Page 1 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

CHAPTER 1

The Rhythm is Gonna Get You

ISABELLA

“I’m with the band,” I shout over the blasting rock music to the massive bouncer. The stacked speakers practically vibrate the air, the cigarette smoke lingering above my head seeming to jump with every thundering bass note. This gigantic man looks down at me, and while I’m not super short, I feel like a munchkin in Oz compared to him. I think his biceps are bigger than my head.

“VIP pass?” he grunts.

I suck on my teeth. Shit, Becks hadn’t mentioned needing to prove to anyone I knew her boyfriend’s band. And, while the phraseI’m with the bandisn’t entirely a lie, it’s also not quite the truth either since I don’t really know the band yet. I’ve only met Becks’s boyfriend, James, once.Shit.

“I . . .” I pat down the pockets of my jacket and fumble with my keys as if I might miraculously find a VIP pass hidden somewhere. “They didn’t . . . I mean—”

He raises an eyebrow. “What’s the band’s name?”

He’s on to me for sure. “Uhh . . . umm . . . Carnal . . . Carnalsomething—”

“Hey, Arnie, do you know where there’s another cable? This one is fucked.”

The bouncer—Arnie—steps back, unblocking my view into the darkened bar. Long, dirty-blond hair surrounds a chiseled jaw, pouty lips, and stormy blue eyes.

Major hottie alert.

He wraps a long black cable around his hand to his elbow, coiling it around his bare muscular arm, tendons and muscles flexing. Good god, I think I might start drooling. I swallow, then finally tear my eyes away from his biceps to glance up at his face.

“Extra equipment is behind the bar,” Arnie says in a gruff voice. “There might be another one in the cupboard.”

His mouth twists and he places his hands on his hips. “Okay, I’ll check. Thanks, dude.”

Stepping to turn toward the bar in the distance, his gaze finally catches mine and he stops. My belly swoops as his eyes travel down my body and back up to my face, a hungry smirk spreading across those pouty lips.

“Hey,” he says.

Is he talking to me?I almost look around to check, but I can’t tear my eyes away from him. I don’t know how I manage it, but my right hand lifts into the tiniest little wave as I squeak out, “Hi.”

“You know her?” Arnie asks the guy with the cable. “She says she’s with the band.”

His eyes flick up and give me another once-over.Oh no. Don’t tell him I said that. How embarrassing.

“Oh?” He blinks a few times, then turns to Arnie. “Oh, yeah. She’s with us. Let her through, will you?”

He’swith the band? My eyes finally escape his gaze and land on his sleeveless shirt, where the name “Carnal Sins” is written across his wide chest. First James, and now this guy? Is this band just filled with absolute studs? How is that fair?

“Go on, then,” Arnie grumbles out as he steps aside and gestures past him with his hand.

My feet are glued to the floor, the blond waiting for me with an amused expression. Finally, I shake my head and step forward. “Right. Thanks.”

Looking back over my shoulder at Arnie one last time, I head inside, the humid smoky air filling my lungs and causing a trickle of sweat to drip down my spine. I expect the man to turn away, to go find the other cable he’s been searching for, but he waits for me to approach as a wide smile grows across his face.

When I’m a few feet before him, he reaches out his free hand and wraps it around my shoulders, surprising me by pulling me against him. “Thanks again, Arnie,” he says, glancing over my head at where I assume the bouncer is watching us. “We were wondering when this one would arrive.”

He smells like ivory soap and something sweet like caramel, and his fingers are hot on my arm, goosebumps prickling up all over my skin as he steers me toward the bar.

“So,” he says, leaning over to speak in my ear. “You’re with the band, huh?”

Heat blooms across my face.Shit.“I just—I mean . . .”

He chuckles. “No harm, no foul. I’m Dave, by the way, and Iamactually withthe band.”

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