Damn it. I blushed. I actually blushed. I'd never dreamed that I'd be capable of blushing nowadays, but that look she gave me made me redden to the tips of my hair. Heat flooded my body as though she'd hit me with a laser, all from the strength of her gaze. Ten years later, and I was still way out of my league with her.
"Miss Jones."
She rolled her eyes. "You can call me Rose now, you know. You're not in high school any longer."
"Rose." The name sounded awkward on my tongue. In my schoolboy fantasies, I'd always called her by her first name, but I'd never once, in real life, said it out loud.
"It's fine. I don't want to bother you. You can go back to your friends."
She looked like she hadn't aged a day in the last ten years. If anything, she looked better now. Those cheekbones and the long, shiny hair. The eyes that always seemed to flicker with amusement, like she knew exactly what I was thinking and she didn't exactly mind my dirty thoughts. The bottom lip that was just a little too full. A mouth that looked like it knew exactly how to kiss.
God, I'd wanted Miss Jones, Rose, to be my first. I'd always imagined that she'd be able to teach me things that no other woman could. Of course, that had only been a dream.
"No," I said. "We need to catch up. They aren't my friends, just some girls who came backstage. Come on, let's talk."
Then I realized I couldn't exactly take her to that backstage room. Not with those feisty twins back there. If they thought they were being ditched, they'd turn nasty real fast. After the way they'd reacted to Polly and Fay, I couldn't subject Rose to their bitchiness. Who knew what they'd do? Scratch her eyes out?
I couldn't ask her back to my hotel room, either. As much as I'd like to, that'd be a bit too much, too soon. I needed neutral ground.
My entire life so far, I'd been the one calling the shots. I had the smooth moves and women wanting me to make them. Within five minutes, I'd have their panties off and them writing in pleasure, moaning my name.
Rose wasn't like that. She had me in a quivering mess. My palms sweated and I wasn't sure of my words. I shot her a big grin, though. We'd think of something. Was there a bar at the hotel? There had to be, surely, but I hadn't checked.
"There's a nice little wine bar nearby," she said. "We could go there. Catch up on old times. If you're sure you don't mind."
That smile showed she knew exactly how much I didn't mind. The confidence she radiated was even sexier than her bottom lip. There was no way I'd say no to her.
"I'll grab my stuff. Give me a minute."
I ran back along the hallway, worried she'd change her mind. Wow, Miss Jones. Every one of my schoolboy dreams would come true tonight. Well, maybe not all of them. There were a few fantasies I'd be happy to leave behind me.
I grabbed my jacket and checked that my phone and wallet were still in the pockets. Yep. Hotel room key, too. That was all I needed.
"Wait up." One of the twins grabbed me. "Where are you going?"
This could be trouble. Those twins were hot and all, but they were no Miss Jones. Rose. They were no Rose. Still, with what I'd seen of them so far, they could be damn tenacious. I didn't want to get held up with them, and I sure didn't want a scene.
"Just some business to attend to, honey," I said, running my finger along her cheek. "I need to sort a few things out."
She pouted. Cute, but not nearly cute enough to tempt me. I only had one thing on my mind now.
"Hurry back," she said. That pout wasn't nearly as endearing as she thought.
The other twin came over to join her, more beers in her hand. I swiped one off her and hightailed it out of there. On the way out, I almost knocked into Fartstard coming in the door.
"Hey, dude," I said. "Do me a favor."
"Sure, what?"
"See the blond twins over there?" I nodded in their direction. "Can you look after them for me? Something's come up, and I need to make a clean getaway."
Fartstard's eyes opened so wide, I thought they'd tumble out of his eye sockets onto the grubby floor. He even made a weird little groaning noise. I could've happily lived my entire life without hearing that noise.
"You want me to look after them?"
"That's what I said, buddy." I slapped him on the arm.
He really did look like he'd just hit the jackpot on the slots. Pay dirt time.
"Err... okay. No problem."
