Jet (Marked Men, #2)(44)

“Look, my advice to you is, don’t screw up a good thing. You guys sound good, but only when you play together. Get your ego in check and apologize to your band. I’m not putting my name on anything I’m not proud of, and right now it sounds like garbage. Let’s eat some pizza and have a couple beers and you go make nice. All right?”

He was quiet for a long moment but eventually nodded and begrudgingly walked to where Jorge was standing in front of the control booth watching Ayden as she messed around on her phone. I pushed the door open and almost missed a step when she grinned up at me.

“Hey.”

“Hey, back. I missed you this morning.”

She winced a little and put her phone down. “I’m sorry about that, I just had to . . .” She trailed off with a shrug. “Run.”

I bent over her and put my hands on the back of the chair, so that I was looking down at her, and she had no other choice but to look up at me. There was something in those whiskey-tinted eyes, something potent and clear. This girl was dangerous. I wanted to do things to her, do things for her that I had never wanted before.

“I have to say, Ayd, I prefer it when you run toward me, not away from me.”

She tilted her head back a little and lifted her hands so that they were resting on my waist. A mixture of heat and something more serious coiled in my stomach. I wanted to imprint everything about her on my brain. I wanted to remember every look, every touch, and every taste. The more time I had with her, the more I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was like the melting clocks tattooed all over my forearm; that she was just an illusion, just a dream that I was trying to hold on to before she faded away .

“I wasn’t running away, Jet. I’m just not sure what this is all about and what to do with any of it.”

“Neither am I, but doesn’t it make more sense to try to figure it out together, rather than just muddling through it alone? Whatever it is, it’s working fine for right now, so let’s leave it alone.”

She wrinkled her nose at me, which was too cute with her sexy little glasses on, and I couldn’t resist bending down to kiss her. I meant to keep it professional because we had an audience, but she tasted like coffee, secrets, and a place where I really wanted to be. Not to mention, she got her fingers under the edge of my T-shirt and dug them into my sides. I could kiss her all day—forever—but she went to my head quicker than the booze her eyes reminded me of, and I was still a little pissed at her for ditching me this morning. I gave her a little nip with my teeth and pushed back off the chair, which sent her spinning around with a little squeal.

“Seriously, Ayd. We’re both smart. Why can’t we do this, make sex and something a little more work for us?”

She put her foot down to stop the chair and shrugged a shoulder. “We can. I want to. I’m just trying to be careful about it. When I wasn’t very careful about things in the past, it really left a nasty mark.”

I reached out a hand, which she grasped as I pulled her to her feet. I tugged her into a hug and tucked her head under my chin. We fit together like that was just how it was supposed to be. She put her hands in the back pockets of my jeans and rested her forehead on my throat.

“If you can tell me how we avoid doing that, Ayd, I’m willing to listen. The only marks I want to leave on you are ones you enjoy being there.”

Her soft hair brushed against my neck and she pulled me a little closer. “One day, maybe, but for now let’s just try to enjoy what it is, without all the baggage weighing it down.”

I felt my eyebrows shoot up, but the guys in the band had made their way into the booth, and we were no longer alone. I ran my hand down her spine and tapped her ass with the flat of my hand. She jumped a little and pushed off me.

“I think the dude is normally supposed to try to sell that arrangement to the chick.”

Those amber eyes glimmered with humor, and all I wanted to do was get her naked and put my hands all over her. She was simply something else, and I wasn’t sure what to do with her or with the way she wound me up so fast. I didn’t have time to keep turning it over, because Jorge forcibly pushed his way between us and started pumping her arm up and down in a way that was comical to watch. I took a few steps back and got a beer, while Ryan tried his best to charm her. She looked at them all with big eyes and sat back down in the chair, while they all chattered at her.

I watched the entire scenario in amusement. She was a very pretty girl and could hold her own. I’d seen her handle drunks with years on these guys and not break a sweat, but maybe because I was watching and we had something as yet unnamed going on, she was watching them carefully and not being her usual laid-back self. They were rapidly firing questions at her; how did she know me, were we a thing, what was her favorite band, had she ever heard of them, what was her favorite song, was she going to stick around and watch them play? She just gaped at them until I guess she had enough, and then came to plant herself solidly next to my side. She put an arm around my waist and regarded them as if they were a pack of wolves and not a bunch of oversexed teenaged musicians.

“Are they always like that?”

“When a hot chick is around, they are. Don’t you know most guys start bands, or learn to play an instrument, to get laid?”

She looked up at me and I laughed at the incredulousness shining out of her bright gaze. I handed her the beer and motioned for everyone to get back to work. Now that she was here, all I wanted to do was finish up and get her home, or get her up against the wall, or get her in the back seat of my car. I wasn’t picky, but I was impatient. She was like music, something I craved, something that I felt deep in my blood and I wasn’t sure what to do with it.