanging all over him. I thought he was making a move on her. I’m sorry I hit you, Dare. I overreacted.”

“Logan is stupid over a woman,” Steve said. “Now his ignorance knows no bounds.”

A hand with long hot-pink fingernails moved to Steve’s hair. He flinched as she got a handful and pulled.

“Ouch. Don’t yank.”

“Then stop talking. I can’t concentrate.”

“Me neither.” Steve shifted and moved to kneel on the sofa, his elbows resting on its back and his fingers linked together.

“I didn’t mean you should stop,” the woman protested.

Steve ignored her. “So are you going to hit him back?” he asked Dare. “Because that’s something I’d like to see.”

“No,” Dare said. “I have a better way to get back at him.”

A chill raced down Logan’s spine. He had no doubt that Dare was capable of ripping his guts out if he had a mind to. “Just hit me. Get it over with.”

Dare chuckled coldly and then let himself out of the dressing room without another word.

“Shit,” Logan said. “What do you think he’s going to do?”

“I’d keep a close eye on Toni if I were you,” Steve said. “You know if he shows the slightest interest in a woman, her panties are around her ankles in less than five seconds.”

“He wouldn’t do that. He knows I like her.”

“Are you sure? I think he’s pretty pissed off at you.”

Dare wasn’t someone you wanted to piss off. And Logan had decked him in the nose. In front of a crowd of people. Logan rubbed his forehead with one hand. So what should he do about this? It was too late to take it back. He guessed he’d just follow Steve’s advice and keep an eye on Toni. As if that would be a chore.

“Can we finish now?” an annoyed voice said from the sofa.

Steve rolled his eyes at Logan and then disappeared from view again. Logan let himself out of the dressing room before their porn sounds gave him wood.

Keeping an eye on Toni turned out to be easier said than done. He didn’t want to be blatantly obvious to everyone in the room that he had the hots for her. Not with members of the press for the entire city of Eugene, Oregon, watching his every move. At least Dare didn’t seem to have Toni on his agenda. For now in any case. He had regained his sphere of cool, and everyone was keeping an appropriate distance from the guitar god. Logan spotted Toni talking to the church lady, who was trying her damnedest to gain Max’s attention. Toni had a camera in one hand and a tape recorder in the other and was spouting off questions he couldn’t hear over the din of conversation. Logan decided it was his best bet to find something else to occupy his time.