“Hold on,” I hissed to Meghan. “Someone’s on my porch.”
The shadow moved and shifted, then a shape materialized underneath my porch light.
“That’s Riot!” Meghan said.
Oh my God.
“Hey!” Riot called out to us. “Can we talk?”
“She’d love to talk!” Meghan said before I could reply. “She’s good at doing more than talking, too!”
I glared at my friend. “Go home.”
She groaned, kissed me on the cheek, then took her time getting in her car. Only when she had driven away did I finally approach the rock star on my porch.
“Can we talk?” he repeated.
“Yes.”
“Inside?”
“No,” I replied.
He shoved his hands into his leather jacket and glanced to the side, chuckling wryly. It should have been illegal for a man to lookthatgood.
“Listen…”
“I don’t want to be a groupie,” I said before he could give me the same pitch. “That’s for eighteen-year-olds with daddy issues.”
He raised a jet-black eyebrow. “You don’t have daddy issues?”
“I get along with my father just fine.”
“Happy for you.” Riot stepped a little closer, bringing with him the intoxicating scent of whatever cologne he was wearing. “I don’t want you to be a groupie. I want you to join us on tour because you inspired me tonight.”
“Sure I did,” I replied skeptically.
He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and shoved it at me. “What’s this?”
“A new song I wrote,” he answered. “And the start of two others.”
I stared at the pages. I couldn’t read his handwriting and couldn’t read sheet music, but it felt like he was telling me the truth. The words came out of him like even he was afraid to admit it.
“Creative motivation is fleeting,” he explained. “It comes and goes. And I’ve learned that when you find something that reignites that creativity, you should hold onto it for as long as you can.”
His eyes bore into me, dark and intense.
“You have an aura about you, Roxie. I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it. But you do.” He ran a hand through his hair.“Hear me out. Join us on tour and continue inspiring me. You’ll get to see the country, city by city. And on top of that, we’ll give you a flat percentage of all royalties from our next album.”
Thatgot my attention. “Wait, seriously?”
Riot nodded slowly. “We’ll have to talk to our manager about it. But he’s been on our ass to produce a new album, so he’ll be thrilled to learn my writer’s block is gone.”
I felt the pull of his offer. The temptation to do something new and crazy. I’d always wanted to go on a road trip around the country; the only other state I’d ever visited was Louisiana.
But itwascrazy…
“I’ll think about it.”
