Page 86 of Just Trouble

“You’re so good at that,” she says.

“At what?”

“At talking to people. At just owning the moment. You’re genuine and approachable, and so gracious. Don’t you get tired of fans approaching you?”

“They weren’t being intrusive. Most of the band’s fans are like that. And they’re the whole reason the band was a success.”

“It’s in your interest to indulge them?”

“More than that. It’s a small gesture. I don’t mind.”

“I like how you do it. They were nervous, but you put them at ease so quickly.” She smiles. “Like that interview you did withNoah. You spoke so fluidly, like you knew what to say. Do you rehearse ahead of time?”

“No, of course not,” I say but as soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize that she would. “It’s another way that we’re different, Daph. You plan.”

“And you just jump,” she says with a smile.

I pull her into my arms, loving this mutual admiration society, wanting her to smile again. “So, maybe I’ll take some tips from you and learn to think ahead a bit more.”

Daph catches her breath, her gaze falling to my mouth before she looks into my eyes again. “And I can be a little more impulsive,” she suggests, her voice husky. Before I can reply, she leans against me, sliding her hands up my chest and throat, into my hair, then pulling my mouth down to hers. She kisses me with a power that makes me dizzy, her tongue wicked and seductive, the taste and feel of her enough to dismiss everything from my world but her.

I break the kiss with an effort and ease her hair back from her cheek with a fingertip. “We still have to get home,” I remind her and her smile flashes.

“Your place or mine?”

“Yours,” I say because a motel is a motel and that’s not what I want with Daph. She nods and we climb on the bike, her arms wrapped around me and her heat against my back.

This is the good stuff.

And I still want more.

In fact, I realize as we approach Empire, I want it all. That’s new, but it’s still true.

That makes this more than a courtship: it’s a new adventure.

It’s fast this time,because Daph is a tigress. Once again, I’m seeing another side of her and I’m completely beguiled. We do it twice, barely making it to the bedroom for the first time, then again actually in the bed.

Then she rolls over to look at me, her hair a tangle and her cheeks flushed. “What’s it like?” she asks.

“What?” I’m stretched out beside her, wondering if a third time is in the cards. I slide my hand down the length of her, then leave it resting on the indent of her waist. I let my thumb trace circles against the softness of her stomach, having noticed how much she likes that.

She practically purrs.

“Having fangirls. Being the stuff of fantasies.” She pauses for a moment. “Man-candy.”

I snort. “I don’t think about it much.”

“You have to. All those women throwing their lingerie at you.”

Does she imagine that she’ll ever have any competition? If that’s her concern, I have to put it to rest.

“Okay, maybe I used to think about it. It meant I tried to stay fit, but on tour, that’s a given. Beyond that, it just was.” I shrug, then gives me a look. “You must attract your share of attention from guys.”

She winces. “When it’s based on looks alone, I don’t like it. I feel objectified, like a piece of meat.”

I get that. “But youlook,” I say. “I look. Everyone looks. It’s part of the mating process.”

“It shouldn’t be the sum of it, though.”

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