One Night with Sole Regret 01 Try Me (5 page)

“So if your parents were against you becoming a
musician—”

“I didn’t say that. They were never against me
becoming a musician. It’s the type of music I chose that they don’t
appreciate. They wouldn’t have minded if I’d become a gospel
singer.” He winked at her.

“So how’d you become a drummer? It’s not exactly a
church choir instrument.”

“I was the percussion geek in marching band; I’m not
talented enough to play a real instrument.”

“Are you making that up?” she asked as they entered
the lobby through a revolving door. She didn’t even gawk at the
opulence. She was too busy sticking her cute nose into his
business. And he was batting zero with dazzling her.

“Why would I make up embarrassing shit? If I was
going to lie, I’d make myself out to be cool and irresistible,
don’t you think?”

She tilted her head, appraising him as if he were
some column of numbers that didn’t add up. He wondered if her
limited view of the world served her well in Kansas. She seemed to
like putting everything in a neat little box. And he was pretty
sure she was still desperately searching for the right box to store
him in.

As it was well after midnight, the lobby was empty
except for the desk clerk smiling to himself indulgently as he
pretended not to watch them. The elevator stood waiting.

“Tell me something else that makes you less cool,”
Melanie said.

“Gee, Mel, do you have all night? Don’t you know
that most rock stars began life as outcasts who didn’t want to be
weird but found a bunch of kindred outcasts to make music with? A
few of us somehow manage to make a living off it. Most of us have
to supplement our music habit by delivering pizzas.”

“But being an outcast makes you normal.”

He shook his head in confusion. “If you say so.”

“What were you like in high school?”

He groaned inwardly and considered making shit up.
He’d been a walking disaster. “Braces.”

“That explains your perfect smile.”

She thought his smile was perfect? Maybe all those
painful visits to the orthodontist had been worth it.

“What else?” she pressed.

“Tall and skinny.” Was she trying to talk herself
out of sleeping with him or what?

She lifted the hem of his shirt to flash his belly.
“Not an ounce of fat on those abs, but not skinny. Fit. And you are
tall. I suppose that’s a benefit for a drummer.”

“I was so not attractive, Mel, I didn’t touch my
first boob until I was twenty.”

“And how many boobs have you touched since?”

He grinned. “I don’t grope and tell.”

Inside the elevator, Gabe retrieved his room card
from his wallet, glad that they’d checked in early and his
belongings were already up in his room. He swiped the card over a
panel to access the penthouse. The band had rented out the entire
upper floor for the night. He had hoped something like that would
turn Melanie’s head, yet she insisted on asking him to share
secrets about his less than head-turning past.

As soon as the elevator door slid shut, she turned
to face him. She rested both palms on his chest and gazed up at him
with sultry, hazel eyes. He hadn’t noticed the blue and green
flecks in them earlier. He opened his mouth to compliment her, and
she interrupted him by saying, “Just tell me one more personal
thing about yourself. I’m much more comfortable with Gabe than I am
with Force.”

“Force equals mass times acceleration,” he said.

“Huh?”

“The reason they call me Force is not because I bang
things hard—though I do. It’s because I planned to major in physics
before I dropped out of college my sophomore year. I was going to
become an engineer and invent things.” Actually, he invented things
despite his lack of degree. That was something he was definitely
keeping to himself, however. No one knew about his inventions. It
was bad enough he’d shared the secret behind his nickname with her;
only the band knew how he’d picked it up. So why was he telling
Melanie? She had the strangest effect on him. He felt vulnerable.
Exposed. She’d stripped away all of his cool. It wasn’t a feeling
he was accustomed to, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.

She slapped him in the chest. “So
that’s
why
I’m so attracted to you,” she said. “I knew it couldn’t be the
famous musician thing.”

She raised up on tiptoe to kiss his neck. Every
muscle in Gabe’s body went taut.

“Melanie?” he whispered.

Her warm breath tickled his neck. “I do love a man
with brains.”

