Текст книги "Insider"
Автор книги: Olivia Cunning
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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 34 страниц)
Beer worked.
He grabbed a bottle from the nearest ice chest and leaned against a wall. It didn’t take fans long to notice he was alone. A particularly talkative young woman decided his ear was free and spent the next twenty minutes telling him about every band she’d ever seen in concert. “Exodus End is the best, of course. I’m looking forward to Sinners’ show tonight too.”
“Great band,” Logan said. He deliberately drained the rest of his beer.
“I think I’ll skip Riott Actt, though. I don’t know any of their songs.”
“You really shouldn’t. You’ll regret it someday.”
At a raucous round of laughter from Max’s general direction, Logan straightened and craned his neck to see what fun he was missing.
“I want to talk to the cleavage cam next,” someone insisted.
Cleavage cam?
Logan decided he’d done his duty for the evening. He handed his empty bottle to the blabbering fan and went to investigate the cleavage cam. That sounded right up his alley.
He wasn’t sure if Toni had come up with the idea of holding the camera between her luscious breasts or if Max had put her up to it. Whoever had come up with the idea had made Toni a complete hit with every male in the room. All in good fun, but if any of them put their hands on her . . .
Logan took a deep breath. Why was he so insistent on claiming her as his alone? He definitely liked the idea that no other dude had ever been inside her, but that couldn’t possibly be the only reason he was so wrapped up in the woman. So protective of her. Overprotective. He couldn’t help himself. He squeezed through the crowd until he stood beside her.
“I’m Dennis Brown. I won my guest pass from a radio show. I’ve been an Exodus End fan for fourteen years and I saw my first Ex-End concert with my parents when I was ten.” The fan spoke into the microphone clipped to Toni’s shirt.
Ugh. He’d seen his first show when he was ten? That made Logan feel old. But thirty-two wasn’t so old, was it?
Not if he had a say in the matter.
Logan was glad to see that not much of Toni’s considerable bosom was actually showing. Her shirt was buttoned around the camera so that the lens protruded from her cleavage, but those perfect breasts of his, of hers, were out of view. He suddenly had a powerful need to stir her up a little.
He leaned close to her ear and whispered, “I think you should keep that camera rolling while I fuck you later.”
Her face reddened as he knew it would, but she whispered, “I think all the jiggling would make anyone who watched it motion sick.”
He chuckled. Okay, yes, he liked that he had been her first and that he was her only lover, but he liked her quick wit even more. He loved how she’d get all embarrassed but still said things he didn’t think would ever come out of her mouth.
“So whose idea was the cleavage cam?” he asked.
“Mine. It’s impossible to get anyone’s attention when Max is around.”
“Tell me about it,” Logan grumbled.
“So I figured if they wouldn’t talk to me, maybe they’d talk to my boobs. Okay, who’s next?” she called out.
Logan leaned toward her chest. “I’m Logan Schmidt, and I’ve been a fan of Toni’s boobs for almost a day now.”
She laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t tease.”
“Who’s teasing? They’re amazing.” He moved his mouth close to her ear. “I can’t wait to squeeze them together around my cock and fuck them until I come all over your chest.”
“Oh! So that’s how a guy fucks tits,” she blurted loudly. Very loudly.
Everyone within earshot burst out laughing. She stood perfectly still for a long moment. Logan feared she’d need CPR if she didn’t take a breath soon. He didn’t know CPR, but he was definitely ready for some more mouth-to-mouth with her.
“Everyone knows that,” she announced after an uncomfortably long minute and laughed. And laughed. And laughed some more until Logan decided she was on the verge of hysteria.
He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “Come on, sweetie,” he said. “Let’s take a little break outside. You look like you need some fresh air.” She looked like she needed a psychiatric evaluation, but there was no way he was stupid enough to say that.
Toni swallowed hard and nodded vigorously. Holding her hand securely in his, Logan led her to the back of the stadium near where the buses were parked. He lifted her to sit on a loading dock and stood in front of her knees, waiting for her to say something.
“I’m so sorry I’m stupid about this stuff,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
“I’m not embarrassed,” he assured her. He was smitten by her. He even thought she looked beautiful under the orange glare of the streetlights.
She smiled softly and shook her head. “You don’t have to lie to save my feelings, Logan. I’m a big girl.”
“I’m not lying.” He lifted her hand from her lap and kissed her wrist. “I wish I could fast-forward time a couple of hours so the show would be over and I could teach you more about making love,” he said. And you can teach me how to love someone.
