Page 17 of Guarding the Shadows (Pulsetunes Rock Gods #5)

R aff

I took Beth back to our new hotel on the outskirts of town. After reluctantly leaving her in the suite with Benny, I made a reconnaissance run to assess the risk, where Beth was playing.

For a small venue there were exit doors everywhere, none of which were alarmed, and I guessed it would have been easy for the guy to slip in and out of the venue without creating attention.

After pointing out several risks to the manager, I knew I could cover most. But he agreed to hire two extra security guards to cover the one area at the back on the lower level that I wouldn’t be able to see once Beth was on the stage.

Confident in my findings and that Beth could perform safely, I headed back to the hotel for an hour of downtime before I took her over to the venue.

From the moment I stepped foot back in the suite, Beth was in maximum tease mode, flouncing around with the bedroom door open, wearing only a small pair of lace panties, and a skin-tight tank top.

In the few hours since I’d been around Beth again, I’d had three full erections and two semis.

And while my dick behaved like a school boy in heat due to the lack of any recent action, I had been desperately trying to ignore it.

That was, until Beth had appeared in front of me in a tight-fitting dress and asked me to help with her zipper.

Let’s just say my dick’s determination won out, then the only thing I could do was own the raging erection in my pants, that Beth had clearly noticed.

From that moment on, it wasn’t only my dick’s behavior that went south.

I partially caved to my desires when I crossed the line between my professional duties and my more physically pleasurable desires.

Somehow, after a couple of mild transgressions that could easily have developed into more, my conscience won and I managed to restrain myself. Then I blindly finished the zipper task with my eyes closed to prevent me running my tongue down her deliciously tempting spine.

The ride to the venue was mostly in silence as we both collected ourselves, and by the time we arrived, Benny had set up Beth’s stage backdrop and he was busy loading two guitars, one electric and one acoustic, onto their guitar stands.

“Hey, Beth, if you could just check the tuning on these while I set your mixing board up,” he suggested as he diligently untangled wires and ran them across the stage to small amplifiers on each side.

I felt relieved when Beth climbed up onto the four-foot high stage, then lifted her guitars one at a time to tune them up. She played the intro to “Hotel California” by the Eagles deftly and when she was satisfied they were perfect, she replaced each of them back.

She then wandered over to the microphone stand and dropped her head close to the mic.

“One-two, one-two,” she muttered in a sexy, gruff tone.

She tucked her long dark hair behind her ears, drawing my attention to her heart-shaped face and her jawline.

Satisfied there was no feedback, Beth picked up her acoustic guitar again and lifted the strap over her shoulder.

Folding my arms, I stood watching her fluid movements and felt my dick stir again. It hadn’t even been a thing since Gwen, but seeing Beth with her guitar, made me imagine how she’d look naked, playing a solo gig for me.

As if she knew I was fantasizing about her, she glanced up and a flush reddened her face. “Raff, do you think you could stop staring at me like that. I’d hate to guess what you’re thinking right now, with that dark smile on your face. You’re making me nervous.”

I had a mind then and there to tell her my impure thoughts, and maybe if Benny hadn’t been in earshot, I might well have said that I liked what I saw.

However, Benny glanced toward me when he heard Beth’s comment, and this snapped my focus back to my duties.

It did me good to remember that neither Beth nor I could afford any distractions because that’s when mistakes got made.

“Just thinking that guitar suits you,” I said, tamping my fantasy down. “Maybe you’ll play me a tune on our own one day. I’d like to hear how you sound without all this around,” I said, circling my arm in the air to mean the venue and all the props. And how you scream when I make you come.

“You never know your luck,” she shot back in a sassy remark, then she winked.

“Did you just wink at me?” I asked, frowning and holding back a grin, despite my resolve to keep myself on task.

“Something in my eye,” she replied, biting back a grin of her own. “Here’s one you might know,” she suggested. She began to play “Dirty Little Secret” by The All-American Rejects, and my mind instantly went to the gutter. She wants me.

I’d never really taken much notice of how talented Beth was, but as I watched her shake her ass and get lost in the strong lyrics of the song that carried a hidden message for me, I didn’t doubt she would make it someday.

I loved that she wasn’t shy either, as she rolled her hips and shook her ass as if to say, ‘Look what you’re missing.

’ I felt my jaw go slack the more I watched, completely turned on by her kick-ass performance for my benefit.

The sexy confidence she displayed was a contradiction to the calm, intelligent girl I’d gotten to know off stage. It struck me that Beth wasn’t just stunning to look at. Just like her brother, Levi, she had a certain kind of magnetism that was enthralling and difficult to ignore.

As I stood there listening, I wondered if Beth was worth the huge risk I’d be taking in crossing the professional line to see if what we had was more than a pent-up attraction borne from being thrown together.

Many years in a faithful relationship had gotten me nowhere, and I had little left to lose, apart from my job.

But risk was my profession and if I wasn’t willing to take a chance on myself, who would?

That thought immediately sparked a song choice of my own.

It was one that fit the situation perfectly, because if anything happened between us, it had to be Beth who made the first move.

I bit back a smile as I found the tune online that I wanted to send her, one that would let her know we were on the same page.

But with my job at risk, the ball had to be in her court.

I couldn’t defend myself to her brother if I was the one who made the first move, so I copied, then pasted the link to the song, and sent it to Beth while I prayed that she wasn’t just singing that song to tease me.