by Casey Hagen
The driver gave Aiden a skeptical glance. “You do know that the concert there tonight is—”
“Nikki Lane. Yes, I’m aware.”
The driver gave him a brief nod. “Of course, sir. Just making sure.”
The ride to Madison Square Garden, although more of the same stop and go, wasn’t so aggressive that he had to wonder if he’d end up with whiplash before he arrived.
They pulled to a stop with just ten minutes before the meet and greet was set to begin and for a guy who believed if he arrived on time, he was already late, it was enough to set him on edge. After all, he still had to get inside and find his way around.
Aiden reached in and tipped the driver. “Thanks again.”
“Happy to do it. You have a good time,” the driver said, his gruff chuckle hovering between them as Aiden closed the door.
His skin hummed with nerves as he made his way in and through security. He found the end of the meet and greet line where two guards approached him.
“You have a ticket, sir?”
“Yes, I do,” he said, sliding both of them out of his pocket and handing them over.
“Anyone with you?” the dude with the tree-trunk neck asked as he scanned the tickets with his flashlight and perused Aiden from head to toe.
Aiden wasn’t exactly a small guy. Not at six one, two hundred pounds, and four-times-a-week gym frequenter to boot, but next to the cyborg, he might as well be a scrawny, homeless twelve-year-old scavenging dumpsters to keep what weight he could on his gaunt frame.
No matter that the guy could likely break Aiden in half with the effort with which he picked lunch out of his teeth with a toothpick, and despite the fact that he was just doing his job, Aiden could do without his judgment.
Maybe it was the last-minute scramble weighing on him as someone who liked firm plans. Maybe it was the hell-ride in the cab. Either way, his tongue shed its better judgment.
“Do you see anyone with me?” Aiden asked, holding his arms out and turning slowly.
The guy flicked his ticket against his hand and glared at Aiden. The vein in his neck jumped, making the tattoo climbing up to the back of his ear dance.
Aiden resisted the urge to swallow hard.
“I’ll be watching you,” the guy muttered before handing Aiden’s tickets back.
“I’m sure you will,” Aiden said as he slid them right back into his pocket.
Prick.
He shuffled along with the line of squealing girls, the flashes of cameras reassuring him he was getting close. As the line dwindled, he caught glimpses of Nikki through the clusters of teenagers scurrying up to hug her and get pictures taken.
And there it was, the kindness and caring as she made sure with each fan to bend down and face them on their level, her eyes lighting up with genuine interest as she chatted with each of them, in no rush, as if she had all the time in the world to spend with them.
He heard her sweet voice as she asked each of their names, and she even instructed her bodyguards to snap photos using the girls’ individual cell phones despite the sign by the photo company saying it was against policy.
He couldn’t know if this was her norm, but he suspected it was. It was too natural to not be. Everything about her said she cared about her fans and making sure they got the best of her.
He’d suspected that to be the case after seeing the woman on Crossroads, but seeing it in person confirmed it and only stoked his curiosity about her.
How did she avoid the ego that would accompany that kind of fame? Hell, his own brother’s head would swell so big, Aiden had to wonder how the dude fit it through the door, and that was just from a smile or wave of a beautiful woman.
“Time’s up,” tree neck said, putting his hand up to stop Aiden.
“Are you serious? That’s the way you’re going to play it?” Aiden said, eying the guy’s arm pressed against Aiden’s chest.
“Yup, I think so.”
“Noel, it’s not like the fans are going anywhere; let him through,” she said, craning her neck around her security guard to see.
“You heard the lady, Noel,” Aiden said low enough so only Noel would hear him. Okay, so he wasn’t necessarily proud of dialing his attitude to fifth grade macho showdown, but seriously, the guy had earned it fair and square.
Noel let out a muffled growl and dropped his arm while giving Aiden a hard glare.
“Hi, I’m Nikki,” she said with a warm smile that reached her steel-gray eyes.
“Hey,” he cleared his throat. “Aiden,” he said.
God, was that his voice? Like his balls had been squeezed in a damn vise. Heat crept up his neck, and his ears burned.
The last time he’d felt this way, he’d been fumbling with the button of his jeans while Ally Corrigan lay across the back seat of his parents’ car, shaking with anxiousness to finally do it or just to get it over with. Who knew. Either way, he’d fumbled his way through the process, lasted a couple minutes if he was lucky, and hadn’t a clue how to get her off.
Yeah, he’d been a real savant back then.
“Sorry about him. He’s a bit overzealous,” she said, nodding in Noel’s general direction.
“He’s just protecting you. I can’t fault him for that.” He slid his hands in his pockets, unsure of what else to do with them. “Not that you need protection from me.”
“Hmmm,” she hummed with narrowed eyes. “So you say. I’ve got to tell you though, in the past, the one time there was a single guy in the meet and greet line, he had less than honorable intentions. What about you, Aiden? You plan on tossing me over your shoulder and hauling me away to your lair?”
He glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. “I seem to be short a lair, but I’m not hating the picture you just created.”
