Across the Miles (The Not So Bad Boys of Rock #1) (28 page)

“Stop it,” she groaned, “we have to put our game faces on. What do you say, girls versus guys, winner take all?”

“I don’t know, what do the winners get?” I nipped at her ear.

“Hmmm, let me see…” she tapped the tip of her index finger against her shiny lips and my eyes were immediately drawn to the innocent gesture, how my body responded was an altogether different gesture.

“How about the winners pick out the movie we watch before we go to bed tonight?” Jade offered sweetly, a devilish smile spreading over her face.

“Dude, we’re in trouble, I’ve seen their movie selection, it’s chick-flick torture,” Dek’s face dropped into his palms.

“You’re on, but if we win, and we will, we’re stopping someplace and picking up an entirely different kind of movie, one where things get blown up or people are chased by a psycho killer,” I replied confidently.

“Game on sucker,” Brooke retorted, winking at me before bending down to pick up a pink bowling ball. “You are so going to lose this bet.”

“Dude, I think you’re supposed to aim for the pin in
front, not the one on the end,” Dek shook his head as my ball took out the pin closest to the gutter. “We can’t lose to a couple of girls.”

“Cut me some slack, I’ve only done this one other time,” I mumbled, picking up the ball and lining up my stance. I looked down at the floor, mentally noting which arrow I used before to line up, and then side-stepping over two more, mimicking the same stance Brooke had been using to throw a strike each time. This time, when the ball releases from my fingers, I feel it, this will be the one, I watched as the ball connected just to the right of the head pin before they all fell like dominoes. I turned, bowing, celebrating my minor victory, before Dek’s sarcasm stole my thunder.

“Nice, too bad you couldn’t have done that eight frames ago.”

“I’m still proud of you baby,” Brooke gushed as I plopped down next to her, giving her a kiss.

“Hey, no fraternizing with the enemy,” Dek teased, but I waved him off and kissed her some more, maybe my kisses would make her head dizzy with desire and she wouldn’t be able to pull off this last frame as expertly as the other nine had been. She stood to line up her stance, sashaying forward and jutting her rear end out at the last minute, causing my breath to do a sharp intake, and I watched helplessly as the ball proceeded to knock down all but two of the pins. My strategy failed big time. She moved to throw another ball, and this time I was shocked as it slid quickly into the gutter.

“Oh well,” she shrugged, “they can’t all be perfect.” Then she came over and sat on my lap, straddling my seat.

“Uh, babe, I need to concentrate, I’m trying to win a bet here,” I groaned, feebly twisting my head to avoid her
kisses, and making her laugh in the process.

“Give it up sweetheart, the game’s over and you lost, badly. Now shut up and kiss me.” Her mouth pressed firmly against mine, and we opened to the kiss, instantly getting lost in the moment. I felt her soft tongue moving against mine, fighting for dominance, both of us winning. My arms locked tightly behind her back, drawing her in, loving the intimacy of being pressed this closely to her.

“Get a room!” Someone a few lanes over yelled, and we pulled apart, slightly embarrassed.

“Yeah, get a room,” she teased in my ear, before we stood up and made our way out the door.

We ended up on the sofas in their living room, each couple cuddled together, watching a romantic comedy about a young woman returning to her childhood love interest in Alabama, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I’m lying on my back and Brooke is nestled against the back of the sofa, in the crook of my arm, with her head on my shoulder, and thanks to the blanket draped over us, no one can see my roaming hands. This girl makes my head spin and my heart race, but I can’t get enough of her.

I glanced over in the direction of Dek and Jade, only to find that they were snuggled together and watching the movie intently, still in the early stages of getting to know one another. Brooke pulled down on the collar of my shirt and placed a kiss on my clavicle; then her hands began to trail their way down my chest.

“What do you say we call it a night?” I asked when her hand reached the waist of my pants, this is exactly where we’ve gotten into trouble before.

“Okay,” she moved her hand away, “sure.” I rose, reaching down to pull her up, before leading her toward the bedroom. She hesitated before stepping through the
door.

