Joy Ride (10 page)

Emma tore little pieces off her cocktail napkin, squirming as she recalled the way she’d run from his house like a frightened mouse, barely saying a word to him except she had to go. And then that incident in the grocery store. He probably thought she was a real nutcase. An image flashed in her mind of all the screaming females in the club who she was sure wanted him as badly as she did. And weren’t as stupid about it. Had she damaged her chances permanently?

“What if I hurt him to the point he doesn’t want to see me again? Or be with me?”

“You won’t know unless you go to the club and make an effort to patch this up. Go for it.”

“What if you’re wrong in your opinion of him and he’s just another horny musician?”

“I may not know him personally but if that’s the kind if guy he is, the buzz would have made him for it.”

Emma fiddled with her glass, staring into the remnants of her drink. “Would you go with me?”

“Go with you?” Annie repeated.

“Yes.” Emma pulled out her swizzle stick and licked the edges of it.

“You’re keeping him a big secret but you want to drag me along with you?”

“I’m not hiding him from you. Come on, Annie. I don’t think I have your kind of courage. I can’t do this by myself. You know your way around this scene and besides, I need you for moral support. If you’ll take pity on me, I’ll be your slave for life.”

“Be careful I don’t hold you to it.” Annie sighed. “Okay, okay. And what am I supposed to do while you send hot signals back and forth with this guy?”

“Just make sure I don’t pass out from anxiety and humiliation.” She sipped the rest of her drink. “Oh, and one other thing?”

“Yes?” Annie’s lips curved in a smile as if she knew what was coming.

“Would you mind if we drove in separate cars?”

Chapter Six

“I can’t believe I’m here.”

Emma took in the parking lot at Aftershock, jammed even on a Tuesday night.

“Well, you are.” Annie grinned. “Ready?”

Drawing in a deep breath, she let it out. “As I’ll ever be.”

Annie, who knew what she was doing, had called Aftershock to find out what times Lightnin’ played. Emma didn’t want to arrive too early but she didn’t want to wait until the end of the evening, either. The band had just started their third set, which meant she had an entire hour to listen and watch Marc before trying to catch him before the last set of the evening.

“This is one of the few bands I’ve heard of capable of pulling in a crowd like this in the middle of the week,” Annie noted.

“You’ve heard
of
them but never
heard
them?”

Her friend shrugged. “The few times I’ve tried the place where they were playing was too packed and my so-called dates didn’t like standing in line.”

“Well, then. Wait until you hear them. I never thought I’d fall in love with music like this.”

Annie chuckled. “I don’t think you’ve been in love with any
one
or any
thing
before now. It’s about damn time, you know.”

Emma paused at the door, a wave of anxiety gripping her.
What if he ignores me? Or doesn’t want to talk to me? What if he won’t give me a chance?

Annie nudged her. “Go on. I’m not letting you chicken out now.”

Her hand trembled as she pulled the club door open. When she walked in, it was just like Saturday night. The sound of the music blasted out at them. The same man was at the door and leaned closer so she could hear him when he spoke.

“I see you came back again. And brought a friend.”

“Yes.” She handed him the cover charge, then was surprised when he held out change to her.

“Only five bucks Tuesday and Wednesday,” he explained.

“Then keep the whole thing. I’ll pay for my friend.” It was the least she could do for dragging Annie into this.

She clutched Annie’s arm and tugged her along as they worked their way into the main room, the intensity of the music and excitement of the crowd surrounding them.

“Wow.” She took in the scene as they edged their way through the mass of moving bodies. “I go to a lot of clubs, girlfriend, but they’re never packed like this on weeknights. No wonder people say this band is hot, hot, hot.”

Emma leaned her head toward Annie in an attempt to be heard over the din. “Let’s get a beer, and you can judge them for yourself.”

“A beer?” Annie stared at her. “I didn’t think you drank beer.”

Emma gave her a tentative smile, aware so much about her was changing. Things like the lure of the rock music, the way her body moved to it. Even to what she drank. All of it was new, both to herself and to her friend. “I guess I’m doing a lot of things I never did before. Come on.”

