Rock Steady (22 page)

He was unrepentant and arrogant, but ever so adorable. He offered her a shrug and a sincere grin.

“Wouldn’t recognize you if you did,” she said.

Chapter 6

The trucks had caught up with them in Denver. What had first seemed like a frantic level of activity now struck her as a well-oiled process. Like a pit crew jumping into action the second the race car drove in. Every man knew his job, and together, they were really awesome.

It was close to six in the evening by the time Jewel crawled out of Ramsey’s bed.

Honestly, she could have been passed out in the back of one of the busses for all she’d been aware of her surroundings. Plain and simple, she’d been beat. Worn out. Both physically and mentally. The change in activity level woke her, and shame made her get up. There was a piece of hotel stationery on top of her cell phone.

Sound check rehearsal. R.

Her mouth went dry as she looked at it. She had no idea how to deal with details that confirmed she was in a relationship.

Crap! That had come out of left field.

Relationship?

With a rock star?

Okay, now you’re being judgmental.

It was a valid charge. Rock stars needed love too. She groaned. The l-word was really going too far. At least before coffee it was. She put down the note and went searching for the kitchen. Nothing like coffee to toast to the setting sun. The coffeemaker filled the suite with a nice aroma as she found her suitcase and dressed.

Her phone buzzed, and she went back into the bedroom to pick it up.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Ryan, Bryan Thompson here.”

“Hi.” She was repeating herself. She went back into the kitchen and took a quick sip of the coffee.

“Mr. Morcant was hoping you might take a meeting with him tomorrow, if your schedule is open,” Bryan continued.

“Well, I’m in Denver. Colorado.” She added the state at the last second. “And under contract at the moment, so travel is out of the question.”

“Mr. Morcant is in the States. Your next stop is Milwaukee. Could we put you down for next Tuesday?” Bryan pressed. “It would save you a trip to Scotland to discuss the offer.”

Scotland?

She took another sip from her coffee before answering. “Sure.” Her response lacked a lot, like professionalism. “I mean, I’ll do my best to make it. Could you text me an address?”

“We’ll have a car call for you,” Bryan assured her smoothly.

The line went dead. She stared at her phone for a long moment before ordering herself to stop worrying about it. Her future was something she needed to get focused on. And quickly. Maybe it was judgmental, but thinking there was anything secure about her relationship with Ramsey was foolish.

And that hurt.

She forced herself to get over it and enjoy the ride. Savor the moment. If she wanted to indulge in pity parties, there would likely be plenty of time later on. Once Ramsey went on with his life and she got on with hers.

So yeah, she was taking a meeting with Quinn Morcant.

* * *

Hotel suites were starting to look the same.

She was also feeling a little unsure about making herself at home in Ramsey’s suite; there was a lot unsettled between them. But going back to her room seemed like a slap in the face, so Jewel wandered down to the lobby, intending to find a restaurant. The Toxsin crew was moving around as she made her way to the hospitality desk and started nosing through brochures for the local highlights.

“You’re okay.”

Jewel looked up and found Taz considering her. He played bass and did backup vocals for the band. He was also the only member of Toxsin with short hair. It went with his Asian features. There was a slight accent to his English, and she knew he spoke Korean, because he often engaged Kate’s bodyguard Yoon in that language.

“You need to come have sushi with me tonight,” Taz said.

There seemed something significant about the invitation. Jewel had no clue what it was, but Taz’s tone was edged with seriousness, his expression somewhat formal.

“Would love to,” she answered with a smile as she put down the brochures.

Taz nodded before he turned around and joined Syon and Brenton, who had arrived sometime while she’d been looking at the brochures.

Her senses tightened, her body feeling like she was poised on a cliff top.

Ramsey.

She turned slowly, looking for him.

“Took you long enough.” He was half-hidden behind a potted silk plant, watching her with his midnight dark eyes. There was a pleased look on his face that told her how much he enjoyed sneaking up on her.

“Stalking me?” she asked.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the pouncing part,” he declared, but he suddenly frowned, abandoning his lazy stance and coming out of the foliage.

