“I can’t believe it lasted all this time.” The backpack I’d given her on our last Christmas together appeared battered and well-used, but it was still in good shape. I’d honestly forgotten about it, but recognized it the second I laid eyes on it.
She nodded toward the leather bracelets on my wrist. “Those held up too.”
“Yeah.” I hooked a finger under the leather. “I don’t wear them when I work. I guess I kinda baby them since they’re irreplaceable.”
We exchanged a long look, neither of us saying a word. What could we say?
She tossed her backpack on the bunk. “Okay, just give me a few minutes.”
Tapping the side of the bunk, I backed away. “Let me know if you need any more help with your bags.”
By the time Tali changed and stepped through the sliding doors separating the bunks from the front lounge, everyone had plates full of quesadillas, chips, and homemade guacamole. She grabbed a plate, loading it up, then started my way. I scooted down the bench, and she squeezed in between me and Michaela.
“Sorry.” I slung my arm along the bench behind her to give her more room. “With eight of us on here, it gets crowded.”
She focused on loading a chip with guacamole. “I’ve been traveling on buses for a while now. I’m used to sleeping in moving coffins and squeezing my ass in wherever it fits.” She bit into her chip and let out a groan, which wasn’t meant to be sexy, but it was. Holy Christ, it was. “Hector, you’re a genius. Best guac I’ve ever had.”
Hector grinned with pride from the bench across the aisle. “Damn straight. I keep my crew in line with the promise of my cooking.”
The kitchen on the bus was pretty bare bones, but he made do. Whenever we traveled after a show instead of spending the night at a hotel, he whipped something up using the two burners and extra-large toaster oven.
“Ah, I should have tried that when I rode the bus with the Blue boys,” Tali said with affection.
Hector chuckled. “They give you a hard time?”
“Of course,” she said. “Four formerly-single, famous men who have the world at their fingertips? How could they not? But I manage.”
“Ba-dum-bum,” Michaela said, grinning.
Tali bowed in her seat. “Oh, you have no idea how many jokes about managing I’ve accrued over the years. I try to save them for special occasions.”
“Hopefully this doesn’t count as a special occasion,” Michaela said.
Tali threw a piece of a chip in her direction. “I’m offended.”
“You can tell me all your awful jokes,” I murmured.
She turned her head, putting her face closer to mine than it had been in forever. Her smile grew in increments, first one side of her mouth, then the other.
“I think I’ve probably punished you enough, huh?” she said for only me to hear.
God, I could have leaned in a couple inches and tasted her. Everything I was made of urged me forward. But we were nowhere near the time, and this crowded bus definitely wasn’t the place.
A decade passed while we looked at each other. Tali was unreadable as ever, and my emotions were zig zagging all over the damn place. All I knew for sure was the connection between us pulsed with intensity.
I reached up, swiping her bottom lip. She inhaled sharply. “You had a little guacamole,” I whispered.
Her thumb went to my lip, brushing across it. “Same,” she whispered back.
“Funny, I didn’t have any guacamole.”
She licked the place my thumb had just been. “I must have been mistaken then.”
Hector clapped, drawing our attention. “Unless you’re ready to go to sleep for the night, we usually do a singalong after second dinner.”
“Damn, this bus is wholesome AF,” Michaela said.
Jay, one of the sound guys cackled. “We pick a theme for the night, and tonight’s is sex.”