a kid sister. She had a natural sexiness that even a straight girl could appreciate.
“So how long have you been touring with Exodus End now?” Toni asked, ready to turn the subject to something she could actually write about in the band’s biography.
“Three-ish weeks.”
“How are you holding up? I never knew how exhausting this lifestyle could be. I haven’t even been following the band for twenty-four hours and I’m ready to keel over.”
“I’m having a great time,” Reagan said. “I love every minute of it. And we do these things in spurts. Usually two days of insanity, a day of travel, and a day to recuperate. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes we do two shows in the same stadium, two nights in a row. Sometimes we do two shows in adjacent cities, but we almost always do shows two nights in a row. Trey claims that we’re slackers—taking two days off for every two days on. His band usually tours constantly. If they’re not playing, they’re traveling. They don’t have as many public appearances as Exodus End does, though, so we have to make time for that stuff too.”
“The band seems to have accepted you as one of them quickly.”
Reagan nodded, her smile stretching from ear to ear. “I pinch myself every day. They’ve been amazing.”
A knock sounded on the door, the doorknob turned, and the door opened a crack. “Are you naked?” a deep voice called into the room. “Please say you’re naked.”
Reagan grinned. “Not yet, but I have company.”
Toni hopped off the sofa. “I’ll go.”
“Is it my favorite company?” Trey Mills said as he let himself into the room. He was already dressed to go onstage, and Toni couldn’t stop her heart from skipping a beat. “Oh,” he said. “Company I don’t recognize.”
“This is Toni. Remember I told you someone was writing a book about Exodus End?”
“And you’re chatting with her in your underwear?” Trey asked.
“If I was going to seduce her,” Reagan said, “she’d already be naked with her legs wrapped around my neck.”
Toni’s couldn’t bring herself to meet their eyes. Reagan had been joking about that, right? Toni had never considered doing anything sexual with another woman, but now she wondered how a woman’s touch differed from that of a man.
“I need to get to the meet and greet,” Toni said, rushing into the bathroom to collect her socks and boots. She sat on the toilet lid to put them on.
She could hear Trey’s deep voice and Reagan’s answering laugh. Were they laughing at her? Probably. She’d made a fool out of herself. Toni secured her hair back with a blue scrunchy that matched her blue blouse which matched one of her socks. Her other sock was gray and matched her long skirt. She looked like she should be shelving library books, not going to a metal band’s meet and greet. Perhaps she should’ve splurged on new clothes for this assignment. She might not stick out like a poodle in a pack of Rottweiler’s if she tried to fit in a little better. She glanced in the mirror and pushed her glasses up her nose. She hated wearing contact lenses, but maybe . . . She turned her head this way and that, making kissy faces at herself in the mirror. Maybe she wasn’t as plain as she thought. Maybe she was actually pretty. Maybe if she put on some makeup and sexier clothes, Logan would start thinking of her as more than a friend. More than a temporary sex partner.
And maybe she should worry about her job instead of what she looked like. She’d never really cared about such things before. And Logan seemed to be attracted to her regardless.
He’d been the one to show her to the women’s dressing room so she could take a shower. He’d even stolen a kiss before claiming he needed to catch a nap on the bus or he’d be worthless that night during the concert. She wondered if he was still sleeping. And how much he’d mind if she woke him.
A naughty idea forming in her head, she hurried out of the bathroom and found Trey kneeling on the floor between Reagan’s legs with a sucker stick protruding from between his lips. He had both hands wrapped around Reagan’s upper thigh and was asking her about the notes she had drawn on her leg.
“I’m going back to the bus,” Toni said when neither of them noticed that she’d entered the room.