Author: Olivia Cunning

“Hey,” Sed said quietly.

“Hey,” Brian answered.

“I know you blame me for this—”

“Wrong.”

Sed hesitated. “Then what’s with the cold shoulder?”

“You really have to ask?”

Jessica couldn’t stay quiet any longer. She moved to stand beside Sed. “Our relationship is none of your business, Brian. So why don’t you just butt out?”

“Normally, I’d agree,” he said, “but he doesn’t think straight when you’re around, so someone has to try to bring him to his senses.” He grabbed Sed by his coat lapel. “Tell me, Sed, what was the happiest moment of your life?”

Sed glanced at Jessica nervously. “Don’t do this now, man.”

“Just answer the question.”

“You already know the answer. You were there.”

“Myrna was wondering.”

Myrna grimaced. She obviously didn’t want to be caught up in the middle of this.

“Post-Gazette Pavilion, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,” Sed whispered.

Jessica’s heart froze in her chest. It was the happiest moment of her life too.

“I asked Jessica to marry me, on my knees in front of thousands of fans.” Sed smiled, both dimples showing. “She said yes.”

“But she didn’t mean it,” Brian said.

“I did too mean it!” Jessica sputtered.

“Uh-huh,” Brian said. “Did you still mean it when you threw your engagement ring at him and left without a backward glance? What was it? Three weeks later?” He looked at Sed again. “And when was the hardest moment of your life, Sed?”

Sed swallowed. A muscle in his jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth. “That would be now, you fucking prick.”

Brian gaped at him, and then his eyes narrowed. “Bullshit.” He shoved him against the elevator doors. “You’re still trying to protect her? After everything she put you through?”

“Don’t start this, Brian. I’m not in the mood to take it.” Sed straightened and shoved Brian back.

The elevator door opened and Sed stepped inside.

Myrna pushed her husband into the elevator and grabbed Jessica’s arm. “We’ll meet you at the bottom. You two have a little talk. Or slug it out. Whatever.”

“How could you take her back?” Brian yelled at Sed. “Do you realize how much shit you put me through while you were trying to get over her?”

“Is it my fault your chicks like to fuck me better than they do you?”

Brian threw a punch. It connected with Sed’s jaw with a loud crack. Sed stumbled against the back of the elevator car.

Jessica tried to wriggle free of Myrna’s hold, but Myrna refused to release her.

Sed’s hands balled into fists and he advanced on Brian, who took another swing at him. The elevator doors slid shut.

Jessica turned to glare at Myrna. “Are you an idiot? They’ll kill each other.”

“They’re guys. This will get it out of their systems.”

Jessica jerked away from her and pressed the elevator’s down button repeatedly.

“And now that I’ve got you alone, I have to ask,” Myrna said, “what in the hell are you thinking?”

Jessica glanced at the normally calm woman, who now crackled with electric fury.

Myrna continued, “Brian is taking this out on Sed, who doesn’t deserve it, because he doesn’t feel like he can confront you. I don’t have his reservations.”

“What? Are you going to hit me?”

Myrna’s tense expression relaxed and she chuckled. “Of course not. I just want you to think about Sed instead of yourself. You can’t use him like this, Jessica. His heart can’t take it.”

Jessica didn’t like the accusatory tone of her voice. And how did Myrna know Jessica was just using him? Was she that transparent? “For your information, we have a mutual agreement.”

“You mutually agreed that you could screw him over? I don’t believe that.”

“We mutually agreed that I could screw him. Period. He uses women for sex all the time. I don’t see how this is any different.”

“Then you’re stupid.”

Stupid?

The other elevator car opened and, fuming, Jessica stepped inside. Myrna followed her.

“He’s a grown man, Myrna. He can take care of himself. You and your overly intense husband need to mind your own business.”

“Maybe the two of you deserve each other,” Myrna said under her breath. “Just try not to hurt him too much. I know he pretends to be tough and all Don Juan Casanova, but he has the most delicate heart I’ve ever seen in a man.”

Jessica laughed. “Then apparently you don’t know him very well.”

Myrna shook her head at her. “And apparently you don’t know him at all.”

Jessica scowled and crossed her arms over her chest. What was this woman talking about? How could she not know him? Hello. She’d almost married the man.

When the elevator door opened, they found Brian and Sed laughing with a pair of security guards. Disheveled, bloody, and bruised, the two band mates seemed better off for their elevator brawl.

Myrna hugged Brian from behind and he held her hands against his abdomen.

“Feel better?” Myrna kissed the back of his shoulder.

“Yeah. Let’s go get some sleep.”

“Or we can finish what we were doing when Sed interrupted.”

“What about Trey?”

“You know Trey would want you satisfied. We’ll catch some sleep in there somewhere,” she promised.

He grinned crookedly. “Later, Sed.”

“Later.”

Neither of the newlyweds gave Jessica so much as a second glance when they walked away. Not that she cared. Screw them!

“Are you ready?” Sed asked.

Her eyes swiveled to his weary face. “You aren’t dumping me?”