She wrapped her arms around his head and hugged him to her abdomen. “Why are you so nice to me?”
His chuckle was muffled against her belly. “I have ulterior motives.”
“Such as?”
“Making you mine.” Shit. Why had he said that? He was showing his cards much too soon.
She slapped his shoulder. “Don’t say it if you don’t mean it.”
He wished he could say he didn’t mean it. He didn’t particularly want to be so far gone. Ah, what the fuck—he liked her. A lot. She was just going to have to learn to live with it. If he could admit it, surely she could accept it.
“I mean it, Toni.” He untangled his head from her grasp so he could look up at her. “I really do like you. And it isn’t just lust.” For once in his dick-led life. “I can’t stop thinking about you. Even when you’re not in my bed, you’re in my head. It’s driving me crazy. I’m not sure how to handle it.”
She smiled, and he saw her feelings displayed clearly in her eyes. “You’re going to break my heart someday.” She released a sigh and stared over his head as she spoke. “I really like you too, Logan. But maybe it’s best if we pretend the only thing between us is lust. If I fall for you . . .” She shook her head and closed her eyes.
“You don’t trust me with your heart.”
“Should I?”
He wanted to say she should, wanted to say that he’d never hurt her, but he, more than anyone, was aware of his track record with women.
“That’s something you’ll have to decide on your own.”
She gnawed on her lip and nodded. “I do trust you with my body,” she said. “That’s a start, isn’t it?”
“A perfect start.” For something he hoped never had to end.
Not sure why his train of thought was making his heart thud harder than it did when he dove out of perfectly good airplanes, Logan lifted Toni from her perch on the loading dock and set her on her feet. Perhaps being alone with this woman wasn’t the best idea. She made him say things and feel things that he just wasn’t ready to face.
“I better get back to the meet and greet,” he said. “Do you want to go back with me?”
She sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly.
“I think I’ll go hide out in Reagan’s dressing room for a little while, if that’s okay,” she said after a moment.
Logan shrugged. “It’s not my dressing room; you’ll have to ask her.” He tilted his head toward her, deciding she looked a little pale. “Are you feeling okay?”
“I think I’m bewildered,” she said, and huffed out a laugh. “But I’m pretty sure it’s from being alone with you.”
“I’d apologize, but I’m not the least bit sorry that I have that effect on you.”
She laughed and grabbed his T-shirt in both hands, tugging him close. “If you really want to make my head spin, you should try kissing me.”
“That sounds dangerous,” he said, folding her in his embrace and pulling her body against his. He wasn’t satisfied until she moved her arms around to his back and there wasn’t an inch of space between them. Even then, he wished they were skin on skin.
“I’m sure this much dizziness is dangerous,” she said as she relaxed against him, her full breasts pressing into his chest. “But I’m willing to hazard the vertigo.”
“I do love a risk taker,” he murmured.
He claimed her mouth in a heated kiss, doing his best to make the earth move topsy-turvy beneath her feet. His world hadn’t been steady since the moment she’d try to rip his arm off by enthusiastically shaking his hand. But he’d always liked a little mayhem in his world.
Twelve
Logan liked her.
Lost in thought, Toni stumbled against a wall on her way to seek sanctuary in Reagan’s dressing room. Toni wanted to have faith in Logan’s words, but something inside her just couldn’t believe that gorgeous, rich, famous, and charming specimen of a man would want anything permanent to do with an unworldly, unexciting, and chubby specimen of a woman. She understood that he must have a thing for virgins and that for some reason he’d latched on to the idea that being the first to conquer her pussy meant he could stick his flag in it and claim it as his, but his feeling of conquest would wear off eventually. She was sure of it. She was terrified of letting herself feel too much for him. She had to work with these guys for four weeks, and if Logan ripped her heart out, would she be able to continue to immerse herself in his world?
This was why she never should have gotten involved with him in the first place. She could try to excuse her behavior by claiming it was her inexperience that had made her fall into the sack with him so quickly, but that was a lie. She knew exactly what she’d been doing. It had been a not-so-momentary lapse of judgment that on a personal level she embraced. On a professional level, however, she wanted to kick herself in the ass.
She should be following the band around right now, interviewing fans, getting inside the backstage scene, but she was utterly overwhelmed by the chaos. She was a solitary creature by nature; she hadn’t a clue how the band members and crew dealt with this insanity day after day. Night after night. Dare had somehow mastered being alone in a crowd, but the rest of the band were constantly on. It was exhausting to watch, much less being caught up in the whirlwind. Maybe hanging around with Reagan in her dressing room for a few minutes before the show started would allow Toni to collect her thoughts.
