by Quinn, Cari
I pushed my hair out of my eyes, then dragged her onto her feet and into my arms. “I miss your face. I miss your laugh, and I miss your skin.”
She dragged in a breath.
“For the last three days, I’ve been snapping at everyone. I haven’t talked to Reed yet because he won’t even hear how stupid he’s being about Victoria. Wyatt is ready to beat me with every percussion instrument he owns. Indie has put our social media accounts on lockdown. Only Keys can post pictures from events. And you.”
She took a step back.
“You are driving me crazy. Not seeing you has been murder.”
“I miss you, too. But I can’t do the hot-and-cold deal. I believed you when you said you wanted to try to become something more than a one-night thing.”
I lifted her off her toes until our mouths met. Chocolate and Kenny filled my senses. The tablecloth fell away as her arms came around me.
She laughed into my mouth when our bodies made squelching sounds.
“I’m a wreck.”
I put her down and slid my forefinger down her neck to where her necklace ended just above the divot at her collarbone. Even that little spot was full of chocolate. “Want me to come in and help you wash it off?”
She licked her lips. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
I nodded. “Right.”
She grabbed my hand. “But how about tomorrow?”
“Yeah?”
She nodded. “Are you really going to the adoption tomorrow?”
“Yeah. Me and Keys are going to sign calendars we had made with the crew. A lot of people have adopted from Love & Paws in the Hammered family.”
Her face softened. “That’s really sweet. I’d love to go.”
I touched my forehead to hers. “We’re leaving early.”
“I can be up.”
“Then we’ll pick you up at six.”
She winced. “How long’s the drive?”
“About six hours from here.”
“Can I bring Sammy?”
Did she have a kid? “Who’s Sammy?”
“My crazy Australian Border Collie.”
I grinned. “Definitely. Keys will die.”
“He loves everyone. Kind of a handful sometimes, but sweet as can be.”
“Sounds perfect for the adoption get-together. They love when you bring your pets. Did you adopt from them?”
She nodded. “Five years ago.” She shrugged. “I was homesick.”
“Where’s home?’
“Vegas.”
“Wow. Really? I don’t know anyone who actually grew up there.”
She played with the end of my tie. “Just me and my mom.” She gave me a wry smile. “She used to be a showgirl.”
“There’s a story there.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
The fact that she deliberately said nothing about her father shifted a few puzzle pieces into place. She was scary independent, but it seemed like she had to be. Especially if her mother was an entertainer.
And also why she understood us so well.
I cupped her face. Dried chocolate streaks covered her chin and neck, and even her hair was crunchy with it—but she was so damn beautiful my chest hurt at the thought of walking away from her.
How could I be this far gone on a woman who made a living on brokering favors to build fame? Was it just infatuation?
Would it fade if I put her out of my mind?
Then she smiled—the smirky one that created the little dimples that made me instantly hard—and I knew I’d do anything to see it again. That had to count for something.
At least to see what came of it tomorrow.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Kenny.”
She tugged at my tie before stepping back. “See you in the morning.”
Twenty-Two
Kennedy
Me and Sammy were outside waiting for Hunter and Keys at the crack of dawn. Sammy was pulling at his leash, dying to explore.
I picked my way over the crunchy grass. As usual we were holding our butts for rain. Sammy lifted his leg on everything and happily wagged his tail at a leaf blowing into his face.
When a black Escalade came around the turn, I reined in my bloodhound. “There’s our friends.”
Sammy whined and jumped, getting himself all tripped up into his leash. When Hunter stepped from the truck, he was practically beside herself to get to Hunter.
“Well, hello there.” He dropped to his knees in front of Sammy and ended up on his back in the grass as he licked every inch of Hunter’s neck.
Keys jumped out of the truck. “Oh, my gosh, what a sweet guy.” She bent at the waist and accepted all of the lovings from my adorable goof. She looked up at me. “Hey, Kennedy. Nice seeing you again.” She pushed Sammy off as he tried to leap into her arms. “All right you.”
“Off.” I said the command in a no-nonsense tone—it was the only one he listened to. Immediately, he dropped down into a sit. “Be a gentleman.”
Sammy tilted his head and lifted a paw.
Keys laughed and shook his paw. “Impressive.”
“In five minutes, he’ll forget and be in your lap again.”
She lowered herself to his side and hugged Sammy. “That’s okay. We’ll have a nice ride in the back, won’t we?”
“Oh, you don’t have to. I can sit in the back.”
She waved it off. “I’ll probably sleep most of the way. This is an obscene time of day.”
Hunter absently scratched Sammy’s ear. “The adoption starts at ten, but if we get there around noon, shouldn’t be too bad.”
“That’s a lot of driving.”
“We might stay in the city overnight. If that’s cool with you.” Keys pulled out her phone and took a half dozen pictures. “I want to catch a show outside of Bernal Heights. My favorite singer is doing an impromptu acoustic thing.”
“We could.” I glanced at Hunter. His misty eyes were heated and steady.
Another hotel room to test out? I fought a shiver and pushed up the sleeves of my lightweight denim jacket.
