Page 84 of Play Dirty (Brooklyn Dawn 1)

My eyebrow arched. “Why am I an asshole now?”

“Because you could just tell me stuff instead of making everything cloak and dagger. That thing the other day about having a pair waiting for you at home.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I wouldn’t let myself think about it. I was trying to be the bigger person and wait for you to tell me when you were ready.”

“Then today you gave up?”

“The snatches of what I heard in the hall—” She nudged the picture back at me. “They’re very sweet and I feel ridiculous.”

“As ridiculous as I feel trying to maintain some level of cool around you once you’ve heard me on the phone with my petsitter.”

She grinned up at me and lifted her arm around my neck to drag me down for a quick kiss. “Don’t tell anyone, but the pet stuff only makes you cooler. There’s nothing hotter than a daddy.”

I rubbed my suddenly interested cock against her ass. “Can we be specific what kind of daddy we’re talking about here?”

Logan cleared his throat as he stepped into the doorway. “You always take chances when bringing on talent, but I’d say you two may be the most interesting I’ve worked with recently.”

“Smartass.” Lindsey eased away from me and patted Logan’s cheek. “Feel free to take any tips you’d like to use with Bella.”

Logan watched her leave. “I’m not sure you’re the best influence on her.”

I wasn’t certain either. And although he was merely teasing, I slipped the photo back in my wallet and shoved my hands in my pockets. “Yes, I know I’m tardy. I’ll be back to it momentarily.”

“Don’t worry, I don’t hand out demerits here. If I did, you would’ve gotten one for destroying my demo, jackass.” He rolled his shoulders. “I debated saying anything at all, as I can tell you’re in a different headspace now than when you arrived. But seriously, dude, I’d kept that tape for years. It was some of All the King’s Men’s earliest mixes, and we—”

The rest of what he said faded to a buzz of white noise.

“What demo?” I demanded when the fog cleared.

He frowned. “The one in the boombox in the back room behind the stage in the barn. That wasn’t you?”

“What happened exactly?”

“That wasn’t you?” he repeated.

“No. Pissed or not, I would never damage your equipment or tools.”

“Just insinuate I’d step out on my wife.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Glad to see where your priorities lie, brother.”

Heat prickled along my spine. “Can we just forget that ever happened? I wasn’t in my right mind.”

“Yet now you are?”

“Better,” I admitted. Or I had been, before this.

Whatever the hell this was.

“What happened with the demo? You can’t find it?” Even as I asked the question, I knew that wasn’t the half. Lo had used the word destroyed, and he wasn’t one to exaggerate.

That was usually my domain.

“I found it unspooled on the floor. The guts pulled out and shredded, the tape cracked in two.” He tucked his fists under his arms. “Someone has some rage issues.”

“And you assumed it was me.”

“Well, I had locked you in with your nemesis.”

“I think we’re okay now,” I said drily.

“That you are. So, the question remains, who else did I annoy the fuck out of recently? Izzy sharpens steak knives and gives me a dose of side-eye when I’ve gone too far. She doesn’t stomp on cassettes.”

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