Toni wondered why Reagan had been conspicuously absent for the entire meet and greet. The guitarist didn’t seem the reclusive type. Maybe because she was a temporary band member, she didn’t feel part of the group. She hadn’t ridden on the bus with the guys the night before and had only been with them when required by obligation. Was it because she wasn’t welcome? Or because she didn’t want to be with them? Toni’s journalistic senses were tingling. Something seemed off about the newest member of the band.
Steve stepped out into the corridor and nearly careened into her. He grabbed her shoulders to steady her, and she smiled up at him in gratitude.
“Where’s your Siamese twin?” he asked.
“Huh?”
“Logan. The man who’s been bodily attached to you since you boarded his bus.”
The two of them weren’t that bad, were they? “I think he’s at the meet and greet.” Toni glanced behind her. She couldn’t see the area where everyone had congregated, but the din of conversation and laughter traveled the length of the corridor.
“Without you?”
She turned back toward him and lifted her eyebrows. “Is that a problem?”
Steve shook his head. “Nope. Just surprised he trusts Dare not to scoop you up when he’s not paying attention. Catch you later.”
Dare? Before she could ask what he meant, Steve and his long legs had already traversed half the hallway. He even managed to twirl a drumstick in one hand while walking.
Shrugging to herself, Toni bypassed the dressing room that Steve had just exited and paused outside Reagan’s door. She knocked and waited.
“Occupied!” Reagan called from within the confines of the room.
“Very occupied,” a deeper voice said. Toni was pretty sure the voice wasn’t Trey’s. Was Reagan’s sexy bodyguard inside with her? Toni leaned closer to the door, listening, trying to let the sounds of the milling crowd down the hall fade into the background.
Someone touched her back, and she jerked away from the door, her face flushed with embarrassment. She’d been caught snooping.
She turned slowly, one eye closed as she forced her gaze up a pair of long legs encased in leather, up a stark white T-shirt and a strong neck to a familiar handsome face surrounding a pair of striking emerald-green eyes. Dare. Did he know his brother’s woman was cheating with another man? And how had Steve known Dare would show up when she was alone? She wondered if she should be worried or intrigued.
“Oh, hey, Dare,” she gushed. She pushed her glasses up her nose with the back of her wrist. “I was just hoping to interview Reagan for the book, but I think she’s busy.”
He grinned crookedly. “She’s always busy with Trey.”
Trey. Yeah, we’ll go with that. Reagan is busy with Trey. And maybe it was Trey in the room with Reagan. He had been with her the last time Toni had seen her, but she definitely didn’t remember his voice sounding so baritone.
“You don’t like crowds either, do you?” Dare asked. His green eyes softened when he smiled. “Now that Steve’s out of the dressing room, I think it’s empty. Would you like to get away for a few moments?”
He stepped over to the band’s dressing room and opened the door. “Anyone in here?”
“I’m almost dressed,” a woman said from inside.
“Why don’t you like crowds?” Toni asked Dare as they waited for the woman to put on her shoes and leave.
“Don’t know,” he said with a shrug. “I just like my interactions with others to be more intimate.”
Even with the swollen nose, he was still easily the best– looking man she’d ever stood in a hallway with. Which reminded her . . . “I’m really sorry that Logan hit you on account of me. I guess I shouldn’t have hugged you like that.”
He grinned. “He’s being a complete ass. Guess you bring that out in him. But I’ll get him straightened out for you.”
“What’s that mean?”
Green-eyed gaze boring into hers, he licked the corner of his mouth, and she felt suddenly light-headed and dizzy. Holy father of hot men.
“Nothing,” he said. “How about that interview? I seem to be currently unoccupied.”
“Now?” she blurted. She didn’t have the mental capacity of a gnat at the moment, and her list of questions was on the bus, so she wouldn’t even be able to fake her intelligence.
“If you’d rather wait . . .” He waved a hand. “I just thought we could both get away from the crowd for a moment and get to know each other better.”
She really should be working. And she supposed getting to know Dare Mills was working. She loved this job. “I guess I can ask a few warm-up questions.”
The corner of his mouth twitched upward. “Good.”
Why was he looking at her like that? As though he was touching every inch of her body in his thoughts. And why did she have the sudden urge to peel her panties off? She wasn’t sure if being alone with him was the best idea. He wouldn’t try anything, would he? And if he did, would she have the backbone to turn him down? Surely she wasn’t that despicable. She liked Logan way too much to mess up their growing relationship by fooling around with Dare.
