Tempt Me (One Night with Sole Regret #2) Read online

  “Let's go to the hotel,” he whispered into her ear. “I can't wait to be alone with you. I can smell your pussy all over my left hand. Every time I caught scent of it, I wanted to say screw the concert and drag you off to a secluded corner for another vigorous fuck.”

  She didn’t know whether to celebrate him telling her how much he wanted her or if she should feel guilty for breaking his concentration on stage. He had a lot of people who depended on him to perform at his best.

  “Sorry,” she said to his chest.

  “For what?”

  “Making things difficult for you.”

  He pulled away and captured her face between both hands, tilting her head back so she had no choice but to look into his eyes. “I'm not sure what you're so worried about, but stop it. It’s starting to piss me off.” He didn’t sound the least bit angry. He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. “I don't want you to worry about anything for the rest of the night, except how you want me to make love to you next.”

  She forced her concerns to the back of her mind. She knew when they were alone together all the worries that weighed her down wouldn't even be considerations. He had a way of making her forget everything but the moment. Everyone but him.

  “Maybe the hotel suite has a bathtub made for two,” she whispered.

  “Baby, as far as we’re concerned, all bathtubs are made for two.”

  He handed his equipment to an anxious roadie, took Madison’s hand and led her toward the back of the stadium, where the limo was waiting for the band. Owen and Kellen were already inside the car.

  Owen had discovered Adam’s container of gingersnaps and was scarfing them down one after another. He seemed oblivious to the young woman tugging on his belt.

  “I want to see it,” his companion said. She had his zipper undone and her hand down his fly before Madison and Adam had even settled in the seat facing them. Adam cleared his throat to gain Owen’s attention and then nodded in Madison’s direction with his eyebrows lifted.

  Owen caught the lady’s hand and tugged it out of his pants. “Later,” he said. “We have company.”

  Apparently Kellen didn’t count as company. Madison realized Owen would be having a lot more fun right now if she hadn’t shown up.

  “Don’t mind me,” Madison said. In actuality, she wanted to see it too—assuming the woman struggling to return her hand to Owen’s crotch was interested in his piercing.

  “Are those my cookies?” Adam yelled and yanked the container out of Owen’s hands. A single gingersnap rattled around at the bottom of the bowl. Adam stuffed it into his mouth and then threw the container at Owen’s head. “Fucker,” he said through a mouthful of cookie.

  “They were delicious. Did your girlfriend make them for you?” Owen said in a teasing tone.

  “Yeah, she made them for me. Not you.”

  The fact that Adam hadn’t denied she was his girlfriend had Madison struggling to find air. He took her hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. Did she look that freaked-the-fuck out? She felt like a skittish horse being saddled for the first time. Was this really happening? Was Adam claiming her as his girlfriend? Publicly? What would her life be like if the media discovered they were dating? Would her face be posted all over the Internet and the tabloids? Would jealous fangirls find Madison’s every fault and insist she wasn’t good enough for the perfection that was Adam Taylor? Was she ready for this? There was no question that she was ready to love the man, but she wasn’t so sure about loving the rock star.

  “Where are Force and Shade?” Adam asked. He craned his neck to look out the window.

  “Don’t like waiting around for other people?” Owen asked. “Does it piss you off when your bros don’t value your time?”

  Adam huffed and shook his head. “Don’t you start in on me too.”

  “What’s he talking about?” Madison asked.

  “Shade was pissed that I was five minutes late to the show.” Adam rolled his eyes as if Shade was the inconsiderate ass.

  “Were you late because of me?” Madison asked.

  “It’s fine,” Adam said. “He’ll get over it.”

  “Oh wow, I feel it, Tags,” Owen’s female companion said. She had her entire hand down Owen’s pants and was moving it around inside the front of his jeans. “What’s it feel like when you’re hard? Oh! Do you leave it in when you screw?”

  “That’s the only reason to get one. It feels fantastic.”

  Madison made a mental note to share that tidbit of information with Kennedy. Her sister would be relieved to know Owen had pierced his fifth appendage for pleasure not pain.

