Chapter Five
“Ethan”
I turn off the car and angle my body toward Avery, but those entrancing eyes are still locked on the screen. The right thing to do would be to let her finish her work, but we’ve reached my surprise and it’s maddening to share a girl’s attention with a digital device.
Girls should never be permitted to have devices in their hand when they’re with a guy. No phones, no laptops, no e-readers, no…
My nasty mind sprints in the wrong direction with a lust-fueled image. No, think cell phone, Ethan, not what you’re visualizing. Those agile fingers pause and she bites her lip. The sucking sound she’s making isn’t helping when I’m thinking of screwing her hard in a variety of ways.
I need out of this car, ASAP. “I know you’re capable of multitasking. Can you finish that inside so we—”
She cuts me off by holding up a hand. “One second.”
She starts tapping and my frustration blasts into oblivion the other things I shouldn’t have been thinking.
Avery clicks off her phone and shoves it into her tote. “There, done,” she announces as she turns her face toward me. “I’m all yours for the rest of the day.”
For the rest of the day—if only that were true and we were doing what I wanted. Not that I don’t want this—I remind myself that bringing her here was my idea—but only because where I wanted to go wasn’t on the realistic options list.
Her eyes widen as she looks around, like it’s a surprise we’re no longer driving, and then her smile when she stares through the windshield is well worth the wait it took for me to get it there.
“Is that what I think it is?” Her bubbly excitement fills me with feel-good having done something right.
“You’ve been bugging me to get you inside this place for months. We’re in LA. I figured I should do it.”
Her smile grows larger. “Wow. You’re full of the unexpected today.” She springs from the passenger seat and the door is closed in my face.
By the time I catch up to her, she’s already snapping pictures. Have I mentioned I hate her phone yet?
“This is going to make an incredible post,” she says cheerfully without glancing at me.
Shrugging, I shove my hands deep in my pockets. “It’s no big deal. It’s not that great. It’s like any other club we’ve been to.”
“Shame on you.” She looks over her shoulder and her eyes flash at me. “How many girls can say they’ve been in The Cockyard?”
Please God, help me with my mind. “A lot. Guys bring girls here all the time. You’ve just gotta be a male to be a member.”
“Male, famous, rich, or A-list to be a member. Jeez, it’s the most exclusive rocker club in So Cal. I’ve been dying to add it to my event portfolio since I started blogging about Black Dawn. Ordinary girls don’t ever get in.”
“You’re not ordinary, Avery. Far from it.”
She lifts her cute button nose. “I’m not fishing for compliments. You know what I mean.”
“No. I don’t.” And that’s the truth.
Her gaze locks on mine before she does an aggravated shake of her head. “The kind of girl guys in bands want to have seen on their arm when they’re out. You know. Flashy. Tall. The model type. That’s what I meant. I’m a different kind of pretty.”
“Wrong. You’re drop-dead beautiful. And I’m proud to be seen with you every time we’re out. Don’t you know—” I cut off before finishing what could have only been a gigantic mistake.
She steps into me, her face up near to mine and now her eyes are practically taking over her entire face. Those gorgeous eyes I want to get lost in.
“I’m what, Ethan? Don’t keep me hanging.”
No choice but total honesty here. Not with the way she’s looking at me. “You’re the kind of girl guys want to spend their life with, not just a night.” I run my fingers through my hair not to touch her, but, damn, if the way she’s staring at me isn’t an invitation to. “Anyway, you cool with going in there?”
Her expression changes into one I can’t read. “Having second thoughts about being seen in there with me, Ethan?”
“Shit. That’s whacked. No. Never.”
“Then what?”
Oh fuck, how did I get trapped in this one? There’s never a good out for a guy dumb enough to stumble into the feminism discussion zone. “You’re a bit of an activist. I didn’t want to offend you.”
She rolls her eyes and shudders, exasperated. “Not offended. I’ve been asking you for ages to bring me here, remember? And I consider it like a reporter going into a men’s locker room covering sports. You go where the story is.”
“I doubt that there’s a story in there, Avery. More likely a bunch of drunk musicians from back in the day behaving like fools ready to treat you like a piece of meat. It’s why I never come here.”
“But today you did and you brought me and it’s going to be an adventure. It’s always an adventure when I’m with you.”
The way the words fall from her lips makes it an epic battle not to kiss her. I grab her hand—something I never do and it causes Avery to startle—but I don’t let go because she’s with me, if only in my horny male fantasies, and I don’t want any of the wolves inside mistaking that.
Her fingers do a light flex around mine and I glance down at our joined hands as I feel hers slipping out. “Not so fast, mister.”
She’s stopped in the walk, hands on hips, looking indignant.
“Oh please, don’t tell me I’ve crossed into gender stereotypes or whatever it is you call it when you think I’m behaving like a guy. I was just holding your hand. I’m pretty sure two friends holding hands isn’t wrong.”
By the time I’m finished, I’m kicking myself. Damn. But accurate with what I’m feeling over her getting incensed with my holding her hand.
Her lids fly wide, then bubbling laughter erupts as her sexy smile comes fully. “Jeez, you’re touchy today. Not at all like you. You can relax. No lecture. All I want is a picture with you by the sign.”
That wasn’t a brush-off, but a cock block by her job. Some of my uneasiness wanes. “Oh.”
She sashays to the brick billboard, makes a dramatic pose, and I feel like a first-class idiot for that speech I just made.
“This is too priceless not to get for the photo collection.” She stands not covering the big gold letters: The Cockyard.
“Where do you want me?” I say, pausing to drink in the sight of her happy. When Avery is happy she sparkles from head to toe. It’s enchanting and painful when her eyes shimmer this way, but I love it.
“As close as you can get to me,” she announces, her tone very purposeful again. If only she meant that in a different way, and my errant anatomy refuses to believe that she doesn’t. Fuck, sporting wood behind my zipper now.
I’m beside her on the left, leaving a small distance between us.
“Closer, Ethan. Put your arm around me and bring your face in to mine,” she orders, holding the cell up in front of us and side-moving into me, pushing with a delectable butt cheek into where I ache.
Her gaze darts over her shoulder at me, and I tense because it’s too much to hope she’s missed that I’m packing.
“Move all of you closer,” she says.
I’m catapulted from uncomfortably warm into blistering hot as I press my full body up against her and drape an arm around her shoulders.
“I can’t get the whole name.” Her cheek rests against mine as she maneuvers the camera, and the delicious fragrance of Avery blocks out the smell of the city.
“Well, smile already,” she commands, amused.
Flash. Flash. Flash.
“That’s going to be a great picture. I know without even checking it. We always look perfect together.”
I turn my face toward her to ask if we’re done and unexpectedly run into her mouth moving in on me. This time I can’t stop myself. My hands fill with her hair. Those lips are finally right where I want them. I tell myself no man in his right mind would pass on this.