Broken Open. Lauren Dane

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СКАЧАТЬ matter that there were a dozen reasons why pursuing her would be a bad idea. He wanted her, she wanted him, they were both adults and damn it, he didn’t want to stop.

      He certainly was powerless against it when she moved even closer to him, tipping her head a little, exposing her neck.

      He bent his head, breathing her in, brushing his lips over her skin.

      “I’ll be here when you’re done.”

      “I’m holding you to that.” He stepped back and caught up with Ira to talk about his guitars, but her scent lived in him.

      Ira gave him a once-over and Ezra pretended not to see it. Ira had been giving him the once-over before shows for years. At least now Ezra wasn’t so high he couldn’t even stay conscious onstage.

      Ezra had his head on straight now. He could be trusted and relied on. No one looked at him with pity-laden expressions tinged with varying shades of disgust. It had been a fight that he wasn’t sure he’d win at times, but there he stood, with all that devastation in his past, with great hope for his future.

      Satisfied Ezra was all right, Ira relaxed and gave him the rundown before leaving him alone in his dressing room. Even though Paddy was the leader of Sweet Hollow Ranch, it was Ezra who was the founder. The true leader everyone, including Paddy, turned to.

      That trust never ceased to amaze Ezra. They shouldn’t trust him. Not after heroin. But they did and he would white-knuckle it through every damned day to never disappoint the people counting on him again.

      Once he’d finished his shot of wheatgrass juice, he sat back on the couch and put his feet up. With a long, slow exhalation, he leaned back, closing his eyes.

      The last time Ezra’d been on a stage this big he’d had a public meltdown that had led him to a stint in rehab. The small club dates they’d played at the start of their tour had been thrilling. It had fed that thirst in him that only playing live could seem to quench.

      He’d worried back then that he’d lost his performing mojo. But when he’d walked onstage it had leaped into him as easily as it had the last time he was on stage. Easy, like it had never gone. He’d been the Ezra Hurley once more and it had reawakened something inside.

      He had something to prove. Not just to his brothers and the fans, but to himself.

      * * *

      TUESDAY’S SKIN STILL tingled where he’d brushed his lips against her neck. It had been so...wow.

      She watched his retreating back. Took in the stretch of the soft fabric of his T-shirt at the width of his powerful shoulders. Down to the narrower waist. His brothers were in denim but Ezra chose worn brown leather pants. And cowboy boots with superpointy toes.

      His hair was a little more tousled than usual and she noted the tattoos she could see on his arms. Once she saw him all sweaty after they’d gone out ATVing and that was a memory she’d cherish forever. But this? Well now. Rock star Ezra just earned a place next to sweaty, muddy Ezra in her fantasy bank.

      Also, he had a fantastic ass.

      And he walked like a man who had a big dick.

      Natalie sidled up next to her as they both watched him until he was out of sight. “He really works a pair of leather pants,” Natalie said in an undertone.

      “Indeed. He has big-cock walk, too, don’t you think?”

      Natalie snorted a laugh. “I can never unhear that!”

      “Am I lying?”

      “Hell no. What’s true is true.”

      They turned to face one another, grinning. “So things are okay with Paddy?”

      Her friend had a huge heart and she was deeply in love with Ezra’s brother Paddy. They’d just had a rough patch and had come back together, working hard to get past it, just like Tuesday had known they needed to.

      “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 СКАЧАТЬ