Page 62
“I don’t want to scare her off.”
Nico snorted. “If she hasn’t been scared off by now, I don’t think anything could spook her.”
“I can be a little… intense.”
“You think?” Nico lunged forward, smoothly moving into a warrior pose. Beckett copied him, surprised to find the posture was easier than the last time they’d done this together. “What are you so worried about? From the looks of it, things are going well between you two.”
“I just don’t want to fuck this up again.”
“Yeah, I mean, it took ten years for her to give you a second chance. If you need to wait for a third, you’ll be too old to get it up.” Beckett shoved Nico, knocking him off balance. His bandmate laughed. “Just talk to her, man. Women like that. And widen your feet,” he said, gesturing to where Beckett’s toes dug into his mat. Nico waggled his eyebrows. “It’ll loosen up your hips.”
Kat was a disheveled whirlwind as she burst through the doors into the backstage command center at the Kansas arena where Midnight Storm would perform for the next two nights. “I’m sorry, I know I’m late.”
It was quieter than usual with most of the security detail accompanying the guys on their auction lunch dates, but Gideon had stayed behind to ensure everything was in good shape for the evening’s activities. Thorough to a fault. It’s why they got along so well.
Lenny paused in the middle of hanging a sign on the green room door to look up as Kat arrived. “Everything okay?” she asked. “It’s not like you to be late.”
Kat could feel the blush rising in her cheeks already. If she was going to get through the night, she needed to put her embarrassment in check ASAP. So she and Beckett had sex. So what? People had sex every day. All the time, in fact. Someone somewhere was having sex right now. And it’s not like her coworkers could tell that she’d spent the last two hours riding their resident grump’s cock—and fingers, and tongue, and—
“Great! Everything’s great!” Kat chirped. She cleared her throat, pointing to the room designated for her office. “Is Gideon in here?”
“He is not, but I am.” Kat spun around to find Jo leaning in the doorway, her arms folded over her chest and one knowing eyebrow arched. “Busy morning?” she asked.
Kat huffed, the air pushing a lock of her hair up and away from her face. “I thought your flight was first thing this morning.”
Jo smirked. “It was delayed.”
Kat pushed past her friend into the makeshift office, setting her laptop bag down and surveying the set up. Jo followed behind, closing the door after them with a snick that set Kat’s nerves on edge.
“Katerina Valerie Luna, I do believe you are blushing,” Jo said.
“My middle name isn’t Valerie. It’s—”
“I wondered when you two snuck off at the gala last night if you’d worked it out.”
“We didn’t sneak off.”
“Before the auction. You disappeared.”
“For like fifteen minutes!” Kat sputtered.
Jo shrugged. “Plenty of time with a man who knows what he’s doing.” She sat on the sofa at one side of the room, crossing her long legs. “There was one time Derek and I went to this party the label was throwing and there was this really fancy sitting area in the women’s bathroom. He’s not usually one for a quickie, but that night—”
“I do not need to know this much about my boss’ sex life,” Kat said. “Wait? The holiday party? The sitting area with the velvet couch?” Jo winked and Kat groaned, shoving her shoulder. “Gross. I sat on that couch!”
Jo laughed, catching Kat around the shoulders and tugging her to sit down next to her and lean against her shoulder. Jo was a cuddler, not just with her husband, but with her friends as well. It had taken Kat a little while to get used to it, but it was actually one of her favorite things about hanging out with Jo, the easy intimacy and playful affection. Kat kicked off her heels and swung her legs up on the couch beside her, fully leaning into the impromptu cuddle session with her friend.
“All I’m saying is, Beckett doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who needs a lot of time to rock your world. So… did he? Rock your world?”
Kat sighed. “Not at the gala.”
“But after?” Kat nodded, and Jo shrieked with joy, shaking Kat and pulling her into a hug. “I knew it! I knew you two weren’t just pretending. No one is that good of an actor.” When Kat didn’t immediately join in on the celebrating, Jo frowned. “What am I missing? Why aren’t we already swapping big dick stories?”
“Because— Wait, how did you know he—”
“Please. The jeans these guys wear are so tight there is nothing left to the imagination.” She grinned. “Thanks for the confirmation, though. Teenage me is thrilled to know I was crushing on the right Hayes brother.”
At the mention of Jackson, Kat felt like all the air had been let out of the room. She chuckled awkwardly and sat upright, carefully putting her heels back on and busying herself with setting up her laptop across the room. “We shouldn’t be talking about this here. I’m at work.”
