“Fuckin’ Sed,” Trey grumbled. “She’s with me.”

“That’s obvious,” Sed said.

“And she’s staying with me,” Trey added.

“I’m Jace,” Jace said to Reagan and smiled warmly.

“Oh God. Cute!” Reagan exclaimed and released Trey to grab Jace in a face-to-bosom, double-armed embrace.

Jace’s various chains rattled as he tried to extricate himself from Reagan’s bear hug. She finally released him, took a second look at him, and hugged him again.

“Jace doesn’t like to be touched,” Trey tried to explain as he tugged on Reagan’s arm. “But I like it.”

“Oh, sorry,” Reagan said as she released Jace for good this time. “I didn’t mean to attack you like that. I’ve never seen you smile before.”

Jace blushed again and stared at his boots.

“So she’s staying on the bus?” Sed asked, sounding none-too-happy about the fact.

“Yeah, for the next two weeks,” Trey said.

“I’m Reagan. Exodus End just hired me to be their rhythm guitarist.”

Sed and Jace both stared at her as if she had sprouted wings and took flight to Crazyland.

“No shit?” Sed shoved his grocery sacks in Trey’s direction. “You can tell me all about it later. I need to call Jess.”

Trey managed to grab the sacks before Sed released them. Sed dug his phone out of his pocket as he stomped up the bus steps.

“He’s kind of a jerk,” Reagan said.

“Kind of?” Trey said.

“He’s different once you get to know him,” Jace said. “He’s like that with strangers. Doesn’t know who to trust.”

“True,” Trey agreed. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen him act like that. He must’ve thought you were a groupie.”

“That excuses him being a jerk?” Reagan asked, her eyebrows raised high above her grayish-blue eyes.

“You’ll have some groupies of your own soon. Then you’ll understand why it’s easier to be an asshole when they’re around.”

“So you’re an asshole to your groupies too?” Reagan asked.

Trey started backpedaling. “Well, no, I—”

“Trey just uses them for sex,” Jace said and headed up the stairs after Sed.

Trey was going to invest in four sturdy ball gags. One for each of the members of his big-mouthed band.

Reagan managed to stifle a laugh as she watched Trey try to come up with something to say after Jace dropped that bomb. She didn’t care that Trey had a long list of sexual conquests. One didn’t get as good in bed as he was without a lot a practice. It wasn’t as if she was clueless about what went on backstage. She had a few acquaintances in the business. No one as famous as Trey—well, until yesterday—but even small-time bands had plenty of women to keep them entertained.

“If you’re going to get upset every time one of your band members reveals one of your dirty little secrets, you’re going to go nuts.”

Trey raked a hand through his long bangs and held them out of his eye. “I’m not upset.”

“You don’t think I know these things already?”

His face fell. “What things?”

“That you’ve slept with a lot of women.”

He released his hair and it dropped to conceal one eye again. His typical devil-may-care expression replaced the worried one of just a moment before. “You’re not the jealous type?”

“If I was, I wouldn’t last as your girlfriend for three seconds. I see the way women look at you.”

“You do?”

“I can’t blame them.”

He grinned that sexy smile and even though it made her heart race, she couldn’t resist teasing him. “I want to take a pair of scissors to those bangs as much as they do.”

His sexy smile faded and he looked up at his bangs. “You don’t like my haircut?”

She bit her lip and shook her head. “It’s much too sexy. It makes me want to grab you and do naughty things with you.”

He laughed. “One of these days I’m going to get used to you fucking with me and quit falling for your taunts.”

She produced an exaggerated pout. “And ruin all my fun?”

The bus engine started and Trey took her hand. “Time to sequester ourselves in a small space with six or seven other people who like to fuck with me.”

“This should be fun.”

Reagan paused at the top of the stairs. There was a lean man with a foot-tall, blond mohawk behind the wheel. How many people were crammed onto this bus?

“Hey,” the guy said, rubbing one eye and blinking rapidly as if he’d just been pulled from a deep sleep. “Are we finally ready to roll?”

“Let’s move,” Dave said. He’d given up his wheelchair, which was folded and tucked behind the drivers’ seat. He had a pair of metal crutches resting against the side of the sofa beside him.

Reagan offered a hand to the driver. “I’m Reagan.”

“Jake.”

“You’ll want to get to know him. He’s our guitar technician,” Trey said.

Jake squeezed her hand before honking the bus’s horn. “And occasional driver.”

“Nice to meet you. I’ll harass you later.”

“Booyah!” Jake said.

Reagan walked down the bus aisle and looked for an empty seat. Sed was sitting in one of the two captain’s chairs talking into his cell phone and flipping through the pictures on Brian’s phone with a huge smile on his face. “I’ll be home in two weeks. Get off the pill now.” He paused. “I’m sure.” Another pause. “I’ll still marry you even if you’re as fat as a hippo. I’ll just put you on a diet after the baby is born.” His face fell and Reagan couldn’t make out Jess’s words, but she was definitely yelling. “What?” he said. “What did I say?”

Brian was in the other captain’s chair watching his cell phone anxiously. Sed waved it around as he tried to talk himself out of the hole he’d dug himself into with his fiancée.

Jace had settled onto the sofa across from the captain’s chairs. He was on his cell phone too, texting at a hundred miles an hour and blushing again. He looked tough and so cute at the same time. Reagan wouldn’t mind sitting next to him for the entire journey to Topeka. There was a narrow space between himself and Dave, but not enough space for Reagan to sit. She didn’t think it was appropriate to sit between them and wiggle until they gave her some space. That left the booths around the dining table. The bus moved and Trey placed a steadying hand on her lower back as she stumbled.

Reagan shuffled to the dining area and sat across the table from Eric Sticks. He offered her a smile when she’d settled against the wall. Trey slid into the booth beside her.

