“I may have had an accomplice,” he admitted, taking a bite of the chicken finger he had just dipped in duck sauce.
“Oh?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry.” He apologized with one of his smiles that sent his dimples winking at me. “I can’t give away all my secrets.”
I laughed. It could only have been one of two people, Kelly or Avery. I certainly couldn’t get mad at either of them; after all, they were just looking out for me. They weren’t making this keep away from Evan thing any easier though.
We were quiet while we ate, but it wasn’t awkward. It felt comfortable. My bare feet were tucked under me, leaning my body toward him and he sat back like he belonged here. His hair was hidden under a backwards Red Sox hat, while his body was covered completely in a baggy hooded sweatshirt and well- worn jeans. It didn’t matter what he wore, though, the man was gorgeous. I stopped mid-chew when his baby blues turned and caught me staring at him. He just winked and went back to his food.
“So, you traveled all the way here just to have dinner with me?” I questioned. It seemed too good to be true.
“Well, no,” he confessed, setting his plate down and turning to me.
I felt my stomach clench and my eyes narrowed at him. I knew it. He thought he was going to get in my pants. Boy, did he have another thing coming to him. What the hell had I been thinking, beginning to soften to him? He was just like the rest of them.
“I figured we could get a little make-out time in here at the office. Then, I would follow you home to make sure you got there safely. After that, I’ll head back.”
“What?” I stammered.
“I told you before, and I will tell you as many times as you need to hear it,” he said quietly, brushing his fingertips down my arm. “We will take this slow.”
“You keep saying that,” I snapped, “but all I hear is that you have the patience of a saint until you go back out on tour. Then, I’ll just be another pretty face.”
“Damn it, Julie!” he roared. “I mean what I say, how the hell can I get that through to you! Do you want the guys to take pictures and videos of me when we get back out there, so you can keep tabs on me? Do you want to GPS my phone so you can track me? I’m a man that is true to my word.”
I was taken back. I had never heard or seen Evan act like that before. He was always so soft-spoken and happy-go-lucky. His face was red and he pulled his hat off to run his fingers through his hair, only to slam it back down. Letting his head fall into his hands, he took some long deep breaths in and out to calm himself.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, sometime later. “You seem to be one of two people that can cause me to lose my shit.”
“Good to know, especially considering you are one of the few men that can seem to get under my skin.”
His eyes came up and met mine. They were calm again and the smile he always had was back. I returned his with one of my own. He wasn’t like the others, yet I still couldn’t bring myself to trust him completely. I couldn’t even understand how Avery did it; hell, she knew Cooper better than I knew Evan. Knew he had been with plenty of women while he had been on the road without her for years.
“I want to try this,” Evan let me know, shifting so that his hip was against my knees and putting an arm around the back of the couch. “We have too much chemistry not to.”
“I’m not going to argue the fact that the sex was good,” I told him, causing him to raise an eyebrow and smirk. “Okay, it was the best I’ve ever had, but that isn’t all a relationship is about.”
“Fully aware, boss lady,” he agreed. “That’s why I said we would take this slow. We will get to know each other better. It’s not like we are complete strangers.”
It was true. We had known each other for the better part of a year and we had already had sex. Wonderful, mind-blowing sex that had my body heating and my nipples perking beneath my off-white cotton three-quarter length V-neck sweater that I had paired with my brown dress pants that morning. Evan’s gaze dropped down and his lips curved when he saw my body responding. Licking them and moving his eyes back up, I noticed that they had turned a darker shade of blue.
“Evan,” I warned, putting a hand out to rest on his chest as he moved toward me.
“Slow,” he repeated.
His free hand came around to cup my cheek just as his lips met mine. It was tender. The sweetness of it all made me sigh and he again used the opportunity to slide his tongue into my mouth and against mine. None of it was rushed and despite my hand fisting in his sweatshirt, Evan didn’t change the pace. He stroked and twirled his tongue in ways that left me wondering how it would feel against my clit, or moving in and out of me. My panties started to dampen and my core throbbed at the thought. Moving slowly, so he didn’t stop me, I wrapped my arms around his neck and slid to straddle him. Our mouths never parted.
