I wasn’t thinking about where we were, or who might have their cell phone trained on me, I was just thinking about sending a clear message to the asshole who thought he had a shot with my girl.
The bastard had the nerve to smirk at me as he slipped behind Cece.
“Get back here and I’ll wipe the floor with you, you scrawny little—”
“Ohmigod, stop!” Cece grabbed my chin, drawing my face down to hers. “You have to let it go. You’re making a scene.”
I didn’t care about a scene. I’d made plenty of scenes over the years and wasn’t about to start giving two shits what people thought, regardless of the warnings from my manager and publicist to tone down my temper.
She wrapped my arms around her waist. I had to admit, she was good at distracting me. Especially when she licked her lips and pressed that sweet little body of hers against mine.
“You think dancin’ with a loser like that is going to make me jealous, Ce? You’ll have to try a little harder next time.”
She laughed, throwing her head back. “You’re so jealous your eyes are green.”
I sneered. “Whatever.” She wasn’t wrong. I knew that guy didn’t stand a chance with her, but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to teach him a lesson for trying. “So, what’s got you in such a mood?” I leaned in, whispering in her ear, “Great sex is supposed to relax you, not make you more uptight. Unless you need another round to help you chill, in which case, I’m definitely your guy.”
Her lips twitched but she wouldn’t reward me with a smile. “You’re my guy, huh?”
I wanted to tell her I was, in every way, which was crazy since I didn’t do commitment. Ever. With anyone. I never disrespected women. My mama raised me better than that. But a life on the road didn’t lend itself to fidelity and I wasn’t a cheater. Of course having my woman on the road with me would negate my concern about abstinence, so there was that.
“You want me to be?” I tipped my head, studying her. She wasn’t the type to make demands on a guy, never had, and I knew I’d be no different. In fact, she’d probably be more reserved with me, because of our friendship.
“What I want,” she said, smiling. “Is pizza. Though it’s probably cold by now.”
“You’re avoiding the question.” Which shouldn’t piss me off, but it did. Cece was trying not to pressure me, I thought, but maybe she was the one who wasn’t ready for coupledom. “Why?”
She sighed, her gaze dipping to my chest. “Look Knox, this is all happening so fast. I just need a minute to catch my breath.”
“It’s happening fast?” I repeated, dumbstruck. “Really? ‘Cause we’ve known each other for years. Hell, no one knows me better than you do and I know that goes both ways.”
“True,” she said, biting her lip. “Butthisis new.” Her cheeks colored before she whispered, “I slept with someone else not more than a minute ago. And I don’t do shit like that, Knox. I don’tseetwo guys at the same time and—”
“You’re not seein’ two guys at the same time.” We needed to get that clear. As far as I was concerned, Auden had been out of the running since I found paradise in her sweet little body. “You’re seein’ me now. Period.”
Her jaw dropped before she said, “Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.” I let that sink in before I said, “This is us, Cec. We have a lot of history. Too much to be friends with benefits, or some stupid shit like that. If we’re in, we need to be all in.” When a look of confusion crossed her beautiful face, I added, “Or out. Your choice.” I had no intention of letting her go that easily, but I needed to give her a choice.
She closed her eyes. “I need time with this. Time to figure out what the hell we’re doing.” She shook her head. “To be honest, I can’t even believe we’re considering this. This is crazy, isn’t it?” When I didn’t respond, her eyes filled with tears and she whispered, “You’re my best friend. I can’t lose you.”
She slayed me, every damn time she looked at me with tears in those emerald eyes. I curled my hands around her face and brushed her lips with mine. “You’re never gonna lose me, sweetness. I’m serious. Not gonna happen.” Even though losing our friendship had been the very reason I held back. I’d be an idiot if I didn’t have reservations about this, but putting her mind at ease was my job. If I couldn’t, this relationship didn’t stand a chance.
“How do you know that?” She curled her hands around my biceps. “You don’t know what might happen. Look at how things turned out with Leo. I never saw that coming.”
Hearing her compare me to that asshat felt like a dropkick to the gut, but I couldn’t blame her for being concerned. I’d acquired a lot of bad habits over the years and many of them included the opposite sex. This wasn’t just a girl who’d read or heard stories about me. Cece had seen it all with her own eyes. Heard the stories from my own mouth. What I wouldn’t give to hit the rewind button and erase every stupid thing I’d ever done from her memory.
“I’d never cheat on you.” I could promise her that. No woman could ever tempt me to break my word to Cece. I had too much love and respect for her to trade that for some cheap one-night stand with a pretty face. “You know that, right?”
Indecision was etched on her beautiful face and I realized she didn’t know that. She couldn’t trust that I wouldn’t cheat on her. Damn. That stung. But it was my own damn fault. Years of being carefree and indiscriminate had finally caught up with me. And I was paying the ultimate price.
“Okay, I see how it is.”
“No, you don’t.” She palmed my cheek, forcing me to look her in the eye. “I know you as well as you know me. We know each other’s dirty little secrets. All of them. You can’t deny that complicates things. We’re not two people just getting to know each other, sharing whatever we want to, so the other person will see us in the best possible light.”
She was painfully right. “I know.”
I touched my forehead to hers, wishing like hell this didn’t have to be so problematic. If it was any other girl and I felt like this, I’d take her back to my tour bus tonight, make love to her, wake up with her in my arms and invite her to hit the next city with me. But this was Cece. My back-up singer. A part of my crew, who was adored and respected by every other member of my road family. If word got out that we were a couple, it would make things weird for everyone. There would be questions and speculation. Talking behind our backs and assumptions that Cece was just another fling for me, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
