Page 34 of Tangled Up In You

“Yuck, let’s steer clear of them.”

Sophie was glad that Gracelyn wasn’t impressed by the actor or his boys. They were infamous for how they openly used women. Them being here made her wonder why they were even let in because they were the opposite of who the lads of Rogue were. But she soon realized that a good portion of the room was filled with a certain type of person. They were an attention-seeking crowd, looking to get any kind of publicity they could. That they wanted to be seen here, at Rogue’s after party, meant the band was on its own upward trajectory.

“So, this is your big moment! You get to see your ‘husband’ again after all this time,” Gracelyn said with a wink. “But you also have to introduce me to the guitarist. What’s his name again?”

She opened her mouth to respond but a sudden sharp burst of laughter made her instinctively look for Gavin as the source. He was the type of person others flocked to, and his stories usually resulted in such delighted outbursts. But as she scanned the room, the first thing that caught her eye was a pair of scantily clad girls dancing provocatively and kissing each other with elaborate tongue.

It wasn’t the girls who interested her, as much as who they were performing for. Their current audience of one was Conor Quinn. He was sitting by himself on a sofa, a bottle of Beck’s in his hand as he stared at the show before him. He wore clean, faded jeans and his well-defined chest was bare. His short black hair was carefully askew, a striking contrast to his deep blue eyes. He had always been the most conventionally handsome of the group, and now that he had grown into his looks, he wouldn’t have been out of place on a catwalk modeling the latest fashions.

Just as she was thinking he would be perfectly happy to ogle the pseudo-lesbian dancers forever, he glanced up and met her eyes.

The recognition was instantaneous. He smiled broadly and stood, stepping past the girls without hesitation. Their faces fell in disappointment but it only took a moment for them to rebound as they were soon scanning the room for other band members.

“Sophie Kavanaugh, I don’t believe it!” Conor said and surprised her with a quick kiss on the lips and a long, tight hug. “I adore that you’re here,” he murmured into her ear as he pulled away.

“I was so excited when I heard that you guys were in L.A.,” she replied. “I had to come, to see …”

“Good you did. God, you look amazing!” He eyed her up and down.

She wore form-fitting, low-rise jeans with sandals and a shrunken peasant top left untied at the neck to give a hint of cleavage. It was tame compared to the girls he had just been watching so she was surprised by the hungry way he appraised her. She’d left her long blond hair down and nervously toyed with it.

“I can’t believe you were telling the truth,” Gracelyn said into her ear.

“Oh, um,” Sophie said, “Conor, this is my friend Gracelyn.”

“Good to meet you,” he said quickly. Gracelyn was a tall, slim Chinese-American beauty but that didn’t stop him from turning his attention back to Sophie. “So, you saw us play? What’d you think?”

“Oh my gosh. You guysownedthat stage. It was amazing.”

“Thanks. It’s lovely to hear you say so.”

She shook her head in awe. “It’s weird but I’m just not surprised that you made it this quickly.”

He gave her a small smile that was definitely on the sexy side. “You always were our number one fan.”

It took her a moment to understand the flirt in his words. In his eyes. And smile. As attractive as he was, though, she needed to see Gavin.

“Conor, I really want to catch up with you, but I need to find Gavin. I have to just … see.”

Disappointment fell over his face before he made the effort to shrug it off. “Yeah, sure.” He glanced behind himself before turning back to her. “Maybe just give me a minute and I’ll bring Gav ‘round?”

That suggestion confused her. The room was crowded, but she was sure she could find Gavin on her own well enough.

Gracelyn soon explained Conor’s hesitation, saying, “Sophie, Gavin is hanging out with Robbie Vera and his ‘Hounds.’”

Sophie looked past Conor and saw Gavin at the far end of the room near the makeshift bar. He was telling the actor and his friends a story and they were hanging on every word. At the same time, there was a blonde hanging on Gavin, leaning into his side with her arms caging his waist as if trying to keep him from leaving without her. She wore skin-tight jeans and a leather top that was no more than a bra, displaying breasts that were clearly surgically enhanced. Not that anyone in that group minded as their eyes ping-ponged from her chest to Gavin and back again. Even Gavin’s eyes dropped to get a glance.

This wasn’t what she expected. Still, she wasn’t going to be deterred from seeing Gavin again after all this time.

“It’s okay, Conor. I see him,” she said.

“Hang on,” he said and grabbed her hand, pulling her to him in an unexpected embrace.

He buried his mouth into her hair, whispering in her ear, “This might not go how you think, honey. The timing is rough, you know? He’ll be hyped up on the post-gig, after-party vibe.”

She pulled away to look up at him, her free hand on the hard ridges of his bare abs. “But, it’sme. It’ll be okay.”

“Sophie—”

---