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“Is that the only reason?” she asked. “To see me play?”
I paused. I felt, suddenly, like we were on a razor’s edge, like I’d stumbled into a moment that could end us in a heartbeat. She needed to hear something from me that I couldn’t predict and had no script for. If I hesitated too long, she’d think that I only came here tonight to meet the Road Kings, or worse, that I only came to get an easy lay. It was how the men in her past had treated her. She was still testing me.
But if I told Juliet everything I felt about her, she’d take it as a plea to put me first, over everything else. She’d think I’d come here tonight to tell her—or beg her—not to go on tour. If I told her everything, I’d lose her.
I pressed a soft, sweet kiss to the side of her neck. My hands had stopped moving. “I missed you,” I said. “I want you any way I can get you. Whatever that means.”
Juliet drew back to look at me. Her hands left my stomach and she grabbed the front of my jacket, as if she wanted to shake sense into me. “You shouldn’t want that, Finn.” Her gaze was serious on my face, so easy to get lost in. Her hair was tousled and sweaty, her makeup imperfect, the red lipstick mostly worn off. She was a rock goddess and the woman I knew, both at the same time. “You should want more than that,” she told me. “You deserve more.”
I did want more, but I wasn’t getting it tonight. “I’m patient,” I told her.
“I’m going on tour,” she said.
“You’re worth waiting for,” I replied.
She blinked at that, flinching.
“You are,” I told her. “Stop overthinking, Juliet. Let me give you orgasms tonight. Go to Alistair and Vicki’s wedding with me. Go on tour. When you get home, come spend the weekend at my place again. Walk my dog with me. We can do a repeat of what happened in my studio. I liked it.”
Her gaze flared at that memory, pure lust crossing her expression. But she was thinking so hard, spinning everything white hot in her overactive mind. “And that’s it?”
Never. That would never be it, because I would never have enough of her. “If you want more, there’s more,” I said. “I told you, I’m patient.”
“And what about you?” she challenged me. “While I go on tour and make music, you’re going to stay home and wait for me?”
My gaze left her face, and I looked past her shoulder, thinking. She was still testing me, and I had no idea if I passed, except for the fact that she hadn’t pushed me away. “Let’s see,” I said. “If you mean sexually, then yes, there’s no one else. But if you mean musically, I’ll be doing some work while you’re gone.”
She was staring at me so intently, she could practically see the inside of my brain. “The songs,” she guessed. “You’re going to put out an album.”
“I’ll go to L.A. to talk to some people,” I admitted. “But it isn’t a done deal. Far from it. This album happens on my terms, or it doesn’t happen at all. I’m not a kid anymore, and I won’t be treated like one.”
“Shit,” she said softly.
I looked back down at her. I thought she looked stricken, but before I could say anything, she reached her arms around my neck and pulled me down to kiss her. Softly at first, but then her lips parted, and we were so fucking helpless.
She pulled away, scraping her teeth over my bottom lip in the process. “I don’t fuck backstage at shows,” she rasped. “It’s a rule of mine.”
“That’s a stupid rule.” I kissed her neck, then sucked gently, making her moan.
She let me do that for another minute, convincing her.
“My hotel room,” she finally said.
I lifted my mouth from her sweaty, delicious skin.
“Perfect,” I said. “Let’s go.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Juliet
Juliet: I hate you.
Finn: Why? Because I’m hot?
Juliet: Because I have to throw this bachelorette, which is going downhill fast, and I just found out what you and Alistair are doing tonight for his bachelor party.
I ran a hand through my hair. I was standing on a private pier in the Seattle harbor, which smelled like dead fish and spilled gasoline. It was almost five, and the guests would start arriving soon. I wasn’t ready.
