Rock Hard: A Bad Boy Rock Star Romance Read online

Not that I was swooning for Grant. No way. I just needed a quick rest. That's all.

  8: Star Struck

  I thought it was over. I was lulled into a false sense of security because I didn't feel my phone buzz in my back pocket. After that brief hand hold he would glance down and smile at me in particular every time he passed by, hell I even got a couple of weird looks from the other guys in the band which got me an elbow from Kayla every time, but there were no more over-the-top performances with him going down on one knee and begging me to acknowledge him.

  As the concert went on I felt a sense of disappointment that there were no more repeat performances. I was kicking myself for feeling that disappointment, but I suppose the heart wants what the heart wants even if the mind is screaming that this is a notorious band that I'd hated my entire life and what the hell did I think I was doing betraying myself by mooning over the lead singer like one of those silly girls I used to make fun of?

  I stomped down on that voice. It could shut the hell up. I was finally starting to see some of the appeal that Kayla saw in the group. At least I was seeing the appeal in one member of the group in particular.

  And yet still I only saw him as a cute guy. Sure I had that brief rock star moment, that brief time when it seemed like there was a halo of light surrounding him and for an instant I saw what all the other women in this arena must be seeing, but mostly when I looked at him I just saw the hottie who could carry a random conversation in a diner, as crazy as that sounded considering his current surroundings.

  But like I said, that sense of security was a false one. That disappointment that he wasn't paying any attention was silenced in a major way as they launched into one of their first really huge hits that signaled the concert was coming to an end. I had been on the edge of my seat every time he walked past, but at this point I figured nothing was going to happen and so I felt safe enough getting right up against the stage, separated only by that small fence and a lazy security guard, with the rest of the screaming girls.

  I told myself I was still just playing along for my friend. I was still just acting like the fangirl to placate Kayla. It had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to get closer to Grant, with wanting to have even a small bit of that magic I'd felt when he was right in front of me.

  No, it had absolutely nothing to do with that.

  I actually found myself smiling as the song started. It was a slow one. Something I recognized from dances back in the day. I shook my head and pulled myself back into the present. Back to where the band all appeared on stage with four spotlights shining down on them. Grant stepped forward and started walking down the catwalk crooning to the crowd.

  I glanced away from the stage and saw cell phones up in the air all through the arena. Women were swaying back and forth singing or mouthing the words. I had no doubt that if they turned the music off there'd be an entire arena full of women singing right along with the song, word for word.

  Amazing. Their music wasn't my cup of tea, but I couldn't deny the effect it was having on all these women.

  "I'll join you in forever…"

  Sure they were cheesy lyrics, but the way the women in the arena were squealing it seemed to be working for them.

  "So what do you say? Want to join me up here?"

  I realized some of those women I was staring at were staring right back at me. And there were some of the same looks I'd seen earlier. Some looked jealous. Some looked angry. Some had huge smiles on their face and they were pointing behind me.

  Behind me.

  There was only one thing behind me. The stage. What the hell…

  Then it hit me. Those words. He was talking to somebody. I felt a chill run down my spine and I squeezed my eyes shut as I turned around. When I opened them Grant was standing right there in front of me, light streaming down around him, and he had his hand out. Everyone around me was absolutely silent. Kayla was staring dumbfounded as I reached out.

  I didn't have any control of myself in that moment. He was so gorgeous, and he was asking me up on stage with him.

  I glanced behind Grant to one of the giant monitors and realized that once more I'd embarrassed the hell out of myself by completely ignoring the show while he came up right behind me. No wonder all the women I'd been looking at while I was ignoring him had been staring at me like I was crazy.

  I looked at his hand. He was reaching for me. Inviting me up onto the stage with him. I was reaching for him. Accepting that invitation, as crazy as it felt.

  And inside I felt giddy. I couldn't believe it. This rock star was reaching out to pull me up on stage. In that moment I was every bit the giddy girl who couldn't believe her luck. Not because this was the lead singer of Twenty Promises, no not that. But because this was Grant, and he was so hot. Because of our little flirtation. Because he'd seemed so interesting when I met him in the diner and I'd thought how nice it would be to go on a date with him. Maybe get up close and personal with him.

  I just never realized that getting up close and personal would involve getting on stage in front of an arena full of screaming women who’d love to take my place. Well, eat your heart out ladies, because this was the Mia show right now. I reached up, my fingers brushed against his and it was as though there was electric magic dancing between our fingertips. Then he reached out to clasp my hand and I was climbing up.

  It's odd the sort of things you notice in a moment like that. I noticed how smooth the catwalk was under my feet and I wondered how they were able to move on the thing. The arena erupted around me. I saw jealous faces in the crowd. I saw ecstatic faces in the crowd as women looked up at me with pure joy. No doubt projecting themselves into my impossible dream moment.

  I glanced over my shoulder to Kayla who had neither of those expressions on her face. She was just standing there with her eyes open wide and her mouth hanging open. Staring up at me in disbelief as I looked to Grant. Yeah, there was definitely going to be no explaining away this one. I was going to have to come clean. She was going to hate me for it, but I didn't care. Because all I could concentrate on was Grant.

