She whispers back.
They both laugh.
They're a happy family, the Strongs, even with Piper's near daily complaints of Mal and Ethan getting bossy and over-protective. I've never seen a family that loves each other as much as they do.
"You should come with us," Piper insists. Her eyes stay glued to mine. Her eyes scream Ethan, please don't see through how badly I want you to stay here.
Ethan shoots me another don't even think about it look then he turns to Piper. "I'll head home after this. Meet you there."
"Sure." Piper hugs Ethan goodbye then she nods to the side door.
After I wish Ethan goodbye, I follow her.
The parking lot is starting to fill with people who left after the Dangerous Noise set. As much as I enjoy most of the guys in the headlining band, I have to smile. It's flattering knowing people came to a concert just for you. Especially when you're the opener.
Piper laughs. "You look like a kid in a candy store. Should I scream, 'Kit Lockhart loves all his fans?'"
"Only if you want a stampede of horny women."
"I'm sure you're used to that." She laughs. "You okay with pho?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Not if you want me to be happy."
"Good thing for you I do."
We're teasing but I can feel the truth in the words. It shouldn't feel profound, something as simple as caring about another person's satisfaction, but it does.
I feel the same way I do before I step on stage— nervous and excited.
I haven't felt like that around a woman since I was a teenager.
Piper is a teenager. Nineteen but that's still firmly teenager. I remind myself that this can't happen, but that doesn't do shit to wipe away the excitement in my chest.
Chapter 6
Kit
Piper unlocks the door and opens it for me.
Her cheeks flush. "I don't mean to say you're my date or I'm wearing the pants or something. Just, uh... I know this little place in Garden Grove. That sound good?"
"Sure." I slide into my seat, unable to do anything but smile. She's extra nervous. It's cute. Really fucking cute.
She slides into her seat and turns the car on. The stereo blares with Gwen Stefani's latest CD.
Piper turns red.
I chuckle. "You're the only person who still uses CDs."
She points to the stereo's aux port. "The other stuff never works right. It's CDs or the radio and I hate commercials." She leans over the center console, over my legs, to grab a book of CDs from the passenger side floor. "I have a lot of other stuff if you don't like pop."
"What happened to Britney?"
"I'm never living that down, am I?"
I shake my head.
"I listen to a lot of stuff." She hands the booklet to me then reaches for the volume knob.
I stop her. "I'm good with Gwen."
She shoots me an incredulous look.
"She's an Orange County girl. That must speak to you."
Piper laughs. "True. She even has a song called Orange County Girl that mentions the 714 area code." She nods to the booklet. "There might be something else you'd like more."
I flip open the book. "If it will make you feel better, I'll look." It's an eclectic mix, everything from Elvis Costello to Rage Against the Machine to Britney Spears.
Piper taps her fingers against the steering wheel as she pulls out of the parking lot. Slowly, her concentration shifts to her driving. Then she's humming along with the song. Then singing.
I set the collection aside. I can't say I'm the biggest fan of Gwen Stefani's solo career, but I am a fan of this. Piper looks so fucking cute singing along with her CD.
She looks good blond.
Too good.
Like my hands should be tugging at her blond hair as I pin her to the wall and drive my cock deep inside her.
Fuck.
I've got better impulse control than this.
By the time we're sitting at a hole in the wall Vietnamese restaurant, I've managed to shift my thoughts from what Piper looks like coming to what thriller author I'll read next. Gillian Flynn is supposed to be good. With the speed I read, I'll need a new author in a few days, but that's a good thing. Gives me something to think about besides Piper.
She's leaning forward to pore over her menu. Her breasts are about to spill out of her tiny top.
Fuck, the places my mind is going.
I can't think about her like this, period.
Either I get her out of my head, or I get her out of my life.
But I don't want to think about that possibility. It's too ugly.
The server comes by to to take our drink orders. Piper gets an iced coffee. I stick with water. Caffeine will keep me up all night and I don't need any help being up tonight.
Piper sets her menu down. "I'm not sure why I look at these. I always order the same thing."
"Beef pho?"
"Yeah. It's the best option."
"How do you know if it's all you try?"
"I have a great system. I bring friends to Vietnamese restaurants, I convince them to order something else, then I try a bite."
I have to smile. "Sneaky."
She drags her fingertips off the top of my menu then she's pulling it down. Her blue eyes catch mine. "Yes, I really am a bad girl."
I shake my head.
She stares into my eyes. "So you and Ethan, huh?"
Not going there.
She doesn't back down. "You had a threesome with my brother?"
"Does that matter?"
"Only if you kissed him." She doesn't quite sell that she's teasing. Her tone shifts to something serious. "Before?"
"Before what?"
"Was it before you got clean?"
I nod.
"When you were using?"
"Before I got clean, I was always using."
"Oh. Yeah. That makes sense." She taps her fingers against the table. Her gaze darts around the room then it's back on mine. "It doesn't particularly matter to me."
"Why would it? We're friends."