  The young woman’s free hand moved to Kellen’s crotch. He was sitting next to Owen, shirtless and sweaty, his long dark hair sticking to his bare chest. A heated flush made his strong cheekbones appear even more pronounced. “Do you have one too, Cuff?” she asked, fondling him through his jeans. “Can I feel it?”

  “Uh, no.” Kellen lifted her hand from his crotch and dropped it on Owen’s thigh.

  She then turned and reached across the limo toward Adam. Recognizing her intent, Madison slid onto Adam’s lap, blocking Miss Touchy Feely from finding her target. Madison glared at the bold woman, whose gaze lifted from Adam’s suddenly hidden lap to Madison face. “Does Adam have his cock pierced?” she asked.

  “None of your business,” Madison said.

  “I’m sure his fingers move really fast when he strokes you down there, huh? You should ask him to play the solo to “Light Me” on your clit. That should get you off in, like, five seconds.” The fangirl nodded at Madison’s lap, lifted her eyebrows up and down and then laughed until she snorted.

  When Madison just stared at her as if she’d escaped a loony bin for sluts, Miss Touchy Feely stopped laughing and blew a raspberry. “Old prude.”

  Madison bristled.

  “You’re really getting on my nerves,” Owen said, pulling his fondler’s hand out of his pants, rearranging himself as discreetly as possible and securing his fly. “Bye now.”

  He leaned out the open door, said something to one of the security guards just outside and in an instant, the girl was gone.

  “Since when do you care how obnoxious a babe is behaving as long as you’re getting laid?” Kellen asked.

  “Madison doesn’t need to see someone acting like that,” Owen said. “She’s . . . nice.”

  Nice. It didn’t feel like a compliment. Madison kept encountering the women who naturally hung around the band and nice wasn’t the first descriptor that came to mind. Maybe that was why she felt so out of place.

  “She also makes the best gingersnaps I’ve ever tasted,” Owen added.

  Adam growled and tried to kick him, almost unsettling Madison in the process.

  The band’s drummer, with his black and red mohawk, tattooed scalp, and startlingly green eyes, slid into the seat next to Owen. If Adam was damp, and Kellen was wet, then Gabe was drenched. Madison wasn’t sure how Owen managed to look like he’d just stepped out of a styling salon. He didn’t have a single hair out of place.

  “Hey, Gabe, where’s Shade?” Adam asked.

  Now that Miss Groupie, make that Miss Grope-y, was out of the car and Adam was no longer in danger of sexual harassment, Madison tried to shift off his lap. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her from moving away.

  “I think he’s on the phone arguing with Tina again,” Gabe said.

  “He can do that at the hotel,” Adam said. “Let’s go.”

  “Keep your pants on, Adam,” Kellen said.

  “If you had this woman on your lap, would you want to keep your pants on?”

  Madison flushed. She could not believe he’d said that.

  “Well, no. I’d already have my pants off if I was in your situation,” Kellen said, “but you might not want to piss Shade off any more than you already have. He’s having a bad day.”

  “Which I’m sure he blames on me,” Adam said. “Just like he blames everything on me.”


  Shade slid into the car next to Adam and the door shut. Someone slapped the roof of the car and it moved forward.

  Shade was still clutching his cellphone and didn’t spare any of them a glance, not that it was easy to tell what his gaze was fixed on as he always wore a pair of aviator sunglasses. While Owen enthusiastically described some sex club in San Antonio to Kellen, who seemed interested, and Gabe, who did not, Adam’s hand kept wandering under Madison’s skirt to stroke the inside of her thigh. Shade stared out the tinted window and didn’t say a word to anyone. Madison’s need to counsel him was overwhelming. She extended a hand in his direction and opened her mouth to ask him a question, but thought better of it and pursed her lips.

  “Come on, Gabe,” Owen said. “You’ll have a great time.”

  “I told you,” he said, running a finger along his head at the boundary of his mohawk. “I have this thing I’m working on with Melanie.”

  “What thing?” Owen asked with a smirk. “Does it involve batteries or a gas-powered generator?”

  Brows drawn together, Gabe bit his lip and punched Owen in the thigh. “A relationship. You know, commitment?”