She laughed, and her sleek hair fell over one side and settled over her breast.
Not that he was looking.
“So you’re just a fan then?” she asked.
“I am. I also happened to have helped Rance Harmon’s daughter, Maisey, for a time. The tickets were a way for him to say thank you.”
Her lips parted, and her pink tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip. “Well, I wasn’t expecting that. Rance is a great guy, and I absolutely adore Maisey. If Rance trusted you with his princess, you must be a good people.”
“Hopefully. At least most days I think I am.”
She tilted her head and tapped her lip with her index finger. “So, Aiden, since you’re a genuine fan...what’s your favorite song?”
“Hidden Heart,” he said quietly. His pulse pounded through his veins, his choice of song practically a confession.
Her mouth fell open, and her chin trembled. “But that’s not—I mean—wow.” She blew out a breath. “You know I don’t perform that though, right. It’s not on any of my albums.”
“You did once. Crossroads. With your cowboy boots, acoustic guitar, and that faraway look in your eyes. Like you were longing for something.”
She pinned him with her stare. “You, Aiden, don’t miss a thing, do you?”
He shook his head and shuffled his feet. “Not often, no.”
“Nikki, it really is time to go. The group is getting rowdy out there,” one of her other guards said.
She flicked him a glance and nodded. “Give me just a minute, Jasper.” She turned back to Aiden. “Can I get a picture with you?”
He glanced around him, sure he had to have heard her wrong. “Uh, sure. But why?” he asked.
“Something tells me I never want to forget meeting you,” she murmured, sliding her arm around his waist as she passed her phone to Jasper.
Her warm fingers curled around his back as she tucked in under his arm. This larger than life star, no more than five and a half feet tall—with heels—pressed right up against him as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
His heart knocked against his ribs, threatening to break free, as he wrapped his fingers around her shoulder and held her close. He smi
led as he tilted his chin against the top of her head, knowing that the moment with her so innocently in his arms would be the moment he measured all future great moments against.
Chapter 2
NIKKI LANE STOOD AT the side of the stage tucked into the darkness waiting for the final touches to the set, her head bowed, the gold cross given to her by her grandmother pressed between her fingers as she whispered a prayer for a successful show.
A ritual she’d done hundreds of times in her five years of performing.
She’d been on tour for six months. One hundred and eighty days of endless hours spent rehearsing, sound checks at every venue, muscle strains, and heart-pounding performances.
And way too many hours in her stylist’s chair sitting through extensions, flat irons, and Brazilian blowouts.
She touched her cheek, felt the telltale smoothness of powder there, and tried to avoid scratching her skin knowing Mara, one of her closest friends and her stylist, wouldn’t appreciate if Nikki marred what felt like pounds of makeup sitting on her face.
God, as much as she loved her fans, and she did, right to the bottom of her heart, she couldn’t wait to let her skin breathe.
She wanted to soak up the fresh air and drink her favorite peppermint hot chocolate, appreciating the heat seeping through the cup and into her chilled bones.
She’d go to an art show and buy an overpriced piece from a debut artist for no other reason than the fact that she remembered how it felt waiting for a dream to come true.
Maybe she’d hike to the top of a mountain to stare down and glory at what God had created.
She’d hop in her car and pick a place to camp in the Shenandoah Mountains with nothing but a tent, sleeping bag, campfire, and her favorite acoustic guitar.
Nature and new experiences would fill her well.
Eventually, she’d set pen to paper and weave more stories into songs. Each a fraction of her heart, and with the help of her band, she’d find the notes, string them into a melody, and set them free.
She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep, calming breath.
Alone.
In this moment, in the dark and the quiet before the last show, she could admit the emptiness of her plan.
There were no girlfriends to go with. Her childhood friends had lives and pulling Nikki into the fold only added unnecessary complications.
As for her entertainment friends, they drifted in and out, depending on projects and social demands.
And if she were totally honest, sometimes they left to hang with other celebrities they assumed would get them up another wrung of the ladder in their desire for more exposure and fame.
Loneliness tried to muscle its way in, which was silly since she had twenty thousand fans out there screaming for her. But when it came down to the days in between the glamour of travel, with the vestiges of stardom wiped away with last night’s makeup, she had a borrowed friend here and there.
People who flowed in and out of her life, but no ride or die.
And there was something about meeting Aiden, and his musky scent, that made her think of lazy nights in front of a roaring fire made her acutely aware of the fact.
Not a single person had ever mentioned Hidden Heart to her. Not even those closest to her.
Did they hold themselves apart or had she been the one keeping herself at a distance?
She missed feeling. She yearned for close human companionship. She longed to find someone worthy of letting in.
All the way in.
She could almost taste it, that innocent magic of a first kiss.
She wanted to dance in the rain in the arms of a man who set her blood on fire while he hummed a private song, the low tune vibrating next to her ear, her heart racing with his.
Maybe a certain new person could help fill her well, too.
He’d been a surprise. Maybe the one she hadn’t known she needed.
She shook her head and let out a light laugh at her silliness. She had no way of knowing if he were even single, let alone attracted to her.