She had yet to look directly at the stage but the heavy sound of the bass guitar vibrated through the room and shimmied up through her body. While they were waiting for their drinks at the bar, Annie punched her in the arm and pointed at the wall over the array of bottles. Displayed in a glass case was a T-shirt, dark blue with a lightning bolt on it and the word
Lightnin’
in script below it.

“You should get one,” Annie yelled over the noise.

“We’ll see.” But she could already imagine herself in it. Maybe she could wear it at Marc’s. Maybe with nothing underneath.

First you have to make eye contact with him and see if he’ll even talk to you
.

They grabbed their drinks and slithered and wriggled their way to the front of the crowd. Only then did Emma allow herself to glance at the stage, and a bolt of what surely was real lightning shot through her. She nearly dropped her beer. Marc was standing there with one foot on the monitor just like when she’d first seen him, talented fingers moving along the neck of his instrument, hair wild and sexy. Dress jeans clung to his lean form, and he wore one of the band’s signature T-shirt like the one on the wall. The muscles in his arms flexed and rippled as he worked the strings of the guitar.

She closed her eyes for a moment and recalled the image of Marc gloriously naked in his bedroom. Feel again his mouth on hers, on her nipples, on the moist heat of her sex. The sensation of his cock sliding into her, filling her, stretching her. Shocked at the desire gripping her, she forced her eyes open.

And discovered Marc watching her.

Her stomach knotted, the butterflies hibernating in there exploding in a triple-time dance. The pulse in her womb hammered like a jungle drum and every part of her body suddenly turned to liquid heat. She couldn’t breathe and her chest was too tight. Was he glad to see her? Angry? Did he wish she would just go away?

Someone’s fingers pressed reassuringly on her arm and she heard Annie shouting over the crowd and the music.

“Holy shit, Emma. I’d go home with him myself.”

Emma grinned nervously.

“Just hang tight here,” Annie said, her mouth close to Emma’s ear. “Whatever it takes. He’s worth it.”

She looked directly at Annie, hoping her friend could read her lips because the sound was deafening. “What if I crash and burn?”

What if he ignores me or my courage fails at the last minute? What if I make the effort and he shuts me out?

Annie drew closer. “Better than not taking the ride at all.”

Maybe
.

Emma couldn’t ever remember being this nervous, not even on the dreaded first day of school, or on her first real date. She rolled the chilled bottle of beer against her forehead, trying to take the edge off the heat blasting through her. Her eyes were glued to the stage, to Marc, to the fluid actions of his lean, muscular body, and the way his hair flew around his face with the movement of his head.

He wasn’t watching her now, instead lost in his music and the sexy rhythm of the bass. The song was high energy. Its throbbing tempo rocking the crowd. When Marc did a solo on the bass and everyone clapped in time to it, every nerve in her body vibrated in response. At the end of the song, the mass of people cheered and screamed for more and Emma found herself screaming right along with them.

Glancing over at Annie, she saw her friend was as caught up in the ambience and the energy as everyone else. Her body twisted and swayed, and her eyes were alight with excitement. She bumped her hip against Emma’s, grinned, and made an okay sign with her thumb and forefinger.

The crowd was already into the next song, and when Emma looked to the stage, she saw Marc focusing on her again. Every part of her body heated beneath his gaze, her core throbbed with an unfamiliar hunger, and her breasts felt heavy and aching. The memory of his hands and his mouth arousing her, his thick cock inside her, filling her, sent a surge of lust through her so strong it nearly brought her to her knees.

Ohmigod!

What was happening to her? And what would she do if he turned his back on her? She was anxious for the set to end yet at the same time she wanted it go on so she wouldn’t have to face her Guitar Man.

As if reading her thoughts, Annie squeezed her arm again and leaned sideways until her mouth was close to Emma’s ear.

“It will be all right. You’ll see.”