"Still. It could be awkward, all the mental images I now have of you and Ethan double teaming some woman."
I'm not having this conversation with her. I've had a lot of sex in a lot of variations. None of it ever meant anything to me and that includes all the threesomes—I've had a lot, with another guy, with two women, with extra people watching. You wouldn't believe how many men want to watch their girlfriend nail a rock star.
Whatever Piper wants to believe, she is a nice girl, and I'm not going to be the person who changes that.
I nod to the bathroom. "Be back in a minute."
"Sure." She fiddles with her purse.
The bathroom is way in the back and it's stuffed with cleaning supplies and overstock. I use the moment to remind myself that anything that happens between me and Piper is going to end in pain and misery for everyone.
By the time I'm back at the table, I almost believe it.
Piper is sitting cross legged with a paperback play in her hands, scribbling notes in the margins. Her cheeks flush as she scrambles to close the book.
I take my seat. "You going out for a play?"
"No. Just... reading."
"Yeah, I usually highlight one character's lines when I read."
"You read on your Kindle."
"They highlight."
"Which play?" I motion for her to hand over the paperback.
"A Streetcar Named Desire." She sets the paperback on the table. "I'm too young. I won't get cast."
"Doesn't mean you can't try."
She shakes her head. "I have too much to worry about with school. This is community theater and I can't really commit to a rehearsal schedule."
"What about over the summer?"
"Auditions are next week. Rehearsals start the week after. It doesn't work with my finals schedule—"
"Piper."
She drags her eyes from the paperback to me. "Yeah?"
"That's bullshit."
"No. It's true." She grabs the play and slides it into her purse. "There's no point in auditioning. I can't become an actor. I need a practical career."
"Do you love acting?"
"Yes, but..." Her eyes turn down. She recites her words like they're memorized. "I could never be serious about it."
"Why not?"
"I want to do something practical. I don't want to have to rely on anyone else." Her blue eyes fix on mine. "You must have thought about that before you committed to the bass guitar."
I shake my head.
"Yeah, your parents are rich, right?"
"Your parents are rich."
"Not rich, more—"
"Your house is three blocks from the beach," I say.
She laughs. "Okay, how about well-off?"
"Okay, they're well-off."
We're interrupted by the server dropping off Piper's drink and taking our orders.
After the server leaves, Piper takes a long sip of her coffee. She lets out a soft moan.
Damn, the places my mind is going.
"Sorry, it's good." She offers me a sip.
I take it, but I can't say the drink is inspiring any sort of pleasure or desire. The way her cheeks are flushed, the way her eyes are fixed on me—
I pass the drink back. "Your parents could support you while you pursue acting."
"I know." She downs half her drink. "But as long as I take their money or live at their place, I owe them. I have to accept their bullshit and go to dinner with them when they're in town and listen to them talk about their work. I have to pretend like it's okay they don't give a fuck about us."
"You shouldn't let that keep you from what you're passionate about."
"I'm passionate about my parents being out of my life."
"Mal or Ethan would help you out."
"Money always comes with strings."
I can't exactly argue that point. It's admirable that Piper wants to stand on her own two feet, but I hate the idea of her stepping away from her passion because she has a messy relationship with her parents.
I'm not standing back and watching it happen. I make my voice matter of fact. "What do you do in your free time?"
"I know what you're doing."
"Tell me anyway."
She takes another sip of coffee. "I watch TV. I go to yoga. I hang out with my friends. Well, not as much since Rory got a boyfriend, but I still see her sometimes. And my other friends too."
I cock a brow. "What else?"
"Stop it, Kit. I got the point. I don't need any more people telling me what I should do with my life." Her blue eyes flare with frustration. "What's wrong with being practical? What's wrong with wanting to have a nice apartment and enough security to pay your bills? Isn't that as exciting as a career that lights you up inside?"
"No."
"Good thing it's my life and I get to make my own decisions."
"You won't be happy like that."
She frowns but her voice stays even. "You don't know that." She looks up at me, her blue eyes wide and vulnerable.
She's after comfort and not the kind a friend provides.
I want to give her that comfort.
She's not a kid to me, not anymore. She's a woman, and she's a woman I want in my bed. Fuck, I want her spending the night. I want to make her breakfast. I want to be on the other end of the phone when she needs someone to talk to.
I clear my throat. "Does acting light you up inside?"
"Maybe."
"Yes or no?"
She presses her lips together. Her expression screams yes but she admits nothing. "Maybe."
"Yes or no?"
"Yes, okay."
"I remember that feeling of knowing what I wanted to do. It felt fucking amazing."
Her eyes pass over me. "When did you know you wanted to be a musician?"
"The first time I played with Joel."
"That fast?"
"Yeah. We've been friends since we were kids. Joel always wanted to play drums. He got tired of playing alone, so he convinced his mom to buy me a bass. I didn't know the first thing about music, but I thought it could be fun."
"Why not a guitar?"
"The bass and the drums are the rhythm part of the band. They work together more than the guitar or the vocals—they're more the melody. It's not a law, but—"
"You guys were a team."
