Free Snared (Jaded Regret #1) by L.L. Collins

universe? Who was this guy standing alone with me on the rooftop deck, this time teasing me?
    “Oh.” I laughed, wringing my hands in my lap.
    “Today went well, thanks to you.”
    My throat was so dry; I wasn’t sure I could swallow much less respond. “I would say it was because of you guys, not me.”
    Beau reached his hand out, and I swore I stopped breathing. He tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. Seeming to realize what he’d just done, he took a step backward and ran a hand through his beard, stopping to turn the hoop in his nose.
    “Tell me something about you.” He may not answer me, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

Beau
    WHAT THE HELL was I still doing on this deck with her? She unnerved me. Seeing her with Lennox, then listening to that baby girl tell her I was lonely had loosened something in me. I didn’t like it, and I needed to back the hell up.
    She wanted to know something about me? Why was that, so she could sell it to some tabloid? Even as I thought it, I knew it wasn’t the truth; April wasn’t a groupie. She wasn’t trying to score a rocker so she could tell the world. She was real. And that scared me shitless.
    I’d touched her. My hand had reached out and put her hair behind her ear before I could register what I’d been doing. I’d liked it, too. Her hair was soft.
    “What do you want to know?”
    Her eyes widened. What was she surprised about? That I’d responded to her, or that I was talking to her? Shit, I surprised myself.
    “Um . . . well, I don’t know. Something you don’t mind sharing.” She was nervous, wringing her hands and moving her feet in place.
    “Do you want to sit?” I indicated the couch where I’d seen her here last night. She nodded, and we both settled next to each other. Her knee touched my leg, and I jerked in response. I remembered how hard I’d been while thinking of her earlier when I’d taken matters into my own hands.
    You don’t deserve to be alive. I shook my head. No. Not now. You should’ve died with him. The world would be a better place without you.
    “Beau? Are you okay?”
    Just fucking fantastic. Now I seemed like a weirdo in front of her.
    I forced my eyes to hers. “Yep. Just fine. Okay, so something I’d want to tell you about me. Well . . . I’m a rather dull guy.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s true.”
    Oh, but it was. I kept a predictable routine for a reason. It kept things in order.
    “I thought of a question. I’ve noticed you kind of zone out and tap your fingers in rhythm on your legs. Is that because you are thinking of new music, or just playing?”
    She was very perceptive. And this was a question I didn’t mind answering. “I almost always have music running through my head. New music, old music, whatever it is. A lot of times I have drumsticks in my back pocket and will just bang out a set on my leg when I’m bored.”
    April nodded, and I smelled whatever scent she wore. It was fucking intoxicating. My fingers twitched, wanting to bury themselves in her hair and crush her lips to mine. I wanted to taste her, and that was the most terrifying thing I’d thought about in a long damn time.
    “I’m going to ask you something, but don’t answer it if you don’t want to.”
    My gut clenched. That meant whatever it was, she worried it would be too personal. Which meant I wouldn’t want to answer it at all.
    “I notice you don’t pay much attention to the women who flock to you. Why is that?”
    So many answers to her question, but I wasn’t sure if there were any I wanted to respond with. When I stayed quiet just a beat too long, April waved her hand.
    “Never mind. I should leave you alone. You don’t know me. I’m sorry, Beau. I just—you interest me.”
    She stood like she was about to leave. I didn’t want her to do that. “I’m not interested in meaningless hookups,” I answered.
    April stopped and turned her body back toward me. She nodded. “That has to be hard,