Tempting (Inked Hearts 1)

Shit. I shake my head and move into the kitchen. "What did you tell Mal?"

"About what?" She takes a step towards me.

"Where you were going tonight? He wouldn't go out unless he knew you had appropriate plans."

She arches a brow. "Appropriate plans?"

"Yeah?"

"Right, because a young woman needs to act like a lady."

It's cute that she's objecting like this. "You're a nice girl."

"How do you know?"

"I know."

She gets halfway into rolling her eyes and stops. Her hands go to her jacket, my leather jacket. She exaggerates sliding it off her shoulders as she pushes her chest forward. "Should I keep my coat on too? Nice girls don't show off their cleavage, do they?"

"Up to you."

She takes off the coat and hangs it on the hook by the door. She turns back towards me, her eyes passing over the loft apartment—it's a nice place with sleek furniture and a hell of a view—before they land on mine. She wears all her frustration in her expressive blue eyes.

I'm sure she gets enough of the over-protective thing from Mal and Ethan, but that's too bad. The band is a family—I owe them my fucking life. For all intents and purposes, Piper is my baby sister too.

Her expression gets intense as she holds my eyes. "The woman who was blowing you, did blow you, how did that go?"

"We stopped."

"Which of you decided that?"

Me, but I'm not sharing that information. I don't need to give her any ideas about the two of us being more than friends. "None of your business."

Piper tugs at her low-cut pink dress. "She was wearing the same dress. It's part of the new BCBG Spring collection. It's all the hotness."

Can't say I pay much attention to women's fashion, any fashion for that matter. I've been wearing the same thing—jeans, button up shirt, motorcycle boots, leather jacket—since forever.

I guess the groupie chick was also wearing a pink dress. It didn't look the same on her. It played up her fake hair, her fake eyelashes, her candy colored makeup. She might as well have had cheap groupie tattooed on her forehead with the way she pawed at my arm and purred Oh my God, Kit Lockhart like my name turned her on more than anything else about me.

"Kit?" Piper's voice pulls me back.

"Yeah?"

"You're giving me a weird look."

Fuck, I am. Piper might be right about the dress, but she looks like a kid wearing her older sister's slutty clothes. Her medium brown hair is hanging straight over her shoulders. Her makeup is silver sparkles and pink lip gloss.

Don't get me wrong. Piper is a pretty girl. She has gorgeous, expressive blue eyes, long legs, and very appealing curves. She's not busting with t&a, but what she's got is nice.

In an innocent kid kind of way.

If it was any other woman, I'd want to corrupt her. With Piper, I want to protect her.

Which means I need to stop staring. "You hungry?"

"I could eat."

I move to the kitchen and show her my selection. This is the best kitchen money can buy—stainless steel appliances, fancy island, premium pots and pans—but I rarely use it for anything besides heating up prepared meals. There's a handful of them in the fridge and a host of canned shit in the pantry.