Jay’s voice had dropped into the crackle zone, his hips shifted, his eyelids lowered over pupils gone wide, eating the color of his eyes. Evie barely moved her hand. She was going to need to use her mouth, or Jay’s pre-cum, or stop and fish out her hand cream to get a glide going. Before she could do any of that there was knock at the door.
They both stilled.
The knock came again. “Anyone in there?” The handle turned but the door stayed closed. “Aw, hello. What’s going on in there?”
Evie stifled her laugh in Jay’s chest, a heartbeat later he started laughing quietly too, his body shaking.
“Quit fucking around, Dan. I need my phone. It’s on the counter.”
She shook her head when Jay pulled away and reached for the phone. They were going to lose this moment.
“Look, I wouldn’t bother you if it wasn’t urgent, but this is Jay freaking Endicott’s tour and I’m supposed to have my phone on me at all times and we fucked up the sound check and I don’t want to get sacked.”
The guy was going to get a shock when Jay freaking Endicott handed him his phone, but Jay probably didn’t need half the tour knowing he was fucking around in an equipment room during technical rehearsals gone bad. Evie took the phone from him and unlocked the door, opening it just enough to pass the handset out.
A hand grazed hers, took the phone and the man said, “Shit, sorry, Dan. Rock on.”
She leaned on the door to close it. Jay had zipped himself up but he was smiling, sitting on a workbench. “Jay Freaking Endicott. That could’ve been worse,” he said. “At least we made Dan a legend.”
“It could’ve been better.” She settled herself between his knees, looping her arms over his shoulders.
“The instant you took my hand I felt better.” He brushed the back of his knuckles over her cheek. “You and me. We’re not done when this leg of the tour is.”
“I don’t know how we’re going to be together again, but we need to work it out.”
“We’ll work it out together.”
He looked so pleased with himself. “You’re just angling for a kiss.”
He slapped both palms down on her arse and jerked her body up against his. “I’d better get one soon.”
Well not now, when he just about breathed expectation. Tonight, when he got back, she’d lavish him with kisses, so sweet and hot and full of longing and love he’d float through the next day’s rehearsals.
It was a good plan that went sideways. Jay stumbled into bed around 3 a.m., whispering apologies for waking her. He was asleep, his arm gone heavy over her hip in seconds and he was gone before she woke for the second morning. At this rate, he wasn’t going to get kissed before he went on stage. She lay in his big hotel bed, staring at the ceiling
and considered the merits of crashing the official pre-tour dinner he had that night, stealing him away early.
She went to see Teela instead. Unpacking their Vietnamese food, she said, “I wrote a song,” just blurted it out as she opened the lid on the curry puffs.
“How long has it been since you wrote a song?” Teela said, the container of fish cakes in her hand.
“A whole generation ago. Evie 1.0.”
“How did it feel?”
Like an out-of-body experience. “Amazing. Came from a part of me I didn’t know was still there.”
Teela nibbled a fish cake. “What does it mean that you’re writing again?”
Evie bit the corner of a curry puff and felt the rush of steam on her lips. “Not a lot. It’s a long way from lyrics scribbled on the back of an envelope to recording something people want to listen to.”
“I didn’t realize you knew what an envelope was.”
“I know what an envelope is. I’ve used a stamp.” She bit into the puff. “Once maybe.”
“But you’re in the biz. You could make it happen.”
“It’d still be a long shot.” More of a long shot than getting back with Jay.