  Handsome Grant. Gorgeous Grant with just the hint of stubble on his strong jaw line. With his muscled body that looked absolutely delicious. I wanted to run my hands all over him right here and now, only that definitely wouldn't be appropriate up on stage. I had a feeling he'd be more than happy to let me do that, but at the same time I also had a feeling it would incite a riot.

  That was the last thing I wanted. To have my obituary read that my cause of death was being torn apart by a bunch of rabid fangirls.

  So I just stood there on the stage with my own hand in his, staring at him as he got down on one knee, never missing a beat as he sang looking up at me and staring deep into my eyes. And as I locked eyes with him, deep brown eyes that were so intoxicating, I found myself losing control. I found myself riding a wave of giddiness. A wave of pleasure that was sending a fire burning through my body and a chill running down my spine at the same time.

  My entire body was shivering as I looked down at him with a huge goofy grin that I couldn't control. As he stared up at me with those beautiful eyes I felt weak in the knees. It was as though the only thing keeping me upright was his hand around mine holding me steady.

  In short, it was one of the most magical and romantic fucking moments of my life, made even more so because it was completely unexpected.

  I found myself mouthing the words right along with Grant. How did I even know the words to this song? Oh, right, because you couldn't avoid hearing the damn thing when I was younger. Still, I was surprised the words had imprinted on me to the point that I could still remember them word for word all these years later. I also felt something funny around my eyes. Almost as though they were burning. As though my vision was blurring. I moved a hand up to my cheek and realized a tear was rolling down my face.

  Damn it. Not only was I being serenaded in front of an arena, but I was also about to lose it in a major way in front of an arena. This was all too
much for me. It was too overwhelming. It was too much of an incredible experience. An experience I couldn't believe and yet it was happening.

  Who thought when I met a cute guy at the diner behind the venue that I'd be getting serenaded by one of the most famous singers in the world? An international sex symbol!

  Finally song started to wind down and he did something that very nearly set me on fire again. He pulled my hand out and his lips brushed against it. It really was the perfect moment. My body was on fire where his lips made contact. I was imagining his lips brushing against other parts of my body, and my lips were only the very beginning of that list. I allowed myself to be completely lost in the moment and I felt lightheaded. I saw stars dancing in front of me and for a moment I worried that I was in very real danger of losing consciousness.

  I swooned. Damn it. I fucking swooned in front of a crowd of thousands of people! And thankfully Grant was right there. He caught me in his arms and looked down at me as the crowd went wild and the last strains of the song faded. I looked up at him, not quite believing that this moment could get any more magical than that kiss on my hand, but then it did.

  Grant leaned forward. Shit. This was happening. This was actually fucking happening! I felt butterflies in my stomach that felt like they were in very real danger of ripping free and going from cutesy butterflies to a scene straight out of Alien. And yet I was powerless to stop myself. I was powerless to stop him. Fuck, it's not like I wanted to stop this from happening.

  Then I got my wish about feeling his lips against another part of my body. At least one of the parts of my body that I'd been fantasizing about feeling his lips brushing against.

  The kiss was soft, almost hesitant at first. As though he was unsure of himself. As though he was unsure how I would take it. And why not? I'd admitted to him and that I wasn't a fan. I wasn't the kind of girl who'd swoon just because he was the lead singer of a famous band. If anything I was the kind of girl who was likelier to slap him for that, at least as far as he knew.

  But instead I finally gave into the overwhelming lust that had been running through me since the first time he approached me in the diner. I reached up and pulled his head against me. His eyes went wide and then I felt him smile as he kissed me. As our mouths opened to one another for just a brief moment that stretched into eternity. I couldn't believe I was making out with the sexy lead of a band on stage at a fucking concert! And yet it was happening, it was magical, and it was a moment I wasn't going to forget for the rest of my life.

  If I thought the crowd was loud before when he was just singing to me, when his lips brushed against my hand, well that was nothing compared to when he kissed me. Whether they were screaming because they were angry it wasn't them up on stage or they were screaming for me and the incredible chance I had I couldn't tell you, but I decided to just go with it. To assume they all had the best of intentions.

  As he kissed me I felt one of his hands move down the small of my back. Down into my pants. And then he gave my ass a quick squeeze. Now it was my turn for my eyes to go wide.

  Then he pulled away from me and smiled, winked. And in a daze I made my way over to the side of the stage where Kayla waited with her arms crossed looking up at me with an eyebrow cocked.

  When I got back down and stood in front of my seat, looked over at Kayla sheepishly, I had a feeling I was about to get one hell of a questioning. She stared at me. I glanced around and everyone was staring at me. The looks on those women's faces were clear. They were wondering the exact same thing Kayla was. Who the hell was this I and how did I catch Grant's attention like that?

  I turned back to Kayla, bracing myself for the barrage of questions as Grant moved down the stage giving me another glimpse of that incredible ass as he walked away. Damn. That was a view I’d never get tired of!

  "You have something hanging off of your ass," Kayla said. Her voice was flat, matter of fact, but I could see a twinkle in her eye.

