Owned (Rockstar Romance) (Lost in Oblivion Book 5) by Cari Quinn, Taryn Elliott Read Free Book Online Page A

didn’t want to sound smug, but some truths were self-evident. “The boy is a born rock and roller. I have ways of making him calm down you can’t imagine.”
    “Is that so?”
    “Oh, it’s so.” Nick made a gimme gesture with his hands. “Hand over the kid.”
    She rose from the armchair and carted Axl over to Nick, placing him in Nick’s arms as gently as she might lay down a feather. But Axl was already bumping his butt and flailing his hands, because he knew what was coming next.
    “Okay, okay, hang on. Gotta get you in position.” Nick picked him up and set him in a semi-sitting up, semi reclining pose against the pillow at the other end of the couch. Lila made a noise, already moving forward to guard him so he didn’t take a header off the side of the sofa.
    Nick pretended to strum an imaginary guitar. That was all it took.
    Axl squealed and pushed at Lila’s hands, his attention riveted as Nick launched into a rocking rendition of “Birthday” by the Beatles, complete with air guitar. Lila just stared.
    Even the cartoon-catatonic Dylan inched closer to watch, his big blue eyes growing wider with every passing second. Clearly, he recognized what Nick was doing, since Dylan’s own father toted around a guitar as if it was an additional appendage.
    When Nick finished, Dylan clapped his hands and Axl gave a toothless grin and bounced up and down. Nick recognized what he wanted.
    More, more, more.
    “You’re relentless, kid.” Shaking his head, Nick launched into another song that he’d discovered through trial and error that Axl enjoyed. “Fight for Your Right” by the Beastie Boys made Axl’s eyes wheel in his head and Dylan toddle forward to bang his chubby hands on the edge of the cushions.
    When Nick finished, he glanced at Lila. She had her fist pressed to her mouth and appeared to be in physical distress.
    “They like it,” he said uncertainly, wondering if he’d violated some essential child-rearing tenet without even knowing it.
    No pleasure gained from rock music until at least kindergarten, unless you want the kid to end up in a band with a Mohawk and a joint clamped between his lips by the age of sixteen.
    Nick waited until Dylan crawled back over to the rug in front of the TV before he picked up Axl and settled him on his lap. He gave the baby back his bottle then stuck his hand out to his shell-shocked girlfriend. “Come sit with me.”
    She shook her head. “No. I’m good here.”
    “He’s fine. I didn’t break him. See?” He poked Axl’s belly. The kid spurted out a little milk around the nipple of the bottle but he giggled just the same. “All in one piece.” He brushed an absent kiss over Axl’s cap of downy blond hair. “He’s a milk junkie though.”
    She didn’t reply.
    Nick braced his chin on Axl’s head and lifted his brows at Lila’s studious focus on anything but him. He was about to try again when she muttered something about getting another bottle and fled into the kitchen.
    “Women,” Nick said to Axl, tipping the bottle back when it slipped out of Axl’s chubby fingers. “Stick to rock and roll, kid. It’s much more predictable.”
    By the time Lila returned—without a bottle, by the way—Nick had kicked back on the couch to watch the cartoon train deal with the boys. Axl was happily slurping on his bottle and Dylan had rolled onto his belly in front of the TV. The only thing that took the youngest Duffy’s attention away from the screen was Spot slinking out long enough to swish her tail at him before disappearing again.
    Yet another unfathomable woman. He was surrounded by them.
    “You good?” he asked Lila as she took the armchair and started tapping furiously on her iPad.
    “Yes, fine.” Her voice sounded distant. “Just taking care of a few things for work.”
    “Oh yeah? Like what?”
    “I’m supposed to go to London in January with Donovan.”
    Nick frowned. His first question was for how long, but he didn’t want to prod. She