One Night with Sole Regret 01 Try Me (2 page)

When the band pretended their set was over and the
crowd began to chant for an encore, Nikki started tugging Melanie
toward the side of the stage. Melanie accidentally stomped more
than one toe in the darkness. She spouted a litany of
sorries
as she was given no choice but to follow her
determined friend, who had an iron grip on her wrist. The crowd was
bathed in darkness to excite them for the final song as well as let
them know the show wasn’t actually over: Sole Regret’s biggest hit
was yet to come. Even Melanie had noticed they hadn’t played
“Instigator” and they’d blown the roof off the stadium with their
high-energy rock anthem the night before.

Melanie had no idea how Nikki managed to see well
enough to slip past security, but they were suddenly free from the
crowd and standing next to the stage. They were so going to get
caught. Melanie clung to Nikki’s hand, hoping they didn’t get
chewed out too severely when one of the distracted security guards
noticed them. In the darkness, Nikki managed to find the cute
roadie she'd been talking to the night before. Melanie wondered if
Nikki was wearing night vision goggles. Her own eyes were still
trying to adjust to the lack of illumination after she’d stared up
at bright stage lights for almost an hour.

"This is her," Nikki said. She tugged Melanie
against her and kissed her on the mouth with heated, seeking lips.
It wasn’t one of those
you're my bestie and I've had a too much
to drink, so I'm feeling affectionate
kisses. It was more a
we go down on each other, wanna watch
kind of kiss. Melanie
was too shocked to do anything but breathe. And even that was a
struggle.

What the fuck? Was this the ruse Nikki had
mentioned?

“Oh yeah,” the cute roadie said when Nikki ended her
plundering assault on Melanie’s lips. “That’s totally hot, tater
tot.” He reached into the front pocket of his mega-baggie jeans and
pulled out a backstage pass on a lanyard. He draped it around
Nikki’s neck. “I only have one left.”

“But what about my friend?” Nikki directed her
morose-puppy look in his direction. The guy didn’t stand a
chance.

“Show Tony what you just showed me, and he’ll let
you both backstage. Trust me.”

The stage lights flashed on and the band started
their encore with a hard and heavy drum progression. Melanie
covered her ears with both hands.

“It’s loud,” she yelled.

Nikki grabbed Melanie’s wrist again and led her
behind the stage to where a man stood guarding a door. Nikki
flashed her pass at him and he opened the door, but stuck out his
arm to bar Melanie’s entry.

“Jack said you’d let us both in,” Nikki said. “He
only had one pass for us to share.”

“Why should I believe you?”

Melanie was secretly hoping he refused to let either
of them in. What in the world was Nikki thinking? Kissing her on
the mouth. Letting that guy think it was natural for them to make
out. Just so she could meet some weird lead singer who called
himself Shade, of all things.

“Because we want to see Shade,” Nikki said. “Both of
us.”

And the next thing Melanie knew, her best friend had
her tongue in her mouth and her hand on her ass. Melanie jerked
away. She’d been shocked the first time. Now she was just
pissed.

“What the fuck, Nikki?”

“She doesn’t like to do it in public,” Nikki
explained to the security guard. She cupped Melanie’s breast and
gave it a squeeze. The guy groaned and shoved them both into the
backstage area and shut the door behind them.

“What is wrong with you?” Melanie slapped Nikki’s
hand away from her breast.

“I knew you wouldn’t agree with my plan if I asked.”
She shrugged. “Last night, I sorta told that roadie guy that I was
into threesomes and I had this hot girlfriend I wanted to share
with Shade.”

“You
sorta
told him that?”

“Yeah, he thought it was sexy and knew Shade would
be interested.”

“But
I’m
not interested, Nikki.”

“Duh. I know that. That’s why it’s a ruse. I didn’t
think you’d actually want to sleep with him. Or me.”

Nikki’s bottom lip jutted forward, and she gave
Melanie her
please forgive me, bestest best bestie
look, her
I can’t help but be impulsive
look, followed by her
you
know you love me
look. The bitch. She knew Melanie would
forgive her because Melanie did love her and worried about her
impulsiveness getting her into big trouble someday.

“I can’t believe you’d use me just to meet some rock
star, Nikki. I’m not sure why I’m friends with you. All you do is
cause me grief.”

