Page 84 of Hold Still

Stepping around me, she breaks our contact and scoops up her clothes. I watch as she puts one foot, then the other, into her panties and pulls them up into place. When she picks up her bra, I snatch it from her grasp. “Please, allow me.”

“I’M GLAD YOU’REable to come to the concert tonight.” She even brought a change of clothes.

McKenna puts the strap of her dress into place. It’s a yellow confection—hence the hair color change—rhinestones glittering all over it. “Our neighbor promised to look out for Mom.”

I play with the skirt that’s higher in the front than the back. When she produces red, high-heeled sandals, my mouth waters. “Damn. You’re fucking hot.”

Once her shoes are on her feet, she marches up and down. “Gotta keep up with my tatted and pierced man.” Her fingers trace the sleeve of tattoos on my right arm. “Tell me about all these.”

I bark a laugh. “We don’t have time for all the stories.”

She points to a mermaid. “Okay. This one.”

I smile. “My sister loved Ariel, the Disney mermaid. Got that one for her.”

“Nice.” She kisses it.

“Not as nice as these.” I kiss her tits through her dress and she giggles. “C’mon, let’s go. The guys wanted to practice ‘Honesty,’—we’re going to debut tonight.”

After a quick ride on Shirley, we’re inside my dressing room at the Jade, surrounded by my band members. Stan’s drumsticks play on the coffee table while Tim plays the portable keyboard. I join in and sing the first verse, then Jazz and Mark add in their instruments during the chorus. Our first run-through of the song ends with all of us at full-throttle.

Our audience—consisting of McKenna and Aiden—yells their praise. McKenna’s heard my solo version of the song, but never with my band, and this is Aiden’s first exposure. The band’s stoked about it, but I’m happy these two like it, too.

Aiden stands and claps. “Guys, this is phenomenal.”

For her part, McKenna runs to me and kisses my lips. Then, she turns and gives each one of my band members a kiss on their cheeks. The guys, to a one, blush and look at their feet. I grab her around the waist and plant a sloppy kiss on her.

Clearing my throat, I say, “Thanks. You’re our first test audience.”

After shooting the shit for a while, Aiden says, “Okay. It’s time to take your marks, guys.”

I turn to McKenna while everyone leaves for the show. “Watch backstage tonight. It’ll be our first time.”

She touches my pecs and leans in. “I like it when we do firsts together.”

My mind immediately goes to taking her ass, but I shake my head to clear it. I have a concert to give and I don’t want to be hard to start it. “You’re a menace.”

“And you like it!” She giggles and walks to the backstage area, leaving me with barely enough time to bury my sex thoughts and mentally prepare for tonight’s show, complete with ‘Honesty.’

“Thank you, Las Vegas! You rock!” I shout into the microphone as my band members join me in the front of the stage and we take our final bows. The curtain closes in front of us and we high-five each other.

“Super gig guys,” Jazz says.

Stan chimes in, “They love the new stuff.”

“Thanks to you,” I add. Turning, my eyes land on McKenna, who’s talking with Aiden. I stride over to them, stripping off my wet shirt as I go.

Aiden hands me my bottle of water, which—as usual—I down and pour the remainder over my head. Droplets spew over him and McKenna when I shake it. Aiden rolls his eyes, but McKenna jumps backward. Some of the water seeps through the top part of her dress. All right.

Laughing, I grab her hand and bring it to my lips. “Let’s shower, then we can join the afterparty.”

She nods. Hand-in-hand, McKenna walks down the hallway with me when a guy wielding a camera turns the corner. “Great show, Ozzy,” he offers, snapping photos of us.

“Thanks, man.”

“Who’s this lovely lady?”

I glance at the woman on my arm for direction about how she wants to handle this. Her torso inflates as if she took a huge breath. Not waiting for me to respond, she says, “I’m McKenna James.” She extends her hand.

Gotta give my girl credit. Yep, she’s fearless.

The reporter writes her name down in his notebook and leaves us. I wrap my arm around McKenna and usher her into my dressing room. “You’re not afraid of anything.” Closing the door behind us, I amend, “Except Bans.”

She smirks. “I’m afraid of taking a shower alone.”

Smacking her ass, I reply, “No worries there.”

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