Page 3 of The Billionaire's Caress

A note rang out clear as a bell and the spotlight gave me my wish.

Center stage.

Google had already shown me that the years had been very kind to him. He still had the same athletic physique, but he was more lean vs bodybuilder these days. Tank tops were traded for flannel and band tees, gym shorts for ripped jeans and chucks. He wore glasses, black plastic frames, making his eyes look even grayer. More mysterious. And just like I remembered, it was impossible to take your eyes off him when he had a guitar in his hands.

Those eyes looked out into the crowd and I inhaled sharply, my body going rigid until I gave myself a mental slap upside the head. I wasn’t some wide eyed groupie. I wasn’t eighteen years old with my heart on my sleeve. He was just a guy. A guy that happened to be my ex. A guy who happened to be the first guy who-

“WOOHOO!”

Megan’s whoop snatched me from the past and dumped me back in the present.

“Oh my God,” I murmured, blushing and averting my eyes when I realized that the same whoop Megan let loose was catching—and two women to our right followed theirs by flashing their breasts.

I met Megan’s eyes and narrowed mine when she got a mischievous glimmer in hers. “Don’t even think about it. I signed up for a night of escape, not Girls Gone Wild.”

Megan slumped her shoulders and I decided that I was cutting her off. I had a feeling she’d regret it if someone snapped a picture and she became ‘that fiery redhead Cade Wallace is dating that likes to flash bands at concerts’. Not that there was anything wrong with doing you since the bare chested women next to us seemed to be having the time of their lives—until one of the security guards came over (and it wasn’t to give them backstage passes).

Megan’s disappointment was short lived because a hush fell across the crowd when Corbin strode to the mic in the center of the stage with a swagger I was all too familiar with.

Breaking at least a dozen hearts, he huskily breathed, “Is this thing on?”

The crowd screeched in hungry unison, my best friend included.

“God, he’s hot.”

I wished all the noise around us blocked out her lusty commentary. Her honest commentary. ‘Hot’ was a good start...along with a host of other tasty adjectives. His hair was longer than I remembered, blond strands spilling into his eyes in a retro way that reminded me of soda shops, poodle skirts, and making out in the back of classic cars. His voice was richer than I remembered, like a DJ who knew exactly what he was doing, smooth notes riding on the airwaves, reaching somewhere deep inside.

The cocky little half smile he smiled when someone hollered, ‘I love you, Corbin’? It was jjarring enough to remind me why I was standing out here and he was up there. He needed to be needed. Adored. Worshipped.

Some things never change.

And just to prove my point, he formally introduced himself.

“I’m Corbin Wolfe-”

He paused, and if you were just rolling up off the street, plopped into the crowd with no idea who or what you were about to see, that line, along with the pause for applause, would have made you think this was a solo act. The Corbin Wolfe Show.

“-and we are About Us.”

I rolled my eyes to the sky. His bandmates were probably used to this little introduction and sharing the stage with his ego, but I could have sworn I caught the drummer rolling his eyes too. Just when I was about to write him off, forgetting that he was actually talented, he gripped the mic and sang soulful lyrics that gave me chills.

It was my second time hearing it tonight.

“There was something in your eyes-

Nights used to be for lullabies-”

“Lights down, we shouldn’t, but can’t say no-”

“Wait, you know this band?” Megan squealed beside me. “They’ve been wearing this song out on the radio. Ms. Jenkins at the front desk loves it to death!”

I scrubbed a hand over my face, leaving my palm over my mouth before anything else fell out. Just in time for the lights to stream over the crowd, blinding me as Corbin approached the edge of the stage, doing a call and respond with the eager crowd.

“Leila?”

I thought it was Megan, but I realized instantly that was impossible. It was coming from the stage.

From right in front of me.

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