by Ali Parker
Sliding my sunglasses over my eyes like a douche, since I was still indoors, I grabbed my keys from the half-moon table by the door and headed outside. There was always somewhere else I had to be.
I was lost in thought and not expecting to find Melanie… uh, Madison waiting for me in my driveway.
All remnants of me, who I really was, slipped away as soon as I noticed her presence, and I easily slid into the persona of the world-famous rock star, their Emperor. “This is a surprise. Did you forget something the other day?”
A part of me was worried about why she was back, another part of me was really not in the mood to deal with a freak out, and the last part of me was wondering if our hot new PR agent’s number was already programmed into my phone, in case this turned into the shit show that it had the potential to be.
Madison, however, was surprisingly calm as she stalked toward me. A sharp, bright, pink fingernail scratched down my abs when she reached me. Her eyes were almost level with mine as she dragged her nail over my torso. “I didn’t forget anything. Except maybe round two.”
That fingernail came to a rest where my ribs met beneath my breastbone, and as enticing as I knew it was supposed to be, it was anything but. I stepped back and tried to gauge how to defuse the situation by myself when Madison continued.
“We had so much fun together, you and me. What do you say we give it another go?”
Oh, for heaven’s sake. I couldn’t have been any clearer with her before she left. What was she doing here?
For the first time ever, I wished that I had at least considered Gerry’s advice before putting a down payment on this house.
“Listen to me, kid,” he’d told me. “This place is great. It’s beautiful. It’ll provide fantastic views for your lady friends and random fuckery, but listen to me when I tell you that you’ll get tired of how open it is. Find yourself a nice place with high walls and a big, strong gate.”
Turns out, today was the day that I got tired of it. Madison wasn’t any the wiser, though. No doubt, all she saw was the playboy, badass rock star who didn’t have any real feelings.
And if that was who she wanted, I was more than ready to give it to her. With a cold smile, sunglasses still in place, I cocked my head at her. “Don’t flatter yourself, sweetheart. That’s what I’m here for, to show a woman a good time. You didn’t have to come all the way down here to see me. Even if I never saw you again, I gave you good memories, didn’t I?”
A hurt expression, that had no business there, crossed her face, but she forced another smile and took a step closer to me again. “You did. I feel like you can give me more, though.”
They all wanted sex from me. A vigorous fuck to tell their friends about, and she’d had hers. “What more do you want from me? I gave you the memory of sleeping with someone famous and some pretty decent orgasms if I’m not mistaken. That was all there was to it.”
Her bright blue eyes darkened in insult, but she didn’t give up. “You did, and I appreciated that so much that I thought you might want to do it again.”
No, I didn’t. I hadn’t climbed the same mountain twice in years, and I wasn’t planning on starting now, especially not for her. I was aware of the fact that even though I’d been dubbed the Emperor of Rock, there were also those who referred to me as the Manwhore or Player of Rock, as a slight to my so-called title, but I had earned those, too.
What few people knew, except maybe Caleb, was that I’d actually grown up with a great example of what true love looked like. I just understood that it likely wasn’t going to happen for a man in my position. I’d stopped thinking that maybe it would, and as a result, never allowed myself to get close enough to feel anything for anyone any more.
Besides, I enjoyed sex. I loved the release as much as I thought anyone else did and gave the world exactly what they expected from me. I was having way too much fun to be looking for anything more.
I wasn’t jaded. I hadn’t had my heart broken like Caleb had, and I didn’t simply fuck around because I thought I deserved it, like Nick did. I honestly just loved the lifestyle I’d busted my balls to be able to call mine. I held the world in my hands, and the possibilities were endless. Why wouldn’t I take advantage of them?
“Yeah… No. I don’t want to do it again,” I told her, turning toward my garage to make a quick escape. “I’ve got somewhere to be. Feel free to see yourself home.”
Madison caught my wrist and pulled me against her. “Come on, Jared. We were so great together. I know we could be again. Don’t resist me, baby. Take me inside, and show me how much you missed me.”
