a carefree smile.
Dev was sitting on a sofa, casually strumming an acoustic guitar as if he hadn’t busted her world apart last night. She took in his dark jeans, his studded belt and bare torso. Against her will, her eyes fell from his broad shoulders to the light hair on his pecs. To her fury, she felt a jolt shoot straight to her clit. How could she possibly still be attracted to him after what he’d done?
Kiki pulled her iPhone out of her handbag. She’d been planning to put on a bit of a show—look at him under long lashes, slide a hand suggestively up her thigh to remind him of what he’d never have again—but now that she was here it was all she could do to stay upright. Her emotions had her in complete turmoil. For the first time ever, she found herself wishing for the game-playing revenge skills she knew some women possessed. “Uh,” she began awkwardly. “We didn’t have time to do a post before last night’s show. A quick shot of you on your guitar is fine.” She lifted her phone, ready to take the picture and make a dash for the door, but Dev put his instrument aside and walked over to her.
“I can’t get my photo taken,” he said, stopping right inside her personal space. “I’m not even dressed.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, willing them not to drop to his chest, his biceps...the same body he’d shared with someone else last night. Fuck him. He’d known she was in the next room, and whatever their relationship may or may not be, what he’d done was downright cruel. Worse, he’d ruined the memory of their one beautiful night together. To Kiki’s horror, she felt tears spring to her eyes. She blinked them back furiously and held her phone up in front of Dev’s face. “Then tell your manager that—he requested it.”
Dev flicked his gaze to the text from Bix: Get Dev in his DR for snap. “Bix would have me promoting myself while I sat on the toilet if he could,” Dev responded.
“Have it your way.” She was turning toward the door when Dev caught her by the arm.
“Hey—”
Kiki ripped out of his grip. “Do not fucking touch me!” She was shaking with a fury she didn’t even know she had in her. Dev’s face registered shock as she backed away from him. “I actually thought you were a great guy. To think that—that I had feelings for you! That I actually thought our night together was something special!”
“Kiki—”
“And then you fuck someone in the room right beside me? And you don’t even have the decency to keep it quiet? You knew I was next door! Jesus Christ! I was so wrong about you!”
“But I—”
“Groupie days behind you? As if! Maybe you can fool yourself into thinking you’ve changed, but it’s pretty obvious that once you’re back on the road you haven’t! How can you even—?”
“Kiki, please! Stop! I was an asshole, okay? I went too far.” She paused her tirade long enough to see that he had real regret in his face—as if that could make a difference. “Yes, you did, and you’re despicable,” she spat as her walkie-talkie blared to life.
“Thirty minutes,” came a male voice from her back pocket. Kiki pulled the device out. “Copy that,” she said, and then she shoved it away again and went for the door handle.
“Wait. Please.” Dev’s voice was pleading. “It was stupid. I just... I don’t know, I thought it might remind you what you were missing out on.”
The fucking audacity. Her jaw dropped as she turned back to him. He was looking down at his cell phone, swiping at the screen furiously. “What I was missing out on?”
“Yeah. Here.” Dev hit a button on his phone and held it up. On the screen was a bird’s-eye view of a woman straddling a man, going for it full throttle. And the sex sounds were the exact same ones she’d heard last night. “It was a movie,” he said sheepishly. “I might have cranked the volume up a bit. It was a total jackass thing to do.”
“You...?” Kiki brought a hand up to her mouth as her mind busily reordered everything she’d believed. So he hadn’t slept with anyone, but—“You tried to trap me?”
“I just wanted to know if you care, okay? I’m so—Jesus Christ, Kiki! I’m so fucking frustrated!” He punched his phone through the air.
Kiki wasn’t sure if it was because of relief or anger, but the tears she’d been holding back started spilling over. She did care—of course she did. And it had never been more apparent than in the past ten minutes. “So am I, Dev. And I...” A tear tracked down her cheek. He reached out and traced it with a finger, and then he slipped a hand under her chin. His eyes probed her face.
“What is it?” he asked.
Kiki’s chest filled with emotion. His voice was so gentle, gentle enough to make her want to spill all her secrets. She couldn’t do that, but she also couldn’t deny her desire for him any longer.
Standing on tiptoe, she reached up and pressed her lips to his. His mouth stayed firm for a moment, like he was waiting to see if she was really sure about this. And that just made her want him more. That he hadn’t made a move on her. That he’d been totally respectful of her, even if he couldn’t help what might have gone on in his pants. And that he’d gone about trying to prove her feelings for him in such a ridiculous, juvenile way.
She broke away from him and started laughing. Dev looked at her in surprise, and then he started laughing with her. He picked her up and lifted her off the floor, burying his face in her hair. “Jesus, Strawberry, what are you doing to me?”
“I don’t know, but I seriously need to get off this emotional roller coaster.”
He brought his forehead to hers. “You don’t need to ride it anymore,” he whispered. “All you need to do is let this happen.”
Then his mouth was on hers, confident this time. And so hungry for her, as if he were wrapping all the longing and uncertainly of the past five weeks into one perfect kiss. Hard and demanding, and yet soft at the same time. She brought her legs around his hips, pressing her body into his as if she could meld them into one. The bare skin of his chest felt heavenly against her. She opened up to him, making a ravenous sound in her throat as he bit at her lips with increasing urgency.
“I thought I’d never get to do this again,” he whispered hoarsely into her mouth. “Do you have any idea how much I’ve dreamed of you?”
His words were sweet music to Kiki’s ears. All the reasons she thought they couldn’t be together fell away into the abyss of their passion. “I couldn’t stay away from you if my life depended on it,” she rasped, throwing her head back as she dissolved under his touch. Dev’s tongue trailed down her neck. Still holding her around him with one arm, he made an animal sound when his other hand found her breast. She could feel his erection pressing into her groin. She forced herself not to rub against it like a desperately horny fifteen-year-old. “I’ll make you late,” she breathed.
“We’ve got plenty of time,” Dev replied, applying just enough pressure with his hips to make her lose her mind. “If I can’t walk on that stage tonight smelling like you, I’m not going on at all.”
“Then I guess you’ll have to cancel,” she teased.
“Are you really prepared to be responsible for disappointing fifty thousand