Fuck. I'm blushing. "It was the first time I felt like I belonged somewhere. The day we finally got through a song, I knew that was what I wanted to do."
"That's sweet. But it doesn't work out for most people the way it did for you."
I can't argue with that.
But I'm not letting her give up on her dreams either.
Somehow, I'm going to change her mind.
Chapter 7
Kit
Piper doesn't fight me about paying. But she does insist on driving me home.
"We're three blocks from the five." She unlocks her car and pulls the driver's side door open. Her eyes fix on mine. "It's barely half an hour to your place."
That's a bullshit explanation, but there's only one part of me that cares. My brain is screaming getting in that car with Piper is trouble. Her outside my apartment building—bigger trouble.
If she invites herself up...
There's no way I can resist Piper once she's in my apartment. The way her light hair is falling over her shoulders is doing things to me.
It's not that I'm hot for blondes. Piper's new look makes it harder to see her as the sixteen year old girl I met three years ago.
Makes it hard to see her as anything but a beautiful woman who wants to fuck Kit Lockhart, the man, not Kit Lockhart, the celebrity.
"Kit?" Her voice is soft. "You okay?"
Fuck, I'm staring. "Yeah."
"You look tired. You should get an iced coffee for the road."
"Sugar isn't the answer to all of life's problems."
"Of course." She motions for me to get in the car. "Caffeine is."
Her earnest laugh does things to me. I want to pin Piper to the wall, tear that tiny top off, and taste her skin. I want to suck on her nipples until her hands are digging into my hair. I want to throw her on the bed, pull her panties to her knees, and taste her cunt.
And I want to make her laugh.
Fuck, it's one thing wanting to make Piper come, but this...
"Kit, don't make me torture you." She leans against the door. "Are you ticklish? I can find out. I'm very thorough."
I get into the passenger's seat
Piper smiles, victorious. She gloats as she slips into her seat, buckles up, and pulls out of the parking lot and onto the freeway.
"If your head gets any bigger, you won't be able to get out of the car," I tease.
She shrugs, nonchalant. "I have no idea what you mean."
"Bullshit."
"Maybe."
I flip through her CDs until I find something that will get her singing along. "You're worse than Ethan."
She laughs. "I know what you're doing."
I switch the CDs and put the case away. "What's that?"
"You're trying to bait me."
I copy her nonchalant shrug.
She laughs, but the second the stereo blares with Britney, she blushes. "I'm not going to sing along."
"Want to bet?"
"Name your terms."
"If you lose, you have to go that audition."
"You really want me to play a woman who has a mental breakdown," she teases. "But fine. If you lose, you have to go to karaoke with me, and you have to sing any song I request."
"Aren't most karaoke places bars?"
"Don't tell me you forgot I'm nineteen." Her eyes meet mine then they're back on the road. "I know places with private rooms, no booze allowed. Unless you can't handle it."
Fuck, the dare in her voice is doing things to me.
My head fills with thoughts of scooping Piper into my arms and setting her on
the kitchen counter. Of her body under mine on that soft leather couch.
Of her in my bed.
Against the wall.
Fuck do I want her moans in my ear.
Her nails digging into my skin.
It's been a long, long time since I've really wanted a woman's pleasure. Since I've reveled in how fucking good it felt to watch a woman come.
I shake my head, but it does nothing to shake off my thoughts. "Deal."
"You're on." She shakes my hand then reaches for the CD player.
I grab her wrist. "You're more honorable than that."
"I have no idea—"
"Changing the CD." I shake my head and let out a mock tsk tsk. "That's nearly cheating."
"Only nearly."
"You sure you don't want to go into law?"
She laughs. "Pretty sure." Her eyes light up as they catch mine then they're back on the road.
She taps her fingers against the steering wheel.
She shifts her hips in time with the beat.
I watch as the music takes hold of her body. She taps her toe. She sways her head. She hums.
It takes three songs for her to break enough to sing the chorus. It takes another verse for her to realize it.
"Shit." She laughs. "I never had a chance, huh?"
"Not one."
"When your body wants something... it's a lot of work to resist." She presses her lips together. "I'm sure you know about that. With recovery and everything."
"Yeah."
"You never talk about it."
"Yeah." I don't like thinking about it.
"But you must have a lot to say after two months on the road. That must be different. And now you're going to be home, in your apartment alone for two weeks. Have you ever done that sober?"
"Piper."
"Yeah?" She squeezes the steering wheel.
"You're a good friend."
"Oh." The joy drops off her face. She shakes it off and looks back to me with a smile. There's something in her eyes. She's figured something out. "I mean, thanks. You are too."
"But I'm still not talking about this."
She nods. "Yeah, right, of course."
She shifts her hips, her knees, her shoulders. But it's not the beat this time. She's sitting on something she wants to say.
I can see it in her blue eyes. She's practically screaming a good friend? Is that all?
Dangerous Crush: A Rock Star Romance (Dangerous Noise Book 2) Page 6