As I walked off, I did feel like a bit of a prick. Giving them Fartstard instead of me wasn't even like giving them the booby prize. It was far worse. I was prime meat, and Fartstard was a low-grade hamburger, with an intense personal odor issue thrown in. But he'd definitely talk their ears off. Meanwhile, I could escape with Rose.
She leaned against the wall near the exit, one of those expensive designer handbags hooked over her arm. Everything about her said class and money, not something you often see in high school teachers. Maybe she'd moved on to better-paying territory. She'd been hot when she was teaching, but not in that expensive way. But then, ten years ago, she'd have been younger than I was now. Weird to think that. She had a sophisticated elegance that looked out of place in this dingy backstage corridor.
"Ready?" she asked.
Hell yeah. I was born ready. Tonight was the night I'd been preparing for since I walked into English class ten years ago.
Elijah
THE WINE BAR SHE TOOK me to was nothing like the bars I normally went to. Rose had expensive tastes; that was clear. But I didn't mind. I had the money to spare, and it was time I broadened my horizons, got a bit of class.
The walls were covered in some fancy wallpaper, and my feet sank into the lush carpet. The place had a kind of hush that made me too scared to even think about talking. The waiters wore better suits than I'd ever owned. Even the hotels we'd been staying at on this tour, which were at a whole other level from any of our previous tours, didn't have this kind of rich-people feel.
I prided myself on being a simple man with simple tastes, but maybe that was just because I had no idea of the alternative.
Rose handed me a wine list. It meant nothing to me. Wine was wine. All those names just confused me.
"You choose," I said, handing it back to her.
That was a much safer option. Otherwise, I'd just point to something random on the list, and that random something could end up being totally embarrassing.
She waved the waiter over and asked for a wine I'd never heard of.
He came back with the bottle and went through the whole thing of showing the bottle before he opened it, then fussing around. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing, but it seemed like a whole lot of palaver.
When I tasted it, though, it was a damn fine drop. Hell, why didn't I treat myself like this more often, instead of sticking to cheap beers? Beer was fine in its place, but I was well on my way to being a millionaire. I needed millionaire style.
"Like it?" she asked.
"Hell yeah. I'll get you to write down the name for me."
She smiled and swirled the wine in her glass. "So, Elijah, it looks like you've been doing well for yourself since you left school."
But with her smiling at me and running her finger around the edge of that wine glass, I could barely remember what I'd done since high school. I gulped. There was something about the way she traced her finger along that edge that shot straight to my cock. I'd need to watch out, or I'd shoot my load before we even got back to the hotel. I was regressing back to my high school days, when what I needed was to impress her with how mature I was now.
"The band's been doing well," I said.
"I was at the show tonight. You were amazing."
Yes! She thought I was amazing. I wanted to punch the air, but I held myself back. If I'd known she was in the audience, I'd have been doubly amazing.
"We're here for a week. Thank God. It's been one night everywhere, two nights at most, since we left Berlin two weeks ago. Half the time, I haven't known what city we're in. I thought this European tour would be al
l sightseeing and fun, with a bit of work thrown in. Not so. Most days, it's a rush to leave the hotel, sleeping on the tour bus, then sound check and a few hours' rest before we play. Not that I'm complaining. It's a sweet life, but seven days is magic. We even get a day off thrown in. So, what brings you to Amsterdam?"
She smiled. That smile held traces of magic.
"I'm taking a break, working on some writing. I figured it would be just as easy to do that here as back home. I heard you were playing, then talked my way backstage. I wasn't sure if you'd remember me or not."
She held eye contact with me just a moment longer than was comfortable. She wanted this just as much I did. There was no doubt of that. Anticipation buzzed through my body.
"Of course I remember you."
The smile spread slowly across her face. I smiled back. If I could, I'd rip her clothes off and fuck her right here in this snotty wine bar, not caring who saw us. God, everything about her radiated sex, but without being blatant. She didn't show an excess of flesh, and that blouse she wore was buttoned so high, I couldn't glimpse her cleavage, but she didn't need to flash it about. Her skirt was also tight without being too tight. All it showed was a gorgeous curve of her calf, clad in some silk stockings. The subtlety really hit me after a steady diet of groupies revealing as much flesh as possible.
