Afterwards we lay sprawled, exhausted and naked, on the bed. I was spent. Stoned by the magic we had created. Twice. I didn’t even know that was fucking possible.
“Today is your big day,” she finally murmured, her arm draped across my chest.
My fingertips swept across the length of her smooth limb but paused as I realized I had completely forgotten about our performance at the festival today. Since Harlow arrived I had been too caught up in telling her what a cheating loser I was to even think about Vengeance’s performance at the festival.
“Are you nervous?” she asked.
I turned and looked her in those fucking amazing piercing eyes, and shook my head. “No. I haven’t really thought about it.”
She smiled. “That doesn’t surprise me. You take everything in your stride. I wish I had half of your confidence.”
The love I saw looking back at me gave me brief hope. Maybe she would understand. Maybe when I explained the situation … the misunderstanding … the pain … thinking she had gone back to Colton …
“Baby, I need to tell you something.” I felt my heart thunder against my chest.
She cocked a brow. “You look so serious.” She grinned but it faded when she realized I was serious. “Is everything alright?”
“Being here with you, it’s perfect …”
Her eyes softened and she smiled sweetly. “We are pretty perfect together.”
“Yesterday, when I saw you with Colton, baby it killed me—”
“Heath, nothing is going to come between you and me. I love you.”
She smiled that amazing smile and I just couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her what a jerk I had been!
Fuuuuuuuuck!
It felt too good, lying across from her, seeing her look at me like that, seeing how much love she had for me, seeing how incandescently beautiful she was. I couldn’t do it. The words weren’t there. I looked for them, I really did, but that smile …
She sat up and her dark hair cascaded over her smooth shoulders.
“Okay mister rock star, you need to hit the showers. This is your big day. You need to be ready.” She winked and ushered me off the bed.
Under the shower I let the hard spray of water wash over me, hoping it would wash away some of the guilt consuming me.
Christ, it was getting harder to tell her. If I waited for the right time … well, there wasn’t a right time to tell the girl you were crazy about that you had cheated on her with a girl whose name you didn’t even know.
I had missed my opportunity to say something today. Now I needed to mentally prepare for the show and get my headspace right. It would have to wait now, until tomorrow. I shivered. Fuck.
The shower screen opened and there was Harlow, perfectly naked in front of me. Flawless and alluring, her dark hair fell around her face and tumbled in waves down her back. Every perfect, amazing inch of her naked body was smooth and tanned. And the look on her face. Goddamn!
Despite my guilt. Despite my shame at not telling her. The glorious sight of her made parts of me pulse and grow. Again.
As she stepped into the shower her eyes fell in that directon and her mouth curled into a sexy closed-lip smile. She looked up and her bright green eyes glittered with wickedness. They rolled over me like I was a delectable piece of dessert that she was about to devour.
“Again?” I laughed as she reached for me.
Her tongue slid up the length of my neck. “Again, and again, and again,” she whispered.
Hell, who was I to argue?
* * * * *
HARLOW
Vengeance performed a late afternoon time slot just as the sky turned a soft shade of pink and gold. It was a magical time of day. The searing summer heat was cooled by a breeze that blew across the music festival, bringing an atmosphere of excitement amongst the 20,000 strong crowd.
Piper and I watched from the sidelines, perched on stage risers. When Vengeance appeared on stage the crowd erupted with appreciation and goosebumps covered every inch of my skin.
From the moment he opened his mouth, Heath owned them. His voice was powerful, his pitch clear, his tone perfect. His charisma won the crowd over as he spoke to them in between songs, usually whipping them into a frenzy and leaving them wanting more. It was easy to see that this was a band that was going to conquer the world someday. And it was hard not to grin like a fool as I watched my man strut his sexy ass across that stage.
Their set was only fifty minutes and it went by so quickly. But the crowd wasn’t finished with them. Twenty thousand people chanted as one, demanding an encore: Vengeance, Vengeance, Vengeance.
So the guys obliged with another two songs. And Heath’s dimples were deep as he walked back on stage to a thunderous applause.
When they finally came off stage, he was pumped. But I didn’t get to see him straight away. People—industry types—flocked to them. Piper and I watched from our vantage point on the stage risers as they talked with their manager and several people I didn’t know. Heath looked up and caught my eye. He winked and smiled.
When he finally got to me he stepped between my legs and I wrapped them around him tightly as he stretched up to kiss me.
Piper squealed and leapt off the riser into Jesse’s arms, who then whisked her away to meet a singer from one of the headlining bands.
“Come down here and kiss your man properly,” Heath said.
I grinned and slid down from the riser and into his big arms. He was covered in sweat.
“You’re very aromatic,” I joked, wrinkling my nose at his sweat.
“Babe, that’s the smell of awesome,” he said, using a towel he had around his neck to wipe his face.
Piper bundled over to us, a ball of red hair and red hot energy. “We were just speaking to Fletcher Wilkington from Viper and he said a few of the bands were heading over to a club called SkyLab. We were going to check it out too, you guys want to come with us?”
I looked at Heath who seemed cool with it. I nodded. “Sure, sounds like a plan.”
He nodded just as Tommy appeared with a stunning brunette dressed in a short blue dress and the longest legs I’d ever seen on a human being. Her long, iron-straight black hair was pulled over one shoulder and plunged past her large cleavage.
She was smiling broadly.
At Heath.
Her vibrant blue eyes twinkled across at him through false lashes.
I felt Heath tense next to me.
Tommy looked like he’d just won the lottery. “Guys, this is Mia. She’s with the record label— ”
“Well you look a lot happier than when I saw you last.” She directed her words at Heath, ignoring the rest of us, and her lips curled seductively as she spoke.
My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. I didn’t like the way she was looking at him. Like she was about to eat him. Or worse. Like she had already had him and was coming back for seconds.
“You guys know each other?” Tommy asked innocently.
Heath looked uncomfortable. Mia, on the other hand, looked like the cat that ate the cream and seemed oblivious to the rest of us standing there with them.
“Yes … we met yesterday,” She said, her eyes not leaving his face. “Maybe this time I’ll buy you a drink.”
Piper looked at me, whereas Heath couldn’t meet my eyes. My spine tingled with an awful foreboding.
“Oh Jesus,” Tommy muttered.
I knew I had to say something. To let the bitch know in no uncertain terms who she was standing next to and that flirting with my guy in front of me was really uncool.
When she licked her lips like she was about to eat him, I stepped forward and offered her my hand. “Since Heath seems to have lost his tongue I should introduce myself. I’m Harlow. His girlfriend.”
Her well-shaped brows rose high on her forehead and then dropped. She smiled mischievously. Blue eyes glittered over me as she took my hand, but turned back to look in Heath’s direction.