Take Me Home (The Heartbreak Brothers 1)

“I can make better eggs than him.”

“I have no doubt of that.”

He traced her spine, his fingers slow and lingering. “So there’s nothing standing between us.”

She shivered at his touch. “There’s a small matter of two thousand miles between your home and mine. And the fact that Ashleigh would throw a fit.”

“Why didn’t you tell her about us?” he asked her.

Maddie swallowed. He was so close she could feel every part of him against her. “Because I don’t want to deal with the fall out.”

He blinked. “You don’t think this is worth it?”

“Of course it’s worth it,” she told him quickly. “That’s not what I meant. But you’re only here for a few more weeks and then you’ll be back in L.A. I’d rather keep it between us while it lasts.”

He dipped his head until his eyes were in line with hers. “You think this ends when I leave?”

“Won’t it?” she asked, a little breathless. “Because I can’t see how a long distance relationship will work.”

“You’ll come see me, I’ll come see you. In between we’ll have hot cyber sex to keep us going.” He smiled. “The usual.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It is.”

“And when people find out about us, and they start to wonder why a star like you wants to be with somebody like me?”

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Look at us. You’re you and I’m… not.”

“You’re doing it again. Not seeing yourself the way I do.”

“I’m being honest. You must have a PR company representing you. And probably image consultants. They’d advise you against this. Tell you to find somebody more your level. One of those other singers you’ve had a relationship with.”

His fingers feathered her neck. “I don’t want one of those other singers. I want you.” His voice was thick. “I want to take you out in public, show people how goddamned lucky I am. I want us to be together, Maddie. And I don’t give a damn what anybody else thinks.”

“You’re lucky. I care too much.”

“Why?” He looked genuinely confused.

“Because I know what it’s like to be talked about. To have gossip whispered behind my back while people laugh at me. It hurts, Gray. Cuts like a knife. I don’t want to give anybody that kind of ammunition again.”

“So that’s it? We end this when I leave?”

Her heart clenched. The thought of not seeing him again made everything ache. “No,” she whispered. “I don’t want that.”

He blew out a mouthful of air. “Thank god. Because I couldn’t let you do that.” He tipped her chin up with his fingers, and pressed his lips against hers. “So where do we go from here?”

She thread her fingers through his thick hair and pressed herself against him, feeling the hardness of his excitement against her stomach. “I’ve got a few ideas,” she whispered throatily. “But we may need to keep it quiet.”

He slid his hands down her back and grabbed her ass. Then he kissed her hot and hard. “I can do quiet,” he whispered. “If you really insist.”

Chapter Twenty

Gray was enjoying repairing the roof about as much as he’d liked replacing the pipes in the house. It wasn’t the time it took, nor the physical effort he had to expend each day to remove the old shingles and nail new ones in their place. It was just so damn tedious. His hands ached with the repetitive nature of the task, pushing a crowbar under each broken shingle and maneuvering at it until it finally came free, then replacing it with a fresh row, making sure it lined up perfectly so no rain could seep through.

His mind was elsewhere today. Too caught up thinking about the song he’d started writing last night. Second Chances. He was stuck on the bridge that linked the verse to the chorus, and he kept humming combinations that could work.