As if Dare could possibly be interested in her. Right.
Yet she couldn’t help but dwell on what Steve had said right before he’d walked away.
The gorgeous woman who’d been Steve’s pre-show entertainment passed through the door that Dare was holding open with one masculine hand. She paused and wrapped both arms around Dare’s midsection, giving him a tight hug. He half-heartedly hugged her back with his free arm.
“I don’t suppose you’re interested in sloppy seconds,” she said, just loud enough for Toni to hear.
“Not at all,” he said.
“Is Logan around?” she asked.
Toni stiffened.
“I think he’s hanging in the commons.”
“I love it when you guys come to town,” the black-haired beauty said. “I will get into your pants one day, Dare Mills.”
“Not tonight. I have company.” He lifted an eyebrow in Toni’s direction.
Toni’s heart produced a thud so hard, she jumped. What did he mean by that?
The woman slipped her arms from Dare’s waist and turned to give Toni the twice over. She obviously didn’t think much of her competition. “Hmm,” she said. “Interesting choice.”
She sauntered off, probably in search of Logan, whom she apparently believed was fair game. Toni wasn’t sure if she had the right to be jealous. She and Logan had openly admitted to liking each other, but neither of them had committed to anything. One thing was for sure: if he messed around with another woman, Toni wouldn’t be sharing his bed again. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared after the woman. Logan wouldn’t sleep with her, would he? Toni honestly couldn’t say she knew for a certainty.
“You have nothing to worry about,” Dare said and held his free hand out to the open door to beckon her inside. “You’re much more interesting than she is.”
Dare entered the room behind her and while she was glancing around for the best place to conduct their interview, she heard the unmistakable click of Dare locking the door behind them.
Thirteen
Logan decided that Toni had been interviewing Reagan for far too long. He didn’t want to get in the way of her work, but he couldn’t help but want to be with her. There was something about her that made him notice her. And when she was missing? He couldn’t seem to notice anything else. He stretched to his tiptoes and scanned the room, looking over the tops of heads for one very specific one. How could she not be done with her interview? What the hell could possibly be so interesting about Reagan?
Logan went still when his gaze landed on their sassy little guitarist. Reagan was standing against the wall chatting very animatedly with Steve and the same woman who’d tried to talk Logan into joining her in the dressing room not ten minutes ago. When he’d refused, the brunette decided to hang out with Steve. Logan really didn’t want to have to interact with the pushy woman again, but if Reagan was back from the interview, then Toni should be as well.
Attempting nonchalance, Logan approached Reagan and waited for her to look at him before asking, “So how did the interview with Toni go? Should we be worried about all the terrible things you said about us?” If pretending indifference didn’t work, he was all about demanding to know where Toni was and when Reagan had last seen her. He didn’t care if the knowing smirk on Steve’s face spread from here to Nebraska.
Reagan’s slim brows drew together over her grayish-blue eyes. “What interview? She took a shower in my dressing room a couple of hours ago, but we didn’t talk much. I wouldn’t call it an interview.”
Logan’s stomach dropped. “She said she was going to your dressing room to interview you about twenty minutes ago.”
Reagan grinned. “I bet she was the one who knocked when I was busy with, uh, my makeup. I haven’t seen her.”
“I saw her down by the dressing room¸” Steve said, his smirk at least halfway to Colorado at this point.
“That nerdy girl?” asked the dark-haired beauty who was plastered to Steve’s side. “With the glasses?”
Logan didn’t particularly appreciate such a lackluster description of the woman who had him completely out of his head, but he nodded.
“She was with Dare. They were headed into the dressing room for a little alone time.”
Logan’s heart dropped to join his stomach in his shoes. Another scan of the room told him exactly what he feared: the other conspicuous absence in the room was Dare. And Dare was on a mission to get back at him for hitting him in the nose. Sweet, sweet Toni didn’t stand a chance against the guy’s libido if he set his sights on her. And if the guitarist was seducing the innocent young woman that Logan had taken advantage of the night before—as well as most of today—Dare was about to suffer injuries a lot more severe than a bloody nose.
Fourteen
Toni turned to face Dare, a little thrill of panic spiking though her heart. He smiled reassuringly, but she didn’t feel reassured. She wasn’t accustomed to being locked in rooms with men she scarcely knew.
“Why did you lock the door?” she asked.
“So we wouldn’t be bothered.”
