Double Time

Chapter 4

Trey leaned back against the edge of the hot tub and closed his eyes. He wondered if Reagan would actually stay true to her word or if she’d back out of their bargain. He couldn’t quite figure her out. It unsettled him a little. He liked it a bit too much.

An excited squeal grew in pitch and volume from the hall in the house. Trey’s eyes snapped open and, through the ballroom windows, he watched Reagan sprint down the hall and into the changing rooms that led to the pool area. She stopped beside the hot tub and shook a piece of paper as if it were a winning lottery ticket. “A one-year contract with chance of renewal,” she yelled.

“Awesome.”

“Money. More money than I could make in ten years.”

“Exodus End is loaded.”

Her gleeful smile faltered. “You don’t care. You don’t even know me.” She pulled out a cell phone and pushed a button before jabbering into it at a million miles a minute. “Ethan. Ethan. Listen. I won the contest and—Yeah, yeah, I won. I just signed a contract with Exodus End. I’m going to be their rhythm guitarist on this year’s tour.” She paused while whoever Ethan was responded. “Yes, you told me so. You can gloat later.” Trey should have known a woman like Reagan would be taken. He started to climb out of the hot tub. Reagan’s eyes widened and she darted around the tub to push him back in. “Stay,” she said.

Trey laughed and stood in the roiling water with his hands on both naked hips. Oh well. So he couldn’t fuck her. He could still hang out with her as a friend. He liked her already. She was interesting. Different. Hot as hell. A great kisser. Why would she kiss him like that if she had a boyfriend?

“Do you want a job?” she said into her phone. “They want me to hire a personal bodyguard. You’d have to come on tour with me.” She rolled her eyes. “No, that’s not why. Just think about it, okay? It pays a lot, benefits and everything, but I can’t talk right now. I’ve got a date in a hot tub with Trey Mills.”

Date?

Reagan disconnected the call. She kissed her contract and then headed back into the changing room.

Now where was she going? Trey shook his head and returned to his seat in the hot tub. Reagan came back a moment later in her hot pink panties and white tank top. Okay, that was totally unfair. He couldn’t be expected to think of her as a friend in that outfit. He couldn’t think at all when he noticed the twin bumps of her nipples straining against her top.

“I didn’t wear a bra today so I’ll have to wear my shirt in the hot tub,” she said when she noticed him ogling her. “Maybe I should just go topless.”

He couldn’t find words. He was too busy trying to register hers. She stepped in the hot tub and the water concealed her shapely legs from view. Damn, he was hard as granite already. If she went topless…

“You’re right. I’m being silly,” she said. “It’s not like you’ve never seen a pair of tits before. Am I right? Mine aren’t even that great.”

Before he had the chance to confirm or deny her assumption, Reagan grabbed the hem of her shirt and peeled it off over her head. Her beautiful breasts rose and fell as she removed the tank top and threw it on the side of the hot tub. A grunt of protest escaped Trey as she sank into the water and hid those small globes of flesh with their tempting pink tips from view. He rubbed his tongue against the ridge of his upper teeth to curtail the urge to flick it over her nipples. Despite what she claimed, her breasts were perfect and he very much wanted to show her just how great he thought they were. Reagan sat beside him, within arm’s reach, but not touching him. And while he figured he could probably pounce on her now and get down to business, something stopped him. He wanted to talk to her even more than he wanted to fuck her. Very bizarre. Mostly because he really, really wanted to fuck her.

“Dare said that Brian had a baby this morning,” she said.

“Yeah, I never thought Brian would ever be able to push it out through such a little hole. It was fuckin’ brutal.”

She laughed and splashed water at him. “You know what I mean. His wife had a baby. Boy or girl?”

Trey couldn’t help but smile. He kind of wanted to hold the little guy again already. “Boy.”

“Have you seen him?”

“Yeah, I was there when he was born.” He purposely left out the fainting part. “He looks like his father.”

