Broken Open

by Lauren Dane

Vaughan watched, disappointment on his face.

  Tuesday hoped it would be enough.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  HE CAME BOUNDING off the stage, veins coursing with adrenaline and ego. A potent mix and one he’d loved the taste of since they performed the very first time at Jimmie Streeter’s kegger.

  And right there, long and fierce, was Tuesday. Deep red lips curled into a smile that was for him alone and that adrenaline heated.

  Need beat at him so hard he couldn’t deny the equally hard cock he was sure anyone looking could see. In fact her gaze flicked down and then that smile went feline. When she looked him in the eyes again, there was a challenge there, banked with no small measure of heat.

  They all got carried down the stairs and the hall until they’d got a fair bit away from the stage. “Give me five minutes to shower. I mean it. Just five. Then you and I are getting the hell out of here. I don’t care if everyone knows why. I mean to have you as soon as I possibly can.” He took her upper arms, pulled her in for a blistering kiss and left her at his door, where he peeled his clothes off on his way to the shower.

  * * *

  TUESDAY BLEW OUT a breath as she licked over lips swollen from a kiss that had made her heart pound. This sort of want made her skin feel too tight.

  Natalie came out of the greenroom, smiling as she caught sight of Tuesday. “Hey, you.”

  Tuesday was able to move her legs and walk over in a reasonable impression of a woman who hadn’t just nearly come from a kiss.

  “Hey, yourself. I’ve been instructed to wait five minutes and then we’re out of here.”

  “Really, now? Well, he may not want to go in there.” Nat motioned toward the greenroom. “There’s a whole giant crowd.”

  Tuesday’s hormones subsided for a moment as concern for her friend overruled it. “Are you all right?”

  Natalie had grown up in a house with an addict. With lots of addicts from time to time. Being around wild partying made her uncomfortable, though Tuesday knew Nat would do it for Paddy because her man was so social and high energy.

  “It’s all right. Just mainly Hurleys. Thanks for getting my back earlier. You and I need to hang out. Are you off tomorrow?”

  “I am. You?”

  “Yes. So let’s you and me have dinner and go to a movie? There is so much gossip and stuff to share.” Natalie grinned.

  “Ha. You got it. Meet you at the house at seven.”

  Ezra came out, the ends of his hair still dripping.

  Natalie leaned in and whispered, “Wow, that’s determination. To do the sex with you. Do be sure to make mental notes of all the high points.”

  “I might need a spiral notebook for that.” Tuesday hugged Natalie quickly. “See you tomorrow.”

  Ezra caught up to them. He had a duffel bag in one hand and slid the other arm around Tuesday’s waist. “Nats, always a pleasure to see your pretty face. Beauty, we’re not stopping. I’ll get us to the doors in less than five minutes if you just follow my lead.”

  Delighted, Tuesday nodded. “All right then.”

  * * *

  “SO,” HE BEGAN as they sped east toward Hood River, “I really want to be inside you. I may drive a little fast.”

  She laughed because despite his joke, he was totally controlled as they drove. Yes, fast, she’d noticed he liked to drive fast the night before. But not too fast. He was definitely an attention-to-details type of person and she’d seen quite well the night before that he extended that to sex.

  “Because all I can think of is you naked and beneath me, we should talk about something else for a while.”

  “I think tonight’s show ranks in my top three best concerts ever list.”

  “Really? Okay, first tell me the other two. Because I need to know if I should be flattered or insulted.”

  “You’re pretty impossible. It’s charming and you have a big dick so I’ll allow it. Pearl Jam, Madison Square Garden. I was twenty-two years old and it was my first time in New York City.”

  “Excellent choice. Pearl Jam is one of the best live bands out there.”

  “The other is Sigur Rós. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen them live or not, but they’re meant to be heard that way. I saw them in a symphony hall so they had a full orchestra and there were screens behind them. It was a whole experience. Okay, so wait, I need to add Tool to the list. Have you ever seen them live?”