“But I’m a good kisser, right?” Nikki winked at her
and laughed. “I never realized what great tits you have, Mel.”
Nikki lifted both perfectly manicured hands and made squeezing
motions in front of Melanie’s boobs. “Can I suck on them?”

Melanie crossed her arms over her chest. Nikki was
always making stupid remarks like that. Good thing Melanie didn’t
take her seriously.

“Don’t be mad.” Nikki dropped her hands and released
a heavy sigh. “I got us backstage didn’t I?”

“I didn’t even want to come backstage.”

“Sure you did. Let’s go find some alcohol. I’m going
to need a little liquid courage to approach Shade.”

“Go by yourself. I’m going to go wait in the car.”
Melanie turned to find the nearest exit.

“No, you’re not.” Nikki wrapped an arm around her
shoulders. “You’ll just end up worried about me in here with a
bunch of—what do you call them again?”

“Freakish assholes?”

Nikki laughed. “Among other things. Just do this one
thing for me, Mel, and I’ll never ask you for anything ever
again.”

Melanie snorted. “Uh huh. Yeah. Sure.”

“I won’t.” Nikki hooked Melanie’s pinky finger with
her own. “Pinky swear.”

Melanie released a frustrated sigh. “Where’s the
booze?”

Chapter 2

Gabe climbed out from behind his drum kit, both
thighs weary with fatigue. He stretched his aching back, wincing as
he twisted to one side. Thirty years young and he could safely say
he was getting too old for this shit. Jack tossed him a hand towel,
and Gabe wiped the sweat off his face.

“Great show, man,” Jack said. He took the towel and
offered Gabe a handful of used drumsticks to throw into the
audience.

“Thanks.”

Gabe joined his band mates at the front of the
stage. He flung a dozen sticks into the crowd, took a bow to the
screaming fans, and made a beeline for the dressing room. He needed
a beer, a nap, and a shower, not necessarily in that order.

“Don’t forget we have an after-party tonight,” Owen
said as he handed off his bass guitar to one roadie while another
disconnected his wireless transmitter.

Gabe had forgotten about the after-party. That meant
the first thing on his agenda had to be a shower. No one wanted to
smell him after he’d been swimming in his own sweat for an hour.
And maybe if a hot piece of ass caught his attention at the party,
he’d add
get laid
to his list of priorities.

“See you there,” Gabe said and headed for the
dressing room to shower.

The steamy water felt like heaven against his weary
flesh. He considered blowing the party and just hanging out in the
shower by himself for the entire night. His bunk on the tour bus
sang a siren’s song to his exhausted body. Gabe was proud to be
known as one of rock’s fastest drummers, but his signature
aggressive style wore his ass out at every live performance. Still,
he knew the guys would give him hell if he didn’t make an
appearance at the party, so he’d show his face for five minutes,
have a beer, and then catch that nap. Alone. He was much too
exhausted to chase pussy tonight.

He found his bag among the pile of the band’s
overnight luggage and tossed on a pair of well-worn jeans, a
T-shirt, and his favorite boots. He didn’t bother spiking his still
wet hair as he planned to go to bed soon, so he tugged on a
baseball cap and headed to the conference room at the end of the
hall. The room was packed wall-to-wall with guests.

Gabe headed for the bar. One beer. That was all he
needed to unwind, and then he could disappear. He made a concerted
effort to greet everyone who recognized him. Shake hands. Pause for
a photo. Smile and bullshit. Sign an autograph. Laugh at a joke.
Accept praise. Enjoy the excitement. Seek out the familiar faces of
his band mates in a sea of strangers and exchange a nod of
recognition. Finally, he reached the bar.

“Corona?” Jordan asked.

He knew damned well that’s what Gabe wanted. He’d
been with the crew all summer.

“Yeah.”

Jordan disappeared beneath the bar and emerged with
a bottle. He popped the cap and handed it to Gabe, who took a long
swallow. It went down smooth. Good stuff.

He caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and
he turned his gaze on the sweet piece of ass beside him at the bar.
Long, brown curls fell to the middle of her back, and her jeans
clung to her curvy backside in a most distracting fashion.
High-heeled sandals accentuated her long legs, which would look
perfect wrapped around his hips. If the front of her looked half as
spectacular as the back, he was definitely interested in hanging
around a while longer. He wasn’t
that
exhausted.

