Moonlight & Whiskey

by Tricia Lynne

  He leaned over the bar, a fly to honey. I ran a fingernail over his forearm, watched as his sun-bleached hair prickled.

  “Yeah?”

  “See, I like my men, like I like my whiskey.” I paused, a sultry smile on my lips.

  “How’s that?”

  Damn, he was making this easy. “Strong. Dark. And Irish. And considerably more than two fingers. Now, be a dear and get me another, would you?” I pushed my empty glass at him, feeling smug. “Make it a soda.”

  Matt’s mouth parted a hair’s breadth, the blush on his cheeks making him look younger as his eyes lit with humor. Declan let out another thick laugh and skimmed a palm over my side. Chin on my shoulder, I took his measure. Killer smirk, cheeks flushed as he brushed his free hand over his nape. I chanced a glance at his pants. Sure enough, he was on the rise. He did love it when I gave my mouth free rein.

  I bit my lip, batted my eyes for him, too, as I slid my hips between his knees.

  Matt pushed the soda over the bar. “O’Dwyer,” he threw out. “Matthias O’Dwyer. O’Dwyer means ‘black.’ That dark enough for you?”

  I looked to Declan. He nodded, held fingers over his mouth to hide the smile.

  “Well, how the fuck was I supposed to know that? Jesus. You know, between the two of you is a goddamned dangerous place to be. Not that I don’t like a little hazard pay from time to time,” I sputtered, gestured wildly. “I mean, Christ, look at you two. But you dick with me like this every time I see you, Matthias, and you are quite obviously from Louisiana, so what the fuck are you up to?” I narrowed my eyes.

  Matt turned to Declan, eyes crinkled at the corners. “Damn, that’s some filthy mouth she’s got on her. I like it.” He bit his bottom lip, batted obscenely long tawny eyelashes to mock me.

  “You have no idea,” Declan added with an extended blink. “That temper of hers gives me wood like you wouldn’t believe. This morning I left her pissed, without the orgasm she wanted, and after I got out of the room? Which was a fucking miracle in itself, if you knew what she looked like tangled in my sheets.” He exhaled. “I closed the door behind me and she yelled a line of shit at me that ended with ‘cunt tease.’ ”

  Matt chuckled. “She’s staying over, then?”

  He nodded. “I don’t know why she’s paying for that hotel room. She’s not sleeping in it.”

  “Christ, the balls on you two,” I bit out as my face flushed. “Do you always kiss and tell, Declan? Wait.” I put a hand up and closed my eyes. “I don’t wanna know…and you…” I gestured to Matt, “tell me, do you always get off secondhand? Seems like a fairly lonely existence. You know, a pretty little thing like you with an ass I could bounce quarters off, I’m sure there are plenty of women who’d like a go at you firsthand.”

  “Are you one of them?” Mattie didn’t miss a beat.

  Declan actually groaned, reached down, and adjusted the bulge in his pants. “Will you look at this? She hasn’t even touched me.”

  Matt’s eyes slipped to Declan’s lap with a low chuckle.

  “Wha—?” I stuttered, mouth agape. “Cunt puddles, the both of you. The level of douchery between you two is fucking astounding, you know that?” I threw my hands up.

  “Don’t make it so easy next time.” Matt’s smile was infectious.

  Between the two of them grinning, it was impossible to maintain the snit. I acquiesced, returning the grins. When I leaned into Declan, he hissed and backed away. “No. Don’t touch it. I gotta go talk to my manager.” He tipped his head down the bar at a guy I hadn’t seen come in. “I seriously don’t need a hard-on for that.”

  Matt and I both laughed as Declan slid off the back of the stool and made another adjustment before he walked to the far end of the bar.

  “You know you’re amazing, right?”

  I turned back to Matt and slid up on Declan’s barstool. “Please, do tell.”

  “The song. You’re really good, Avery.” Those turquoise eyes dropped away to stare at the bar top. “Captivating actually.”

  I felt my cheeks heat. “You don’t look like a heavy metal drummer. No tattoos. No piercings. You look more like a frat boy on holiday. How’d you get into this?”

