Not Your Groupie: A Second Chance Rock Star Romance

by Owen Andrews

  I opened my eyes and looked down at her. Leaned in. I noticed that for all her attempts to seem like she wasn't interested, to act like the ice queen, she melted as my lips brushed against hers. She even opened her mouth and I thought I detected her tongue moving out, but I pulled away.

  I grinned. Now it was my turn it to be the tease. It was my turn to get her worked up and leave her wanting more. Hopefully that more would come later tonight if things went well and we found a hotel. I didn't want to take her back to my tour bus. Not again. There was something about it that seemed slightly sleazy. It reminded me of all of the other women I'd had in the back of a tour bus over the years, and I wanted Mia to be different. I wanted her to be something more. The way I felt about her… I had a hard time putting it into words. I had a hard time even thinking about it. She drove me that crazy!

  "I'm leaving, but you go ahead and leave that dress on."

  Mia cocked an eyebrow at me. "Why would I do that?"

  I grinned. "Because that's the one and I’m buying it for you."

  She turned and looked at herself in the mirror, then turned back and smiled at me. "If you say so, but I'd…" She hesitated. She smiled and then she frowned and then she fixed her eyes on me. It was a laser focus that had me paralyzed in place.

  Finally she seemed to come to a decision and a huge grin split her face. "Of course I'm not done with my date night outfit yet."

  "What are you talking about?"

  Mia suddenly looked innocent. Or at least she looked like she was trying to look innocent. I'm not sure she was necessarily doing a great job of it considering she also had a naughty grin that made it obvious I was going to like whatever it was she was about to say.

  23

  Mia

  I couldn't believe I was about to say this. I took a deep breath. I let it out. "I was thinking maybe we could stop by the lingerie store…"

  I looked up at him and almost expected him to laugh. But instead he raised an eyebrow and fixed me with a sexy look. A look that very nearly had me melting against the wall. Damn.

  "That sounds just fine Mia," he said.

  We breezed to the front where he quickly paid for the dress. The girl looked like she was going to say something about me wearing it out, but his credit card went through even as my eyes bugged out at the price and then we were making our way out. I tossed my work clothes into the bag, though I felt like an idiot walking around the mall in a dress this nice.

  It wasn't exactly formal wear, but it was the closest thing the store had to formal wear, and this was by far the nicest store in the mall. I felt like people's eyes were on me. I felt ridiculous. All the more so because I'd just made an offer to go to the lingerie store.

  Once we got there I went to pick some things out, but he held up a hand. He grinned.

  "Will you indulge me?"

  I took a deep breath. I licked my lips. I looked at him, and then I looked over my shoulder to a couple of girls dressed in some pretty nice clothes working behind the counter. Only from the way one elbowed the other it seemed like they definitely recognized one of us.

  Damn it. I figured it was only a matter of time before word got out that Grant was here shopping for underwear with some random girl. And so I nodded my head and agreed as much to get him in and out of here as quickly as possible as for any desire to have him pick out my underwear.

  That did seem kind of hot though.

  "Go back to the changing area," he said. "I'll toss something over the door for you to try on."

  I shook my head. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I just hoped he didn't decide to go for a repeat performance of what he'd done in the last changing room.

  I'd been weak in the knees. I'd been so damn wet. I was ready to let him flip me around, bend me over, and take me right there. The poor girl working there probably would've called the cops, but I couldn't help myself. I was that turned on! I was surprised when I got out of there without giving into temptation!

  I found a changing room and let myself in. It seemed the girls who were supposed to be helping me out weren't anywhere in sight. I imagined they were probably so caught up with the idea of finding Grant in their store that they couldn't be bothered with me. I wondered if this sort of thing would start to happen a lot if I spent more time with him.

  I shook my head. I kept having this debate. Thinking of spending more time with Grant would make me smile, and then I'd remember who he was. I'd remember who I was. I'd remember how completely different our lives were, and that would inevitably send me crashing back down to reality. I had to keep reminding myself that this was just one night.

  I figured that was all the more reason to be as crazy as possible and really enjoy myself though. And so I waited in the changing room until I heard a familiar voice on the other side.

  "I'm in here," I said.

  Something flew over the door.

  "You might want to hurry up," he said. "I'm pretty sure those girls recognized me.”

  I needed to talk to somebody about this. I pulled out my phone and started tapping to Kayla. Granted she probably wasn’t the best person to talk to considering how she got about the band, but she was also the only person who was in on the secret which put me in a bind.

  "Are you around?" I tapped.

  "Sure as hell am! Is what I heard true?"

  I grinned and shook my head. Of course she’d know about the strange circumstances surrounding how I left work today. Every woman at the company who still retained some love of Twenty Promises probably knew all about it at this point. That she'd heard all about it even when she worked on another floor was proof enough of that. Usually people didn't talk between different parts of the company unless the gossip was really good.

  Then again I suppose the head of one of the world's most successful bands, even if it was the most successful band a decade prior, would be worth a lot of gossip. Particularly when he showed up and swept away one of the girls working at the company.

