After he departed, she stretched out and covered her eyes. Her ears rang from the sudden silence, and a dull ache settled behind her eyes. A few minutes later, the outer door opened and brought a discordant rush of too many voices layered over Angel Fire’s pounding rhythms.
“Uh, sorry to disturb you,” Reggie said.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and winced at the pain seated deep behind them. Her headache didn’t seem to be going away.
He walked over and held out a stage pass hooked to a lanyard. “Here, put this on. If you leave, you’ll need it to get back in here.”
“Thank you.” She slipped the lanyard around her neck and settled it over the one she used at work.
He jerked a finger toward the door. “You think you’ll be okay?”
She nodded. “I’m just going to lie down for a bit. I’m good.”
He left her again, and she lay out on the couch, allowing her eyes to drift closed. Images of Ash onstage dominated her thoughts.
A potent, almost painful sexuality had rolled off him as he brought his music into being. His guitar playing and the magnetism of his voice had created a raw synergy that obliterated rational thought. Despite her indecision about their future, an insistent voice told her not to worry. Instead of the hundreds of overly eager groupies, he had chosen her. And, with that, fatigue pulled her into a state halfway between wakefulness and sleep where she contemplated the implications of the past three days.
A door slammed open, and jubilant shouts and people spilled through the outer doorway. The loud raucous laughter of deep malevoices had her jolting to a sitting position and blinking the sleep from her eyes.
Spike bounced into the room first. His multiple piercings flashed in the light. A leggy brunette had herself draped over his arm, pressing her boobs against his chest.
Bent shoved past them, using his linebacker physique to shoulder Spike and his female appendage to the side. Bent had three girls in tow, all of them squealing as he pulled them to the nearest set of couches. Noodles followed next with a woman clutching each tattooed arm. The women clung to the keyboardist as he led them toward one of the seating areas.
Bash followed with Ash, their heads pressed together, deep in conversation. Bash had a redhead tucked against his side. Bash thumped Ash on the shoulder and gave a chin bump toward Skye.
Ash captured Skye’s gaze across the length of the room, and he blew her a kiss.
The band’s security team entered next—Sam, Reggie, Donald, and a few others she didn’t recognize. Forest was with them. He was easy to spot with his shock of white hair, and he was head and shoulders over Angel Fire’s security team. The last one closed the door and sealed off the din emanating from beyond. The men seated themselves among the tables, leaving the band members to occupy the couches. Forest waved to her but joined the security detail.
Spike, Bent, and Noodles arranged their collection of women in the largest grouping of couches. Noodles extricated himself and staggered to the bar where he grabbed an armload of beer. Spike and Bent disappeared under a flurry of female flesh as the women divested themselves of skimpy miniskirts and barely there tops.
This was the life of a rock star?Her imagination had fallen far short of reality.
“Don’t hold my past against me,”he’d said.
Well, she wouldn’t, but would he have the strength to do the same when her time came?
Ash lowered himself beside her and nuzzled her neck with a kiss. “Hey.”
Bash settled his redhead on the couch across from them. “Be back in a sec, Kit.”
Ash looked around the room. “God, what I wouldn’t give for that cabin in the woods.” His words wrapped around her, expressing her nearly identical thoughts. “Feels like we didn’t get to spend any time there.” His finger drew a heart over her thigh.
“We didn’t,” she said with a wistful sigh.
She lifted a hand to his neck and stroked the outstretched wings of the dragon.
He shivered at her touch. “We need to fix that. I believe I owe you a honeymoon.”
“Ash…” She pressed against his chest.
The cotton clung to his skin, dampened by the exertions brought on by a multi-hour stage event. Even his sweat had her heart racing. Warmth moved through her palm, up the length of her arm, and settled right in the base of her heart.
Things were getting out of hand on the set of couches one seating area over. She avoided looking that way, knowing what she would find. She shook her head, realizing the direction of her thoughts. She couldn’t judge Ash’s friends without judging him as well.
Ash leaned over and pressed his lips to her mouth. Hot and heavy, his kiss swept through her, demanding and insistent. Her lips parted for him while her thoughts spun in a furious maelstrom. It’d been less than a day and a half since she left him at the airport, yet it seemed like ages since they’d been alone. Within that small span of time, so much had changed.
Escalating cries of rising passion emanated from the other corner of the room. She broke off the kiss and turned to look. She’d never experienced such an openly consensual display. Naked females fawned over Bent, Spike, and Noodles—kissing, licking, stroking, and gyrating themselves toward a frenzied completion.
