I took another sip of my coffee and watched Loretta’s face turn from question to anger. “You should tell that asshole you’ll never work with him.”
I laughed. “I intend to, blue.”
“Good,” she said with a jerk of her head and then reached for the menu tucked into the napkin holder. Nowhere in this town had a respectable menu.
And it was easier to focus on my disapproval of the mob than it was to admit I loved sitting across from Loretta. I enjoyed getting her approval. I wanted her to approve all things. Except coffee. She could never take coffee from me. But anything else I would give her and more. I’d never felt this way about another human in my past, and the way she struck me agitated my nerves.
How would I give her back to Pelican Bay in a few short days?
“So what’s on the agenda for today?” she asked.
We had a full day of concerts ahead of us, but her brother’s band had played their set. We’d be flying home the next morning headed to Pelican Bay, which meant I only had one more day with Loretta. Our time crunch caused my heart to catch. How would I get by without seeing her smile?
“Anything you want,” I answered truthfully. As long as she allowed me to stand beside her, that was all that mattered.
She knocked her knuckle twice on the table. “I’d like to see the band list for today. Then I thought tonight I’ll let you take me for steak.”
I lifted my head to stare into her deep blue eyes and swore for a second I saw my entire future in them. “I’m not sure you can handle my steak,” I said hoping she picked up on my innuendo.
From the shocked look on her face, she did. “Reginald Peterson, did you make a joke with a sexual innuendo?”
I ignored her use of my full name and set my coffee mug on the table, playing it cool. “What can I say? You’re a bad influence.”
She reached across the space and stole my mug of coffee. “I guess so. I kind of like it.” Loretta took a sip from my mug and her face turned into an expression of disgust as she sputtered out the coffee and then wiped the dribbles off her chin. “That is disgusting.”
I laughed as I slipped out of the booth and dropped a few dollars on the table for a tip. “That’s what coffee taste like before noon.”
“Where’s the crushed ice?”
We walked out of the small café together, and as we turned right on the sidewalk, Loretta reached over and looped her arm through mine. The two of us headed on our way looking very much like a couple.
7
The Bear Creek festival ended much too soon. We left before the end of the third day, missing the last few bands on the rotation. Our solemn group boarded the plane, which would take us back to Pelican Bay. From there I’d use the chopper to make my way to New York. Except suddenly I wasn’t in such a hurry to get home. The few days I experienced with Loretta didn’t seem enough. An entire lifetime with her would not be enough.
The five band members were hung over, their heads and shoulders hunched, and they groaned loudly as Loretta walked behind them swaying back-and-forth speaking in a tone nine times louder than necessary. They may have been in their twenties, but she had the classic little sister behavior down to a T.
I walked a few paces behind the group, watching them as they made their way to the same seats on the plane we used on the ride to Colorado. The band’s drummer, Leo, tripped on the plane’s first step, his movements clunky from the massive amounts of alcohol they consumed on our last evening.
I sucked as a chaperone. At least I got them home alive, but I did a horrible job of playing babysitter. The band, which appeared so mature on our first night there, went on a drinking spree after they finished their set. Someone forgot to tell me they had a rule about drinking before a gig, but not for after they’d met their contractual obligation. I could honestly tell Pierce they played magnificently with no issues. The rest of it was up for debate. Hopefully he didn’t give them a comment card to rank my work ethic. Another perk of their drinking? No one asked where Loretta and I were after their performance.
“Do not tell my brother anything about last night,” Loretta whispered to me as I took the seat next to her. No way was I sitting on this long flight back to Maine without her by my side.
I buckled my seatbelt and glanced over, trying not to pay her any more attention that could be perceived the wrong way. “Okay. I didn’t plan to, but why?”
She ground her teeth together, her lips spread flat. “My brother will totally kill you.”
Any man caught sleeping with someone’s sister when they should have been there as a person of authority came close to death. If anyone pulled the crap, I did I’d put them in the hospital. I risked a glance at her brother to make sure he wasn’t looking in our direction. If he found out and wanted to get revenge, I would not stand in his way. At the present time he was sleeping peacefully in his chair with the seat leaned back and his head already rolled to the side with his mouth open while he snored.
“Trust me,” she said her gaze on her brother as well.
He may have been sleeping, but the rest of the brand was awake. I knew they would rat me out a heartbeat. “What you’re saying is no funny business on the plane ride home?”
We were at the back of the plane in the same seats we rode to Colorado in. The long table covered our laps where Pierce would often work, but it still caught me off guard when her hand slipped over the edge of my leg and she rubbed her fingers against the outline of my dick.
“Maybe,” was all she said with a hidden smile. Her fingers and their constant touch on my jeans caused me to grow hard, but she stared straight ahead as if nothing happened between us.
We had sex the night before although calling that experience just sex didn’t do it justice. It was so much more. We finally fell asleep and two hours later she woke me up with her lips wrapped around my cock. The tongue ring was everything I fantasized it to be, and now I couldn’t wait to do it again.
