Broken Open

by Lauren Dane

  “I hear you were a pretty big part of that finally happening. He probably won’t admit it, but Paddy was so lost without your guidance.”

  Paddy hadn’t just said a bunch of stupid, hurtful stuff to Natalie, he’d said a lot to Ezra as well and then didn’t contact either one of them as he spiraled closer to the edge.

  Luckily, his brother wasn’t as dumb as he was pretty and he’d got his shit straight and made up with Ezra and Natalie both.

  “Sometimes you just need to hear someone tell you what you already know.”

  “You’re very wise. It must be why you look at my best friend the way you do.”

  He scoffed and then made a shooing motion at her. “Go on. Paddy is killing himself not rushing over here.”

  She gave him one last quick kiss on the cheek and glided over to where Paddy waited—his smile was one all for Natalie.

  Finally his patience was rewarded when Tuesday freed herself and resumed her trip over to where he stood, her lips curved up into a sexy smile.

  All the spit in his mouth dried at the sight of her once she cleared the crowd. She wore a very short dress that was bright pink and orange and he wasn’t sure it was supposed to work, but on her it did. Her shoulders and part of her neck and chest were exposed and the material seemed to wrap around her neck.

  He held out a hand her way and she took it. Damn, every single time he touched her it was like a shot of adrenaline. Flipping his hold so he could place a kiss on the heart of her palm and then over her wrist.

  “You smell good,” he murmured. God help him, she did. Spicy and sexy and just a little dark. It called to him, like to like.

  She stood close enough to hear and her mouth tipped up into another smile.

  There was so much chemistry between them it made him a little dizzy. Dizzy enough that he knew the risks and he stood there anyway, planning on kissing every part of her as soon as he could.

  Tuesday was his brother’s girlfriend’s best friend. So close they may as well have been sisters. She lived not only in Hood River but she also lived with Natalie. If something went wrong it could be uncomfortable forever.

  And yet he couldn’t stop himself when she was in his view. Or his thoughts. Which were pretty frequent. Especially after that kiss in December and the follow-up just the week before.

  But if he was totally honest with himself, ever since the first time he’d met her back in the fall.

  Tuesday Eastwood was vibrant and sensual and she wore her confidence and intelligence boldly. He found that so attractive he went half-hard just at the sight of her.

  “Thank you. I’m excited to see you play tonight.”

  He looked down to the glittery heels, the pretty painted toes, and then up shapely ankles and calves to toned thighs. Another thing about Tuesday that he dug so much was her love of the outdoors. He worked with his body and it enabled him to burn off all that excess energy...most of it. But he loved to horseback ride and ATV and had been pleased to discover she did, too, when they’d all gone out for rides. She was gorgeous and strong and he wanted some of what she had.

  Ezra stood so they were face-to-face. Her sky-high heels brought her level to him, nose-to-nose.

  His inner voice screamed caution but he ignored it because it felt so good to want her.

  “Thanks. You look fantastic.”

  “I figured you’d be bringing all this—” she paused to wave a hand his way “—hotness rock star business. Had to up my game.”

  “Consider it upped. By the way, I’ll be escorting you home this evening. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Paddy asked you to take me so he could sweep Nat off?” Her smile told Ezra she wasn’t bothered in the least. “I’ll skip the part where I pretend I’m not totally all right with that plan.”

  “He hasn’t asked yet. But he will. I saw the way he looked at her just now. Which is fine with me, as I’d like to have you all to myself.”

  Techs came through to talk with each brother. With the fame came more money and they could afford to hire people to help keep the instruments they played in working order. And then they’d been able to afford a tech for each member of the band. The tech currently making no attempt to hide the way he looked Ezra over was Ira and he’d been with Sweet Hollow Ranch for a decade.

  Having someone who knew his schedule and preferences made it less stressful to be returning to an arena stage for the first time since rehab.

  The room got louder and louder as more and more people arrived backstage. The chaos of it jangled his nerves and fucked with his head.

