I felt my face flush. Kev could be such a sweetheart.
"That's me, cowbellist extraordinaire." I pantomimed playing the cowbell in an exaggerated fashion for a few seconds. "But seriously, I'm glad you think I'm fitting in so well. You've all made me feel so welcome on the tour."
"Word," Chewie said, nodding and patting water off his pale arms with a towel. "Yeah, because otherwise, it'd probably be pretty awkward."
I looked at him, confused. "Otherwise what’d be awkward?"
"I mean it'd be awkward if we weren't so cool, considering what's going on with you and Jax."
I froze. "What do you mean?"
"You know," Chewie said.
My pulse raced. I blinked rapidly. "Oh you mean since we're becoming friends?"
Chewie stopped patting himself off and gave me a wry look. "No, I mean, considering that you two are a thing."
The towel I’d been using to dry my hair fell to the ground. An unwelcome weight pressed against my chest.
"I—I don't know what you're talking about," I said. My eyes darted around, avoiding anyone else's eye contact, and I spotted an ice cream stand. "Hey does anyone want any ice cream?"
"It’s pretty obvious, Riley." Chewie smiled. "We’ve known about you two since Vegas. It’s all good."
I glanced at Jax and he shrugged. Apparently he didn't know about it any more than I did.
"You all know?" I asked tentatively, and they all nodded, " . . . and you’re all okay with it?" I twisted my fingers. "I don’t want to cause any drama."
"So long as we keep rocking," Chewie said, "I’m down for whatever. You’re a cool chick, Riley, and I think you’ll be good for this big guy."
"Yeah, I think you two are cute together," Sky said, her brow arched high above her sunglasses. "You’ve got this whole Bonnie and Clyde vibe."
"I’m happy for you two." Kev added, his blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight. "Don't worry, we'll keep this just in the band. We know it might be weird with you being the tour accountant and all."
I exhaled deeply. I was relieved that the band was being so cool about it and I was happy that it was one less thing I had to worry about. This now meant that Jax and I didn't have to hide the fact that we were together. I looked at Jax and he wore a big, satisfied grin.
"Aw, thanks guys," I said. "That means a lot to me to hear you say that."
Jax smacked his hands together. "Cool, now that that’s settled, let’s get back to enjoying this water park."
Chapter Twenty-Two
ICE CREAM
I felt drained after all the running around from the water fight. Sky left to go sprawl on a lounge chair tanning herself while Kev and Chewie continued chasing and shooting each other with their water guns.
I started heading away from the pool area but Jax grabbed my arm and looked at me with a frown on his face. He grabbed Sky's bottle of suntan lotion from a lounge chair. "Wait, before we go, come here. Your skin needs sunscreen."
"I rarely get any color so I could always be working on my tan, but my skin is pretty sensitive, so thanks," I said. It was sweet that he was thinking of me. All the fun we'd been having must've distracted me from applying any.
Pulling my wet hair to the front of my neck, I turned around and felt Jax's presence up close behind me. I heard the lotion squirt. Even though I was expecting it, I was still shocked by the sudden coolness of the sunscreen he slathered onto my back. I started swaying along to the movement of his hands against my body. I wanted to feel them everywhere across my skin, all at once.
He reached around me and rubbed his hands across top of my chest, getting dangerously close to my bikini top. I felt his warm breath on the back of my neck as he said, "I like this bikini a lot more when I'm holding it in my hands."
His soft whispering into my ear made me melt into a puddle of desire. "Too bad we're not in the bus' hot tub."
"It's the perfect time to sneak away," he growled into my ear, his hands still kneading the lotion into my chest. "I need you now."
Quivering with arousal, I licked my lips at the primal urgency of his voice. But as badly as I was aching for him, I still wanted to stay in the park for now, since we were having so much fun. "The hot tub will be there waiting for us, let's just finish enjoying the waterpark." Pulling his arms to the side, I grabbed his hand and kissed the back of it then I turned over to face him.
Smiling slyly, he said, "You know better than to think that I'm that easily discouraged."
The fact that we were standing there having this discussion meant I was well acquainted with his perseverance, but he had to have been equally familiar with my stubbornness by now. "Later. I promise. Besides, just because the band is cool with us now doesn't mean we need to rub it in their face." Grinning, I slipped the suntan lotion bottle from his hand. "You want me to get you too?"
Jax shrugged. "My skin doesn't burn, but it's good to keep my tattoos from drying out."
I squirted the sunscreen into my hands and wiped the white lotion up and down both of his tatted arms. Dabbing out a bit more sunscreen, my hands swirled it over his naturally bronzed chest and I bit my lip as I fingered his nipple rings. My palms moved lower against his washboard abs and I traced the V-shaped groove of his pelvis muscle. His muscle lines hypnotized me and my hands almost continued going down his shorts before I shook my head and stopped myself at the last second.
When I finished, I looked up and saw that several women had been greedily watching my show, whispering to each other.
Jax turned to see where I was looking. He let out a low chuckle when he saw the women. "Don't worry about them. They're just jealous because you're a rock star's girlfriend."
Girlfriend? The word sent a jolt of excitement fluttering to my belly. Was that what he thought of me now? Even though it was intimidating that we had come so far, so fast, I could probably get used to the idea.
Jax grinned at me, giving me a quick wink.
I glanced over at the women staring at us again and felt a burst of pride, knowing that they all wanted to be in my position.
I sighed pleasantly. It seemed like everything was in its right place. Jax and I were going well, the band approved of our relationship, my employers still didn't know about us, and the budget was under control. And to top it off, I was a shoo-in for that bonus with a very real possibility for a promotion. It was as if nothing could go wrong.