“Relax Brooke, I only wanted to be alone with you, besides, this gives those two a chance to be alone too. We can just stay here and talk.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Brooke~

“We can just stay here and talk,” he said. Talk? After what was just beginning to take place out on the sofa, was that really what he expected to happen once we shut the door, and no one was watching? I was nervous, and I knew he could sense it. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure of the reason for my hesitation in taking things further with him, well, actually I was, but when I looked at him, and when my hands made contact with his warm skin, all reasoning seemed to fly right out the window.

“I’m sorry Sebastian, I know this has to be hard on you too.” By now we were both sitting on the edge of my bed, and the nearness of his body heat makes my skin break out in goosebumps, and I can’t help but shiver in response.

“Are you cold?” he asked tenderly, wrapping an arm around my shoulders, as I shook my head.

“I’m not going to lie to you, Brooke, being this close to you, knowing that you’re feeling the same way, it’s
hard. I know you have your reasons for wanting to wait, and I really do respect them, but please know that no matter how hard I try to put on a brave face, it’s killing me inside,” he nuzzled my jaw with his nose and lightly kissed my neck, and I swear I think I actually purred.

“Oh my…” I stammered. “I do want you, I mean I really, really, want you.” My breathing was shallow, and it took everything that I had to fight giving in to the desire. “But, you’ve had a lot of women over the years, you have a lot more experience at this than I do, I’ve only been with one guy, and that was a long time ago.”

“You mean there hasn’t been anyone since him? How is that even possible, I mean, you’re gorgeous, you must have to fight guys off with a stick when you go out in public.” I shook my head, disagreeing with him. “Come on Brooke, remember the guy at the nightclub?” I shivered at the mention of that horrible evening, and he instantly apologized for bringing it up. “I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean to remind you of that, but you know what I’m saying, right?”

“My life isn’t like yours Sebastian, I don’t meet gobs of men that have sexual fantasies about me, or that have posters and T-shirts of me to stare at. You’re surrounded by that nearly every day of your life. Until I met you, I never spent this much time talking with a guy, not even Devon.”

“I’d pay good money to have a poster or T-shirt with you on it,” he muttered. “Seriously, babe, is that what you think of me? That I have all these women falling at my feet on a regular basis? That may have been the case before I met you, even before I went into rehab, but that’s all in my past.” He took my hands in his before he continued speaking, making sure that our eyes were connected, and I heard each word he was saying. “I don’t
care about any of that anymore, all I care about it being with you, and I’m not talking about just being with you intimately, I’m talking about you being a part of my life, my whole life, in fact, at this moment you are my life. I know that you are unsure, and I’m okay with that, I truly am, the way I see it is I’ve got the rest of my life to experience that moment with you. Just knowing that you love me and want it too is enough for now. Sex isn’t everything to me Brooke, having your heart means much more to me than simply having your body.”

“Ugh,” I groaned into his chest, “Isn’t it enough that you’ve got looks and money, now you’ve cornered the market on romance as well? You’re the best, you know that don’t you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t go getting too used to it, if I keep having to fight off these urges I’m afraid I’ll eventually run out of romantic comebacks,” he chuckled, drawing my lips to his.

I didn’t want Sebastian
to leave without getting to see the restaurant, so that is how we came to be there bright and early the next morning, just as the first shift was arriving to begin prep.

“Hey Brooklyn, what are you doing here today, you’re not working again are you?” asked Marcus, one of our line crew.

“Not today Marcus, I’m just showing my boyfriend where I work,” I smiled proudly, holding onto Sebastian’s hand as if it were a small trophy.

“Boyfriend huh? So this is him? What’s your name buddy?”

“Sebastian.” He stuck his arm out to grip Marcus’ outstretched hand, shaking it firmly.

“You look kind of familiar, do you dine here often?”

“No,” Sebastian smirked, “I’ve never been here before
today.”

“I could swear that I’ve seen you someplace. You workout at the gym down the road? I think I’ve seen you there, that must be where it is. Am I right?” Marcus prodded.

