Van (Pushing Daisies Book 2)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  “Having a problem over on your bus?” she asked after I answered.

  “A big problem. Huge. I’m pretty sure you could feel how big of a problem I have,” I told her. Lexi giggled quietly into the phone.

  “Poor baby,” she told me.

  “Yeah. The worst part is that you’re not on this bus to help me take care of it. I’d really prefer that right now.”

  “Me too.” She must’ve been keeping her voice down because Daisy and Lawson were back already. Shit. He wasn’t kidding around when he’d said we were leaving right away.

  “Well, my bus is moving now, so there’s no hope for your big problem. Unless you take care of it yourself.”

  I groaned and pulled the phone from my ear. After tapping it on my forehead a few times, I set it back.

  “That’s a lot less appealing than what I had in mind,” I told her, which was the truth.

  “Well, Lawson said I must’ve gotten some sun today because I look flushed.”

  “Yeah, the fucking sun didn’t do that to you, sweetheart.”

  “No, it did not.” A comfortable silence hung between us. I didn’t have anything to say but didn’t want to let her go, either. “What about tomorrow night?” she asked.

  “I’m yours after the show.” Or really at any other time she wanted. At this point, if she’d wanted me to miss the show to be able to fuck her, I might’ve considered it.

  “Yeah, but you have two shows in a row in New Jersey, which means—”

  I sat up so quickly, I almost hit my head on the top of my bunk. “Hotel.”

  “Exactly. We could have dinner. Maybe watch a movie.”

  “Yes. God, yes. I’ll bring some food to your room. You room alone, right?”

  “I do. And you room with your brothers.”

  “I do.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow then, Van,” she said sleepily.

  “It’s a date,” I told her before ending the call.

  I didn’t recall ever going on an actual date in my life and maybe this one wouldn’t be the best I could’ve come up with, but I had no doubt it’d be the most memorable.

  Lexi had me already and there wasn’t anywhere else I’d rather be.

  9

  Lexi

  The time with Van on his bus was the hottest of my life. I’d had sex before. Nothing crazy, but I’d had boyfriends and that typically came with sex. At least after I’d turned seventeen, it had. Yet not a single moment with any of them could’ve compared to Van.

  When he’d licked his fingers after being inside of me, I should’ve been disgusted. Except it had only turned me on more. My insides burned for him so intensely, I thought I wasn’t going to make it back to the bus in one piece. Like I’d spontaneously combust on the way.

  My offer for him to come to my hotel room after the show was basically offering him sex. Did that matter? I didn’t care about things like people thinking I was easy. That was an old idea that I had no time for. Women were allowed to enjoy sex just as much as men and if that caused a problem for some, it was their issue to deal with.

  I wanted Van, plain and simple, but I also didn’t want to mess things up with him. I could see us not being just a fling while I was on tour. Though that made me worry about what would happen once I left. Lawson never indicated I could stay for the duration and honestly, he could tell me to leave at any point.

  These were the thoughts that kept me from sleeping in.

  I pulled the divider on my bunk back quietly in the hopes that I wouldn’t wake anyone up. It wasn’t early. Not really, but Daisy sometimes slept in, depending on how late my brother had kept her up.

  I gagged involuntarily at the idea of what Lawson might be doing to keep her up late. They were cute together, but he was still my brother.

  There was no chance Lawson was still asleep. Sometimes I wondered if he ever slept. He was a workhorse and always had been.

  Once I was out of my bunk, I pulled the tote that I used to shower in the venue out of one of the empty bunks that I used for storage. Then I grabbed my small suitcase on wheels out and packed up some things I’d need at the hotel tonight.

  Daisy had helped me figure this out the first night we’d stayed in a hotel after I’d come on tour. She’d said to take what you need or think you will need. Sure, we could always come back to the bus if we forgot something, but it was a pain. The buses would camp out at the venue while we stayed at the hotel.

