I recognized a few people but not many, which I’d expected, since I rarely saw the facesbehindthe music. Other artists with the label gravitated toward Meadow’s pack, and I was relieved they seemed to make an effort to include Meadow as well. If they’d been dicks to my bestie, one of them would’ve been wearing my drink.
“Having a good time?”
I turned toward the voice of the gorgeous man who had paused in my peripheral vision. His green eyes soaked me in, and I couldn’t help but notice the strength of his forearms where his shirt was rolled up to the elbows. Why was that so fucking hot?
“Having a better one now.” I raised my glass to him and took a sip, trying to hide the shiver that rolled through me from him watching the bob of my throat. Apparently breaking the seal on my dry spell had created a monster. I was already regretting not getting to horizontal tango with the tattooed beefcake I’d met the other day, and I’d beenneedy.
“That so?” he purred. “Anything I can do to make your experience even better?”
Fuck. Me.
His voice was like velvet, almost as smooth as the fresh rain scent wafting off of him. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him, and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have muchluck if I tried to do an Internet search for green-eyed hotties in the music industry.
“Are you propositioning a lady?” I asked, smiling as I took another sip.
“Depends on if the lady would like to be propositioned.” He shrugged, his shirt tightening over his muscles as he did so. His body language might have been relaxed, almost dismissive, but I couldn’t mistake the fire in his eyes for anything else.
“And what if she would?”
His smile widened with a sort of feral glee, and my whole body tightened. “Well, in that case, I might suggest that, a little later in the party, said lady should go through that door over there”—he pointed to a dark blue one—“and use this to get to the top floor on the elevator.”
He passed me a key card, and I stared at it for a second before accepting it and tucking it into my clutch.
“The lady will consider your offer.”
He purred softly, his gaze sweeping over me again. “Fuel up before then because you’ll need it.”
Oh, lordy. I was in trouble. “Any recommendations for what to fuel up on?”
“The shrimp puffs are pretty incredible.”
My nose instantly wrinkled. “Ew. One, I’m allergic to shrimp, and two, even if I wasn’t, shrimp breath is not allowed in this encounter.”
He surveyed me for a moment. “Noted. In that case, I would stick to the chicken satays and the chocolate fondue.”
“Also noted.” I breezed past him to the snack table, desperately hoping the scent neutralizer I had spritzed on before coming here wasn’t fighting a losing battle with the slick forming between my thighs.
One part of me wondered if this was my own Meadow moment, but the more practical parts—not that there were many—reminded me that was really fucking unlikely. The people here were probably used to women falling at their feet. I had no intention of doing that. Men fellfor me, not the other way around.
I fortified myself with some skewered pineapple I’d run through the chocolate fountain. Thankfully, they cut the pieces small enough and I didn’t have to risk getting the chocolate all over my face.
Meadow caught up to me while I was nibbling my way through my third chicken satay and chatting up some sound engineers. “There you are. Having fun? I’m so sorry I got sucked into meeting my pack’s new coworkers. Are they called coworkers if they’re all bands at the same label? I don’t know, but anyway?—”
“I’m doing great, I promise.” I held my partially consumed chicken aloft. “Food makes every event better. How are you doing?”
“Mostly good. Security has been sending me photos of Forest, and that helps.”
I introduced Meadow to the sound engineers, the wizards who took the raw recordings and turned them into masterpieces. This particular collective was as introverted as Meadow and had looked like startled deer when I approached them. Even so, it hadn’t taken long for them to adjust to my presence and get chatty about their work. After years of friendship with Meadow, I knew exactly how to handle introverts.
Once they got onto the topic of families and the phones came out to show off their kids, I quietly excused myself to get another drink. Much as I loved kiddos, that wasn’t why I’d come tonight.
A shiver danced up my spine, and I slowly scanned the crowd until my eyes met the hottie from earlier. He inclined his head toward the blue door.
I probably shouldn’t, but my kitty was purring at the idea of going upstairs with him, and if I didn’t let him give her a nice pet, I was going to have to do it myself. I swallowed down the remainder of my drink and spared a quick glance to assure myself that Meadow was still engrossed before quietly slipping through the crowd.
His eyes were a warm caress on me with every step. I didn’t wait for him once I got through, stepping onto the elevator, hitting the button for the top floor, and swiping the key card.
When it pinged and opened on the top floor I walked onto the shiny marble floors and waited with my back to the elevator, nerves dancing through me. The ding of the doors had goose bumps erupting down my arms. The quiet echo of his footsteps revved my engine, but not as much as his relieved sigh when he stepped right up behind me, swept my hair to the side, and planted a kiss on my neck that had me biting my lip to stay silent.