Brains that ceased to work when a certain sexy
accountant suckled the pulse point in his throat. He didn’t put the
geek in “band geek” anymore. He’d hated being that awkward, meek
guy. He no longer entertained dreams of building mechanical hearts
and artificial limbs. He was a rock star. Success hadn’t been
handed to him on a bronze cymbal. He’d earned it. Melanie had
better get used to the idea that the thing she was trying so hard
to reject was a huge part of who he was.

Gabe reached over and pressed every button from the
first to the tenth floor. The elevator jolted as it stopped on the
next floor and then the door slid open.

Melanie jerked away, her gaze nervously darting to
the empty corridor. No one was there. She stared up at him with
wide eyes. “Do you think there’s something wrong with the
elevator?”

“I pressed all the buttons.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t march anymore.”

The elevator doors slid shut and they started upward
again.

Her eyebrows drew together and nose crinkled in
confusion. Gabe moved his hands to her shoulders and slipped the
spaghetti straps of her tank and her bra straps down her slender
arms. He used the lightest of touches on her silky skin, watching
for her reaction.

“What do you like?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“Do you like a gentle, easy touch?” He stroked her
skin with a feather-light caress and then curled his fingers to
apply more pressure as he moved his hands along the back of her
shoulders. “Or something rougher?”

Eyes wide, she shook her head. “I don’t know.”

The elevator stopped, and the doors slid open
again.

He slid his hands to her breasts and freed them from
her bra.

“Wait,” she gasped. “Someone
might . . . ”

He cupped one perfect mound of flesh and gently
stroked her hardened nipple with his thumb. “Gentle.”

When no one joined them on the elevator, Melanie
released a soft sigh, and her eyelids fluttered closed.

Gabe squeezed her other breast and pinched her
nipple between his thumb and forefinger, rubbing the straining tip
with an increasing pressure. “Rough.”

“Oh!”

As soon as the elevator doors closed again, he
leaned forward and drew his tongue over her pretty pink nipple.
“Gentle,” he said, blowing a slow breath over her puckered flesh
before drawing it into his mouth and sucking with tender care.

Her fingers clung to his scalp. He still couldn’t
tell what she preferred; she seemed to enjoy both. He released her
breast with a soft sucking sound and turned his attention to the
other one. “Rough.” He nipped her reddened nipple and then sucked
it into his mouth, flicking his tongue over the hard tip. He
scraped her flesh with the edge of his teeth.

“Gabe!”

The elevator doors opened again. This time she
didn’t notice. Gabe smiled to himself.
That
’
s
better
.

He drew away and waited for her to open her eyes
before he cupped her pussy through her jeans. When the heat coming
off it registered in his addled thoughts, his cock began to throb
in anticipation. He stared into her beautiful eyes as he slid his
fingers between her legs and pressed the heel of his hand against
her mound. He rubbed his palm against her, stimulating her clit
with just enough pressure to remind her that it was there.

“Gentle?”

The doors shut again, and the elevator carried them
closer to their destination.

“Can I have both?” she asked breathlessly.

He grinned and backed her into the wall. He grabbed
her ass and pressed his cock against her mound, grinding with hard,
rigorous thrusts of his hips. “Or rough?”

She clung to him, rubbing her heat against his
throbbing cock. If she’d been wearing a skirt, he would have surged
into her body right then. He could almost feel her slick heat
engulfing him, imagine her gripping him as she clenched with
release. Almost.

“Oh God, Gabe, fuck me,” she groaned.

His balls tightened with excitement. Drunk with
desire, he rubbed his open mouth over her throat. “Did you decide
what you want, Melanie?”

“Yes. You. I want you.”

He gave the black lens of the surveillance camera a
long hard stare and then bit his lower lip considering what it
would mean for her if he went with his instincts and gave her what
she wanted right there. Tempting as she was, she deserved better.
He could wait. A couple minutes. Max. His gaze shifted to her eyes.
“I like a woman who knows what she wants.”

He stepped away and noted they still had five floor
stops before they reached the very top, which promised him heaven.
Melanie gawked at him for a moment and then struggled to cover her
exquisite breasts before the elevator doors opened again. He
nonchalantly pressed the button labeled “close doors” trying to
hide his eagerness, trying to pretend he was in control and had
maintained his cool.

