Page 13 of Hard Rock Heat

"You asleep?" heasked.

I snapped my eyes open as we peeled out of the parking lot. "I'm tired. Longday."

"Have you really been working for sixteenhours?"

"More like eighteennow."

"Damn. I thought touring wasrough."

"Rough?" I laughed. "I thought you guys spent all your time rocking out, partying and banginggroupies."

That sly grin returned. "That's part of it. But the days can be long. Stuck in a tour bus, doing sound check, rehearsals, dealing with the media afterwards." He snuck me a quick glance. "It can getexhausting."

"You just got back from touring, right? Hope was moping about missing Ian formonths."

He nodded. "After being on the road for so long, it's always great to get backhome."

"I bet your family missedyou."

Damon went quiet. He adjusted themirror.

"Ian is my family," he saideventually.

That made me pause, wondering what happened with his mother and father. Hope hadn't told me much about the rest of Ian and Damon'sfamily.

I opened my mouth to ask, but thought better of it. He probably wouldn't tellme.

Besides, I already knew more than I should have about Damon and his brother. Before my sister and her boyfriend got together, Ian had been struggling with some personal problems, going through some things he wasn't dealing with very well. Hope had been scared for him for a while. I didn't know the exact details, but from what my sister told me, he'd found some peace, and his brother had been the one helping him through it the wholetime.

That was some heavy stuff, and I knew Damon wouldn't want to get into it withme.

"Do you travel for events?" he asked, confirming my thoughts as he changed thesubject.

"Sometimes," I said. "Mostly my company keeps me local. I'm sort of a homebody. Staying in a hotel for more than a few days would drive menuts."

"You wouldn't make a good rock star." He threw me agrin.

"And you'd make a terrible event planner," I retorted. "You're impulsive. You do whatever you want. You say whatever pops into your head. You have no filter. You'd insult clients without even realizingit."

"I have a filter. I just ignoreit."

A quick snort of a laugh escaped me before I could rein itin.

"You're cute when you smile," heteased.

I raised an eyebrow, incredulous. "Are you telling me to smile? You know how sexist that is,right?"

"I would never tell you to do anything," he said reasonably. "I'm just saying it's cute. I don't see it thatmuch."

"Ismile."

"I think I've seen you smileonce."

"That's because whenever I'm around you, I get the sudden urge to beat you with astick."

"Kinky. I didn't know you were into thatstuff."

"I'mnot!"