Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“I’m not hogging him—” My phone ringing saves me from explaining how I knew she was referencing Laken instead of Knox.
Everyone assumes Knox and I are banging boots. They would never suspect Laken since he hasn’t looked me in the eyes since our night on the roof.
“I’ll be back in a minute. I need to take this.”
Bonnie waves to announce she heard me before she goes back to sorting through her makeup cart.
Jenni’s voice roars out of my phone's speaker before I can attach it to my ear. “Why the hell are we only hearing about this now? You slept with a stranger but waited forty-eight hours to update your friends.”
“I can’t help that you were traveling halfway across the world with no cell service.”
I veer past Laken standing guard in the dressing room hallway and enter the alley at the back of the dance studio.
“It’s okay. I don’t need a shadow out here,” I assure Laken when he attempts to follow me out.
“Is that him? Is he the Adonis you screwed senseless before you knew he was your new bodyguard?”
I cup the phone at the speaker end to ensure Laken can’t hear Jenni, before shifting my pleading eyes to Knox. “The alleyway is locked, and there isn’t another person in sight. Does he need to follow me out here?”
I’m being a grump because I barely got an ounce of sleep last night.
That’s two sleepless nights in a row.
Get your mind out of the gutter. My lack of sleep last night had nothing to do with multiple orgasms and everything to do with the fact the man who stole from me was sleeping only doors down from my unlocked room.
I was up half the night checking my songbook was where I hid it.
Yeah, right.
My hurt is intense, but the memories of my night with Laken are stronger.
Knox finally caves after taking in my fluttering eyelashes for almost thirty seconds. “Five minutes—”
“And not a second more,” I quote, finishing one of his favorite sayings.
Knox looks pleased I know him so well.
Laken appears disgusted.
“I’ll meet you on stage.” Knox presses his lips to the edge of my mouth before guiding a disgruntled Laken inside.
They’re barely out of earshot when Emily says, “Your messages painted him as an ass, but he’s smoking hot. There’s no doubting that.”
“So fucking hot,” Jenni backs up.
Shocked, my eyes dart down to my phone. I gasp when I realize my endeavor to stop Laken from hearing them accidently switched our phone call to a Facetime chat.
“That ass…”
Jenni stops, swallows, then gleams excitedly when a voice in the background says, “No one else, Jen.”
Past Emily’s sweater-covered baby bump, I watch Jenni crash-tackle Nick onto a day bed in a massive dining room and kiss him senseless.
Once he’s breathless, she murmurs over his lips, “No one else.”
I grin like a loon when Noah joins our chat. “I think you were right. We should have packed bleach.” As Hawke’s grumbly laugh trickles through my phone speaker, Noah rubs Emily’s stomach before drifting his dark, moody eyes to me. “How are you doing, Nik? Ready for us to come on a world tour with you yet?”
Nerves echo in my reply. “Hopefully one day.”
Noah bobs down to pick up his adorable five-year-old, Maddie, while saying, “Tell me when you’re ready, and we’ll get everything settled here before joining you back in the States.”
“And leave the biggest European tour known to man for my little tour dates? Don’t be outrageous.”
“We’d do it for you, Nicole,” Emily says, her voice as sweet as her daughter’s dimpled grin when she spots Aunt Nicole on her mother’s phone screen. “In a heartbeat.”
I “tickle” Maddie through the screen while saying, “That’s because England is cold, and you grew up in Florida. Give it time. You’ll soon acclimate to the bipolar weather.”
Emily huffs but doesn’t deny my claim. She hates the cold as much as she does the groupies who forever throw themselves at her husband.
When Maddie’s mouth fills the screen with a big yawn, Emily steals her from Noah. “I better put her down for a nap. She didn’t sleep much on the plane.”
“I’ll take her,” Noah offers, stealing Maddie back. “Then you can talk to Nicole about the song she sent through last night.” His eyes are back on me, teasing and playful. “It was stuffed somewhere between checking if we’d arrived okay and news about a smoking hot date.” He mimics Emily's voice during the last half of his reply.
Giggling, Emily barges him out of frame. “Go put our daughter to bed.” If her next words are meant to be whispers, she needs to take a lesson on being quiet. “Then I’ll help lick your wounds after Nicole updates me on everything that happened two… whole… nights… ago.”
With Emily’s reply hinting at a gossip session, Jenni rejoins our conversation. “Spill, Nicole. I can see the debauchery all over your face.”