The Billionaire's Rock Star - Lori Ryan Page 0,17

suite, not having a team of people around her to let her know where she needed to be next or who was waiting for an interview.

She would miss this.

“Meatballs, huh? If you make homemade meatballs, that’s totally going to put my pasta and sauce from a jar to shame.”

When Gabe caught her hand in his and held it as they walked, it felt natural. Natural and so damned good. Warm and comforting as their palms aligned and they came over the last dune near the gate to his backyard.

“I promise to ooh and ah over your sauce from a jar.”

Laughter filled her as she shook her head. “I do make a mean garlic bread if you have any Italian bread.”

“No Italian bread, but I think there are some dinner rolls in the freezer. Would those work?”

“As long as I can smear it with way too much butter and sprinkle it with garlic, it’ll work.”

He held the gate for her and PJ soaked in the night and wished she had more than a week here in this secret hideaway from the world and all her problems. Just a little longer before she had to face reality.

Chapter 8

PJ woke slowly, blinking back the light that streamed in through the gauzy white curtains hanging over the patio doors. Clearing her head of the dream that woke her wasn’t easy. Her hand went to her mouth where she could almost feel Gabe’s mouth on hers as it had been in her dream.

Last night, they’d eaten dinner without the kiss that had accompanied their burgers the night before. Still, that didn’t mean her mind was any further from it than it had been.

She could taste him. Feel him as he had gripped her tight and slanted his mouth over hers, tangling his tongue with hers, taking what he wanted. Giving her what she needed.

She shook off the remnants of the dream and looked around the room as the events of the last few days came back to her. Not the kiss with Gabe, but all the rest of it.

The journal, the Kurt interview. She groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers up over her face. What she wouldn’t give to wind back the clock. Except for the kiss…

She felt absolutely wrecked. Never mind the emotional toll of everything that had been happening. There was the fact she and Gabe had stayed up talking all Thursday night. She’d then had a short nap on the plane, but that was hardly enough to catch her up.

Last night, she’d gone to bed early, only to toss and turn the whole night, imagining what Gabe Sawyer could have done with those hands and that mouth, that tongue, if he hadn’t put the brakes on that kiss.

Oh, that kiss. Talk about melting her brain and setting her body on fire.

But, Gabe was right. It was the last thing she needed. She cringed at the memory of him stopping the kiss. He’d barely touched her lips and the next thing she knew, she’d practically thrown herself at him, clinging to him.

Ugh. PJ rolled over again and pulled the sheet off her head, staring out at the sun through the drapes. She was mortified at how she’d behaved. He probably thought she was completely trashy. The littlest bit of compassion from a man—of pity, really—and she took that and ran with it, making it into something entirely different.

PJ hated to admit it, but she really was a complete idiot when it came to relationships with men. Her first relationship hadn’t even been a real relationship.

And she hadn’t had many relationships that were even close to serious since then, unless you count Kurt. And, oh, what a disaster that had been. She’d been fooled once again into thinking he cared for her.

She hadn’t been gullible enough to think it was love, yet. But, her feelings could have headed that way until she found out he wasn’t even remotely headed in the same direction.

PJ’s phone beeped on the nightstand, and she looked at the screen as her stomach clenched in a tight knot. She was almost afraid to have any connection to the outside world right now. She forced herself to look anyway, but not before she saw it was a text from Debra.

You need to look at Twitter. We’re on top of it, trying to get it shut down and releasing a statement talking about balancing your need for privacy while giving your fans access to you, yada yada. Take a look and