His Assurance (Assured Distraction Book 3) (11 page)

The next morning I slipped out of bed to make coffee and breakfast for us all from the fully stocked kitchen Gunner supplied. As the beep on the coffee maker sounded its completion, I heard footsteps on the stairs. Journey peeked her head around the corner and spied me pouring a cup.

“I know that’s for me, right?” Even though it was not, I placed it on the bar by the cream and sugar. She loaded it up with both before taking a seat at the bar.

“Quite a night we had last night, wasn’t it?” I asked her.

“I don’t know yet. My head hurts too badly to think about it.” She rubbed her temples slowly in a circular motion.

“Journey, it wasn’t that bad. Y’all should have sweated most of it out with all of the dancing.” I searched through the cabinets hoping to find some pain reliever for her.

“Yes, but that didn’t count all the drinking we did once we got home this morning. Why did Gunner make Hayden leave? We had big plans for him.”

“I think he got all
the
plans
he needed in the limo from Ivy before he left.”

“Ewww. Really?” The face Journey made was comical.

“You mean the rest of you didn’t know about it?” I can’t believe she hadn’t bragged to the pack about her conquest. She seemed like a girl who would kiss and tell.

“No, she didn’t say a thing. Where were we?”

“She stayed in the limo when y’all went upstairs. You don’t remember this?”

“Uh, that would be a big no. I remember washing my face and then we sat around drinking out of a bottle of Malibu before we all passed out.”

“No wonder you’re hung over. Coconut rum, really?” The thought made my stomach turn.

“It’s the only thing Gunner had down here that we thought we could drink straight, and we didn’t want to bother the two of you making drinks, so we took the bottle upstairs.”

I guessed she didn’t like the look I gave her when she told me that. “Hey, don’t judge me. It’s my twenty-first birthday, and I can party if I want to.”

I laughed out loud when she put it that way. “Yes, you’re right, but from what I saw last night, I think you’ve been partying for a while now.”

“Yeah, well there is that.” She downed her coffee without saying another word.

I moved to the patio sitting next to the pool. It was a gorgeous fall morning. The air felt so crisp and clean. It was a perfect time to be in the Texas hill country.

Gunner came out with his own big mug and kissed me on the top of my head before sitting down at the table, too. I smiled. “Good morning.”

“Good morning to you too, sunshine. I didn’t know you were out of bed. I was planning a little pre-breakfast sex to help get your day started off right.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, why didn’t you say so? Let’s go up and start over again.” I made a motion to rise, and he jumped up. “Slow down there, big boy, I was only joking.”

He gave me this pathetic look as though I had broken his heart. “I wasn’t,” he said as he sat back down. After finishing his coffee, he pulled me up from my chair and sat me in his lap. “So, tour director, what did you have planned for the day?”

“Well, we need to get out to the lake house and get our things unpacked. I don’t know what time the girls want to go out to Zilker Park, but I would like to get the house set up before we go.”

“They could go without you, and you can stay here with me. We could have a nooner since you nixed the breakfast feast.”

“Is that all you think about, Gunner?” I wrapped my arms around his neck and leaned into his warm body.

He kissed the top of my head. “I’m so glad you’re here with me Lola, and I want to spend every minute I can worshipping this hot body so you’ll remember it when you have to leave. Is that a bad thing?”

“Well, no, not when you put it that way.” Before we could continue, everyone but Ivy came out with mimosas. “Where’s mine?” I asked.

“Ivy’s bringing the whole pitcher with her. She made them when she got up.”

“No coffee for her?” Why was I not surprised when she started the day with booze?

“No, she drank a Red Bull instead,” Piper told me. I hadn’t heard too much from this one of the girls, and Addie hardly spoke at all. I didn’t think I was that intimidating.

“So, sister dearest. What plans have you made for us already this morning?” Journey asked as Ivy came out with three glasses and the pitcher of orange goodness.

“We were discussing that before you came out. I thought we should to go out to the lake house and get things arranged. I know y’all don’t want to go to ACL this early, do you?” I got no response. “I was thinking between four and five.”