  “Not Sigur Rós, though I’ve heard their music before. But yes to Tool. One of the best parts of this gig is having the opportunity to hear so much live music. Well, all right, I’m totally flattered to be in that company. Even better than when you saw us the first time?”

  “Yes. Ezra, you guys were so tight. Every single song you played was perfect. The crowd was great. That little riff you did during ‘Revolutionary’? That was clever and Paddy picked it right up and did that thing with his voice and then Damien and Vaughan ended the song with it. Fantastic.”

  * * *

  THE FOUR OF them had been in what Vaughan sometimes called the Hurley Bubble. The world fell away and it was just brothers playing music and having a good time. On top of that, Ezra was pretty sure he’d never had a more flawless night playing live. He was truly amazed at his brothers, who’d been on the road for months. They might have been tired but it didn’t show in their music.

  “Tonight’s show is one people are going to rave about for a long time to come.” Tuesday shrugged.

  Pride eased back into his heart.

  At one time, Ezra had had a lot of pride. He’d had so much he’d ignored the damage he was doing and called it what he was entitled to. Heroin had enabled him to keep on saying that long after he’d stopped believing it.

  So he’d been prideful and he’d been careless and then everything had been ripped away and he’d had to rebuild. Including his pride. He still struggled at times with what was too much or not enough, but at least he was around to struggle and not in the ground because of an OD.

  “It felt exceptional, but it’s hard to tell sometimes. You’re too close to really see it. You do usually know if it’s a bad show. Sometimes you’re just off, or someone fucks up over and over and then Paddy flips out or pouts because he’s a goddamn artist perfectionist.”

  He burst out laughing. “I realize that sounds like an insult. And it is. Sometimes. Make-it-Perfect Paddy is a hard-ass. He needs to be. He holds it down out there. They look to him to set a direction. Like a team captain.”

  “You’re the captain, though.”

  He paused. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, Ezra, you’re the leader of Sweet Hollow Ranch. You’re their foundation. Paddy leads out there on the road. He’s a strong force in the band. His voice is there definitely. But you step out there and they all look to you. Even your manager talks to you like you’re in charge.”

  “Paddy is the lead singer of the band. He takes the weight of that out there on the road and he has on his own three tours now.” It had hurt like hell to let it go. But he hadn’t deserved it and he knew it. Letting go meant owning that. So he had. It still hurt to say it but that pain kept him honest.

  “He’s good at it. You are all incredibly successful. It’s sort of stunning to see it from where we’ve been. I don’t know how you all deal with that much energy coming at you at once.”

  And just like that she’d steered him onto safer ground.

  He turned up the long drive leading to the houses up at the ranch.

  “You feed on it. It’s more tiring than you’d think out there. So it comes at you and it’s so full of love and excitement and it’s about you. To me it’s like taking a long drink of cold water after you’ve been outside in the heat awhile. I just soak it in.”

  After a while, though, it wore you down. The weight of all that attention, the pressure to be perfect got in the way, tripped you up.

  It seemed like it took forever for the garage door to open but at long last, he was standing, hauling her to his body as he helped her fr
om the car.

  This was a crush mouths together in a hot tangle of tongues, teeth and lips embrace. He moaned and she sucked the sound in. Through the cotton of his shirt, Tuesday’s nails dug into the muscles of his shoulders.

  He broke away, panting. “Now. Inside.” Grabbing her hand, he led her into the house. Loopy was at the door and lost her mind when she saw Ezra had company. Then the cats streaked in and Ezra had to half fend them off and half pet them so they’d let him get her to his bed.

  Tuesday started laughing and then he tripped over a cat, or maybe the dog and they ended up on the floor in the hall just a few steps from his bedroom.

  “Shit. Are you all right?” He rolled to the side and Loopy started licking her face. “Sorry. Loop, leave her be.”

  “I’m fine. You have a dog and two year-old cats. You, Ezra Hurley, are a big old softhearted animal lover.”

  “Right now I’m thinking about loving them on a taco shell.” He stood, helping her to her feet. “Don’t worry, my bedroom has doors to hold back the furry horde.”