“I’d feel better if it wasn’t locked.” She didn’t really think Dare was the type of man who would harm a woman, but she wasn’t the first woman to think that about a deranged lunatic, a serial killer, or a throat-slitting rapist.
He didn’t unlock the door, but instead crossed the room to pour a drink. “Would you like something?”
“I’d like to unlock the door.”
He filled a lowball glass with amber whiskey and set the bottle aside. “If it makes you that uncomfortable to be alone with me, please unlock it. I didn’t mean to alarm you. I just figured Logan will interrupt us before we even get started and you’ll never get any work done.”
She wasn’t exactly alarmed. She felt no malice from the mysterious guitarist. She just thought it was weird that he’d lock the door in the first place. She studied him. She was starting to think Dare’s behavior had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Logan. “Why would Logan interrupt?”
The door handle jiggled and there was a loud knock on the door.
“Right on cue,” Dare said, one corner of his mouth lifting sardonically. “He’s entirely predictable.”
“Toni?” Logan called from the corridor. “Open this goddamned door.” The jiggling became incessant rattling. The knocking became pounding. “Toni!”
“Should I open it? He sounds mad.” Toni said.
“Of course he’s mad. He thinks I’m fucking you. That’s because he never uses his head and always jumps to conclusions. Then he acts on his false impulses and punches people in the nose.” Dare pointed to his swollen face. “Case in point.”
“Toni!”
Toni frowned at him. “So you lured me in here to get back at Logan?”
“Maybe,” Dare said, taking a swig from the tumbler in his hand.
“Toni, please,” Logan cried, sounding desperate now.
“He punishes himself. It’s not like I’m a big enough ass to actually make a move on the woman of one of my friends,” Dare said. He sat casually in a club chair, crossed his long legs at the ankle, and took another sip of his drink. “But I am enough of an ass to make him believe that I would. He’ll think twice before sucker punching me in the face again.”
“I’m going to let him in,” Toni said. She understood that Dare was pissed at Logan. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to teach Logan a lesson, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Logan thinking she’d toss her skirt up at the first sign of interest from an attractive man. Oh wait, she had done that. With Logan. He knew firsthand that she was capable of unleashing her inner slut.
Toni unlocked the door with trembling fingers and it flew inward, almost banging her in the face. Logan looked from Toni, fully clothed and obviously not violated, to Dare, who was sitting across the room completely apathetic and looking rather bored.
“What’s going on in here?” Logan demanded.
“She was going to interview me for the book when you so rudely interrupted,” Dare said.
“Is that so?” Logan said, his eyes narrowed.
Toni nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. What did you think was going on?”
“I thought,” he said. “I thought . . .” He looked down at Toni and swallowed hard. “Ah hell,” he grumbled and stormed off, slamming the door behind him.
“You sure you want to deal with that?” Dare said. “The guy runs on instinct. He doesn’t know how to be rational.”
And that was half his allure.
“I’m sure,” she said as she flung open the door to go after him. She glanced toward the common area, but saw no sign of him. She looked in the opposite direction, toward the exit, and caught a brief glimpse of blue T-shirt turning the corner. Her boot heels clicked on the tiles as she raced down the hall after him. She caught up with him only because he had to wait for a roadie pushing a giant black case before he could get through a door.
“Logan.”
He didn’t even glance at her. “Can you let me feel like an idiot in private?”
“No. I think you should face your idiocy in front of me.”
He scowled, and then his face softened and he laughed.
“It could have been worse,” she said. “Dare could have punched you in the nose.”
“I’d have preferred that and he knows it.”
“We weren’t doing anything.”
“So why did he make sure Steve’s chick saw you together? And why did you lock the door?”
“He locked it. Apparently, so you’d think we were doing something. I was about to unlock the door when you started banging on it. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable being alone with him in a locked room.”
“So he was going to try something on you. I’ll fucking punch him in his other nose.”
He swung around, but Toni pushed both hands against his chest. “First off, he only has one nose. And secondly, I don’t think he was going to try anything. I wasn’t sure at first. I thought it was strange that he wanted the door locked, but he really was just passive-aggressively kicking your ass.”
Logan raked a hand through his hair, disheveling golden curls. “I’m sure he’s saving the real ass kicking for later.”
She couldn’t stand the fact that he was upset. “Logan, I know we haven’t known each other long—”
“Are you sure?” he interrupted, pushing her glasses up her nose for her. “It feels like I’ve known you forever.”
“I’m not the kind of woman who would sleep with you twice . . .” She paused. “Three times? Does a blow job count as sleeping with you?”