Keys finally put her phone away. “Hey, super cute outfit, by the way.”
“Thanks.” I smoothed my hand over the poppy red maxi skirt I was wearing. I didn’t get to dress down too often. And it was really nice to wear sneakers. I’d been wearing heels so much lately that it was starting to feel weird to wear flats.
“Ready to get going?”
We both nodded.
“Come on, Sammy. Back here with me.” Keys opened the back door and the two of them piled into the back. By the time we were on the highway, Sammy and Keys were curled together on the bench seat.
“I didn’t mean to spring the overnight on you.”
I tucked myself against the door and curled my leg under my knee. “It’s smart. Twelve hours of driving in one day is a lot.”
“Especially when one of your passengers is a narcoleptic when she gets into a car.” Hunter glanced in the rearview mirror. “No matter where we are, what town, she’s out in ten minutes on the bus.”
“That’s impressive,” I said. “Wish I could sleep like that.”
“That’s Keys’s superpower. She can drop off to sleep in five minutes wherever she is.”
“I’m jealous.”
“We all are. The rest of us are a hot mess after we have to go anywhere on the bus. Why we transitioned to the plane for most tours.”
We talked for most of the trip. A few sing-a-long sessions with Keys when she woke in between coffee and doggie breaks.
The lines of the highway started to blur. My job as passenger was in peril. I turned away from the road and studied his profile. Such an arresting face—the kind that was built to sell magazines, even if he hated the idea of it.
“What?”
I smiled at him. “Nothing.”
“Stop it.”
“Stop what?”
“Those laser beam eyes. Too freaky. It’s like they’re staring into my brain
trying to figure me out.”
“Nah.” I tucked my cheek against the headrest, turning in my seat. “I just think you’re pretty.”
“Stop.”
“No, I’m serious. I stand next to you and I actually want to wax poetic about the color of your eyes, your hair, your—”
“I hate you.”
I laughed. Not the little kind that girls do to be cute. An ugly laugh that ended in a snort and giggle. “You don’t know how hard it is to go out with a hot guy.”
His eyes lost a little of the devilish fun, and he sobered. “Is that what we’re doing?”
“Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t really have a name for us.” I took a deep breath. “The only thing I know is that I like how I feel with you.”
“Yeah, you do.”
I punched his arm. “Not that.”
His eyebrow quirked.
“Okay, that’s not so bad either.”
“Good.”
“That’s it?”
He nodded. “I’m glad I wasn’t the only one losing my damn mind.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Sure you didn’t.”
“Jerk.” I stared back out at the road, but I couldn’t stop the smile.
“Okay, so how does this showgirl thing work?”
I laughed. “Subject change.”
“I have a captive audience here. You can’t go anywhere.”
“You don’t think I’ll jump?”
“Nah. I have your dog in the car.”
“Nuts. You’re right.”
“Damn straight.”
I sighed. “It’s definitely not as glamorous as you’d think. I did learn how to do makeup at an early age. Though I definitely learned the fine art of subtlety. But I can put on false eyelashes like a boss.”
“A very important skill.”
I snorted. “You’d be surprised.” My smile faded. “But then there were the days she’d come home in tears early in the morning, because the head dresses were so heavy. That she’d been on her feet for eleven hours and had so many blisters that her feet looked like she’d been tortured.”
He frowned. “They don’t regulate that kind of thing?”
“Sure, now they do. But when I was a kid, it was the ultimate job. Being a showgirl was pretty much the Vegas equivalent of a rock star.”
“But you didn’t want any part of it?”
“No. I was eight-years-old and knew how to massage her neck and get knots out. I had to hear her cry through the pain until I could make it better.” When he frowned, I shook off the old memories. “But I did learn how to do Pilates before it was cool, and how to deal blackjack at fourteen.”
“Helluva lot more interesting than my childhood.”
“Believe me, it would have been nice to have normal.” I reached over and squeezed his far too impressive biceps. “I bet you were on the football team and lost your virginity at homecoming.”
“Close. I played lacrosse, and lost my virginity at the first bonfire party of my sophomore year.”
I crossed my legs and bounced my foot in time to the Mumford and Sons album we were listening to.
“I was home-schooled. The Vegas schools kinda sucked. My mom would have been happy for me to go to public school so she could sleep during the day in peace.”
“But you were bored?”
I grinned at him. “Bingo. I got my GED when I was sixteen and got into college at seventeen.”
“Overachiever.”
“I wanted out of Vegas. Out of the seedy motels that we lived in when my mom got a wild hair to try another company. But the hotels relied on dancers less and less, and went for the bigger entertainers. So eventually my mom turned to training the elite girls for the Jubilee shows when she aged out.”
“And your dad?”
I picked off a dog hair on my skirt. “He was around sometimes.” I took a deep drink of my latte. “He had another family.”
“Your parents were divorced?”
“No, he was married and had a family in Phoenix. Then he had us in Vegas where he worked.” I shrugged. “He was a real estate guy. When he passed away a few years ago, he finally did something right. He took care of my mom in his will. She still trains the dancers part-time, but now she has a nice house outside of Vegas.”
