the lounge stood ajar. Before Logan could blink, the lovers had risen from the table, sprinted through the open door, and slid it shut with a definitive bang.
“And there he goes again,” Dare said with resigned sigh.
“At least you aren’t competing with Ethan today,” Steve said. His gaze darted to Toni. “I mean, those two guys are great friends, you know?”
“Inseparable,” Dare agreed.
“I know about their polyamorous relationship,” Toni said, munching on a plain potato chip. “Reagan told me. So you don’t have to worry about guarding what you say. Why isn’t Ethan here with them?”
“I’m sure he wanted to be, but he’s with the rest of the security team securing the hotel before we arrive,” Max said.
“Are you guys really in that much danger?” Toni asked, pausing with her sandwich halfway to her mouth.
“There have been incidents,” Max said, drawing his brows together.
“There are a lot of crazies out in the world,” Logan said. “And for some reason, we attract them.”
Toni reached into her pocket and pulled out her recording device. She set it on the table in plain sight. A red light blinked steadily on its top. Logan wondered how long the thing had been recording.
“What kind of incidents?” Toni asked, her gaze on Max.
“He’s usually bothered by beautiful women,” Steve said. “I’m the one that crazy dudes want to pick fights with for no reason.”
“Can’t blame a guy for wanting to smack the smug off your face,” Logan said.
“I’m not smug.”
“So you’ve been in a lot of fights?” Toni asked.
“A few,” Steve said vaguely, his gaze trained on the ceiling as he took a draw off his beer.
A few? The guy had been in more fights than Mike Tyson. And he rarely instigated them. Dudes really did pick fights with him for no reason.
Getting no further details from Steve, Toni turned her attention back to Max. “I assume women do some pretty desperate stunts to get you to take them to your bed.”
“They try,” Logan said.
“Max is very discriminating when it comes to bed partners,” Dare said, nudging Max, who was seated beside him, with his elbow.
“I believe in quality over quantity,” Max said, looking amused as he scratched his nose with the back of his hand.
“Unlike Logan,” Steve claimed. “He’ll fuck anyone.”
So that was why guys picked fights with Steve.
“Including me,” Toni said. Logan couldn’t see her face and couldn’t tell by her voice if she was upset or not. “Boy, he must have low standards.”
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Steve said, reaching across the table to squeeze Toni’s hand.
He was really asking for an ass-beating now. No one touched Toni but Logan.
“Get your hands off of her,” Logan growled.
“Or you’ll do what?” Steve asked.
“Introduce your face to the bottom of my shoe.”
Dare sighed and shook his head. “We get it, Logan. She’s yours. You don’t have to lift your leg and piss on her.”
Max chuckled. “I’m actually enjoying this. How often do we get to tease Logan about his feelings for a woman?”
That’s it, I’m going to have to kick all their asses. The queue for ass-whippings starts here.
Toni lifted a hand to cover his. He hadn’t realized he was squeezing her shoulder so tightly until her gentle touch brought attention to it. He immediately loosened his hold and tried to smooth out any damage.
“He doesn’t have feelings for me,” Toni said. “We’re justfriends.”
She was so very wrong about that, but he was still too much of a chicken shit to correct her. Why were jumping out of airplanes and doing back flips on his dirt bike and playing concerts in front of a hundred thousand people easier than telling this sweet woman that he was over the moon for her? It made no fucking sense to him, but it was a fact. Sharing how he felt terrified him to the bone.
“Of course he doesn’t,” Steve said, laughing hysterically.
Several hours later, they left the tour bus parked in the lot behind the arena and a limousine shuttled the band members and their weekend luggage to the hotel—because limousines were far less noticeable than tour buses. Right. Logan convinced Toni to leave her cameras and recording devices locked under the bus, but she insisted on bringing her laptop in case she had time to make progress on her book. Logan, however, was determined that she wouldn’t have a second to spare on work. Tonight and tomorrow were all about play.
“It doesn’t feel right to make someone else do my laundry,” Toni said on the elevator