Shaking my head, I gently tried to pry my wrist away from her surprisingly strong grip. “Can’t. I really do have somewhere to be, and even if I didn’t, you knew that what happened between us was a one-time thing. You were great, really. But I’d hate to give you the wrong idea.”
Smiling what I hoped was a contrite-looking grin, I reclaimed my arm. The only reason why I was flirting back even a little bit with her was because I honestly didn’t get off on hurting women, but I also needed to make her understand that it was useless coming back here.
“Jared,” she purred, bringing both hands to my black tee and gripping my pecs uncomfortably hard. “Don’t be like that. I promise I’ll make it good for you.”
She actually batted her eyelashes and stared up at me with her blue eyes as if I held the answers to every problem in her universe. I didn’t. I didn’t even have the answers to my own most days. I just fucking winged it.
Whatever it was she was looking for, she wasn’t going to find it here. “I’m sure that you would have. I’m also sure that with an offer like that, you’ll make somebody’s day, possibly even their night, but it’s not going to be mime.”
Hell no. It definitely wasn’t going to be mine.
“But I want you, baby,” she said, her voice becoming more desperate by the second as her hands shot to my arms. “I want you now.”
Careful that I couldn’t be accused of having hurt her later, at least not physically, I clasped her wrists and removed them from my person. It occurred to me that what had started as a flirtatious encounter had turned into a desperate one. “What are you really after here, Madison?”
A lot of people assumed that I was ignorant, stupid, or just plain oblivious, but I wasn’t. I just chose to let them believe what they wanted to, and while I didn’t give a fuck about what was going on with Madison, I needed for her to turn her desperation elsewhere. Pronto.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m after you, Jared.”
Of course, that was obvious, but my gut was telling me that it was something more. It was, however, not my problem to figure out what that was.
“And I told you, I’m not interested. You’ve had your shot, Madison. You pretended to know a lot about my reputation, in which case, you knew that it was the only shot you were going to get.”
Her blue eyes went glassy, and her shoulders dropped before she visibly rallied and pushed ahead. “I did, yes, but you were so good to me. Please, Jared?”
The blatant desperation in her tone now was a serious turnoff, as was the fact that she was suddenly begging me for it. As much as I hated to do it, my voice turned rough, and I took yet another step away from her. “Please, Jared, what?”
“You know what. I’m asking you to make love me to me again.”
Make love? We did a lot of things that day, but that wasn’t one of them. I’d needed the release, the human connection, and she’d been right there with me. I really didn’t understand what this was all about.
“That’s not happening. I’m late to an appointment, and frankly, I think you knew that you were taking a long shot coming all the way out here.”
Madison’s eyes weren’t blank or stupid, which meant that she had, in fact, known exactly what she was getting into and that she’d been taking a chance coming here today.
She twirled a lock of hair between her thumb and forefinger, her eyes pleading. “I did know that
it was a long shot, but I thought that there was something between us. Don’t tell me that you didn’t feel it? Please, Jared. Be honest with me.”
Her tone matched her eyes. Eww. Begging didn’t do it for me. Not outside of, Please, let me come, Jared, when I was in bed with a chick anyway. “Fine, I’ll be honest with you, but you might not like what you hear. I like confident, sexy women. I hate beggars like you.”
Madison looked as surprised as if a clown had jumped out from behind me to slap her, or if a mariachi band had jumped out to proclaim my feelings, or lack thereof, toward her. “I’m not a beggar.”
“On the contrary, honey. You might not have been, but you definitely are right now. Which means that whatever minuscule chance you might have had with me again, you just blew it.”
“I have no chance with you?” Her eyes lit up, fury replacing the desperation in a way that would have gotten me going if not for our situation. Well, probably. Passion of any kind was something that I loved in a girl.
