flying right along with him.
When he finally came down off his high, Dani lay breathless and still quaking beneath him. She nuzzled against his cheek. ‘You’re a bastard sometimes, do you know that?’
‘I thought that’s why you loved me.’ He squeezed her tight.
‘I think I’m lying in a puddle.’
Yeah, that was the hazard of skinny-dipping. Things tended to get a little messy afterwards. ‘Roll over. I don’t mind lying in it.’
‘For real? I take my last comment back. You’re an utter saint.’
They switched positions. Dani rested her head against his chest, breathing quietly. Only after sex did she ever seem entirely at ease in her own skin. Still, he took care not to touch her anywhere that would make her self-conscious. He’d got her to be comfortable around him when she was nude, and it would only damage that to draw attention to her scars in any way.
‘How long do you think we have?’ she asked. Pretty soon the rest of the band would find their way here, and they start their long journey around Europe. There weren’t quite as many stops on this tour as they’d played on past tours, but the venues were all considerably bigger. It’d be gruelling, but the fans needed a chance to say goodbye to Steve as much as they did.
He just couldn’t keep Steve out of his head, though the multitude of endorphins currently flitting around inside him helped keep at bay the melancholia that normally overwhelmed him when he thought about his friend. ‘I’m not sure. Not very long.’ He thought she probably meant to leap up and get dressed, or at least pull on her nightwear while there was no one around who might see her naked and ask awkward questions about the rows of regimented silver scars. ‘Why?’
Her pretty mouth opened into a smile. ‘Because, handsome, I’m not done with you yet. Have you any idea what it’s been like, having to be apart from you? You’ve taught me to –’ She paused and covered her mouth with her hand, but her shy smile had him intrigued. So too did the crimson blush that spread across the top of her cheekbones.
‘Go on,’ he coaxed, giving her hand an encouraging squeeze. ‘I’ve taught you what exactly?’
‘To expect … and, well, to like certain things. Then when you weren’t around, well … there wasn’t any action happening.’
‘There wasn’t any at the studio either.’ So they’d pulled fifteen-hour days. The best way not to get maudlin about the fact she hadn’t been around had been to apply himself to the music. The miracle had been that Ash hadn’t objected. No doubt he was making up for fourteen days without pussy right now by banging Dani’s friend Ginny and whoever else had smiled sweetly at him.
Dani threw a sceptical glance in his direction. ‘So my nightly phone calls didn’t prompt you to any sort of activity?’
He grinned, remembering the tension that had flooded his body every time they’d spoken on the phone. Most of those times, the sexy talk had indeed resulted in him heading to the nearest quiet corner to decompress. ‘That doesn’t count,’ he said. ‘Anyway, I bet you were doing the same thing.’
‘I was not!’ she huffed, then dug her teeth into her plump lower lip. ‘All right, once or twice, but only in the dead of night when I was sure Ginny wouldn’t overhear.’
He laughed. ‘That’s cute.’ It tickled him how uptight she could be about some things. Her years of abuse had conditioned her to think badly of herself for seeking pleasure. Her mum and those dreadful women had a lot to answer for. If he had his way, they’d be locked up for their crimes, but Dani was insistent that it would result in more harm than good. Mostly, though, he suspected she simply didn’t want to relive the pain.
Dani looked at him contemplatively, as though she’d tuned into his thoughts.
‘What?’ he asked.
She shook her head, casting off the sudden darkness. ‘I just realised, I’m naked and you’re not. Get undressed properly otherwise it’ll look really slutty if anyone comes in.’
Like she wouldn’t be covered up and hidden at the sound of the first footstep.
Even with the curtains drawn, she’d be convinced the guys were all lined up on the other side watching them via X-ray vision. Although, to be fair, if they had X-ray goggles, they probably would be.
‘How’s this going to work?’ she asked, seeming to realise what she’d just said.
‘Don’t worry,’ Xane said, tucking her against him. ‘They probably won’t even remember you’re here. In fact, if you’re really unfortunate, that’s exactly what’ll happen, and then you’ll have to put up with four naked male bottoms wiggling about in front of your face in addition to mine.’
The notion instantly sobered her. ‘You mean, you all strip off in front of each other?’
‘Have you seen the size of the bathroom? Babe, it’s like a locker room in here. There’ll be so many arses waving about you’ll not be able to look in any direction without being mooned.’
‘It’s not their backsides waving about I’m concerned over. What if I walk into one of them and they’re hard?’
‘Then tell him to get it out of your face, or I’ll tear the fucking thing off.’ He wasn’t having anyone making any moves on her, and, while he trusted Spook to be a gentleman, he didn’t put it past Ash or Paul to try it on. Ash didn’t understand the concept of exclusivity, total man-whore that he was. As for the new guy, Iain, well … who knew a damn thing about him? With any luck he’d turn out to be gay.
Actually, scratch that. With Dani’s hang-ups, having a gay guy on board would be terrible.
‘Do you get hard in front of one another?’ she asked tremulously.
Xane made a tactical decision not to answer. Considering how much time he and the guys spent living in confined spaces together, of course he’d seen them all standing to attention. He’d heard every one of them masturbate too, except Spook. Spook didn’t do that sort of thing. He’d also shared beds with all of them and done a bit more than that with one person, but Dani really didn’t need to know that.
‘Are you going to help me get out of these things?’ he asked instead, lifting one leather-clad leg.
‘Sure.’
She wriggled down to the foot of the bed in order to drag his leathers off him. Xane happily shimmied out of them and left them on the floor for somebody to trip over. ‘And now what?’ He cocked an eyebrow. ‘Now that you have me totally naked in your bed – what are your plans for me, O wicked one? Are you going to bind me to the bedposts, torture me with feathers and ice cubes? Drive me demented with a hundred thousand nips and kisses?’
She pressed a finger to her smile. ‘None of them. I thought I’d do some total hero worshipping and suck you.’
‘Yeah. Want me to wash first?’
‘Uh uh.’
Oh, boy, being dirty was washing off on her. He hoped hanging around the bus with a bunch of bad asses didn’t change her too much – he liked her exactly as she was.
‘Is