  “You don’t put bumper stickers on a Lamborghini, cher.” He smirked, all easy confidence. “I’m self-taught. A friend of mine in high school had a kit and I got behind it one day. It just made sense to me. I played as well as he did my first time, so I saved up, bought my own, and started practicing. Watched YouTube videos and some of my favorite band’s drummers. When I blew out my knee, I started putting serious hours into it.”

  “How’d you blow out a knee?”

  Matt’s face flickered with strain. “Football. Middle linebacker at LSU. I took a cut block to the knees that tore everything. I lost my full ride as a sophomore. Left school altogether because of the surgeries. Instead of going back, I focused on the skins. Declan played a big part in that. He plays, too.”

  “I didn’t know he played the drums.”

  “He’s one lucky sonofabitch, Avery. I saw you that night as we finished up the set.” Matt’s eyes met mine. “I took a shower, and regretted it the second I saw you two together. Although, he still had you first, didn’t he? In that hotel lobby? Actually, I think he always had you.”

  My mouth dropped open at Mattie’s admission. I’d seen the disappointment on his face that night. “I thought that was about Kat with Jamie.”

  He met my eyes again. “Nope. And it haunts me that I missed my chance.” His mouth quirked up at one corner, one dimple appearing as he sighed and his face sobered. “He’s my family, cher, and he obviously cares about you. So much so that he’s scared shitless of you leaving.”

  Matt met my gaze straight on. “You control the outcome here, Avery, and I’m fairly certain you’ve picked up on how hard that is for Declan. Just keep that in mind.” With that, Matt peeled his arms off the bar and headed for the shower.

  “I’ll see you, brother.” Jamie clapped Matt on the shoulder as he passed him in the hall with Kat in tow. The look on her face told the tale. Yeah, she’d just nailed Jamie in the shower. Hell, the ends of her hair were wet.

  Declan spun my barstool to face him and nestled his hips between my legs laying a kiss on me that had me squirming against the seat.

  “Matt behave himself?”

  “Yes. He’s only outrageous when you’re around. When it’s just me and him, he’s very sweet. I think he’s trying to get a rise out of you.”

  “He succeeded, didn’t he? By way of your mouth. I fucking love this mouth.” With that, he sucked my bottom lip in. “This T-shirt by the way. Chicken and pussy?” He shook his head and smiled. “No, I can’t picture you strolling around in business suits.”

  “Avery, you mind if I borrow your girl tonight?” I turned to find Jamie and Kat watching Declan and me with slick grins. “I’ve got something planned, but she’s not having it until she knows you have…company. I tried to tell her it was a given.”

  “Company or not, I don’t mind.”

  “I got this.” Declan sent Kat a wink. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t get any sleep whatsoever.”

  Chapter 21

  “I don’t know, he said it’s a surprise.” Kat and I strolled down Royal Street, ducking into different shops. At a memorabilia shop, she bought a guitar pic that belonged to Jimi Hendrix. In a vintage vinyl store, I browsed while she spoke with the owner and left with a jazz album to the tune of $1,300. “I know you want to ask,” she quipped as we took our time, wandering to the last stop.

  “Gifts for Jamie?”

  “Yeah, gifts for Jamie,” she exhaled, shook out her wild curls. “I’m glad we’re going back soon. This is becoming too…He’s not what I expected.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” I watched her out of the corner of my eye while she stare
d unseeing at the sidewalk. “What did you expect?”

  She gave me halfhearted smile. “He’s beautiful to look at; he’s talented as hell with his hands, and other parts are pretty damn talented, too. I don’t know. I expected someone who was arrogant and distant, who understood what I was after. Jamie is warm and goofy, and fun to be with. We’re friends now, you know?”

  Yeah, I knew.

  “He told me, more than anything, he likes to make me laugh, knowing it’s just for him. I don’t know how to feel about that.” Kat’s smile was bittersweet.

  “Sounds pretty amazing, Kitty. I mean, you could do worse than a beautiful man with a killer bod who wants to make you laugh and has skills in bed.” I’ll be damned. The handsome fairy prince had wiggled his way under Kat’s skin, making her all kinds of uneasy.