“Niiiice,” she said.

Trey laughed. “Got a thing for Sinclair?”

“Oh my God, the man is delicious.”

Couldn’t argue with that. Trey happened to agree.

“When I said my band broke up over a kid, I didn’t mean that Sinners would break up.”

She touched his arm and that electric sensation he’d felt earlier snaked across his skin again.

“Brian won’t let us down,” Trey said. “Still, things are… changing.”

“Is that bad?”

“In some ways, yeah, but in others…” Trey sighed. “I guess things can’t stay the same forever.”

“Thank God,” she said. Her grayish-blue eyes turned skyward. “I thought I was going to be serving coffee for the rest of my life.”

“Is that what you do for a living?”

“Pssh, no. I’m the rhythm guitarist for fucking Exodus End. Don’t you know anything?”

She tilted her head at him and shook her head. She was so genuinely beautiful it took his breath away. He grinned. “Congratulations. How long have you been playing?”

“Three years.”

Trey almost swallowed his tongue. “You learned to play like that in three years?”

“I played cello before I picked up the guitar, but yeah.”

“What are you—some kind of prodigy?”

She shrugged. “I’ve won a contest or two.”

“Do you still play cello?”

“I played for my dad, not myself. He’s a music teacher. He started me on violin young, but as soon as I could hold a cello properly I switched.”

“Was he strict?”

She laughed. “Not exactly. I just liked to make him happy. There wasn’t much joy in his life after my mom divorced him. He still has all the programs, certificates, ribbons, and trophies from my competitions hanging all over his den. I need to call him and let him know I’m going on tour with Exodus End.” She laughed. “He’s so going to hate it.”

“I’d think it would make him proud.”

She talked out of the side of her mouth as if disclosing a great secret. “He despises rock ’n’ roll. It led to the great rebellion of my teen years and me moving out here to Los Angeles on my twenty-first birthday. Growing up, he wouldn’t let me listen to anything but classical music.”

“My mom was the same way but with folk music.” Trey attempted to suppress a shudder. He still had nightmares about being forced to play “Kumbaya” for all eternity in his personal hell.

“How long have you been playing?” she asked.

He was almost embarrassed to say. “Uh, fifteen years or so.” More like eighteen, but who was counting?

“I love your sound,” she said. “You complement Brian as if he was your soul mate.”

“And you play just like him.”

She blushed. Damn, he wanted to kiss her again. She was tough for a woman, yet there was something sweet about her. The combination stirred something within him. The fact that she played guitar like the man he’d loved for over a decade stirred him even more.

“Who’s Ethan?” he asked. If she said he was her boyfriend, Trey was going to break his own rule about interfering in other people’s relationships. He wanted this woman. His typical take-em-or-leave-em feelings for the opposite sex did not apply in this case.

“My best friend,” she said.

“Only friends?” Messing up a romantic relationship where the partners were best friends would bother him even more, but he’d still give it a go because there was something unique about this woman. Something he wanted to identify, to get to know, to understand.

“Well, we used to date,” she said, “but… uh, let’s just say I wasn’t enough for him.”

Not enough for him? Was the guy a moron? “You’re kidding, right?”

“Ethan’s great. Really. Too bad he likes men. I caught him fucking some guy in my shower. Talk about a shock to the system. Especially since I’d stripped off all my clothes to join him.”

Trey lowered his eyes. He wondered if homosexuality bothered her. He tended to be very open about his bisexual nature, but he’d sworn off men that morning, so it was no longer applicable. Right? Somehow he didn’t think that line of logic would fly with Reagan, but what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her.

“You aren’t some kind of homophobe, are you?” she asked.

Trey laughed and lifted his gaze to meet her questioning eyes. “Uh, no,” he said. “Not at all.”