  I was never going to live this down.

  "I'm with Grant right now at the mall," I said. I paused for a moment. Hesitated and wondered whether or not I should send the next bit. "We've already been dress shopping for a date tonight, and now we're at the lingerie shop."

  There was a pause. Finally a message came back. "Slut ;)"

  I laughed. "Guilty as charged. Though I'm kind of conflicted here…"

  "What's the conflict? He came looking for you, I’d say that's a pretty big deal. Especially after he acted last night!"

  I bit my lip. I thought about how I hadn't been entirely truthful with Kayla last night when I was making my escape.

  "I might not have been telling the entire truth last night when I said he kicked me out…"

  "What?"

  "I might have snuck out because I was afraid."

  "Are you crazy! What could you possibly be afraid of?"

  What was I afraid of? It was a damn good question. Was I afraid of having my middle school reputation for hating Twenty Promises ruined amongst the few friends I had who still remembered those days? Was I afraid of being a one night stand? Was I afraid of falling for a man from a completely different world? A man who'd lived a rock star lifestyle for the past decade and might be out of touch with reality, might hurt me without even meaning to?

  I think we had a bingo there. I was terrified. So far he'd seemed sincere enough, but there were those glimpses of the world he lived in. Those two girls up at the front of the store mooning over him and making me wonder if we needed to get the hell out of here as quickly as possible were a good example. And don’t even get me started on the crazy women snapping pictures at lunch.

  Just going out on one date with him was enough to pull me into a strange world where people were watching my every move. Watching my every move because of who I was dating, and not because of anything inherently interesting about me.

  Could I deal with a romance under those circumstances? I just didn't know. The thought of living in that world te
rrified me even as the thought of being with Grant sent butterflies dancing through my stomach. The thought of what we might be doing later tonight with some of this lingerie I was purchasing was doing that as well.

  Though I guess Grant would be the one doing the buying. I heard somebody out in the hallway and I tapped out a quick message.

  "No time to talk right now," I said. "Someone's coming."

  I put my phone back in my pocket, though I could hear it buzzing. Buzzing several times, actually. I had a feeling I was going to have as many messages waiting for me when I pulled it out again as I had the night before when I disappeared with Grant. I'm sure Kayla had all sorts of questions, but she wasn't going to get answers anytime soon.

  Not if this date night went as well as it seemed like it was going to go considering where I was and what I was trying on!

  I sighed even as I pulled the outfit down and started to take the dress off. This wasn't the kind of dress that you got in and out of quickly. I definitely should've kept my work clothes on if I was going to come over here and try something on.

  It didn’t help that I felt hurried by those girls.

  I distracted myself by looking down at the outfit he'd bought for me. My eyes went wide. Damn. This is what I got for letting a man pick lingerie!

  Up top it was a strapless black bra. At least he had that much of an eye. Straps wouldn't work with a strapless dress. The thing was practically see-through. As I took my work bra off, a plain white number that was pretty boring, I realized I could see everything. My nipples were straining out. I might as well not be wearing a bra at all!

  I shook my head. I suppose that was the point of wearing lingerie like this.

  I looked at the underwear and it was the same. And for a surprise I felt a thrill running through me as I looked at that. It was so sheer in the front, and it was basically a thong in the back. I could tell immediately that I was sold and I hadn’t even tried them on yet. I looked over to the door.

  "You still there Grant?"

  "I am," he said.

  I thought quickly. And on impulse I tossed the price tag over to him.

  "Go ahead and pay for this," I said. "I'm going to have to wear it out."

  Normally I wouldn’t wear something like this out. I’d go home and wash it. The problem was it’s not like I was going to have time to go home and run a laundry cycle before going out for dinner and maybe an after dinner treat. I’d have to live dangerously this one time.

  "Yes ma'am!" The grin was evident in his voice. I heard him disappearing back down the changing room hall.

  I quickly put everything in order and stuck my head out. The coast was clear so I made my way to the front where the two girls were still standing and staring, obviously starstruck. One was at least doing her best to help Grant out. Both women turned to look at me when I came out, and the first one actually had the audacity to pull up her phone and snap a picture! The click was audible.

  "Excuse me?" I said.

  I was surprised she would actually have the balls to do something as audacious as snapping a picture! I couldn't believe it.

  "What's wrong?" the girl asked.

  I held out a hand, suddenly feeling some angry inspiration. "Your phone. I want to see it. Now."

  "Excuse me? I'm not giving you my phone!"

  "How about this? You can give me the phone, or I can call corporate and let them know you're snapping pictures of your clients like we’re some sort of circus show. How do you think they'd like that? Do you think you’d keep your job for long?"

  The second girl turned and looked nervously at the first one. She was younger, and as I looked at the name tags I realized the older one who snapped the picture was actually a manager. I shook my head. I couldn't believe somebody in management would do something like that, but at the same time I can't say I was particularly surprised. She was the one who looked old enough to actually realize who the hell Grant was, after all.