  "What are you talking about?"

  "Am I speaking Japanese or something? Nan desu ka? I said you have something hanging off of your ass!"

  I moved my hand down but the only thing I felt was my cell phone in my back pocket. Then I thought back to Grant squeezing my ass and I moved my hand into the other pocket where I felt something hard and rectangular that felt like it was attached to something. A lanyard.

  What the…

  I pulled it out of my pocket and saw two lanyards with plastic rectangles attached to them. Plastic rectangles that were backstage passes for the concert tonight. I looked at Kayla, my eyes wide. She stared back at me and tried to keep a cool face, but it didn't work. Not for long at least.

  Her face broke into a huge smile and then we both devolved into a fit of giggles. I allowed myself to enjoy the moment. To give up on the ice bitch persona that I'd had when it came to Twenty Promises. Whatever. That had been an incredible experience, and I was a fan of Grant now even if I still wasn't a huge fan of the band or their music.

  "Backstage passes!" I squealed.

  "Oh my God! You have a lot of explaining to do," Kayla said. "But if whatever the hell is going on here gets me backstage passes then all is forgiven!"

  9: Changing Plans

  Damn that had been intense!

  Sure I’d done the whole “serenade a random girl from the audience and make her night” thing countless times before at concerts. It was something we all did from time to time. Actually it was something we were each supposed to do during that song. We sort of went out into the audience and each of us was supposed to sing a part of the song and I’d just monopolized all the time.

  Oops.

  Then again it was originally my song. I was the one who wrote it, and I figured if I wanted to change the plans just a little so I could give Mia a thrill then I had the right to change the plans! It was my song. I could do what I wanted while we were performing it, damn it!

  “So are you going to tell us who the girl is?” Blake asked.

  I turned and grinned at the three guys standing there with arms crossed. They didn’t look pissed off, which was a relief, but they did have stupid grins plastered on their faces like they were eager to find out more about Mia.

  “I don’t know what you guys are talking about, and we’re about to miss our cue if you don’t hurry.”

  “Nope, you’re not getting away that easily,” Todd said. “Can we expect anything else like what you pulled with that girl out there? Come on man. Who is she anyways?”

  I tried my best to look indifferent, but it was hard. Todd was always too perceptive for his own damn good. Blake also had a stupid grin on his face that said he didn’t believe it when I said I didn’t know what they were talking about. Well let them have their suspicions. They’d think I was crazy if I told them all I was going on here was a quick conversation in a diner.

  “I’m telling you guys there’s nothing going on there.”

  Blake snorted. “Oh yeah? And the way you slipped those passes to her was just because she was some random?”

  I blinked. “You saw that? Was it on the monitors or something?”

  Shit. That was the last thing I needed. Sometimes I got so carried away on stage that I disappeared into my own little world. A world where it was just me, though in this case it had been just me and Mia.

  It would be just my luck that I was so out of it that I didn’t even pay attention to the giant monitors all around the arena that might’ve caught me squeezing Mia’s ass and slipping those passes into her back pocket. I could see that feeding the rumor mill online and creating one hell of a headache.

  “No one saw anything,” Todd said. “No one but us, at least, because we know what to look for. No worries about that. It wasn’t on the monitors. We all just happened to be looking trying to figure out what the hell was going on.”

  I shrugged. “Well I guess you’ll just have to wait and see what’s happening with that girl, because to be perfectly honest I have no clue right now either.”

&nb
sp; “Fair enough,” Eric said. “Just be careful.”

  I nodded. None of them needed to elaborate on exactly why I needed to be careful. No, after everything that happened with the Incident it would be pretty obvious to anyone who followed the band that I needed to be a little more discerning when it came to my love life. Of course I had a feeling that Mia was a good choice. It was crazy since I’d only had that brief conversation, but there was just something about her.

  Blake clapped me on the shoulder again as the music out in the arena looped again. “We probably ought to get going or else that crowd’s going to storm the stage.”

  Finally I got over to where that poor PA was waiting for me to do the change. The poor girl was probably wondering what the hell was going on what with all of us standing around chatting while an arena full of thousands of screaming women was waiting for us just a few feet away.

  I stared at myself in the mirror as I moved into my next outfit. I felt a strange exhilaration that went above and beyond what I usually felt at these shows. It was the exhilaration of knowing there was someone in particular out there I was performing for. Not just the generic all-American girl out to have a little fun and see her favorite band.

  I wondered if this was how Todd felt whenever he was out onstage because he knew Lisa was out there watching him perform. If so it was one hell of an inducement to get out there and have some fun. I hadn’t felt like this going out on stage in years. Since back when it was all new and exciting. How I felt about this Mia girl after so many empty one night stands was new and exciting, and that was making all the difference in the world.

  I couldn’t wait to get out there and dazzle even if she didn’t particularly care for the band. No, I was out there to impress a specific girl for the first time in my life, and I was going to give the performance of a lifetime!

  10: Backstage

  We started making our way towards the backstage area during the second encore. They still hadn't played their biggest number one hit from way back when, but it’s not like I really cared to hear that song after spending the better part of the past decade trying to forget it.