Break On Through by Christie Ridgway Page B

aching spot between her legs. Reed was to blame, she decided.
    It was as if her first kiss in ages had primed her for sexual thoughts and feelings that she’d long suppressed or always ignored or never had at all.
    Turning her mind from that disturbing notion, she made a deliberate study of her environs. The lush landscaping and the over-the-top architecture of the homes were awe-inducing. And suddenly so real. This was the compound of the Velvet Lemons , one of the most famous rock ’n’ roll bands in the world. If not the most famous, considering they were still performing together.
    When they weren’t on the road, they lived here, had lived here for years.
    Who had been in that pool and adjacent hot tub?
    What kind of players had held tennis tournaments on that court?
    How many people had seen the insides of all those mansion bedrooms?
    The idea that nine children had been raised at the compound by three fathers known for their outrageous, hedonistic lifestyles was suddenly real to her too.
    Along with that came a brand new concern. Reed Hopkins was completely out of her league, wasn’t he? Things he’d seen—and likely done—were totally beyond her experience. A man who grew up here had met the famous and infamous. The women he’d known were certainly far more accomplished and adventurous in the sexual realm in ways that she could only begin to imagine. Her own long-unused skills wouldn’t satisfy him, and surely he realized that as well.
    Yes, completely out of her league.
    His question— You don’t think I want to go to bed with you? —had so derailed her that she’d not considered the obvious. He’d been merely teasing, she thought now. Toying with her for his temporary amusement. She was the unsophisticated bumpkin on the other side of the fence. He was a highly experienced, highly sexualized member of the Rock Royalty. He’d probably laughed himself silly at her stutters and blushes.
    A feeling moved through her chest and she told herself it was relief. She could leave now that she’d finished her fact-finding mission. Without even having to come face-to-face with him again, she could head on home and save herself further embarrassment. There, she could banish him from her thoughts and that would also put an end to these new, unfamiliar sensations.
    Stepping forward to flag down her sons, a man’s voice halted her movement. “Don’t tell me you’re moving just when I came to say hello.”
    Cleo spun around. Yet another gorgeous man was bearing down on her. Tall and blond, he had chiseled masculine features and a close-trimmed mustache and goatee outlined his mouth. She could see him with a surfboard, she thought, or climbing a mountain with nothing but his fingertips.
    He smiled, extending a hand. “I’m Payne Colson.”
    She paged through what she’d gleaned about the Velvet Lemon kids as they shook. “You’re Ren’s brother?”
    “I like to say Ren’s my brother,” he said, with another charming smile. “But, yeah. We have a sister, too. Campbell.”
    Cleo considered their first names. “Interesting. Ren, Payne, Campbell.”
    “It’s Renford, actually. And we think our dad gave us the maiden names of our mamas so he could remember who they were.” There was a twinkle in his eye, like the idea of that didn’t bother him.
    She decided that maybe Payne Colson, with his golden good looks and friendly charm, wasn’t bothered by much of anything.
    “You’re here with Reed?” he asked now.
    With effort, she suppressed her wince. “I’m here with my sons,” she said, pointing them out.
    “But you’re Reed’s friend,” Payne said.
    How much protest became too much protest? “The building where he does his writing backs up to the house I live in.”
    “He’s been complaining about falling behind on his deadline,” Payne said. “Now I can see the source of his distraction.”
    He was grinning again, and exuding a decidedly male magnetism. It hit Cleo in a testosterone wave,