Relish: A Vicious Feast Book 2 (23 page)

He stared out to a far off place, the towel in his hand touching his lips. It was like he’d reached up to wipe the sweat off his face when a thought hit him and he hit pause on everything. I zoomed in, catching his profile. Damp curls clung to his forehead and the back of his neck. His shirt molded over the contours of his body. I caught a glimpse of the bar on his nipple. My mouth watered, and as I swallowed, heat pooled in my belly.
God, thank you for making this magnificent specimen of a man.

Pushing aside my desire to make room for my curiosity, I inched forward. I skirted the rest of the band to get to where he stood. With everyone else busy discussing post show plans, I managed to make it to Luka’s side without him noticing. He seemed to stare at a corner. When I followed his line of sight, I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just some discarded posters from past concerts. That was until my gaze landed on the one at the far left side. Raging Pistols. The band all wore white suits with red roses on their lapels. Right in the middle stood Graham.
Ah crap.

I needed to defuse the situation before it escalated. So, with as calm a voice as I could muster, I said, “Great concert.” I had to act natural. Like I hadn’t seen a poster with the guy who attacked me in an alley. My voice didn’t seem to reach him the first time. So I continued, “I thought you wanted to debut a new song tonight?”

Maybe they did and I just wasn’t paying attention during the latter half to notice. Still, Luka remained silent. All activity seemed to cease around us. My gaze darted to Yana. She mouthed “What” to me and I pointed at the poster. Demitri cursed under his breath. Phoenix tucked herself against his side, her still sweaty face scrunched in concern.

No one moved until Dray broke away from the group and picked up the poster. Luka sucked in a breath. My gaze darted from him to Dray, who took great pleasure in tearing it up. Because of its size, the act took him much longer. But instead of just ripping the thing apart, he methodically destroyed it. One strip at a time. The sound of ripping poster paper was the only real sound besides the roaring in my ears.

Once the poster resembled confetti on the floor, everyone breathed easier. Luka covered his face with the towel. His entire body shook. Dray walked back to the group and shared a high five with Phoenix. Yana moved toward us. I raised my hand. She paused, blinking at me. Getting what I’d meant, faster than I did, Demitri touched Yana on the shoulder and hiked his thumb toward the tunnel that would lead to the dressing rooms. Yana hesitated. It took Phoenix tugging her away to get her moving. Dray helped distract her by asking some question I didn’t hear. I understood her concern for Luka, but my gut told me I needed to be the one with him. The one who would pull him out of this.

Finally alone with Luka, I didn’t quite know what to do at first. Should I touch him? Should I speak? I shifted my weight from one foot to another. My camera swayed with the movement. I wanted to take a picture of his vulnerability, but at the back of my mind it felt like an invasion of his privacy. So I left it to dangle from its strap around my neck.

A photographer who refused to take a picture. Where’d the sudden onset of morals come from? I sighed. It couldn’t be helped. The way he looked before he covered himself with the towel, his brow lowered and lips in a tight line, it seemed like emotions warred for supremacy inside him. Like he wanted to do something but he wasn’t sure what exactly.

Making a snap decision, I reached out and touched his arm. The muscle there jumped beneath my palm. Holding the towel in place with one hand, he circled my waist with the other arm and pulled me closer. I came to him willingly. He dropped the towel and buried his face in my neck. Automatically, my hands reached up and held on to his wide shoulders from behind. Like I was hanging off a cliff and to let go meant falling. Did I want to fall? His delicious scent enveloped me completely. I’d been right the first time. Sweat didn’t take away from how Luka smelled. It enhanced the experience. I inhaled him greedily.

We didn’t move for the longest time. The crowd shuffling toward the exit became the soundtrack to our moment. At some point I couldn’t tell anymore who held whom. All I knew was our hearts beat against each other. His was a steady pulse against the fluttering speed of mine.

“There’s this pub,” he whispered.

I giggled. His breath tickled the sensitive skin on my neck. He stiffened against me, driving me to clarify my reaction. Adding a gentle massage to the back of his neck helped him relax again.

