Page 26 of Hard Rock Muse

His eyes dropped to my mouth. I parted my lips unconsciously. He inhaled sharply, the sound delicious to my ears. I recognized that sound. It was the sound of Julian almost losing control. That little gasp of air told me he was close to breaking the tension, close to crashing his lips onto mine.

My whole body trembled, aching for him. If I’d been in my right state of mind, I would have been yelling at myself how bad of an idea this was.

But right then, my mind had been thoroughly taken over by the fire in his eyes, full of need. A need that matched my own.

Without thinking, I grabbed at his jacket, tugging him closer.

His eyes narrowed, bright and fierce.

A crash sounded as someone bumped into a display, sending a Roomba tumbling to the floor.

The spell broke. My brain snapped back into place and the yelling began.

Are you a goddamn idiot?it shouted at me.

I jolted away from him as if I’d been hit by a lightening bolt. My breathing was heavy, as if I couldn’t get enough oxygen into my lungs. Julian’s was no better. His eyes were wild as he backed away, then with a flash they were flat and unreadable.

I pressed my shaking hands to my stomach, trying to calm the storm raging within me. It didn’t help the aching between my thighs.

What the hell had I almost done?

I’d given my heart to Julian once before, and he’d torn it apart. I wasn’t going to give him a chance to do it again.

Julian swept his hair back from his face, sneaking a furtive glance at me. I made my expression as flat and stony as his.

“I think we’ve been here long enough,” I said. “Why don’t we continue another day?”

“Yeah. Right. Good idea.” He stumbled over his words.

“I’ll take a cab home,” I told him, already reaching for my phone to pull up the taxi app.

“I can—”

“I’ll take a cab,” I repeated, cutting him off.

He nodded silently, then grunted out. “Wait.”

I looked up from the screen.

“We’ve got a concert coming up,” he said. “Nothing big, just a small club, some sort of VIP fan-only thing.”

I waited for him to continue.

“You should come,” he said. “Come watch me play live. It might help. With inspiration or whatever.”

The last time I’d seen Julian play on stage had been with me. I wondered how much it would hurt me to watch him play with another band, without me singing next to him.

But the hopeful look in his eyes was too much for me.

“Sure,” I said, despite all my reservations. “I’ll come watch you play.”