This is excellent news.

I shut myself in my room and grab my laptop off the nightstand. Surely I’ll be able to find something.

I enter drummer into the search field and wait on the results. I groan. Over five million results pop up. “This is ridiculous. It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

I push the screen down before I place it away. There’s no way I can ever figure out who it is by going through that mess.

I lay back, falling into stack of pillows behind me on my full size bed. My finger traces patterns on the blue bedspread as I allow my mind to wander at what the future for this place may hold. I close my eyes and try to picture the bands I know. Not many individual members of bands come to mind. When I think of a band, I think of them as a whole. I’ve never really had the desire to study individual members of a band.  I can’t even name five drummers.

I don’t even know where to start. Trip didn’t say if it’s a new band, or a retired one or what. The chances of me figuring this out on my own aren’t very good. I could try looking up Trip, but unless he’s got a website, which I doubt, linking him with the band, that probably won’t be very helpful. It would be a further waste of my time.

I’m going to have to get him to tell me himself.

The image of Trip smiling as he backed out of the door pops in my head. He’s dangerously sexy. His smile alone is hot enough to nearly melt my panties right off my body.

For the past couple years, Jackson has been the only man I’ve thought of, so it’s hard to tell my brain that it’s okay to move on and find other men attractive. Take Trip for example—as much as I hate to admit it to myself, Trip is exactly my type of guy. He’s cocky, sexy, and yet still has an excellent sense of humor. I can’t believe he’s willing to help me make Jackson jealous. It’s sweet and he couldn’t possibly understand how much that means to me.

It sucked to find out that all the years we spent together meant nothing to Jackson—that he thought so little of me that he could throw me out like a piece of candy that had lost its flavor. It changes everything when you find out what you thought was real is a lie. I am hurt and I’ll admit that I want to hurt him back.

If Trip is right, and the sight of the two of us together bothers Jackson, it’ll be the best payback I can ask for.

At some point while all that was running through my head I must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing I know a steady stream of sunlight pours through the window, hitting me in the eyes.

Shit. I’m late. The regular riders like an early start when they come to ride on open track day.

 I throw my hand over my face to shield myself from the glare as I sit up and gain my bearings. I place both feet on the hardwood floor below me and push myself off the bed, tugging my nightshirt down around my thighs on my way to the bathroom.

I yawn as I open the door to answer nature’s morning call. My yawn quickly turns into a sucked-in breath as my wide eyes land on a tanned, toned, and very naked Trip, standing at the bathroom counter, brushing his teeth. My eyes zero in on his mid-section, and promptly widen. Oh. My. God! His dick is right there on display for the world to see. Okay, maybe not the world, but I certainly have an eyeful.

Quickly, I turn my head to keep myself from staring any longer as heat creeps up my neck before settling in my cheeks. “What are you doing?!”

“What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m brushing my teeth. Oral hygiene is very important,” he says with his mouth full.

I sigh but it almost sounds like a growl. “I meant why are you naked?”

“Um, you’re supposed to be naked in the shower.” I don’t even have to see his face to know he’s smiling and having a good time with this.

I grab a white towel off the rod on the wall and thrust it in his direction. “Here. Cover that thing up.”

He spits in the sink and then his deep laugh fills the tiny bathroom as he takes the towel. “Thing? What are we in fifth grade? It’s a cock, Holly. Call it what it is.”

I peek out the corner of my eye and Trip flings the towel over his shoulder, turning so I can get a full view of his mouth-watering naked form. “That was to go around your waist.”

He leans causally against the counter. Obviously he’s not a bit shy about being completely naked in front of me. “Look, men want women who aren’t afraid to talk dirty. This can be our first lesson in how to catch a guy’s interest. If you want me to cover up, quit being a scared little virgin, and grab my attention. Look me in the eye and tell me to cover my cock.”

I roll my eyes. “This is ridiculous.”

“You want my help or not?” When I don’t answer right away, he drums his fingers on the counter. “I’m waiting…I can stand here like this all day. I have no problem showing off what God blessed me with, and when I say blessed, well, you know. You’ve seen it.” He chuckles.

My lips pull into a tight line. As much as I hate the idea of sinking to this embarrassing level with him, I know deep down he’s right. I’ve always heard men like their women to be the sinner and the saint. I need to suck it up and do this. I want to prove to Jackson and everyone else that there’s more to me than just this straight-laced good girl that they all think I am.

His green eyes burn into mine the moment our gaze meets. “Cover your fucking cock, you dirty manwhore.”

He smirks and pulls the towel off his shoulder slowly with one hand. The tattoos etched into the smooth skin of his arms, shoulders and chest catch my eye as Trip wraps the towel around his waist.  “There may be hope for you after all, sweetness. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, though. We’ve got to keep working on making that pretty little mouth of yours dirty.”

I fold my arms over my chest. “Fine. We will. Now, can you please get out so I can pee?”

“Sure thing.” Trip winks at me before squeezing past me, slapping my ass on his way out.

My skin burns from his touch, and I rub my backside to console it. “Hey!”

“Just warming that booty up for later. Get used to my touch, babe.” He holds his hands up and makes a grabbing motion with his hands while his back stays to me. “These things are going to be all over you today.”

“Ugh.” I close the door a little harder than I mean to in order to get away from him. No matter what, I have to remind myself it’s important to be nice to Trip. He’s helping me with the two most important things in my life: this track, and getting back with Jackson.

I stare at myself in the mirror and study my reflection as I curse myself for allowing him to get to me. I need to learn to let things go and stop getting riled up so quickly.

I toss my hair over my shoulder and turn on the water. My blue eyes stare back at me as I wait for the water to warm up. The vision of Trip smiling and flexing his fingers as he talks about groping me floats through my mind. I wish the thought of his strong hands being all over me didn’t make my stomach flutter the way it’s doing right now. Damn him.

I throw some water on my face and glance back at the clock on the wall behind me. It’s not as late as I thought. I’ve got time for my normal routine. I pull my shirt over my head and take off my underwear in order to grab a quick shower. I slide the shower curtain back and turn on the water just as the bathroom door flings open.

I yank the shower curtain over my naked body and stagger at the same moment I pivot.

Trip’s large hand grabs my elbow to steady me. “You all right there?”

I jerk away from him. I don’t like the idea of him touching me while I’m completely naked. “Don’t you knock?”

“You didn’t, so I figured our relationship had already progressed to the ‘no knocking’ level.”

I shove his shoulder towards the open door, careful to keep the plastic wrapped around me. “Well it hasn’t, now get out.”