be her boyfriend and she’d agreed. As if that was fucking normal. Then we’d kissed like hormonal teenagers, and most of our “date” had been staring into each other’s eyes. So, of course, the first thing I’d done this morning was send her flowers. Was I desperate, pathetic, lonely, or what? I had it bad for her. If we took things to the next level—and that was going to happen sooner rather than later—things were going to amp up in way I couldn’t yet imagine.
“Hey.” I was surprised to see Lexi already at the studio when I arrived.
“Good morning.” She was putting a box on the counter.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Cupcakes,” she said, grinning. “A little birdie named Casey told me you guys always had cupcakes in the studio when you were recording, so I thought I’d pick up the tradition.”
“Awesome,” I said, peering into the box. “These look great.”
“Oh wow.” I hadn’t heard Ariel come up behind me, and she was staring at the cupcakes as if she’d never seen one before. Granted, they weren’t just random grocery store cupcakes. Lexi had obviously ordered some gourmet ones for us, and the one Ariel had picked up was white and silver with iridescent sparkle things on the frosting.
“It’s called a White Chocolate Snowflake,” Lexi said. “White chocolate cupcake, cream cheese and white chocolate frosting with silver food coloring and spun cotton candy flakes.”
“I just drooled,” Ariel whispered. “Right? There’s drool on my face?”
We all laughed.
“I can only have a bite,” Ariel said after staring at it for another minute. “There are way too many calories in that, especially after last night’s dinner, but I need to taste it.”
“Tell you what,” I said, reaching for a plate. “Let’s split it.”
Lexi put the cupcake on the plate and handed me a knife. I cut it down the middle and took the two forks Lexi automatically proffered. I handed one to Ariel and grinned. “Dig in.”
Her giggle was almost girlish as she took the first bite. Then her eyes fluttered closed, and she made the sexiest little sound as her pink tongue glided around the outside of her lips. And my dick immediately took notice.
Great.
I didn’t know how the fuck I was going to last until we were alone to touch her.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do if you order these every day,” Ariel said.
“Every other day?” Lexi teased.
“Cupcakes!” Bash yelled, running into the room. He scooped a double chocolate one out of the box and stuffed half of it in his mouth before any of us could respond.
“Bloody hell,” Stu muttered. “What’s the big deal?”
I was shocked when, without warning, Ariel picked up a red velvet cupcake and stuffed the tall swirl of frosting on top right into Stu’s mouth. He stood frozen for a moment, and then his eyes narrowed slightly.
“It’s awesome, right?” Ariel asked him, still holding the cupcake against his mouth.
Stu slowly pulled it from her hand and licked his lips. “Fucking hell, what is this madness? That’s like Christmas and my birthday and Easter all in one bloody cupcake.”
“Christmas in a cupcake?” Ford came over and looked into the box. He reached for something that looked like salted caramel and licked off all the frosting on the top. “Yummm.”
“Please tell me you’re going to eat the rest of that,” Lexi said, hands on her hips.
“Well, yeah, but there’s nothing like a full-on sugar rush to start off the day.”
We all laughed and as we finished eating, I decided cupcakes and Ariel were my new favorite way to start any day.
She followed me home in her Mercedes when we were done for the day, and I moved my SUV outside so she could pull into the garage. I had a lot of privacy, but every so often, the press decided to stake out my place just to get random shots of me sitting out by the pool or something. I barely noticed anymore, but with Ariel here, I was hyper-aware of everything.
“Since I’ve never been on one, what do grown-ups do on dates?” she asked me as we walked through the kitchen into the main house.
“Whatever they want,” I said, turning to her. “What do you want to do?”
“Hang out with you. Talk. Get to know you better. Fool around some more.”
“Then that’s exactly what grown-ups do on dates.” I reached for her hand and tugged her into the family room. I had a huge TV mounted on the wall and a massive sectional across from it. I