Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 384(@200wpm)___ 307(@250wpm)___ 256(@300wpm)
Every time he puts his hand over mine to correct the way I hold the pool cue…my flesh burns.
I’ve never thought of myself as a groupie, but damned if I’m not following him to Europe on a tour.
“Do you girls want to join us?” Mom asks.
I’m busy scanning the area for Jesse.
“We’re going to go talk to Cage and Jake, I think,” Sage says, smiling.
Angie nods, and the two of them walk off.
“What about you, Bree?” Dad asks. “Sit down with your old folks for a while?”
“Okay.” I move toward an empty chair, but then—
Dragon and Jesse appear, walking toward Cage and Jake. My skin reacts with an arousing chill.
“You know, maybe I’ll join the girls. After all, I won’t see much of them once they go back to school.”
“They don’t go back to school for three weeks,” Mom says.
She raises a good point. “True, but there’s something I need to talk to Sage about. I’ll be back in a flash.”
Perhaps I will be back in a flash. If Jesse Pike doesn’t give me the time of day.
Of course, that’s never stopped me from hanging around him before.
I hope he doesn’t look at me as if I’m an annoying little sister. I’m the same age as his youngest sister, Madeline Pike. We call her Maddie, and she’s the honorary fifth member of our awesome foursome. In fact, it was Maddie who coined the group’s name.
I think sometimes she feels left out, but we try to include her as much as we can. The problem is that the four of us are family, so we’re naturally close.
But Gina’s not here tonight, and Maddie is. She joins Angie and Sage. Maddie’s a beauty in her own right, nearly as gorgeous as her sister Rory. Brown hair, brown eyes, killer body.
Luckily, she’s Jesse’s sister, so she’s not competition.
Angie and Sage aren’t really interested in Jesse, not seriously anyway. They’re my only other competition tonight.
Some townies are still here, making googly eyes at the band members, but I’m not worried—
Until one of them grabs Jesse’s arm.
I arrive just in time to hear her say, “You and your sister have the voices of angels. My God, where did all that talent come from?”
I recognize her. She’s a waitress at Lorenzo’s. Her name is Sadie, and she’s beautiful. She’s a little older than I am, too, which doesn’t bode well for me.
“Our father,” Jesse says in his deep drawl. “He’s a musician, and he taught Rory and me from a young age.”
“What’s his name?” Sadie strokes Jesse’s arm lightly.
A fire of jealousy ignites in my gut. Yeah, not liking this.
But Jesse doesn’t seem to react to Sadie’s touch. “His name is Frank Pike. He was here earlier. But he’s not a pro. You wouldn’t have heard of him.”
“If your talent came from him, why isn’t he a pro?”
I head closer, ease into the conversation. “I know why. Rory told me. His music is his hobby. He was afraid he wouldn’t enjoy it as much if he tried to do it for work.”
Jesse turns and looks at me. “Where’d you come from, Bree?”
“My mom and dad always said I came from heaven.” I give him a wide smile.
His lips quirk upward. “I might beg to differ.”
“Hi, Brianna,” Sadie says. “Do you remember me?”
“Of course I do, Sadie. We met at Murphy’s. You work over at Lorenzo’s with your roommate, Nora.”
“Yeah, that’s her.” Sadie gestures. “The blonde talking to Cage.”
I glance over. Sure enough, there she is. She’s not even trying to hide what she wants. She’s all over him, sliding her hands up and down his arm.
“Seems Cage may be getting lucky tonight,” I say.
“Oh, don’t be silly.” Sadie smiles adoringly at Jesse, still holding on to his arm. “Nora is just a touchy-feely kind of person.”
“Of course,” I say.
But that’s a bunch of crap, and we both know it.
And if Sadie doesn’t get her hand off Jesse…
I remember Nora being all over Donny and Henry at a previous Steel party. She likes blond men. Cage fits her type.
Sadie continues her love affair with Jesse’s forearm, gazing into his eyes. “I love the covers you and Rory did. But the best were your original songs. Do you write them?”
Jesse looks down at Sadie’s grasp on his arm. “I write some. Cage and Jake write some.”
“What about Dragon?”
“He’s not much of a writer.” Jesse glances around. “Where the hell did he go anyway? He was just here.”
“I don’t know,” Sadie says.
I dart my gaze around the yard. Then I see him. Dragon Locke is over by the pool house talking to my older sister, Diana.
Lordy. That’s like looking at night and day even here in the dim light of the stars.
Dark Dragon and professional architect Dee.
“There he is. He’s with my sister.”
Jesse quirks his lip. “Diana? Now that’s something I didn’t see coming.”