Counterfeit Courtship, page 7
“Um... I can sleep on the floor,” he offered. He didn’t want to sleep on the floor. His bed was comfortable, and the floor was not, but he’d do it if she was uncomfortable sharing the bed with him.
Kiera shook her head. “I’m not going to put you on the floor. We can share the bed.”
He perked up. “Oh, really.”
She held up a finger. “Just to sleep. Besides, it’ll be weird and tip your brother off if we bring in extra blankets to put you on the floor.”
“Are you sure?” He pressed a hand to his chest. “I just want to make sure you can control yourself with me in bed next to you.”
Kiera looked skyward and laughed so easily his ego was bruised. “Not hardly.” She went to her bag in the corner. “Where’s the bathroom? I’d like to shower before bed.”
“Down the hall to the right.”
She pulled out a small orange bag that he assumed held toiletries and a pair of pajamas. He couldn’t tell much about the pajamas except there were two pieces that looked completely modest, to his disappointment. Stupid, since he wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink if she was next to him in any type of sexy nightwear.
“I’ll be right back.”
Tyrone nodded. “I’ll get my stuff out and shower after you.”
He watched her leave then went to his bag and pulled out the items he’d need to shower. He typically slept naked, but doubted Kiera would appreciate that if they were sharing a bed. As much as he would love to lie next her naked, to have her smooth skin and soft curves all pressed against his body, he wasn’t going to be an asshole. As much as his body wanted Kiera, his brain acknowledged she was doing him a favor and he didn’t need to ruin that.
Kiera came back into the room several minutes later. Tyrone looked up from scrolling his phone and jerked back. “What the hell is that?” He pointed at her face.
She glared through the slits of the white paper covering her features. “It’s a moisturizing mask, thank you very much.”
“You wearing that all night? I mean, I investigate ghosts but it doesn’t mean I want to sleep next to one.”
She crossed the room and hit his shoulder. “Stop it.”
“I’m serious. I’ll have nightmares.” He tried not to grin but couldn’t help himself.
She laughed and went to her bag, where she pulled out some lotion. “No, I’m not wearing it all night. Though I should because you’re giving me a hard time.”
“You know what, it’s beautiful. Moisturize all you need while I’m in the shower. No hard time from me.” He circled his face with his index finger. “Just lose the Casper mask before bed.”
Kiera picked up a pillow and tossed it at him. He hurried out the door before she could hit him. Tyrone chuckled on his way to the bathroom. He showered quickly and hoped it would give her enough time to take off the mask. He wouldn’t really have nightmares, but he’d much prefer to see Kiera’s face free of the paper covering if he woke up in the middle of the night.
When he went back into the room, he froze. Every light was off. Just a hint of moonlight through the window illuminated the room.
“Kiera? Are you asleep already?” he asked.
“No, I just turned off the lights when I got in bed. My bad—do you need the light?”
“Nah, I’ll be okay.” He knew his room like the back of his hand, so he made his way over to the bed and slipped beneath the covers.
Kiera was all the way to the edge of her side of the bed, but he still felt the heat of her body as if she was pressed against him. “Are you good? You’ve got enough room?”
“Yeah. I’m good.”
After a few moments, she spoke again. “Dion and Vanessa are really nice. I had fun hanging out with them.”
“Yeah, I did, too.”
She turned toward him and scooted closer. “You say that as if you’re surprised.”
“I don’t hang out with Dion and Vanessa a lot.”
“Why not?”
“Well, Vanessa didn’t like me when we first met.”
Kiera leaned up on an elbow. “What? Why not?” The room was dark, so he couldn’t make out her features, but he could picture the look of shock and interest on her face.
“We were investigating her grandmother’s house and she thought we were scam artists. I thought she would ruin our chance at getting a show. It took a while, but we eventually learned to get along.”
“But you still don’t hang out together?”
“I hang out with Dion. I think they’ve gone to dinner with Wes and his girlfriend, Cierra, before. I never wanted to be the third wheel. I guess it is kind of fun to have a girlfriend.”
He heard her soft laughter and like a moth to a flame, he scooted even closer to her.
“Why were you investigating her grandmother’s house?” she asked softly.
“Her grandmother believed her husband was haunting the place.”
Kiera gasped and reached out a hand. Her fingers brushed across his chest, covered in a T-shirt for modesty, but he wished they were on his skin. “Was he?”
“Yeah, but not for the reason she thought.”
“What was the reason?”
Tyrone spent the next few minutes telling Kiera about the investigation at Vanessa’s grandmother’s home. From there she asked other questions. How they got started and why they enjoyed helping people find out why the ghosts were hanging around in their homes. He asked her questions about her family, learned that she loved the R&B singer Jessica and in all her wedding adventures she really hadn’t found a flavor of cake she disliked. When she finally yawned and rolled over, he instinctively reached out his arm, wrapped it around her waist and pulled her back against his front.
Kiera stiffened. “What are you doing?”
“My bad.” He lifted his arm. “I just wanted to hold you.”
She was quiet for a heartbeat, then seemed to relax. “I’m okay with that.” Her voice was soft and sleepy.
