Page 6 of Hard Rock Desires

The girl whipped around, startled, and threatened me with pepper spray — which was obviously a bluff. But when I walked forward, her jaw dropped. Her gaze dragged up and down my body, from head to toe. It was the same kind of look most women gave me, except this one was a bit less lustful and a lot more scandalized.

“Sorry for scaring you,” I told her. “I didn’t know anyone else was going to be out here.”

“Whyareyou out here?” she asked.

And then she said something that shocked the hell out of me.

“Shouldn’t you be inside watching the band?” she asked.

Three

Grace

The gorgeous stranger looked taken aback.

“Watching the band?” he repeated.

“You look like you’re a regular concert-goer.” I gestured vaguely to the… everything, really. The clothes, that hair, his eyeliner. “I’m sure you don’t want to miss the main act.”

He stared at me much the same way I had stared at him. His lips curled into a smirk and he leaned back against the brick wall next to me.

“I sure wouldn’t,” he agreed. “My friends would give me shit for weeks.” He tipped his head back and exhaled as he looked to the sky. “Just needed to get out for a bit and get some air,” he said. “Same as you.”

“You’re making an assumption,” I told him. “Maybe I was out here for a smoke.”

“You weren’t,” he said.

“How do you know?”

“Because you weren’t looking so hot when you came stumbling into the alley.”

My heart rate spiked. He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.

“Got too hammered?” he asked.

“No, I’m not drunk.”

“Got a thing with crowds?” he asked again.

“I’m not agoraphobic, either,” I answered.

“Too loud?”

“Yes, but that wasn’t—” I cut myself off and looked down at my black sneakers. “You were right. I just needed to get out for a bit.”

“Did something happen?” He jolted forward, no longer leaning lazily against the wall but now straight-backed with fists clenched. “Did some asshole try something?” His voice was deadly.

“No, nothing like that,” I hurried to say, waving my hands in front of me. “I was just having a moment, that’s all. Someone spilled their drink on me and—” I looked down at the wet spot on my shirt. “I got annoyed. I needed some air. Like you said.”

His tensed shoulders relaxed and he unclenched his fist. I noticed his nails were tipped with black polish.

“Good,” he said shortly. “I don’t tolerate that shit.”

The small knot in my stomach that had been present ever since he’d first spoken up unraveled. He may have been a stranger, but I wasn’t scared of him. His automatic reaction alleviated some of my fear.

He went back to leaning. We both went silent. His soft breathing was audible even over the noise of the city at night. His broad chest rose and fell with each inhale and exhale. They were deep breaths, as if he were counting slowly between each one. He let out one last exhale through his nose before speaking again.

“So you were having a moment?” he asked, repeating my words. There was a note of curiosity in his voice.