  He slid his thumb over her bottom lip. “I need to head to my dressing room for a while.”

  She reached out, her fingertips brushing against the bone at his wrist as she kissed his thumb. “Go on. You’re going to kick ass.”

  Ezra stepped close again, sliding his arm around her waist. It didn’t matter that there were a dozen reasons why pursuing her would be a bad idea. He wanted her, she wanted him, they were both adults and damn it, he didn’t want to stop.

  He certainly was powerless against it when she moved even closer to him, tipping her head a little, exposing her neck.

  He bent his head, breathing her in, brushing his lips over her skin.

  “I’ll be here when you’re done.”

  “I’m holding you to that.” He stepped back and caught up with Ira to talk about his guitars, but her scent lived in him.

  Ira gave him a once-over and Ezra pretended not to see it. Ira had been giving him the once-over before shows for years. At least now Ezra wasn’t so high he couldn’t even stay conscious onstage.

  Ezra had his head on straight now. He could be trusted and relied on. No one looked at him with pity-laden expressions tinged with varying shades of disgust. It had been a fight that he wasn’t sure he’d win at times, but there he stood, with all that devastation in his past, with great hope for his future.

  Satisfied Ezra was all right, Ira relaxed and gave him the rundown before leaving him alone in his dressing room. Even though Paddy was the leader of Sweet Hollow Ranch, it was Ezra who was the founder. The true leader everyone, including Paddy, turned to.

  That trust never ceased to amaze Ezra. They shouldn’t trust him. Not after heroin. But they did and he would white-knuckle it through every damned day to never disappoint the people counting on him again.

  Once he’d finished his shot of wheatgrass juice, he sat back on the couch and put his feet up. With a long, slow exhalation, he leaned back, closing his eyes.

  The last time Ezra’d been on a stage this big he’d had a public meltdown that had led him to a stint in rehab. The small club dates they’d played at the start of their tour had been thrilling. It had fed that thirst in him that only playing live could seem to quench.

  He’d worried back then that he’d lost his performing mojo. But when he’d walked onstage it had leaped into him as easily as it had the last time he was on stage. Easy, like it had never gone. He’d been the Ezra Hurley once more and it had reawakened something inside.

  He had something to prove. Not just to his brothers and the fans, but to himself.

  * * *

  TUESDAY’S SKIN STILL tingled where he’d brushed his lips against her neck. It had been so...wow.

  She watched his retreating back. Took in the stretch of the soft fabric of his T-shirt at the width of his powerful shoulders. Down to the narrower waist. His brothers were in denim but Ezra chose worn brown leather pants. And cowboy boots with superpointy toes.

  His hair was a little more tousled than usual and she noted the tattoos she could see on his arms. Once she saw him all sweaty after they’d gone out ATVing and that was a memory she’d cherish forever. But this? Well now. Rock star Ezra just earned a place next to sweaty, muddy Ezra in her fantasy bank.

  Also, he had a fantastic ass.

  And he walked like a man who had a big dick.

  Natalie sidled up next to her as they both watched him until he was out of sight. “He real
ly works a pair of leather pants,” Natalie said in an undertone.

  “Indeed. He has big-cock walk, too, don’t you think?”

  Natalie snorted a laugh. “I can never unhear that!”

  “Am I lying?”

  “Hell no. What’s true is true.”

  They turned to face one another, grinning. “So things are okay with Paddy?”

  Her friend had a huge heart and she was deeply in love with Ezra’s brother Paddy. They’d just had a rough patch and had come back together, working hard to get past it, just like Tuesday had known they needed to.

  “Yeah. We’re good. What’s going on with Ezra?”

  Which was what Tuesday had been wondering. So she decided it was easier to think on this as a fun, casual thing.

  “He wants what I got, duh. Also, I want what he’s got so there’s a nice synchronicity there.”

  Mary, Damien Hurley’s wife and a new friend, came over to where they stood. “Not going to lie, I am so relieved to be sleeping in my own bed tonight.”

