Chapter Nine
Riley
I guess I should have known better than to think Julio would keep his hands to himself. The second he was in my room he was trying to kiss me, taking his shirt off and lying on my bed with a lecherous grin.
“I told you we’re just hanging out.” I rolled my eyes and sat in a chair across from the bed.
“You’re no fun.” Julio frowned. “Where’s my buddy who liked to get shitfaced and fuck until four in the morning?”
“You got me in a lot of trouble in the old days.” I smiled to soften my words.
He waggled his brows. “We had a blast though.”
“Yeah we did. Tom doesn’t like it that you’re here.”
“Tom can fuck off.” Julio scowled.
I glanced over when Colin came in the room. He’d filled my ice bucket, and he set it on the dresser near me. He started to leave the room, and I called out to him. “Colin, don’t go.”
He faced us, but his jaw was tense. “I need to make a call.”
“Liar.” I snorted.
He shifted uneasily. “I’m not lying.”
“Yeah, mate. Come tell me all about guarding Riley’s body.” Julio grinned and bumped his hips up and down suggestively.
Colin gave a stiff smile. “Maybe another time.”
“Sit. Have a beer.” I gestured toward the bar.
“No booze while I’m working.” He sounded irritable.
I frowned. “One drink isn’t going to incapacitate you.”
“I’m not here to drink with you.”
“I am,” Julio said with a giggle, rolling off the bed and helping himself to the minibar.
I was a little uncomfortable with how Julio was acting. We’d had a lot of fun together in the past, but I felt like I’d matured some while he’d stayed the same. Julio illustrated my point when he grabbed a beer, poked a hole in the bottom with a pen, and then cracked it open, shotgunning the beverage quickly.
Colin didn’t even bother hiding his disapproval of Julio, which surprised me. He curled his lip, shook his head, and went into his room, closing the adjoining door halfway. His snotty behavior annoyed me slightly, but I concentrated on Julio instead of fixating on my uptight bodyguard.
Julio pounded a few more beers, and I nursed the one I had. When he moved on to the hard stuff, I joined him by having some shots of tequila. I made the mistake of sitting on the bed at one point, and Julio was all over me, trying to get his hands in my pants.
“Dude, no.” I laughed, pushing him off.
He pouted and slid his finger down my chest to my belt buckle. “Come on. I’m horny.”
I snorted. “Not my problem.” My gaze shifted to the half-closed door. I could only imagine what Colin thought we were doing in here. I knew that one reason I wasn’t interested in Julio sexually was because I couldn’t stop thinking about Colin. He was the one I wanted right now and no one else.
Julio noticed me looking at the door. “You and him got something going?”
My face warmed, but I tried not to show any emotion. “What? Nah. He’s just my security, that’s all.”
Julio’s dark gaze narrowed. “I got a definite feeling he doesn’t like me.”
“He’s just very focused on his work.”
Julio grinned. “He’s cute though. I wouldn’t mind hitting that.”
His comment annoyed me. “Shhh. He’ll hear you.”
“So?” He cupped his mouth and yelled. “Oh, Colin, come in here please. I’d love to fuck you in the ass.”
I scowled and jumped off the bed. “Hey, knock it off.”
Julio looked surprised at my reaction. “I’m just kidding around.”
“It’s not funny.”
“Why?”
I had no real answer. “It’s late and he’s probably trying to sleep.”
Julio grinned and slowly unzipped his pants. “Suck me off and I’ll be quiet.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re wasted.”
“Yeah.” He laughed. “I am.”
It was hard to stay mad at Julio; he was like a big dumb puppy. “Zip your pants and have another drink, you lunatic.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” He closed up his zipper and helped himself to a mini tequila bottle.
“I talked Tom into keeping you on the tour.”
“Cool.” He nodded. “That means many more nights of fun await us.”
I laughed. “Don’t you ever slow down?”
“Why would I?” He arched one brow and sat on the couch. “I’ve got nobody waiting at home who expects me to be responsible. I can do who and what I want.”
“What happened to Casey?”
He winced. “He dumped me. Said he got tired of me never being in the same city as him.” His mouth turned down at the corners. “Too bad too, cuz I really liked him.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to picture the kind of person who could handle this kind of life on the road. I know right now all I should concentrate on is my career, but I sometimes worry I might never meet anyone.”
He snorted. “Well, duh, mate. Especially if you’re in the closet. How would that work?”
My face warmed. “Maybe it’s time I stopped hiding who I am.”
“I told you that a year ago. It’s not gonna matter to your real fans. They love you. I mean, sure, there will be a few homophobes in the mix. But most of your peeps will stay with you.”
“Tom is so stubborn about it.”
“I think his head is up his ass.” Julio tipped his bottle and then set the empty on the side table. “Your career should be about your music, not who you fuck.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. It felt nice to talk to someone who got it. “It’s becoming harder and harder to hide.”
“Ooh. How hard?” He waggled his brows.
“God. You literally think about sex all the time.”
He sighed and ran his gaze over my body. “I haven’t had a good fuck in a while. We always had a jolly good time, didn’t we?”
“Yep.” I held his gaze. Colin was just on the other side of the wall, and the door was still ajar. There was no way I was going to fuck Julio where Colin could just walk in on us. And most shocking of all, I didn’t want to have sex with Julio.
His gaze slid to the connecting door. “You can deny it all you want, but I can tell you have the hots for that guy.”
My face felt heated. “Stop.”
