Pen let go of their arms and ran up the stairs of the bus with all of us hot on her heels.
“Okay, now that you’re all together, I have big news to share with you. What would you say if I told you, you’ve just been offered to do an international tour with Crimson Heat as…”
My heart nearly pumped out of my chest as I listened to each of her words. Time slowed down as I waited to hear what else she had to say.
“The headlining band.” Pen jumped up and down in place and clapped her hands.
The rest of us just stood there in stunned silence, not believing the words that just came out of her mouth.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Cross yelled before he picked Penelope up and twirled her around.
Kenton got in on the action as well. They held Pen up and made small circles in our little home away from home. With each spin, Pen’s eyes locked with mine. There was nothing I wanted more than to hold her in my arms and kiss her. Instead, all I could do was smile at my bandmates, friends, and the woman I loved.
Yeah, I loved her. I thought I was already halfway there when she ended things, but once she curled up against me and cried in my lap, I knew I loved her. Which was something I was keeping to myself for the time being. I didn’t want to rock the boat and make Pen second guess what was going on between us. I knew if I told her right then and there, she wouldn’t believe me, but soon I’d tell her. There was no way in hell I could keep my feelings contained any longer. The second we were alone, I was going to tell Pen I loved her.
“I fucking love this woman,” Kenton crowed, saying to the bus and the world what I wanted to say. I knew his feelings were strictly platonic, but still, it ate away at me that I couldn’t even show these three guys how I felt about her.
They put Pen down on her feet, and she stumbled dizzily into my arms. She braced her hands on my chest and smiled up at me. The look she was giving me had me second-guessing if she had indeed been dizzy or not. I had a feeling she just wanted to be in my arms. Pen patted my chest, right over my heart. Her eyes closed for a moment, and then she was spinning around and smiling at all of us.
“Give us all the details, woman. When? Where? For how long?” Kenton rushed out.
“How much are we making?”
“I don’t have all the details yet, but I should have an email soon with all the locations, dates, venues, and more. But so far, this is what I know.”
For the next ten minutes, Pen filled us in on everything she learned while she was talking on the phone out in the hall. By the end, the four of us were about to jump out of our skin with excitement. You could feel a crackle in the air. We couldn’t be contained.
“Alright, I’m going to check to see how long it will take us to get to your next city. You guys need to go out and celebrate. Otherwise, you’ll probably tear down the bus with all of your energy.”
She wasn’t wrong. It looked like it was taking everything in Kenton to not be bouncing off the walls.
Pen stood, pulled out her phone, and walked to the back of the bus as she tried to figure out what she should do with us.
After a minute, I feigned the need to use the restroom and followed her to the back of the bus. I closed the curtains at the bunks so no one could see that I didn’t go inside the bathroom. I found Pen sitting on the bed, looking down at her phone, her brows pinched.
I leaned against the door frame, taking her in. “Hey, pretty lady. How’s it going?”
Her head popped up, and she laughed. “Is that your pickup line? Because if that’s the case, you need to work on it. You’ll never get a girl with a line like that.”
I hummed as I stalked closer to her. “I don’t need lines. See, I got the girl that I wanted without one and I don’t plan to ever let her go. So lame or not, I think I’m good.”
“That you are Mr. Pierce. I do have to say if you had tried using something lame like that on me, it wouldn’t have worked for you. In fact, it might have hindered your chances even more.”
Placing my hand over my heart, I gasped at her in mock horror. “You wound me with your words.”
“Doubtful. You’re pretty cocky.” She looked back down at her phone screen.
I palmed said cock and wiggled my eyebrows at her. “You know how cocky I really am. Do I live up to the hype?”
“You more than live up to it. That’s why I’ve been spreading rumors of your small dick at every show, so the women will stay away from you.” She rolled her lips to keep from laughing.
Tilting my head back, I laughed, knowing she was fucking with me. I knew Pen didn’t like even the thought of seeing women hitting on me, but I knew she’d never stoop so low as to put down my dick.
Pen looked in the direction of where I’d left the guys and held her hand out for me. In one stride, I had her smooth hand in mind. “Are you happy?”
“I can count the number of times I’ve been happier on one hand, so yeah,” I answered her, kissing her.
“And what times would those be?” She asked breathily.
“The night you touched yourself in my room, the first time you let me inside your slick heat, the day we signed our contract, and the day you took me back. Well, that day is numero uno. At least for now.”
“You think there will be others that trump today?” Pen pulled me closer until I was standing between her legs. Her hands ran up the outside of my thighs before her fingers hooked into the loops on my jeans.
“Oh, I know there will, and they’ll all involve you,” I confessed. I was picturing the day I asked her to marry me, and the day we got married, the world knew she was mine.
“Do you plan to keep me around after you’re big and famous?”
“My sweet, sweet Penny. I’m going to keep you around for as long as I live. You just wait and see.” I leaned down and nipped her bottom lip. “Pen, I l— “
“Yo, get your ass out here, man,” Cross shouted.
Pen let out a shakily laugh. “Until later. Let’s go. I want to talk to you all about what we can do tonight.”
I pulled her up and pressed my body into her letting her feel how much I wanted her. “As long as I can be with you, I don’t care what we do.”
“Well,” she laughed. “I have a feeling the rest of the guys won’t feel the same way.”
“That’s because they’re a bunch of assholes.” I nipped at her bottom lip and then sucked on it before pulling away, knowing that at any moment, we would be interrupted if we didn’t get out there.
“That’s not true. They’re just not sleeping with me.”
“And that’s a damn good thing. Otherwise, I’d have to kill them. Hell, I fantasize about it every time I see them look at you with anything not akin to how they’d look at their sister.”
“Alright, Mr. Alpha. Cool your jets.” Lifting up on her toes, Pen placed the softest of kisses on my desperate lips. “Congratulations, Walker. I’m so happy for you.”
Fuck, I was done for. Pen was made for me. Here she was getting us an international tour and congratulating us when it should have been the other way around.
“Alright, boys,” Pen said as she made her way through the curtain. “Unfortunately, our next city is eight hours away. We were planning on heading there right away, but I think you need a night to celebrate. So, what do you say we stay here tonight? You can go out, and I’ll try to find a hotel with a vacancy big enough for the staff.”