“Sure that’s fine. We can lay around there and rest up by the pool for the weekend. Please say you don’t actually have the week we planned out like you said.” Journey knew me too well.

“No, I don’t. Y’all can do whatever you want but Gunner plans to go to the festival with us, and I would like to be able to give him a time.” I didn’t think that was too much to ask from them.

Gunner wrapped me in his arms and chimed in, “I’ll be able to hang out with y’all most of tomorrow, but we go on at nine, and I’ll need to be there about an hour before that.”

This got their attention. They fired questions at him about the band and the festival. “When do we get to meet the rest of the band? Is Hayden going to be with us, too? Can we meet some other bands backstage? Do you think we’ll get to party with Assured Distraction and the other bands we meet after the show?”

“Whoa, slow down. Y’all can meet the rest of the band backstage before we go on. As for meeting the other bands, I don’t know the answer to that. AD is the final act tomorrow night, so I don’t know who’ll be sticking around. A lot of bands hit the road as soon as they’re done because they have shows in other cities while they’re here in Texas. Hell, a lot will play here in Austin somewhere this week, so if there’s a band you want to see, look them up online, and we’ll get some tickets to the other venues.”

The girls seemed to think that sounded like a great way to spend every night this week if they could see some of their favorites while they played the venues around town. I left Gunner to field more band questions to make breakfast. He amused them with stories of the band on the road while I cooked. It was great to see how quickly he became at ease around them all. I suppose he was a natural entertainer.

Once we got all of our overnight gear packed away, Gunner walked me to the car. “You could come out to the house with us if you want.” I truly hated the idea of leaving him, but I needed to get these things taken care of so I could devote the rest of the time to the vacation and him.

He shut my car door so that we could have a private moment. “You don’t need me out there with you trying to do your mothering.”

“I didn’t say I needed you to be there. I would like for you to be there, though.” His beautiful, strong arms pulled me in, pressing his body close to mine, and he kissed me on the forehead. I wanted more, and I knew he did too. He caught me biting my lower lip and made a low growl in his throat.

“You really want me to? I figured you wanted to spend some time with them instead.”

“I don’t think they care one way or another if I’m there or not.” I looked at his eyes, and in the morning light, they had the color of a deep water blue. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to spend all of your time for two weeks with me. I know you have other things to be doing.” God, I didn’t want to sound desperate, but it seemed like I couldn’t help myself.

“Lola, stop. I want to spend every minute I can with you. Don’t ever think that I’m looking for a reason to stay away, but I don’t want to crowd you either.” We had yet to break eye contact, and the intense look made me think he was trying to convey more of a message with these words.

“Okay. So are you going to make me beg then?” I stood up on my tiptoes and whispered in his ear, “Please come home with me, Gunner. I don’t want to go without you.” I kissed his cheek on the way down.

“Well, when you put it that way, how can I resist such an offer?” He tightened the muscles around me picking me up, pulled me up to his level, and kissed me hard. “Text me the address. I’ll go get dressed for the day and come out in my truck.”

“Sounds great to me.” He kissed me again and put me down. As he opened the door, I heard the girls laughing. I don’t know if it was at me or something else, but I knew I was going to be the butt of a lot of their jokes for the near future. I got in and started the car, rolling down the window. He stepped up and leaned in, kissing me one more time, told the girls bye, and walked back to the house.

“Day-um. That guy is so fucking hot, Lola. How did you stand to let him leave you in Paris?” Journey gave me a questioning look.

“I only had him one night. I knew it when we got together. I’m sure he had a girl in every city they played and maybe some in between.” That thought was a road I didn’t want to travel down. I navigated the Austin traffic and tried not to look at any of them. I never liked sharing my one-night stand status, and especially with them.

Ivy spoke up. “Girl, I would have been on the nearest loudspeaker shouting to the rooftops that I had spent one amazing hot night with that bad boy. He’s sex on a stick sexy, and I’ll bet he’s a great lay after getting a look at that body yesterday. Tell us, Lola, can he go all night long?”

