Rock Hard: A Bad Boy Rock Star Romance (20 page)

"Mia…"

He stopped. He seemed to be at a loss for words. And I felt my heart going out to him. I melted at that look. He really was everything I would look for in a man if I could choose all the traits I wanted in a partner. There was just the little problem of him being sought after by women all around the world. There was just the little issue of him being the "hot one" in a band I’d despised ever since I was in middle school.

Though after last night I was at least willing to admit that maybe my distaste for the band hadn't been entirely warranted.

"I don't think that's really what's going on here," he said. "What's really the problem? You can tell me."

What was really the problem? Other than being pulled into a world where people were randomly taking my picture just because I was out having lunch with a guy? Other than the fact that he'd been doing tours for more than a decade now and I was sure there were plenty of girls just like me who’d gone out with him, had a little bit of naughty fun in the back of that tour bus, and now all they had were the memories of that brief encounter?

I was sure the road behind his tour bus was littered with forgotten one night stands. I didn't want to be one of those forgotten girls. If I was going into this then I wanted to know it was serious, but at the same time I was terrified of it becoming serious because it would mean being pulled into his world. The world I was getting a sample of right now as even more women were snapping pictures.

"It's hard to explain," I said. "You can have any girl you want, and I'm nothing special. And you are what you are…"

Grant’s hand squeezed tighter on mine. He held my gaze. It was a hypnotic stare. For a moment the outside world was forgotten. The sound of the diner disappeared. Even all the people out on the street stopping to take pictures of us, which seemed pretty damn rude if you asked me, left my mind as I was captivated by his stare.

It wasn’t fair that a guy could do that to me.

"I really think you're not being fair to me here Mia," he said.

I blinked. "I'm not being fair to you? Are you being serious?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You do that whole charming thing at the diner last night, you take me back to your bus and seduce me…"

Grant blinked. Then he shook his head and started to chuckle. "What are you talking about? You're the one flirting with me with those text messages. You're the one who agreed to go back to the bus for a tour. You're the one who started playing that little what-if game…"

"Are you seriously saying I was the one who…" I felt my voice rising. I knew that was bad, I knew there were people from the lunch crowd all around us, but I couldn't help myself.

Grant stopped me by putting a finger to his lips. And for a surprise I found myself closing my mouth and shutting up. I blinked. Had I really just done that for a man? It was hard to believe, and yet there it was.

"Maybe we should just start over," Grant said. "I…"

He seemed to be having trouble finding his words again. He paused and then the worried expression was gonna from his face. That thousand watt rock star smile was back.

Damn. It wasn't fair that he could turn on that smile and have me immediately melting. I could see why he was so popular. Being able to do that to any girl was definitely a career skill in his line of work.

I frowned. That thought naturally led to thoughts of how he probably had done that with plenty of girls over the years. I don't know why that was bothering me so much, but I couldn’t help how I felt.

"I think we're getting off on the wrong foot here Mia," he said.

"Are we?"

I was trying to sound contrary, but it was difficult with the way he was looking at me. It was very difficult considering how his touch, just a simple brush of his hand against mine, was making me feel!

"Look," he said. "It's pretty damn obvious you have some reservations about me and my… Lifestyle."

He paused and glanced out the window. In the time we’d been talking a completely new group of women had gathered and were snapping pictures. Well, they were doing a combination of snapping pictures of Grant and glaring at me which just served to make me feel even more self-conscious about being here with him in the first place. Somehow I felt less secure here with this small crowd of women than I did last night surrounded by thousands of women who might want to rip me apart.

Grant looked back to me. "All I'm asking for is one night."

I cocked an eyebrow and smiled. He had to realize how that sounded. "One night? Didn’t you get that last night?"

He shook his head. "That's not what I mean. Last night was amazing, but I wanted a date night with you. I want tonight to be just the two of us. Just like last night at the diner. Is that too much to ask?”

I thought about everything that had happened. More than anything I thought about last night in the diner. At how easily conversation had come. And that naturally led to thoughts of what had happened after when we were together in his bus.

I blushed as I thought about that. Sure I'd been in the middle of a dry spell, but that had been some of the most intense sex of my life, and I'd had some pretty wild encounters back in college. Not so much since I started a day job, but them's the breaks.

Would it really hurt anything to give him one night? I could go out on a quick date. I could endure being a part of his world for one evening, and when it was all done I could go back to my regular life and forget any of this ever happened. I could go back to my nice and safe existence, free from women giving me threatening glares and people trying to take my picture just because of who I happened to be sitting with at a diner. Free from the worry of Grant leaving me because I’d just been a particularly interesting one night stand that got less interesting as time passed.

Because ultimately that was all I could think of myself as. He might be playing a pretty good game here, but it had to be a game. A guy like him didn't go ten years doing what he did without learning a few tricks. It just didn’t seem possible that I would be the girl he suddenly decided he wanted to settle down with after so many years of tomcatting around. It didn’t seem like he’d actually give up that life even if he paid lip service to wanting something more. So what if I played along with those tricks for one night? It's not like it was going to kill me.

I looked at him. I smiled. "Fine. We can do it your way. We have one night. You get a date, but that's it mister!"

