Wild Child (Rock Royalty #6) by Christie Ridgway Page B

and took their seats at the long table. Max and Ash sat beside each other on one end. Brody observed their animated conversation—and shared smiles—until he felt eyes on him.
    Three pairs.
    Fuck me.
    Bing, Cilla, and Ren were all watching him watch Ash.
    He resorted to twin-communication. Knock it off. For good measure, he flipped his brother a subtle bird. Before Bing could respond, Cleo’s Obie distracted him, asking for help with the ketchup bottle.
    Brody half-turned to respond to Rachel’s question about a minor repair needed in her classroom. His gaze took in the sleekness of her dark hair and the round apple of her cheek. He smiled at her, and she gave him a little flirty glance through her lashes.
    Yeah. He’d take her to bed. Soon. Have the exclusivity chat. Move another step along the right path.
    As he forked up a bite of fruit salad, a soft laugh caught his attention over the chatter at the table. His attention shifted left.
    Her mouth turned up, her eyes shining, Ash was focused on the tablemate who sat next to her. Not Max, but the one on her other side.
    Her hands clasped tightly together beneath her chin, she smiled as an obviously smitten Eli tried impressing the new girl of his dreams by balancing a spoon on his nose. When it wobbled, then fell to the table, she still gave the young boy a round of applause.
    Next, he handed over the spoon for her to try the trick, and she looked at it with such comic dismay that Brody felt himself grinning. As if she felt his amusement, her gaze flicked down the group, found him.
    He sat back in his chair, lifting his chin in unspoken challenge, still smiling wide.
    She narrowed her eyes, made a little face at him, and then appeared to appeal to Eli. Even from here Brody could tell the boy gave her detailed instructions. As the boy’s directions wound down, he saw her draw in a deep breath, and hold it.
    With a light touch, she balanced the utensil on the end of her perfect nose, then slowly moved her hands away.
    Her eyes shifted to him again, her look triumphant.
    His mouth curved once more as he noted the sparkle in her silvery eyes, the flush of pleasure on her cheeks, the clearly happy mood that his fallen angel had found at the Velvet Lemons table.
    “Brody. Brody .”
    He glanced around, realizing that Rachel had been trying to get his attention. For long minutes, he’d completely ignored her, the woman who was going to keep him balanced and on the straight and narrow.
    Shit.
    How was he going to keep to his good intentions when just looking at Ash could make him forget everything and everyone else?
    An echo from the past welled up inside Brody. His mother’s face, her fingers slipping away from the clutch of his small hand. What had he been…six? She’d been beautiful, mercurial, unfaithful.
    Now he heard her voice, the words she’d said as she climbed into another musician’s van on her way out of her children’s lives. I have to go with him, sweetheart. Someday you’ll understand that when I look at him I don’t see anyone else in the world.
    That wasn’t the only time, though it might have been the first, when he’d learned that love had a destructive side in the hands of the wrong person.

Chapter 6
     
    Brody entered the dim confines of Satan’s Roadhouse, cursing himself with each step. After Sunday’s brunch he’d decided to avoid Ash, sending over guys from his crew in order to distance himself from her and her undeniable appeal to him. Yeah, he’d thought he’d get his hands dirty on her project himself, but then he’d reconsidered.
    Somehow this woman had a powerful hold on him, and getting in too deep with her would have consequences for them both. The inevitable bad ending would leave them with only more pain and regrets—burdens neither of them handled well. He figured they’d both had the hangovers to prove it.
    She was just too much—too lovely, too arousing, and especially too new to her own loss, he’d told himself. White