  “Never heard of it,” Owen claimed as he elbowed Kellen in the ribs.

  Madison’s attention turned to Gabe. She’d never known any of the band members to commit to a woman in the entire year she’d been acquainted with them. If Gabe could manage it, then maybe Adam could hang out with him while the other three went out and fooled around with their grope-ies. Or went to sex clubs. Or whatever other activities they partook in that might involve the indiscretion of Adam’s dick.

  Owen’s blue eyes shifted to Adam and then immediately diverted to Shade. Apparently he knew better than to ask Adam in front of Madison. “You’ll come, won’t you, Shade?”

  As the sound of his name, Shade pulled his strict concentration from the dark streets outside the car. “What?”

  “This club I heard about in San Antonio. You’re coming, right?”

  “Sex club?” Shade asked, as if it was their most typical excursion.

  “Oh yeah.”

  “When?”

  “Day after tomorrow.”

  “Exclusive?” Shade asked.

  “Yep.”

  “I’m in.”

  Owen glanced at Adam again. Madison could tell he wanted to ask Adam if he was going, and she wanted to hear Adam’s response. Did he go to sex clubs often? Was that where he’d learned to be such an amazing lover? She wasn’t even sure what went on at sex clubs. Sex, she presumed, but would it be like a brothel or a free-for-all orgy or what?

  “What do you do at a sex club?” Madison asked Owen.

  Adam’s thighs stiffened beneath her.

  Owen glanced nervously at Adam. Madison turned her head and found Adam staring ice daggers at the bassist.

  “Nothing that would interest you, sweetie,” Owen said. “Or Adam,” he added with a wave of his hand.

  Of course Adam would never be interested in something like that. Sure. She wasn’t going to be deterred that easily. “Do you just have sex with strangers out in the open in front of everyone?”

  “If that’s your kink,” Kellen said.

  Madison’s heart rate accelerated. “Is it yours?” she asked him, lost in his dark brown eyes. The man had an unquestionable strength about him. He didn’t say much around her, but she was always aware of him. Owen drew attention with ceaseless interaction, Kellen by his presence alone.

  “Performance sex?” Kellen shook his head. “Not particularly, no. That’s more Adam’s thing.”

  “Don’t tell her that,” Adam said. “She’s liable to believe you.”

  Shade leaned across the back seat and slid a hand onto Madison's knee. “I think you should come down to San Antonio and join us, sweetheart. I always wondered what it was about you that kept Adam interested. You seem pretty vanilla to me. What are you hiding behind that innocent act? And beneath that skirt?”

  Adam grabbed Shade’s hand and crushed his fingers. “Don't touch her.”

  Shade chuckled. “See? He's all pissed-off now. Hey, Adam, what's so great about her anyway? Does she give good head or what?”

  Before she could tell Shade to go fuck himself, Madison found herself bouncing across the seat beside Adam when he tossed her off his lap and jumped on Shade. Within seconds, a full-out brawl raged in the back of the limo. Adam got in a few good punches before Shade found enough leverage to send him flying toward the backseat. Adam careened into Kellen's and Owen's legs before launching himself in Shade's direction again.

  Heart thundering out of control, Madison grabbed the back of Adam's shirt to try to pull him off Shade. “Stop!”

  She instantly found her back secured against a hard chest with both wrists trapped at her sides.

  “Let them fight,” Kellen’s deep voice said in her ear. “This has been building for weeks.”

  Madison struggled to be set free, but not only was Kellen strong, he seemed to know some technique for keeping her easily immobilized. “One of them is going to get hurt,” Madison said.

  Adam and Shade’s rapid-fire punches were already slowing and becoming less punishing. After less than a minute, they separated, glaring acid at each other. Shade's sunglasses were bent and askew. Adam's full lower lip was bleeding. A red mark darkened his cheek.

  “I am sick of your bullshit, Shade,” Adam yelled. “I've fucking had it.”

  “What? You gonna leave?” Shade returned. “Go ahead. Leave. Then maybe we could find someone to take your place who shows up for sound checks on time, doesn’t think fucking is more important than breathing, isn’t stupid enough to smoke pot backstage while on probation, and isn't the all-around most inconsiderate asshole I've ever met.”

