Page 35 of Dirty Like Me
“I’ll drink to that.” Brody raised his glass. “To Jesse, and a killer new album. With soul.”
We all cheered to Jesse once again, and swigged our beers.
“So what does that make me, Doll?” Dylan asked. The big drummer waggled his eyebrows. “The brains of the band?”
“I think you mean brawn,” Maggie said.
“Aw, honey,” Dolly said, and took a sip of her beer. “Everyone knows you’re its balls.”
Dylan choked on his beer. The other guys whooped with laughter.
Zane laughed so hard he fell off the love seat, nearly taking the blond with him.
◊◊◊
It was getting louder in the club as the anticipation of Jesse’s set built and the crowd thickened. Arctic Monkeys’R U Mine?was blasting and I was somewhere near the bottom of my third beer when Devi arrived. She dropped into a seat next to me, which Brody vacated for her, and Dylan was quick to hand her a beer. This song always gave me serious lady sweats, so it didn’t help when I spotted Jesse returning through the crowd with Jude… in leather pants.
Ung.I pretty much bit my tongue to keep it from falling out of my mouth.
I had just enough time to fill Devi in on the events of the evening so far, up to and including the fact that the hot babes—of the female variety—had been multiplying at a staggering rate since I’d arrived. The chick-to-dude ratio in the VIP room was now a solid three-to-one. Zane, Dylan and Ash had women all over them. I was kind of relieved Jesse had vanished to take care of some business; I wasn’t sure how excited I was to watch random chicks climbing all over my fake date.
I sipped my beer as I watched him work his way toward me, getting pawed all along the way. He was still wearing the velvet blazer over the soft drapey tee with the scoop neck that showed off his sexy collarbone. And yeah. Black leather pants.
I tried really fucking hard not to stare, but no man had ever looked so good in leather pants.
Ever.
He was also wearing his sunglasses, indoors, in a dark club… and somehow managed not to look like a douche doing it.
He walked over to me, nodded a greeting at Devi and crouched down next to my chair. “How’s it going, beautiful?” He pushed the shades onto his head to rest atop his silken curls.
“Good,” I said, managing not to choke on my tongue. Barely. Shit, the man was beautiful up close. The twinkly lights were sparkling in his eyes, his long lashes casting shadows. “Your friends are nice.”
He laughed heartily at that. “Must be on their best behavior. Trying to impress my new girl.”
My heart beat a little faster at that. I liked how it sounded coming out of his mouth. A little too much. “I told Maggie about the, um, dick pic.” It was true. She’d asked how we hooked up, and I told her. She’d laughed and rolled her eyes, but at least she seemed to buy it. Bad enough I lied to her; at least the lie went over. “I think she believed me.”
“See?” Jesse grinned. “No problem.”
“Right. Except everyone’s being so cool to me, I feel like an asshole lying to them.”
His eyes narrowed a bit, twitching in a sexy almost-smile. “You’re not an asshole, Katie Bloom.” He leaned in. “Gotta get my ass backstage.” Then he kissed me on the mouth, just like that.
I held my breath; his lips lingered longer than I expected them to. Then he slowly drew away.
“Wish me luck,” he said.
“You don’t need it,” I said, breathless. The man needed no help from me.
He grinned and walked away. I watched as he and the other guys in his solo band headed off, Jude and a bunch of bouncers escorting them. When I lost sight of him, I returned my attention to Devi.
My best friend was wearing the biggest, slyest shit-eating grin I’d ever seen on her face.
“What?” I said, sounding a lot more pissy than I meant to.
Her eyebrows went up. Way up. “Nothing.” Her grin morphed into a sexy expression as she said, “You’re not an asshole, Katie Bloom,” in a low voice.
I sipped my beer, ignoring her.
