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“Beckett!”
But her grin gave her away.
Chapter Thirty-One
Kat affixed the back to her earrings as Beckett raised the zipper on her dress. She watched him in the mirror over the bathroom sink in their hotel room, the way his hands lingered at the small of her back, her nape, the way the roses inked on his throat moved as he swallowed. Roses he’d put there for her.
“I could come with you,” he said.
“You promised the guys you’d go out with them tonight.”
“Fuck them.” He nuzzled into the space between her shoulder and her jaw, the scratch of his stubble a reminder of that same scratch when he dragged his lips over other parts of her body. The beard-burn on her thighs beneath her shapewear stung, the pleasant soreness between her legs a reminder of the afternoon they’d spent in bed, the many ways he’d kept the promise he’d made to her in the TV studio conference room.
As appealing as the idea of having him join her was, she didn’t trust herself not to drag him into the nearest closet and let him fuck her against the door. Christ, she was getting wet again just thinking about it. But she needed a break, recovery time, even if he somehow still had the stamina of a twenty-year-old. Besides, her readers were waiting for her.
She turned in his arms and planted her hands on his chest. “I am a very mean and demanding tour manager.”
“You are.” She feigned indignation and shoved him away, but he caught her around the waist, laughing. “And?”
She rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t hide her grin. “And I am relaxing the rules just this once to let you all go out on the night before a show. So go be with your friends. I’ll be fine.”
“I’d rather watching you being a total badass author. You’re so fucking sexy when you talk about your books.” The pride and desire in his voice made her feel warm all over, and for a minute she was tempted to agree.
“It’ll be totally boring. After hours book-themed cocktails and book bedazzling doesn’t seem like your scene. And you promised them you’d go. It’ll be good for you to spend some time with your brother that isn’t about putting out fires.” His smile faltered and her heart squeezed in her chest. “It’s only for a few hours. I may have lifted the ‘no going out’ rule, but you guys still have a curfew.”
“Because you’re a very mean and demanding tour manager?”
“Mmhmm. Everyone home by one. Gideon will make sure of it.”
He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, careful not to smudge her lipstick. “Maybe you could be a demanding fiancée when we get home later.” She cocked her head, confused. “‘Harder, Beckett.’ ‘Eat my pussy, Beckett.’ ‘Fuck my a—’” She cut him off with a kiss, both of them laughing through it. When she pulled away, he used his thumb to clean up the edges of her lipstick, wiping away the errant color.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she said.
He swatted her ass before moving back into the bedroom and shrugging on his leather jacket. “There’s a protein bar in your purse,” he said, “for when the nerves go away and you realize you’re hungry.”
“I’m not nervous,” she protested as she stepped into her heels.
He pinned her with a look. “You hardly ate dinner.”
Her stomach flipped, but this time not from nerves. From how well this man knew her. How he quietly took care of her. “Fine. Maybe I’m a little nervous.” She stepped into the circle of his arms again. His hands settled low on her back, his fingertips brushing the top of her ass.
He grinned, dropping a kiss on her temple. “Eat the protein bar, and have the best time. They’re going to love you.”
The rapid knock on their hotel room door shouldn’t have come as a surprise. It seemed someone was always knocking on their door.
“Go away!” Beckett shouted.
“Not tonight! You’re coming with us!” Nico shouted back.
Beckett sighed and unlocked the deadbolt, opening the door with a scowl firmly affixed on his beautiful face. Nico patted his shoulder and pushed past him into the hotel room, the rest of the band and their head of security trailing behind him.
Nico whistled when he saw Kat. “Damn, Kat. You look great.”
Kat glanced at the guys with a smile as she tucked the essentials into her purse alongside Beckett’s protein bar: her lipstick, the hotel room key card, a package of breath mints, her favorite signing pen. “Where are you boys off to tonight?”
“Little club downtown that Raine Winters always talks about,” Zach said.
“The team already called ahead and had a security briefing with the venue,” Gideon said. “They’ll have a VIP area set up so we can monitor access throughout the night. Rodney and I will stay with the band, and the venue’s team will handle the entrances.”
