Rock Redemption (Rock Kiss, #3)(81)

“Once, I came back to my trailer on set and it felt as if someone had rifled through my purse. Nothing was missing, so I figured I was just being paranoid, but I changed the locks on the gate, the house, and the car anyway, despite the cost. A few days later, I found scratches on my car lock, as if someone had tried to use a key.”

Noah gripped the steering wheel with bruising force. “You tell the cops this?”

“Sure—and studio security at the time. But you know how many people there are on a lot at any one time.” Pragmatic words. “It’s a miniature city. And since I didn’t get any threatening notes or anything stalker specific, I figured it must’ve just been an opportunistic thief.”

“You’re taking this a lot better than I am.” He wanted to strangle the creep.

Patting his arm, she said, “I’ve had a lot longer to get past the angry stage. These days I concentrate on being smart, on not giving him any opportunities, or my emotional energy.” She relaxed into her seat. “Have you spoken to Abe since we got back?”

“This morning after breakfast.” The keyboard player was not in a good headspace, and Noah had intended to bully him into coming over so he wouldn’t be alone with his demons, but someone had beaten him to it. “He’s staying with David and Thea.”

“Sarah?”

“She wanted to go home, but Fox and Molly convinced her to stay with them. Her face needs to heal so she can go out, and they’re worried because her ex has keys to her place.” After the way Jeremy Vance had hurt Sarah, no one wanted to take any chances by leaving her alone in a space he could access.

“I’ve met guys like him before,” Kit said, tone grim. “They’re cowards who wait till they get their victims alone.”

Noah nodded, in full agreement with her about the spinelessness of any man who’d hit a woman. “Thea went in quietly with a security guy and collected clothing and other personal stuff for Sarah, and she’s arranging for the locks to be changed. It has to be done under the radar, so it’ll take a few days.”

In the meantime, Sarah would stay out of public view and Abe would stay with friends who understood his triggers and how to defuse them. “One piece of bad news—Thea had a couple of calls from reporters who heard Abe and Sarah and Vance came face-to-face at the festival. They’re sniffing around for a story.”

“Damn, that’s the last thing either Sarah or Abe need.” Kit shot him a determined look. “Let’s distract the paparazzi with the promise of a money shot, have them too busy salivating over us to worry about an ex-couple.”





Chapter 29


Noah had no argument with Kit’s suggestion. If this was what he could do to help his friend, then it was what he’d do. “PDA?” he suggested, figuring he could pull something like he had at the concert, closeness that wouldn’t make either one of them uncomfortable.

Kit twisted her lips. “No, let’s go be cute together.”

“I don’t do cute.” He shuddered. “Don’t start expecting me to buy you soft toys or other sweet shit.” But since she really wanted a teddy bear, he’d get it for her. It’d be kind of adorable to see Kit go all soft and happy over a cuddly toy.

“So romantic.” The words were dry enough to parch the desert. “That’s why it’s going to be catnip to the paparazzi. ‘Noah St. John Tamed’—I can just see the headlines.”

He pretended to gag. “I never knew I was signing on for fiendish and painful torture.”

Laughter from the passenger seat. “You come up with an idea then. I’ve never consciously played the media this hard before.”

“We get caught making out in a car.”

“In broad daylight? I don’t think anyone will buy that from me.” A pause, her next words soft and nearly soundless. “And if we’re going to have a first kiss, I want it to be private.”

Noah stopped breathing for a second. He didn’t know how to kiss. Having anyone’s face close to his, it was too personal, too much an invasion. When he f*cked women, he took them over. A kiss though, it would bring them into him too, leave a mark. He preferred distance. Maybe that was f*cked-up, but in the grand scheme of things, it was a minor detail.

“Your turn,” he said, his gut all tense. “No PDA, no cute, no making out.”

“I could get caught standing with my hand over my belly,” Kit said with a gleeful laugh. “That would be so much fun, except people might take me seriously and there goes Redemption.”

Noah didn’t laugh. “You want kids?”

“Yes.” A pause. “I know you don’t, but I really do.”

“Before, what I said, I was just thinking of some poor kid stuck with me for a dad.” He’d have screwed that up royally. “With you, it’d be different.” He already knew Kit would rock the motherhood thing, and when he was with her, he was a better man. If they ever got to the point where they could do the kid thing, she’d teach him how to be a good father, and he’d listen—he never wanted his kid to hate him like he hated Robert St. John.

“Yes, well, we can talk about all that later.” Kit’s voice was odd, but then she snapped her fingers. “I have it. Let’s go to Disneyland. You don’t have to be cute—the location is cute all by itself.”