  They’d been out on tour for three months, which was short, Tuesday knew, owing to the fact that Mary was due to deliver a brand-new Hurley in six weeks. The tour officially ended the next night but Portland was close enough to Hood River that everyone was headed home instead of to yet another hotel.

  The gong sounded that indicated it was time to head to the stage. How weird was it that this stuff was totally normal in her life all of a sudden?

  Paddy approached, smiling at Tuesday. Tuesday hoped she managed an I-forgive-you-but-if-you-hurt-my-best-friend-I-will-maim-you smile in return.

  He got it, nodding again and hugging her briefly before he took Natalie’s hand and they walked toward the stage. At the end of the hall, Ezra came out of his dressing room looking fine as hell. A little more tousled. But focused and relaxed.

  As if she’d said this out loud, he turned, his gaze locking with hers until she felt the tug between them. He waited until she reached him and fell in beside her. Neither of them spoke. She got the feeling he needed the silence.

  At the stage, the brothers moved off, speaking to one another intensely for long moments before breaking apart. Damien went out, followed by Vaughan and then Paddy. Ezra stood beside Tuesday, throwing off crazy amounts of charisma and sex appeal.

  “Aren’t you going to wish me good luck?” he asked, a teasing smile on his face. But she saw a tiny bit of doubt and it shouldn’t have been there.

  “No. You know why?” She moved a little closer. “You don’t need luck. You’re Ezra Hurley. You wrote this book.”

  He relaxed, taking her hand to kiss her knuckles briefly before he stepped forward, grabbed the guitar Ira held out and slung it on as he hit the stage and started to play.

  * * *

  ONCE HE LEFT the wings, everything changed. He unleashed his energy, powering through, taking the roar of the crowd, the singing to his lyrics, the applause and the interplay between him and his brothers and feasting on it.

  Though the other three had been out together a whole tour, Ezra fit in exactly where he always did. They might have been more used to doing this every night, but he was fresher, so it balanced things out.

  For those hours, it was Hurleys Against The World once again and everything was absolutely perfect.

  At the first encore break they came offstage and he hit the john, rinsing off his face and neck, changing his shirt.

  As he approached the stage Tuesday waited. The look on her face was all about him and it sent a slice of longing down his spine.

  He’d wait, though. Just as she did, letting him keep his head in the music. Seemingly assured he’d give her the proper attention when the time came.

  That sort of confidence was hot.

  He grinned her way as he took his guitar back from Ira and they went out once more.

  Three encores later and it was time to go home.

  * * *

  AFTER A SHOW was even louder and more chaotic than it was before the show. When Ezra came offstage, he ended up at Tuesday’s side as they all headed back to the greenroom.

  The energy seemed to spiral through him and he needed to clean up and get himself together.

  He leaned in toward Tuesday once they got to the greenroom. “I’m going to shower and change. Okay with you?”

  She nodded. “Of course. I’ll be here when you’re finished.” Her mouth, good sweet Christ, he wanted to lean in and kiss it. So much his hands shook a little.

  Tuesday tipped her chin at him. “Go on then. You won’t break me.”

  He halted, stunned. “What?”

  “You were looking at my mouth like you wanted it. So take it.”

  In two steps he’d slid his arm around her waist as he met her body, his mouth sliding over hers, over lips that opened on a sigh as she gave over to him.

  He sucked her bottom lip, grazing it with his teeth. Her fingers dug into the front of his T-shirt, holding him to her.

  Need clawed at him, sharp and insistent. He wanted to back her up to the wall and fuck her right then and there.

  With a groan, he stepped back right as a bunch of people came into the room.

  “We’ll continue this conversation when I’m cleaned up.” He licked over his lips and tasted her again.

  She breathed out slowly, one corner of her mouth tipped up into a smile.

  But he got waylaid before he could reach the door, as his brothers surrounded him, slapping his back and hugging him.

  His energy mingled with theirs and it was okay. This was okay to want. This was part of how it was between the Hurley boys and it was good and elemental and he needed to hold on to that.

