Rocked (The Everyday Heroes World) - Julia Wolf Page 0,65
false modesty in her. She knew how beautiful she was, and she wasn’t the least bit shocked by my reaction.
’Cause that song about a chick not knowing she was beautiful, which was what truly made her beautiful? Fuck that. This woman in front of me was stunning and sexy, and the fact that she was fully aware of it, at least tonight, only amplified her beauty.
“Thank you, Devon. I haven’t been this done up...well, ever, but I really love it. And I have to send a picture of us to Ellie. She won’t believe it.”
There was a crank inside my torso, twisting my insides into something different. Unrecognizable. I felt it, a pain in my chest, a twinge in my gut, a knot in my throat. What the hell was this woman doing to me?
We stood in front of the full-length mirror in my bedroom, striking poses for Kat’s camera, some silly, some as serious as American Gothic. The last one, I kissed her cheek as she took the picture.
She scrunched her nose at me. “I can’t send her that one.”
“Send it to me then. I want it.”
She eyed me with suspicion. “What will you do with it?”
“Make a voodoo doll out of it. Did you not notice me taking the hair from your brush? I guess I was sneakier than I thought.”
She laughed. “I just assumed you were eating it. You remind me of Billy Pilfner from second grade. His desk was right behind mine, and I’d often catch him picking up a lock of my hair and sucking on it.”
I cringed. “Jesus, what the hell was wrong with Billy Pilfner?”
“He became a hairstylist, so hopefully his hair fetish is fulfilled in healthier ways now.”
I shook my head, keeping my arm around her waist and my eyes on our reflection. We looked damn good together.
“I’m picturing him at the end of the day rolling around in the piles of cut hair.”
Kat nodded, catching my eyes in the mirror. “Probably naked.”
A shudder passed through me. “Definitely naked. Also, don’t think I’m not insulted that I remind you of Billy Pilfner.”
Her smile made me weak in the knees. “He was pretty cute, despite the hair thing. But I bet he never looked this good in a suit.” She turned to me, flattening her palms on my lapels. “Honestly, I’m not sure anyone’s ever looked this good in a suit.”
My grip on her waist slipped down to cup her backside. “I just wanted to look good for you. Make you proud to be on my arm.”
Her eyes remained steady on mine. “You do, and I am.” One more ghost of her lips on mine. “Should we go? Is it time?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
We rode in a limo to the theater, and Kat made my heart squeeze and thump when she recorded a short video of the interior to send to Ellie later. I couldn’t quite articulate why it affected me so much, but I found the mom side of Kat so appealing and sexy.
At the venue, my manager, Keating, opened the limo door, a wolfish grin on his face. “He’s alive,” he declared.
“Yep. I live,” I said, squeezing Kat’s suddenly tense hand.
Keating peered around me to see her. “Hello, Ms. Murphy, I’m Keating Rourke. I have to steal this guy for a while, but if you hang out in the limo, the driver will pull around to the side entrance where you won’t be bothered by the press.”
Kat waved. “Thank you. And I’m just Kat.”
He nodded, his attention already turning to his phone as he waited for me to get out of the car.
I touched my lips to Kat’s forehead. “You good? We can skip this if you’re not comfortable.”
She nudged my chest. “Get out of this limo so I can eat all the free chocolate without you judging me.”
Laughing, I squeezed her hand again. “You’re one-hundred percent okay? I feel like shit leaving you.”
She pushed me harder, a confident smile lighting her face. “Get lost, rock star. I’m great.”
“That’s right, you are.”
Cupping her nape, I pressed three kisses up the column of her neck, ending at the corner of her jaw. My lips connected with her scar, but she didn’t tense. If anything, she sighed into the contact.
The limo drove away when I finally got out, Keating at my side. He was a short, wiry ball of energy. He’d been with me most of my career, and unlike a lot of people who worked in the business side of the industry, he