  Frankly, I’d grown quite fond of Jamie. He did make her laugh. She’d smiled more in the last four days—real smiles, not camera-ready—than she had in a long time. That was all I needed in my book, but he was sweet and silly, too. Not at all cocky like most of Kat’s hookups. Also, Jamie needed to be close to her. He always found some way to touch her or finagle in next to her, like he couldn’t stop himself. Jamie had feelings. Kat had always had lust in her life, but being silly with a man? Being friends and lovers? Yeah. That would be good for her demons.

  “So, are we talking about what happened back there or are we ignoring it?” She prodded gently.

  “I don’t know.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, tired of all the goddamned feelings floating around like a nasty head cold. “I vote ignore.”

  “You’re really good.” She bit her lip to stop a smile.

  “Thanks, but I’m not looking for a career change.”

  “Avery, there were feelings involved; we all saw them.” She paused, exhaled. “I’m worried about you. What happens when we leave?”

  “Yeah, I have feelings,” I admitted, and to nothing further. “When we leave, it ends, and I’ll crawl off to lick my wounds.” Our feet shuffled over the pavement as we both dragged them, in every sense.

  “Declan has feelings, too. Maybe you should see where it goes.”

  I’d thought about it. Especially since last night. But it wasn’t like I could just say fuck it and move to NOLA when I’d shed so much blood to make partner in Dallas, and I’d never forgive myself if Declan left the band. My confidence had grown by leaps and bounds the last few days—taking risks I’d never dreamed I was capable of, opening myself to the possibility of ridicule—but it was fragile at best. Was I strong enough, confident enough, to handle a long-distance relationship with a man like Declan? It was never my intention to…

  Huh, the road to hell and all that.

  Stopping, I faced Kat and saw the same tug of war I was having mirrored in her expression. “This fling may be the most illogical thing I’ve ever done.” I closed my eyes on an extended blink, tried like hell to expel my demons with an exhale, but no matter how many times I let them go to the sky, the bastards always came home to roost.

  Kat looped an arm through mine. “It’s not an engineering project, darling. It’s not supposed to be logical, calculated, and cost-effective.”

  “Yeah, and Jamie wasn’t supposed to make you laugh,” I added with a vacant smile.

  She blew a stray curl off her forehead. “No shit,” she said as she pulled open the door to a local photographer’s gallery.

  An hour later, I lazed over Kat’s bed on my stomach, reading work email as she contemplated what to wear. “Where’s Jamie taking you?”

  “To see his other band.” My brows shot up and she shrugged. “He didn’t say anything else, just that it’s not hard rock.”

  “That seems kinda boring, actually.”

  “Where Jamie is concerned, nothing is as it seems.”

  “Shit,” I said, skimming an email from one of the senior partners.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Davis emailed me. There’s a cocktail party in New Orleans tomorrow night. Jenson Robichaud is partnering with some TV preacher to build a megachurch in Orleans Parish. Davis wants me to go glad-hand.”

  She rolled her eyes. “So just tell him no. You’re on vacation.”

  “Mmm, I’d like to, but I’m already here.”

  “You just refuse to say no, don’t you?” Her eyebrows drew down in annoyance.

  “I can’t say no.”

  “Bullshit. You can. You just won’t.”

  It’s exactly why Davis had asked me. Because he knew I wouldn’t say no. Although I didn’t want to spend a single minute of the time I had left with Declan working, I wasn’t about to start drawing lines in the sand with my bosses now. “I wonder if Declan would go with me.”

  Her eyebrows rose as she hung up an ankle-length, white sheath in the bathroom to drop wrinkles. “I’d pay good money to see that man in a suit.”

  “I’d be surprised if he owns a suit. Doesn’t matter, he can wear Batman underwear and nothing else as long as he goes.”

  After a bit more girl talk, I went back to my room to grab a nap before I got dressed. Kat and I had been running on adrenaline and caffeine all week and I was beginning to feel the effects. If Declan said he wasn’t going to let me sleep, I believed him. Naked and grinning, I slipped under the comforter and drifted to sleep.

  A few hours later, I pulled on my distressed black jeans when Declan knocked. Covered in unbuttoned jeans and a strapless bra, I hid behind the door to let him in.