  Once I was packed, I knew I could go over anytime. Barrett took care of hotels and travel, which meant she was probably already there and since this was Courting Chaos we were talking about, the hotel didn’t bother worrying about check-in time. I was sure their rooms were always ready.

  “Hey,” Daisy said from behind me, taking me completely by surprise and making me jump. Her eyes were open and bright and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She was wide awake.

  “Hey. I was being quiet to not wake you up.”

  She laughed. “I’ve been up a while. I was packing a bag.”

  “Me too,” I told her. “I was lying in bed playing on my phone.”

  “But Lawson left forever ago.”

  “Of course he did.”

  “Now that we’re alone…” She grabbed a bottle of water out of the mini-fridge and slid into a seat at that table. “Has your brother always been like that with you? I mean, with the talk we had about Van the other night.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yes. But you have brothers. You understand, right?”

  Her eyes widened. “Of course. And you only have one brother. Try being the only girl with four of them. Dating was almost impossible.”

  Sliding in across from her, I told her, “He’s like that with our older sister too and Erica is married. I think that takes some of the responsibility off him.”

  “He told me. What is it with brothers? Just let us live our lives.”

  “No kidding.” I slapped my hands on the table gently. “Well, I’m heading over to the hotel. Mack already has a car on the way. Want a ride?”

  “Yes, please.”

  The two of us stood at the same time and grabbed what we needed before leaving the bus. It was weird leaving the bus now. It was like a home away from home already. In a way, I missed it on the nights we were at a hotel, but after sleeping in the bunk, nothing could beat the hotel bed or being able to shower for as long as I’d like.

  Daisy and I chatted our way to the hotel then went our separate ways. She joined my brother while I looked for Barrett so I could get my room key.

  Someone was watching me. It was the feeling of your hair standing on its ends because there were eyes on you. Eyes you didn’t know were on you, but this didn’t feel scary. I was in a lobby full of people. Nothing was going to happen to me here.

  Trying to look as casual as possible, I surveyed the room. Though I needed to do that anyway to find Barrett. My perusal ended the second I found out who was doing the watching.

  Van’s eyes were the ones on me. His heated gaze reached out and stroked my skin from across the room. He had one arm across his chest with the other resting on top. In only jeans and a T-shirt with messy I-don’t-give-a-fuck hair, he was as sexy as I’d ever seen anyone. When he reached up and ran his thumb over his bottom lip, my legs turned to liquid.

  This was ridiculous, really. I’d only known him a few weeks. He shouldn’t have had this effect on me.

  As if he were drawing me to him, I took one step in his direction before Lawson suddenly blocked Van from view.

  “Hey,” I said with a shaky voice. This interruption was exactly what I’d needed to get my thoughts together.

  “Here’s your key.” He handed me the card.

  “Thanks.”

  “You coming to the show tonight?”

  I hadn’t thought about it, but now that he’d mentioned it, I knew I wasn’t. “No. I was thinking I’d just veg out in my room tonight. Take advantage of the comfy bed for as long as I can.”

  He nodded. �
�If you change your mind, let me know.” Lawson grabbed me by the bicep gently and pulled me away from well… anyone. “I also wanted to touch base on that other thing.”

  Ah. The other thing being my issue with Nora being a dick to me and trying to set me up with disgusting randos.

  “We’re working on it,” he assured me. “I didn’t want you to think I forgot. I’m working with a lawyer to get them to take it down. I’m also working with someone you don’t want to know about to see if they can get into the account.”

  “A hacker?” In all of my ideas of how this would end, I’d never thought my brother would hire a hacker. Hacking is illegal. Hell. How did he even know a hacker?

  He shook his head. “I didn’t say that.” Oh. Right. Deniability. “I’m just saying that I’m working on it. Honestly, I don’t think it’ll be long. Just keep ignoring everything.”

  “That’s what I’m doing.”

  “Good.”

  When he turned to walk away, I had another thought. “Lawson.” He faced me again. “How long can I stay?”