  Madison’s heart slammed into her ribcage. What did Shade mean about Adam smoking pot backstage? Recently? Why would he keep something like that from her? Why would he lie? And if he lied about something like that, how could she believe anything he said to her?

  “Yeah, maybe I will leave,” Adam yelled. “At least I won't have to put up with getting bitched at by an egomaniac like you.”

  “No one is leaving,” Kellen said. “You two need to stop pissing each other off on purpose. It’s juvenile.”

  Adam and Shade gaped at Kellen in astonishment.

  “It's fucking obvious that you do it,” Owen said. While Adam and Shade agreed on nothing, Owen and Kellen seemed to agree on everything. “Adam knows how much it pisses Shade off to be late, so any opportunity he has to be late, he takes it.”

  Adam lowered his gaze and stared at his reddened knuckles.

  “And Shade will do anything to get Adam riled,” Owen continued. “He knew it would piss Adam off to make a move on his girl, so what does he do? Makes a move on his girl.”

  “Maybe I'm genuinely interested in her,” Shade said, his deep voice gruff. He removed his ruined sunglasses and stuffed them into a pocket.

  Shade had gorgeous dark blue eyes set off by thick, black lashes. There were all sorts of emotions swirling around in their depths. Madison wondered why he hid those beautiful eyes behind sunglasses at all hours of the day and night.

  “Yeah?” Adam asked. “If you’re so interested in her, what's her name?”

  Shade shrugged and shook his head. “Like I give a shit.”

  Owen released a heavy sigh. “Maybe it's time for you two to apologize—”

  “I'm not apologizing to him,” Adam grumbled.

  “What the fuck do I have to apologize for?” Shade bellowed.

  Owen rolled his eyes and shook his head in annoyance. Gabe, who was sitting directly across from Shade, lifted a foot and nudged Shade in the knee with his toe. Gabe gave Shade a pointed glance, and Shade sank back against the seat to stare out the window again. Madison released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.

  The limo slowed and turned into a drive. When the car pulled to a halt in front of the hotel, Shade was out the door before the driver could
come around to open it for him.

  “Jacob,” Gabe called. “Wait up.” He unfolded his long and lean frame from the back seat and jogged after Shade.

  Madison could hear Shade muttering under his breath to Gabe, “I'm going to fucking kill him.”

  “You know he does this,” Gabe said. “Don’t let it get to you.”

  Kellen's hands loosened from Madison's wrists, and she darted across the seats to dab at Adam's lip with her thumb. “You shouldn't fight. Someone could have been seriously injured.”

  “Don't start,” Adam said. He pushed her aside and climbed from the car.

  She hesitated. Should she go after him? He seemed awfully upset, and she didn't want to make matters worse. She was pretty sure the animosity between Shade and Adam wasn't a recent development.

  “Go talk to him. He listens to you,” Owen said. “Maybe you can help him figure out why Shade has been pissed off at him for four years.”

  Four years? “Do you know why?”

  He shrugged. “Nope.”

  “Maybe I should talk to Shade about it. I don't think Adam knows what the problem is.”

  Kellen grimaced. “Not a good idea. Adam has a hair trigger as far as you're concerned. Just go cheer him up. You’re the only one who ever makes him smile.”

  She wasn't sure anything would make Adam smile tonight. Especially not when she had to get on his case about smoking pot. What the fuck was he thinking? If his parole officer found out, agreeing to drug counseling would not keep him out of prison this time. She hoped Shade had been blowing hot air and Adam hadn’t slipped up—especially somewhere he could get caught so easily—but she remembered how guilty Adam had looked at dinner when she’d asked how he was making it. She’d been suspicious then, but had decided to trust his word because she knew he needed that trust as part of his treatment. And she needed to extend her trust because she loved him.

  “Are you coming?” Adam said, peering back into the car, his eyes seeking her in the dim interior.

  Her heart skipped a beat. She didn’t have a choice but to confront him. She had a feeling things were going to go from tense to disastrous, but she couldn’t let this slide.

  “Yeah,” she said. She scooted across the seat and out into the warm night air.