Reagan’s slim brows drew together over her grayish-blue eyes. “What interview? She took a shower in my dressing room a couple of hours ago, but we didn’t talk much. I wouldn’t call it an interview.”

Logan’s stomach dropped. “She said she was going to your dressing room to interview you about twenty minutes ago.”

Reagan grinned. “I bet she was the one who knocked when I was busy with, uh, my makeup. I haven’t seen her.”

“I saw her down by the dressing room¸” Steve said, his smirk at least halfway to Colorado at this point.

“That nerdy girl?” asked the dark-haired beauty who was plastered to Steve’s side. “With the glasses?”

Logan didn’t particularly appreciate such a lackluster description of the woman who had him completely out of his head, but he nodded.

“She was with Dare. They were headed into the dressing room for a little alone time.”

Logan’s heart dropped to join his stomach in his shoes. Another scan of the room told him exactly what he feared: the other conspicuous absence in the room was Dare. And Dare was on a mission to get back at him for hitting him in the nose. Sweet, sweet Toni didn’t stand a chance against the guy’s libido if he set his sights on her. And if the guitarist was seducing the innocent young woman that Logan had taken advantage of the night before—as well as most of today—Dare was about to suffer injuries a lot more severe than a bloody nose.

Fourteen

Toni turned to face Dare, a little thrill of panic spiking though her heart. He smiled reassuringly, but she didn’t feel reassured. She wasn’t accustomed to being locked in rooms with men she scarcely knew.

“Why did you lock the door?” she asked.

“So we wouldn’t be bothered.”

“I’d feel better if it wasn’t locked.” She didn’t really think Dare was the type of man who would harm a woman, but she wasn’t the first woman to think that about a deranged lunatic, a serial killer, or a throat-slitting rapist.

He didn’t unlock the door, but instead crossed the room to pour a drink. “Would you like something?”

“I’d like to unlock the door.”

He filled a lowball glass with amber whiskey and set the bottle aside. “If it makes you that uncomfortable to be alone with me, please unlock it. I didn’t mean to alarm you. I just figured Logan will interrupt us before we even get started and you’ll never get any work done.”

She wasn’t exactly alarmed. She felt no malice from the mysterious guitarist. She just thought it was weird that he’d lock the door in the first place. She studied him. She was starting to think Dare’s behavior had nothing to do with her and everything to do with Logan. “Why would Logan interrupt?”

The door handle jiggled and there was a loud knock on the door.

“Right on cue,” Dare said, one corner of his mouth lifting sardonically. “He’s entirely predictable.”

“Toni?” Logan called from the corridor. “Open this goddamned door.” The jiggling became incessant rattling. The knocking became pounding. “Toni!”

“Should I open it? He sounds mad.” Toni said.

“Of course he’s mad. He thinks I’m fucking you. That’s because he never uses his head and always jumps to conclusions. Then he acts on his false impulses and punches people in the nose.” Dare pointed to his swollen face. “Case in point.”

“Toni!”

Toni frowned at him. “So you lured me in here to get back at Logan?”

“Maybe,” Dare said, taking a swig from the tumbler in his hand.

“Toni, please,” Logan cried, sounding desperate now.

“He punishes himself. It’s not like I’m a big enough ass to actually make a move on the woman of one of my friends,” Dare said. He sat casually in a club chair, crossed his long legs at the ankle, and took another sip of his drink. “But I am enough of an ass to make him believe that I would. He’ll think twice before sucker punching me in the face again.”

“I’m going to let him in,” Toni said. She understood that Dare was pissed at Logan. She couldn’t blame him for wanting to teach Logan a lesson, but she couldn’t stand the thought of Logan thinking she’d toss her skirt up at the first sign of interest from an attractive man. Oh wait, she had done that. With Logan. He knew firsthand that she was capable of unleashing her inner slut.

Toni unlocked the door with trembling fingers and it flew inward, almost banging her in the face. Logan looked from Toni, fully clothed and obviously not violated, to Dare, who was sitting across the room completely apathetic and looking rather bored.

“What’s going on in here?” Logan demanded.

“She was going to interview me for the book when you so rudely interrupted,” Dare said.

“Is that so?” Logan said, his eyes narrowed.

Toni nodded. “Yeah, that’s right. What did you think was going on?”

“I thought,” he said. “I thought . . .” He looked down at Toni and swallowed hard. “Ah hell,” he grumbled and stormed off, slamming the door behind him.

“You sure you want to deal with that?” Dare said. “The guy runs on instinct. He doesn’t know how to be rational.”

And that was half his allure.

“I’m sure,” she said as she flung open the door to go after him. She glanced toward the common area, but saw no sign of him. She looked in the opposite direction, toward the exit, and caught a brief glimpse of blue T-shirt turning the corner. Her boot heels clicked on the tiles as she raced down the hall after him. She caught up with him only because he had to wait for a roadie pushing a giant black case before he could get through a door.

“Logan.”

He didn’t even glance at her. “Can you let me feel like an idiot in private?”

“No. I think you should face your idiocy in front of me.”

He scowled, and then his face softened and he laughed.

“It could have been worse,” she said. “Dare could have punched you in the nose.”

“I’d have preferred that and he knows it.”

“We weren’t doing anything.”

“So why did he make sure Steve’s chick saw you together? And why did you lock the door?”

“He locked it. Apparently, so you’d think we were doing something. I was about to unlock the door when you started banging on it. I told him I didn’t feel comfortable being alone with him in a locked room.”

“So he was going to try something on you. I’ll fucking punch him in his other nose.”

He swung around, but Toni pushed both hands against his chest. “First off, he only has one nose. And secondly, I don’t think he was going to try anything. I wasn’t sure at first. I thought it was strange that he wanted the door locked, but he really was just passive-aggressively kicking your ass.”

Logan raked a hand through his hair, disheveling golden curls. “I’m sure he’s saving the real ass kicking for later.”

She couldn’t stand the fact that he was upset. “Logan, I know we haven’t known each other long—”

“Are you sure?” he interrupted, pushing her glasses up her nose for her. “It feels like I’ve known you forever.”

“I’m not the kind of woman who would sleep with you twice . . .” She paused. “Three times? Does a blow job count as sleeping with you?”

“Even if it was in your mouth, I came inside you,” he whispered into her ear. Her vaginal walls contracted to remind her of her current unfortunate emptiness. “It counts.”

The rising ridge against her lower belly told her that he was as affected by his whispered words as she was.

She continued with what she had to say before three sexual encounters became four. “I’m not the kind of woman who would sleep with you three times and then have sex with some other guy in the same day. Who does that?”

He chuckled. “You’d be surprised. A lot of women behave differently around famous people. Especially if that famous person is the lead guitarist of Exodus End.”