The Rocker's Muse

Tristan had escaped to the bathroom shortly after I’d finished. He was taking longer than normal, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what he was doing in there.

Once he returned to the bed, he rested his chin on his hand and observed me a moment. “Am I dreaming, or are you really spending the night here with me?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” I smiled.

“Considering it’s nearly morning, I think you’ve officially spent the night.”

Shifting my body, I felt something underneath the pillow. I pulled out the rattiest gray teddy bear. My mouth fell open. “Oh my God.” I held it up. “Is this Duffy?”

“The one and only.” Tristan grinned sheepishly.

“You bring him into the hotel with you?”

“I can’t risk someone breaking into the bus and taking him.”

“Who in their right mind would steal this?”

“You never know. He’s the only thing I own that I care about. They could take my Rolex, and I’d be fine with it. But this little guy is irreplaceable.”

Oh my God.

There was a little tag sewn onto the side of the bear that read, Property of Tristan Daltrey. Please return if lost.

My cheeks hurt from smiling. “You realize how freaking precious that is, right? But it could damage your bad-boy reputation if people get wind of this.”

He rolled his eyes. “The guys have threatened to out us plenty of times.”

“Us…meaning you and Duffy.” I laughed.

“Yes.” He nodded. “He’s in bad shape, but he’s with me for life. Incidentally, even though he looks like death, I do keep him clean, which is why his fur has been compromised—from washing. His eye is starting to fall off, though, so I have to do something about that before it’s gone for good.”

My shoulders shook with laughter. Then I looked closer at the plastic eyeball starting to separate from the fabric. I hopped off the bed. “You just gave me the best orgasm of my life. The least I can do is sew your teddy bear’s eye back on.”

He sat against the headboard. “You can do that?” His eyes filled with hope.

“I keep a sewing kit in my purse.”

“Wow.”

“It’s come in handy a lot lately.”

I took out my kit and located the gray thread before I returned to the bed. Tristan watched my every move as I threaded the needle and positioned the eyeball to make sure it was even with the other eye. As I started sewing, I found myself a little nervous. I felt like I was performing surgery on his precious friend. Once I’d placed the final stitch, I handed Duffy back to him.

Tristan smiled at the bear. “This might be one of the sweetest things anyone’s ever done for me.”

To see this burly, tattooed god of a man looking down lovingly at an inanimate ball of matted fur warmed my heart and made my ovaries explode. “Well, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to something that means so much to you.”

“You mean a lot to me, Emily. I’m sorry if my saying that freaks you out, but it’s the truth.” He set the bear aside and moved closer. “I’m too old for you, and bad for you in every way, but I can’t help how I feel.”

My heart felt ready to burst. “Tristan—”

“I know I’ve been with a lot of women,” he continued. “Girlfriends. Flings. One-night stands. But you’re the first person in a very long time who makes me forget everything and everyone else. You’ve made me think it’s possible to want to be with one woman.”

His words stole the breath from my body. He’d echoed the way I felt about him. Tristan had become everything to me in such a short amount of time. And yet he knew nothing.

Nothing.

I’d gotten caught up in a way I’d never anticipated. I was having too much fun pretending. Forgetting. But while he didn’t know everything there was to know about me, he still knew me at my core. There was nothing deceitful about my feelings for this man.