Smiling, Tyrone pulled her close against him. He kissed her shoulder and breathed in the sweet scent of her. Within seconds the comfort of her body against his lured him to sleep.
Chapter Nine
Kiera woke up before Tyrone. She’d fallen asleep in his arms and, despite moving during the night, he’d still been holding her when her eyes opened early that morning. She quickly slipped out of bed. As much as she wanted to linger in his embrace and enjoy the warmth and comfort of his body cradling hers, she also didn’t want to run the risk of him seeing her without makeup. Silly and superficial, maybe, but she wasn’t perfect. It had taken her years to try and feel confident in her own skin. Currently, that confidence came with not letting anyone see her naked face. She still bore the scars of those hard teenage years, both mentally and physically, and she didn’t owe anyone access to either.
After she showered, did her makeup and dressed in a pair of black pants and a black top to avoid stains, since she’d be doing the brothers’ makeup later that day, she went downstairs in search of coffee. Tyrone had mumbled that he was getting up before he’d rolled over and pulled the covers over his head when she mentioned going down. She hoped he did get up soon. They had to drive the hour to the Myrtle Beach Convention Center for the pre-convention breakfast.
The smell of coffee greeted her in the kitchen. Dion and Vanessa were sitting at the kitchen table, both fully dressed, Dion in a pair of dark slacks and a gray top and Vanessa in a cute, fitted blue sundress. They sipped coffee and scrolled through their phones. Despite their preoccupation with their phones, their feet overlapped and rubbed against each other beneath the table.
They both looked up and smiled when Kiera came into the kitchen. “Good morning!” Vanessa said in a bright voice.
“Morning. You both are up early,” Kiera said.
Vanessa shrugged. “I can barely sleep past five in the morning.”
“Same for me,” Dion said. He glanced at his watch. Kiera knew it had to be close to six thirty based on when she’d gotten up and dressed. “Is Tyrone up?” he asked, skepticism thick in his deep voice.
Kiera shook her head as she went over to the coffee machine. “He barely cracked his eyelids when I told him I was heading downstairs.”
“That sounds like Tyrone,” Dion said with a shake of his head. “He was never a morning person. I always had to fight him to get up in time for school.”
“If he’s not moving soon then I’ll get him moving.” Kiera poured coffee into a black ceramic mug.
“Good, because I don’t want to be late. I’m already nervous as it is.”
“I don’t know why,” Kiera said. “You and your brothers are so great on the show. It’s just the three of you being yourselves and talking about doing what you love.”
“On the show there isn’t a crowd of people looking and staring. I really want to get there in time for the participants’ breakfast to hear any suggestions they make before we go over the filming needs with the rest of the crew. Not to mention the three of us agreed to sign promotional items before the event.” Dion glanced down at his watch again and his lips tightened.
Vanessa ran a hand over his shoulder. “It’ll be okay. We’ll make it in time. The convention center is an hour away and the breakfast isn’t until nine.”
“You know what, I’ll go nudge Tyrone now,” Kiera said quickly. The tension that appeared on Dion’s face as he talked about the upcoming day was all the prompting she needed. Tyrone might be cool and confident when it came to putting on a show, but his older brother obviously was not. Knowing their history of butting heads, she didn’t want an argument to break out.
Coffee mug in hand, she hurried back upstairs. If she had to snatch the covers off Tyrone and force him out of bed then that’s what she’d do. A smile spread across her lips at the thought of messing with him this early. He liked to tease her and she enjoyed teasing him back.
She opened the door to the bedroom and expected to see Tyrone still buried beneath the covers. Instead, he was very much awake, and nearly naked. Nothing but a flimsy pair of boxers covered his body. He stopped rummaging through his bag of clothes and stared at her.
She couldn’t help it. Her eyes moved before her brain could issue the no-ogling command. Her gaze traveled down the length of his chest. He wasn’t overly muscular but toned just enough for her to know he spent some time in the gym. Red boxers barely concealed the rigid length of the erection straining against the slit at their front.
Kiera’s breathing faltered and her eyes widened. Again, her body responded before her brain could function and she pointed at the front of his boxers. “What’s going on?”
Tyrone glanced down then looked up. He shifted and held the clothes he’d pulled out of his bag in front of him. “It happens every morning. What are you doing back up here?”
Heat filled her cheeks. Yes, she knew that guys often woke up with erections. Knowing the physiological fact didn’t do anything to stop her body from having its own biological response. Or keep her from acting like a blushing virgin. “Your brother. He’s, um, ready to go soon. I was sent to wake you up.”
He nodded then went back to rummaging through his bag. “I figured he’d be ready. I meant it when I said I would get up soon.”
“I just wanted to be sure. I’ll go and let you get dressed.” The words came out, but her feet refused to move. The man was gorgeous and it was hard to tear her eyes away.
“You don’t have to run out. Unless all of this is too much for you to handle.” He finished the sentence with a sexy wink.
The wink and words snapped her out of her trance. She cocked her head to the side and smirked. “I believe I’m the one who’ll be too much for you to handle.”
