Twenty minutes into our first game and I was sitting in the corner, winded and watching the two men playing like pros. For Cecil, that was the truth. He had been playing for most of his life. Shane, on the other hand, had openly admitted to not playing much racquetball. He was naturally athletic and after stumbling for a few minutes, he’d picked it up like he had been born playing.
He sure was giving my stepdad a workout. Cecil was enjoying the challenge, laughing and teasing Shane. I could feel him warming to the rock star with each passing minute. Shane seemed to be having a good time too. He had relaxed considerably since we had first arrived. I thought it was adorable that he had been nervous, if that really had been the case.
Half an hour later and the men were shaking hands. Cecil had won, but I wondered if Shane had let him have the victory. Actually, I was sure of it when Cecil ribbed him about it and Shane caught my eye and winked. My heart melted a little, loving that he had taken my stepfather’s feelings into account like that.
“Loser has to buy dinner,” Cecil informed him, dropping his racket into his bag before wiping his face with a towel. “I’m starving. Kicking your ass has given me a big appetite.”
“Absolutely,” Shane readily agreed. “I have a change of clothes in my locker upstairs. Beautiful, do you need to go home and change?”
There he went again, calling me beautiful. I didn’t know if I liked it or not, but I wasn’t going to ask him to stop. When he used that term of endearment, I almost felt like it was true. “No, I have a change of clothes in my locker too.”
Cecil rubbed his hands together. “Good! Let’s hit the showers.”
Dinner was maybe one of my favorite meals ever that evening. Shane took us to one of Manhattan’s exclusive restaurants. We didn’t have to wait to be seated, and our table was one of the best in the entire dining room. I guess Shane was trying to impress Cecil, and he did that in abundance. My stepdad might not be a snob, but he had expensive taste. He had been born into the world of money and had more than tripled his family’s fortune since taking over for his father twenty years ago.
I wasn’t exactly comfortable in the big money world. I didn’t like that lifestyle and had witnessed that it wasn’t exactly the road to happiness. But with Shane there, looking down his nose at all the money bags shooting us questioning glances, I felt like I belonged.
When dessert arrived I dug in with fervor. I’d be hitting the gym first thing the next morning, but it would be worth every miserable second of thigh burning torture for just a mouthful of the decadent dessert I had ordered.
“That looks good,” Shane said, staring down at my chocolate mousse. “Can I have a bite?”
I glanced over at his dish of some kind of torte. “Only if I can have a bite of yours.”
He grinned. “Okay.” He lifted a spoonful of the cake that was filled with whipped cream, nuts, and some kind of jam. “At the same time,” he suggested, and I lifted a spoonful of my moose.
It was a very intimate thing to do, feeding each other dessert like we were. I was glad that Cecil had excused himself to take a call from work. My body felt like it was afire as I watched Shane’s mouth open and his lips close around the spoon. I felt a little dizzy and wasn’t paying attention as he put his own spoon to my lips.
Belatedly, I opened my mouth to accept the bite, but some of the whipped cream smeared at the corner. I licked it away and heard Shane mutter a groan filled curse. “Dammit, Harper. I can’t sit here and watch you do things like that without hurting.”
I chewed and swallowed my mouthful of torte, giving myself time to figure out how I wanted to respond to his confession. “I’m sorry,” was the only response my overheated brain could come up with, however.
“I’m going to kiss you goodnight tonight,” he threatened, leaning toward me. “And you are going to kiss me back.”
I couldn’t have responded if I wanted to. My brain wasn’t cooperating enough to think of what to say.
Luckily, Cecil came back from taking care of his business call. Unfortunately, he had to say goodnight. A situation that required his attention had come up and he had to fly to London on the redeye. “Sorry to cut the night short, baby cakes.” He kissed my temple. “I’ll call you in a few days, okay?”
“Be careful. Don’t work too hard.” I hugged him close for a moment, always hating to tell him goodbye when I knew he was going to be gone for a while. “Love you, C.C.”
He chuckled at the old nickname I had given him when I was a little girl. “Love you more, Harpie.” I frowned at his revenge nickname for me. “Take care of my girl, Shane,” Cecil said, shaking the rocker’s hand.
“I will, sir,” Shane promised with sincerity. “Have a safe trip.”
I now knew what other guys were talking about when they said it was a nightmare meeting a girl’s parents for the first time. I had been nearly shaking in my sneakers when Harper introduced me to her stepdad.
He was a cool guy and we hit it off. Of course it helped that I had let the man win then filled his belly with expensive steak and even pricier bourbon. I liked Cecil Calloway, and he got top scores for treating Harper so gently.
But I was more than happy to shake his hand goodbye after dinner. I was ready for some quiet time with Harper. I ached to taste her lips again, and that ache was only growing more painful as the evening proceeded. Dessert had been pure torture!
With the bill and generous tip taken care of, I took my girl’s hand and we headed out. We were almost out the door when I noticed someone sitting at a corner table with some model that was making a name for herself lately. When he spotted me he raised his hand and waved me over.
Knowing I had to speak to the guy, I tugged Harper toward the couple.
“I thought you were ready to go?”
“I have to say hello to someone.” I gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “Then I’m taking you home and kissing you.”
I thought I felt her shiver, and my dick twitched against the fly of my dress pants. I pulled her closer as we reached the other table, trying to disguise my instant reaction to the beautiful creature that had me in her snare, as well as to protect her from the man I was about to introduce her to.
“Stevenson!” Rich Branson greeted us with his megawatt smile. He really needed to stop going to the dentist so much to get his teeth whitened. “How has New York been treating you, man?”
I shook his hand. Technically, Rich was Demon’s Wings manager but Emmie was the one that handled all our tour dates and everything else. Since Axton had dropped OtherWorld’s contract in the spring, Demon’s Wings was Rich’s biggest client. Emmie worked her ass off to take care of us, while Rich sat back and played with all the money we brought in for him. The guys and I had been talking about dropping our contract at the end of the year when it came up for renewal.
“It’s been good,” I told the man honestly. “Drake seems to like his new gig.”
“Good, good.” Rich hadn’t been all that enthusiastic about Drake signing on with
The model sitting at the table cleared her throat, making it sound delicate. I turned my gaze in her direction and nearly rolled my eyes at the way she was sizing me up. Knowing that she wanted my attention, I ignored her and introduced Harper instead. “This is my girl, Harper. Beautiful, this is Rich Branson. He manages the band.”
“Hello, Mr. Branson.” She offered her hand and I gritted my teeth as Rich latched on.
“What’s a nice girl like you doing with Stevenson?” Rich laughed, trying to tug Harper closer. “You should dump him and come talk to me.”
Harper pulled her hand free. “I’d rather cut your throat and watch you bleed.” Her sweet tone mixed with her feisty words made me hard as a rock. I pulled her back against my chest. Unable to mask my amusement the way I did my sudden raging erection, I laughed.
“Ah, another one,” Rich murmured, reaching for his scotch, not at all amused by the rejection.
“Another one?” Harper raised a brow at him.
“Emmie, Layla, Lana.” Rich shrugged his thin shoulders. “Beautiful on the outside, pure bitch on the inside.”
I tensed, ready to rip the guy’s head off for daring to call my girl a bitch when Harper laughed. “You think I’m
