He’s probably right, but I just make a humming sound of agreement in my throat.
We make it to the arena parking lot in comfortable silence, then show our badges to the security guard working the fence that separates the buses from the public parking. As we approach Evan’s bus, I’m surprised to see him trotting off it. When he steps onto the concrete, he looks toward the arena, then swings his head our way. His face is impassive when he locks eyes with me.
“There you are,” he says as we approach. “I was just looking for you.”
“We took Sirius for his afternoon walk,” I explain, and Evan’s eyes drop down to the pup who is sitting down perfectly.
“Why’s he wearing my socks?” Evan asks, his brows furrowed together.
“To protect his feet,” I say simply.
When he looks back up at me, he’s shaking his head in amusement. “You owe me new socks.”
“You’re a millionaire,” I throw back at him. “You can afford to buy more socks.”
“That’s true,” Evan says, but then his smile slides off his face. He takes Sirius’ leash from my hand, turns, and hands it to Red. “I need to talk to Emma about something. Can you watch him a bit more?”
“Sure,” Red says as he takes the leash.
Evan turns and looks at me somberly. My stomach pitches.
“What’s up?” I say hesitantly, my head tilted to the side.
“Inside the bus,” he says as he nods that way. By the tone of his voice, this doesn’t sound good.
“See you later, Red,” I say and before I turn to the bus, his eyes look back at me with worry.
I walk up the steps, Evan close behind me, and I start to worry in earnest because he’s so quiet.
When I reach the top landing, I turn around and ask, “What’s wrong? You’re starting to freak me out.”
Before I even know what’s happening, Evan’s slapping at the button on the dashboard and the doors hiss closed. He lunges at me, drops his shoulder, and before I know it, I’m being lifted and thrown into a fireman’s carry.
I shriek in surprise, and Evan laughs as he turns back to the bus. “Fuck, I missed you and totally wanted to spend some time with you before the show.”
“Evan,” I say in exasperation as he carefully navigates the steps to his bus. “I’ve got work to do, and you should be resting before the show.”
He doesn’t respond but carries me down the length of the bus, to the bedroom we’ve shared every night since Miami, with the exception of our stop in Dallas when we stayed in a hotel that evening since we had an extra day to get to Phoenix.
Evan drops me on the bed and because the room is small enough to do so, manages to kick the door shut with his foot from the same position.
Before I can even open my mouth to chastise him for his controlling ways, he peels his t-shirt over his head and I go absolutely mute. My throat goes dry, my tongue curls in on itself, and that sweet spot between my legs starts to throb just by looking at his chest and stomach.
That line of hair that starts below his belly button and disappears into the waistband of his cargo shorts.
Knowing what lies just beneath that.
Evan’s fingers pop the button on his shorts, and I go hot all over.
“See something you like?” Evan asks in a husky voice, and my eyes shoot up to him, humiliated that I’d been staring so blatantly.
“Um…”
“Or rather, see something you want?” His tone is devilish and his eyes are sparkling with amusement.
It feels like flames are licking at my face, and I really need to stop getting so embarrassed when he says things like that to me. Over the last several days, Evan’s told me so many dirty things, I should be used to this by now. And what’s worse is that I think he gets a kick out of it, which is somewhat annoying.
In an attempt to save some face, I pluck up my courage and try to give some of it back to him. My eyes fall back down to the front of his shorts and to the large bulge pushing against the zipper. “I don’t know, Evan… what you got under there?”
A small growl rumbles out of Evan, and I look back up at him. His eyes are dark and his jaw is locked hard, and for a very brief moment, I think he might be mad.
Then, while holding me pinned in place with his eyes alone, I hear the zipper go down as he murmurs, “I’ll show you exactly what I’ve got under here.”
Swallowing hard, I let my gaze fall as he ever so slowly unzips his shorts and lets them fall to the ground. I’m vaguely aware that he kicks his shorts off along with his flip-flops, but more acutely aware he was commando. I stare blatantly at him all thick, long, and flushed dark. My breath catches in my lungs as he wraps a hand around himself and just squeezes.
Oh, wow… now that’s not only hot and dirty but actually quite beautiful.