When I got back to my trailer, it felt hollow and cold. I sighed and tossed my keys on the kitchen counter, taking off my jacket. I looked around and felt no attachment to any of it. It was my place, filled with my things, but it didn’t feel like home. Oddly enough, Sloan’s place did, and I had a feeling it had more to do with the company than the house.
Tucker, the Panty Bandit, jumped on the bed, and I let him. No crate for him tonight. We were in this together. Why make him any more miserable than he had to be, stuck here, with me instead of with Sloan, sniffing around my laundry basket instead of hers?
I showered and was rubbing my hair with a towel when I heard tapping. Tucker hopped off the bed and ran for the door, scratching and whining. I looked at my watch. It was almost midnight, a little late for Ernie to be wandering the yard.
I jumped into some sweatpants and opened the door to Sloan standing outside, rubbing her arms in the cold. Tucker spilled out of the trailer and circled her happily, jumping on her.
“Um…maybe I should have called first?” she said, patting Tucker’s head and eyeing my bare chest. She bit her lip uncertainly and I broke into a grin.
“Get in here.”
She climbed the step and I pulled her to me.
“I…I just missed you,” she said, looking up at me shyly after I’d given her a proper kiss hello.
“You shouldn’t have let me leave,” I said. “I would have slept in the living room.”
“You would?”
“Oh yeah.”
I leaned down and kissed her again, standing there by the open door of the trailer. The kiss was a grateful one. She’d delivered herself to me like a gift.
“You’re staying the night, right?” I asked, beaming at her.
I wasn’t suggesting anything other than sleeping. If she didn’t usually kiss on the first date, we weren’t having sex on the third one, no matter how charming I might be. And I would never push her into it.
“Only if it’s just sleeping,” she said, eyeing me warily.
“Of course.”
“Will you put a shirt on?” She glanced at my chest.
I chuckled. “Yes.”
“And you promise to behave?”
“Absolutely.”
She smiled, looking relieved, and nodded. I would have agreed to any demand she made if it meant she’d stay. I would have slept on a floaty in the pool if that was what it would take.
I tore myself from her. “You want some water?”
“Sure.”
While I filled her glass, she wandered to the fridge and took down the tour itinerary I’d stuck there. “Is this your tour schedule?”
“Yeah.” This one was for my US dates. I hadn’t told her about the extra two months or the UK portion yet. Hitting her with, “By the way, I’m going to be gone for fourteen months” felt a little heavy for the first day of our official relationship.
She followed me into my room and sat on the edge of my bed and studied the printout while I dug in my drawer for a shirt. “Wow. Do you even get a day off?” She looked up at me. “These concert dates are so close together.”
Tucker pushed his face under her arm and she hugged him, watching me pull the tee over my head. She really watched me. Her eyes were nowhere near my face. I smiled. She was biting her lip and one of those blushes I loved was creeping up her neck.
I looked at her too. She wore a white tank top and some pink shorts. Her hair was in a messy braid. She looked like she’d been ready for bed before she came over. The tank top was low cut. Damn. I’d probably have to sleep with a pillow between us so I didn’t press anything unwanted against her. It was definitely gonna be a problem.
“Tours are hard work,” I said, taking the packet from her and dropping it onto the top of Tucker’s crate. I got under the covers and held up her side so she could join me. She scooted in and put her head on my chest. I reached over, turning off the lights, then hugged her closer.
It wasn’t close enough.
I put my nose to her hair and breathed in, and she slid a leg up over my thigh and snuggled in to me. I wondered if she could hear my heart pounding. She had to.
I cleared my throat. “‘You never close your eyes anymore—’”
She hit me and I laughed, kissing the top of her head.
Tucker settled at the end of the bed and I shut my eyes, feeling a sense of calm, like everything I needed was in one place at the same time.
Chapter 18
Sloan
♪ The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald | Jaxon Waters
Jason picked me up right at 4:45 to drive us to Kristen’s to attend her trial by fire. I was hoping he’d get stuck doing some Jaxon Waters thing and have to cancel, but no luck. I argued we should take separate cars so he could escape if he needed to, but he wouldn’t hear of it.
My eyelid was in a full-scale panic attack. The finger wasn’t enough to hold it in place. I needed my whole palm.
Jason looked over at me from behind the wheel of his truck and laughed. “Come on, she cannot be that bad.”
“Jason, there’s probably a clone of her guarding the gates of hell.”
The creasing at the corners of his eyes made me smile despite myself.
“I just never know what she’s going to do. She’s always scheming. And the baby’s at his grandmother’s house tonight, so who knows what she’s got planned.”
“Schemes, huh?” He chuckled.
“Yes, she loves messing with me. I can’t explain her, Jason. She’s too weird.”
When we knocked on the door to Kristen’s tan stucco house, I gave Jason one more I’m-so-sorry glance, and he winked at me.
Kristen threw the door open, grinning right past me at Jason like a lunatic. “You must be Jason!” She bumped into me theatrically and dove right in for a hug with my date.
I shook my head at her over his shoulder, and she gave me crazy eyes.
When he was released from her clutches, Jason handed her the flowers he’d brought, and she gushed, ushering us inside, where Josh waited like an accomplice, holding two beers.
Stuntman Mike bounced off Jason’s shins, and he crouched and petted him.
Kristen leaned over and whispered in my ear. “He does smell like flannel.”
“You promised me you’d behave,” I hissed.
“What? What did I do?” she said, blinking at me with feigned innocence.
Jason stood and took the beer he was offered, shaking Josh’s hand, introducing himself. Jason didn’t look the least bit uncomfortable. Maybe he was used to overzealous, grabby, slightly inappropriate fans?
“Hey,” Kristen whispered, nudging me in the ribs. “I told Josh to ask him if he can spell ‘chlamydia.’ If he can, he’s gonna throw him out.”
I blanched and she practically skipped across the room and hooked her arm in Jason’s. “Let me give you the tour.”
“I’m coming on the tour,” I announced.
“Nope. It’s a one-person tour. We’re all booked up.” She slapped the flowers to my chest. “Put these in water, will you? And, Josh, can you show Sloan to the kitchen, where there’s a potato salad that needs putting together? Thanks.”