“Your minuscule chance at getting with me again,” I repeated, in case she needed further clarification. “It’s not happening. At this point, the only thing that you’re doing is embarrassing yourself. Please don’t do that on my behalf. I’m not worth it. Get going, Madison. That’s what I need to do.”
I figured that our conversation was over, and I had already allowed her to get in the one slap she’d deserved, so I turned away from her and headed to my garage. Suddenly, I wasn’t in the mood for the SUV that I was holding the keys to, but something that could give me more of a thrill, and banish that waste of time of an encounter from my mind.
Luckily, there was a gleaming new Aston Martin sitting on the tiles of my four-car garage, and I went to fetch its keys from the hook instead. Sliding onto the cream leather seat, I tried my best to lose myself in the purr of her engine and the soft grip of the smooth leather that covered her steering wheel.
I didn’t activate my security system every day, something that was a great thorn in the side of my management team, as well as my bandmates, but I made sure to click the remote that day, even waiting until I heard the siren that indicated that it was on.
Madison was still there in my driveway, arms folded, eyes narrowed as she watched me leave in the sports car, and I didn’t want her doing anything to my house, or god forbid, be in it when I got home.
My tires squealed on my paving stones as I got the hell out of dodge and left Madison glowering in my wake. I wasn’t an animal, contrary to popular belief. I did actually have feelings—from time to time, anyway.
Part of me was worried about her and why she’d been acting the way that she was when she clearly knew that there had been no chance, but the far larger part of me was contemplating why women so often pretended to enjoy one-night stands when they were, more often than not, so hung up about them afterward.
I wasn’t a chauvinist, and I never had been. In fact, I fully supported a woman’s right to do what she wanted to, and I fucking adored it when what she wanted to do was me. But what puzzled me was why some women, like Madison back there, engaged in casual sex at all when they weren’t able to separate the physical from the emotional.
Why would anyone put themselves through that? It was always sad when women didn’t know when to let go. For all that I knew, men in the same situation were the same way, but I wasn’t qualified to talk about that or to even think about it, so I let it go.
Contemplating the sad realities of unrequited expectations, I realized that perhaps the most important element of perfecting the great one-night stand was the ability to recognize it for what it was and not to think it was anything more.
If there was one thing I was an expert at, it was that.
CHAPTER 6
ALICIA
The door to my office burst open unexpectedly, and of course, the person who walked through it was the devastatingly handsome man I was trying my best not to think about. I blinked when Jared appeared in my doorway, more than a little surprised that he was here.
I managed to compose myself quickly, set down the pencil I was marking documents with for my review of venues for the next tour, crossed my legs and arms, and arched a brow at Mr. Larsen.
“To what do I owe the pleasure? I heard our meeting had to be pushed back to a couple days from now, so I know it’s not that. What is it that I can do for you, Jared?”
He appeared to be amused by my question, and he certainly didn’t offer any context for his amusement. Instead, he pursed those full lips and stared back at me.
“I was supposed to be meeting with the band a couple of days from now, supposedly thanks to some scheduling errors,” I said when he remained in my doorway and stayed silent.
Jared sauntered into my office without being invited in and sank into one of the wooden chairs in front of my desk. He leaned back in it as if the place belonged to him, hooked his right ankle over his left knee, brought his hand to rest over where his toes were in his black sneakers, and lifted his gaze to mine.
“I thought we might have gotten off on the wrong foot, and I wanted a do-over.” He smirked a bit at the mention of a do-over, and I couldn’t help but wonder why. I didn’t know Jared, but it seemed true to form that he didn’t offer an explanation.
“We didn’t,” I told him. “I’m perfectly happy meeting with your entire band in a couple of days, when your practice and rehearsal slows down some, and I’m more settled in.”
Jared sat perfectly still, unnaturally so, even. “Practice is taking longer than we’d thought, so I thought I should come down here and give you the heads up, maybe let you buy me lunch for the way that you ogled my ass the other day.”
