Drake Sisters 06 - Turbulent Sea

think our group would ever break up.
    We treated them like family and paid very well, but drugs and alcohol take their toll on everyone. And after Tish left, we all were depressed. It was hard to keep going.'
    'Tish was Logan's girlfriend?'
    'Wife. They were married, and still are, although we don't talk about it. Logan and Tish went to school with Rick, Leo and Denny. Brian was in a private school, but he spent summers with them. When they formed a band, Tish did their website, got their bookings and sold their CDs. I heard them play at the Caspar Inn when I was just out of high school. I talked with Tish for a long time that night and ended up giving her a recording of my voice. She was the one who brought us all together. I loved their sound and they loved mine. The road crew were friends of theirs from school as well. We all learned the business together.'
    She yawned. Her eyelids were suddenly very heavy, and it was too difficult to keep her eyes open, so she curled deeper under the comforter he pulled up over her. His fingers eased the knots in the nape of her neck.
    'Has Walters been traveling with your band the last two years?'
    'Jerry would know. He handles everything on the road, but I've seen him often, at least enough that I recognize him and wave. He's never made an effort to talk to me, but then I haven't really talked to any of the crew other than the sound crew. And I don't know most of them very well anymore.'
    'You aren't having much fun performing, are you? Why do you keep doing it?'
    'I love to perform. I love the energy of the audience, being with my band and the music we make together. I even love the pressure of putting together new material.' She was lonely though. And she missed Sea Haven and her family.
    At least she could laugh with them and feel as if someone in the world cared about her for herself, not because she was a celebrity. 'I'm just tired. We've been keeping a grueling schedule.'
    She could feel herself drifting under the influence of his massaging fingers. The motion of the swaying bus added to the dreamlike feeling pressing down on her. 'I'm going to make a list. That's what Libby does and it always works for her.'
    'Libby is a brilliant woman,' Ilya said of her sister. 'And wise. What is this list for?'
    'The pros and cons of being with you. I'm going to put them down on a piece of paper and then call my sisters to see if any of it makes sense.'
    Her voice was a thread of sound, low and muffled by the pillow and comforter. She sounded a mixture of sexy and drowsy, and he shifted to ease the nearly permanent ache in his body. 'Are there cons to being with me?'
    'You're so bossy. I hate that.'

    Honesty poured into her voice like warm honey. She really was drifting in a dream, or she would never have admitted she was contemplating making a list and discussing him with her siblings. He found her drowsiness incredibly sexy. He nearly groaned, holding on to discipline and control to keep from taking what was his.
    'You're always telling me what to do and you just take me over. But when you kiss, everything just goes to hell fast.
    I can't even think straight when you kiss me.'
    He found himself smiling. 'I would think that should be put under pro.'
    'No, no. You don't understand. That's not a good thing.'
    He swept her hair away from her neck and bent until his lips could brush her ear. 'Kissing me is on the pro side for certain. If you're going to make a list and talk about me with your sisters, at least be honest. Kissing has got to be a huge pro.'
    She gave a little sigh and her mouth curved. For one moment her eyelashes fluttered as she struggled to surface.
    'Maybe both sides.'
    'No way. That would cancel both entries out, and I have a feeling I'm going to need everything I can get on the pro side. What else are you putting on this list?'
    She yawned and turned into him, fitting her face beneath his shoulder. 'I'm trying to think of things I like about you.'
    'My charm.'
    There was amusement in his voice and it captivated her. 'I wasn't aware you were charming. But you did save Abbey's Aleksandr when you could have been caught by the police.'
    'I wasn't worried about the police,' he replied, 'so I'm not certain we can count that.'
    'And you saved Hannah at a great cost to yourself.' She wanted to open her eyes and look at him, but her lids were too heavy and she couldn't make herself lift her head. Besides, his fingers were pure magic, melting her body so that she was