Evan’s hands moved to my hips while I got comfortable and then slid tantalizingly around to cup my ass gently. The kissing continued to be steady and unrushed, though the rest of our body parts were begging for more. I felt his erection through the light cotton of my pants and I rocked against him, using the same pace that he had set with our mouths. His hands flexed against my butt and shifted to help with the motion reminiscent of an old rocking chair.
I felt the orgasm building. There was no way that I was going to come like some horny teenager. I wanted him inside me. I wanted to squeeze him with my inner walls as I rode him. I braced myself and tried to ward off the feeling. Evan’s hands gripped my ass a little tighter, and with a slight shift to his hips, he started pushing against me as he brought me down harder.
“Evan!” I cried against his lips, fighting the urge.
“Let go, baby,” he whispered against my lips. “Just let go.”
So I did. Grabbing his shoulders, I threw my head back and let it out. It was so strong that I could feel the muscles in my legs shaking as Evan continued to thrust his hips up to push his erection against my clit. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I brought my head forward and immediately tucked it against his neck, wrapping my arms around him tightly. I was mortified. Only unexperienced women who didn’t know how to control their bodies did what I just did.
Now, I had to figure out how to get off him and get him out of here without looking him in the face. He was more than happy to hold me; I’m not even sure how long we sat like that. The only thing I noticed was the room had started to get darker, and the couple lamps that were on began to cast shadows onto the walls. When I felt his hands making their way toward my face, I bit down on his shoulder to keep him from moving it.
“Ouch.” He chuckled. “Let me look at you.”
“Why?” I snapped, letting him cradle my face and looking into his eyes.
They weren’t judging or pitying. They were warm and sparkling as always, though darker with what I assumed was lust, since his erection kept dancing against my core, looking for its own release. I felt my cheeks grow warm with embarrassment and I dropped my eyes.
“Hey,” he coaxed, dipping his head to try to keep our eyes connected. “You haven’t been with a lot of men, have you?”
“No,” I mumbled, only answering because he didn’t ask to judge, but to understand.
“Julie,” he pleaded, the tone causing me to snap my head up. “We will do this slow. I promise.”
“What the hell are you doing?” I heard Cooper ask, breaking me from my trance.
“Huh?”
“You’re about ready to pour coffee into your cereal, dude,” he said with a chuckle.
Shaking my head, I looked down. Sure enough, I was about to pour my whole coffee mug into my bowl rather than the milk sitting in the jug in front of me. Sighing, I put down my cup and reached for the milk instead.
“You’ve got it bad,” he commented, sitting down across from me, sipping from his coffee.
“I’m not sure if I’ve got it bad, or if the case of blue balls I have is affecting my brain,” I muttered.
&
nbsp; “What was that?” he asked, perking up with a smile.
“Nothing,” I replied, shaking my head.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Avery greeted as she entered. “Are you all ready for today?”
“I am,” I admitted, leaning over to wrap my arm around her waist and pull her to my side. God love the woman who could change the subject just when I needed her to.
She laughed, leaning over to kiss the top of my head, and wiggled away before Coop could wrangle her from my arms into his lap. I chuckled at her squeal and his scowling face. While I would miss the two of them when I did move into my own place, it would be nice to let them have their alone time. Today was the day we finally got started on the footers for my house. The groundwork had already been done.
Everything seemed to be expedited, and had my head spinning. Paperwork had been signed left and right, plans drafted and changed and drafted again. Grind had been in and out, and it was all on schedule to be completed by the time we returned from our tour in December. The entire band would be as active in the build as we could be until we left in just a few short weeks. Now, I just had to convince a certain someone to oversee it all while we were gone.
“Wakey, wakey!” Rick boomed as he came banging through the kitchen door. “Time to get to work.”