“Where’s Steven?”

“Ah…” She’d completely forgotten about the bodyguard.

Ramsey clearly hadn’t. “Do you have your cell phone?”

“Sure.” She pulled it out of her bag. Ramsey plucked it from her grasp and swiped the screen. “Are you saying Steven can track that?”

“Yes.” Ramsey was punching at the screen and glowering.

“Do you think you might have mentioned that to me…or, gee…asked?”

He looked up at her, all traces of playfulness gone. Instead, she was facing a side of him that was ruthless and all business.

“When it comes to security, I won’t ask.” His tone was like a gavel pounding, but her temper still stirred. “You’re too inexperienced to identify the threats.”

“So explain it to me,” she said. “Keep me in the loop, and I’m not asking either.”

One side of his mouth twitched. “I noticed.”

“I mean it,” she insisted. His eyes narrowed, but he seemed to think better of continuing the argument and held up her phone.

“This is a piece of crap. The location chip is fried. You need a new one. Now.”

He punched in something and dropped the phone in his inside vest pocket. Now that the sun was setting, he was back to being bare-chested except for the leather vest.

“Come on.” He clasped her hand and pulled her toward the door. He let out a whistle, and Taz turned to look at him.

“We’ll meet you there. Text me.”

Taz barely had time to nod before Ramsey was tugging her along behind him. They went through a huge revolving door and into the warm summer night. The flash of cameras was almost normal now. Along with the rude questions, in fact, she was beginning to be entertained by them.

“Jewel…who’s a better lover?”

Ramsey turned his head toward the reporter who had hurled out the question. The guy actually shook with excitement. “The fans want to know,” he insisted.

“Dude, you need to get out more,” Ramsey informed him to the delight of the other reporters.

There were four Harleys parked in front of the hotel. Ramsey swung his leg over one and offered her his hand. The cameras flashed as she climbed on behind him. He handed her a helmet before putting one on himself.

“Great ass!” someone yelled before Ramsey revved up the engine and pulled away from the curb. Jewel wrapped her arms around him and felt like it must have been a month since she’d touched him.

She was an addict for sure.

It was a weeknight, but the cell phone store was busy. She felt a twinge of temper as Ramsey pulled up in front of her carrier. But a memory surfaced of him telling her about serving in Bomb Disposal.

“I guess you can take the uniform off but you can’t take the squid out of the ex-sailor.”

He nodded as he joined her on the sidewalk. “We hooked up with Taz and Drake there.”

“Sounds like your family had a problem with you going back to being a band boy.” She realized once the words were out of her mouth how insensitive they were. “Sorry. That was somewhat…crass.”

He shrugged and walked right up to the newest models on display. Which were also the most expensive.

“Ah…you know one of those will be a good upgrade.” She pointed to the other side of the store.

“I told you, Jewel. When it comes to security, it’s my way.” He looked at a salesperson and handed them her old phone.

“And I told you, we’re going to have these things called…discussions.”

He pulled her close as the salesperson happily went to the back room to get the new phone. “We can’t ditch Taz, it’d be a major social gaff, but after that we could go back up to Sammy’s and try the swing. I would love to hear which position—”

Jewel twisted her knuckle into his chest, her face on fire. Ramsey chuckled, low and deep, sending excitement through her. He captured her nape and buried his head in her hair as he bit her earlobe.

“Don’t you want to have a discussion with me?” he asked.

She groaned in the face of his sarcasm. He chuckled and placed a kiss against her neck.

“You know you’re thinking about the swing.”

“Right now, I’m thinking about hosing you down.” She wiggled until he released her. “With cold water.”

He shook his head, making his hair fly, and bit the air between them.

“Animal,” she accused him softly.

He moved up beside her, hooking his arm around her back and locking his hand on the curve of her hip. “I love the way you pet me.”

He did.

And she enjoyed knowing he did. She’d never thought she’d get such a buzz from going down on a guy, but the truth was, it excited her. Did that mean she was a control freak? If so, they had that in common. Her cheeks remained scarlet as the salesgirl completed the transaction. But the reason behind the blush changed to temper when Ramsey tried to hand his credit card to the girl.