“Oh, really?” he said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Damn, why did his biceps have to bulge like that? She jerked her thoughts from his biceps back to the conversation. “Really. I’ve been known to make men speak in tongues.”
His eyes widened. “Oh, have you?”
She lifted a shoulder. “It’s true.” She sipped her coffee and watched him over the rim. The conversation was going into territory it didn’t belong, but damn, if the man was hard not to flirt with.
The spark of humor in his eyes flared into something hot and alluring. “Well, I hate to brag, but I have made women completely forget how to speak.”
Kiera pursed her lips. “Seriously? That’s your comeback?”
“What? I’m for real. One woman is still in a trance,” he said in a serious voice.
She burst out laughing. “You are unbelievable. Once again, I don’t understand how you managed to pull women with those lines.”
A grin spread across Tyrone’s face. “It’s the confidence. That gets you a long way.”
He walked toward her with a bundle of what looked like another pair of underwear in his hands and his toiletry bag. He stopped in front of her, and Kiera fought with the urge to run her fingers across the hairs on his chest.
“Are you hoping that confidence eventually works on me?”
He shook his head. “Nah. I want you to sleep with me when you’re sure about sleeping with me. No questions. No doubts about the outcome. Just you and me—” he ran a finder down her bare forearm “—doing what we both want to do.”
His voice lowered to a sexy whisper that slid across her skin just as deliciously as his light caress. The touch on her arm echoed through every part of her body. Her nipples tightened and wetness slid between her legs.
Damn, he was so very good at this.
Kiera stepped back and his finger fell away. Her body was on high alert and screamed for her to toss him on the bed, rip of her clothes and ride him like a cowgirl. “We’ll be waiting for your downstairs.”
She hurried out of the room before she caved in to the craving to do everything she wanted to do to Tyrone Livingston.
* * *
The preconvention breakfast was packed. The cameras from the Exploration Network were set up to get the perfect shots of Tyrone and his brothers. Even the few celebrities the convention organizers were able to pull in for the event were there.
Tyrone should be on cloud nine. People recognized the “Haunted Homeboys” and were excited about their panel. It was more than he’d ever wanted. He was happy. On cloud seven and a half or eight, instead of nine. He couldn’t get to nine, because he was horny as hell and couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
Every time he looked at Kiera, he remembered the heat that flashed in her eyes and the way the tip of her tongue flickered across her full lower lip, as if she wanted to taste him when he’d flirted with her that morning. He’d spent half the morning trying to focus on something else to keep from rising like a tuning fork. He hadn’t had this problem since sixth-grade math, when Stephany Hampton used to wear those tiny shirts that always rose and gave a sneak peak of her belly button whenever she raised her hand.
Just like back then, his face flamed, and he wanted to run from the room with embarrassment. He was sure everyone there could see how much he wanted to pounce on his girlfriend. They’d understand, of course, and probably would expect him to do just that. Except, she wasn’t really his girlfriend and like a dumbass he’d agreed to her suggestion that they don’t sleep together while doing this.
He shouldn’t have teased her like that. She’d stepped away and hurried out of the room, so he’d obviously made her uncomfortable, despite the moment of consideration in her eyes. He’d gotten himself all hot and bothered over something he couldn’t follow up on. The season hadn’t officially started filming and he was already breaking the rules. He’d be lucky if they got through this without Kiera slapping him in the face.
Wesley slapped him on the shoulder. “You good?”
Tyrone jumped and turned to his brother sitting next to him at the table. “Yeah. Why?”
“You keep frowning like something is wrong.” He leaned in. “Did you and Kiera fight?”
Tyrone shook his head. “Nah, nothing like that. Why would you think that?”
“Because you two are stiff and barely talking to each other. I just want to make sure you’re not about to break up right before the season starts filming.”
“We’re not. It’s good. We’re good.” He turned away from Wes and leaned to Kiera at his left. “Hey, can we go somewhere and talk?”
She turned to him with a frown. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing—please smile,” he said, smiling at her. Her face immediately cleared, and she smiled back at him as if she was really in love with him, and his heart stuttered for a second. “Just a quick talk before we go into the next thing.”
She nodded. “Sure, babe.”
His eyebrows rose. “Babe?”
She cocked her head to the side. “Bae?”
He cringed and shook his head. “Definitely not.”
She laughed and the tightness in his chest lifted a little. If she was still teasing and laughing with him then maybe she didn’t full-on hate him. He took her hand in his and led her from the table. When Dion asked where they were going, he said they’d be right back.
He led her out of the room and into the hallway, far away from the door. When they were out of earshot of others he spoke. “I’m sorry.”
Her eyebrows drew together, and confusion filled her eyes. “For what?”
“For what I did and said earlier. I was out of line, and I made you uncomfortable. You’re doing me a favor and I should remember that and follow the rules you set out.”
Her eyes widened before she smiled. “You’re actually apologizing?”
“I told you I admit when I’m wrong. I was out of line and I’m sorry. Wes commented about how we seemed stiff, and it made me feel worse. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable while we do this.”