Hunter took my hand and placed it on his lap, covering it with his. It was better than any apology I usually got when I explained my fucked-up family.
Instead of trying to keep up the awkward conversation, we listened to the rest of the album as he navigated the twisty roads near the wharf.
Finally, we saw the huge clock tower and white tents along the water. Sammy woke as we moved into stop-and-go traffic closer to the market area.
Keys popped her head up between us. “Finally. I need me a doggie fix.”
Sammy burrowed his way under Keys’s arm.
“Okay, well, more doggie lovings, but you’re definitely my favorite,” she said.
A moment later, Keys took off with Sammy, sprinting across the road to the tents. She waved to people she knew and the two of them darted into the rows and rows of kennels.
“I haven’t been here in years. I usually just do stuff with the LA unit.”
Hunter slid his hand in mine. “This is one thing I do every year. I got Wyatt to do it with me once, but he got chased around by fans all day.”
“He’s hard to miss.”
“A six-foot-five ginger tends to stand out.”
“You’re not such a tiny guy yourself.”
He shrugged. “No, but still normal enough to blend if I want to. And if they stare too long, I just say I play football.”
“Jerk.”
“What? It’s easier.”
The next few hours were a lesson in fandom for me. I’d seen what happened at a meet and greet, but the public was the wild west. It was a different world without Indie and Patrick to control the chaos.
The calendars were gone within the first two hours, and Keys and Sammy were officially the stars of the day, even if he was my dog. She took him around to kids, to the puppy pen, and down to the water to run off some energy. Sammy might be closer to seven, but he acted like a two-year-old most of the time.
When it came time for photo ops, I got dragged into shots for Love & Paws, but managed to beg off for the Hammered stuff. Hunter and I even managed to walk over to the farmer’s market to get some superior seafood chowder.
Around four o’clock, I cried uncle and collapsed under a tree to take a nap with a very happy, very tired Sammy. I watched Hunter interact with puppies and ten little girls who were convinced he was Flynn Ryder from Tangled.
When he got down on his knees in the grass and played the horse, and Keys played Rapunzel, they officially claimed hero status for the day.
I must have dozed off somewhere in between the puppy bowl and ice cream because when I woke up, Sammy was happily munching on a puppy popsicle and Hunter was standing over me.
I used my hand as a visor and peered up at him. “I don’t like that look.”
“You got a nap, and I did not.”
I laughed. “You were too busy playing with the kids.”
“I like kids.”
“Now that’s something I don’t hear from any of the rock stars I know.”
“I guess it’s something you should know.”
My belly flipped. “I’m not sure what to say to that one.”
“Just some information for that super brain of yours.” He held out a hand. “Up we go,” he said when I took it.
“Where are we going?”
“Time for the doggie promenade.”
“Do I want to know what that is?”
He held my hand tighter. “That’s when we take all the dogs that haven’t been played with for a walk.”
“Good thing I’m wearing sneakers.”
“Good thing you took a nap.” He jogged ahead, dragging me after him. Sammy barked and charged after him, trying to take him out at the a
nkles.
Somehow we ended up with nine dogs between us and three of them were pit bulls. Seriously, I prayed for a little divine helping hand as we set out a few yards after the first dog walker.
We managed to walk the first quarter mile with all the dogs trotting alongside pretty well.
Then there was the squirrel.
A baby Dalmatian with bicolored eyes laced herself between every one of the leashes to get a hold of the unlucky little creature. Then the Dalmatian crashed into Sammy, who yipped and trampled a Yorkie.
I scooped up the miniature pincher who somehow ended up in our pack—one that we had not started with, mind you—and stuffed her in my jacket pocket.
Hunter and I crashed into each other on the grass at the end of the path and fell into a pile of panting dogs. Hunter landed face down with the Dalmatian puppy sitting on his butt, a three-legged German Shepherd gnawing on his laces, and a senior chocolate lab using him as a pillow.
I laughed and took a picture, sending it to Keys and Indie before cuddling with the three pit bulls. The other three dogs in our care were panting happily on the grass.
We returned the dogs, got cleaned up, and raided the gift shops on the wharf for fresh clothes before we left. Grass stains and things I didn’t even want to name had rendered our clothing unfit for a second day’s wear. Hunter and I didn’t even bother pretending we were going to get separate rooms.
Watching him with the kids and animals had left me riled up in a way that defied even our first night together. I planned on seducing the hell out of him after my shower, but we both ended up falling asleep waiting for a bottle of wine to be delivered by room service.
That was us, party animals.
Twenty-Three
Hunter
Knock-knock.
I groaned and rolled onto my belly. “Go away,” I yelled at the door.
Who in the sweet fuck was banging away at the damn door?
Kennedy poked me. “Go get it. It’s probably Keys. She’s still got Sammy.”
I peeled open my eyes with a grunt. “You get it.”
She opened one eye. “Is this how you’re going to be about kids?”
I stared at her. “Maybe.”
“Good to know,” she said and rolled off the bed. She stretched her arms above her head as she padded to the door. She was wearing a Love & Paws shirt and a pair of boxers with paw prints on her very perky ass.
