When Ari couldn’t find me, she secured her mask back in place and turned to talk to her friends.
“I’m thinking a masked angel.”
“That one?” Vin asked, pointing Ari out.
“Yeah.”
“Good choice. I’d bang her.”
“No chance in hell.”
The production manager popped his head backstage. “You guys are up.”
It was our first show in weeks, but we got right back into our rhythm without a hitch. I played the crowd the best way I knew how. Drunken girls in lingerie were throwing themselves toward the stage, and I even heard a few screaming for me to take my clothes off. I obliged them by shrugging out of the jacket of the military fatigues I’d worn for the occasion. The fans screamed even louder when I tugged up my shirt to expose my abs beneath. I laughed softly into the microphone, pulled the shirt back down, and continued on with the chorus.
“This is our last song, and I know that you’ll all be so sad to see us go. This one’s called ‘Letting You.’ Come out to our last show of the semester at The Ivy League on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.”
The crowd cheered.
I found Ari swaying and dancing all by herself in the second row. Her friends were grinding against guys who they’d found in the crowd, but she only had eyes for me. Right as we moved into the instrumental break, I pointed her out to the crowd and motioned for her to come onstage.
Her mouth dropped open, and she shook her head. I could see her mouthing, No, over and over, but the crowd roared and pushed her forward. I had the masses on my side, and soon, she was up the stairs and walking straight toward me. When I reached her, I swung her around into a dip and kissed her in front of the sea of people.
To everyone in attendance, this was nothing more than the band putting some random girl on display for the drunken Halloween crowd. But for me, this was new territory. I hadn’t picked Ari at random. It felt more like…I was claiming my girl.
Date Eleven
A week later, I picked up Ari from school. I’d dropped her off that morning after she stayed at my place. Ari was talking to some chick when she saw me pull up, and then she jogged over to my truck.
“Hey, Princess.”
Ari hauled herself up and into the passenger seat. “Hey. My professor loaded us up on homework because he’s worried we won’t cover everything before Thanksgiving. I guess we got behind a week or something. Ugh! It’s going to be terrible. I don’t know if I’ll be able to see you all weekend.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “Do you want to cancel our date?” I asked anyway.
She chewed absentmindedly on her bottom lip. “No, it’s already planned.”
Good. She was going to go crazy for this one, and I didn’t want to have to wait another week. The Weather Channel was predicting a drastic drop in temperatures over the next couple of weeks, so this might be the last chance we had.
I drove back to Ari’s so that she could change before heading out.
“Do you want to come up?” she asked innocently.
“Babe, I don’t think we have time for that,” I said with a wink.
“I wasn’t…” she began and then tilted her head and stared at me funny. “Who are you? And what have you done with Grant McDermott? Since when are you turning me down?”
I grabbed her chin hard in my hand and pulled her in close to me. Our eyes locked.
“You tell me you want to have sex with me, and all plans are forgotten.”
“Maybe another time,” she said casually as if her pupils hadn’t dilated from the way I’d grabbed her.
One of these days, I was going to fucking take advantage of the situation, and then she wouldn’t be the biggest cocktease I’d named her to be. But not today.
We walked inside, and as she darted into her bedroom, my phone started buzzing. Miller.
“What’s up?”
“What are you doing the second weekend in December?”
“Nothing. Why?”
Miller sounded practically chipper. “Someone saw us at the Halloween show, and they want us to play a music festival at a ski resort in the Poconos.”
“Dude, I barely know how to ski.”
“Shut the fuck up! We’re talking about getting picked up for a major event.”
My smile grew. It sounded like a great opportunity, and since it was late enough in the semester, maybe I could steal Ari away with me.
Whoa, seriously, who the fuck am I? Two months ago, I would have been dying to go to a ski lodge to bang a bunch of snow bunnies. Now…Ari.
“Babe!” I called as soon as I got off the phone with Miller.
“My name is still Aribel!” she called right back as she stumbled into the living room.
Ari’s roommates came out of their bedrooms when they heard my voice.
“You like to ski, snow bunny?”
“Is this a euphemism for something?”
“ContraBand got picked up for a music festival in the Poconos.”
“That’s great!” Ari cried.
I glanced at her friends, who were staring at us. “We’ll have a couple of rooms the second weekend in December. Do you guys want to come to the show?”
“Oh my God!” Cheyenne piped up. “We were just talking about going on a ski trip. Weren’t we, girls?”
“Ari?” I asked. All I could think about was spending three days with her in my room. I needed her in my bed. I needed to fuck that.
“I’ve only been skiing in Vermont and Colorado.”
I gave her a pointed look. We didn’t need to hear about her rich life right now.
“Yes, that sounds fun.”
The other girls grabbed her and started jumping up and down. They were already planning out way more details than I was sure Miller had.
Once I got Ari back into the truck, it was a forty-five minute drive to where we were going. Ari seemed lost in thought, and I let the radio kill the silence. She perked up as soon as we entered the grounds.
“Hamilton Farm?” she gasped.
“You said you like horseback riding, right?”
She gaped at me. “I’m…wow, I’m a little speechless.”
“That’s a first, isn’t it?”
“Grant, this means a lot.” And then, she smiled one of those rare smiles reserved for me.
Date Thirteen
A week later, I finally got Ari on the back of my motorcycle.
It didn’t matter that I’d gotten on a half-ton animal for her or that she’d broken into a hotel swimming pool with me or that we’d made out onstage at a concert. She claimed to be utterly terrified of motorcycles.
“You won’t go too fast, will you?”
“Nope.” I didn’t ask for clarification on what too fast meant to her.
Ready to feel the hum between my legs again, I slid my leg over.
Ari took a deep breath and then let it out slowly. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“It’ll be fun. Just get on.”
She threw her leg over the bike, and her hands came tentatively to my waist. I grabbed them both in my hands and pulled her arms around me until her chest was flush against my back. I could feel the uptick in her heart rate. I knew mine was going to match it but not out of fear.
“Just follow my lead, Princess. Move with me.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
I started out slowly, but as soon as we hit the interstate, I kicked it into high gear. Soon, we were zipping past the other cars. At first, Ari would lean against me when I turned or switched lanes as if she could counterbalance the momentum of the bike, but once her fears had lessened, she did as I’d instructed. I thought I’d start her off easy the first time, so it wasn’t a long ride.