“Ivy!” Journey jumped in quickly. “That’s none of our business. Is it, Lola?”

I wondered if she was coming to my defense or trying to make it not sound nosy while still getting the answer.

“I don’t kiss and tell, ladies. Ever.”

“Ugh!” They all sounded in unison.

“Give us something. We are living vicariously through you here, sister.” I couldn’t quite believe Journey asked me to discuss my sex life. She truly was an adult. How had this happened so fast?

“Well…” I drew it out as long as possible trying to decide what I could say without over sharing. “Let’s just say he knows what to do with all he’s been blessed with for as long as I want it.”

The screeching, howling, and moaning that went on for a full five minutes had me laughing so hard, tears were rolling down my face. Finally, when they stopped, and I could talk again, I had to add, “But that’s only between us. I would never tell that to other people.”

Addie spoke up for the first time. “So what you’re telling us is either he’s hung like a race horse, or he’s a pencil dick but knows how to use it well.”

“Addie!” the girls and I all yelled.

“I am not responding to that!”

“Well, you said, he uses what he had been blessed with. What exactly are we talking about here? You only made my imagination run wild with ideas in both directions.” Addie spoke so plainly that I believed she only wanted details pertinent to understanding the statement which made me snicker even more. Maybe she was a little more naïve than the others.

“He’s got more than enough, Addie. Take my word for it. The pleasure was all mine in more ways than one…several actually.” I laughed after I said that, a little shocked at myself now. “And that, ladies, is all you’re getting, so suck it up and find your own man.”

Once again, Ivy’s mouth opened and poured out a jaw-dropping comment. “Oh, so then you’re saying you know this since you sucked it up last night?”

I swear if I had had liquid in my mouth, it would have shot out my nose right then. The best I could do was try to laugh. “I said you’re getting nothing else from me, and that’s final.” Ivy was a little vixen, and I knew I better keep my eye on her when she was around the band.

We turned in the driveway of a perfect home for a two-week stay. It offered privacy in case they got carried away clothes-wise and had a beautiful wooded spot overlooking the blue waters of Lake Travis. The rolling hills around the lake and the hundred-year-old oak trees added to the beauty of the backyard view.

It didn’t take the girls anytime at all to get things sorted in the house before they moved out to lounge around the pool while I made a big pitcher of peach sangria for everyone. The house was well-stocked for the two weeks we were going to be here, alcohol and all. My mother must have known these girls could put some liquor down in fourteen days, so there was plenty.

I stepped to the front to see Gunner’s truck pull into the circular drive when I went in to put on my swimsuit. He got out in cargo shorts, a sleeveless tee, and boat shoes, looking so damn hot. Maybe I could eat him up as Ivy suggested.

The lake house Lola’s mother rented was located on a perfect piece of property. I would have fucking loved to live out here, but it was too far out of Austin for me. I figured when I was older and had a family, I could consider it. I was not looking at settling down anytime soon, and I didn't want an instant family like Ryan and Peri had, but to each his own. They looked like they loved their life together, so who was I to judge?

The front door opened, and there stood the most beautiful woman in the world. We still had some shit to discuss, like the fact that she had moved to the U.S., and the news reported she was an American citizen. Then there was the fact she spoke flawless English without the French accent even detectable from the day she arrived. Why didn’t she tell me all of this when we were together in Paris? I honestly didn’t really give a shit about that stuff except the fact that I felt like she deceived me when we were together. I was glad we were finally back together. Her coming to the U.S. was like the icing on my cake.

Speaking of cake, I still wanted to eat some of that cake, too. A sweet little confection walked my way in a hot pink bikini. She looked like a real woman, with curves in all the right places and an ass that I looked forward to sinking my teeth in.

“Hey, beautiful.” I picked her up and kissed her thoroughly. She’s not all that short, but I liked her in my arms, and it was easier to pick her up. When she wrapped those legs around my waist, the other head wanted to join the party. He liked a party of two or three or four if the option was available, but I do believe I wanted to stick with this perfect woman for a while.