“Good. What happens in a person’s bedroom is no one’s business but his own. It would have been nice to have some sort of warning though. I had absolutely no clue that he was gay. We used to go at it like rabbits.” She scowled and a distant look settled over her even features. That guy, Ethan, had really hurt her. Trey could tell. Yet, somehow she’d forgiven him enough to continue to be friends with him. She must be fairly open-minded about such things. He hoped.

“So you asked this guy, Ethan, to be your bodyguard?”

She smiled at him. “Yeah, he’d do a good job. He’s very protective of me. Maybe a little too protective. He keeps scaring away my boyfriends.”

“Do you have a boyfriend now?”

She looked up him. “Do you think I’d let you kiss me if I had a boyfriend?”

There were plenty of women out there who’d let him kiss them (and more) with their boyfriends watching. “I don’t know you well enough to say.”

“I wouldn’t.”

He believed her.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” she asked.

“Do you think I’d get into a hot tub naked with you if I did?”

“Yes.”

He laughed. “I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m not really the commitment type.”

“What type are you?”

“The just-looking-for-a-good-time type.”

“That’s too bad.”

His heart sank. He wasn’t sure why. Usually if someone wasn’t interested he just blew it off. He ducked his head and lifted his gaze to meet her eyes. “Maybe you could change my mind.”

She laughed. “Does that line actually work?”

He’d never thought to use it before. Probably because it would have complicated things. He didn’t like complications. He wasn’t sure what had changed since this morning to make him crave a few complications. As long as they involved Reagan Elliot. “That wasn’t a line,” he said.

“I’m not buying it, Mills.”

He leaned close to her ear and she stiffened. He waited until goose bumps rose along her neck and shoulder before he spoke in his well-practiced seductive voice. “You know what you need?” She shivered and Trey leaned an inch closer so his warm breath would caress the damp skin just below her ear. “A hard, slow fuck against a wall.”

Her breath caught.

“That was a line,” he whispered into her ear.

She slapped at his shoulder. “Well, I would have fallen for that one.”

He leaned back and cocked an eyebrow at her. “You would have?”

“Yeah, because it’s true. That’s exactly what I need. A hard… slow… fuck against a wall.”

Trey’s balls throbbed incessantly. The way she said “fuck” made him feel like he was already sheathed deep inside her body.

“You’re just the man to give it to me,” she said in a husky, breathless voice.

His heart skipped a beat. He reached for her, and she grabbed his head between her hands just before his lips met hers. She stared deeply into his eyes and then winked.

“That was a line,” she said and shoved him away.

He laughed and once he got started, he couldn’t stop. He collapsed against the back of the tub and covered both eyes with his wet hands. He might have found his match in this woman.

“Is it safe to join you?” Dare asked from the edge of the hot tub.

Trey was glad his brother had found the decency to put on swim trunks.

“We’re just talking,” Reagan said.

“Just talking? You must be a married woman or something,” Dare said.

“Nope.”

“Trey’s moving slow today. Did he use his hard, slow fuck against a wall line?” Dare settled into the tub across from Trey.

Reagan gasped in indignation.

“Apparently so.”

“Jackass,” Trey grumbled.

“You’re the jackass,” Reagan said.

Trey shrugged. “What can I say? I love sex.”

Reagan stared at him for a moment and murmured something that sounded like, “Me too,” before she turned her attention to Dare. “Did everyone go home?”

Dare reached for the glass of cola he’d set beside the hot tub and took a sip. “Yeah. This is the first break we’ve had from touring in a while. We need some time apart.”

“Maybe I should go,” Reagan said. “I wouldn’t want you to get sick of me.”

Dare met her eyes and held her gaze. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem, Reagan.”

She flushed. Trey scowled. Dare didn’t need lines to attract women. He just had to sit there and give off Dare-a-mones.

“Did you want something to drink?” Dare asked Reagan.

Damn it. Trey should have asked her first.

“I am a little parched.”

“I’ll get it,” Trey offered. When he started to stand, Reagan grabbed his thigh to keep him seated. His naked thigh.

