Page 30 of Filthy Lovin Heroes

But all I could think of was that kiss…

Listening to her visit with West, she sounded like a smart girl—make that woman—but she was pretty naïve if she thought getting a job out here would be based entirely on merit.

The shit I’d seen out here in the entertainment business—I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. What had Harrison been thinking of sending her out here like a lamb among the wolves? I knew he was distracted with his wife Stephanie and their new baby coming soon.

Still, I couldn’t fathom Piper alone in this city. Sure maybe she’d have roommates, but that didn’t give me any solace. That could even be more unsafe than her living alone, with roommates bringing strangers in at all hours.

My musings took up most of the drive back to Hollywood Hills where I lived. West pulled us into my gated driveway. My keycode unlocked the gate, and the tall metal panels slowly swung inward.

“We’re home,” I said, cutting short West’s attempts to impress Piper with his audition war stories.

Never had my words filled me with more dark pleasure.

Two

Piper

Tyler wasn’t glad to see me, not even in the slightest. It was strange because when he first saw me at the airport, he lit up, I swear it.

I bit my lower lip fighting back the tears as we pulled up his long driveway. I was jet-lagged, a little drunk and majorly horny. I’d been in love with Tyler King since my brother's wedding five years ago. And I’d been dreaming of kissing him for so long, the few cocktails I had in first-class to help dull the pain of my broken arm gave me the courage I needed.

The last time I met Tyler, I had been a needy mess. On Harrison’s wedding day, my high school boyfriend broke up with me. Apparently, my supposed best friend had been blowing him, an opportunity that I had refused. The result was I spent my brother’s wedding feeling embarrassed and sorry for myself.

Tyler put his arm around me as I cried my eyes out that day. He didn’t say anything, but he just sat with me at the edge of the reception shielding me from prying eyes. I remember how his date (some gorgeous model) sulked while he sat with me.

I fell in love with him then and there. How could I not? I was sixteen. And he was already on his way to fame with his band, The Kings. Like the teenage dork that I was, I snotted into his suit jacket and babbled about my horse.

No wonder he wasn’t glad to see me now. How could I ever recover from that? I hoped he’d see that I had changed, which in all fairness to myself was a low point for me personally. But as an artist, I knew better than anyone that first impressions counted big time.

This trip was a huge mistake.

The trouble was I had nowhere else to go now.

Tyler’s impression on me was life altering. Sure he was a drop-dead gorgeous guy that made women swoon. I’d heard them tittering about him in the ladies’ room at the wedding reception. A few of the waitstaff slipped him their numbers. I saw it all. People always forget that the ones they don’t bother to notice, miss nothing.

It wasn’t his rising fame or his chiseled body that drew me to him. I grew to appreciate those for sure but to a romantic teenager, it was Tyler’s blue eyes that haunted my dreams. They were full of compassion that day.

After meeting him, I listened to his voice so much I knew it as well as my own. I stalked him on social media, hating each beauty on his arm at awards shows. The only thing that encouraged me was that no one woman persisted.

In the five years since I’d last seen him in person, Tyler only became more successful. And if the fact that Tyler lived on the opposite coast, was a super famous rock star and six years older felt like impossible obstacles.

But my brother’s wife having problems with her pregnancy was not anything I could have foreseen. I hoped that she and my new little niece or nephew would be fine. I had to leave Vermont and staying with Tyler was a gift from the gods I was not going to waste. Though how to go about getting him to see me as a grown woman was clearly going to be a bigger problem than I thought. I had to admit my childish daydreams of him declaring he’d thought about me every day and was waiting until I grew up to act on his interest was not going to happen.

I glanced over at him as he pulled my bags from the trunk. His brow was furrowed in concentration. He looked like a Viking and about as pleased as one too.

But even grumpy he was fucking hot. I mean I saw him all the time on my Instagram account, but in person, he radiated an aura of energy and power. And his body was all chiseled muscle. He may travel all the time, but he still worked out a lot.

“Nice car,” I said, waving to West as he parked it then retrieved his motorcycle to head back home. I wasn’t a car person by any means, but the vehicle reeked of ‘new car smell’ and anything to get Tyler talking could only help.

“I ordered it while we were touring Malaysia.” His lips were tight as he spoke. “What’s with the cast?”

“Accident.” I shrugged, following him up to the entrance.

“How’s the horse?” He asked.

“Fine.” I was glad for the darkness. I was a terrible liar.

“Does your arm hurt?” He paused before punching in a code in another keypad to study me under the half-light.

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