“I saw her down by the dressing room¸” Steve said, his smirk at least halfway to Colorado at this point.
“That nerdy girl?” asked the dark-haired beauty who was plastered to Steve’s side. “With the glasses?”
Logan didn’t particularly appreciate such a lackluster description of the woman who had him completely out of his head, but he nodded.
“She was with Dare. They were headed into the dressing room for a little alone time.”
Logan’s heart dropped to join his stomach in his shoes. Another scan of the room told him exactly what he feared: the other conspicuous absence in the room was Dare. And Dare was on a mission to get back at him for hitting him in the nose. Sweet, sweet Toni didn’t stand a chance against the guy’s libido if he set his sights on her. And if the guitarist was seducing the innocent young woman that Logan had taken advantage of the night before—as well as most of today—Dare was about to suffer injuries a lot more severe than a bloody nose.
Fourteen
Toni turned to face Dare, a little thrill of panic spiking though her heart. He smiled reassuringly, but she didn’t feel reassured. She wasn’t accustomed to being locked in rooms with men she scarcely knew.
“Why did you lock the door?” she asked.
“So we wouldn’t be bothered.”
“I’d feel better if it wasn’t locked.” She didn’t really think Dare was the type of man who would harm a woman, but she wasn’t the first woman to think that about a deranged lunatic, a serial killer, or a throat-slitting rapist.
He didn’t unlock the door, but instead crossed the room to pour a drink. “Would you like something?”
“I’d like to unlock the door.”
He filled a lowball glass with amber whiskey and set the bottle aside. “If it makes you that uncomfortable to be alone with me, please unlock it. I didn’t mean to alarm you. I just figured Logan will interrupt us before we even get started and you’ll never get any work done.”
She wasn’t exactly alarmed. She felt no malice from the mysterious guitarist. She just thought it was weird that he’d lock the door in the first place. She studied him. She was starting to think Dare’s behavior had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Logan. “Why would Logan interrupt?”
The door handle jiggled and there was a loud knock on the door.
“Right on cue,” Dare said, one corner of his mouth lifting sardonically. “He’s entirely predictable.”
“Toni?” Logan called from the corridor. “Open this goddamned door.” The jiggling became incessant rattling. The knocking became pounding. “Toni!”
“Should I open it? He sounds mad.” Toni said.
“Of course he’s mad. He thinks I’m fucking you. That’s because he never uses his head and always jumps to conclusions. Then he acts on his false impulses and punches people in the nose.” Dare pointed to his swollen face. “Case in point.”
“Toni!”
Toni frowned at him. “So you lured me in here to get back at Logan?”
“Maybe,” Dare said, taking a swig from the tumbler in his hand.
“He punishes himself. It’s not like I’m a big enough ass to actually make a move on the woman of one of my friends,” Dare said. He sat casually in a club chair, crossed his long legs at the ankle, and took another sip of his drink. “But I am enough of an ass to make him believe that I would. He’ll think twice before sucker punching me in the face again.”
“I’m going to let him in,” Toni said. She understood that Dare was pissed at Logan. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to teach Logan a lesson, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Logan thinking she’d toss her skirt up at the first sign of interest from an attractive man. Oh wait, she had done that. With Logan. He knew firsthand that she was capable of unleashing her inner slut.
Toni unlocked the door with trembling fingers and it flew inward, almost banging her in the face. Logan looked from Toni, fully clothed and obviously not violated, to Dare, who was sitting across the room completely apathetic and looking rather bored.
“What’s going on in here?” Logan demanded.
“She was going to interview me for the book when you so rudely interrupted,” Dare said.
“Is that so?” Logan said, his eyes narrowed.
Toni nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. What did you think was going on?”
“I thought,” he said. “I thought . . .” He looked down at Toni and