Page 2 of Riding Danger

I shook my head and smiled at her. “I was just thinking about our future. How we’re going to have to make things work when you’re in Virginia and I’m on tour. We should get an apartment close to Quantico for you and I. It can be my home base whenever I have time off.”

“Yeah, that seems like our best solution.” Her voice had gone soft and her eyes had gone glassy. “I mean, I’ll miss you, but we can both live out our dreams. Though, I will say, when I’m ready, I want to come back to Marina De Ferrier.”

“Me, too.”

Her eyes widened as she realized what I was saying. A big smile took over her face and once again I felt ten feet tall. “Really?”

“I like it here. I always wanted to live close to the beach. And the people are really nice.” Also, it was the last place my mother would want to live. That part had a lot of appeal.

Once again, she grinned and pushed herself against me. “Can we do it again?”

“Are you sure? You might be sore later.”

“Yes, I’m sure.” She rose onto her knees, effectively exposing her delectable body to me.

I cupped her breast and stroked my thumb over her nipple. I couldn’t help but savor the whimper that escaped her. “You wanna try being on top?” My suggestion had two benefits. I wanted her to experience how good a different angle could be. And of course, I would have the pleasure of watching her body as she rode me.

I once again rolled on a condom before guiding her onto me. As she moved on top of me, I knew it was an image I wanted to keep for the rest of my life.

That wasn’t eventhe last round we had that night. I took her from behind once, and then I was on top of her once more before we dressed and I took her home.

By the time I made it back to the B&B, all the guys were already sleeping. My manager had waited up for me. He said nothing as he side-eyed me and walked up the stairs. He wanted us all to be single. Apparently, we were more marketable that way. And it made us look good when rumors surfaced we were having a fling with someone in the industry.

Still, I went to sleep that night knowing that Shiloh and I were going to make it work. She was the most responsible person I knew and I wanted to make her happy and keep that smile on her beautiful face. All I needed to do was follow her lead and help her find a decent apartment when she finished college and went to Virginia.

It hadn’t occurred to me that something was wrong until a week went by with no contact from Shiloh. It was the middle of week two that I sent her a text which never got read. I tried scrolling through our messages, but I must’ve accidentally deleted it, because there was no history.

At the four-week mark, I needed to face the fact that Shiloh wanted nothing to do with me. We had been touring with Evie when I eavesdropped on a conversation.

Evie and her daughter, Skylar, were whispering just inside her dressing room. She got the whole of one locker room for her and her family. The stadium was home to the local football team, and most of the corridor was filled with floor to ceiling images of their star players. I stared at the star quarterback as I listened.

“Mom, you know Shiloh is having a hard time right now.”

Evie let out a sigh. “I know. I just wish there was something we could do for her.”

“Well, she’s sworn off boys.” Skylar sounded serious. Like Shiloh had her heart broken. Which meant she had moved on from me. “Harry said if he gets his hands on that guy, he’s going to ring his neck.”

She had moved on without me. She had found someone and Harry was about to meet him. He might give the guy a hard time, but from what Shiloh had said, the man was fair. He would come around quickly. Shiloh had obviously found someone with substance. A guy who didn’t need to rely on a talent he was born with to make something of himself.

It was only when my manager gave me my phone back after the final show of Evie’s East coast leg that I finally gave up hope. For each show, we gave him our phones to monitor. He’d answer urgent messages if needed, but he refused to answer our calls. He said he wasn’t a secretary.

As usual, I checked for missed calls or messages. But the only thing I received was a request for money from my mother.

I frowned up at Terrence as I shoved my phone into my pocket. “Are you sure no messages came in?”

“I’m not your secretary.” Terrence hated that part of his job included actually handling us. “Were you expecting a message?”

Maybe not anymore. “Weeks ago.”

“If they take that long to get back to you, then they’re obviously not getting back to you.” My manager almost rolled his eyes. “Where are you spending your down time?”

My shoulders sagged but I had no choice. “I’ll go back to LA with you. It’s time I found an apartment there.”

1

SHILOH

The alarm beeping was just a cue to get out of bed. The monotonous tone was barely audible, but loud enough for me, anyway. I stretched my arm across and reached the nightstand, before checking the screen and turning off the alarm.