I hadn’t had the opportunity to ogle his ass the first time I’d met him, though I had little doubt that I would have if the opportunity had presented itself. “I didn’t check out your ass. You never even had your back turned toward me.”
“Oh.” He laughed, the sound making both my stomach and my sex clench in a way that was entirely inappropriate. “That must have been me checking out your ass, then.”
There was no way. “You checked out my ass?”
Smirking, he nodded, not in the least bit embarrassed. “I guess that means I owe you lunch. You ready to go?”
A short, abrupt peal of laughter escaped me at his assumption that I’d go with him, and I couldn’t help but notice Jared’s satisfied expression at my laughter.
“Just so you know, PR agent or not, I wouldn’t have gone to lunch with you, but thanks for the offer.”
Jared looked crestfallen, but I knew that he was faking it when he clutched at his heart in mock hurt. “My poor ego. It’s going to curl up and die from the way that you keep shutting us down.”
“I’m sure that it’s big enough to withstand a couple of knocks from the likes of me.” My laughter was barely suppressed, but I was also being honest.
Jared’s expression was playful, his soulful brown eyes filled with amused arrogance. “It’s plenty big enough, I assure you. You’re welcome to do whatever you want to it, but just for the record, knocking isn’t encouraged.”
Can the guy say anything without it sounding sexual? I was grateful that this wasn’t my first rodeo, and that I could give as good as I got. “The record shall reflect that knocking is too rough for your… fragile ego.”
The humor in Jared’s eyes intensified, and I was sure that lesser women had melted under that look. I prided myself on being able to withstand these types of guys, but if he kept looking at me like that, my panties were signing their own weekend pass and going with him.
“My… ego can deal with rough. Why don’t you let me worry about that?”
“Because that’s my job, Mr. Larsen. I worry about whatever that ego of yours gets you into.” Both of us knew that I had long since stopped talking about his ego, but Jared seemed to play along.
“It’s Mr. Larsen now? Let’s stick to Jared and Alicia, shall we? I’ve always hated unnecessary formality.”
“
Your wish is my command. Jared it is, then.”
“Well, well, well.” He rubbed his hands together, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Tell me more about these wishes.”
I heaved a playful, exaggerated sigh. “I’m here to proverbially clean up after you, so the wishes are up to you, but please try to think about the fact that I love sleep before you make them come true.”
“I don’t know what you mean. I’m always on my best behavior.” The grin on his face directly contradicted his words.
“Your best behavior leaves something to be desired then. Maybe we should start there.”
“Have you been stalking me, Alicia?” he asked, arching a dark brow, but looking genuinely interested in my answer.
“If you want to call my job being a professional stalker, then yes. Considering that I get paid to know about your behavior, I would only call it being good at my job.”
“Point taken,” he said. “I’m assuming Gerry told you about the Ford Anglia incident. That seems to be one of his go-to stories about us.”
“He did,” I answered honestly. If I was going to get to know these guys and get them to trust me the way I needed them to so I could do my job properly, I was going to be as honest with them as I needed them to be with me.
Jared wasn’t going to let me off that easy, though. “Did he also tell you about the time Nick and I were photographed in a hot tub with nine naked Victoria’s Secret models? Or about the time Brad had to pretend to be gay to get a stubborn, particularly insistent girl to leave my room?”
I saw what he was doing. In a way, it was no different than Gerry’s tests when I’d first met with him. Jared was asking whether I was comfortable dealing with their sexual exploits. “I hadn’t heard about those things, but thank you for telling me. We’ll need to be open with one another going forward.”
“If you want open, I can give you that,” he told me, his lips curling up into a grin that signaled trouble. “Matt once accidentally nailed our producer’s much younger wife, and Caleb spent an entire tour taking his blue balls out on Brad. Nick still swears that he got chlamydia from a koala bear that he held for a photo shoot when we were down under, and I narrowly avoided becoming a cliché in Vegas by marrying a stripper whose rack I swore was made of gold.”
