"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.

The sunscreen's initial chill quickly faded, and with the sun beating down on us, I wanted something to cool me down. But it would've been silly to go jump in the water after applying all this sunscreen since it would just wash right off. Looking around, I spotted an ice cream stand across from the water slides. I'd suggested it earlier just to get the band off the scent of what was between Jax and me, but now it really did sound like a good idea. "Ooh I'd love some ice cream right now. Let's go get some."

Jax shook his head slightly. "How about some funnel cake instead?"

"No way, it's too hot for that. Come on, let's cool off with some ice cream."

He studied my face with discerning eyes and after a moment said, "Fine, let's go." He grabbed my hand and we headed over to the ice cream stand.

I leaned into Jax as we strolled past teenagers playing with water guns. "I'm so relieved we don't have to hide us being together anymore."

"Yeah, I'm relieved too," he said, his eyes darting around at the ice cream cones that people had in their hands.

I impatiently stepped to the back of the long line. People walked away from the counter with big swirled curlicues of vanilla and chocolate soft serve, making my mouth water more and more with each one I saw.

"I can't wait for mine—it's been ages since I've had some soft serve. I think I'm going to get the vanilla-chocolate swirl. How about you?"

"Vanilla," he answered immediately. "I want vanilla."

"That's surprising. I definitely would've pegged you for more a chocolate sort of guy."

He shifted on his feet and rubbed the back of his neck before stopping and flashing me a grin. "You should know by now that I'm full of surprises."

"It's true. And I like your surprises, they're sweet and thoughtful." I crossed my arms and stuck out my bottom lip. "It's stupid surprises like Connor yesterday that suck."

He brushed my damp hair behind my ear and looked me deeply in the eyes, comforting me with his warm gaze. "Forget about him, Riley. He's nothing. He's less than zero."

"I know, Jax. Thanks again." I stepped up on my tiptoes and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "For everything."

We finally got to the front of the line and I ordered my ice cream. Jax paused for a brief second and then ordered a vanilla cone. When the server handed us our twisting towers of ice cream, Jax's face lit up.