“I can’t dump you if we aren’t seriously dating. There’s an unoccupied suite at the Bellagio. Seems a shame to waste it.”

“You’re okay with all this?” she asked. “With our purely sexual relationship?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Myrna said—”

“What does Myrna know about me? Nothing.”

Jessica nodded in agreement, but a niggling doubt teased her subconscious.

They caught a cab to the hotel. Jessica’s exhaustion evaporated the moment Sed pulled her into his lap in the taxi’s backseat and claimed her mouth in a hungry kiss. She tasted blood on his lips. When he pulled away to gaze at her, she dabbed at the corner of his mouth with her fingertips.

“Did Brian hurt you?”

“Not too badly,” he murmured.

“Were you holding back?”

He shook his head. “That would be an insult.”

She chuckled. “Guys are so weird. How can best friends come to blows and then all is forgiven the minute it’s over?”

“Less talking,” he murmured and kissed her again. His hand slid up her thigh beneath her skirt and her body tensed. Her hand moved down his firm belly to the crotch of his pants. She was surprised to find nothing stirred below his belt. He pulled away and moved her body to sit beside him. She looked up at him in question. She’d never known Sed to be even slightly unprepared for a sexual encounter.

“Sorry,” he said wearily. “I keep thinking about Trey. And I’m really tired. Could we just sleep when we get back to the room? I’m just not in the mood. You know?”

Maybe that was the truth. Or maybe Brian had made him question their frivolous relationship. Maybe Sed had changed his mind about wanting her. That shouldn’t make her chest ache, but it did.

“Of course,” she said. “I’m not really in the mood either. We could both use some sleep.”

He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and checked it for messages.

Jessica watched him fiddle with the device obsessively, concerned by the furrow creasing his brow. She took his hand. “The doctor said Trey has a really good chance of recovering fully.”

He nodded. “I hope he hurries up about it. I can hardly breathe.” He rubbed the center of his chest as if to loosen a knot that had formed there.

The most delicate heart I’ve ever seen in a man. Myrna’s words filtered through Jessica’s thoughts.

She brought Sed’s wrist to her lips and planted a gentle kiss on the pulse point just under his thumb.

“Thanks for staying with me at the hospital,” he murmured, looking out the taxi window.

She smiled to herself, knowing how hard it was for him to thank her for something like that. Maybe he had overcome his innate asshole-ed-ness. “No problem.”

At the hotel, they wandered through the nearly empty casino, their steps punctuated by the whirring sounds of slot machines. In the elevator, Sed leaned heavily against the interior wall and closed his eyes as it rose to their floor. Jessica had to shake him awake when they reached their destination. Literally asleep on his feet. Apparently, he hadn’t decided she was chopped liver and really was exhausted.

Sed used one of the plastic keycards to open the door. Jessica stepped inside and glanced around, breathless in awe. Their suite had a marble entryway and rich mocha and taupe decor. On the other side of the expansive living area, a king-sized bed overlooked the Vegas strip through a wide floor-to-ceiling window.

Sed put out the “Do Not Disturb” sign while Jessica went to the window to stare at the lights below. The fountain now rested, but in the morning she’d be able to watch the water dance from above. “What a spectacular view!”

Sed followed her, but instead of joining her beside the window, he collapsed face down on the bed. “Will you call the front desk and extend our stay another day? I’m sleeping late. Unless someone calls about Trey.”

She turned to gaze at him. His face was smashed against the mattress, his eyes already closed.

“Sure.”

The hotel was happy to accommodate her request, and by the time she returned to Sed’s side, he was snoring quietly. Poor guy looked incredibly uncomfortable. Taking pity on him, she removed his boots and socks. He groaned in protest when she made him stand so she could take off his coat. His pants followed, and once naked, she tucked his gorgeous body into bed.

“Thanks,” he murmured, almost asleep again. “Your turn to get naked, beautiful.”

He kept his eyes cracked open long enough to watch her remove her clothes and jewelry. He held the covers open and she slid into bed beside him. He’d always been a cuddler, and she didn’t mind when he spooned up against her back and draped an arm and leg over her body. He kissed the back of her head and sighed.

“I’ve missed this,” he whispered.

“Me too,” she admitted.

She lay there for a long while after he’d fallen asleep, his warm breath tickling her ear. As much as she tried to convince herself that all she wanted from him was amazing sex, she knew she was slipping back into old patterns. Tomorrow she’d be more careful with her heart, but tonight she’d let him hold her while he slept and pretend he still loved her. Which of course he didn’t.

Chapter 15

The riff of Sinners’ “Twisted” drew Jessica from a deep sleep. Sed groaned beside her and tugged her body closer to his chest. Limbs and bedclothes tangled their bodies together. Again the riff intruded upon the room’s silence.

What?

Sed’s arm shot toward the nightstand. He answered his cell phone.

“Trey?” he said, his voice raspy with sleep.

Jessica kicked herself free of the sheets and sat up beside him, instantly wide awake.

“We’re leaving now,” Sed said into the phone and ended the call.