“Semantics.”

Chapter 19

Myrna crawled out of bed, slid into the discarded white sundress she found on the floor, and stumbled toward the bathroom. They’d been driving two days straight to play a show in Florida. The band would play an hour, and then the crew would break down the set and be back on the road by midnight to head up the Eastern seaboard. She honestly didn’t know how these guys maintained their sanity. Al they did was ride on a bus al day and night, constantly moving from city to city with no time to enjoy the places they traveled.

After using the bathroom, she contemplated returning to bed, but decided Brian would wake up and then she’d spend several hours with his slim hips between her thighs. Not that she ever considered that a bad thing, she just had work to do and found herself entirely too distracted to get anything done.

Myrna shoved a stack of papers to the side of the square dining table, sat in the she-didn’t-want-to-know-why-it-was-sticky booth and booted up her computer. Now that she’d designed an appropriate survey, she spent her evenings interviewing groupies. Her project was moving along beyond her wildest expectations and she had a huge backlog of data. While she waited for a shoddy Internet connection, she sorted musical score sheets from pages of beer-stained data, pul ed a sucker stick off one page, and eyed a mysterious brown spot apprehensively. The guys were slobs and had no respect for her personal belongings. She only tolerated the mess because she didn’t feel it was her place to correct them.

She checked her email and answered half a dozen distraught messages from her graduate students. Myrna was working on creating a data spreadsheet when the bus slowed and pul ed to a stop. She craned her neck to peek out the heavily tinted window on the other side of the bus. Another fast food restaurant? Gag!

Jake climbed from the driver’s seat and stretched, his mouth opening in a wide yawn. He started when he noticed Myrna sitting at the table.

“I didn’t know anyone was awake,” he said. “Do you want some breakfast?”

“Coffee would be fantastic.”

“One coffee coming up. Make that two. I’m about to pass out.”

Jake exited the bus, leaving the door open so fresh air could circulate into the cabin. Myrna heard the unmistakable screech of her Thunderbird’s tires next to the bus. The roadies were abusing the hel out of her car and the miles were adding up quickly. As convenient as it was to have a car at their disposal, she was going to have to put it in storage. Driving the extra vehicle disrupted the roadies’ sleep rotation, which she recognized as a safety hazard.

The bedroom door opened and Brian emerged. He blinked his eyes in the early morning sunshine and smiled at Myrna when his gaze focused on her. “There you are. I’ve been waiting for you to come back to bed for over an hour.”

He didn’t even try to conceal his nakedness or his rock hard c**k jutting into the space before him. This was exactly why she hadn’t returned to bed. He never al owed her time to catch up with her work. His diversions were always spectacular so it wasn’t as if she could say no. She didn’t want to say no. Her body was already responding to his on some subconscious, primitive level. She’d expected their mutual delirium to decline now that they were together 24/7, but it intensified with each day. She’d never experienced anything like this. She was hopelessly, madly, deeply in lust.

“I was trying to get some work done,” she said.

“Are you finished now?”

“Uh…” She knew she wouldn’t be able to concentrate with images of naked-Brian burned into her retinas. “I can take a little break. Actual y, we need to do something with my car.”

His eyebrows lifted and he grinned. “Great idea. Your car. I’l go find some pants.”

“Wait, you misunderstood.”

He’d already disappeared back in the bedroom, however.

He emerged a few minutes later in jeans and a T-shirt. Her heart thudded in anticipation. She climbed from the booth and went to find shoes while he used the bathroom. At the exit, they waited for Jake to climb the bus steps with two coffees.

“Oh, Brian, you’re up. Here, you can have my coffee.” Jake tried to hand a cup of coffee to Brian.

“Keep it,” Brian said. “Myrna and I are taking the Thunderbird. We’l meet you in Tampa this evening.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Brian. You get lost in your parents’ backyard.” Jake handed Myrna her coffee. She took a sip of coffee and made a face. Too strong and black.

“My parents’ backyard is huge. But don’t worry, we’l get there.”

Jake shrugged. “I think Dave has the keys. I saw him get on the other bus a minute ago.”

“Thanks, Jake. And dude, you look like shit. Why don’t you wake Sed and have him drive for a while?”

“I’m al right. See you in Tampa.” Jake chugged his coffee and headed for the bathroom at the back of the bus. Brian led Myrna to the car, where she waited, sipping her bitter coffee, while Brian retrieved the keys. Within moments, he climbed in next to her and started the car. “Did I even tel you good morning?”

She shook her head. “You don’t think so wel when al your blood’s in your smal er head.”

“Smal er?”

She laughed. “What I actual y wanted to do with the car, before you jumped to conclusions, was find a place to store it while I’m on tour with the band.”

“So you didn’t want to suck my c**k while I drive?”

“Wel , yeah, now I do, but that’s not why I mentioned the car in the first place.”

Brian pul ed out of the parking lot, leaving the tour buses behind. “It’s nice to have the car with us. It’s handy for errands and we can get away from the guys for a few minutes. Maybe we can get a trailer and pul it behind the moving van.”

She smiled. “That would work perfectly.” She slid across the bench seat and kissed him on the cheek. “The roadies wil appreciate it, too. They al look like the walking dead.”

“They’l get some rest soon. Just ten more days on the road, then we have a week off. You’re coming out to Los Angeles with us, right?” He took her cup of coffee from her and took a drink. He winced, took another sip, and returned the cup to her hand.

“Los Angeles?” she said. “I don’t think so, Brian. I can get caught up on my work during that time. You’ve got more tour dates after your week off, don’t you?”