His cock thickened in a surge of hot lust.

“You’re naked,” she reminded him.

And he would have been fine climbing out of the hot tub naked before she’d touched him. Now if he left the water, he’d embarrass himself in front of his brother. When she didn’t move her hand, he eased toward her. Wanting her to touch him, not just there, but everywhere.

“I’ve seen him naked before. I wasn’t overly impressed,” Dare said and took another sip of his Coke. “Harold!” he yelled.

A moment later Dare’s servant/butler/whoever appeared beside the tub. “Did you need something, Mr. Mills?”

“I have guests.”

“Right.” Harold turned to Reagan and Trey. The shine of the afternoon sun on his bald spot was almost blinding as he bowed slightly. “Would you like a beverage? A snack? Cherry sucker?”

Trey nodded.

“What do you have?” Reagan asked.

“Anything your heart desires,” Harold said.

“Sex on the beach?”

“Anywhere your heart desires,” Trey said.

Reagan slid her hand farther up Trey’s thigh and he stiffened. In more than one location.

“I should probably abstain,” she said. “I have to find the correct bus home.”

Abstinence should not be a word in this woman’s vocabulary. Trey’s gaze lowered to the shadows of her dusty-pink nipples just beneath the surface of the water. He bit his lip so he didn’t start with the come-on lines again. Her fingertips stroked sensual trails up and down the inside of his thigh. She moved within inches of his crotch and then away again. An inch closer this time.

Oh God.

“Don’t worry about it,” Dare said. “Have a drink if you like. If you get wasted, the driver can take you home in the limo.”

Reagan’s eyes brightened. “You have a limo?”

“The band has a limo,” Dare said, “so technically you have a limo too.”

“No. Feckin’. Way.” Her hand squeezed Trey’s thigh and he almost leapt out of the water. “Did you hear that, Trey? I have a limo.”

Trey murmured in her ear, “We should go for a ride.”

“That would be fun. We could swing by work and I can quit. Or get fired. I don’t really care.”

“Why would they fire you?” Dare asked.

“Because I’m supposed to be there right now and I didn’t even call to let them know I wasn’t coming. Not very responsible of me.”

“So typically you’re a responsible person?” Trey asked.

“I’m wearing nothing but my panties in a hot tub with a pair of rock star brothers—one of them naked. Does that sound responsible to you?”

“I don’t have a problem with it,” Dare said and laughed.

Reagan grinned. “I have a tendency to do what I want, when I want. Fuck the consequences.”

Trey leaned close and pressed his nose to the outer ridge of her ear as he spoke in his most seductive voice. “Can I be the consequences?”

She turned her head and lifted an eyebrow at him. “Are you always this naughty?”

“This is well-behaved for Trey,” Dare said and laughed again. His brother was having a grand time at his expense. Trey would get him back for this at his earliest opportunity.

“I figured as much.” Reagan leaned closer until her lips were a hairsbreadth from his. He couldn’t remember ever wanting to kiss a woman so bad. But for once in his life he wasn’t sure how to make the first move. Her signals were all mixed and driving him to distraction. He couldn’t figure out what he needed to do to get what he wanted from her. Probably because he wasn’t sure what he wanted from her. Maybe he didn’t want anything from her. Maybe he just wanted her. Period.

“Do you know what I do to naughty boys?” she asked.

“Tease them to their limits and then shoot them down,” Dare guessed and took a nonchalant sip of his beverage.

Reagan grinned. “Exactly.”

Well, fuck, if she was just going to shoot him down anyway, he might as well push the envelope.

“Do you know what I do to naughty girls?” he asked, locking her gaze with his.

“What?”

“I put in my tongue piercing.” He ran a fingertip down the center of his tongue.

“And?” She actually sounded bored. What the hell?

“I flick it over their clit until they scream.”

“What do they scream?”

