Page 103 of Rock Giant

“Put the towel back on.”

“No chance.”

“Put the towel back on.”

“Castle, it’s wet, and if you keep on looking at me like that something else is gonna be wet too.Babe, you’re gonna make me leak.”

She made a frantic noise in her throat, which didn’t sound like a noise she usually made, but had to be her.There was only him and her, and he hadn’t been responsible for it.

“Is something else wet too?”

She ticked her index finger from side to side.“You’re not supposed to ask me stuff like that.Friends, remember.We agreed we’re just friends.”

Had they truly ever, and would they truly ever be just friends?There was something about the way they were when they were together, like they were opposite strips of a piece of Velcro, which meant when they got close, they stuck.

She had other close male friends.Fuck it, all of her close friends were men, but while she adored Lee, and Balin, and Jez, and would do until the end of time, there wasn’t the same grippy feeling she felt when she was with them as when she was with Paul.And she never felt as if they possessed a part of her she was forced to leave behind when they parted.

“And yet, I’m asking, Castle.I’m asking because you’re here, and you’re looking, and I’m tired of not asking.Maybe it’s about time we started being really fucking honest with one another, instead of hiding behind falsehoods.I don’t want to be your friend.I don’t want to sit back and watch you marry CurtisfuckingNash.I want you.I want to give you all the things I promised, not just a fraction of them—”

“I don’t remember what you promised.”

The way he looked at her, the green of his hazel eyes so bright, made it clear that it didn’t matter if she recalled the promises he’d made.He did.He remembered, and he meant to deliver on them.

“I want all that silky heat you’re generating all over my bare cock.I want my tongue on your cunt.Your thighs around my ears.I want to hear you scream so loud that every fucker in this building knows how good I’m making you feel.I want them to be so fucking aware of it that they make memes about it.Once wasn’t enough.I want more, Castle.I want forever.And I think you do too, so the question is, are you ready to admit that yet, or do we have to keep playing this game awhile longer?”

CHAPTER 29

Paul “Rock Giant” Reed

Rock Giant was so done with being circumspect.If spending the afternoon with her had convinced him of anything, it was that it was time to stop farting about and at least attempt some sort of forward momentum.Enough with pretending they were only going to be friends, but more particularly, to hell with the idea of him standing in the wings and watching her live unhappily ever after with a man who didn’t appreciate or deserve her.

Maybe Jodi didn’t realise it, but crews talked.And he talked to the crew.Why the fuck wouldn’t he?They kept the show on the road, and they had way more insight into what was going on at any particular moment than the bands usually did, especially a band as fresh as the Ghost Boys.They were carefully separated from reality by a management filter.But the point was, Curtis Nash’s voyeuristic tendencies had garnered notice beyond the immediate circle of the Ghost Boys, to the crew, to the Black Halo crew, to him, and more than likely to the growing number of fans turning out to see them all perform with offers of performances of their own ready on their tongues.He knew how the world worked.

“Paul, I’m sorry.I am, but I shouldn’t have to say this.I’m engaged.We can’t—”

“And how’s that working out for you?”

She gaped at him.“You… You… Don’t.You’ve no right to judge.”

“I’m not judging, I’m asking a question.You tell me what the answer is.”He didn’t want her getting all defensive and staging a retreat, but he also wanted her to take stock and realise that maybe the world wasn’t so rosy, and she had other options.They had other options.She didn’t have to settle for shithead.

“I don’t have to justify myself, not to you, not to anyone.”

Too late, it seemed.Then again, it was easier to take offence than to take stock.

“I’m not saying you do.I just…” He spread his hand wide, palms raised as if he were ready to backpedal, but he wasn’t.Couldn’t.All this stuff was bubbling away in his brain, and he needed to say it to someone.To her.There wasn’t any point in saying it to anyone else.“Here’s what I see.He’s promised to marry you but he’s no fucking interest in you other than as a prize he won.You could have ended up with any one of those guys.Tell me that’s not the case.Tell me I’m wrong.I’ve seen you with them.You’ve more chemistry with Lee, with Balin, even Jez than you do with him.”He’d talked to them, too.“If I didn’t know any of you at all, he’d be the last one I thought you were with.”

“Will you stop?”

Not until he was done.He needed to make this point.Had to.

“If you marry him, he’ll treat you like a doormat for the rest of your life.That’s when he remembers you exist.Whereas I’m ready to worship you until the heat death of the universe.I’m willing to give you everything I have, and everything you need.”

“Please… Please… don’t do that.Don’t say that.Paul…”

“I love you.”

She sucked in a sharp breath.“You don’t know me.”