Chapter 3

Melanie took the glass of whiskey out of Nikki’s
hand. “You’ve had enough.” Even though they’d arrived in Nikki’s
car, Melanie realized she’d be the designated the driver tonight,
so she’d stopped drinking after one apple martini. They had a
three-hour drive just to get home. But while Melanie showed
restraint, Nikki used the open bar to its full potential. She had
yet to request one of everything, but each time Shade laughed or
said something loud enough for her to hear, Nikki ordered another
drink.

Nikki stole a glance over Melanie’s shoulder at her
current obsession, who had yet to notice her. Probably because she
was standing out of his line of sight. His inattention had Nikki
reliving her college party days—get drunk, sleep with some jerk,
wake up not knowing where she was, call Melanie to come get her,
cry on Melanie’s shoulder, eat chocolate ice cream, rinse and
repeat. Melanie had thought Nikki had finally outgrown the pattern.
Apparently not.

Melanie’s patience was at its limit. Nikki had
behaved like a lunatic to get backstage and now she was too chicken
to even approach the guy. Maybe if Melanie introduced her to Shade
before she was completely wasted, she wouldn’t start throwing
herself at the nearest dick, which happened to be attached to the
greasy bartender. Determined that her friend would set her sights
on more attractive man-meat, Melanie took her by the arm. She knew
Nikki would lament for the next thirty years about how she’d missed
her chance if she didn’t at least talk to Shade.

“Wait, wait,” Nikki pleaded as Melanie dragged her
away from the bar. “I need to check my make-up first.”

When Melanie stopped in front of the lead singer of
Sole Regret, Nikki’s elbow began to tremble uncontrollably in her
hand. Shade paused in midsentence, his handsome face turned in
their direction, and then he took a nonchalant swig of his beer.
Melanie watched his Adam’s apple move as he swallowed. She couldn’t
tell for sure if she had his full attention because he was still
wearing sunglasses. Indoors. At night. He was taller than she’d
imagined—over six feet—and built. Between all the booze and women,
Melanie wondered how he found the time to work out. But he had to.
Black leather pants clung to muscular thighs, and his white T-shirt
strained to contain his well-defined chest as he moved his beer
bottle away from his sensual mouth.

“Hi,” Melanie gushed before she lost her nerve. She
now understood why Nikki had needed copious liquid courage.
Intimidating? That was an understatement. “I’m Melanie and this is
my best friend, Nikki.” Melanie tugged Nikki forward. Nikki tripped
over her own feet, and Shade took her by one shoulder to steady
her.

Nikki swayed toward him and pressed the back of her
hand to her mouth. “I don’t feel so good.”

The only thing worse than having Nikki miss her
chance at talking to Shade would be Nikki throwing up all over
him.

“Are you gonna be sick?” Shade asked, setting his
beer down on the table he was leaning against and taking her by
both shoulders.

“I think . . . ” Nikki swallowed
queasily. “I think I need to lie down for a bit.”

“I’ll take her home,” Melanie said. She should have
cut her off from the alcohol earlier.

“No,” Nikki said and stomped on Melanie’s foot.
“I’ll be okay. It’s just a little loud in here.” She glanced up at
Shade, her long lashes obscuring her eyes, her body in a completely
submissive stance. “Is there a place where I can lie down for a
bit?” she asked. “With you on top of me?”

Melanie blinked and turned her head to mouth,
Wow
.

“If you bring your friend with you,” Shade said.

Melanie’s head snapped up. Was he
serious
?
“Having kinky sex with my best friend and some freak I don’t even
know is not my idea of a good time,” she blurted.

A guy behind her burst out laughing.

Nikki elbowed her in the ribs.

Shade just smirked. One eyebrow appeared above the
rim of his dark sunglasses. “Then what is your idea of a good
time?”

She didn’t think watching tear-jerkers in her
jammies would convince him of her fun-loving nature, so she settled
for making a sound of incredulous frustration, turned in the
opposite direction, and stalked off. Or
tried
to. She took
precisely one angry step before crashing head-on into a hard
body.

The man steadied her with both hands on her upper
arms, his cold beer bottle pressing into the flesh of her biceps.
She didn’t lift her gaze to look at him, but stared at his green
T-shirt, feeling like a complete tool.