The Rocker That Loves Me

much you like lemon gelato.”

The fake smile was replaced with a real one. “I was?”

I nodded. “And I was about to tell you that I know the best place in this one horse town that serves it.”

The smile turned into a full on grin. Gods! That grin was enough to undo me every time I saw it. “I’m not sure if I want lemon. Maybe I want chocolate.”

“Because chocolate is boring. Just like vanilla and strawberry are boring. But lemon? With the mixture of bitterly tart and sugary sweet? That’s just about perfect.”

Her cheeks filled with a pretty pink. I watched in complete fascination as she looked away from me and swallowed hard. My dick pulsed against the fabric of my jeans where it lay against my thigh. Well, shit! Who knew talking about gelato would make me nearly come in my pants?

Her phone vibrated again, keeping me from embarrassing myself in a freaking Chinese restaurant. Muttering a curse she sent the call to voicemail before turning it off and tossing it into her purse. “Sorry. She isn’t going to leave me alone.”

“It’s not a problem for me,” I assured her.

“Maybe not, but it is for me.” She reached for her water glass and took a long swallow. When she put it back down I found myself unable to look away as her tongue drifted out of that sinfully perfect mouth of hers to lick away a stray drop.

I nearly stroked out just watching her!

Yeah, I was positive. Getting this chick into my bed was going to be so much fun!

She was simply fun to be with. Being comfortable enough with her to find myself laughing and sharing some things that I didn’t normally share with anyone outside my band brothers and Emmie, that was just a plus.

After dinner we grabbed a cab and went the thirty or more blocks to get the gelato. When she ordered the lemon with a devilish grin, I nearly came in my jeans for the second time that night. We ate outside at one of the sidewalk tables. The street lights added a kind of mystical appeal to the night.

Halfway through our dessert, Harper pulled her camera from her purse and snapped a picture of me. I wasn’t expecting it and for a moment I thought it was actually one of the paparazzi. When I realized it was her I sighed with relief. It wasn’t that I was shy of the paparazzi. I just didn’t want them disrupting one of the best nights out I had ever had with a girl.

She laughed when she looked down at the camera after taking the picture. “Ah! You’re kind of cute.”

Cute wasn’t exactly one of the words most girls used to describe me, but I liked it coming from her. It seemed sweet and innocent, something I wasn’t.

An older couple came out of the shop. It wouldn’t have normally caught my attention, but when the man took his wife’s hand and linked their fingers, I was unable to look away. The woman smiled up at him, her face still beautiful despite the wrinkles around her eyes and mouth. The look in her eyes was something I had become familiar with over the last year or more. It made me think of Emmie and Layla as they looked up at Nik and Jesse. Even Lana all those months ago before the whole Vegas incident had fucked up her and Drake.

As they passed hand in hand, oblivious to anything or anyone, Harper raised her camera and snapped a few more pictures. “Now that is a Carl and Ellie kind of love.”

Her comment confused me. “A what? Who?”

She giggled. “Carl and Ellie.”

Had my brain shut down? “Okay, I’m confused.”

Another giggle. “It’s from a movie. Haven’t you ever seen Up?”

“There’s a movie called Up?” I was drawing a blank as I tried to picture what such a strangely named movie would be like.

“It’s a cartoon.” She rolled her eyes when I raised a brow at her. “Laugh all you want. For me it is one of the best romance movies in the world. The first ten minutes are perfect. Carl loves Ellie from the time he meets her. They grow old loving each other in a way…” She broke off with a sigh. “Never mind. You’re right. It’s silly.”

“It isn’t silly.” I thought I knew what she was talking about. Hadn’t I witnessed that kind of love first hand when Layla and Jesse had first met? “So, you want that kind of love? The ‘Carl and Ellie’ kind of love?”

She shrugged. “It’s something to shoot for.”

We sat there talking for another hour before she yawned. I glanced down at my phone and realized that it was nearly ten thirty. Where had the time gone? I wasn’t ready to take her home, but knew that I had to. Reluctantly, I stood and we grabbed another cab.

In the dim lighting coming in from the headlights of other cars, I pulled her close and she gave me a shy smile as she rested her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. I was in a bittersweet kind of limbo for the next twenty minutes. Bitter because I was rock hard and knew that I wasn’t going to find any relief with the beautiful creature in my arms. Sweet because it brought a kind of peace in a way that I had only heard my brother drunkenly describe to me what I assumed he had felt when he and Lana had been so close.

In that moment I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to go through with the seduction plans I had for Harper.

Not when I was sure that I had found what Drake had been working so hard to get back.

Harper

Strong fingers tenderly brushed across my cheek, and I blinked open my eyes to find Shane gazing down at me with some crazy emotion in his eyes. Crazy because I knew he couldn’t be feeling it toward me. I didn’t inspire lust in guys.

He cleared his throat. “Hey, beautiful. We’re here.”

I frowned. “Here?” Turning my head, I found that the taxi had stopped in front of my apartment building. “Oh… Oh!” I pulled away, realizing that I had been asleep on Shane’s shoulder…and embarrassingly enough, I’d actually been drooling. Perfect!

With a chuckle, he opened the door and stepped out before offering me his hand to help me. When the taxi pulled away he didn’t release my hand, but instead linked our fingers as he walked me inside.

“Do you want to come up?” I asked, reluctant to leave him. He had been so much fun to hang out with tonight, so worth the bitching I was going to hear when I finally turned my phone on and answered my mother’s calls.

“I want to...” his fingers tightened around mine, giving them a gentle squeeze before releasing me “...but I don’t think I should.”

“Oh, okay.” I wasn’t disappointed. I wasn’t!

“Can I see you tomorrow?”

My heart leapt and I had to bite my lip to keep from answering too quickly and sounding like some idiot obsessed and unable to go a day without seeing her crush. Nope, I wasn’t crushing on Shane Stevenson. Nope. Nope… Not even a little.

Liar!

“Sounds like fun. Call me and we can make plans… Or you could just come over and hang out?” Maybe he wanted to spend some time with Lana. Damn, there went that pinprick pain to the heart again.

“We can do whatever you want.” His smile was adorable, almost shy and a little sweet. Neither of those things were something that I thought I would ever use to describe a tatted up rock star, but they fit nonetheless.

“Okay.” I pulled my keys from my purse before taking a step away from him. “See you tomorrow, Shane.”

“Harper..?” He paused and I turned back around to face him. His gaze went over my shoulder to where the night doorman was sitting before shaking his head. “Goodnight, beautiful.”

The endearment made something tighten around my heart, and I couldn’t help the involuntary smile as I pushed the call button for the elevator. It opened immediately and I stepped inside. Shane stood watching until the doors closed between us.

As the elevator ascended to my floor, I beat my head back against the wall of the elevator. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! Crushing on a guy so far out of my league had to be the most stupid, idiotic thing I had ever done in my life.

Linc and Dallas were still up when I unlocked the front door. They sat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn