“Yeah. We’re good. What’s going on with Ezra?”
Which was what Tuesday had been wondering. So she decided it was easier to think on this as a fun, casual thing.
“He wants what I got, duh. Also, I want what he’s got so there’s a nice synchronicity there.”
Mary, Damien Hurley’s wife and a new friend, came over to where they stood. “Not going to lie, I am so relieved to be sleeping in my own bed tonight.”
They’d been out on tour for three months, which was short, Tuesday knew, owing to the fact that Mary was due to deliver a brand-new Hurley in six weeks. The tour officially ended the next night but Portland was close enough to Hood River that everyone was headed home instead of to yet another hotel.
The gong sounded that indicated it was time to head to the stage. How weird was it that this stuff was totally normal in her life all of a sudden?
Paddy approached, smiling at Tuesday. Tuesday hoped she managed an I-forgive-you-but-if-you-hurt-my-best-friend-I-will-maim-you smile in return.
He got it, nodding again and hugging her briefly before he took Natalie’s hand and they walked toward the stage. At the end of the hall, Ezra came out of his dressing room looking fine as hell. A little more tousled. But focused and relaxed.
As if she’d said this out loud, he turned, his gaze locking with hers until she felt the tug between them. He waited until she reached him and fell in beside her. Neither of them spoke. She got the feeling he needed the silence.
At the stage, the brothers moved off, speaking to one another intensely for long moments before breaking apart. Damien went out, followed by Vaughan and then Paddy. Ezra stood beside Tuesday, throwing off crazy amounts of charisma and sex appeal.
“Aren’t you going to wish me good luck?” he asked, a teasing smile on his face. But she saw a tiny bit of doubt and it shouldn’t have been there.
“No. You know why?” She moved a little closer. “You don’t need luck. You’re Ezra Hurley. You wrote this book.”
He relaxed, taking her hand to kiss her knuckles briefly before he stepped forward, grabbed the guitar Ira held out and slung it on as he hit the stage and started to play.
* * *
ONCE HE LEFT the wings, everything changed. He unleashed his energy, powering through, taking the roar of the crowd, the singing to his lyrics, the applause and the interplay between him and his brothers and feasting on it.
Though the other three had been out together a whole tour, Ezra fit in exactly where he always did. They might have been more used to doing this every night, but he was fresher, so it balanced things out.
For those hours, it was Hurleys Against The World once again and everything was absolutely perfect.
At the first encore break they came offstage and he hit the john, rinsing off his face and neck, changing his shirt.
As he approached the stage Tuesday waited. The look on her face was all about him and it sent a slice of longing down his spine.
He’d wait, though. Just as she did, letting him keep his head in the music. Seemingly assured he’d give her the proper attention when the time came.
That sort of confidence was hot.
He grinned her way as he took his guitar back from Ira and they went out once more.
Three encores later and it was time to go home.
* * *
AFTER A SHOW was even louder and more chaotic than it was before the show. When Ezra came offstage, he ended up at Tuesday’s side as they all headed back to the greenroom.
The energy seemed to spiral through him and he needed to clean up and get himself together.
He leaned in toward Tuesday once they got to the greenroom. “I’m going to shower and change. Okay with you?”
She nodded. “Of course. I’ll be here when you’re finished.” Her mouth, good sweet Christ, he wanted to lean in and kiss it. So much his hands shook a little.
Tuesday tipped her chin at him. “Go on then. You won’t break me.”
He halted, stunned. “What?”
“You were looking at my mouth like you wanted it. So take it.”
In two steps he’d slid his arm around her waist as he met her body, his mouth sliding over hers, over lips that opened on a sigh as she gave over to him.
He sucked her bottom lip, grazing it with his teeth. Her fingers dug into the front of his T-shirt, holding him to her.
Need clawed at him, sharp and insistent. He wanted to back her up to the wall and fuck her right then and there.
With a groan, he stepped back right as a bunch of people came into the room.
“We’ll continue this conversation when I’m cleaned up.” He licked over his lips and tasted her again.
She breathed out slowly, one corner of her mouth tipped up into a smile.
But he got waylaid before he could reach the door, as his brothers surrounded him, slapping his back and hugging him.
His energy mingled with theirs and it was okay. This was okay to want. This was part of how it was between the Hurley boys and it was good and elemental and he needed to hold on to that.
But it sure didn’t hurt to hear Paddy nearly shout, “Best fucking show in years, man. Ez, you fucking ran that shit out there tonight. Well done.” Paddy grinned at his brother and Ezra gave him one right back.
There was a flurry of hugs from Mary and Natalie and their other friends who’d come to the show.
Tuesday got tugged away to meet someone so he watched her move as he drank some tea and listened to Vaughan and Damien.
Mary patted his arm, following his gaze. “Looks like we interrupted something when we came in here.”
Ezra shrugged. It would happen. He’d been sure from that first time he’d kissed her downtown and then, just three weeks earlier, in the darkness between the grape arbor at her house and the wall.
They’d been heading toward a naked collision for months now. He smiled at his sister-in-law. “No worries, sweetheart.”
He managed to escape to his dressing room nearly an hour later and by the time the water hit his skin, he was ready to run a marathon or fuck.
No marathon that night. Maybe fucking—they certainly had chemistry. Maybe not. Yes. It would happen, though. Ezra found the slow pace, this long seduction of Tuesday and Ezra to not only be sexy, but it gave him the time to work through the way he felt about her. All that desire was seriously hot but the want...he needed to find a way to handle it so he could enjoy it and stop being wary.
It made him feel alive on a whole new level.
“SO.” EZRA PAUSED at his car, a sleek, sexy, low-slung Porsche. He backed her to the door and her arms slid around his neck as he stepped close for a kiss.
“So?” she breathed as he pulled back after smooching the wits right from her head.
“Nothing really. I just wanted to kiss you again before you got into the car.”
Tuesday laughed, delighted. Sometimes he came off so serious and broody that when he cracked a joke and exposed his dry sense of humor it always felt like a delicious secret.
“All right then.”
She got in, bending to unstrap her shoes and slide them off.
When she straightened, she found him staring.
“You