it.
“What’s your first selfie going to be?” Tyler asked as we left the mall.
“A picture of us, of course.” I lifted the phone and leaned against him, snapping the picture even though we were somewhat incognito. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and he had a baseball cap on. I wasn’t wearing makeup and also had a baseball cap on—one of his since I didn’t usually wear them—so between the caps and our sunglasses, we hadn’t been recognized yet.
Tyler’s credit cards were under his legal name, of course, so the guy at the Apple store hadn’t recognized him, either, and it was nice to be out and about like a regular person. Especially when the person you were with was Tyler. I was already addicted to him—his touch, his smile, his kindness. How had no one snatched him up by now? Rich, gorgeous, and relentlessly caring—what were women waiting for?
We went to a couple of stores in the mall and stopped at Bloomingdale’s to pick up a few things and run up my credit card before heading to the studio so I could drop off my regular phone there. Lexi was with the guys working on some Nobody’s Fool music, and they’d all promised to cover for me should my father make an unexpected visit. No one had questioned Tyler’s request for a day off, as if they did that kind of thing every day, and I felt a little guilty about it, but Tyler told me it was no big deal. The band was happy to keep working on a few songs without him, and they didn’t need me at all, so it was stolen time for both of us.
“Where to?” he asked as we got back in his Corvette.
I met his gaze. “Home to bed?”
“Babe, if we go back to the house, we’re not spending much time in the bed.”
“No?” She looked confused.
“I was thinking I’d like to bend you over my couch, eat you out on the kitchen island, and maybe have you suck me off in my studio… And none of those happen in a bed.”
I was probably blushing again, dammit, but it had been so long since I’d been sexually active, I hadn’t thought about all the variations with positions and locations.
“Are you blushing?” he demanded, reaching over the center console for my hand.
“All my sexual experience was with younger guys who didn’t know what they were doing and just wanted to say they screwed Ariel Fox. There was no fun or finesse; it was all on tour buses or in a bedroom at parties, quickies just to say I did it. No one ever went down on me or gave a second thought to whether or not I enjoyed myself. I lost my virginity when I was fifteen, but it feels like what we’re doing is the first time all over again—maybe not physically, but certainly emotionally.”
He squeezed my hand. “I had a couple of steady girlfriends in high school and when I first started touring, so I’ve had doses of meaningful sex, but not in more than a decade. I’ve got the technical aspect down to a science, but the emotional stuff is all pretty new. Looks like we’ll be exploring it together.”
“Seems like it.” I didn’t know how much longer we’d have to explore anything, but I would have done almost anything to stay longer. Hell, I’d have sold my soul to the devil to be able to stay here forever.
We got back to the house and walked in through the garage. There was noise in the kitchen, and a smiling woman of about forty looked up as we came in.
“There you are,” she said to Tyler. “I wasn’t sure if you were at the studio all day or coming home.”
“Sorry, Betty.” He grinned at her. “I should have texted you.”
“No problem at all. I—” She turned and froze, her eyes widening. “Oh my holy goddess… You’re Ariel Fox.”
I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad, but Tyler was laughing, and Betty was staring at me in wide-eyed wonder. “Ariel Fox is in my house… Tyler Thompson, you horrible man, how could you keep this from me?” She swatted him with the dish towel, and he continued to grin, holding up his hands, pretending to be warding her off.
“Honey, this is the one and only Betty Newcomb, housekeeper extraordinaire. Betty, I think you already know who this is.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” I said politely, holding out my