She flushed. “I guess by that definition, I have a Steve fetish.”
“I won’t argue that logic.”
She splashed water at him, and he wrapped a hand around her ankle to tug her closer.
“What do you want to do tomorrow?” he asked.
“Besides sex?”
“We don’t have to have sex at all,” he said.
She begged to differ. “Isn’t that the entire reason you brought me here?”
“No. It’s some of the reason,” he said, “I can’t deny that. But I want to be near you and get to know you better.”
“You’ve already sealed the deal, babe. You don’t have to say things like that to get into my pants.”
“But it’s true. Sex with you is the best I’ve ever had.”
She snorted. Sure . . .
“But I could have sealed the deal without going to these lengths.”
She wished she could say he was full of himself, but she’d never been good at lying. “So why did you go to all this trouble?”
“Easy. To make you fall in love with me.”
Her breath caught. “Why would you want that?”
“Because I’m ready to be in love.”
“But I’m not,” she said without conviction.
“Then I have more work to do.” He smiled and lifted a wet hand to her cheek.
When he kissed her, she decided he didn’t have much work to do at all, but for Baroquen’s sake, she had to fight her developing feelings.
Twenty
Steve missed her already. The entire plane trip back to Los Angeles, Zach blathered on about how much fun he’d had jamming with Azura and Sage that weekend, and how Raven had dressed him up goth and taken him to some club, where Iona had let her guard down and turned out to be pretty cool to hang with. Steve was glad Zach was his typical talkative self and didn’t require much reciprocal conversation, because he doubted he could string a complete sentence together.
“Sorry your weekend didn’t turn out better,” Zach said as they collected their luggage from beneath the plane.
“It was perfect,” he said, the ache of longing in his chest spreading. God, he’d forgotten how much he hated that awful feeling of separation.
Zach scowled. “Really? She didn’t even kiss you goodbye.”
“We’ve decided to keep our relationship entirely secret until after the tour ends.” And he would try to do exactly that for her sake, but he was already miserable. How could he possibly endure three months, pretending he wasn’t completely in love with the woman?
“That doesn’t sound like you,” Zach said.
Steve shrugged. He didn’t want to talk about it, but he could tell by the understanding look on Zach’s face that he did. “I have to go,” Steve said. “Max called a meeting.”
“I thought that was tomorrow.”
It was. They had to wait for Logan to make it back from Dick Island.
“Yeah, but—”
“Yeah, but you’re in a funk because you can’t see your new girlfriend. I get it. And I don’t want to go home because I’m pretty sure Enrique is going to break up with me.”
“What? Why?” Steve latched on to his friend’s romantic problem because he didn’t want to dwell on his own any longer.
“He was pissed that I spent the weekend in Boston instead of with him.”
“That was my fault, not yours.”
“I am capable of booking a commercial flight.”
“So why didn’t you?”
“I guess I’m tired of the secrecy. Of feeling like I’m not worth much to him if he won’t even claim me as his.”
Steve slapped him on the back. He was in a similar situation, but for a different reason. “If he kicks you out, you can always stay with me.”
“Give up the luxurious mansion to stay in that tiny shack you call a house?”
“Hey!” Steve happened to love his Venice Beach shack. And so did Zach. Zach always said he’d rent the place if Steve ever wanted to move someplace bigger.
“People will talk about us.”
Steve snorted. “Like they don’t already do that.”
“So do you want to go hang out at the Brig?”
“At two o’clock in the afternoon?” It had been four days since he’d last had any alcohol. He licked his lips, suddenly parched. “Yep.”
An hour later he was deep into his third whiskey sour, surrounded by familiar faces, noisy conversation, and loud music, when he got the sudden urge to call Roux. He wasn’t supposed to call her. It had been one of their rules, but fully sober Steve had agreed to that bargain. Buzzed Steve thought their deal was probably the stupidest thing ever.
She answered after several rings. “What’s wrong?” She sounded breathless.
“You’re not here.”
“Where are you?”
“Some bar near my house. How soon can you get here?”
“I’m rehearsing. I’ll be rehearsing all week. I asked you not to call me unless it was an emergency.”
“This is an emergency. I miss you.”
Zach sniggered. Four or five of their bar buddies, who’d joined them at their regular table, burst into fits of laughter. Perhaps Steve should have taken the call outside.
“I miss you too, but I have to work. Please don’t call me unless it’s a real emergency.”
“But I can text you, though, right?”
“I need this time to prepare for the show, Steve. You promised you’d give me space.”
He had. But he hadn’t realized how hard being without her would be and how quickly he’d need to see her again. “I’ll try to control my impulses.” Which was never going to happen when he’d been drinking.
“It was good to hear your voice,” she said.
He smiled.
“But I don’t want to hear it again for a week.”
He frowned. There had to be some way he could get her to break her stupid rules.
“I’m hanging up. I still more than like you.”
A fluttery feeling filled his chest. “I more than like you too.”
When he hung up, he noticed that his typically noisy companions were completely silent and gawking at him.
“Steve has a woman?” Mike’s eyes were wide as he glanced at Zach and back at Steve. “I thought you two . . .”
Zach rolled his eyes. “Have you been reading the tabloids, dude?”
“I thought it was odd, because Steve is usually surrounded by more pussy than he can handle.”
“I can handle it,” Steve claimed, downing the remains of adult beverage number three.
“But maybe that’s just a cover for the truth,” Mike added.
“You hang out with us all the time,” Zach said. “Do you honestly think we’re more than friends?”
“I knew that story was complete bullshit,” Matt said. “And the one about you and that pretty boy actor, what’s his name?” He looked to Mike to fill in the blank.
“Enrique something or other.”
Zach dropped his drink. “Fuck.”