Page 18
Author: Olivia Cunning
Trey winced. “I guess. ”
The thing was Ethan didn’t regret getting violent with those criminals. Not at all.
Trey touched his knee. “Do you miss it?”
Ethan shrugged. “Sometimes. I have too much of a temper to be any good at it. I enjoyed protecting the innocent and hurting those who hurt them, but that’s not what the job is really about. ”
“So now you guard… beef?”
Ethan scowled. “Uh. Yeah. ”
“Good morning,” Reagan said in a sleepy voice behind them. “I need coffee. ”
Ethan shouldn’t have looked at her. She’d put on her panties and a T-shirt, so most of her was covered, but the messy hair, blurry eyes, and the sexy smile she gifted Trey were too much for him to handle.
Trey wrapped an arm around her narrow waist and directed her to stand between his legs with her back against the counter. He drew her against his chest, embracing her with easy affection. Ethan couldn’t decide what he wanted more at that moment, to be the person wrapped in Trey’s strong arms or the man holding Reagan. How could he want both of them? And be jealous of both of them? This was a total mind fuck.
“You can share my coffee,” Trey murmured against her cheek.
She leaned back and accepted Trey’s cup. She took a sip and pulled a face of disgust. “This isn’t coffee. It’s syrup. How much sugar did you put in this?”
“Enough,” he said and took his cup back to take a sip.
“I’ll get you a cup,” Ethan said and rose to make Reagan’s coffee. He knew how she liked it. One sugar and a splash of milk.
“You’re such a good roommate,” she murmured, relaxing against Trey again. He seemed to be holding her up. “When do you have to get on the plane?” Reagan asked. Her hands tightened, clenching his shirt.
“A few hours. When’s the limo supposed to be here?”
She glanced at the clock on the wall in the living room. “Fuck,” she murmured. “In twenty minutes. ” She clung to him, pressing her face against his shoulder. “Do you think the band will mind if I show up like this?”
“I’d say they wouldn’t mind at all,” Trey said, “but if you want them to concentrate on their music instead of your gorgeous ass, you might want to put on some clothes. ”
Ethan extended her cup of coffee toward her. She gave Trey a leisurely kiss, her hands messing up his bed-hair even more, and then reluctantly drew away and took her cup of coffee. “I guess I’ll shower. Maybe try wearing a little makeup today. ”
She moved away from Trey and sipped her coffee on her way back into her bedroom.
“Are you leaving on a trip?” Ethan asked Trey, not knowing if he wanted him to stay or go.
“Yeah, I’m still on tour. Just came back for one night. Brian’s wife had a baby yesterday. We have a show tonight. ”
“He’s going to perform in a concert the day after his wife had a baby?”
“We scheduled our tour dates so he’d have a week off when the baby was born, but Malcolm decided he wanted to come out two weeks early. ”
“So you’ll be gone for two weeks?” Ethan wondered how mopey Reagan would be during that time. She obviously liked this guy. She wasn’t going to like being away from him for two weeks so early in their relationship.
“Yep. Then we have a week off. Then we’re going back out on tour with Exodus End. ” He grinned. “And Reagan. ”
“And me,” Ethan added.
“I guess that’s right. Should be fun. ” Trey’s ornery grin did strange things to everything in Ethan’s boxer briefs. He wasn’t sure “fun” was the right word. Torture might be more appropriate.
Chapter 10
Reagan almost swallowed her tongue when Harold showed her into the kitchen and she found Dare slicing fruit on the dark, granite countertop of the kitchen island. He was shirtless. His hair wet from a recent shower. Beard stubble recently trimmed. His expression dreamy and contemplative. Dare Mills. Yum-to-the-um.
Dare glanced up from his task and smiled at her in welcome. “There you are. I never got your number yesterday so I couldn’t call and let you know that today is a no go. ”
Reagan’s heart sank. “A no go?”
“Max went to Vegas with Logan to blow off some steam. Steve took off to the wilderness somewhere, and I have sudden plans to go to Hawaii. I’m leaving tonight. ”
Reagan’s excitement waned. How was she supposed to get ready to go on tour with them if she didn’t practice with them?
“He has a girlfriend there,” Trey said.
“I haven’t seen her in a while. ”
Trey slipped onto a barstool, picked up slices of strawberries with his fingers, and popped them into his mouth. “You could have called me, Dare. I would have relayed the message. ”
Dare just kept right on slicing a peach as his little brother helped himself. “I tried to call you. It kept going to voice mail. ”
“I probably need to charge my phone. ”
“So I had an idea,” Dare said to Reagan. “You wouldn’t learn much you don’t already know by hanging out here in the studio for two weeks without the band. Have you ever been on tour?”
“Not really,” she admitted. “All of Bait-n-Switch’s gigs were local. ”
“Why don’t you go with Trey and hang out with Sinners for a couple of weeks? Learn what goes on behind the scenes. ”
“Besides the beer and pussy?” Trey said, helping himself to slices of Dare’s peach now.
Reagan whipped her head around to glare at him.