  The manager stared daggers at me, but finally she seemed decide that the idea of somebody calling corporate was more terrifying than giving up her phone. She made a big production of rolling her eyes and handed it over.

  I opened her photos and sure enough there was a picture of me looking surprised and pissed off. More importantly there were a couple of pictures of Grant. Pictures that looked like they’d been taken surreptitiously judging by the way he wasn’t looking at the camera or was out of focus. I wondered that he hadn’t heard that click, though maybe he was so used to people snapping pictures that it just became background noise.

  Well it wasn’t background noise for me, and I was pissed off.

  I held up the phone. "So do you do this with all of your customers, or just the semi-famous ones?"

  “Hey…” Grant said, but I didn’t pay attention to him. Momma had bigger fish to fry at the moment.

  Manager lady looked stunned, as though she couldn't think of how to respond to that. I wondered if anyone had ever confronted her about something like this before. Then again, how many celebrities did she get coming through here? Either way, it was not cool. It was a glimpse into some of the crap Grant had to put up with on a regular basis, and I didn't care for it.

  "Answer me," I said.

  I was proud that my voice sounded so calm, because what I wanted to do was jump across the counter and rip the girl's eyes out. Meanwhile Grant was looking between the two of us with an odd smile. He was actually enjoying this!

  Then again, how often he was able to get back at people who invaded his privacy? Probably not very often. He had a public image to maintain. I didn't have an image to maintain, so whatever. I could let the claws come out. I hit delete on the pictures. Once I was sure the pictures were good and gone I handed the phone back to her. I leaned forward and looked at her name tag.

  "Thank you so much for being so understanding, Megan," I said.

  "No problem at all ma'am," she said with a sickly sweet smile on her face. I frowned and glared at her as she smiled at me. That "ma’am" had to be deliberate. I was probably a good fifteen years younger than that bitch and she had the audacity to call me ma'am! It was exactly the kind of petty thing I could see someone doing when they were pissed off but they knew there wasn't a chance they were going to be able to say anything outright.

  Grant finished paying and turned to leave, but I held an arm out against his shoulder. I turned to the girl who'd just been ringing him up and she smiled nervously.

  "Candace?" I asked. "Is it okay if I call you that?"

  "Sure," she said, glancing nervously at her boss.

  "You didn't take any pictures for your boss, did you?"

  "Of course not ma'am!" she said.

  I grimaced. There we were with that “ma’am” again, though Candace at least looked young enough that she could get away with it. She looked like she had to be still in high school.

  "Good Candace," I said. "I'll be sure not to mention your name when I call corporate. Have a nice day!"

  And with that I took Grant's arm and made my way out of the store. I had the great fun of seeing that stupid bitch reacting as she realized I was going to call her in anyways. Good. Let her deal with the consequences of her actions. Call me ma'am.

  Once we were safely out of the store Grant burst into laughter. It started out as a small laugh, but it quickly turned into a hearty guffaw. I looked over at him and cocked an eyebrow.

  "What's so funny?" I asked in what I hoped was my most innocent voice.

  "Oh nothing," he said. "I'm just not used to seeing anyone stand up to somebody trying to take a picture like that. I think I'm falling in love here!"

  I stopped walking. I was stunned. I knew he was just joking around, but at the same time I couldn't help myself. When I heard him say that word it did something to me. It caused my entire body to catch fire in the most delicious way. It was even hotter than what he'd done the night before. It was amazing how just a few words could get that reaction out of me, but there we were.

 
He seemed to realize just a little too late what he'd done. He stopped, turned to look at me, no doubt got a good look at the absolutely stunned expression on my face, and then a look of dawning fear appeared as he realized what he'd said. His mouth worked silently as though he was trying to think of a way to back out of it, but I'd heard what I'd heard. He’d said what he’d said. Even if it was half joking, it was dangerously close to how I was feeling. So dangerously close that I figured he had to be at least half serious.

  "I'm sorry Mia," he said. "Please don't get scared away or anything…"

  I decided to be a little mysterious. A little perplexing. After all, he had just said that, and guys seemed to think girls were supposed to freak out if someone said that too early, right?

  Only freaking out was the last thing I wanted to do. No, I wanted to shout from the heavens that he'd used that word. Was it crazy? Was it a little premature to be throwing that word around? Sure. That didn't matter though. My mind was telling me one thing and my heart was telling me another. No, that word sounded just fine to me, but I wanted to make him think he was going to have to work for it just a little.

  So I smiled. I walked up to him and patted his cheek, and then I was walking past him. I made sure to put as much sway as I could muster into my walk. He could eat his heart out.

  When it seemed like he wasn't following I looked over my shoulder and grinned. "Aren't you coming Grant? I thought you had dinner planned at some big fancy restaurant or something? I'd hate to get all dressed up like this for nothing."

  That drew him out of the mental blue screen he'd just suffered. He got a huge grin on his face.

  "Right," he said. "Dinner at the fancy restaurant. I can't wait to see the look on your face when you see the place!"

  "Well come along then," I said.

  24