One Night with Sole Regret 01 Try Me Read Online Free Page A

fingers. Her heart
fluttered when his fingers brushed the back of her hand. “Nice to
meet you, Gabe. How did a normal-looking guy like you end up
backstage with all these, erm, interesting folks?”
    He hesitated and then laughed as if he thought she
was joking. “They’re great, aren’t they? Are you from Tulsa?”
    She shook her head. “Kansas. Nikki wanted to meet
Shade so badly that she made me drive here with her. She couldn’t
get backstage last night. I guess she got what she wanted tonight
though. Where are you from?”
    “Austin.”
    She did recognize a hint of a drawl in his speech,
but she wouldn’t have pegged him as a Texan—his jeans weren’t tight
enough to cut off the circulation to his balls. She supposed the
Rangers ball cap should have given her a clue. “Did you drive all
the way from Austin just to see Sole Regret?”
    He laughed again and tugged on one earlobe. He was
certainly easy to amuse. And the deep, rich sound of his amusement
had her considering clown school to keep him laughing
regularly.
    “Yeah, I guess you could say that,” he said.
    Gabe took the final draw of his beer, extended the
empty bottle, and gave it a little shake. Within twenty seconds it
had been replaced with a fresh brew.
    Sipping her water, she wondered why the bartender
was so eager to do Gabe’s bidding. “So, do you know the band?”
    He smiled again and Melanie feared she’d melt. She
was very interested in putting a permanent smile on his handsome
face.
    “We’ve met. What do you do with your time when you
aren’t enabling your friend?”
    “I’m an accountant.”
    “That must be . . . ” His
eyebrows drew together. “Boring as shit.”
    She laughed. “It pays the bills. Besides, I like
numbers. They’re predictable.”
    “I suppose you don’t have an unpredictable bone in
your body.”
    She reached up and ran a finger down the side of his
neck. His pulse leapt against her fingertip. “I wouldn’t say
that.”
    “Are you coming on to me, Melanie?”
    Oh yes, yes, yes. “Maybe,” she said. No sense in
Nikki having all the fun tonight. Melanie was suddenly up for a
little fun of her own.
    “I hate to bother you,” someone said from the other
side of Gabe.
    A stud piercing spanned the bridge of the guy’s nose
and a palm-sized black skull tattoo covered the side of his spindly
neck. At the sight of the tattoo, Melanie’s heart rate kicked up.
Most tattoos made her feel uneasy, but skull and barbed-wire
designs always freaked her out. Melanie took a huge gulp of water
and returned her gaze to Gabe, wondering how he’d deal with a
confrontation.
    “I’m a huge fan of yours, Force,” the
fashion-nightmare gushed. “You’re hands down the best drummer on
the planet. Can I have your autograph?”
    Perhaps Nikki hadn’t thrown up all over Sole
Regret’s lead vocalist, but Melanie managed to spit water all over
their drummer.

Chapter 4
    Melanie jumped to her feet and searched for
something to wipe the water from the side of Gabe’s face.
Chuckling, he lifted the hem of his T-shirt and rubbed the droplets
from his skin. She couldn’t help but gape at his washboard abs. It
was bad enough that she’d spewed water all over a famous drummer;
spitting all over a hot famous drummer with dreamy green
eyes and a gorgeous smile was a tabloid-worthy disaster. Her gaze
fixed on the hint of a tattoo peeking out above his wide, leather
belt near one hipbone. She couldn’t make out what it was before he
dropped his shirt to cover his belly. She expected that feeling of
unease to settle over her now that she knew he had a tattoo, but
she only felt undeniable attraction when she looked at him.
    Gabe took the CD from his excited fan and signed it
before turning his attention back to Melanie.
    “I am so sorry,” she said. “I had no idea who
you were. ” And how much of an ass I was making of myself as I
criticized your band.
    His eyes flipped skyward. “Yeah, I kinda figured
that