I couldn’t help but laugh, and gave a quick glance to Sebastian, making sure I had his permission to give him away. “Oh, you’ve seen him at the gym, but not in the way you’re thinking.” Sebastian furrowed his brow, unsure of where I was going with this. “You know the hallway that leads up to the women’s locker room?” Marcus nodded. “There’s a large poster that hangs just outside the door; all the women touch it for good luck before going in…” I could tell he wasn’t following me. “He’s one of the guys in the poster.”

“What do you mean, like a male model or something? Yeah, you look the part,” he replied, eyeing Sebastian up and down casually.

“No Marcus, he’s not a male model,” I turned and gave him the same once over, “although he most certainly could be. That poster advertises the band Paradox, a rock band; he’s one of the guys in the band.” Suddenly, Marcus’ eyes reflected that he understood and then he looked over at Sebastian once more.

“That’s pretty cool dude, but if you hurt her I’ll hunt you down,” he waved a hand over the rest of the kitchen crew, who by now were watching intently, “we all will.”

Sebastian laughed and clapped him on the back, understanding completely what was going on. “Hey, that’s cool, I appreciate you looking out for her, but I promise I won’t do anything to hurt her.”

“Then, welcome to the family Sebastian,” Marcus replied, fist bumping Sebastian’s raised knuckles.

I took him around and gave him the full tour, showing
him every nook and cranny in the building, trying my best to make our time together stretch out. Somehow, after only two days, this parting felt like it might be even harder than our first. Now that I knew how hard it was to live without him, and being teased by his presence again, I just wanted to smuggle him away in my closet and never let him leave my side again. During this visit I felt as if we had bonded even further, our conversations had taken a different tone, like there was direct intention in every statement. I couldn’t help but notice how he spoke of our future together as if he had already drawn up a plan in his head, and he was trying to figure out how to make it play out the way it needed to. I won’t lie, I had thought long and hard about a future with him, it was almost all that I had thought about. Even though we had only been together for three months, I knew, I could feel it deep in my bones, that he was someone I could spend the rest of my life with, and I knew that he would do everything he could to make me the happiest woman in the world. Now that he was with me, standing in my restaurant, I was actually looking forward to seeing that plan play out if only I could bring myself to ask him what his vision looked like.

On our way out we passed by Donnie’s office, he was sitting at his desk on the phone, when he saw me holding Sebastian’s hand he motioned for me to come in, and he wrapped up his call.

“Brooke, glad to see your dedication, but seriously, you need to learn to stay away on your days off,” he joked. “Who’s this?”

“Well, Donnie, this is my boyfriend, Sebastian, and Sebastian, this is Donnie, my boss.” I looked nervously at them, Sebastian stood a good two inches taller than Donnie, but Donnie was ten years older, and very much
my self-appointed big brother. For someone that had grown up an only child, I was suddenly inundated with surrogate older brothers.

“It’s so nice to meet you Donnie; I’ve heard wonderful things about your and this restaurant.” They shook hands, and I saw Donnie’s face soften at the compliments. “I also want to thank you for allowing Brooke to spend that week with me, I guess we have you to thank for helping us fall in love,” he said, wrapping an arm casually around my shoulders, staking his manly claim.

“Well, I can say that I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about you as well. Brooke tells me that you took excellent care of her, as her quasi-big brother I want to thank you. You know, my wife and I are really big fans of your music.” And just like that they were at ease with one another and talking shop about music and travel, before he left Sebastian signed a bunch of items for Donnie’s wife and kids and some of the guys in the kitchen.

“I’m glad you two hit it off,” I said casually as we headed back to the apartment.

“You and me both, I was nervous there for a second,” he admitted before grabbing me and hoisting me up on his back, for old-time sake.

“Attention all passengers, at
this time we would like to remind you not to leave your bags unattended. In the event…” The woman on the intercom droned on and on about safety and security while in the airport and aboard the planes.

“I can’t believe you’re already leaving, it feels like you just got here,” I pouted.

“I know, but we’ll be together soon, at Nikki’s wedding. You got your invitation, right?”

“Yeah, I can hardly wait to see you in a tux,” I kissed his chin, he was so tall that unless I had on heels, or stood
up on high my tiptoes, I couldn’t reach his lips.

“And I can’t wait to spend the night dancing, holding you in my arms. You’ll try to stay for the week when you come, right?”