  “On tour?”

  “Yeah.” I shrugged. “You never said and I don’t imagine it’s the whole summer, so how long can I stay?”

  He scrunched down his eyebrows the way he did when I confused him. “Lexi, you can stay until the end of the tour if you want to. Or the end of summer since I know you’ll have classes. I’m not looking to get you out of my hair. I’m looking to make sure none of those creeps find you now that I know what has been going on with you.”

  “Oh.” That was actually kind of sweet. “I thought I was here just for a visit.”

  “I’m not the boss of you.”

  A loud, super unattractive laugh burst from my mouth before I could stop it. “I’m one hundred percent sure that you’ve never said or thought that in your entire life.”

  Lawson chuckled with me. “True. I am the boss of you, but Daisy likes having you here and so do I. Believe it or not, I miss my family when I’m on the road.”

  I cocked my head to the side and narrowed my eyes. “Does Daisy know what a softy you are?”

  “Pretty sure she does.”

  We chuckled again, but now he had to go, and unfortunately, the lobby had emptied out and Van was no longer where he’d been before.

  I spent the day in the hotel, showering, shaving, and putting myself together. There was a brief moment where I considered going to the show, but Van would head this way as soon as he was done and I wanted to be here when he arrived. With everything, I took my time. It was pretty clear what was going to happen tonight and the anticipation was killing me.

  Several times my imagination had gotten away from me and all I could think about was Van having his hands on me. The tightening coiled at the bottom of my stomach and I swore that half of the work was already done for Van.

  With all of this time, I’d even called my mom to touch base. Things were going well and she said that I sounded a lot happier than I had at home.

  Part of that was not being able to wallow anymore. Part of it was Van.

  The show started at 7:30. Pushing Daisies went on first and were done usually by eight-thirty. Which meant by nine, Van would be on his way to me.

  I’d skipped eating dinner earlier so that I could enjoy it with him.

  When there was a knock on the door, my heart just about dropped from my chest and my palms were suddenly very moist. I’d been waiting all day to see him and now he was here.

  “Oh,” I said after opening the door. It wasn’t Van, after all.

  “Room service,” the guy who looked to be about my age said with a smile. He was a lot taller than me with blond hair, curls peeking out from behind his ears, and blue eyes that reminded me of mine. Clear. Crisp.

  “I didn’t order—”

  “The order was put in by Van Thompson. He said to deliver and set up here instead of his room.”

  “Oh,” I said again, but this time with a small grin. “Go ahead then.”

  The room service guy set up then disappeared quickly and almost as soon as the door shut, there was another knock.

  This time, it was Van on the other side.

  Before I could greet him, he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me as he backed us into the room and let the door quietly close behind us.

  “Damn, you’re beautiful,” he murmured against my lips, still holding me against his body.

  “Thank you.” The fact that he could say that when I was wearing jean shorts with stray fringe and a regular T-shirt made my heartbeat just a bit faster. “The food came.”

  “Yeah.” He put some space between us but kept an arm around my back. “I saw him leaving when I got off the elevator.”

  “Hungry?” I asked.

  “In so many ways.”

  Van took my hand, not letting us lose contact for a second while he did, then led me over to the table.

  “So.” We each took a seat across the table. “I ordered two different things. You can have whichever you’d like.”

  “Which one do you want?”

  “I like them both, so it’s up to you.”

  We took the dome covers off everything and looked it over. He’d ordered a steak dinner with a baked potato and a side salad and chicken with mashed potatoes and a salad. There was also a carafe of water and several Diet Pepsis. Maybe he’d noticed that I always drank diet when I wasn’t looking.

  “I’ll take the chicken,” I told him.

  It was actually kind of sweet of him to give me options. We’d spent enough time on tour around each other for him to know some of the things I might like to eat and drink, apparently. No, we hadn’t been out together much in the dating sense but there were quite a few times that we’d all gotten food and eaten in the arena.

