Page 186 of The Sound of Temptation

He looks at Carter, and smirks approvingly. “Sorry to bust up your loud ass fucking, but we’ve gotta get out of here. There’s a mob outside. We didn’t give anyone a heads up and now, there aren’t enough cops on duty close by to do this kind of crowd control.”

“Oh, shit,” Carter grabs his shirt off the floor and I stand there too stunned to speak.

“What do you mean, a mob?” The girls are out there by themselves. “I need to go check on things.”

He stops me mid turn with a hand wrapped around my arm.

“No. Not yet. You stay here until we leave. If they see you come out of here before me, you’ll need a police escort to take you home. Alright?”

“Sure.” I ignore his bandmate’s blatantly nosy stare and press up on my toes to cup his face and bring his mouth back to mine for another kiss.

He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me off my feet. His lips move over mine, hungry like he hadn’t just finished ravaging them.

“That’s fucking nice and shit. But, dude, we gotta go,” Dane drawls.

Carter presses one last hard kiss to my lips before he pulls back.

“Have a good show,” I tell him.

He cocks his head at me in amusement, a smirk pulls up the corners of his mouth. “You’re not coming?”

I shake my head. “Those tickets sold out in less than two minutes, months ago.”

He bites his full bottom lip and gives me a slightly quizzical look and reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a white envelope. My heart leaps in my throat.

“What is it?” I ask, and take it with trembling hands.

“There are four tickets in there. I was hoping you’d want to come. It’s our opening night. Everyone will be there. It’s going to be the best night of the tour.”

I peek inside, but only so he can’t see my eyes.

I don’t understand the acute rush of disappointment I feel, so I shake it off. My lips are stinging and raw from the fierce kisses we just shared. My body is bruised and aching in the best ways from the desperate need we just tried to satiate.

Tomorrow, when he leaves for his next tour stop, I’ll still feel all of that. It’ll be enough to hold me over until he’s back. I silently chastise myself for being so greedy and plaster a wide smile on my face before I look back up at him. “Thank you. Dina is going to die of happiness.”

He lowers his head and swipes his lips across mine. My eyes flutter closed on their own accord at the touch. It is the gentlest of kisses, just his lips caressing mine, but it sets off a riot of butterflies inside of me.

“Open your eyes Beth,” he murmurs against my mouth.

I do … and find myself staring into his gorgeous green eyes and in them, I see his heart and its devotion to me.

Just like that, I know that if this moment is all I ever have — it’s everything I could ever need.

65

Beth

Fairytale

“These seats are right on the side of the stage. This is fucking amazing,” Dina crows and twirls in the center of my bedroom. Her indecently sheer skirt billows around her endless, shapely legs like a cotton candy colored breeze. She looks ridiculously sexy and not for the first time, I envy her naturally flawless, glowing skin.

“Watch your language tonight. I invited one of the girls I teach and she’s bringing her ten-year-old sister.”

Dina’s lip curls in disgust. “A ten-year-old who hasn’t heard the word fuck before? I don’t want to hang out with people like that,” she quips and puts down the curling iron she’s been using.

“I’m nervous enough as it is, D so please behave,” I plead and then glare at the smear of crimson on my chin. “This is the third time I’ve had to re-apply my lipstick,” I complain while I soak another cotton pad with make-up remover, and wipe it all off.

I’m a bundle of excitement and nerves and my hands have been unsteady all night. I just want tonight to be amazing. For the first time since I left Winsome, I was tempted to cover my scar. I’m very aware of Carter’s stardom and the scrutiny that the women who date men like him face. I could handle it, but could he? Is he nervous about it, too? It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have…it would suck to know that my less than conventional looks could be an “issue”.

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