I laughed when Cooper flinched at his brother’s chipper attitude, and almost doubled over when he swatted at him when Rick grabbed Avery around the waist and planted a loud smacking kiss on her lips. Cooper muttered something about not needing a younger brother as he got up to pull his wife into his arms, resting his hands on her still flat stomach.
“You would miss me,” Rick informed him as he helped himself to a cup of coffee and nodded at me. “You ready, man?”
“To supervise,” I joked, finishing my breakfast. “These hands are my life.”
“They are for all of us, you jackass,” Cooper argued.
“Yeah, but I make the best sound,” I retorted with a smirk, getting up to put my bowl in the sink.
“That may be the case, but you couldn’t sound like you do without me,” came Matt’s voice from the doorway.
Our banter with Rick had drowned out the noises of Chris and Matt tromping into the house. Both of them had been staying with their families ever since Coop and Ave had tied the knot; neither of them could bring themselves to purchase anything in Maine yet. The battle of Matt and I had been a never-ending one, a long-standing joke.
“Maybe so, but I’m the better-looking one,” I reminded him, flashing a smile.
“Says the guy that had to jerk himself off this morning,” Matt shot back.
“And you didn’t?” I retorted with a snicker.
The sound of a feminine clearing of the throat behind Chris had us all turning toward the kitchen door. Julie stood there with a faint smile; she was fighting the full-blown version, and was dressed professional as always. She wore a black blazer over a bright pink top, black dress pants, and bright pink heels. Her hair was bunched into a tight bun at the back of her head that had my hands itching to pull it down and run my fingers through it. Those brown pools that immediately had my dick pushing against my jeans, were sparkling with a hint of mirth. Slowly, she was starting to loosen up with us.
“Are you ready, Avery?” she asked, gesturing outside with a tip of her head.
“Gosh, yes,” Ave replied, pushing away from her husband after giving him a quick kiss. “Get me away from all of this testosterone.”
“I’m hurt.” I feigned chest pain, placing my hand over my heart.
“Oh, stop it,” she teased, putting her hand on my stomach and going up on tiptoes to kiss my cheek, earning a growl from Coop. “Have fun today.”
“She loves me more, man,” I shot at my friend, moving to try to get my hands on Julie before she left.
“Freeze, Foster,” she stated, putting the hand out that wasn’t holding her keys. “I have a meeting with a potential client and I don’t want you to wrinkle me.”
I stopped and had to keep my mouth from dropping open. Her lips were slightly tipped at the corners and there was a definite teasing tone to her voice. The guys behind me all snickered and let out oohhhs behind me. Her cheeks flushed pink with the calls, but she held her ground. I flashed her the grin with the dimples and saw her breath hitch.
“Let’s go.” She motioned to Avery, who had grabbed her work bag and met her at the door, and was still holding her hand out to keep me at bay.
“Bye, ladies,” Rick chirped, stepping in front of me.
The women left and surprisingly enough, the guys didn’t start in on me. As soon as we had heard Julie’s car start, Rick had whipped out the floor plans and laid them on the kitchen table. We all gathered around and discussed the changes that had been made. I was opting for a simple Cape, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a mudroom to connect the house with a three-bay garage. It wasn’t much different from Cooper and Avery’s—the master bedroom and bath would be downstairs, and the other bath and two bedrooms would be upstairs. It would also have a gorgeous farmers porch.
The smile never left my face as we rolled them back up and all made our way outside to a couple of the trucks. Piling in, we made the short trek to my piece of property. Every time I stepped foot on it and looked toward Coop’s place, I felt like I was home. It wasn’t a feeling that came easy to me, given my childhood. Even our place in Nashville never really felt like “home.” Yet, this little piece of property, the fifteen acres I had been given, was doing it before the structure was even on it.
“So, how are things going with Julie?” Chris finally asked as Rick and Coop worked to make sure everything was level before we started setting the footers.
“Just fine,” I replied nonchalantly. I didn’t want to give away anything. They didn’t need to know that she was fairly innocent in the bedroom, though our first night together had been no indicator.
