Read Online Resisting the Musician (a Head Over Heels Novel) (Entangled Indulgence) by Ally Blake - Free Book Online Page B

Twenty-one years earlier he’d made the move from his home town of Melbourne, Australia, to live with his Uncle Pete in Sausalito. His great-uncle, actually. Having grown up on the other side of the world, he’d never met the man before that time, and yet it had turned out to be the relationship that had most fully shaped his life.
    He’d endured such anniversaries on his own before. But for some reason that weekend had groaned by with just him. And the dogs. And the quiet.
    The quiet that had salvaged him after the constant noise of a life on the road had felt, for the first time…cavernous. Hence the scotch.
    Still nursing the remains of what had been a mighty hangover, Dash flinched when Bowie’s woof pierced the air a half second before a knock rapped against his front door.
    He downed a mouthful of medicinal leftover osso buco, then followed the sound of claws against wood.
    “Jagger! Bowie!” he hollered, his voice rough as bark. They ignored him as usual, scratching against the door hard enough to leave marks.
    He gave each a rough scratch that sent them both scrabbling.
    Then he opened the door to Lori Hanover, who was glaring into her bag and muttering to herself.
    Her hair was down—probably because the last time he’d told her he liked it up—her heels were high, and her dress was short. The latter threatened to slip from one creamy shoulder until she briskly hiked it back into place.
    And after the hollow of his past few days, all kinds of noise rushed into his head like a tidal wave into a bottomless well. Need and agitation, desire and fitful memory, came together like a whump whump whump behind his ears, and his sore head wasn’t the only body part that came to the party.
    “Morning, Lori,” he said, leaning against the doorjamb, feigning nonchalance.
    “Dash,” she said on an outshot of breath before blowing a loose curl of hair that had caught on her eyelashes. Her reproving gaze began at his bare feet, then the ragged knees of his old jeans, the fraying memory-bands around his wrist, then his chest.
    For whatever reason her gaze stayed there an extra beat.
    So he puffed himself up a little, enjoying, way more than was smart, the giveaway pink rising in her cheeks.
    Back to frowning into her bag, she wriggled her shoulders, as if trying to shake something off. Him, if he was any kind of reader of human nature.
    Which was tough. She’d brought this on herself, whatever this was.
    Barging into his life. Messing up his quiet. And after the weekend he’d had, his patience was worn thin.
    Which was when he noticed the guitar case tucked between her feet; black with a swirling floral imprint pressed into the leather. The ache in his head increased at the thought of sweet, mellifluent Barbarella lying in a bed of pink fur or leopard print velvet. It was nearly enough to make him demand her back.
    No , a voice insisted inside his head. The thing was meant to be used. If not by him, then someone else.
    “Been practicing?” he asked.
    “Sure.”
    “Liar.”
    Shards of sunlight collected in the prettiest shade of green before her eyes narrowed. “I actually have a life outside of our delightful get-togethers, Dash. An extremely busy one, where down time is unheard of. So, when I’m here let’s cut the bullshit and stick to the lessons.” Her gaze shifted back to his bare feet, and he could have sworn she coughed out a laugh. “I’m not here to bear the brunt of whatever bug has been up your ass for the past four years, I’m here for my sister and my sister alone.”
    Her speech came so far out of left field, Dash stood taller, wondering if perhaps he had the stink of scotch on him. But as Lori muttered and grumbled and shook out her bag in frustration, he figured it was just her. Never a more cutting woman had he met. Even the clones at the record company had known how to have fun.
    “I’m guessing the ‘chill’ rule has been forgotten?”
    Her shoulders sank, and she lifted her head,