Page 23 of Reckless

It would happen. Very soon.

He broke the kiss, chest heaving. “It’s after one. We’ve got a drive to Vegas in the morning. I’m going to walk you back to your room before I ask you to come into my bedroom.”

Harlow found her voice as she put a hand on his chest. “I’ll go on my own. You don’t need to walk me.”

“I’m not tossing you out at one twenty in the morning after having my mouth all over yours and making you walk alone to your room.”

She put a hand on his arm a moment. “You’re right. This isn’t tossing me out. I need to sleep. You need to sleep. We’ll see each other in like nine hours. What we don’t need are any spectators to Miles Brown walking me to my hotel room at this hour.”

He frowned and she knew he was going to be a handful.

Heh. More than a handful if that pressure against her belly from his cock was any indicator.

“I’ll text you when I get in the room. So you know I got back okay.” She went to her toes as she grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and pulled him down for a quick kiss. “See you later, bossy. Thanks for the kisses.”

She let him walk her to the elevator because there was no stopping him and he pointed out that the only rooms they passed by were Poppy and Maddie’s so who was going to see and tattle? Back in her own room, shared with Nora and Brian and it still felt…lonely. Shoving that away, she quickly changed into pajamas and got into bed, knowing her dreams would be full of Miles.

CHAPTEREIGHT

“Time to go,” Phil, their tour manager called out.

There was something about the moment in between things that had always held a fascination for Harlow. And at that moment as they walked toward the stairs leading up to the stage, with the sound of the crowd just a few feet away, the stickysweetness of weed, kettle corn and beer hung in the air, it felt like a rock and roll fairytale.

Nausea, always present before she walked out onto any stage, was a metallic weight in her gut that Harlow swallowed past, breathing through her nose and out through her mouth. It would pass as the adrenaline and dopamine took over and she let herself just experience the utter surreality of what was happening.

At the base of the steps, they turned toward one another, touching foreheads and then they broke, Nora going up first, then Brian, their music calling her. And at the top of the steps, she turned and caught sight of Miles as he rounded a corner.

They’d had a fun drive from Salt Lake City and then had lunch together with everyone when they’d arrived. Things had subtly shifted from even the day before and there was a rhythm between Miles and Harlow that felt very much like a relationship.

He smiled when he saw her, so open and pleased. She gave him the devil horns and turned, taking her guitar as she stepped into the spotlight and began to sing.

He tipped his chin at her as they came offstage and then took up at her side. “You all sounded fantastic,” he told them and meant it. Holy fuck, Harlow was just so utterly herself, confident, aggressive, every time she flirted and charmed and snarled her way across a stage had blown his mind.

Never in his life had he wanted to kiss someone more than he did right then. Obviously that wasn’t going to happen as they were in a crowded hallway, but he’d definitely take that jangled, anxious uncertainty and use it on stage when they went on.

It feltgoodto be in that place with her. Sweet and sexy as hell.

“Afterparty tonight. You’ll be there, right?” he asked.

“Yes, definitely. Thanks for the invite.”

Nora and Brian headed straight into their dressing room, but Miles hung back in the hall with Harlow. He needed to get moving soon. Earthquakes would be starting their set within the hour.

But he wanted a little more time with her first. “I want you to save me some attention and time at the party tonight,” he said softly.

“It’s not hard to give you attention, Miles.” Her mouth curved up into a smile.

“That’s what I like to hear. I’ll be sure to be worthy of that opinion,” he told her.

Someone called his name a few times and he leaned close enough to be awash in her body heat but not close enough to kiss. “Gotta go.”

“Break a leg,” she told him. “See you out there.”

The kisses in his room the night before had fully awakened something within him. An awareness of the depth of his greed for her and an acceptance of that.

He may as well enjoy it and fold it into his music.

After two encores he and the others stumbled off stage and down the stairs. Sweaty, amped up with adrenaline and that sexual charge he only found right after a performance, he looked around the area but didn’t see Harlow anywhere though he had watched her on and off all show long out in the audience.

---