“Bullshit!” Coop hollered from his position in the hole. “What was that you were muttering about blue balls this morning?”
All eyes turned on me. I was going to fucking kill him. I knew how to get myself out of this mess, and they wouldn’t second guess me, but it wouldn’t sit well with Julie if she heard about it. Shaking my head, I got up and looked down at him. His face showed no signs of remorse; instead, it held a shit-eating grin. Payback was a bitch.
“You know how it is, Coop,” I reminded him. “Going from all those women to just one. Especially since I told her we would go slow. Just taking the boys a little time to adjust, that’s all.”
His face was priceless. The other guys laughed like hyenas and I couldn’t help but grin myself. He had become mute about his sex life since he and Avery had gotten back together. Other than the fact that we had often heard them and saw him groping her more times than we could count, we knew nothing. My little comment was a quick jab that let him know I wouldn’t be any different with boss lady. I wouldn’t be sharing her with anyone.
I couldn’t say that I was as reserved in the bedroom as Julie; however, I certainly hadn’t been as much of a dog on the road as some of my bandmates. I’d had a few relationships and those were the women that had shared my bed, not the groupies that hung out after the shows.
Now, I still had to convince her that I would be loyal once I got on the road. While she had seemed to relax a little since our encounter in her office earlier on in the week, she hadn’t been answering my text messages or calls. Whether it was embarrassment or fear of getting attached, I wasn’t sure.
It looked like the time leading up to our leaving on tour would be full of interesting things. Between the house and Julie, I was going to have my hands full. For the first time in my life, I was finding my own way and I wasn’t looking forward to going back on the road. I had a feeling I knew exactly how Coop now felt when he had to leave Avery. It was time to get my life in order.
This man. What was it about him that caused me to go against everything I had ever believed in? Independent. That’s
how I had been raised. My parents had instilled in me from an early age that I could do anything and everything for myself. I didn’t need a man. Maybe that’s why it had been so easy with Ryan; he hadn’t done anything for me. Evan, on the other hand, wanted to do everything for me, dote on me.
And yet, here I was, driving to Maine again. Thank God my car got great gas mileage because the two-and-a-half-hour drive was becoming as common a drive as the one to the home office. I took a deep breath and forced myself to relax into my seat as I watched the tail lights of the truck in front me. I had to remind myself this trip wasn’t for work, it was personal. The guys would be leaving tomorrow and, after a rather long battle with myself, I realized I couldn’t let the night go by without seeing him. The uncertainty of what would happen once I saw him gnawed at me, but for once in my life, I was going to go with the flow. There would be no planning, no guarantees.
Unfortunately, because I had fought with myself for so long, the sun had started to set as I had hit the road. It was already nearing ten o’clock and I was beyond mad for waiting as long as I did. I had texted Avery to let her know I was coming, but told her not to tell Evan. She assured me that he would be happy to see me. She also let me know she would leave the front door unlocked, and not to worry about her and Coop because they would be locked away in their room, enjoying their last night together for a while.
When I pulled in to the long drive, I let out a shaky breath. Nerves were starting to set in, but there was no turning back now. The house was dark as I approached, only a small light on what I assumed was the stove casting a glow in the kitchen window. I stopped my car behind Evan’s truck and killed the ignition. Putting a hand on my belly to try to calm the butterflies, I inhaled and exhaled a few times. This was it. All or nothing.
Before I could question anything else, I grabbed my overnight bag and climbed out. Quietly, I opened the door and locked it when I shut it behind me. There was soft music playing from somewhere in the house. Making my way through the house and to the stairs, I started my way up. A light burned at the top, showing me the way, and I was surprised to find Evan’s door open. He was nowhere to be seen when I poked my head in though. The lamp on his bedside table was on, and I could see a pair of jeans and a tank top thrown on the end of the bed. I put my bag down and grabbed my phone.
The Unknown (The Comeback Series Bonus Book Book 2) Page 5