  The night before she’d had on a halter dress that had shown off her shoulders and back. Tonight she wore a low-cut, sleeveless blouse that laced up over her breasts. She added a necklace of thick chunks of orange-and-blue glass, highlighting the beauty of the line of her neck.

  Snug black pants and bright blue suede loafers made the outfit. She looked like she’d stepped out of a magazine. Natalie spoke of that from time to time—the way Tuesday had such a great sense of fashion.

  Right then, though, he wanted her out of all that.

  He hit the light switch in his room and noted the cat-shaped spots on the bedspread.

  “Are you allergic to cats or dogs?”

  “Nope.” She bent and picked up Goldfish, who thought this was rather delightful. He snuggled her and she scratched behind his ear.

  “Don’t be nice or we’ll never get rid of them.” He pulled away the blanket he tossed over his bed to protect it from animal hair. “I promise I changed the bedding this morning. I have to use this because they do what they want if I’m not here. Well, even when I am.”

  “Don’t pretend with me. They were just having a lovely nap on your bed and they ran to you when you walked in. These are animals spoiled and loved by their human. I won’t tell if you keep me sexually satisfied.”

  He laughed. “Why are all the women in my life so incorrigible?”

  “Do you have a harem then?”

  “Not if you don’t count Peanut, who is Goldfish’s sister. She’s the only female in my bed.”

  He hadn’t needed to add that. It just came out of his mouth. At first she was startled and then it was impossible to mistake the pleasure on her face.

  “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to make sure they’ve got food and water. They’ll happily leave us alone for that.” They’d pig out and probably sleep in the kitchen or on the couch they also weren’t allowed on.

  * * *

  HE LEFT AND she kissed the top of the cat’s head. “He’s a great big squishy softhearted dude, isn’t he?” she whispered.

  At the sound of movement in the kitchen, the cat lost interest in Tuesday and jumped free to stampede out there with the dog and other cat.

  She walked over to his windows to take in the view. His house, what she’d seen of it anyway, was beautiful in that rough-hewn, rugged style. Like him, she supposed.

  Beyond his bedroom windows were the pear orchards lit by stars still shining bright in a nearly cloudless night.

  “Now,” he said, startling her as he returned to the room, “we were about to start something.”

  He kicked the doors closed and just after that, one-handed, he ripped his shirt off, exposing all that tawny skin and hard muscle.

  “I said, goddamn.” She blew out a breath as she pushed away from the windows to head his way. She’d taken her shoes off and left them in a corner of his room along with her bag so she noticed the softness of the rugs covering the cool hardwood floors.

  “I didn’t even have to ask you to get within touching distance.” One corner of his mouth tipped up. “It’s like you heard me begging you in my head. Where I really was begging you.”

  She leaned in to kiss his shoulder as she reached him, but danced away when he tried to grab her. “Nope. I need to look at you. Last night was too fast. I didn’t get to inspect closely.”

  He rolled his head on his shoulders and stretched, relaxing a little. Still, the energy came off him in waves that seemed to throb.

  “You’re holding back just for me, aren’t you?” She whispered it as she kissed the back of his neck.

  “Man who can’t admit it’s hot to be admired by a gorgeous, sexy woman is a liar or deluded.”

  She ran her palms over the muscles of his shoulders and down his back. “Or gay.”

  He snorted. “Concept is the same. Who doesn’t want to preen around a little for someone they’re interested in?”

  He had a fence inked across his back; the main post of it ran down his spine in black and gray. Full- color roses spilled across it, punctuated by shadowed skulls. The entire picture was haunted. Terrible and beautiful. Sad and joyous.

  And it really accentuated the width of his shoulders as his body narrowed at his hips. She wanted to rub all over him. So she gave in, pressing herself to his skin, hugging him from behind.

  He made one of those rumbling approval sounds that made her all gooey as he ran his hands over her arms. “You feel good.”

