The Naughty One

by Michelle Love

  No, I don’t!

  He looks into my eyes and I see flecks of brown in the deep blue of them. Another line he sings softly, “Girl, it’s just me and you.”

  It’s so dark around us it seems as if we’re alone in the huge auditorium. “Close your eyes and I’ll make your dreams come true. Ask me to kiss you.”

  Oh, this song! Great, no girl has ever not asked him to kiss her by the end. The last one I saw on television was crying the whole damn time and even she asked him. Poor guy, she was all types of gooey I bet.

  A smile curls his shiny, black lips as he nods at me. I shake my head at him and smile. He moves to the other side of me as he trails his hand over my shoulders, leaving electric currents along them.

  Damn this guy is good, I have to admit. It’s no wonder he thinks he’s God’s gift to women everywhere.

  I turn to look at him as he leans in close, and sings, “My arms ache to hold you. Your eyes hold mine like glue. Come on girl, you know you want to.” He leans in closer to me, his lips nearly touching mine. “Ask me to kiss you.”

  Wow! His breath smells so good, like cinnamon. Crap! I hope mine doesn’t stink!

  Bringing my hand up between our too close faces, I place my finger on his lips, and shake my head again. He sighs and stands up then moves in front of me, as he drags his knuckles across my cheek, making my insides quiver, but I keep my emotions in check.

  My eyes follow him as he sings, “So what do you want to do? To yourself be true. I see the want in you. So just do it.” He leans in close again. “Come on, do it. Ask me to kiss you.”

  I think I’ll fuck with him a little bit, that sounds like fun!

  With a tilt of my head, I smile at him making him move in closer as he thinks I’m about to ask him, but I place my hands on his shoulders and shake my head again.

  He pulls back from me and walks away in what seems to be frustration, and sings, “Oh, baby, you don’t understand. All I want is to be your man. The rest of our lives by you I’ll stand.” He walks quickly back to me and falls on his knees in front of me. His free hand takes mine as he looks into my eyes. “Please, ask me to kiss you. I’m begging you, baby, ask me to kiss you before it’s too late. I can’t wait.”

  Just to mess with his head as I’m sure he’s messed with many a poor girl’s, I lean towards him and he smiles, sure he has what he’s asked for. “Ask me to kiss you,” he sings the last words of the song as he looks into my eyes.

  I wink at him and say too quietly for anyone else to hear, “No.”

  He drops his head on my lap as the spot light goes out.

  The crowd cheers and the applause sounds like thunder as Kip takes me by the hand and leads me off the stage in complete darkness. Instead of leading me to the door I came in, he leads me to his dressing room. Pulling me in, he turns and closes the door behind us, pushing his body up against mine as I walk backwards until the wall stops my retreat.

  His breath is hot on my face as he says, “Peyton, please let me kiss you.”

  Damn! I want to kiss him so bad, but I know what he wants, and that’s all he wants. I can’t do that to myself. But he seems so genuine, so real.

  My eyes search his for his real feelings, and I swallow hard.

  “Kip, I’m not like that,” I say in a whisper. “I’m no groupie.”

  He takes my hand and places it on his chest. His heart pounds beneath my hand.

  “You’ve made me feel more than I have ever felt.”

  Peyton, don’t fall for this! It’s how he gets all the women. He’s had so many women, girl! Don’t fall for this!

  I smile and pat his muscled chest. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I don’t fall for lines,” I say. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find some girl this evening to trade bodily fluids with.”

  His forehead touches mine as he says, “I don’t want anyone else, Peyton.”

  Sure he doesn’t, until tomorrow, then he’ll want someone else and I’ll be left in some hotel, crying my eyes out.

  I stroke his cheek. “Your words won’t work on me, Mr. Pop Rock.”

  “I’m more than this,” he says as he plays with one of my curls. “Let me show you who I really am.”

  “Why?” I ask, genuinely confused.

  There’s not a damn thing special about me. I’m not tall like a model or adorably short, just an average five foot five. I’m not perfectly built as I have a rounded ass and some big hips and don’t get me started on my boobs that are a little too big and make my waist look too small.