“So, you were saying,” I encouraged. “There’s a pub…”

“Yeah.” He placed a kiss on my pulse. I barely kept the moan inside my mouth. If he continued, we’d soon be finding ourselves in a compromising situation right here. Thankfully his next words allowed me to focus on something other than the slow burn he ignited in my body. “It’s a place I like to go to after a concert here. I want to take you there.”

He pulled back to look me in the eye. My body missed the weight of his already even if we were only inches apart. I grinned at his too serious expression.

“This isn’t your attempt at getting me drunk, is it?” I teased.

I realized my mistake when his gaze darkened. He twisted to glance at the decimated poster. Acting fast, I cupped his face with my hands and turned him back to look at me.

“I’m right here.” I stood on my toes and peppered his face with kisses. The salt of his sweat intoxicated me more than a million pints of Guinness. I could get drunk on him any day and not regret it in the morning.

Luka let the kisses continue, closing his eyes so I could get at his eyelids. I kissed away the crease of his brow. I used my lips to smoothen out the valley his eyebrows coming together created. I eased the deep lines at the sides of his lips. Only when I knew his entire face lost its frown did I go in for the kill.

It thrilled me that he didn’t take charge of the kiss. He let me explore his mouth, playfully touching his tongue with mine but nothing more than that. He chuckled when I grazed the roof of his mouth, crushing me closer to his body to keep his balance without breaking contact. I flicked at his tongue ring, reveling in its hardness against the soft surface surrounding it.

I must have kissed him for a good ten minutes and no one bothered us. God knew what the staff that passed us by on the way to do whatever task they were assigned thought. If Luka didn’t care then I shouldn’t freak out about it. I already avoided the Web because of the hateful comments Luka saving me produced. A picture of us in each other’s arms leaking wouldn’t make a difference. At least I’d like to think so.

When my teeth accidentally banged against his, reducing us to a laughing fit, Luka regained his composure first. He took my hands in his, kissing them in turn, then said, “So, the pub?”

A drunken smile tugged on my lips. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

I expected him to make light of the situation as I had or be vague. Instead he surprised me by nodding, an earnest expression on his beautiful face. A soft flush crested his cheekbones and the bridge of his nose. Touched to the deepest core of me, I brushed away the curls that persistently clung to his forehead. I wanted to stay in this moment with him. Screw the rest of the world. The answer was clear.

Yes, I wanted to fall.

“Well?” he asked when I didn’t respond fast enough.

My half-smile turned into a full one. I raised a finger. “First, you’re taking a shower and getting into some clean clothes. This whole sweaty look isn’t working for you.” I lied through my teeth.

“I’m taking that as a yes.” The sexy grin I’d been waiting for finally made an appearance.

“If you don’t, you and me will have a problem.”

He kissed my hand again. It was the briefest, sweetest touching of soft lips against my palm. It captured my heart completely.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-S
IX
D
ATE

With the rest of the band leaving before us, we had no paparazzi following our movements. My relief came in a quick and unabashed sigh. I may even have touched the center of my chest. Luka rolled his eyes at my antics but said nothing. His relaxed manner told me he felt as relieved as I did. We stood outside the green room while he shrugged on his jacket over a navy blue sweater and distressed jeans. I struggled with my scarf, my hands shaking a bit. I was going on a date with Vicious bassist Luka Visraya. My head swam.

Noticing my distress, he took the scarf from my hands. I looked up in time for him to stand over me, a teasing glint in those blue eyes I could stare into for hours on end. He folded the scarf in half then swung it behind my neck until the velvety fabric hung over my shoulders. A couple of deft flicks of his wrists later, he had the cashmere Silvia had picked out for me on our snowy day shopping trip snuggly wrapped around my neck over my camera. Heat suffused my cheeks, in awe of how seriously he took arranging a scarf on me. Just when I thought he would step away, satisfied I was protected against the unforgiving Ireland night air, he fisted the lapels of my jacket and pulled me into a searing kiss. Quick, but hot. When he returned me to my feet, I resisted the urge to fan myself. Well, that was one way to keep me all nice and toasty. He nodded once as if reading my thoughts then gestured for Eli to lead the way.