Yes, he liked a woman who knew what she wanted. He
also liked to leave a woman flustered and disoriented, craving his
body the way an addict craves her next hit. He stole a glance at
Melanie noting she was flushed, disheveled, and glowing with a
delicate sheen of perspiration. Gabe ducked his head to hide a
self-satisfied grin and focused his attention on his fingernails to
curtail his urge to gloat. Yeah, mission accomplished.

Chapter 6

Melanie stole a glance at Gabe, who was leaning
against the wall of the elevator car, inspecting his fingernails.
She’d been ready to yank off her pants right there in the elevator
so he could pound her with that big, hard cock he’d rubbed so
vigorously against her mound. She hadn’t even cared that the
elevator doors kept opening. Thinking they might get caught had
excited her even more. She’d known a few cock teases in her life,
but she’d never met a pussy tease before. Maybe it was his way of
teaching her a lesson for prying into his personal life. Why else
would he suddenly start ignoring her? Had she been too needy? Too
desperate? Had she done something to turn him off? Shit!

Melanie crossed her arms over her chest and turned
her back to him to face the front of the elevator car. If he
thought she was going to beg him to fuck her again, he would be
sorely disappointed. She hoped he got a raging case of blue balls.
She was going to take him up on that room service, take a look at
his tattoos to prove to herself that she was brave, and then leave
him with nothing but his hand for company. Maybe next time he’d
think twice about getting a woman all hot and bothered and then
pretending she didn’t exist.

By the time the elevator doors slid open on the top
floor, Melanie had almost convinced herself that she really was
going leave. What was she thinking anyway? Yes, Gabe was the
sexiest thing on three legs and yes, her entire body was still
throbbing with lust after encountering leg number three, but
dammit, she wasn’t going to beg him to put her out of her misery no
matter how attractive she found him. She took a step forward and
then stopped, blinking repeatedly as she took in what was going on
in the hallway next to one of the guest room doors. A couple was
going at it right there in front of God and everyone. Well, she and
Gabe were the only mortal witnesses, but
really . . . And then it dawned on her that the
bare ass with a pair of leather pants lowered just beneath the
rhythmically clenching and relaxing flanks belonged to Shade and
the shameless slut with her legs wrapped around his waist, her
jeans dangling from one slender ankle and her back pressed against
the wall, was none other than Nikki.

“Nikki,” Melanie sputtered. “What the hell are you
doing?”

Shade turned his head. He was still wearing his
sunglasses, for fuck’s sake. He didn’t even pause his deep,
rigorous thrusts as he grinned at her. “Decide to join us after
all?”

“Screw you,” she said. A hand settled against her
lower back, and her nipples tightened as if her body couldn’t help
but respond to a certain drummer. Dammit, anyway. She couldn’t deny
that she wanted him, even though his inexplicable inattention in
the elevator had pissed her off. She wasn’t going to leave him
alone with his hand, because she didn’t want to be alone with
hers.

“Don’t you think you should take this elsewhere,
dude?” Gabe said. “There are security cameras in the halls, you
know. And those surveillance videos tend to end up on the Internet
when they catch a celebrity fucking a hot, anonymous chick in
public.”

“I couldn’t get my key to work,” Shade said.

“We couldn’t wait,” Nikki added. “I needed his tasty
cock inside me.” She licked her lips and then trailed sucking
kisses all along his jaw, as if it were completely natural to fuck
a rock star in the hallway before a pair of witnesses. “He has the
biggest, most beautiful cock I’ve ever sucked.”

“That’s not your room,” Gabe said. He pointed across
the hall. “That’s your room.”

Shade glanced from the door labeled 1012 to the one
across the hall, 1021. He actually flushed. “Oh. My bad.”

He grabbed Nikki’s ass and held her impaled on his
cock as he shuffled across the hallway. She banged against the wall
but made no protest as he searched the pocket of his leather jacket
and eventually produced a white plastic card. He managed to insert
it into the slot upside down. When the little light on the door
flashed red, he groaned in protest and, as if unable to resist,
began to thrust deep and hard into Nikki’s body. Gabe took pity on
the pair of lust-crazed maniacs and opened the door for them.