“It’s going to be my phone,” Jewel argued as she extended her arm so her bank card was closer to the girl.

“Which I’m insisting you buy.” He winked at the salesgirl and sent her a grin. “Make sure you pay up the account for the next year. We travel a lot. Monthly statements can be a hassle.”

The girl promptly nabbed the card out of Ramsey’s hand, clearly seeing her commission increase.

Jewel wanted to argue, but she realized it was deeply personal, at least on her end, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to share it just yet. She had trust issues, there was no way around admitting it, and honestly, a big part of it came down to lack of confidence in herself and her ability to hold on to the attention of a man like Ramsey. She stood there biting her lip as Ramsey signed the sales slip and the girl handed her a little bag. Ramsey didn’t give her a chance to open a conversation either. He knew she was simmering, but he clasped her hand and pulled her toward the door.

“We can’t be late to Taz’s sushi dinner.” He unlocked the helmets and handed her one.

“Lucky you.”

He paused before slipping on his helmet. “Chill-lax. What is the point of me being successful if I can’t enjoy it once in a while?”

She snorted at him. “Way to turn things back on me.”

He offered her a grin of victory before he pulled on the helmet. She followed his example and climbed onto the back of the bike.

She’d lost this round, fair and square.

Except you got a new cell phone out of it…

That part bothered her the most, because she didn’t want to be kept, and since she’d signed on with Toxsin, she’d done little work. Sure, it could be argued that what Ramsey had purchased was her time, bringing her along to suit his schedule, so he owed her for the business she was missing out on. Still, she battled with accepting that idea entirely. There was something inside him that expected to be used. She’d seen the bitterness in his eyes. No matter what, she didn’t want to be part of causing it.

Now you’re trying to save him…

Fine, maybe she was. At least it was a good intention. She got the impression too few people remembered there was a man inside the rock star.

* * *

Taz certainly did take sushi seriously.

Ramsey drove to a huge restaurant in a Japanese-inspired building that had a red tile roof with the corners turned up. There were scores of people waiting outside for tables, a sure mark of how good the food was.

“Taz will be upstairs in one of the private rooms.” Ramsey clasped her hand and pulled her through the door. He took a moment to bow at the threshold. The girls behind the counter all greeted him with warm smiles.

Jewel had to tug back on her hand so she could bow as well. He grinned when he looked over his shoulder to investigate why she was resisting his pull.

“Can’t go shaming my host,” she said. “He said I was alright. It sounded like a significant compliment.”

“It was,” Ramsey confirmed. “You can bet Taz never invited Tia for sushi.”

She was half-ready to take offense, but realized she was too busy enjoying the knowledge that Ramsey’s bandmates saw her as more than a hookup.

Ramsey took her up a set of stairs to a second level. Below, it had been noisy from the congestion of people tightly packed around tables to get as many customers in as possible. Upstairs, there was the soft sound of flowing water from fountains set into the corners. Orchids decorated the fountains, and there was even one big enough to have koi swimming in a pool.

The waitresses wore long, flowing gowns of Asian design. They had empire waistlines, and the girls had their feet slipped into shoes that they took off the moment they came to any of the closed entrances that led to private dining rooms.

Those doors slid opened. Ramsey had his cell phone out and was following the route on the screen.

“Are you tracking Taz?” She pushed forward to see the screen.

“Yeah.” Ramsey pointed to a door at the far end of the restaurant.

“And here I thought I was special.”

He coughed at her as he dropped his phone into the inside pocket of his vest. He turned around, cupping her nape. She ran into him, because he did it so fast, ending up with her hands resting on his chest.

“You are,” he said.

In pure Ramsey style, he’d changed the tempo instantly. She quivered, her body heating as her insides churned.

“Food is suddenly the last thing on my mind,” Ramsey muttered against her lips.

“Ditto.” It was a confession, one she might actually have thought twice about if she could have thought at all. There was only the way he felt against her. His hard body, the way his skin smelled. It kicked off a pulse deep inside her that made her nipples pucker and her clit throb.