  My hair isn’t thick and luxurious, it’s kind of short and I’ve never dyed it, so it’s a light shade of dirty blonde. My face is average, light brown eyes and they’re a little too small as well. My nose is turned up and I hate it. My lips are too plump to suit me.

  “There’s something about you, Peyton.” His hand cups the back of my neck. “One kiss, just one, please.”

  If I give this player one kiss, I know he’ll make me want him. I kind of already do, but I have a lot more integrity than he realizes. I’ve hung onto my V-card longer than most, and it hasn’t always been easy.

  Rock star Romeo won’t be my first that’s for damn sure.

  His perfectly almond shaped eyes glisten as he looks into mine, trying to read my mind I bet. His firm body holds mine to the wall and now I’m reasonably sure the bulge in his pants is quite real after all as it presses up against my hot and steadily getting wetter by the second personal pleasure area.

  If I allow this to go on any longer, I’ll have a lot harder time telling him no. He leans forward and his lips brush my neck and my knees go weak.

  “One kiss,” he whispers in my ear and I want to give in so damn bad. My insides are begging me to give in and I suddenly have a new awareness of why all the women gave into him, he’s too damn hot!

  It takes everything I have in me, but I push him away, gently but firmly. “No, not one kiss. I’m sure you’re used to getting your way with women. I’ll not be one of those girls who make out with a pop star that she’ll never hear from again.” I pull away from him and walk to the door, grabbing the knob, then turn back and say, “I tell you what, Mr. Dixon, if you really want to get to know me, for God only knows why, you can come to my graduation party later on tonight. I’ll give your manager my address. Feel free to bring your entourage, Pop Rock.”

  “I’ll be there,” he says then kisses his finger tips and waves at me. “Perhaps before the sun rises tomorrow, you will decide to let me kiss you.”

  A light laugh escapes my lips. “You are tenacious, aren’t you? I cannot promise you a kiss. If that’s what you seek, stay in town, you’re sure to get plenty, and most likely you will choose to do just that. It was a pleasure to meet you, Kip.” Then I close the door behind me, leaving him alone.

  Am I really walking away from a night with a billionaire rock star?

  Kip

  The show’s over and we think we’ve waited long enough that most of the groupies will be gone so we can get to our bus. Silas comes in and waves at us to follow him out. Bobby smiles as he sees a familiar red head who seems to have been at every Texas concert we’ve played. “There she is, Kipper,” he shouts and this time when she tries to talk to us, he stops and looks at her.

  “Hi!” she shouts. “Oh my God, are you really going to talk to me?”

  Bobby plays it all cool. “I’ve seen you at a few of our shows. What’s up, doll?”

  She hands him a credit-card looking thing. “That’s the key to my hotel room. I have friends, enough for all of you, but I’m really interested in Kip. Come to the address on the back and we’ll make it worth your while.”

  I shake my head and Bobby gives her a nod. “We’ll see, thanks for the invite.”

  Walking to the bus, I have no intention of going to her hotel room. It’s not that she’s unattractive, she’s damn hot, but the idea of her following us from town to town and getting another three women to join her in her escapade to get me in bed with her
is kind of disgusting.

  On the bus, Bobby drops on the sofa across from the one I’ve dropped myself on. “So, what do you think?” he asks.

  “No,” I answer. “I have no want to hang with her.”

  “I don’t think she wants to merely hang out, Kip. She’s hot, what’s your problem?” Bobby lays out on the sofa. “I bet her friends are hot too.”

  “Then you go. Take the other two with you.” The bus starts and takes us to the hotel Silas set us up in.

  “And leave you all alone, never," Bobby says. He sits up. “Especially since that cold bitch shut you down on stage, crap you must hate her.”

  “Don’t call her that,” I say, feeling ire build up in me for some damn reason. “I don’t hate her. She has some set of morals on her though, doesn’t she?”

  “I’ll say. I mean, come on, it was just a kiss,” he says.

  I wonder if just one kiss would satisfy me though. I bet not!

