Page 86 of Hope & Harmony

Frankly, groupies weren’t my thing anymore, so it felt like I’d been impersonating a monk the last couple of years.

Not that I wasn’t interested in sex.

I just kept it casual, saving it for the occasional one-night stand on the road.

From what I’d seen of Wynter, she didn’t strike me as the one-night stand type.

“I don’t sleep anymore,” she said, surprising me. “It started when River was born. Then it got worse with my new job. That’s when I went from smoking socially, usually just when I was having a drink or something, to craving it all the time. Then I just stopped sleeping more than two or three hours at a time. I’ve been at this job less than six months and it feels like an eternity.”

“Sounds like hell,” I said thoughtfully.

I understood what it was like to be in hell.

It wasn’t like that with my job, thankfully, but there had been a lot of periods of my life that had felt that way, so I could commiserate.

“Sometimes. But it pays the bills.”

“There’s more to life than money.”

“Spoken like a man who’s learned that lesson?”

Now we were in dangerous territory.

I didn’t like to talk about the past.

Ever.

“You could say that.”

She smiled wryly. “It’s okay, Ross. I won’t spill the beans.”

“Excuse me?” I frowned at her in confusion.

“I know who you are.”

CHAPTER 2

WYNTER

I regretted the words the moment they slipped out. Instead of being shy or surprised that I’d recognized him, Ross seemed almost angry. His silvery-blue eyes turned dark. I could see the fire lurking there even in the limited pre-dawn light, since the sun hadn’t come up yet, and I mentally kicked myself. I hadn’t been trying to be confrontational, I merely wanted to let him know I understood where he was coming from.

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly. “I didn’t realize it was a secret. I was trying to be funny, that’s all. I apologize.”

His face was tight. “The past is best left where it is.”

“But you’re…Ross Rocket.” I whispered, as if someone might hear us. “How has no one recognized you? The video for ‘Shooting for the Stars’ was everywhere when I was a kid. My mom played that album constantly.”

“It’s been nearly twenty years,” he responded quietly, grinding the cigarette into the concrete with his shoe. “I haven’t been Ross Rocket in a long time. And I want it to stay that way.” With that, he turned and strode in the opposite direction.

Damn.

I hadn’t meant to upset him.

Hell, I’d come out here to clear my head after another miserable night of insomnia.

I’d left my extremely demanding job as an emergency room nurse at a Los Angeles hospital and taken a job in the private sector, as the office manager for a busy doctors’ practice. I’d thought it would be easy compared to twelve-hour shifts in the ER. Instead, the pressure, along with the insane hours, left me staring at the walls most nights.

The company had sent me to Phoenix for a training conference on some new software, and when I’d seen that Onyx Knight would be in town, I’d reached out to my sister. She’d recently remarried Tommy, Onyx Knight’s drummer, and was on tour with the band, so she’d put my name on the list. I’d hoped seeing my sister and hearing live music would be the perfect way to relax and unwind after the week of training, but so far it hadn’t worked.

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