two buses. The words Aggie’s Custom Corsets were painted in gothic letters across the trailer. Why would Sinners need corsets? Toni could only guess. Maybe if the book on Exodus End was a success, Toni could propose doing one for Sinners. And then maybe she could work with the opening bands, Twisted Element and Riott Actt. She’d originally thought she’d want to switch to an important political figure for her next biography, but this was already too much fun. She couldn’t help but dream a little. Okay, a lot. Stars in her eyes over an exciting future following one band after another, she hurried to catch up with Exodus End as they returned to their bus. She needed to do a good job with this first book before she started making plans about additional volumes. She wasn’t going to get far if she spent all her time gawking at Steve’s abs and drooling over Max’s ass and wondering if Logan really had slept with five women in one night. Who did that?
The entire band paused outside the bus door and waited for her to catch up. She wasn’t sure if they were being polite—ladies first—or if they always stood outside the door looking lost before they embarked. She stopped next to the group and looked from one man to the next while trying to keep her eyes off Steve’s bare chest, abs, and the tattoos that decorated both. At least Max had his distracting ass pointed away from her.
“Do you have luggage?” Logan asked. He placed a hand on the small of her back, and her entire body—from the soles of her feet to the top of her head—flushed with molten heat.
Whoa. What was that? She was much too young to be having hot flashes.
She turned her head and found him staring at her in bewilderment. Did he feel it too? Continual jolts of excitement buzzed through her flesh at the place where his hand touched her body. His eyes, an icy blue with a dark contrasting rim around the irises, held her gaze for an intense moment. Toni’s mouth went dry, her palms damp. She couldn’t look away. Was he getting closer? Or was she? His breath against her lips made them tingle. Her heart thudded faster. Faster. Blood rushed past her ears with dizzying ferocity. Wait. What was he doing? Was he about to kiss her?
Someone cleared his throat. Followed by someone else. And a third someone.
Toni turned her head to gawk at the other three rock stars. The three who were grinning at Logan and shaking their heads at him.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?” Toni asked. She pressed her fingertips to her face; her skin was on fire. Perhaps she’d contracted malaria, had a fever of 104, and was delirious. A hottie like Logan Schmidt kiss her? Yeah, right. No one kissed her unless they were losing at spin the bottle.
“Logan asked if you had any luggage,” Steve said.
“I did?” Logan asked.
His three bandmates laughed.
“I think so,” Toni said.
“Where is it? We need to get going,” Butch said.
“Uh.” Luggage? What’s luggage? Why wouldn’t her brain work? She really wasn’t an idiot. Usually. Yet she felt as if she’d checked her brain at the bus door. Oh yes, those suitcasey-type things. Her luggage. “Some guy put it under the bus when I arrived.”
“You won’t have access to it until morning,” Logan said. “If you need something to sleep in . . .” His eyes drifted over her frumpy turtleneck sweater, long corduroy skirt, and brown riding boots. He actually made her feel sexy, when she knew she was anything but. “Unless you sleep naked.”
“No!” she blurted. Was it possible to die of embarrassment? She hadn’t died of intimidation yet, but the combination of the two emotions just might do her in. “I have pajamas in my gym bag. It’s under the bus.”
Laughing, probably about her wearing pajamas, the guys headed up the bus steps in single file. Except Logan. He lifted a hand and touched her cheek with his fingertips. His thumb brushed her trembling lips. “A sweet lamb left to fend for herself in a den of wolves. Whatever will we do with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll see you inside.”
Minutes after he turned and climbed the bus steps, leaving Toni standing there with her heart thudding and her mouth agape, she could still feel the touch of his fingertips on her lips.
Two
Logan grinned as he settled on the sofa next to Dare. “Three hours,” he said.