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“That was the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” Teag said, lifting her chin.
He took her hand, the one that had been busy in her nether regions, and kissed her palm. Then, sucking each finger into his mouth one by one, he licked off the wetness coating them.
“It’s only fair,” he said. “You got to taste me.”
**
Instead of reheating the pancakes, Maria warmed the maple syrup in a saucepan. She also scrambled some eggs and tossed bacon in a frying pan, working on autopilot as her mind replayed the heated encounter with Teag. She’d felt the chemistry between them from the moment they’d met, but the reality of it was beyond her wildest imagination. She could only dream of what sex with him would be like.
Teag sat relaxed at the kitchen table, tapping the sugar bowl softly with his spoon and looking totally blissed out. Maria couldn’t help her satisfied grin. She’d put that look on his face, and damn if she didn’t want to do it again very soon.
She piled food on their plates, topped off their coffee, and sat across from him. Teag’s expression was soft.
“Thank you, Maria, for everything. For saving my life. For opening up to me. For taking a chance on this, on us,” he said.
“I’m sorry I was so awful to you, Teag,” she said, nibbling a piece of bacon.
“It’s all right. My reputation has been well-earned, but I appreciate you’re willingness to see past it.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“What really happened between you and Natalia?”
Teag’s expression blanked. He placed his fork on his plate, wrapped his hands around his mug of coffee, and leaned back in his chair.
“You don’t have to tell me,” Maria said, wincing. She already regretted the question, not wanting to burst their little bubble of happiness.
“It’s okay. All’s fair, right?” he said, the joke sounding half-hearted at best.
“Seriously, Teag. I’m just curious, but it really doesn’t matter. I know the tabloids got it wrong.”
Teag sighed and shrugged. “They did and they didn’t. Natalia definitely got blacklisted from the industry, but I didn’t cost her that contract.”
Maria raised her eyebrows, stabbed a forkful of pancake, and nodded for him to continue. “Well, now I really am curious,” she said, stuffing the fluffy deliciousness into her mouth.
“It was Fiona,” Teag said.
“What? Why?” Maria sputtered, her mouth still full. She knew her friend was much fiercer than she looked, but Fiona didn’t have a vindictive bone in her body.
Teag laughed. “Our little Fiona Flynn is a protective mama bear, and not just with Violet. Natalia was using me, right from the start. She wanted access to our connections, specifically our manager. The thing is, Natalia’s a good singer and a phenomenal violin player. As a band, we love helping new talent. We were getting her in front of the right people, but apparently it wasn’t happening fast enough, so she started hedging her bets.”
“By hedging her bets, do you mean sleeping with other musicians?” Maria asked, although she suspected she knew the answer.
“Oh yeah. I was thinking about ring shopping, and she was fucking Jay Rourke, the guitar player from Last Resort. He’s the only one I know about since he actually told me.”
“Ouch.”
“He didn’t realize I was serious with Natalia. She’d told him we’d only dated casually. He mentioned trying to get her a spot at an upcoming music festival we were all playing at and that she was staying at his place for the week working on a set list. She’d told me she went home to Kentucky to take care of her sick mom.”
“Wow. What a calculating bitch,” Maria said, offended on Teag’s behalf.
“Yeah, not sure how I missed that,” Teag admitted.
“You loved her,” Maria said simply. She understood firsthand how loving someone could blind you to their faults. “Did you confront her?”
“Yep. She lied through her teeth. She had no idea that Jay and I were friends, and that I already knew where she was and what she was doing. Obviously, after I let her bury herself in lies, I broke it off with her. She didn’t seem too bothered by it since she thought she had another way in through Jay. What she didn’t bank on was Fiona’s pull in the industry. Last Resort and Madison Grace use the same record label, and Fiona is a partial owner of that label. When Fi heard what Natalia was doing, she made it very clear that Natalia would never get a contract with Horizon Records, and further, that our manager, who happened to be Jay’s manager as well, had better not touch Natalia with a ten-foot pole.”