He finally released my hands, but I found myself wishing he’d hang onto them. I desperately wanted to feel his hands against mine. I desperately wanted to feel more of his body against mine. And I found myself thinking back to the night before. Back to how he'd felt pressing against me. His muscular body over mine. His cock sliding in and out of me and…

Damn it. If I allowed myself to keep getting distracted like that I would be in very real danger of starting to take this "date night" seriously!

I didn't care how hot he was. I didn't care how sincere he seemed. I had to remember he was a man who was probably very skilled at getting what he wanted from women. He was a man who was very used to getting what he wanted from women. I was not going to be another silly groupie, never mind that was exactly how I'd acted last night. Never mind that I seemed to throw caution to the wind and completely forget myself when I was around him.

There was just no way I could possibly be more to him than a one night stand, and so that's exactly how I was going to treat him. One more night. That was it.

It was one date, but there was definitely an expiration date on this relationship. So what if I was misleading him just a little? Was that really any different from how he’d no doubt treated countless women over the years? I was striking a blow for equality, or something like that.

He grinned. "Great!"

I looked down at my watch and back up to him. "So when should we get together? Will I be meeting you somewhere?"

Grant blinked. He looked out at the ever shifting crowd and then back to me. He smiled. "It's not going to be that easy."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You said you’d go on a date with me," Grant said. "And as far as I'm concerned that means I have you all to myself for the rest of the day!"

"Hold on a second," I said. "I said a date tonight. I never promised we'd spend the day together. I have to get out of my work clothes, get ready, all that stuff…"

Grant smiled and leaned forward, suddenly looking conspiratorial. He whispered even though there wasn’t anyone close enough to hear what he was saying. The crazy ladies out there might not have any qualms about snapping our picture like we were some sort of exhibit at a zoo, but none of them were tapping on the glass or approaching the animals on display.

"You have a mall around here, don't you?"

"Well yeah," I said. "It wouldn't be much of a downtown if there wasn't shopping for all the tourists."

"Exactly, and I presume any downtown shopping is going to be a pretty swank joint, right?"

I leaned back. I thought about the diner the night before. I looked at the diner we were at right now. Even though he was probably pretty damn rich, it seemed like he had pretty down-to-earth tastes. A “swank joint” for shopping didn’t seem his speed at all.

Still…

"I suppose the shopping around here is nice enough," I said.

He held up his hands as though that settled it. "There you have it!"

I blinked. "I'm afraid I don't quite follow…"

"It's simple. We’re probably going to go out to some impossibly expensive stuffy place tonight, so that means you have to get dressed up. I'm sure we can also find someplace at the mall that does makeovers as long as I throw some money around."

"You think I need a makeover?"

Grant leaned forward again and there was that intense gaze on his face. That hungry look. A look that had me wanting to lean forward and plant my lips on his. My eyes darted towards the window, towards the row of phone cameras that seemed to be moving in a never-ending line taking pictures of us. That would definitely give the gossip rags something to talk about!

"I think you're beautiful. I think you’re perfect just the way you are." He shrugged. "But you’re the one who said you needed to do some makeup before our date. I figure if we have them do it at the mall I can spend some more time with you. You agreed to hang out with me, and I'm not giving up a minute more than I have to!"

I rolled my eyes. He was trying to lawyer me, and I figured I could get out of it if I really wanted to. Only I wasn't sure if I wanted to. The idea of spending a day with him was suddenly sounding kind of nice. And so I found myself grinning and shaking my head.

"You're not going to give up until I give in, are you?"

He grinned and shook his head. Damn it. That grin almost would've been frustrating if it didn't make him look so damn sexy and eager.

21: Shopping

I was going crazy as I sat in the back of the store. Luckily none of the people who worked here had recognized me. So far. The girls working here today looked to be college aged. Probably a little too young to remember who I was or when I'd been famous.

Then again I would've thought Mia and her friend were a little too young to be all about me.

Well, her friend at least. Mia definitely wasn’t all about Twenty Promises. That was part of the reason why I found myself drawn to her. Why I found myself fascinated by her. Why she seemed so refreshing compared to other girls I'd been with over the years.

"Are you doing okay sir?" A girl asked.

I grimaced. Sir. I looked up at the girl. She was pretty enough. She had that effortless grace that college girls have just by nature of being young.

At least I assumed she was a college girl. Who knows? It was still summer, after all, and there was a good chance she could still be in high school. I grimaced again. I was getting old enough that it was hard to tell the difference. It was crazy. I shouldn't be feeling like I was already walking around with a foot in the old folks’ home just because I was a little over thirty, and yet there it was.

If anything this tour was making me feel that more keenly than ever before. Being surrounded by throngs of cheering fans and realizing that the throngs of cheering fans were women who were my own age or older rather than the teenagers who thronged to our last concerts. If they had any younger girls with them it was usually their daughters. It was a crazy change from what I'd been used to when we first hit it big. When it seemed like the world was ours for the taking and the ride would never end.

Well, the world wasn't exactly mine for the taking anymore. Of course I did have my millions socked away, which helped me cry all the way to the bank. I could be thankful we managed to barely sneak in just before file sharing completely destroyed our industry. I'd been able to get mine and get out. I’d figured I really was getting out for good, but then I got the call and here I was trying to add another million or so to my already substantial portfolio.

I figured it couldn’t hurt as long as I avoided complications. I looked at the hall leading to the changing rooms. Complications like falling for a fan which was the last thing I should be doing.