Page 23 of Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree
Grabbing my arm, he drags me to the front door.
“Kicking me out already?”
“Damn straight. I have plans with my wife, and you have a question to go ask. Quit being a little bitch about it.”
“Tell me how you really feel.”
He smirks. “You never have to worry about that with me, Ev. You’re like a brother to me, so I say this with love. Don’t be a total fucking idiot.”
“What about Cornerstone?”
“What about them?” he asks. “If you and Lilah belong together—if you two really do hide a shit-ton of lust under all the fucking bickering—we’ll deal with Cornerstone.”
He reaches out a hand, and I clasp his in mine before being yanked into a quick hug.
“Okay,” I say, stepping back and shoving my hands in my pockets.
“And Ev?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t fucking hide shit from me. That’s not who we are. We’ve never kept secrets.”
“I…yeah, man, no more hiding shit.”
Why did I? Fucking denial was making me delusional.
But I’m through denying myself of what I want.
No. Not what.
Who.
Lilah.
CHAPTER 6
LILAH
Hollie Berry I’m not.
While she’s out claiming her coal and flipping a massive bird to the Adored Network, I’ve spent the last week avoiding Evan. A few dirty words and the brush of his fingers where I desperately craved them had me practically melting into an orgasmic puddle in the elevator.
Make no mistake about it, Evan Andrews is a world-class, grade-A, dirty talker. With extra credit. It was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.
If I was a woman bent on claiming her coal, the plan would have been to pick up where we left off as soon as the doors had closed on his car. But while I’m the black sheep of my family, I’m a quiet version. A silent rebel. I need time to sort out how I feel about Evan’s growled words against my skin and how his fingers played my goddamn body like a fiddle.
Did I like it? Hell fucking yes.
Did it confuse the shit out of me? Also yes.
So I’ve been avoiding him as much as possible, showing up at the last minute for rehearsals and our sound check and then ducking out as soon as we finish. Because I need my wits about me and my armor in place when he’s around, and I don’t want to take a chance on being alone with him. Only now it’s the night of the concert and there’s no sign of him. Maybe because I showed up crazy early for this event. I even showed up before Chris, and he’s usually the first to arrive to everything.
I’m sitting in a chair in our dressing room when the door creaks open. I spin, but the words die on my lips when Finn walks through the door.
“Hey, Lil.” He waves halfheartedly before collapsing onto the couch along the wall.
“Hey.” I chew on my lower lip, cursing when I catch a peek of myself in the mirror and realize I need to reapply the red stain to my lips.
