his blue eyes met mine, the earth shifted inside of me, and I’d finally stopped trying to understand it. It seemed to be a thing with us, this unexplainable attraction, and I had zero doubt I would have sex with him again if the opportunity presented itself.
“I have to get going,” Lexi said at nine thirty. “I need to rest, and Zaan will be calling soon.”
“Can’t go to sleep without talking to your hubby?” I teased her.
She smiled. “I can, but don’t want to.”
“I’m out, too,” Stu said, throwing some money on the table. “Need me beauty sleep, you know!”
“If you want to hang out and talk a little longer,” Tyler said to me, “I’ll take you back to your car at the studio when we’re done here.”
“Perfect. Thank you.” I nodded at Lexi. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Good night!” Everyone said their goodbyes, and then it was just the two of us.
Sitting across the booth from Tyler, now that we were alone, made me feel like we were out on a date, and I was suddenly a little shy. Lexi had told me he was into me, and I was totally into him, but technically, we hadn’t expressed any interest to each other. Was this how it was supposed to work since we’d already slept together?
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked him.
“Sure.”
“How come you’re single?”
He looked surprised. “I could ask you the same question.”
“And I’ll bet we have very different answers.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, most likely. Well, for me, I guess I love everything about the rock and roll lifestyle, which isn’t the best setting for settling down. And even if I’d been interested in all that, until early this year when Casey married Erik, I’d never had the opportunity. We were rarely in one city more than two days at a time, so I didn’t have time to get to know anyone, and we toured a lot. From the time we formed Pretty Harts more than a decade ago, we hit the road and never looked back. That’s another reason I’m not close to a lot of people outside of the band. It’s hard to build those kinds of relationships when you’re never in one place.”
She nodded. “It’s also hard to build relationships when your father doesn’t let you get close to people. I barely have any friends, much less a boyfriend.”
“I’ll be your boyfriend.”
9
Tyler
I hadn’t meant to say it quite so bluntly, but the surprised smile she gave me made me want to mean it.
“Honestly, I like you too much to subject you to what it would mean to be my boyfriend.”
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Like my father watching us every minute of every day. Like my father threatening you behind my back to scare you off. Like us never, ever being able to go out on a date without the paparazzo following us like Princess Diana is still alive. Believe me, being my boyfriend would be nothing but a headache.”
“We’ve kind of been out on a date tonight and that hasn’t happened.”
“Well, I don’t think they’re expecting me to be at a restaurant so low-key,” I admitted, “but it could still happen. And anyway, the thing with my father is no joke.”
“Are you trying to scare me off?” I countered. “Because so far, I’m all in.”
I wasn’t sure what flickered behind those steely eyes of hers, but the vulnerability and shyness were back, showing a softer side to her. She was an ice queen around her father and a focused professional entertainer during rehearsals, but who she turned into when we were alone was hard to pinpoint. Nervous and vulnerable were two words to describe her, though talented, sexy, and passionate were equally accurate.
I wasn’t sure if it was because of what I knew about her father, or the fact that I desperately wanted to take her to bed tonight, but all I wanted right now was to bring the fire back to those gorgeous eyes of hers.
“One date and you’re all in?” she asked, her eyes glittering with a tiny spark of the passion I’d seen the other night.
“Well, my motto has always been nothing ventured, nothing gained, from my personal life to my music.”
“I don’t think I have a motto, but if I did, it would be something related to self-preservation.”
“That sounds like a shitty way to live.”
“Welcome to my life. You still want to be my boyfriend?”
“Yes.” I didn’t even hesitate and immediately felt stupid. She must have thought so, too, because her cheeks