Chapter 2
two
. . .
Dillon
With one arm above his head casually leaning against the frame, Dillon stood in the doorway to the bedroom ignoring the fact that he was stark naked and his morning wood stood at attention.
He may have been intoxicated last night, but every moment with Lizzy was etched into his memory—the way her hair smelled of honey and eucalyptus, the way she arched her back when he thrust into her, the wild gasps that left her lungs, and the perfect shape of her lean waist and full breasts.
His eyes swept over her from head to toe as he recalled her gorgeous naked body.
Standing there in an oversized hoodie, ripped jeans, tousled red hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, and no makeup, she looked hot as fuck.
This was the real Lizzy—not the girl who wore tight outfits and heavy makeup in order to stand out on a stage full of hardcore rockers.
“Where are you going?” he repeated.
She glared at him from across the room for a moment before she threw her handbag down and marched toward him.
She got within a few inches of his personal space and stood tall with her shoulders back and pointed her index finger at his face.
“Don’t you dare say one word about last night to Sid or Zach. ”
She was a spitfire, and he loved that about her. He leaned back slightly and held his hands up in front of him to thwart off her tirade. “Calm down,” he said, displaying an amused smile. “I don’t kiss and tell.”
Her hand fell to her side, and her shoulders relaxed a little. “I’m serious. They ride my ass enough. I don’t need to give them more ammunition.”
“I would never do that, Lizzy. You know they’d give me a hard time too. Not that I care what they think.”
“I don’t give a shit what they think, either. I’m just tired of defending myself and always having to work twice as hard for half the recognition.”
It was true. They never gave her the respect she deserved as a musician, himself included. But he never tried to discredit or downplay her talent as a bassist the way Zach and Sid continually did. Lizzy kicked ass.
Her gaze dropped to his lower half and rested there. “Can you please put some clothes on?”
“Are you sure you want me to do that?” He grinned because she still hadn’t raised her eyes.
“Yes.” She spun around so her back faced him. “Get dressed, and then get out. ”
He slipped on his jeans, but purposely left the top button open and didn’t bother with a shirt.
“Why don’t we order room service and have some breakfast?
I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry.” He walked past her, running his hand across his abs, and followed the scent of the freshly brewed coffee.
She followed him into the kitchen area, scowling. “I don’t want to have breakfast with you. I want you out of my room before anyone sees you.”
He poured a cup of coffee and offered it to her. “If you wanted me to leave, why did you make a full pot of coffee?”
She snatched the cup from his hand. “Because I like coffee, in case you hadn’t noticed.” She gestured toward the cup he was pouring for himself with her chin. “Take that to go and make sure no one?—”
“Three.”
“What?”
“Three. You have three cups of coffee with breakfast. Oat milk and very little sugar. If you had a rough night,” he nodded toward the cup in her hand, “you take it black. Before the show, you usually have another cup, but never at the end of the night. That’s when you go for Jack.
” He couldn’t tell her that he’d watched her stir her coffee across the table from him for the last dozen years, or that he loved the way her lips puckered when she blew on it because it was too hot.
She eyed him with suspicion. “Since when do you pay attention to what I drink? And why are you being nice to me?”
He gave her his best smile. “Come on, Lizzy. Let your guard down. I’m not the enemy.”
She raised her brows. “Aren’t you?”
“No. I got corralled into the war of the sexes simply because I’m a guy.”
She huffed and placed her fist on her hip. A deep crease permeated the space between her brows, which had been making an appearance more and more over the last year. “Really, Dillon? Is that how you see it?”
“We may bicker and disagree a lot. And maybe I should have come to your defense more often?—”
“More often? How about once or twice? It was always me against Sid, or me against Zach, or me against the both of them.”
“See? Never really me against you. We fought over stupid shit.”
She shook her head. “I don’t have time for this. Can you please just go?”
“Come on.” He flashed his killer smile again.
“You know there’s been chemistry between us for years.
The tour’s almost over. We don’t have anything to lose.
We don’t have to worry about messing up the band or what Sid or Zach are going to say.