"You were one of my more interesting students," she said. "I always thought you'd either end up famous or in jail."
I laughed at that. I hadn't been one for studying, that was for sure. I'd never had much interest in school, apart from Miss Jones. I'd never skipped one of her classes.
I picked up my glass and raised it to her. "Well, here's to me not ending up in jail, although that option hasn't been ruled out."
She laughed a quiet, tinkling laugh.
I wanted to ask more about what she'd been doing. Again, the thought struck me that she'd been doing something more lucrative than teaching, but I wasn't sure how to raise that without sounding incredibly rude. Still, I knew teachers didn't usually get paid enough to afford designer handbags and all the other trappings. It was none of my business, anyway. Maybe she'd gotten a generous divorce settlement or something. But she sure as hell got my pulse thudding and my mind racing with possibilities.
It'd been a long time since I'd felt this unsure with a woman. She wanted me; I wasn't so insecure that I couldn't tell that. But one false move, and I'd screw this up. I'd almost forgotten how to work for it. With Rose, I'd have to work damn hard.
That secret smile, like she knew what I was thinking, threw me every time.
She asked me more about the band, and I found myself talking until the bottle of wine was finished. Whenever I asked her about herself, she evaded the question so cleverly that I'd be off on some story before I realized.
"Should we order another bottle?" I asked, praying she'd say no.
"What do you want to do, Elijah?"
The way she said my name hit me like a slug to the chest.
"I have wine in my hotel room," I said.
She smiled again, and my insides almost exploded. This was really going to happen.
Elijah
"WAIT HERE," I SAID when we got back to my hotel.
I felt like a dick leaving her waiting in the doorway, but I had to do a quick rush around, throwing my dirty clothes into the wardrobe and getting rid of anything I didn't want her to see. How the hell had I made such a mess of my room in such a short time? It wasn't like I even had that much stuff. It just seemed to spread itself around.
If I had a fancy suite like Damo, I'd look far classier. Not that my room was low-rent by any means. As well as the king-sized bed, I had a sitting area. But it was just a room, not a suite.
Why did Damo get the perks, anyway? Just because he was a special snowflake who couldn't handle noise or disturbances.
I thought I was done, then noticed a pair of jocks sitting on the back of one of the armchairs. I grabbed them and shoved them into my back pocket. Then I looked around for any other embarrassing things. Since we'd only just arrived, there was no chance of her finding a stray bra or pair of panties around the room. I was never sure how a girl could leave the hotel without realizing that her underwear was missing, but maybe they wanted to leave it behind as a souvenir. I'd prefer they didn't. I wasn't a pantie sniffer.
"Come in," I said.
"You're hidden all your porn?" She walked into the room and looked around.
"Yep. Wait, no. I had no porn. There was no porn." Shit, I blushed again. I inhaled. "No one has porn nowadays. Not sitting around. It's all on the laptop."
She laughed.
"Care for another drink?"
There was some fancy-looking wine in the bar fridge. Damo always said not to drink from the mini-bar because it'd cost a fortune, but screw that. I'd pay for it. Anything Rose wanted, she could have. Pretty much anything.
She sat down in one of the armchairs. "Nice room," she said.
"Yeah, it's not bad."
I wasn't sure how to approach this. Normally, it'd be straight onto the bed, all rumpy-pumpy time from the moment I walked in the door. None of this sitting around chatting. But it wasn't like I could plonk myself down on her knee, and if I sat in the armchair opposite her, that would put way too much distance between us. Why didn't this damn room have a sofa? A sofa would make life so much easier.
I opened the bar fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. She didn't object, so I opened it, then hunted for glasses. They weren't in any of the obvious places.
"I might have to call down for glasses," I said. "You'd think they'd be in this cupboard, here, next to the fridge."