“Even if it was in your mouth, I came inside you,” he whispered into her ear. Her vaginal walls contracted to remind her of her current unfortunate emptiness. “It counts.”
The rising ridge against her lower belly told her that he was as affected by his whispered words as she was.
She continued with what she had to say before three sexual encounters became four. “I’m not the kind of woman who would sleep with you three times and then have sex with some other guy in the same day. Who does that?”
He chuckled. “You’d be surprised. A lot of women behave differently around famous people. Especially if that famous person is the lead guitarist of Exodus End.”
“I’m not like that,” she insisted.
“Toni, you don’t have to explain yourself. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
She looked into his eyes and tried to keep her wits about her. Not an easy task with those baby blues wreaking havoc on her thoughts. “I know. I just . . .” She sucked in a deep breath. “This is going to sound ridiculous and naïve and probably a little desperate, but I need you to know that as long as I’m in your bed, I will not allow another man touch me. No man. Not even Dare Mills.”
“Not even if I talk Steve into having a threesome with us?”
Her jaw dropped, and Logan chuckled. He hugged her against him again and rubbed her back soothingly.
“I’m just trying to get a rise out of you, lamb,” he said. “I won’t even ask him, because I know he’ll say yes.” His body shook against hers as he laughed.
“People don’t really do that kind of thing, do they?” she said, her gaze darting from one uninterested passerby to another. “Not really.”
“Some do.”
She couldn’t even figure out the logistics of that. Did the men take turns? Or use different orifices? Her head was spinning at the very idea. “Have you done it?”
“Maybe.”
“You have!” She pushed away from him and stared up at him with wide eyes.
“More often with two women than a woman and another man, but yeah, I have. More than once.”
Holy shit!
Toni buried her face in his neck. What kind of man had she gotten herself tangled up with? A worldly one. So how could she possibly keep his interest if things like threesomes and fucking women’s tits and getting blow jobs were common occurrences for him? She didn’t know how to do any of that stuff. Well she did have a bit of experience with blow jobs now. But she was sure her single attempt had been less than exciting for him. He’d had to tell her what to do, for fuck’s sake.
“I’m sorry if that disgusts you,” he whispered in her ear. “We don’t have to do anything as wild as that.”
“I’m not disgusted,” she assured him. “I just feel so . . . so, well . . . so virginal!”
“You’re not virginal—we took care of that last night, remember? You’re just inexperienced.”
That didn’t make her feel better. She needed to educate herself about these things. Maybe it was time for an internet search with the adult filter off.
“Toni?” he said after a moment.
“Yeah.”
“What you said about not letting a man touch you?”
“I meant it,” she said, tugging away so she could look into his eyes again.
“Yeah, I believe you. I just . . . I want to promise the same to you.”
She almost choked on the happiness welling in her chest. “Really?”
“Yeah. I promise not to let any men touch me.”
She snapped her mouth shut as her happiness burst into despair. He was making fun of her? She’d meant that pledge from the bottom of her heart.
“But I need to be honest with you,” he said.
She wasn’t sure she wanted him to be honest with her.
“I’ve never been good at monogamy. Probably because I’ve never had anyone expect it from me.”
She wanted him to be faithful to her, but she was too afraid to press the issue. She wasn’t prepared to lose him entirely. They hadn’t forged a strong enough bond to declare themselves in a committed relationship. She knew that much.
Logan stared down at her as if challenging her to demand his fidelity. Was it because he wanted an excuse to dump her or because he wanted someone to draw a line he may or may not cross?
“Hey, Logan!” one of the roadies called to him. “Mad Dog has been looking for you.”
“I’ll be right there,” Logan said. He glanced down at Toni. “Do you want to meet a legend?”
Toni slipped a hand into her pocket and silenced her phone. “Maybe later. I need to go back to the bus for something.”
“Will it require you to be naked?”
Toni shook her head at him. “Is that all you think about?”
“Absolutely.”
Twenty minutes later, Toni closed herself in the lounge area at the back of the tour bus and pulled her vibrating cellphone out of her pocket. It had been ringing nonstop the entire time she’d made her way through the backstage area of the arena to the bus. She knew it was her mother; no one else would call her over and over again. Text her repeatedly? Sure. But not call. And there was no way she was talking to her mother in front of Logan or backstage at a metal concert. Her mother could be overprotective—stifling even—but Toni didn’t want her to go into cardiac arrest with worry. And Toni couldn’t help but wonder if there was an emergency involving her sister.