Eric’s gaze searched Reagan’s face. “Should I know you?” he asked after several minutes.

“What do you mean?”

“New guitarist for Exodus End. Trey claims that you’re his girlfriend. Either you’re a close personal friend of Dare’s or famous.”

“Neither.”

“She entered that Guitarist for a Year with Exodus End contest,” Trey explained.

“She won?” Eric asked.

Reagan nodded.

“Are they hoping to use a hot woman to get some new fans?” Eric asked.

Trey’s arm wrapped around her waist and he drew her closer to his body. “I can see why you might think that, but they hired her before they saw her. Completely based on the merit of her guitar work.”

“Don’t think a woman can hold her own?” Reagan asked. She knew she was part of a male-dominated profession, but she didn’t tolerate double standards. At all.

Eric shook his head. “Never crossed my mind. I was much more confused by Trey claiming to have a girlfriend than by you going from unknown to a soon-to-be world famous guitarist. I figured Trey must be doing a favor for his brother.”

Reagan took Trey’s hand and looked into his eyes. “Why does everyone find it so hard to believe that you actually like me? Do I have spinach in my teeth?” She bared her teeth at him.

Trey pretended to scrape something out her teeth. “There you go. Now they’ll believe that we’re involved for sure.”

Reagan smiled at him.

The bedroom door opened and a petite blonde emerged wearing a sexy waitress uniform. The fabric was pink gingham with a lacy ruffle around the bottom of a short skirt. Petticoats made the skirt stand out and revealed her white thigh-high stockings and the pink ribbons circling the tops of her legs. The bodice of the uniform was low cut and showed off her cleavage—something Reagan had never had—to perfection. The young woman’s platinum hair was swept up into a sloppy knot. Canary yellow strands, the same shade as Eric’s long strand of hair, surrounded her face. She sashayed her way to the table and handed a drooling Eric what appeared to be a menu.

Reagan looked from Eric, who was perusing the menu with interest, to the woman who was snapping her gum and scratching behind her ear with the end of her pencil.

“What can I get you, sugar?” she asked Eric in an exaggerated Southern accent.

Reagan turned her head and found Trey grinning at the pair.

“Uh…” Reagan wasn’t sure what was going on. Eric had said his wife was kinky, not a waitress.

“What’s today’s special?” Eric asked.

“The sixty-nine is on special, sugar. Is that what you want?” The woman paused with her pencil hovering over her pad of paper.

“I have a big appetite today. I think I’d like an appetizer to start things off.”

“I have a real nice hand job available to whet your appetite for the main course,” she said.

“Does that come with special sauce?”

“It’s available with either cooling or warming lube.”

“Mmm. That sounds good. I’ll take the hand job with cooling lube, followed with the sixty-nine special, hold the orgasm. I’ll follow that with a thick sausage in a pair of buns with some extra cooling lube sauce.”

Rebekah grinned. “Excellent choice, sugar. Will you need any dessert?”

“I’ll decide on dessert later,” Eric said. “But you might want to grab the chocolate syrup and whipped cream from the fridge. I’m feeling artistic.”

Rebekah wrote down Eric’s order and then turned her attention to Reagan. “Can I get you anything, sugar?”

Reagan’s eyes widened. Trey burst out laughing. “This is Eric’s wife, Rebekah,” he said. “She’s just messing with you.”

“Tonight I’m Eric’s waitress,” Rebekah said.

“I’m Reagan.”

Rebekah winked and tucked her pencil behind her ear. “Nice to meet you.”

“Miss,” Eric said in a highly annoyed tone. “Is my appetizer ready yet? I’ve been waiting for almost a minute.”

“It’s right through that door, sugar,” Rebekah said to her husband. To Reagan, she said, “We’ll chat later. Nice to have a bit of estrogen on this testosterone cruise.”

Eric slid from the booth and slapped Rebekah on the ass. “You can expect a very large tip tonight, babe.”

Rebekah smiled seductively. “You know I aim to please.”

Eric wrapped an arm around her waist and palmed her breast. “I love you.”

They paused at the small black refrigerator long enough to collect a bottle of chocolate syrup and a can of whipped cream before shutting themselves in the bedroom.

Reagan scowled. “Does she serve him like that all the time?” Not that it was any of her business, but she was all about empowering women.

“It’s a two-way street. Tomorrow Eric will probably dress up for her and satisfy one of her kinky little fantasies.”

“Do you like that kind of thing?” Reagan asked. She picked up the menu Eric had left behind and found a list of sexual acts. She’d only tried about half of them.

“Rebekah is really creative,” Trey said. “And Eric is well aware of exactly how lucky he is. I wouldn’t mind engaging in a few of their games. Looks like fun.”

Reagan pointed to a selection on the menu. “I don’t even know what this is.”

“I could tell you,” Trey said. He leaned closer to whisper in her ear. “But I’d rather show you.”

“Give me my phone, Sed,” Brian said in the living area. “I need to call Myrna.”

“She’s sleeping,” Sed told him. “Jessica said she looked wiped.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. Just tired. Relax, Sinclair.”

Brian slapped the cell phone out of Sed’s hand. “You relax.”

Trey offered Reagan a weary smile and then slid from the bench. He picked Brian’s phone off the floor and yanked Sed’s phone out of his hand.

“Hey, I was talking—” Sed protested.

Trey handed Brian his cell phone. “Don’t call her if she’s sleeping. She needs rest,” he said to Brian. “Go show Jace and Dave your pictures. They haven’t seen them yet.”

Brian’s angry glare softened when his phone’s screen saver caught his eye. He squeezed himself in between Jace and Dave, who immediately stopped what they were doing to distract Brian before he throat-chopped Sed.