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In the aisle of the bus, they proceeded to jump and giggle and booty dance until Lauren couldn’t stand another second and had to join in.
Ryan glanced at West. “Do you understand women?”
“No, but I sure appreciate what they bring to the table.” West licked his lips and cocked his head, presumably to watch Lo’s butt bounce.
“That’s really sweet of him,” Molly said, and if Ryan wasn’t mistaken, she almost sounded wistful.
Had to be wind noise or something distorting his hearing. Molly never showed emotion of any sort, and definitely not anything regarding a desire for a man in her life. Or a woman. Or anything at all but her career, end of story.
Ryan got that single-minded focus. At least he used to. Not so much anymore.
On that note, he needed to go talk to Den to make sure she was cool with all of this. Though she’d said stopping for the show was fine, she liked to stick to her itinerary.
Taking advantage of the excitement, he slipped off the couch and went up to Denver’s area, bracing a foot in the stairwell as he gripped the back of her chair. Ahead of the bus were ribbons of straight, flat road.
“Nice day,” he said.
She didn’t give him a glance. “Yep.”
“You’re really all right with stopping for the show?”
“Sure. We got lucky with tickets. The world is in love and in bloom.” Her thin smile made him grip her chair that much tighter.
He wanted to touch her, but that was a bad idea for way too many reasons.
“You should be jazzed if you’re a Keith fan. At least Elle thought you were.”
Denver shrugged. “He’s good.”
“Don’t be so effusive.”
“We have a schedule, Ry.” She hunched her shoulders. “There’s a lot of miles to cover between here and there.”
“Yeah, but we don’t have to be to Vegas until—”
“Don’t you think I know my job?”
He frowned. “Of course. Just saying we have wiggle room.”
“You have wiggle room, because you’re the talent. I’m just a lackey. But I do a good job because it matters to me. It’s not like I want to go to Vegas anyway,” she muttered.
“Hey. Look at me.”
When she didn’t move, he shifted his grasp to her shoulder. “Colorado.”
She gave him the briefest of glances, but it was enough time for him to glimpse the wobble in her chin.
What the hell was going on? Why didn’t she want to go to Vegas?
He crouched beside her chair, balancing one arm on the bar that helped to block off her little area. Her honey scent hijacked his brain, scrambling his thoughts until he pulled himself back on track. “If you don’t want to do the show, we’ll go somewhere else tonight, just you and me. Get a room somewhere and forget everyone else exists. We’ll forget Vegas too, since you think it’s the devil.” He brushed his thumb over her cheekbone.
He knew it was a risk they would be spotted—or worse, that she would shun the affection—but he couldn’t not touch her when he knew she was upset. His entire system rebelled at the idea.
She angled her face toward his hand, shocking him. He threaded his fingers into her hair, massaging the base of her skull. “Let me get you a refill on your tea.”
“I should resist your attempts to coddle me.”
“Why? We all need coddling sometimes. And I like to do it.”