  She brushed her fingertips over his nipples and flicked the barbell with her nail. Another rumble. He was like a big cat, or a wolf or something. So close to him, she knew he could be dangerous if he wanted to. He was in his prime. Healthy. Strapping.

  But he reined it in. Held it together and didn’t use that strength to harm.

  He was like a tsunami of testosterone and it was breathlessly hot. Which she didn’t understand because she wasn’t the alpha-male type.

  She pushed back and continued to circle. At his side she bent to read the words scrolled over his ribs: Brotherhood is the very price and condition of man’s survival.

  He had those things—what did they call them? Adonis belts! Yes, well he had them and they confused her because they did all sorts of things to her hormones.

  Standing in front of him, she slid her fingertips over the funky skull and crossbones on his belly and also the lines of those muscles.

  “This doesn’t seem sporting.”

  “Me standing here with my cock about to explode while a gorgeous Amazon circles me and gives me kisses and pets? I’m a patient man, beauty. But my patience when it comes to waiting any longer to get you under me has expired.”

  “Well, I was actually referring to your body. And these things here.” She brushed her thumbs against the line of muscle at each hip bone. “I’m sure they must be prohibited by the Geneva Convention. This is some sort of confusion weapon, right?”

  He had a little hair on his chest. Enough to be hot. Especially that line that led down into his pants from his belly button.

  “Why are these on?” She ran a finger between hot, hard skin and the waistband of his jeans. “I know what’s in there and I’d like to play with it awhile.”

  He shook his head. “Your turn.”

  “I’m trying but you won’t take your pants off.”

  “Your tits have made my mouth water all night long in that shirt. Take it off.”

  She pulled her shirt off and then got rid of her bra.

  He stepped into her personal space and stole her breath. “For months I’ve watched you. Wondered about what was under all your clothes. The reality is way better than even my brain could have imagined.”

  Taking her breasts in his hands, he tugged her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. She arched into his touch; the sinew and muscle of his shoulders and neck called to her so she let go of pants he was clearly going to rid himself of when he was good and ready. She slid her hands up his belly, over t
he wall of his chest. Her final destination was his neck but she took her time at his chest because he felt so good. Too good to leave behind so she used her lips on his throat instead.

  His pulse beat steady as she kissed him just beneath his jaw, right at the line of his beard as she learned Ezra really liked to have fingernails run lightly over his nipples.

  He let go and she nearly wept at the loss of sensation. Luckily, he banded an arm around her waist and picked her up, carrying her to his bed. “I want those pants off, beauty. You wearing anything beneath?”

  “One thing you should know about me,” she said as she slowly unzipped her pants, “is that I always wear underwear with pants. A dress or a skirt? Well, I guess we’ll have to take that on a case-by-case basis.”

  “All right, I’m tucking that away for future reference.”

  She shimmied from her pants and the coral-pink panties and leaned back on her elbows, staring up at him.

  “You now.” Like so much now.

  He stood there as she watched and when his grin hitched up a little, she sucked in a breath because there was a lot of promise in that mouth of his. She could hardly wait.

  He slid his hands over his belly.

  Over flat, hard bands of muscle. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth as he moved his hands up to his nipples.

  Nipples he pinched.

  Her own nipples ached at the phantom of his touch.

  Breath held, she continued to watch as he caressed his upper body. The size of his hands as they cupped his neck and up into his hair made her so hot for him.

  Ezra was bigger than life. All that smolder beneath the surface was hot, but then he drew the curtain back and exposed the entirety of that to her and she drowned in it. Held on with her fingernails to keep from being lost in everything he threw out.

  Then he moved those hands to his pants.

  “Are you breathless to know how this movie ends?”

  “Ezra, this movie ends with you fucking me.”

  “At least twice.”

  He unbuttoned and unzipped and she saw he didn’t share the same rules about wearing underwear beneath pants.

  Swiftly he was naked and in half a breath he brushed his body against hers and it was...so good. So good as gooseflesh rose. He smelled good. Like soap and hot rock star about to have sex with her. Which was pretty much her favorite scent ever.