She got up and opened one of the other cupboards, then took out two wine glasses. She seemed to know exactly where they'd be. I guessed she was used to fancy hotels. She set the glasses down in front of me.
"I hope this is okay," I said. "Not much choice here."
"It'll be fine," she said, not moving from my side.
I opened the bottle of wine with no problem, but my hand shook a little as I poured. I handed the glass to her.
"I'm not that used to drinking wine, but I figure this should be good. Maybe I should learn, huh? I can't drink cheap beer all my life."
"Do you want to, Elijah?" She gave me that smile. "If you enjoy it, drink it. But really, it doesn't matter. If you want a $500 bottle of wine, have the wine. If you want a cheap beer, have the beer. Just make sure you're making the choice you want."
I knew what I wanted right now, and it wasn't beer or wine. But she was right. I never thought much about what I wanted, beyond my basic needs. I just took what was on hand.
I hadn't even chosen to become a rock star. Well, I had in that way that if you asked any guy if he wanted to be a rock star or not, he'd pick rock star. But I didn't have drive like Damo. If it'd been up to me, we'd still be playing friends' parties and small bars.
I took a sip of the wine. It really was much nicer than my usual beer, although I hoped it didn't cost $500 a bottle.
"Let's go out on the balcony and drink this," she said.
There was a balcony? I hadn't even noticed. The curtains had been closed when I checked in, and I hadn't bothered opening them.
"Sounds good to me." It had to be better than trying to negotiate that armchair. Night air and city lights: that'd set the scene, all romantic.
We went out on the balcony, and Rose leaned on the rail.
I stood beside her, my arm touching hers, but I still wasn't sure if I should make a move or not. She did nothing to encourage me, but she didn't exactly discourage me, either. I mean, she'd come back to my hotel room. Wasn't that a sign she wanted things to progress further than this? I had to do something before this got awkward.
God, if Damo and Crow saw me now, they'd piss themselves laughing. I looked like a complete doofus.
"Look, is that a shooting star?" I asked her, putting my hand on the small of her back to point her in the right direction.
It was a cheesy mo
ve, but at least I'd made a move. She didn't laugh or move away, so that was something. I liked the feel of her warm skin under the thin fabric of her blouse. I really liked the feeling of her hip against mine.
"I can't see it," she said.
"You weren't quick enough," I said.
I gave her a grin, but that grin soon disappeared when she brought her face closer to mine. She might be older than me, and I might be nervous as hell, but no way was she taking full control of this night. I set my wine glass down and took hers from her hand. Then I rubbed my hand down her arm. The skin there was cooler. I guessed the night air had hit her.
This was it. This was the moment. I almost wished I had a time machine so I could go back to my sixteen-year-old self and tell him. I could just see us high-fiving over it. It might've taken ten years for me to get there, but, finally, I'd know the delights that were Miss Jones.
The way she looked at me--God, that was better than any of my fantasies had ever been. There was pure lust in her eyes now.
She reached out and stroked my cheek. "Elijah, you've grown up well," she said. There was a touch of mockery in her voice, but I wasn't sure if she was mocking me or herself.
The look between us intensified, neither of us moving closer, like we were playing a game of chicken. I put my hand up to cup her head. Her perfume had been toying around the edge of my senses all night, but this close, I got the full impact of that scent, all heady and musky. That perfume enveloped me, drawing me in.
"Do you know how long I've waited for this?" I said.
"Since that first day you walked into my English class? You didn't hide it well."
I hoped she meant my attraction to her and not the woody in my pants. That woody had returned in force. I drew her closer to me and brushed my lips against hers. I wasn't usually one for gentle kisses; normally, I'd be buried balls-deep by now, but I wanted to savor this. I wanted every moment recorded in my brain to play back at will. Was there ever a more perfect woman? I sure as hell hadn't met one.
She moaned lightly as I moved my lips to her neck just below her ear. When I brought my lips back to hers, the kiss was no gentle brushing. We devoured each other, all pent-up desire and grinding need.
Rock Mayhem: 8 Complete Rock Star Romance Novels Page 53