“So do you,” another woman said and then clapped her hands over her mouth.
“Thanks, sweetheart.”
“So you do all the work and Aiden takes all the credit?” someone asked.
I kept an easy grin on my face as I answered. “Something like that.”
“Aiden works hard, too,” Ronnie said, almost shocking the smile right off me. “He takes acting seriously. He’s a professional.” She looked around at the stares she was getting. “Tanner does too, of courses.”
Ronnie had actually defended me. It boggled the mind.
“They sound like quite the pair,” a woman said to Ronnie. “Wouldn’t it be awesome to see the two of them side by side? That sight would probably overwhelm a woman completely.”
“Yeah, I think you might be right.” Ronnie shot me a grin. “It probably would.”
We had dinner with the co-leaders of the fan club, and I was at my most charming. Well, the Tanner version of charming.
Ronnie and I were both tired when we got back to the suite. I kicked off my boots and settled on the sofa in the living room with a bottle of wine I’d procured downstairs. I turned on the television and found some nineties movie that looked vaguely familiar.
I could hear Ronnie padding around her room, and I thought she was getting ready for bed, but then she emerged wearing a cropped top t-shirt and pajama shorts. Her hair was piled up on her head in a loose updo—and she still managed to look fucking gorgeous.
She sat down on the sofa and started watching the movie. I poured her a glass of wine and handed it to her. “Thanks,” she said.
We sipped the wine and watched the movie for a while in silence. When Ronnie’s glass was empty, I scooted closer to pour her some more. When I started to move back, she snagged my free hand.
For a moment, I stared at our joined fingers. Then I raised my gaze to her face. I didn’t take my eyes off her even as I set the bottle back down on the coffee table.
Ronnie’s dark eyes met mine, but she didn’t say anything. Neither did I. I didn’t want to break the spell.
Finally, she was the one to break it. “Do you, Tanner, and Ford often share women?”
That wasn’t what I’d been expecting her to say. “Not all the time, but we enjoy it. Did they tell you about that?”
“No,” she said. “But it was pretty obvious.”
“How so?”
“One would kiss me, then the other… and then they’d both look around as if expecting you to pop up and take your turn. It was pretty obvious that one member of the group was missing.”
Though I’d expected that Ford and Tanner had been with her, this was the first confirmation I had. “Was that a problem?” I asked her. “Seems like two men are quite enough for one woman to handle.”
“It was fun. I didn’t regret it at the time, and I don’t now. But it did feel like our encounter was incomplete.”
“Like one sandwich short of a picnic?”
“Something like that,” she said. She tucked her knees under her so that she could face me better, but she didn’t let go of my hand.
“Did you kiss either of them like you kissed me the night of the rehearsal?”
A faint smile graced her lips and then she shook her head.
“So I’m ahead of the game in at least one aspect.”
“Does it have to be a game?”
“Not necessarily. But games can be fun. You’re competitive, you know that.”
She nodded. “If it’s a competition, then I’m sorry to say that you’re not in the lead.”
“Are we talking quantity or quality here?” I growled. I had to be near the head of the pack in the latter.
She smiled. “You get points for both.”
I cocked my head to the side and stroked my thumb over the back of her hand. “Any chance I could earn some extra credit tonight?”
She nodded, being far more direct than I’d expected. “I was thinking maybe we could—”
“Have crazy naked sex?”
“Not exactly. I was thinking we could reenact the sex scene that we practiced—only for real this time.”
Once again, she’d taken me by surprise. “Is that what you want?”
“Yes.”
I did too. I’d thought about that night so many times in the past week. “Then go to your mark.”
Her eyes darkened with desire, and she stood up and took a step in the direction of the master bedroom. But I didn’t let go of her hand, holding her back. “And Ronnie?”
“Yes?”
“Two things. First… when I filmed the scene with Sierra, I thought about you.”
Her smile lit up the room.
“Second, Chase Cooper doesn’t go down on women… but I do.”
The smile stayed on her face as her eyes darkened with desire. “Action,” she whispered, and then she ran into the bedroom.
A moment later, I followed.
26
Ronnie
Aiden and I got back late Wednesday night, but Ford and Tanner were still up, watching something on the television. And, I suspected, waiting for us.