They compliment my voice, ask questions about the band, what it’s like being on tour, about my job, about Grayson and me. I still can’t imagine a world where I’m more than the behind-the-scenes girl. It’s an entirely different life being where I am now.
Grayson doesn’t hover, but watches me carefully as I sign merch and take pictures with the fans, making sure I’m not getting overwhelmed, that the crowd is being respectful of my space. I can feel the protective energy radiating off of him like heat, his hand never leaving its place on my lower back.
Eventually, the crowd fades. By the time we get back to the Jeep, my face is aching from all the smiling. I’m not sure if I remember my own name.
“That was… insane,” I breathe, admiring the inky black sky dotted with stars.
Grayson walks towards me, wiping the last of the sweat from his brow with his shirt, giving me a hell of a view from where I’m leaning against the car.
“You,” he says, his voice low, quieter, less front man, moremine. “You were incredible up there.”
His eyes melt into mine. He’s so proud of me, proud of me in a way I don’t think anyone else in my life has ever been. It’s everything to me, the way he’s looking at me like I can do no wrong.
“Still feels like I borrowed someone else’s life for the night,” I admit, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “I know I keepsaying this, but I’m still not used to being in the spotlight. I don’t know if I ever will be.”
He steps in and closes the last of the distance between us, placing his hands on either side of my face and kissing me. “You owned it,” he says sincerely. “Every single second. You didn’t borrow a thing.”
His hands move down from my face until they hover on my waist. My breathing is slowing, finally, grounding myself again from the high I’ve been on. He’s always the one grounding me.
“Also?” Grayson murmurs in my ear. “You were so fucking sexy up there.”
I smile into his kiss as his hands wander up the hem of my shirt, the warmth creating goosebumps on my bare skin. It’s getting to the point where that feeling, the feeling that we’re so connected, is the only thing tethering me down to earth—and I want more.
“Damn, you’re good at that,” I say, exhaling a shaky breath as his hands continue to explore underneath the thin fabric of my top.
“I know,” he says with the borderline-cocky confidence he knows I love. “But which part are you referring to exactly?”
“Making me forget that there are still people around.”
His smirk is maddening and incredibly sexy at the same time. “There aren’t. Not right now. Just you and me, sweetheart.”
Then our lips connect again and he’s right: it’s just the two of us and the very poorly lit back parking lot. He hoists me back into the passenger seat of the Jeep, just like he’d done this morning. I find myself convinced that when we get back to LA, he’s going to trade in his Camaro for something that requires his assistance to get me into.
“You’re such a menace when you’re proud of me,” I tease, my voice catching in my throat a little as I feel him harden against me through his dark blue jeans.
“Damn right I’m proud of you,” he whispers as he slides one hand up my thigh and into the panties he’d made me put on after the warehouse incident. “Not to mention, between this afternoon on the bus and then hearing you sing my lyrics tonight looking like that… Fuck, baby, I can already barely keep my hands off of you. I thought I was going to explode watching you out there.”
I moan softly and tighten my legs around his hips, barely able to control myself either. I press my hand against his cock through his jeans and put my cheek against his.
“Careful,” I say softly in his ear. “I thought we’d talked about not getting arrested for public indecency while we’re here.”
His grin against the side of my face is pure sex and sin—I can tell without even looking at him.
“Public Indecency. I think that’s going to be the title of our next single!”
I roll my eyes playfully and kiss him again, harder this time with a little tug on his hair after threading my fingers through it. He groans against my lips before breaking the kiss and tearing himself away from me reluctantly. I don’t want him to stop either, but the rest of our group has to be wondering where we are by now.
“You’re gonna keep getting used to this, you know,” Grayson assures me as he makes his way to the driver’s side. “The stage. The spotlight. I promise.”
“If you say so,” I shrug as I straighten my skirt in my seat and swing around to face forward.
“I do say so,” he smiles, stealing a quick kiss after putting the keys in the ignition. “You’re incredible, Mia. Now everyone else just gets to witness what I already knew.”
“We should go, before Jake comes hunting us down with his clipboard,” I remind him.
Grayson chuckles. “I can think of so many better uses for that damn clipboard.”
As we pull onto the main road and away from the club, Grayson rests one hand on the wheel and the other in its almost permanent position on my upper thigh. I glance over at him, loving the way the ocean breeze blows through his dark hair and the way the orange glow from the dash lights his face.
