Page 37 of Tempting-

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Her eyes go wide. "Really?"

"Backstage passes even."

"No fucking way." Her voice rises to a squeal. She claps her hands together. "You wouldn't tease me?"

Fuck yes. Lose the panties if you want to see how badly."Not about this."

"Em would kill me if I went without her."

"So go with her."

"But..." Kaylee turns to me. Her green eyes fix on mine. They fill with earnest affection. "You'd have to come. Or it would be too much fun. Really, Brendon. Who would complain the music is too generic?"

"Anyone with taste."

"Anyone who's a judgmental jerk?"

"And your comments onDie Hard?"

"I likeDie Hard. It's that third one where it gets iffy."

"Not that you get judgmental."

She laughs. "Never." Kaylee leans down to place her purse on the floor. There's no frustration in her eyes. She's just happy. "What was the couple's tattoo?"

"It wasn't. It was something for her. An in memoriam for her brother."

She makes thatawwsound. "That's sweet."

"It was."

"You do a lot of couple's tattoos?"

"A handful. Would you get one?"

"I don't know. That's a lot of commitment. One person, on your skin, forever. Would you?"

"If it was someone I couldn't get out of my head. Someone I needed under my skin." Someone like Kay. "Yeah. I don't see how I could avoid it."

Chapter Nine

BRENDON

Kaylee steps off the escalator and surveys the expansive room. "This is huge."

Her smile spreads a little wider. She turns back to the warehouse packed with fake rooms and apartments and takes another step down the glossy white-grey path.

Usually, I find this place depressing. Manufactured. Fake.

But the way Kay is trotting to the faux studio apartment on our left, running her fingers over the light wood bookshelf, crouching down to pick up the thick dictionaries on the bottom shelf...

Fuck, her joy does something to me.

Something I'm not used to.

She puts the dictionary away, pushes herself to her feet, and moves into the room.

The faux apartment suits her.

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