Trust me for once. I’m not like them.” She had never given him a chance, and he knew it was because of the other guys in the band.
They couldn’t handle a strong, defiant woman with an independent mind like Lizzy, and she thought he shared their viewpoint because he didn’t go to bat for her.
In reality, he didn’t want to get involved and enjoyed watching her defend herself because her defiant attitude turned him on.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.
” She put her coffee cup on the counter and folded her arms across her chest. “You know as well as I do that we were both drunk last night, and the alcohol was responsible for what happened.” She leaned forward at the waist and looked him directly in the eyes.
“It’s never going to happen again. Got it?
You’re not crawling back into my bed. Ever. ”
“Fair enough.” His smile never waned. “Let’s just have breakfast. What’s the harm? It’s our last day together.”
“Together? There is no together. We’re not a couple.”
“Would that be so bad?”
Her brows arched high on her forehead, but she didn’t reply, and he knew he was pushing her too far, too soon.
“All right,” he conceded. “Let’s just have coffee. We don’t have to order room service. No one has to know what happened. A cup of coffee. After over a decade on the road together, can’t we sit down and share a cup of coffee without there being an ulterior motive?”
She stared at him for a moment, then let out a deep breath. Without taking her eyes off him, she sat at the breakfast bar and nodded at the chair next to her, inviting him to sit down.
They sat in silence while he waited for her stiff posture to slacken. After about a minute, she exhaled and closed her eyes as she tried to hide the awkward smile that was slowly tugging at the corners of her mouth.
Finally, it broke through, and it was beautiful .
“This is so ridiculous that I have to laugh,” she said, shaking her head.
Relieved, he smiled back at her. “Why is it ridiculous? Why do you think it’s ridiculous for us to be in a relationship?”
Her mouth hung open, and her eyes widened. “Because we hate each other. And we’re not in a relationship.”
“We could be. And we don’t hate each other.
That’s not true. Why would you feel that way?
” He knew they argued regularly, but it stemmed from the dysfunctional dynamic within the band.
They were all superstars whose personalities clashed on an epic level.
But he never expected her to use the word “hate,” and his eyes widened with shock at the harshness of it.
“Well, for one thing, we fight all the time. The other day we had a 20-minute argument about the name of the bus driver on our last tour.”
He chuckled at the memory. “We weren’t arguing. It was just banter. Like couples do.”
Her jaw dropped.
Maybe the “couple” remark went a little too far. He hadn’t exactly let on that he had feelings for her all these years because he didn’t want any added drama when it came to the band, but she had to know. She had to suspect something. Surely, she felt the chemistry.
He wanted to reach for her hand but thought better of it. “Lizzy . . . I care about you. I think you know that. And I think you feel something for me too, so stop pretending.”
She lowered her eyes and twisted her interlaced fingers.
Clearly uncomfortable with the topic, she fidgeted for a bit before letting out a deep breath.
“OK. I admit there’s been an undercurrent of sexual tension between us in the past. At times.
” She lifted her gaze, her eyes now hard.
“But that was a long time ago. There’s also been a ton of animosity and some major fights.
Especially these last five years. We can barely have a conversation without it turning into a disagreement.
I had too much to drink last night. We both did.
Tonight’s our last show. The loss hit me hard, and the alcohol amplified everything.
My emotions got the better of me. But it was only one night.
That’s it, Dillon. You’re reading too much into it. Last night didn’t mean anything.”
“Don’t say that.” Her words cut him—stabbed at his heart—but he knew she didn’t mean them.
It was her defense mechanism kicking in.
He wasn’t giving up. He just needed time to break down the walls that she built around her heart.
“Think about it. Think about us.” He gave her one of his amazing smiles. “It could be pretty great.”
She rubbed her temples with her fingers and looked down at the table.
“I have such a headache, Dillon, and we have to be at the venue in a few hours. We’ve been in Vegas for one night and my head is spinning.
” She turned toward the large wall of windows across the room which offered a dynamic view of the Las Vegas Strip.
She leaned her elbow on the table and placed her chin in her hand and sighed.
“Now I know why they call this place Sin City.”