Sweet Temptation: A Players Rockstar Romance (Players, Book 3)

leaning forward in his chair. His black eyebrows knit together, and that’s when I knew. I was not getting out of this gracefully. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I tried to call you last night. You didn’t answer.”
“Shit. The guy was breaking in when you called me?”
“No,” I said calmly, “the police were there when I called you. It was no big deal, you guys. The police arrested him.”
“Ronan?” Brody said, cueing Ronan to jump in.
“He was arrested,” Ronan confirmed. Because apparently they all needed to hear it from a man to believe it. “But we don’t know what’ll happen from there.”
I looked at him. In profile, and when he wasn’t staring me down, I had a chance to check him out more. He had his elbows resting on his knees, and his hands loosely clasped together, those damn sexy forearms showing again.
“Brody and Jude and I have discussed it,” he went on, “and our most logical course of action now is for Summer to get a restraining order against this guy, and meanwhile we tighten security around all of you.”
“Who is this guy?” Ash asked me.
“I don’t know,” I said. “He was just some guy who started hanging around. I barely knew him.”
“His name is Blair Sanchuk,” Ronan supplied.
“Blair?” Xander scowled. “You mean that asshole who’s been creeping around your shows?”
“You know this guy?” Jude asked.
“I don’t know him,” Xander said. “He tried to hit on Courteney a few times. Fuck, I should’ve said something. I knew that guy was no fucking good.”
“Yeah. I guess I did, too,” I said. “But I didn’t think he was gonna try to break into my house.”
The scowl fell off Xander’s face. “No, of course not. That’s not what I meant.”
“I know,” I said. “It’s fine.”
It wasn’t fine. This whole conversation was just overblowing things.
Why did we need to relive the details anyway? It was fucked-up, but it was over.
The guys didn’t seem to want to let it die, though.
“You saw this guy at Summer’s shows?” Ash asked Xander.
“Yeah. Real piece of shit. Cheap tats, light-brown hair… Kinda looked like a biker or something. I dunno. He bought Courteney a drink and I didn’t like it. He just looked dirty as shit.”
I couldn’t help it. I rolled my eyes.
“He doesn’t look ‘dirty.’” Christ. Maybe Blair was no rock star, but Xander was just pissed that he tried to buy his girlfriend a drink.
“Why are you defending him?” Ash asked me.
“I’m not defending him. Let’s just not get carried away here, and let’s stick to the facts.”
“Okay,” Ash said. “The fact is he tried to break into your house and the police had to get a dog to drag him away.”
“The dog didn’t drag him away. Jesus, Ashley.”
“I don’t care what the fuck the dog did. Why was this guy climbing your fucking house?”
“Alright,” Jude cut in. “Let’s talk security.”
“Let’s do that,” Brody said.
“Since I’m away and we haven’t yet put someone in place as Players head of security,” Jude said, “Ronan will be assigning one of his guys to you, Summer. Full-time.”
“What?” I gaped at him. At Brody, too. “Security team, fine. But I don’t need a full-time bodyguard.”
“Are you kidding me?” Ash said.
“It was one incident,” I insisted. “I’ve been a touring musician for years. Jude. Come on. I’m nowhere near as famous as Ash or Xander. I’m just a DJ.”
“You can spare us the ‘I’m just a DJ’ argument,” Ash said. “All you ever talk about is this band, and becoming a rock star. Well, this is part of being a rock star.”
“You’re a star to all of us, darlin’,” Jude said, a little more gently. “Afraid this one’s not up for negotiation.”
“Are you all serious?” I demanded.
Obviously, they were.
“Nothing has to change here,” Brody informed me, lying through his teeth. “Except we make sure you’ve got someone looking out for you. That’s all it is.”
Yeah, right.
I looked at them all. Ash shook his head at me. His eyebrows were still all twisted up.
“For now,” Jude went on, “Haz will stay on you, Ash. But we’re talking full-time. Every time you leave home, he’s with you.”
“Fine with me,”Ash said.
“We can bring on Lucas for you, Xander, but same deal,” Jude said. “You use him every time you go out.”
“Sure,” Xander said.
Neither of them offered a shred of resistance to this plan. Why would they? Xander’s bodyguard, Lucas, was a buddy of his. Ash and Haz had become friends, too. This situation hardly changed anything for either of my bandmates. All they’d gained was a full-time wingman.
“So, Ronan,” Brody said. “Do you have someone in mind for Summer’s security detail?”
“Yeah,” Ronan said, clearing his throat. “For the time being, I’ll be Summer’s bodyguard.”
I turned to stare at him.
“That’s great, brother,” Jude said. He sounded surprised. “You sure you don’t want to put someone else on it?”
“I’m sure. I’d like to monitor things on the front lines for a bit. At the greatest point of… vulnerability.”
Vulnerability?
Oh, I did not like that word choice. Sounded way too much like weakness.
If any of them referred to me as a delicate or damsel anything, I was out of here.
“That’s great,” Brody agreed. He and Jude definitely seemed a lot happier about this arrangement than I did.
Actually, all of them did. Ronan was the only one who didn’t seem pleased. Just… neutral.
I met Brody’s eyes, and he definitely noticed I wasn’t swooning with delight. “Ronan is the best there is,” he assured me. “Like I told you last night. You couldn’t be in better hands.”
“Fabulous,” I forced out, and got to my feet. “Are we done here? I’ve got stuff and things.”
Brody nodded. “Sure. We’re done, for now.” He got up, and I left the room before I strangled the nearest one of them. Would’ve been Ronan, and I probably would’ve just pulled something trying to get a grip on his muscular neck.
I threw him a displeased side-eye as I left. And he fucking nodded at me, completely unruffled.
“You can shove my vulnerability right up your goddamn asses,”