“Oh, Trey. Fuck me. Please.”

She tilted her head and stared above his head in contemplation. “Not very original.”

Dare chuckled. “This is sweet,” he said. “Reagan, I think I love you.”

“Shut up, Dare,” Trey grumbled. He shot a look of disgust over his shoulder at his brother’s smug face.

Reagan’s wet hand caressed Trey’s cheek and he turned his head to look at her. “Do you know what I’d say?”

He knew he was walking into something, but he couldn’t seem to help it. “What?”

Her face went slack, eyes closed, mouth opened in that unmistakable look of feminine bliss. “Oh, Trey, I’m so empty right now. Don’t make me come without your thick cock pounding me hard. And deep. And fast. Oh yes, give it to me. Harder. Oh please, harder.”

Trey’s mouth went dry.

She opened her eyes and grinned devilishly. “Can you tell me where the bathroom is?”

He had no idea what a bathroom was at that moment. Did she really expect him to form a coherent response?

When Trey did nothing but gape at her, she glanced at Dare. “Bathroom?”

It took Dare a long moment to answer. “Uh, yeah. There’s one in the changing room.” He flung a wet hand in the general direction of the house.

“Thanks.” Reagan climbed out of the hot tub. Water coursed from her beautiful body and left wet footprints on the pavement in her wake. Trey watched the sweet globes of her ass flex beneath the clinging satin of her panties as she trotted toward the house. When she was out of sight, he relaxed against the edge of the hot tub and emitted a tormented groan.

“She is fucking luscious, isn’t she?” Dare said.

Trey sat up straight. “Are you going to pursue her?” He’d hate to have to compete against his brother for a woman, but Reagan kept tempting him to break his usual patterns.

“I would,” Dare said, “but A, she’s in my band and I won’t jeopardize my career for a woman, and B, I think she likes you.”

“I think she’s just fucking with me.”

Dare chuckled. “And I am totally getting off on that.”

“You would.”

“I’ve never seen a woman go head-to-head with you before. They either think you’re the biggest jackass on the planet or they are seduced before you offer them a second glance. She’s different. I think she’d be great for you.”

“You do?” Trey glanced back at the door Reagan had disappeared through, hoping she’d return quickly. He already missed the sight of her. And the sound of her husky voice. And the slight lift at the corner of her mouth when she was teasing him. And the feel of her hand on his thigh.

“She’ll keep you on your toes.” Dare’s teasing grin faded. “How did it go this morning?”

“How did what go?” Trey asked, head reeling from the sudden change in subject.

“Seeing Brian with his son.”

Trey’s heart skipped a beat. “Oh that. Well, I…” He covered the center of his chest with one hand. The emotional anguish of earlier returned—hot and raw as ever—like a branding iron burning a hole through his heart. When he’d been concentrating on Reagan, that pain had been completely absent. She was just the distraction he needed. “Brian belongs with Myrna. I’ve decided… It’s time for me… I’m moving on.”

Dare slid around the periphery of the hot tub and wrapped an arm around Trey’s shoulders. “You okay?” Dare said, his voice husky with emotion.

“I think so.”

Dare was the only person on the planet who knew how much Brian meant to him. The only person. In true big-brother fashion, he’d advised Trey to let Brian go for years, but when he couldn’t, Dare had been the caring ear Trey had needed whenever things got too painful to bear.

“Do you need to talk about it?” Dare asked, his hand moving to the side of Trey’s head to press his temple against his shoulder. Trey couldn’t ask for a more understanding big brother.

“I think it needs to sink in for a few days. It’s still kind of new.”

“You know where to find me if you need me. I’m always here for you. You know that.”

Trey smiled and patted the center of Dare’s bare chest with one hand. “Thanks, Dare.”

“Oh my God, you two are so fucking gorgeous,” Reagan said from the patio behind them. “My vibrator is going to get one hell of a workout tonight.”

Not if Trey could help it.