  “She invited me to her graduation party,” I say. Which reminds me. I stand up and find Silas sitting up front near the driver. “Hey, Silas, did that girl I sang to leave you her address?”

  He rummages around in his jacket pocket and pulls out a piece of paper. “Yeah, I have it here. Want me to toss it, she kind of made a fool of you?”

  “No, give it to me,” I say as I make my way to him. “And for the record, she didn’t make a fool of me. She just didn’t kiss me is all. It shows I’m human and not everyone falls for my obvious charm and good looks.”

  Troy laughs. “She sure didn’t. Man, I’ve never seen you try so hard.”

  I kick his leg as I pass by him. “Well, I’ve seen you try plenty hard and still get rejected so shut up!”

  The ever quiet drummer, James, seems to be giggling to himself as well. “You took her off stage. I’ll bet she kissed you then.”

  I shake my head.

  “No, not even then, and I tried so fucking hard you don’t even know. That girl! Uh! There’s something about her.” I fall back onto the little sofa and close my eyes. All I see is her perfect face and those shiny blonde curls.

  Bobby slaps my leg. “Forget about her. Let’s go see the hottie and her friends and get wasted!”

  I sit up and look at him. “Maybe that is what I should do. This is so stupid. She’s right not to want a one night stand with me. That’s all I can give her right now, and that’s not fair to such a good girl, is it?”

  Bobby, Troy, and James all shake their heads at me, and I know that it would be the wrong thing to do to go to her graduation party. The pinnacle celebration of her school years. Her family and friends all around her, and if I show up, it will spoil it for her.

  The bus turns into the hotel and we all grab our bags and get off and go into the hotel. Silas has us all in rooms next to each other. Bobby looks at me before he goes into his. “So are we getting ready to go to the red head’s?”

  “Just get ready to go somewhere,” I say. “If you want to go with me, I’m not one hundred percent certain where I’m going. Maybe just out to a club on Sixth Street. Leave the make-up off and wash the crap out of your hair. Or feel free to go see the red head without me. I may show up later or I may not. I’m feeling a bit torn about things.”

  The first thing I do when I get into my hotel room is take a shower and wash all this stuff off me. When I look in the hot water, fogged mirror I see me again and I’m damned glad to see the guy.

  Wrapping a towel around my waist, I go and lie on the bed and grab my cell phone from the night stand where I left it. I find my new friend, Max’s, number and give him a call.

  “Hey, guy, how was the concert?” my new best mate, Max asks as he answers the phone.

  “Good,” I answer. “I met a girl and need some of that foster big brother advice you seem to be so good at.”

  A little girl’s excited screams I hear. “Is that, Hunky Kip, Daddy?”

  “Yep,” he answers her. “Do you have a second to say hi to your number one fan?”

  “Always,” I say with a laugh and the little girl squeals as he hands her the phone.

  “Hi, Hunky Kip, I miss you, do you miss me?”

  “Of course I do, Zoey. Are you being a good girl and helping your mommy and daddy?” I ask.

  “Uh, huh, I am. Are you coming back to see us soon?” she asks.

  “Not really soon, sweetheart. I have to do some shows and sing my songs to the people. You’re going to come to Los Angeles and see me for Christmas, remember?” I ask.

  “Oh, yeah,” she says. “’Member I want a pony but don’t tell Mommy, ‘member, kay?”

  “I remember, doll. Can I talk to your daddy?” I ask.

  “K, here you go Daddy.”

  “So, you met a girl!” Max says as he gets back on the phone. “Tell me how you managed to do that?”

  “I found her on the campus doing Yoga and I think she hates me,” I say.

  “Well, that’s not too bad,” he says. “The bad thing would be if she loved you already without knowing you, right?”

  “Right,” I say and brighten up a bit. “I sang her a song on stage. It’s that one, ‘Ask Me to Kiss You’, and she didn’t. It was a bit humiliating.”

  He laughs. “I bet! Shit, has that ever happened before?”