  But it sure didn’t hurt to hear Paddy nearly shout, “Best fucking show in years, man. Ez, you fucking ran that shit out there tonight. Well done.” Paddy grinned at his brother and Ezra gave him one right back.

  There was a flurry of hugs from Mary and Natalie and their other friends who’d come to the show.

  Tuesday got tugged away to meet someone so he watched her move as he drank some tea and listened to Vaughan and Damien.

  Mary patted his arm, following his gaze. “Looks like we interrupted something when we came in here.”

  Ezra shrugged. It would happen. He’d been sure from that first time he’d kissed her downtown and then, just three weeks earlier, in the darkness between the grape arbor at her house and the wall.

  They’d been heading toward a naked collision for months now. He smiled at his sister-in-law. “No worries, sweetheart.”

  He managed to escape to his dressing room nearly an hour later and by the time the water hit his skin, he was ready to run a marathon or fuck.

  No marathon that night. Maybe fucking—they certainly had chemistry. Maybe not. Yes. It would happen, though. Ezra found the slow pace, this long seduction of Tuesday and Ezra to not only be sexy, but it gave him the time to work through the way he felt about her. All that desire was seriously hot but the want...he needed to find a way to handle it so he could enjoy it and stop being wary.

  It made him feel alive on a whole new level.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “SO.” EZRA PAUSED at his car, a sleek, sexy, low-slung Porsche. He backed her to the door and her arms slid around his neck as he stepped close for a kiss.

  “So?” she breathed as he pulled back after smooching the wits right from her head.

  “Nothing really. I just wanted to kiss you again before you got into the car.”

  Tuesday laughed, delighted. Sometimes he came off so serious and broody that when he cracked a joke and exposed his dry sense of humor it always felt like a delicious secret.

  “All right then.”

  She got in, bending to unstrap her shoes and slide them off.

  When she straightened, she found him staring.

  “You have great legs,” he said in that snarly voice of his and she smiled, leaning back into the buttery-soft leather seats.

  He drove with the same sort of intensity he did every
thing else she’d seen him do. Though their show had ended nearly two hours earlier, the surface streets around the venue were still busy. He seemed to be doing some sort of complicated geometry so she looked out the window as he wended and wove his way to the freeway.

  Once they’d got away from the crowded streets he relaxed a little. Enough that she felt she could speak again.

  “You were on point tonight.”

  He smiled, keeping his attention on the road. “Yeah?”

  “I saw you once. I mean before. When you were still touring. In Louisville. I was there visiting my family.”

  “It’s crazy to me that we both have family within a forty-mile radius of one another in Kentucky.” Wariness edged his words. She talked about family but she bet he thought about his addiction.

  “It was early,” she said because it was important he know she saw him at his best. Preheroin. “I think maybe right after Ten To Midnight came out. Anyway, that’s a long way to say I saw you play before so I have a comparison to make. You were good at the club shows last December. You were like that times a thousand. Tonight, Ezra Hurley was a rock star.”

  And it was hot. So hot she’d nearly melted just watching him move. The Ezra he’d been out there, utterly self-assured, sexy, in charge, made her shiver. When he played and wasn’t singing, he’d worn a smirk like he was thinking of something really dirty.

  Best of all, he’d owned it, putting it on like a shirt that fit perfectly. All that hot, in-charge stuff had rolled off him in rushing waves. Tuesday wondered what he did with all that energy when he wasn’t onstage. Except for those brief moments when he turned it on her and she nearly drowned in it, he was pretty chill.

  From a distance.

  There was a darkness to Ezra. Something the darkness that lived in her seemed to respond to. A bone-deep grief he didn’t use as a shield—in fact he tried to downplay it. But it was there and she bet it was part of what motivated him to succeed now.

  She shivered at the idea of being the focus of that sort of attention. She had a very strong feeling Ezra didn’t hold back in bed. At all.

  She also had a very strong feeling she’d know. Soon.