He nearly tripped over his feet when Lindsey emerged from the stairwell. She smiled brightly at him, and he wrapped a hand around his silver wristwatch before diverting his gaze to the ground. Dawn knew that Lindsey reminded him of Sara, but Dawn wouldn’t have ever guessed that Kellen could be so blatantly rude to anyone. Was there some deeper reason he couldn’t stand the woman? She vowed to get him talking about what was really bothering him. She already knew him well enough to realize that he kept his emotions tightly bottled and that he fixated on certain issues, especially if they pertained to his Sara. Dawn sighed, wondering if he’d ever let himself be free of his first love.
Owen hopped off the bus after Lindsey, and Kellen at least smiled at his supposed best friend before hurrying up the now-empty bus steps. The way Kellen had talked of Owen with admiration and obvious affection had made Dawn believe the two were close, but they sure didn’t act close. In fact, Kellen had barely spoken to Owen all morning.
Owen watched Kellen disappear inside the bus, and Dawn recognized the hurt in his expression even from a distance. So she wasn’t the only one confused by Kellen’s behavior.
Dawn approached the sweet-faced bassist. “Do you think Kelly is acting a little off?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said, sparing her a glance laced with surprising dislike. “Ever since you showed up.”
He turned without another word and hurried toward the building with Lindsey waddling after him.
Was it possible that Owen was jealous of Dawn? She wasn’t sure she’d ever figure out the dynamics of this little group of men. Especially not the one between Kellen and Owen.
Kellen returned with her purse and nodded at her thank-you, but his gaze was on Owen’s retreating back. He didn’t turn his attention to her until Owen had entered the back of the arena and disappeared from sight.
“I thought you and Owen were best friends,” Dawn said, as always, unable to keep her curiosity in check or her mouth shut.
“We are.”
She shrugged. “You sure don’t act like it. I don’t think you’ve said more than two words to each other all day.”
“Well, you’re here,” Kellen said, taking her hand and coaxing her to follow him toward the door Owen had just entered.
“Can you only talk to one person at a time?”
He grinned, and if she wasn’t mistaken, a blush reddened the bronzed skin across his high cheekbones. “Uh, yeah, pretty much,” he murmured.
“I wouldn’t want to come between you and Owen,” she said, though being the center of this man’s attention was a rather heady experience. Everything about the man had her out of her head. Especially all that exposed taut skin on his arms, back, chest and abdomen and the delicious tattoos that decorated it all.
“He’s got bigger problems to worry about at the moment,” Kellen said.
Lindsey, she presumed. “Has Lindsey been following the tour for long?” She’d had tons of questions about the young woman since they’d boarded the bus in Beaumont, but they’d been in tight quarters so there’d been no way to ask without being rude.
“Since Houston. But I didn’t ride with the guys that night. I went to Galveston instead and caught up with them in Beaumont for last night’s show.” He opened the door for her, but before she could enter, he drew her aside instead.
“That was a great show,” she said. “I really enjoyed myself, and you have amazing fans.”
“When I first saw Lindsey come down the bus steps in Beaumont, I literally thought she was Sara.”
Dawn blinked at him. “Why would you think that? Didn’t she pass away years ago?” Yet imagining he’d actually seen Sara would explain why he’d called Lindsey by the wrong name earlier.
“She did, so imagine my surprise when she turns up on the tour bus looking alive and healthy and pregnant.”
“So that’s what’s been bothering you this entire trip. Not me. Not Owen or some natural on-the-road moodiness, but because Lindsey reminds you of Sara.”
“Right before Sara passed away, she told me she’d haunt me if I didn’t find someone to love. I must admit I’m feeling thoroughly haunted at the moment.”
Dawn grinned at him. “That’s an easy problem to solve. Just fall in love with me and she’ll leave you in peace.”
When he gawked at her, she hoped he didn’t take her jest seriously. She held in a relieved sigh when he replaced his open-mouthed stare with an easy smile, looped an arm around her back, and opened the door again. “Well, that shouldn’t be too challenging.”
He said that, but the second they entered the building, to find the ghost of Sara standing just outside the dressing room door, he stopped short. He wasn’t merely saying that Lindsey’s presence bothered him; it was quite obvious that he struggled every time he saw her. Dawn wasn’t sure if she should be relieved that his problem wasn’t with her or perturbed that Sara still had such a hold on him. She’d wrongly assumed that when he’d made love to her, the shackles linking him to Sara had shattered.
“I’m hungry,” Dawn said, trying to come up with an excuse to leave the premises, because this freaking-out-over-Lindsey version of Kellen wasn’t very fun to be around.
“I’m sure there are sandwiches and snacks in the dressing room.”
“Do you need to wait around here for sound check or a meet and greet or some other rock star shenanigans?”
“I won’t be needed for any shenanigans until later this evening,” he said with a soft laugh.
“Would you think me high maintenance if I insist on you taking me to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch?”
“I might. How five-star is the place?”
“Baby,” she said, speaking in a faux haughty tone, “McDonald’s is five-star when you’re with me.”
He laughed. “I believe that.” He yelled at some member of the road crew, “We’ll be back before sound check!”
Soon they were on their way to New Orleans’s French Quarter by cab, and the farther they journeyed from the venue, the looser Kellen held his body, until they were practically snuggling in the back seat. Here was the guy she’d chased after. Here was the guy who made her body burn and her thoughts scatter. Here was the guy who didn’t mind when she traced the contours of his muscular chest with one very happy finger. She’d been worried that she’d invented him, making him into something he wasn’t.
“Maybe we should have asked Owen to join us,” Dawn said. “I’d like to get to know him better.”
“And he’d probably like a break from Lindsey as much as I needed one.”
“I feel bad for her. It’s like she has extrastrength cooties. It’s not her fault she looks like Sara.”
“She wouldn’t have been invited on the bus that night if she hadn’t looked like Sara. Owen always seems to think he could help me move on by trying to hook me up with women who resemble her.”
Kellen might be haunted by Sara’s ghost, but Dawn was left shivering in the darkness of her shadow. Dawn was suddenly grateful that she looked nothing like his first love. “Twisted.”
He grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to give her a squeeze. “I tried to warn you, but you didn’t run when you had the chance.”
“Still not running,” she whispered, lost in his heated gaze. The man wore his virility like a fine suit. She was suddenly thinking less of lunch and more about his devastatingly skilled mouth between her legs. She settled for a thought-stealing kiss instead, her fingers curling into the bare skin of his back.