“Well, that went better than expected,” Ash says, settling onto a stool. The band circles me at the island and I suddenly feel like this large estate is too small for so many men.
Especially when one of them is so insanely attractive.
I need to lay down the law before things get out of hand. If the conversation I just had when I was alone with Ash is any indication, things between us could escalate very quickly.
I clear my throat. “She’s the reason you have to be—”
“On our best-behavior?” Synn asks, cutting me off. “No problem. We’re nicer than we look.” In his tank top, I see the two sleeves of tattoos more clearly, half-naked women and a menacing tiger swirl his biceps.
“It’s true,” Saint says. “We’re not here to fuck around. We’re here to get our shit straight and write some songs.”
Dusky leans on the kitchen island. “And Maryll will be expecting good report cards from all of us. She’ll set us up on tour dates in Antarctica if we don’t make good on our word.”
“Our word?” Synn snorts, that sneer I’d seen earlier back. “Isn’t it because of Asher we’ve been relegated to the middle of fucking nowhere in the first place?”
His words paint tension over the room, and I step back from the island not wanting to dig any deeper into these men’s lives. This is a business arrangement, nothing more.
“Look,” I say, wanting to take back a bit of control. “I’m taking my daughter to the park. Dinner’s in an hour.”
Ash looks over at me, those eyes so piercing it hurts to look at him straight on. “Is that when your husband gets home from work?” he asks.
“Husband?” I roll my eyes, refusing to let him in. “Like I said, you know nothing about me. Let’s keep it that way, shall we?”
I leave them in the house, my daughter’s hand tucked into mine as we walk down the sidewalk to the neighborhood park. Every day I meet Millie here after our kids get off the bus and have their after-school snacks. And I have a feeling that today my level of gossip is going to shock her. After all, an hour ago we were standing in my living room discussing my lack of a love life and tonight I have four men sleeping under my roof.
Gorgeous, intense, completely off-limits, men.
It wouldn’t be such a big deal if I didn’t already know that one of them was going to keep me up all night. There’s no way I’m letting the man in my bed, but I can already tell he is going to be in my dreams.
I just hope it doesn’t turn into a nightmare.
Chapter Four
Ash
It doesn’t matter how many times I do it - staying in a new place never gets any easier. And believe me, I’ve had plenty of experience. Living on the road six months of the year, five years straight should have taught me a few things about sleeping through the night in a new bed. But insomnia is a bitch and tonight it’s as strong as ever.
Knowing the gorgeous brunette is downstairs isn’t doing me any favors in the restless sleep department. I can’t get her out of my fucking mind ... and truth be told, I don’t want to.
There’s something about her that sparked something inside of me. It’s not exactly poetic, but it’s fierce - this feeling. And after rolling around the unfamiliar queen-sized bed for several hours, I decide to try my ma’s old trick. Otherwise, I’m going to feel like shit tomorrow when the guys want to get to work.
And we need to work. Hell, Maryll is already breathing fire down all our backs and we’ve only been at this bed-and-breakfast for half a day. But considering the shit we’ve been producing this past year I get it. The fans will only be forgiving for so long.
Grunting, I pull myself out of bed and grab my Moleskin journal and a ballpoint pen. In low slung sweats and a basic white t-shirt, I head down the steps toward the kitchen. Might as well put the night to good use and stroking my shaft for hours on end isn’t making me feel any better.
What I really want is Ember to slide into my bed, but hell, that woman has no interest in hooking up with me, even if her eyes say otherwise. She’s wound up so damn tight I have a feeling there’s only one way to release that tension. And considering she’s avoided me ever since returning from the park earlier this evening, it’s going to take a miracle to get close enough to make that happen.
So instead, I pour a mug of milk and put it in the microwave to warm up. Then I root around the cupboard until I find a jar of honey and add a few spoonfuls, sweetening it up just like my ma always did for me.
I carry it to the kitchen table and open my journal. The room is dim, lit only by a light over the oven. It’s well past midnight, inching toward two am, but I’m suddenly wired with nervous energy. I may travel a hell of a lot, but it’s been a long time since I’ve been to a home. And this place has definitely been made into one.
There are Cadence’s drawings hanging on the fridge, and photos of her at the beach, on a hiking trail, and in a dance recital tutu adorn the walls, all hung by Ember. Looking around, I feel a weight on my shoulders. It’s been too long since I’ve called my own mother.
It feels nearly impossible to talk to her right now. Since my indiscretions were splayed all over the media, every phone call we have is strained. And why wouldn’t it be? I fucked up.
Suddenly regret wells up inside me. My ma spent her life making my own as secure as possible, not unlike what Emery is doing with Cadence from the looks of this house. And how did I thank her? By a sex video leaking, for starters.
Sitting here, in this warm room, I feel inspired for the first time in a long ass while. Drinking my milk, song lyrics begin to wrap around my mind, and I find myself writing them out as quickly as they come.
Sweet child of mine, grown and gone,
Come back home before too long.
The light is on, the milk is warm,
The night is wild, let’s face the storm.
“Ash?”
I’m so lost in thought, Ember’s voice causes me to jerk upright.