  “Never. It gets worse,” I say. “I drug her back to my dressing room and proceeded to press my body all up on hers and begged her to please kiss me. She still said no.”

  “She has some will power, I’d say,” Max says. “I would assume you have no way to ever get in touch with her again, though. So it’s pretty much a pipe dream then, isn’t it?”

  “Not really, she left her address with my manager,” I say. “She asked me to come to her graduation party if I was really interested in getting to know her.”

  “Damn!” he says. “So, are you interested in getting to know her?”

  “More than I care to admit,” I say and stand up and walk over to the window of the fifth floor hotel room. “Sixth Street is just outside the hotel doors and I really should just go down there and party and find some random chic to mess with. Or there’s a red head who has followed me from town to town and she gave my guitar player the key to her room, where she waits with three other chics to entertain us all.”

  “But, this girl you found doing Yoga is in your head, isn’t she?” Max asks.

  “How fair would that be to go see her at her party?” I ask.

  “Is it really so far-fetched to think that you could have a real relationship right now. I mean, don’t other people who have to tour figure this stuff out?” he asks.

  “I don’t know about in the beginning of one. Later on, yeah, but even then most crap out after a while. I’ve seen it happen again and again.” I close the curtain and move back to sit on the bed.

  Max’s voice is soft as he says, “Look, I know you want me to give you the right answer, Kip, but the truth is I don’t have it. You have to look inside yourself and see what you really think. I know you don’t want to hurt some innocent young woman, and if that’s all you think will happen maybe it’s best to leave her alone, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know. It’s just that I never felt anything like I felt from the first moment I touched her narrow shoulder. Like electricity ran straight through me and I ran my hand down her arm and took her hand in mine and I never wanted to let it go, even though she tried to tug hers away.” I close my eyes as I remember the exact sensation.

  “Damn it, Kip!” Max says. “I feel for you, that’s just how I felt when I grabbed Lexi’s hand the first time. I know this won’t be easy for you to hear, but unless you can really be what this girl needs in her life, leave her alone. The road to where Lexi and I are is long and hard and full of potholes.”

  “So your advice is to forget about her?” I ask.

  “If you think you can, yes.” I hear him sigh then he says, “But who am I to tell you that, look what all I went through to get Lexi into my life and keep her here. Do whatever your hear
t tells you to, bro.”

  “Thanks, Max. I will give it some thought before I make a decision. You’re a real mate. Tell Lexi and Zane hi from me. Bye now.”

  “Bye, make good decisions, Kip.”

  Make good decisions? I don’t think I’ve ever really learned how to do such a thing!

  I know what the right thing to do is, but is the right thing really what I want to do?

  Why can’t life be more like a silly love song that always ends with a happy lyric?

  Part 2 Falling Star

  Peyton

  The sound of laughter fills the air as water splashes me. One of my high school friends, Chloe, jumps into the swimming pool in my family’s back yard. I wipe my face and laugh. My parents put on a huge college graduation party for me, inviting most of our relatives and nearly all the town which isn’t much. I come from a small town, a little over an hour away from where I went to college in San Marcos.

  White lights fill the large oak trees in both the front and back yards. No expense had been spared as several kegs and a full bar take care of the guests. I make my way back into the house to retrieve another platter of chicken wings to take back out to the poolside. Several guests are playing pool in the game room as I enter the house. “Who’s winning?” I ask one of the guys I graduated with, Lyle.

  “Me,” he says. “You wanna play me next?”

  I shake my head. “Nah, I have to mingle.”

  The doorbell rings and my Uncle Mike answers it as I turn around with the platter or food. A group of guys I’ve never seen before stands at the door. One of them ask if this is my graduation party. He has a slight accent, maybe British. I sit the tray down and walk over. “Hello,” I say as I extend my hand.

  “Really? That’s all I get,” a familiar voice with an Australian accent comes out of a tall, muscular guy’s mouth, but I don’t recognize him. His hair is shoulder length, straight, and sandy blonde, then I look into his blue eyes and see flecks of brown in them and my hand covers my mouth as my eyes go wide.

  “Is that you, Kip?”