Marc was in the middle of a particularly complicated riff when Music Lady walked in. He was focused on his bass yet something intangible reached out to him. He chanced a peek at the crowd, and there she was. Just as delicious and tempting as she’d been Saturday night. He nearly lost his concentration, but he was a disciplined musician. He pulled himself right back into the music. Tonight she had a friend with her, similar in looks but as dark as Music Lady was fair. A woman who appeared wiser, harder, as if she’d learned the score a long time ago.

Then as they swung into the ending of the song, he risked another glance into the audience again.

At first the lingering hurt from the incident at the grocery store swept over him, shreds of anger still clinging to him and he was tempted to just blow her off. Then he brushed it aside as his mind ran in all directions, remnants of his conversation with Rick flashing in his brain. Why had she come here tonight? Had she finally remembered him or did she just want a hot fuck like Saturday night?

No. He was pretty sure that wasn’t her style. So why was she here?

Get with the music, buddy, or you’ll make an ass of yourself. Worry about her later
.

But it took every ounce of his self-control to do so. The band swung into its final song. At last the set ended, and Marc decided to see what the hell she was doing here after a week had passed. Surely she hadn’t shown up just to blow him off again. He didn’t know her well but his conscience told him otherwise. He settled his guitar in the stand behind him and hopped down from the stage. Music Lady was at the front of the crowd, wetting her lips and twisting her hands in an obviously nervous gesture, uncertainty plain on her face.

Okay, this was a good sign, right? If she was worried about his reaction?

He tried to push his way through the crowd to her but then that piece-of-work Lacey was all over him the minute he cleared the stage.

“Hey, Marc,” she crooned, tossing her long, red hair. “Were you playing for me tonight?”

He eased his arm away from her grip. “For everyone, Lacey. Always everyone.”

She grabbed his arm again. “If you played just for me I could be really grateful.”

This time he deliberately lifted her fingers from his skin. “We’ve been through this before. Chill. Find someone else. It’s not happening between us.”

His eyes kept straying to ML who was watching him carefully. To someone new to this scene, he had an idea how this would look and he shook his head, hoping to signal her it meant nothing. More people came up to him, yakking about the music, talking about the band. At least they surged between him and Lacey, saving him from more contact. But he had to get to ML. By the time he got loose, he’d lost sight of her and was afraid she’d decided to leave.

No!
He calmed when he spotted her against the wall by the back door. He pushed his way over, nodded and smiled at her friend, then took her by the arm.

“Sorry, it took me a minute to get to you.”

She shrugged. “I could see you were held up. By one of your
fans
.”

He almost smiled at the way she spit the word out. “Hey. That’s just Lacey, Queen of the Groupies. I think she’s trying to work her way through the band. I’m nobody special to her.”

ML looked over his shoulder and bit her lip. “She seems to think differently.”

He turned and followed her gaze. Lacey stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at them through the crowd. “Her problem. Like I said, no one for you to worry about. Believe me.”

“I-it’s okay. Really.”

He studied her face. “You came back. Why? What’s the deal with you, anyway?”

“C-can we talk someplace for a minute?”

Okay, tonight she knows who I am. What’s changed?

“Definitely.” He glanced at her friend, wondering if the woman had something to do with ML being there. What and how?

Well, at least she cared enough to show up and make the effort no matter what got her here. A promising sign
.

“Don’t worry about me,” Annie said. “I’m good.”

“Come on, then.” He tugged Music Lady along with him out the back door into the small area behind the club. A few people were wandering around taking a quick smoke. Marc pulled Music Lady to a quiet area and stopped, drinking in the sight of her. When he started to say something, she held up her hand.

“Me first. If I don’t get it out now, I’ll lose my courage.”

“Okay. Go.” He really wanted to haul her into his arms and kiss her to death but he forced himself not to move until she got out whatever she’d come to say. If he offended
her
, or hurt
her
in some way and that was why she acted the way she did in the grocery store, then he needed to know. In only one night, this woman had stirred him emotionally as no other woman ever had and he wanted somehow to make this right without scaring her off again.

She twisted her hands together, drew in a breath. “I’m sorry.”

Surprised but pleased by the apology, he waited to see if she’d say anything else.