He chuckled. “Kidding. ”
“Sure,” Dare said with a grin as he rinsed an apple in the sink situated in the center of his kitchen island. He started to cut the apple into thin slices on a cutting board. “Trey gets all the beer and pussy he wants, whenever he wants it. ”
Reagan scowled. “I bet he does. ”
Trey grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to stand between his legs with her back to the counter. “Yours is the only pussy I want. I will take a beer though. ”
Dare snorted. “That’s another reason you should go on tour with him, Reagan. To keep an eye on him. I think his record for celibacy is about twelve hours. ”
“I’ve gone a few days without,” Trey said.
“A few days?” Reagan bellowed.
“How many more tour dates does Sinners have?” Dare asked.
“Eight shows in the next fourteen days. Then a week of rehearsal for the new show with you guys, and then back on the road again for… I don’t remember. A long fucking time. ”
“So that means fourteen days without sex. ” Dare laughed. “He won’t make it, Reagan. ”
“Don’t worry. I am perfectly capable of jerking off for a couple of weeks,” Trey assured her. He took a slice of strawberry and used it to trace her lips. The very idea of him with his hands on some other woman, his cock inside some other woman, another woman watching him come, had her seething.
“I think Dare has a great idea. If I go on tour with you and Sinners, I won’t be so anxious when I start out with Exodus End. ”
Trey fed her the slice of strawberry. “Well, if you want to go, I don’t see why you can’t. All the other guys have brought a woman on tour with Sinners in the past. About time I took advantage of that privilege. ”
“And you can help me practice my music, too,” she said, really warming up to the idea now. “And maybe Brian can help me work on my triplets. ”
“I’m sure he’d be happy to. ”
“Really?” she said, wrapping her arms around Trey’s neck. “He’s such an amazing guitarist!”
Dare cleared his throat.
“You all are amazing guitarists,” she hurriedly rectified.
“We’re all amazing guitarists,” Trey amended.
Reagan smiled. “Right. We’re all amazing guitarists. ”
“If you’re coming along, you better go get packed. Brian’s supposed to be here in an hour to fly back to Oklahoma City to meet up with the bus for tonight’s show in Topeka. ” Trey smiled sweetly. “I wonder how his little one is doing. ”
“He called this morning and said Myrna was checking out of the hospital. I think she and the baby are coming out to the airstrip to see him off. ”
“Aw,” Reagan said. “I’ll get to see baby Sinclair?”
“If you hurry. ” Trey patted her butt. “We’ve got to make it in time for the show tonight. Have the limo run you home. ”
“What do I bring?”
He leaned back to look her over. “A box of condoms and some energy drinks. ”
She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him.
“Just pack as if you’re going on a two-week vacation. I don’t know what you need to bring. Chick stuff. ”
“Don’t bother bringing your guitar,” Dare said, slicing a pear now. “You can grab one of Max’s from the practice room. ”
She pecked Trey on the lips. “I’ll be right back,” she promised and raced toward the front door to find the limo before she regained her senses and changed her mind.
***
As soon as Reagan was out of earshot, Trey picked up a peach and threw it at Dare. It stuck to the center of his bare chest.
“What the fuck, Dare? Why did you put me on the spot like that?”
“I knew you were too stupid to think of it on your own. ” He peeled the piece of fruit off his chest and popped it in his mouth.
“Are you even going to Hawaii?”
“No. I broke up with Cassidy weeks ago. The rest was true though. Max and Logan went to Vegas as soon as Steve took off into the wilderness. Can’t blame Steve for heading out. You know what he’s like. He needs trees. ”
“And you’re going to just stick around here by yourself?”
“I’ll probably do a little entertaining. ” He grinned. “Or be a little entertained. So how did things go with Reagan last night?”
Trey checked over his shoulder to make sure she hadn’t returned unexpectedly. “She’s phenomenal. ”
“Yeah. I thought you’d like her. Is she okay with your bisexual side?”
“She doesn’t know. And I’m not going to tell her. I’m giving up men. ”
Dare shook his head at him. “Right, Trey. Good plan,” he said sarcastically.
“Her ex is bisexual. She caught him cheating on her with a man. She’s not very open to that kind of thing. ”
“Hmm,” Dare said, munching on a slice of apple, his green eyes reflective. “You should dump her now then. She’ll just wind up hurt when you put your snake in a dark tunnel. ”
Trey threw another slice of peach at his idiot brother. “I won’t be putting my snake in any dark tunnel. Unless it’s hers. I want this to work between us. I want a normal relationship. Last night was amazing. I want to keep that going. ”
“Trey, you can’t deny what you are. You need to find a woman who accepts that part of you as part of the package. You’ll never be happy if you give up men entirely. I know you won’t. ”
“Just butt out. Okay? Let me do this my way. ”
Dare sighed and reached for a pineapple. He hacked off the top with more force than necessary before grabbing some fancy gadget that trimmed it into a neat, hollow cylinder. “Just don’t chase her off, Trey. We need her for the tour. ”
“I’m not going to chase her off. I’m going to make her mine. ”
The doorbell rang. Trey’s heart thudded with excitement, and he stood up from the barstool. “I bet that’s Brian. ”
“Don’t wet yourself there, Trey. ”