Well, other than there was that lair comment.
Impossible. She’d let him walk away leaving nothing more than an image on her cell phone as a reminder.
God, she was being an idiot. This is what happened when you went too long without taking a cruise around a warm male body.
She should play it safe, call an old, reliable booty call and scratch that itch hard.
She stared out at the sea of faces in the crowd, looking for Aiden’s dark, wavy hair and sexy stubble in the throng of teenage girls screaming with their hands thrown in the air, their cell phones ready, just waiting for the moment when she’d emerge.
The lights dimmed a fraction, and the crowd hushed.
There he was, shoulders relaxed as he stood a head taller than the females surrounding him. The girl on the far side of him did some sort of dance move Nikki couldn’t see. Once she finished, the girl on the other side of him joined in.
No, it couldn’t be. Tingles danced over her skin, and the roar of the crowd dulled as lightheadedness took over.
They repeated it in unison, the group shifting just enough for her to see them whip and nae nae.
The young girl nudged him with her elbow and smiled. He laughed and shook his head no.
This moment would tell her everything she needed to know about Aiden.
If she could trust letting him in.
The girls persisted, and the next thing she knew, he glanced around them self-consciously and got in the same position under their instruction, bent at the knee, and with three nods from the girl with the ponytail, they all shot their right arms out, fists closed at the same time.
“Time to get in place, Nikki,” her stage manager, Collin said, making her jump. Her heart beat in her throat, hoping he didn’t see what had captured her avid interest.
Who had captured it.
Her personal life was her business. She’d worked so damn hard to keep it separate—to keep it secret—that she wasn’t going to let a moment of voyeurism ruin it.
He took her elbow, gave it a gentle tug, and led her around the cords crisscrossing the floor.
With a pang of regret she gave them one last glance in time to see his hand go up and wave in the air.
Usually it was the sight of a guy holding a baby that made ovaries sigh, but nope, this was a whole lot more potent because he surrendered his pride to make the young girls around him laugh.
Watching him reminded her of what her grandmother always said. “Don’t worry about what they show you, pay attention to what they do when they don’t know you’re looking. That’s how you know a person’s true heart.”
She took the microphone from Collin and braced her feet wide, ready for the jolt when the round platform would start its ascent and glide to a stop in the center of the stage. “Thanks,” she said, giving him a grateful smile in the dull glow before he slipped into the darkness to do what he did best.
The usual racing of her heart from shifted into a heavy beat of anticipation.
She’d be front and center, exposed to a man who might actually see a whole lot more of her than she ever intended on showing to anyone.
Aside from the way he’d surprised her by remembering, let alone loving, her spur of the moment performance of Hidden Heart, his rapt attention, attention that she may have been reading far more into, awakened a raging hunger in her.
It rippled like the hot flow of lava just waiting, building pressure, until finally breaking free with a wild explosion.
She thought she’d exchanged that need for companionship and desire to feel the heat of another fevered body alongside hers, under the excitement of seeing the world, screaming fans, and creating new music with her band and backup singers. And she’d always done so with little angst.
Until now.
For the first time, she had to fight for control of her appetite for intimacy, clinging to those tethers with everything she had.
She didn’t date, it ca
me with too many complications that she didn’t have the time for, but she had a couple of men in her life that were good for much-needed release.
Only this time, the idea of turning to either of them fell short of satisfying her longing. She didn’t just want good sex.
She wanted someone to rock her to the core and leave her satiated, her every desire and need fulfilled so completely that it stole the words straight from her lungs and mind.
High expectation booty calls, she and Mara called them. Where worlds crashed, the resulting inferno burned hot enough to reduce a city to ash, and both halves walked away, their awkward gait the only evidence of their hot night.
No feelings. No intentions for anything more. Just all the sexy feels.
Something Nikki had never achieved.
Probably her own fault.
Aiden.
His name crept up again. The sound of his voice rumbled in her memory, demanding attention.
Demanding action.
She had a feeling that if she crossed that line, he might actually be a whole lot more than a high expectation booty call. He might just be the man who reached inside and touched her very own hidden heart.
Was she ready for that?
She wasn’t sure, but maybe if they limited the words and just kept it physical...a super sexy collide of need and satisfaction.
The addictive drum beat of ‘Thrill Ride’ filled the air. Rather appropriate considering her wayward lusty thoughts. The platform under her feet rumbled and started to rise. Screams from the crowd rolled in as the doors above her slid open.
Excitement banished the nerves that swirled low in her belly as she raised her arms over her head and crossed her wrists. She broke the barrier, spotted the sea of lights from cell phones in the audience, and smiled.
Screams of the fans swelled with the first notes of the electric guitar.
Putting the microphone to her lips, she brushed aside her worries, and let her voice take over, the opening notes flowing from her in a smooth swell.
Her muscles warmed, her vocal chords stretched and vibrated, the slight strain tightening before relaxing and moving fluidly with her every note.
A sheen of sweat rose up from her scalp as it usually did under the punishing heat of the lights.