He turned to follow only to stop a couple of steps away. I hadn’t moved from my spot. My hand flew up to my lips, still damp from our previous contact. He looked back and reached out a hand for me.

“You’re not having second thoughts, are you?” he asked.

No matter how playful his tone may be, I still heard the guarded insecurity behind his words. Did he actually think I would bail on him? Hell to the no! To prove my point, I widened my stance and placed my fists on my hips.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily,” I said with a half-grin that both challenged and charmed. At least, I hoped it did.

I thought I saw sparkles around his head when he smiled widely at me. A full on Luka smile? It stunned me how innocent and young he looked right then. With quick reflexes, I brought up my camera and captured the moment. His smile softened. I frowned.

“Did I do something wrong?” I hated the uncertainty in my voice. If he asked me to delete the picture, I would.

“No.” He shook his head. “I just love watching you take pictures. You get so serious and in control. It’s scary.”

“Scary?” I scratched my head through the beanie I wore. “Should I be insulted?”

He came closer and bent down until his lips touched my ear. “I should say, it’s scary how sexy I think it is.”

Forget all the blushes I’d had so far. This one beat them hands down. All the blood rushed to my head. My heart hammered so hard I thought it would leap out of my chest. When Luka turned on the charm, he slayed everything in his path…including me.

Eli cleared his throat from somewhere.

Embarrassed, I pressed my burning forehead against Luka’s chest. “I don’t think we’ll make it to the pub if you keep doing this to me.”

He chuckled briefly. His fingers trailed down my arm until they laced with my own. The heat gathering between our palms made me aware of other parts of my body dying for his attention.       

“Say the word and we’ll head back to the hotel.”

My heart skipped at the glint in his eyes. He was serious. If I gave in to my baser instincts, we’d be back at the hotel before I could say yes. I already knew sex with Luka would be mind-blowing. The way his kisses alone revved up my body into acute awareness told me so. If last night was any indicator, Luka would be crawling into my bed. Access to him wouldn’t be hard.

As tempting as sex with him sounded, a date was a novelty all on its own. With our schedule? Between traveling to the next tour stop, rehearsals and sound check, and my own work, who knew when we’d get a chance to slip away? This wasn’t counting the paparazzi and the fans.

Steeling my insides against his magnetic pull, I stared into his eyes and said, “Let’s go see this pub of yours.”

***

The brick and mortar façade of the pub blended in with the other buildings on either side of it, tucked away on a quiet street south of the arena. An all caps neon sign spelled out Bailey’s in green. Luka didn’t wait for Eli to open his door when we arrived. Keeping his fingers firmly laced with mine, he slipped out of the SUV and tugged me along with him. A gust of wind forced us to rush in, eliciting an uncharacteristic giggle from me.

Luka gaped. “Whoa!”

“What?” My fingers instinctively reached for my patch. Its velvety dome still in place, I had no idea what the rock star beside me was staring at. I refused to move until he spoke again.

“It’s just,” he unfurled the scarf, the tips of his fingers tracing along the column of my neck, “I’ve never heard you giggle before.”

Damn that charming smile and his chaste touches. I snorted, forcing down the rising blush. Enough! I was made of sturdier stuff than this.

“Should we wait to be seated?” I looked around the simple entryway.

“Luka!” A woman with flaming red hair sashayed toward us. She wore a half apron over faded jeans. Her black T-shirt stretched over massive boobs. To say she was curvy underestimated the full package.

It was my turn to gape when Luka opened his arms and welcomed her into a tight hug. Her massive breasts crushing against his chest summoned the ugly jealousy monster. My eyebrows smashed together so hard I thought my face would freeze that way.

The dark aura surrounding me mustn’t have been hard to miss because Luka stepped out of the hug and gestured toward the woman. “Dakota, let me introduce you to Gwen. She makes the best Steak and Guinness Pie in all of Ireland.”

Red-haired Betty Boop poked him in the belly. “In all of the UK,” she said in a thick, lilting accent. It vaguely reminded me of Graham’s when he was drunk. I pushed away those thoughts and focused on the woman pawing at my man. “This one here’s been coming since before he was famous. How’s the show?”