“Oh my God,” Juno whispered.
Rhett looked disgusted. “God didn’t have anything to do with what Apex made.”
“Is that why you went into hiding?”
Rhett shrugged. “I was out on the road, fighting every agent and label rule, getting the soul sucked out of my music, trying to Change in secret, surrounded by people but completely alone… And while I was out there playing shows, my sister’s life was falling apart just so she could keep a place in that damn Pride. She called me one night, and she was crying. You have to understand, Sara never cries. I was sitting on this curb in Tucson, talking on a cell phone with barely any charge left in it, headed to the last show of the tour, and she just…broke down. Told me everything the Pride had been doing, told me all her mistakes with DeClaw. And she said, ‘I need help and I don’t know who else to ask.’ She’d never asked for anything her whole life. All she ever did was give all of herself, try to make everyone happy, and put everyone else first. So…I left the tour, left my manager and team on the tour bus. I took the guitar because Sara had given it to me,” Rhett said, pointing to the treasure Juno cradled still. “I hitchhiked all the way to my sister, and I found her a rehab center far away from the Sage Pride. That’s what I’m really doing here.”
“That’s why you ran.” She didn’t ask it, just stated it as the realization hit her. He’d left everything on a dime just because his loyalty to his sister was so big. Left. Everything. She couldn’t admire a person any more than she did right now.
He nodded once. “That’s why I ran. I became Sara’s Pride when she couldn’t stand on her own. I heard about this last-chance Crew with Grim as the Alpha close to her rehab center, and I thought, why the fuck not? I had no place to stay, no job, no way to access my bank accounts because my fucking team I thought cared about me froze my accounts the second I reneged on my contract. So now I’m a has-been singer turned lumberjack who will do any-fucking-thing for my sister and never have a moment of regret so long as she’s all right.” He swallowed hard. “And this is the first time I’ve told anyone that.”
And that admission right there—the one that said he’d just opened up to her—demolished any dam that remained.
He didn’t realize it, and she would never get the chance to tell him, but he’d just become hers to protect.
“Don’t worry,” she murmured, strumming a C chord. “You’re safe with me. I’ll take your secrets to my grave.”
Chapter Ten
Juno stared at the screen of her phone. It was lined with dozens of text messages from her boss and co-workers at Halfstone Records. She had to find a way to fly out tomorrow or she was fired.
Another text vibrated her phone. Pick up your fucking phone.
And then immediately following was an actual phone call from her boss. Which she ignored, because it was midnight and, really, she didn’t like being ordered around like this. She’d already told him she would be on a flight tomorrow so fuck off.
She’d had the best night she’d had in as long as she could remember. She and Rhett had talked for hours, even sang a couple of Beck Brothers songs together. She’d tried to argue that she wasn’t a songbird, but Rhett had disagreed and made it fun and easy to sing with him. Not once had she thought about her phone or the outside world. And when she’d started dozing off on his bed, he patted her leg, moved the flyaway hair from her face, and told her she should get some sleep.
Gentleman.
Did she want him to be a gentleman? He hadn’t even tried to kiss her when he’d walked her back to 1010. He’d given her a lopsided sexy smile, tipped his imaginary hat, and sauntered right back to 1009.
Juno glared at the vibrating phone and huffed a frustrated sound, pushed off the bed, and gathered her shower things. As she washed her hair, her head swirled around and around one country crooner niceboy named Rhett Copeland. He was so different than anyone would even guess. He was so, so, sooo much better.
She stepped out of the baby-puke-brown tub onto a soft gray bathmat and then dressed in an oversize sleep shirt and her cutest granny panties because, truth be told, that’s all she’d brought or even owned. And then while towel drying her hair, she padded back across the squishy floors to the bed. Out of curiosity, she checked her phone again. Five new texts and another phone call.
Seriously? She’d put her phone down to have a life for a few hours, and this is what happened? A billion missed calls and angry messages?
Death-glaring her phone lying there all smug on her bed, she asked out loud, “What has my life become?”
“I think I feel your pain,” Rhett said from the bedroom doorway.
“Aaah!” she yelled, but it wasn’t a high-pitched, cute, girly scream. It was deep and growly thanks to her bear.
“Oh my God, you scream like a man.”
Juno couldn’t even laugh at his tease because she was too busy clutching her hideously oversize Boomer’s Beer T-shirt and trying to convince her heart not to catapult from her chest. “You scared me!”
He chuckled and laid his phone next to hers on the bed, and with a knowing look at her, he scrolled through a ton of text messages. “I hate this thing.”
Ew, it looked like her phone.
Heart settling a little, she said, “We should burn them.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
Whoa, he looked good in his sweatpants, no shirt or shoes and wet hair. He smelled like shampoo, and could a person actually get high just looking at another person? His injuries from the fight were nothing but angry red marks and weren’t bleeding anymore. Strong man.
“So…I have an admission,” he murmured before she could say something stupid and put them on the fast track to awkward-land again.
“Oh, no,” she groaned. “Regrets?”
“What?”
“Well, I just had my favorite night in forever, and now you’re here to take it back, right?”
“Say that again.”
“You’re…here…to take it back?”
“Nah.” His smile was slow and laced with something. Hope? “Say the first part.”
Her cheeks heated as she ducked her gaze, too chicken to look him in the eyes when she murmured, “That was my favorite night.”
Rhett hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “I should’ve kissed you.”
Okay, now she couldn’t control the smile if she tried. “Yeah, you should’ve.”
“I was trying not to be a ruiner like my asshole Crew said and be all respectful of you, but then I went back to my place and couldn’t sleep and not even a cold shower helped get you off my mind. So…I’m here for this.”
Rhett leaned forward and slid his hand to her neck at the same moment his lips pressed against hers. He held her there, mouth moving so gently with hers she got completely lost. It could’ve lasted hours, or seconds, she didn’t know. All she knew was that when they touched like this, the outside world didn’t exist and everything simplified.
With a soft smack of his lips, he eased away and rested his forehead on hers, eyes closed. “Just so you know, I don’t do this.”
“Do what?”
He opened his eyes, and they were as blue as the sky. He shrugged his shoulders. “Care.”
Oh, her whole body fluttered with happiness, and now the heat was back in her cheeks again.
This man really liked her.
She leaned into him and kissed him again, wrapping her arms around his neck. He smiled against her lips, and she giggled and jumped up. The man had good reflexes—he caught her and held her legs around his waist. His stony erection pressed against her just right. Felt so good as she rolled her hips. Rhett let off a soft, sexy growl and eased her onto the bed, ground against her until she was gasping with pleasure. “Rhett,” she pleaded as he slid his hand down between them. “More.”
His muscles tensed with every rock of his hips, and when he slid his fingertips in through the side of her panties and felt the wetness he’d made there, he let off the sexiest groan she’d ever heard. When he pushed his finger slowly inside her, Juno arched her back against the mattress, dragging her nails up his broad shoulders. His lips went to her neck, and she could feel his teeth there, right at her tripping pulse. So good. More. She wanted more. So she writhed against his touch, soft gasps escaping every time his hand hit her clit. She was so wet, his finger slid into her easily, but still, it wasn’t enough.