I Always Will

Comeback

Riley, weeks later

Our housekeeper doesn't know whether to hug me or scold me. On the one hand, she is happy to see me walking with a cane. On the other hand, Row is sitting in my lap this morning, and I'm scandalizing Linda by being a little too handsy at the breakfast table.

I can't help it. Apparently there's nothing like a taboo to create desire. Since our agreement last month not to attempt any more sex until I find right the combination of pain management techniques, and until Row can think about having sex without worry it's going to go all kinds of wrong, we've found that the little moments of flirtation are incredibly erotic. And escalating.

I'm trying to restrain myself, for Linda's sake. I'm failing. Row loves it when I rub her back, massage her shoulders, stroke her gorgeous raven head and ply her with sweet kisses.

I stop just short of fondling her chest and refocus my attention on my Ipad as she takes a fortifying breath of self-control and stirs her yogurt.

We've just gotten the details about the promotional tour for Season Four of Girl Band. Two weeks. Six cities. New York, Chicago, Ontario, LA, Sydney, London. Appearances and a press junket in each.

Once I ingest the plan, I begin to give Row a rundown. To my surprise, she picks up the Ipad and studies the email carefully, specifically the info about the junkets. Typically, Row has never cared about the details such as hotels and schedules. A press junket is the kind of thing where I would simply make sure she was ready on time, lead her down the hall to the hotel room where it was scheduled and make sure she had plenty of water to drink while she gave the same constructed answers to a couple dozen interviewers. A no-brainer for her. She's never before even cast her gaze on such a schedule.

I pull her pretty raven mane off her shoulder and lean my chin on it, reviewing the schedule with her.

"It's still my job to worry about all that," I remind her. "All you have to do is shine..."

She nods absently, opening the attachment which details the interview rounds. She's scanning all around the spreadsheet, looking at different rows and columns for the schedule of her various co-stars. That's when I realize what she's doing.

Checking Mosteller's schedule.

A niggle of doubt arises in me.

Is she looking for an opportunity to see him?

Would it really be surprising if she were?

Women love that brazen, bad boy, take-what-you-please testosterone-driven personality. Ashlynn certainly loves Leed's mojo, but at least Leed's arrogance is tempered by a heart of gold and a loyalty to his loved ones that rivals his bravado.

Mosteller's not like that at all. He's a disingenuous, narcissistic douchebag. He didn't even go to the hospital with Row during her overdose episode. He spent months trying to convince her he cared and that I didn't, but as soon as she gave into his seduction, his conquest was complete, and his true character emerged. He let the first responders cart away her from his bed while he smoked and made frantic calls to his manager. In order to cover his ass with the show, in case Row died.

Surely Row knows, in her heart, what kind of man he is.

Then again, he's an incredibly good-looking son-of-a-bitch. Like a blond Leed with finer cheekbones and more tattoos. I think about that drummer that Row almost eloped with when she was seventeen. Ratch Gorenson. Same kind of character, same kind of good looks.

There is obviously some part of Row that is attracted to a very handsome asshole, even when she knows perfectly well the guy is no good. Does she still fight that attraction for Mosteller? Is there a part of her secretly hoping to see him, just as another part of her adamantly declares her hate for him?