Adam snorted on a laugh. “By your dick?”
“Uh . . .” Dawn reminded herself that she didn’t have to censor herself around these guys, which was actually a welcome change from her usual crowd. “No, his dick came later.”
Kellen laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Not that much later.”
“Stop,” she said, slapping his thigh. “You make it sound so tawdry, and it was beautiful.”
She turned her attention to Adam, finding him as intense as usual. “I was inspired by his passion.”
Adam actually took a moment to give Kellen the twice-over, as if he were considering being inspired by his bandmate’s passion. “Whelp,” he said, pushing off his thighs to stand. “That’s out.”
Chuckling, Dawn grabbed Adam’s wrist and tugged him back down beside her. Knowing how hard it was to deal with being stuck, she wanted to help him overcome his block. “Your inspiration doesn’t have to be a gorgeous, soaking wet warrior of a man rising from the sea in a storm.”
“Say what?” Owen said from near the bar.
Jacob, who was apparently also listening, laughed.
“I think inspiration can be found in anything that shakes you up.” Dawn took a deep shuddering breath, thoughts of that night—deliciously dirty thoughts—circulating through her head. She touched her hot cheeks, willing herself to calm down, but it was no use. “I don’t know, maybe it was his dick that I found so inspiring.”
“Care for a bit more inspiration?” Kellen whispered.
“You don’t have enough time before the show to give me the care and attention I deserve.” If they started something now, she would need it to continue for hours. Dawn kissed his nose and melded into his side.
When Madison entered the room, Adam completely lost interest in their conversation and rose from the sofa. “Uh, later.”
He was gone before Dawn could even say goodbye. “He really has a thing for her,” Dawn said, watching him cross to the bar. Even as he was ordering, his attention was on Madison.
“Well, she did save his life.”
Dawn’s curiosity was stirred. “In what way?”
“She was his addiction counselor. He stays clean for her.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“Everything about this band is complicated,” Kellen said.
That was no lie.
Chapter Three
After the concert, Kellen removed the wide silver watch from his wrist and set it on Jacob’s bunk. Before Dawn had arrived to inform him it wasn’t his place to tell her he wasn’t good for her, he’d needed something to replace the cuff he usually wore—the one Owen had confiscated and buried somewhere—but now that she was here and Lindsey was on her way to Austin, he felt he could take the steps he needed to finally move on. And the first step was ridding himself of the ridiculous need to cover his wrist. Maybe with it gone, he could stop fixating on an object that served to remind him of his commitment to Sara. Correction, his broken commitment. He picked up the watch again—examining it, considering it—and then shoved it under Jacob’s pillow so that it was completely out of sight. He didn’t want it fucking with his head for another second.
Dawn’s hand pressed against the base of Kellen’s spine, and she leaned against his bare back. He’d known her two days, yet he already knew her touch and even her presence without having to look at her.
“Are you sure you want to spend the weekend in Galveston?” she asked. “We could stay here in New Orleans or go someplace else. Someplace where you don’t have memories of Sara to haunt you.”
He turned and folded her in his arms. “I’m sure you hate feeling like you’re in her shadow.” Especially since he’d been acting like an ass every time Lindsey made an appearance that day. But he didn’t have to see Sara’s ghost anymore. Owen had taken her back to Austin, so along with the watch that had served as a reminder, the bigger reminder was now gone. He could breathe freely again.
“I don’t mind,” Dawn said.
“Liar.”
She laughed. “She’s part of you. I know she comes as part of the package.”
But that wasn’t fair to Dawn.
“I need to release myself from her hold once and for all, do what I’d planned to do the night we met. But I can put that off if you don’t want to be there for me.”
He cringed; his words hadn’t come out right. He’d meant that it was something he could do alone, not that he thought she couldn’t support him.
Dawn shifted away and gazed up at him with those green-flecked hazel eyes that he loved staring into. Long strands of her hair tickled his arm when the glorious red waves brushed against his skin. She was gorgeous.
“Of course I want to be there for you.”
“That’s not what I meant,” he said, but of course she thought that with the stupid way he’d worded his statement. He didn’t usually have a problem expressing himself, but this woman had him uncharacteristically out of his head. The last woman who’d made him all topsy-turvy was Sara, and though he was ready to leave her in the past, he wasn’t sure if he was ready to give himself over to the same set of emotions again. Was it wise to free himself only to tie himself to another?
He rephrased his attempt to let Dawn off the hook. “I wouldn’t mind your support, but I can do this on my own if you have better things to do.” Definitely better.
She lifted her eyebrows at him. Okay, so not better.
“What I’m trying to say—”
She silenced him by covering his mouth with her fingertips. “I get it. You’d like my support, but don’t want to actually ask for it.”
That was closer to what he’d been trying to say, but still not exactly right. He didn’t want his time with Dawn to be intruded upon by memories of Sara, but until he truly laid his departed fiancée to rest, she’d always be there just beneath the surface, waiting to twist him into knots.
He took Dawn’s hand from his mouth and pressed it against his chest over his heart. “I can put Sara’s memories in the mental box I normally keep them in and try to ignore them like usual. If I do that, I swear we can have an enjoyable weekend together. Or I can include you in the mess of trying to sort us out—me and Sara. I’ve tried so many times to do this in the past—alone—and thus far I’ve always failed, but you’ve given me a great reason to move forward. Maybe this time will be different. Either way—”
“We’re going to Galveston,” Dawn said.
“And stay at Sara’s house?” Kellen asked, thinking he might actually be able to stand being in that sunny, yellow beach house with Dawn beside him.
Dawn shook her head. “It’s not Sara’s house, it’s your house.”
“But I bought it for her.”