“Sorry,” she says, moving closer. I look her over, tiny shorts and a thin tank top, her nipples poking right through, and my cock twitches at seeing so much of her skin, her curves, her petite frame. “I thought I heard something and couldn’t go back to sleep.”
“I didn’t mean to wake you. I just have a shit time sleeping.”
“Demons keep you up at night?” A smile plays at her lips and I lift my foot, kicking out a chair for her.
She sits down, and I’m glad she doesn’t resist. All evening as she sashayed around her kitchen, pulling out the casserole from the oven and tossing the salad, she seemed bent out of shape and annoyed. As if renting her house to a famous rock band is the inconvenience of her life. Except I still don’t think she has any idea who we actually are. And in a way, I’m glad.
“Not demons,” I say, smiling and setting down my pen, studying her. Her hair is down, cascading over her shoulders, and my fingers itch to get tangled in it. “More like fantasies.”
She stiffens at the word, but I see the way her cheeks fill with color, the way her breath hitches. The way she tries so damn hard to hide it from me.
I managed to find out a little about her through the kid. Not that I had to push Cadence to talk. Unlike her mom, she’s an open book. After dinner I’d sat on the covered porch with my guitar, and she’d danced around, telling me stories about the caterpillar in her classroom that would turn into a butterfly, the kid Ethan who’d cut a piece of her friend Emily’s hair, and her best friend Tabitha who’d lost both of her front teeth and now whistled when she spoke.
She also made it clear that her dad and mom hadn’t lived together in a long time. And from what I could gather, there hasn’t been another guy in her life since. I can respect that. My mom hadn’t allowed another man into our house after my father left. But I’d seen how lonely she’d been.
And hell if I don’t want to ease some of the loneliness I see in Ember’s eyes now.
But there’s also a part of me that knows I’ll just end up breaking
her heart. And the thought slays me. She’s different than the women I usually surround myself with. For one thing, she’s not throwing herself at me.
But she’s also a mom. And when we leave in three months, that’s the one thing that won’t change. I need to do as little damage as possible while I’m here. Which means keeping my hands and my cock to myself.
I rub the back of my neck and lean back in my chair, not sure when my moral compass decided to kick into gear. It’s never been a fucking problem in the past. But then I’m pretty sure I’ve never met anyone quite like Ember.
“You didn’t tell me the name of your band,” she says, pulling one knee up to her chest and studying me.
I raise a brow at her. “You didn’t google me?” Thank fuck for that. Pretty sure she would have second thoughts about letting us stay here if she had. Especially if she’d seen the video.
She shakes her head. “Have you written anything I might know?”
I chuckle at that. We’ve had two albums hit Platinum, and more than a dozen songs hit number one on the Billboard charts. But there’s something nice about her not knowing that.
“I don’t know.” I lean forward. “You look more like a country music kinda girl.”
She snorts. “Nope. Not at all.”
“So what kind of music do you listen to?”
“I can’t say I’m really up to date on music lately, so whatever’s on the radio. Taylor Swift, P!nk, Maroon 5, Absinthe—”
I have to cough to hide the laugh that builds in my throat.
“What?”
“Nothing.” I can’t help the smirk that tugs at my lips.
Her eyes narrow. “You think my taste in music is funny?”
“Nah. I’m a big Taylor Swift fan myself.”
“Now you’re just mocking me,” she says like she’s offended, but her smile tells me otherwise. The tension from earlier is gone. Her shoulders relax and I swear some of her walls start to come down.
“So tell me something else about you,” I say.
She shrugs and chews on her bottom lip. “I’m not very interesting.”
“I doubt that.” I have a feeling there’s a hell of a lot of layers behind the tough exterior she puts up, and I want to peel them all back. “Tell me something that would surprise me about yourself.”
Her cheeks turn pink, but she doesn’t look away. “I doubt anything I’ve ever done would surprise someone like you.”
I raise a brow. “Someone like me, huh?”
“You know what I mean.”
I sling an arm over the back of the chair and grin at her. “Nope. Why don’t you enlighten me.”
She rolls her eyes. “It’s pretty obvious you’re not exactly a boy scout.”
I chuckle. “Never claimed to be.”
“So you admit you’re trouble.”
I lean closer, the heat between us tangible. “More than you know. But I have a feeling there’s a part of you that likes trouble.”
“There you go, thinking you know me again.” Her mouth tightens.
“I guess we’re both making assumptions.”
“Only mine are right.”
“So why don’t you tell me who you really are, Ember?” My words are a dare, pushing her past what I know she wants to give me.
“Like I said, I’m pretty boring. Being a mom takes up most of my time.”
“So you never have any fun?”
“Not the kind that you’d be interested in.” She smirks at me.
“There you go again, judging the book by its cover.”
She laughs. “Well, you’re more than welcome to join my Sunday afternoon binge-fest of The Bachelor.”
I groan. “You’re kidding, right? That show is as anti-feminist as they come.”
“And you’re a feminist?”
“Of course.” I grin at her. “I was raised by a strong, single mom.”
Her eyes widen, and for a moment she looks at me differently, like she’s seeing me as someone’s kid, and not the trouble she’s so desperately trying to avoid.
