Page 8 of Aria

A feisty comeback teased the tip of my tongue.

Julia noticed, quickly maneuvering herself between us."Ooo-kay! How about we meet the rest of the guys?"

Lisa gave an enthusiastic nod in agreement.

Noah narrowed his eyes in my direction.“Sure,” he said flatly.

I trailed behind the group, indignation swimming through me. I wasn’t even sure what had gotten me so fired up—Noah Hayes was a stranger. He didn’t owe me anything… even respect. And yet, my veins were pumping hot with adrenaline.

"Don't worry, Chelsie. I'm sure that guy's just a bad egg. Devon will be great, I promise," Lisa said, squeezing my hand. "Don't let this ruin your night. You're the luckiest girl in the room right now."

My smile felt forced. “Thanks, Lis.”

We traipsed up the staircase and entered the private lounge—a spacious room, illuminated with multi-colored lights. My eyes scanned the plush red couches and a minibar against the far wall as soft music filtered through a speaker.

My sour mood scattered when I spotted Devon sitting in the corner of the suite, chatting with the two other band members. I swallowed, my gaze traveling back to the bar where two buxom blondes were giggling over martinis.

"Hello, boys," Julia purred. It was no surprise she was the first to speak."I'm Julia."

Noah cleared his throat. "And this is Water Girl," he said, making an animated hand gesture toward me.

Annoyance squeezed my chest. I jerked my head in his direction, glaring at him with impassioned eyes. His own eyes sparkled in reply, and my stomach pitched at the realization that he was getting off on tormenting me.

"Chelsie has a better ring to it.” Devon appeared at my side, holding out his hand in greeting, a slow smile curling at his Cheshire lips. “ItisChelsie, right?"

I nodded, my anger dissipating."Yeah. I mean… yes. I'm Chelsie." When our hands met, a spark shot through me, and that anger dissolved into ash.

"I'm Devon," he replied, our palms still clinched together."I'm glad you could make it out tonight."

I tried to keep my flush of excitement in check and swallowed back my nerves, but my heart rate increased to a concerning pace as we maintained eye contact.

Oh, boy.

"So," Devon continued. "I see you and Noah have already met."

“Unfortunately.” I spared Noah a side-eye, clearing my throat. “But I'm confident I got the worst out of the way."

The room broke out into laughter.

"Ouch," Noah said, holding a hand to his heart like an invisible dagger."You're just all sorts of sassy, aren't you, Water Girl?" He sauntered over to the minibar and threw his arms around the two model-wannabes. "At least Sadie and Sophie are nice to me."

The blondes nuzzled in closer, and I looked away in disgust, trying not to outwardly gag.

Devon rolled his eyes."Just ignore him.I know I do. Here, let me introduce you to the rest of the band."

I followed him to the other side of the room.

"This is Miles, our bassist," Devon said, pointing to the wiry man with a mop of dirty blonde hair. Then he turned his attention to the beefier bandmate with dark hair and a goatee."And this is our drummer, Tad."

The two men smiled and raised their beers, and I was relieved to find that my assumption had been correct—I’d indeed gotten the worst out of the way.

Devon made me a cocktail at the minibar and handed it over, his enchanting smile still firmly in place, causing my insides to stir with both attraction and alcohol buzz. He wasn’t what I’d envisioned him to be.He seemed to be down-to-earth, personable, and kind—unlike the egotistical womanizer I had assumed all rock stars were.

I glanced in Noah’s direction. He was sprawled out on the couch with Julia, his hand running up and down her exposed thigh.

Well, at least Noah was out there doing his part to feed the stereotype.

"I can tell him to get lost if you think your friend is uncomfortable."

---