“Can’t blame you. He’s sexy. The more uptight he looks, the more I just want to mess up his hair and get him all sweaty and flustered.”
The memory of Colin and I in bed together filtered into my brain, sending a lusty flush through me from head to toe. I wanted to tell Julio to shut up, but I knew it would just make him think I liked Colin even more.
“Do you think he’s straight?” Julio licked his lips. “I’ll bet his ass is tight as hell. It’d be like a fucking vice on my cock.”
I bit my lip, praying Colin couldn’t hear what Julio was saying.
Julio sighed. “Maybe we could have a threesome.” He grinned. “I’ve got some handcuffs in my suitcase.”
I rolled my eyes and grimaced. He was talking so loud, I was sure if Colin was awake he’d hear him.
“Fuck. Now I’m all turned on thinking about banging your uptight bodyguard.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Come on, Julio. Stop.” My voice was stiff. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about him like that. He’s here to do his job, and I’d hate for him to feel disrespected.”
Julio raised his brows in surprise, and then a knowing look came over his face. “Sure. Whatever you say, boss.”
I avoided his gaze. “It’s getting late. We should probably go to sleep.”
He stood and stretched, his dark gaze pinned on me. “Sorry if I offended.”
“I’m not offended.” I walked with him to the door.
He opened it and paused. “It’s nice to be working with you again. Even if we don’t fuck.”
I laughed. “I didn’t say never. I’m just tired tonight.”
“Right.” He smirked and patted my cheek. “I know when I’ve been replaced.”
My face warmed. “You’ve got it wrong.”
“Bullshit, baby. But that’s cool. You want to be in denial, go for it.” He sighed and closed the door.
I leaned my back against it and closed my eyes. It was frustrating that the whole time Julio had flirted with me, all I’d been able to think about was Colin. I’d just wanted Colin to come into the room so I could see him and inhale his scent.
I moved farther into the room and glanced at the door that was half-open. There was the sound of a flushing toilet, and Colin came out of his bathroom. He noticed me in the doorway, and he stopped. He was wearing only black boxers, and I couldn’t help scanning his muscled chest and rippled abs.
“Julio left,” I said quickly to distract myself from ogling him.
He nodded and looked unsure of what to do next. “You heading to bed?” His voice was soft.
“Yeah.” My cock was semihard from the sight of him, and I was embarrassed he might notice.
I expected him to close the door more or just walk away, but he didn’t. He came nearer, and he opened the door further. He smelled like coconut shampoo, and my stomach tensed with excitement.
“Sorry if we were too loud.”
He shrugged. “It was fine. I couldn’t sleep anyway.”
“Why?”
“Just couldn’t.” His voice was flat.
I took a step toward him, wanting to be closer. His face tensed, but he didn’t move away. “Julio’s a little rough around the edges,” I said softly.
He licked his lips. “Maybe you like it rough.”
I flared my nostrils as all sorts of sexual thoughts assaulted me. “Come in my room.”
Lust fluttered through his gaze, but he gave a sharp jerk of his head. “No.”
“I know you want me too.”
“So what?”
“So give into it. I want you in my bed again.”
He narrowed his eyes. “It’s day one and you’re already not respecting the boundaries.”
I shifted restlessly, my cock painfully constricted in my jeans. “Why are you so stubborn?”
He clenched his jaw. “Do you want a bodyguard or a hooker?”
My face flushed with heat.
He leaned in, his eyes light blue and glittery. “You know where I stand on this. If it’s too hard for you, I’m out.”
“Just like that?”
“Unfortunately, yeah.”
I sighed. “You’re a hard guy to get close to.”
“You’re not trying to get to know me. You want sex.” He chuffed. “I heard your buddy and all the shit he said about me.”
I grimaced. “Sorry. I told him to shut up.”
“Yeah. Eventually.”
“That has nothing to do with us.”
“It kind of does. You musician types fuck around a lot. It’s obvious by how you talk about sex like it’s drinking a Coke. I’m not like that. I don’t want to be like that.”
“I admit Julio was out of line. But I didn’t do anything.”
He looked at me like I was nuts. “You’re hitting on me.”
Shrugging, I said, “I’ve had a few drinks.”
He laughed gruffly. “That’s my point, Riley. Alphas get drunk and just want to fuck. It’s almost insulting. I don’t think you really even care who you go to bed with.”
“That’s not true. I really like you, Colin.” I was a little embarrassed I’d admitted that so freely. But I hated that he had such a horrible opinion of me. I wasn’t the shallow asshole alpha he took me for.
His gaze softened slightly. “I like you too, or I wouldn’t be here.”
“But you want me to keep my hands to myself.” I sighed.
“It’s for the best.”
I studied him, struggling with what I wanted to convey. “I don’t screw anything that walks. I want you to know that.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“No, you’re wrong. It does matter. It matters to me what you think. I wasn’t always careful. I drank too much, and I did fuck around. But I haven’t been like that for a long time. I don’t want you thinking I’m like that.”
He held my gaze. “Maybe it’s easier for me to ignore you if I do think of you that way.”
“That’s not fair.”
He smiled. “I know. But it’s effective.”
I shook my head. “You’re one obstinate fellow.” I moved toward my bed. “I guess it’s flattering that I’m so irresistible—you have to make up shit to keep your hands off me.”
He chuckled.
I threw back the covers on my bed. “You may have won this battle, but you haven’t won the war.”
Sighing, he said, “Of that, I have little doubt.”