But then she blinks, and those walls are back up.
“Have you lived here long?” I ask, already knowing the answer. I’d gotten it from the kid earlier in the evening. But I want to keep Ember talking. Want to keep her here with me.
“Cadence and I moved in four years ago after...” She swallows and licks her lips. “After Mitch and I separated.”
I make a mental note of the douchebag’s name. I’ve never met the guy, but there’s something in the way her eyes dim when she talks about him that makes me already hate the man.
“It’s a nice place,” I tell her honestly. It could use a few coats of paint, and some nicer furniture, but the frame is solid.
“Yeah.” She smiles, glancing around the wide, open kitchen. “I always loved it here. It’s been in my family since it was built. My grandmother left it to me when she passed.”
“What made you turn it into a bed-and-breakfast?”
She lets out a shaky breath and her gaze settles on one of the many photos of Cadence that hangs on the walls. “I work part-time at the grocery store, and try to pick up some shifts at Clancy’s diner, but I want to be home when Cadence gets out of school. I was finally getting settled, but last year the house needed a roof, and then the furnace went, and then the central air...” She shakes her head. “Sorry, you don’t want to hear all this.”
A knot forms in my gut, because I get her struggle, watched my mom go through the same thing. Bills piling up, having to work extra shifts. It’s why I’ve made sure she never has to worry about a thing again, at least not money.
“I’m the one who asked.” I reach out and place a hand on Ember’s. It’s not meant to be anything more than a small gesture of understanding, but the moment I touch her, heat blisters.
Her lips part and she sucks in a small breath, her gaze meeting mine, holding it. And for a moment, those walls are down, and she looks vulnerable. Like if I leaned forward and kissed her, she wouldn’t push me away.
And the asshole inside me thinks about taking that kiss.
About consuming her whole.
But there’s another part of me that wants to protect her, to gather her into my arms and take away all the uncertainties I see in her eyes.
Fuck, I don’t even know this woman and she’s already got my head spinning. Maybe I’m just looking for a fix to replace the one I’m really craving - a bottle of Jack and a dreamless sleep.
I pull my hand back and Ember lets out a deep breath like she’d been holding it in. He pushes her chair back and starts to stand. “I should go back to bed. Cadence wakes up early. And—”
She pauses when I stand, my body so close to hers, I can feel the warmth radiating off her. Her head tilts up, those big brown eyes widening, swirling with emotions.
Lust.
Need.
Excitement.
Fear.
Damn, if I don’t want to take her. And something in the way she looks at me now, lets me know that she wants it too. But I also know what will happen if I do. Me and the guys will be out on our asses tomorrow. Sure, we could find another B & B in another godforsaken town. But I don’t want to.
I like it here.
It feels...right. Whatever the fuck that means.
All I know is that somehow I need to get through the next three months without touching her. But even as I think it, my damn hand is reaching out and stroking back a wisp of hair from her cheek and tucking it behind her ear.
She trembles and a small whimper escapes her lips. “Ash...”
Fuck, she’s like a damn drug. And I’ve never been good at denying temptation. But I know if I have one taste, I won’t be able to stop.
“Goodnight, Ember.”
She lets out a shaky breath, and steps back, blinking a few times like she’s trying to regain a sense of where she is.
“Goodnight,” she mumbles before turning and walking out of the room, leaving me with only a trace of the
warmth she’d been emitting, her scent lingering in the air.
I stand there for a moment, my balls aching, my cock hard as fucking steel, until I hear her bedroom door softly close.
But then I sit down, pick up my pen and start to write. And for the first time in years, lyrics flow through me.
My agent sent me here, the middle of nowhere, as a punishment. Turns out this home holds my muse. I don’t know what the hell that means, but I’m going to use it.
I write until my fingers are numb. By the time dawn hits, the sky is a watercolor painting, pinks and purples, and my eyes are heavy. It takes all my effort to climb the stairs and roll into bed. The guys will be pissed that I’m sleeping half the day away, but I don’t care.
I wrote a song. A damn good one.
Ember lit the fire and it’s not going out anytime soon.
Chapter Five
Ember
“Okay, time to spill all the details,” Millie says, nudging my shoulder as we watch Cadence and Tabitha race around the playground from our spot on the bench. “And don’t even bother trying to tell me there’s nothing going on.”
“There isn’t.”
She snorts. “You’re a terrible liar. You forget I know you better than anyone.”
I let out an uneven sigh. I told her about the guys moving in yesterday. But I haven’t told her that they’re a band, or about Ash. Not that there’s really anything to tell. Other than that, the man is gorgeous and has clearly gotten under my skin.
“Do you know how lucky you are?” she continues. “Four hot guys sleeping in your house. That’s like the start of every woman’s most wicked fantasy.”
“I never said they’re hot.”
She laughs. “You didn’t have to. The way you’re blushing now tells me everything I need to know.”
I groan. “I shouldn’t have told you.”
She chuckles. “This is Stanton. You know everything is eventually everyone’s business.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” All day I avoided the guys as best I could, which was easy because I worked at the supermarket this morning. When I came home, they were in the living room setting up their equipment, so I spent my time digging in the flower beds outside.
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