“Hi yourself, Mr. Rock Star.” I kissed her cute nose and sat her back down. “We moved out to the pool a few minutes ago.”

“Shit. Six hot women in tiny little bikinis. I simply don’t know if I can control myself around them all,” I said as I walked into the house.

“No one said ‘all’ was an offer. This is all you’ll need for the next two weeks. I’ll make sure of it.” She reached around and pinched my butt.

“Whoa, my little cherry pie, that’s my job to leave marks on your fine ass. You’ll be paying for that later.” I winked at her.

“Is that a promise or a threat?” The look she gave me made me want to flip her over and leave a bright red handprint for all of those girls at the pool to see, but I decided against it.

“Oh, it’s on babe. It’s on when we are alone. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of your sister. I don’t know her well enough. Now, if the band were out there, that would be a different story.” She shook her ass as she walked in front of me, and I couldn’t resist a little love tap to light her up a little. I wanted her to think about it until we were alone.

“What the hell!” She spun around with a mischievous look, stepped up and grabbed him through my shorts, squeezed him a little then pumped up and down a couple of times.

“You shouldn’t have, cherry. You really shouldn’t have teased him like that.” Retaliation was on. I supposed she believed me.

“Gunner!” she shrieked and took off through the French doors to the patio. Of course, I had to take off after her. It only took about three good strides, and I was on her. I grabbed her and threw her over my shoulder in a fireman’s hold.

“You were the one wanting to play rough, my little cherry pie.” I chased her around the pool a couple of times, swatting her softly, and the girls gave her hell about it. It ended when she found herself trapped on the diving board, and before she could say stop, we were headed to the bottom of the lagoon water.

I held her there for only a second and then pulled us both to the surface. She hit and splashed trying to get away from me, and I thought I saw panic in her eyes. “Stop, cherry. I’ll swim us out of here.” She calmed down, and I took her to the shallow end of the pool. “You can swim, right?”

“Yes, I can swim. I’m just not great at it. I can well enough to save myself, though.”

Now I felt like the bad guy. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She stood and put her hands on my shoulders, pushing hard, and I slipped under easily thinking I deserved her little bit of revenge. When I came up, she pushed down again smiling. This time, I stayed down, though. I could stay under water a long time. Between running and swimming in my pool, I was in great shape for it. After I was there over a minute, she started trying to pull me up, but I didn’t let her. She finally came down to me, and I laughed out loud under water at her.

“You bastard,” she said when we both surfaced. “I thought something was wrong with you.”

I laughed and wrapped my arms around her uncovered waist pulling her to me. “Me? You’re the one who claimed ignorance. You can swim, can’t you?”

She wrestled out of my hold and took off down the pool yelling, “Like a fish!”

When we both reached the deepest part, I captured her under the diving board with my hands on both sides of her body under the water. She wrapped hers around my neck and kissed me. Things heated up quickly under water when she wrapped her legs around my body.

“Do you know how badly I want to strip you down and wrap those legs around my neck so I can slide my tongue through those pretty lips, dipping in and out of there with my hands on your fine ass for leverage?”

“Gunner, there are five pairs of eyes pretending not to be watching every move we make.”

“Don’t care, cherry pie. I want to indulge in some of your dessert.”

“Then we can go in the house, or you can wait for dessert after dinner.”

“The house is a no-go at this point since I’m sporting a major boner right now, and these shorts would do nothing to hide it, so it looks like it’ll have to be a good pool fuck.”

“NO!” she yelled out as I slid my hands down inside her bottoms.

Journey sat up. “God, you two. Do you want us to go in the house so you can fuck her already? Oh wait, you have a room. Use it! You’re making me horny watching y’all, and that’s just…ewww.”

“Well, shit.” I let her go because now the idea that Lola’s little sister just said fuck and horny knowing she was talking about us made my dick shrivel like the water was ice cold.