Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 86706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
“It went okay. What choice do they have but to accept it? I’m glad the talk is over with.”
“You shouldn’t be talking to me. You need to rest your voice.”
I sighed. She was right. “Will you text with me, then?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Hanging up.” I scrolled down to her name on my phone.
Tristan: Hi, Emily.
Emily: Hi, Tristan.
Tristan: Do anything interesting today?
Emily: You might say that.
Tristan: I’m still mad you wouldn’t switch buses and stay with me tonight. Now I’m cuddling with Duffy and not you.
Emily: Duffy?
I looked over at the worn, gray stuffed toy I’d had since I was a kid.
Tristan: My ratty teddy bear from childhood. Where I go, he goes. The guys have given me a lot of shit for that over the years. But he’s my good-luck charm.
Emily: That’s actually adorable.
Tristan: Adorable for a nearly thirty-eight-year-old man to be sleeping with a teddy bear? Not sure. But I don’t give a shit. It’s the one thing I have from home, and he’s sticking with me.
Emily: I can only imagine the things poor Duffy has witnessed.
Tristan: Thankfully, one of his eyes is coming loose. So he can’t see very well.
Emily: Oh, that’s good. LOL
Tristan: He wishes you were here on the bus with us, though.
Emily: I’d be safer on the BDSM bus.
I grinned.
Tristan: Ah yes, the BDSM bus and magic mushrooms.
Emily: Pretty sure the only magic mushroom is in your pants.
I bent my head back in laughter.
Tristan: I think you’re right. And boy, you are fucking sassy tonight. I love it. Definitely seeing different sides of you today, literally and figuratively. ;-)
Emily: If today taught me anything, it’s to stay on my own bus.
Tristan: Ouch. Am I that scary?
Emily: You’re that good. And therein lies the problem.
Tristan: I barely showed you how good I am. I wanted to do more, but I need to be careful with you. I also don’t trust myself not to take it too far.
Emily: I had no business messing around with you.
Tristan: Why do you keep saying that? We make the rules. And if I had my way, you’d be on this bus right now.
Emily: Didn’t you have enough to explain to them today? You want to add why I’m suddenly traveling with you?
Tristan: I don’t care what they think; although, I did deny anything between us when they asked earlier. But that was mainly to protect you. I didn’t think you’d want them to know.
Emily: They suspected something?
Tristan: Ronan caught me with your scrunchie before. He also saw us getting out of the car together today.
Emily: I could get fired if they think we have something going on.
Tristan: I’ll fire anyone who tries to fire you. There’s no one who’d go against me. Plus, we don’t have a company policy against dating people on the tour.
Emily: Have you ever dated anyone on one of your tours?
Shit.
Tristan: Never seriously.
Emily: You fucked someone who worked on a tour, then?
I sighed. I didn’t want to lie to her.
Tristan: I had a thing with our former PR person. The one before Veronica. Last time we were in Europe.
Emily: I see. So this is what you do—hook up with people on tour.
Fuck.
Tristan: You asked me a question. I was honest. Don’t use my answer as an excuse to minimize what’s happening between us. I’ve been with a lot of women. That’s not news. None of that has anything to do with you and me.
Emily: You and me? What am I to you exactly?
She’d given me an opportunity, and I didn’t want to fuck it up. I took a moment to gather my thoughts before typing.
Tristan: You feel like home to me. You’ve felt that way from the moment I met you, even when you were a stranger. I’m still trying to figure it out.
When she didn’t respond, I feared I’d said too much. But that didn’t stop me from continuing.
Tristan: Every time I’m around you, I feel like myself, the person I was before all of this craziness happened. I love how honest you are. You make me smile. And you make me wish I had all the time in the world to figure out how to make you happy. Because when you smile at me, it brings me joy. I don’t understand what’s happening here. But I like you. More than I’ve liked anyone in a very long time.
The dots moved around longer than normal, but she finally texted back.
Emily: You make me smile too.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Tristan: And sometimes I make you moan. Thank you for letting me do that, by the way.
Emily: Pretty sure I should be thanking you.
Tristan: I’d love the opportunity to do it again, even if you don’t seem to think it’s a good idea.
Emily: You were the one who said we needed to stop at kissing.
Tristan: I can be swayed.
Emily: It’s not a good idea.