  He heaved a sigh. “Fuck. How do you expect us to get out of the room when you answer the door like that?” Kissing me, he pressed me back toward the bed.

  He looked damn tempting himself in a Metallica T-shirt and well-worn jeans that hugged him in all the right places.

  “We could stay in?” I eyed him slowly.

  “Stop. I can’t handle you making fuck-me eyes. Tonight’s not about sex.”

  I started to object when he shushed me. “Later,” he said, running lips up the side of my neck. He swatted my ass then he stepped away. “Finish getting dressed.”

  I zipped my jeans, slipped on a black top that hung off one shoulder. When I bent to pull on my black booties, I heard him curse under his breath. Turning to the mirror, I popped open my lipstick.

  “Mmm, don’t bother.” He slid into the reflection, kissing my bare shoulder. “It’s not gonna stay on long, and you don’t need that shit anyway.”

  Spinning in his arms, I wrapped my hands behind his neck. “You sweet-talker. Bet you say that to all the girls.”

  He placed a soft kiss on my lips. “It’s the truth.”

  A quick ride out of The Quarter and we stopped at a jazz club called The Spotted Cat. We listened to the brass and big bass, the piano, and singer while I sipped a cocktail and Declan worked on a Guinness. The music was lovely, but I was completely distracted. Declan never stopped touching me—my thigh, my shoulder, drawling circles on my nape—as we listened to the smoky singer and lazy notes.

  Eventually, I slipped outside to take a call from Davis about the sizing specs on the air-handling unit at the courthouse. Twenty minutes later, Declan emerged with an annoyed look, waiting for me to hang up. “I thought you were coming back in.”

  “Sorry, it took longer than I thought.”

  His mouth thinned, brows drawn in an angry scowl. But he let it go.

  We walked hand in hand a couple of blocks to the Frenchman Street Night Market. Artists and vendors, handmade jewelry, sketches, and paintings—all softly illuminated by strings of Edison bulbs, swaying in the breeze.

  “Do you ever miss Ireland?”

  “I remember only a little, but the green…everything so lush and alive with shades running the full spectrum.”

  “I’d like to go one day. Haven’t you ever been back?”

  He shook his head. “I’d like to.
Maybe take you with me.”

  I expelled a breath in a warm rush as Declan pulled me to a stop, brushing his mouth against mine in a soft caress. When he pulled back, his brows had creased in between.

  “What?” I asked, picking up on his shift.

  “I love your mouth. Not just the things you say, but your lips. Pink, soft, and plump. Your taste, the slide of your tongue against mine—I want my mouth on yours all the damn time. It’s turning into a fixation. You have a predator’s eyes, Matt says, and they are so damn pretty. All that gold, especially under these lights, but if that motherfucker ever got to touch your mouth…” Declan shook his head. “I’d beat him senseless.”

  “That will never happen, baby.” I met Declan’s eyes. They were my fixation. And he confounded me yet again. First with Ireland, and then his brush of protectiveness.

  “This is…Shit. I’m not the jealous type and I don’t know what to do with it. It’s not Matt’s fault. He’s not done anything out of character. It’s me.”

  That was news. “Why didn’t you tell me the flirting bothered you?”

  “Because none of it should bother me. I like seeing you more comfortable with that dark side you worry about hiding. It’s so damn hot when your mouth takes over, whether it’s because you’re pissed, or turned-on, or flirting. But I wanna keep it all to myself and I can’t. It would help if he didn’t ride me about getting to you first.”

  I tilted my head back to see his whole face. “What is that about, anyway? He said something like that this afternoon, and last night about me being his type. But you should know he’s perfectly respectable when you’re not around.”

  Declan’s lips thinned, the crease between his brows deepened. “Matt’s type is the good girl, but not because she’s good. Because he likes to see how far he can push her to the other side. Make her act out of character.”

  “I see.” I smirked. “He’s sadly mistaken this time.”

  Declan brushed my lips again. “Yeah, he is.”

  “You know I’d never let him make a move, right? I like him. I think we could be friends even, but I’d never—”