  As we ate, I asked about the show and what he’d done with his day. He asked me the same. Not about the show, of course, but about my day. I told him about my conversation with Lawson earlier. I left out the part about him helping me with my little problem but did tell him that Lawson said I could stay as long as I wanted to.

  Though he furrowed his brows, he just said it was good I could stay until I wanted to go home.

  “What was that look?” I asked him once we’d finished dinner and settled on the bed to watch a movie.

  “What look?” he asked.

  “When I told you that Lawson said I could stay as long as I wanted to.”

  “Oh.” He leaned back against the headboard and tucked me against his side. With remote in hand, he brought up the menu for us to choose a movie. “I was just a little confused. I didn’t know you were thinking about leaving soon.”

  “I’m not,” I told him quickly as I spun my head around to look at him. He was focused on the TV. “But Lawson never said how long I could stay. This is his job that I’m infringing on.”

  “It’s not a regular job.”

  “I know. But I thought I should ask instead of assuming.”

  His eyes finally met mine and he held the stare for a full minute. Long enough that it should’ve been uncomfortable, yet it wasn’t.

  “I don’t want you to leave yet.”

  I cupped his face in my palm and stroked his skin with my thumb. “I’m not.”

  That was enough heavy for now, as far as I was concerned. I snuggled into him as he started a movie. I didn’t even care what we watched because I hoped we wouldn’t end up paying much attention to it anyway. As the music cued up, Van’s fingertips tickled along my arm softly. This was the kind of thing you did when you didn’t realize you were doing it because your focus was elsewhere. For him, it would’ve been on the movie and that was not what I wanted right now.

  “Wait.” I snapped to sit up. “Are we actually watching the movie?”

  Van snorted, then one corner of his mouth turned up. “I thought that’s what we said we were going to do.”

  “Yeah, but I thought it was code. Are we watching a movie?”

  “Code?” He laughed loudly. “Code f
or what? If you don’t want to watch a movie, what do you want to do?”

  “Code for naked. You. Me. Naked. After last night, I thought we’d be naked by now.”

  Startling me, Van pushed up, pulled me down, and hovered above me all in one motion. “You don’t have to ask me twice.”

  His lips met mine with a force that should’ve hurt yet didn’t. He kissed me, stroking my tongue with his. This was so much more than last night. Last night, we’d been exploring. Tonight we were returning to the mountain where we’d already been. Or at least partially been. Whatever.

  He yanked my shirt over my head then took off his. Leaving me breathless, he trailed his lips down my neck, scraping his teeth against my skin. When he sucked gently on my collarbone, excitement flooded me. His hands touched my skin as if he already owned me and I thought he did. Already had owned me. I was his.

  Van unsnapped the front clasp on my bra then pulled back. As the cups fell away, his gaze dropped from mine and he stared. There was nothing overly impressive about my assets, but he looked at my breasts as if they were the most mouthwatering cookie he’d ever seen.

  My nipples hardened in the cool air and I groaned when he took the first one into his mouth. His tongue rubbed against the sensitive skin. His teeth nipped. The sounds coming from me were going to be embarrassing tomorrow.

  The movie kept playing in the background softly enough to fade into white noise.

  I curled my fingers into his hair and tugged while also pushed him harder against me. As Van worked his way down my body, he popped the button on my shorts and rid me of my last vestiges of clothing. He pulled away and looked at me. Looked at me so long, I began to squirm under his assessment. But when he shucked off his jeans and boxers, I knew he liked what he saw.

  Van was as hard as granite the way his cock bounced with his movements. I was about to reach out and touch him when he dropped between my legs and put his mouth on me.

  I couldn’t control myself. Couldn’t control my movements or the moans as he worked my most sensitive skin. Nothing was out of bounds to this man. He flattened his tongue against my clit one minute then swirled it the next. There were so many unknown talents in his toolbox. Unknown to me, at least. Maybe this was normal for other people, but no guy had ever gone down on me with the gusto Van had.