Chapter One
The heavy bass guitar line that rumbled from the auditorium’s loud speakers caused Lindsey’s entire body to throb. She’d been to several Sole Regret concerts at stadiums, so was painfully aware that their local auditorium didn’t do Owen Mitchell’s skill with four-strings any justice. The intimacy of the small venue made up for the inferior sound system, however. She’d never managed to get this close to the stage before. The anticipation of seeing the five members of Sole Regret from the second row had her rocketing out of her worn velveteen theater seat and leaning against the curved wooden chair back in front of her. She didn’t even care that the move earned her several annoyed looks and a loudly hissed, “Sit down!” from someone behind her.
Sit down? At a Sole Regret concert? Was it even possible to remain seated when they were on stage?
Lindsey’s best friend, Vanessa, grabbed her wrist and forced her to sit in her seat again. “Your boss is here,” she whispered harshly. “Try to control yourself.”
That was easier said than done. Lindsey squirmed on the edge of her seat. Hearing Owen play, but not yet being able to see him was hell on her girly bits.
When Lindsey caught her first glimpse of the bassist as he strolled casually across the creaky wooden stage, fingering thick strings with a steady cadence, she almost swallowed her tongue. The man was devastatingly gorgeous. His light brown hair was styled into a playful sweep that brushed his forehead. She couldn’t see the color of his eyes from this distance, but knew from staring at his pictures for hours on end that they were a hypnotic, brilliant blue. Her gaze moved from his perfect profile, down his neck to his body. Her hands clenched as she fought her need to launch herself on stage, tackle him to the ground, and explore every inch of his hard physique. Tonight Owen wore a tight navy blue T-shirt that clung to his nicely muscled chest and shoulders. A set of silver dog tags swayed between his cut pectoral muscles. As he continued his intro, she became fascinated with the masterful movement of his fingers over the thick strings of his bass guitar. Why were guitarists so f**king hot? It simply wasn’t fair.
Lindsey groaned aloud as she imagined all the things that those strong, skillful fingers could do to her body. What she wouldn’t give to be that man’s fret board.
“Girl,” Vanessa said, “you’re seriously crackin’ a moisty right now, aren’t you?”
Lindsey’s panties were decidedly wet. She couldn’t deny it. “He’s just so…” Her entire body shuddered as she couldn’t find words sensual enough to describe the man.
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “Puh-lease. He’s cute and all, but I don’t think the mere sight of a man can inspire a big O.”
Lindsey released a breathless chuckle. “You’d be wrong, Nessi. I’m halfway there already.”
Vanessa turned her head in the opposite direction. “T. M. I,” she said under her breath.
When the drummer, Gabe Banner, entered the song with a heavy, building progression of bass drum thuds, Lindsey’s heart thumped to match his rhythm. She could just make out the red tips of Gabe’s mohawk behind the drum kit and the occasional flailing drumstick as he pounded out a wicked progression of beats on the skins. As the tempo built, Owen turned at center stage and rushed forward, halting at the front edge as the rest of the band came into view and joined the song. Adrenaline surged through Lindsey’s body. She was such a groupie for these guys. If her prudish boss, who was seated several seats to Lindsey’s left, hadn’t been sending her disapproving looks from behind her thick rimmed glasses, Lindsey would have already shed her bra and tossed it on stage. Fortunately, Lindsey still had enough self-control to keep herself from flashing her bare br**sts at the band. Maybe.
Owen held a special appeal for Lindsey, but there was something about the band’s vocalist, Shade Silverton, that demanded attention. He knew how to work a crowd. Shade encouraged the audience to its feet by holding one hand at waist level and lifting it up and down. Lindsey knew they wouldn’t be able to keep to their seats long. Even the stodgiest of attendees—who normally wouldn’t conceive of attending a metal concert—obediently rose from their chairs. It was easier for Lindsey to enjoy herself when the two rather large men beside her blocked her from Mrs. Weston’s ever critical glare of death. She was grateful to Mrs. Weston for hiring her to work at her investment firm, but the woman seemed to think she was in charge of every aspect of Lindsey’s life—both inside and outside the confines of the office. It was a good thing Mrs. Weston wasn’t a mind reader. She’d have been utterly scandalized by the X-rated thoughts racing through Lindsey’s mind as she watched Shade sing the chorus of Sole Regret’s hit song, “Darker”. Tall, dark and mysterious behind his pair of aviator sunglasses, Shade Silverton gave off an energy of raw, sexual power. What was it about the man that made her want to drop to her knees and suck his c**k down her throat?
“Now that man makes my pu**y quake,” Vanessa said, her eyes glued to Shade, who completed dominated the stage in his unquestionable self-confidence. “I just want to…”
“Suck him off?”
Vanessa laughed. “Oh yeah. I’m on my knees already.”
The rhythm guitarist, Kellen Jamison, was whispering into Owen’s ear. They were both laughing at their lead singer and lead guitarist who seemed to be competing for crowd adulation. Lindsey worshipped the entire band. They didn’t need to fight for her attention. But those two—Owen and Kellen—made her entire body hum with pent up desire.
Where Owen had light eyes and hair, Kellen was a bronze god with shoulder length black hair and almost black eyes that could stare a person into a coma. She praised all deities that the man never wore a shirt on stage. His long, lean body was filled out perfectly with tight muscles beneath taut, tanned skin. Tattoos decorated both arms in colorful sleeves. There was an intensity about Kellen Jamison that she couldn’t ignore. She doubted any woman could ignore it. And when he and Owen stood side-by-side, there was nothing more inspiring on the planet. That’s why the pair of them were at the top of her f**k-it list. She and Vanessa had constructed their f**k-it lists a few months before when complaining about their concurrent lack of boyfriends.
The list was comprised of the three men on the planet she most wanted to f**k and if given the opportunity she was given a free pass to slut it up. It didn’t matter if she was currently involved in a relationship, married, eight months pregnant, or had become a cloistered nun. If the man in question was on her f**k-it list, it didn’t count against her. Vanessa said so and her friend had never steered her wrong. Much.