Page 108 of Hard Rock Heat

The Darkest Days concert hadbegun.

I watched, mesmerized, as the bandperformed.

Damon jumped to the side of the stage, playing at the edge near grabby fangirl hands. He slid down to his knees, hips canted forward as he shredded wildly. The screaming and shrieking increased to a fever-pitch. He pulled on the whammy bar one last time, jumped to his feet and went back to his place next to Ian, leaving mourning fans in hiswake.

It was only when my lungs began to burn that I realized I hadn't breathed inminutes.

Damon really was a rock and roll sexgod.

The other bandmates girlfriends' were also backstage, having come to their latest concert to support them. Cassie wore a look of pride. Jen and Lily were both in awe, with just a hint of lust in their eyes as they stared at theirboyfriends.

I prayed to god I didn't have that same besotted look on myface.

I saw my sister staring at me, a teasing smile playing on herlips.

Shit. Iwasjust as besotted, wasn'tI?

Well. If I had to be besotted, I supposed I couldn't have chosen a better man to swoon over than Damon Drake, genius, sexy guitarist of DarkestDays.

The band only played a few more songs, as was appropriate for an encore. They left the stage, leaving a roaring and cheering crowdbehind.

Damon pushed his way through the curtain. Sweat dripped from his forehead, turning the strands of his hair a dark chocolate as they stuck to his flushed cheeks. His eyes sparkled brightly. He grinned as he and his brother fist bumped eachother.

I couldn't hold back any longer. With three long strides I rushed over and threw my arms around the man Iloved.

Damon caught me around the waist with one hand, the other still holding hisguitar.

"You're so hot on stage," I murmured in his ear. "I just want to lick every drop of sweat from your nakedskin."

Damon's eyes turned wicked. "I thought you didn't do make-outs atwork."

"Technically Kat's still in charge," I pointedout.

Damon's eyes narrowed with heat. He leaned in for a kiss. I met his lips with a fever. I didn't care who waswatching.

"You're even worse than Cameron and Lily," said a voice from behindme.

I jumped back out of Damon's arms. Noah stood a few feet away, mouth twisted into a grimace. The rest of the band and their girlfriends were behind him, including the aforementioned little sister andbassist.

"What's with the audience?" Damonasked.

"We all wanted to thank Faith." August stepped forward his arm around Cassie. "Although this is Damon's event, we're all grateful to Faith for putting it together." August shot the others a wry smile. "I think I speak for most of us when I say we're not exactly the most well-adjustedcrowd."

Ian snorted. "Tell me aboutit."

"Understatement," Noahmurmured.

"Being able to help these kids really means a lot to us," Cameron continued. "When you think of some of the shit we've deal with…" he gave the group of them a rueful look. "Giving back just means a lot tous."

"Thank you," Noah said with a quicknod.

A lump formed in my throat. I'd been thanked for planning events before, but never with so much heart, and never for such an important cause. I squeezed Damon'shand.

"It was my pleasure," I toldthem.

"It was also great to have a reason to get back on stage," August said. "I think the others would have coddled me for the next three years if it weren't for thisevent."

"I'm still not one hundred percent happy about that. But you were awesome out there." Cameron shrugged. "So I standcorrected."