Page 67 of Hard Rock Tease
I left my work on top of the piano and went over to throw my arms around him. "That's very thoughtful of you." I stood on my tiptoes to plant a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you."
"Whatever," he grunted, his arms stiff at his sides. "It's not like I wanted to do you a favor or anything."
I laughed inwardly, making sure to keep my lips from twitching upward. I squeezed him tight and laid my head on his chest. "You better stop being so sweet or I'm going to start thinking you actually like me."
"I'm not sweet. I'm Noah Fucking Hart."
Despite his words, he wrapped his arms around my waist, resting his cheek on the top of my head.
"How exactly do you know those guys anyway?"
I could hear the frown in his voice.
"Jealous?" I said coyly. "Don't worry. You know you're the only rock star for me."
"Just wondering," he said, sounding surly.
"Two of my friends are dating members of the band," I explained. "They'll probably be at the concert, too, if their boyfriends are going to be there performing." I lifted my head with a grin. "We should do a group date."
"No."
I pretended to pout. "It doesn't have to be anything fancy. We can go to that dive bar of yours for a drink."
"I don't do couple dates."
My heart jumped. Did that mean we were officially a couple?
Noah and I hadn't talked about our relationship status yet. Over the last few weeks, we'd spent almost all our time either working, having sex or sleeping. We hadn't gone on anymore "outings" to Walt's bar as Noah liked to say — or "dates" as I privately referred to them.
Ivy and Natalie had always joked about me getting a rock star boyfriend of my own.
Did I finally have one?
I didn't dare bring up the topic. Not yet. Noah was still so prickly, so touchy. If I went too far, too fast, he'd push me away. Going slow — at least emotionally — was the key to a successful relationship with Noah.
Still, my heart beat a small thrill at the thought of Noah being my boyfriend. Of Noah being more than my boyfriend. Although he was still a bit of an ass, I'd gotten to know the man he was inside underneath all that snark.
His Royal Highness liked to keep people at a distance. Somehow I'd managed to find myself on the other side of his castle walls. Now I needed to figure out how to make my way across the moat.
Or figure out a way to get him to lower the drawbridge.
Noah had to be at the concert venue early again, so I decided to team up with Natalie and Ivy and attend the concert as a trio. I'd been so busy working, I'd had to cancel our last few lunch dates. I knew they were dying for more information about Noah, especially Nat, being the ultimate fangirl she was.
When it was just sex with Noah, I hadn't known what to tell them, so saying nothing was easier. Now that there was the possibility of something more, maybe it was okay to talk about it.
At the very least, saying that Noah and I were kind-of sort-of dating was less embarrassing than admitting I was letting a rock star use me as his sexual muse.
"I can't believe I get to watch Darkest Days perform from the front row!" Natalie brought her clenched fists to her flushed cheeks.
Despite the rock star boyfriend, Nat had never gotten over her excitement at seeing her favorite bands perform.
"Who's playing first?" she asked, shouting so we could hear her over the noisy crowd of people surrounding us.
"Does it matter?" Ivy shouted back.
"I need to save my energy for Morris," she said, referring to her boyfriend Morris Edwards, Feral Silence's drummer. "but I'm afraid if Darkest Days goes on first, I'll end up fainting from sheer awesomeness."
"You might end up fainting from the heat." Ivy scanned the concert venue. "Ren said it's going to be a full house. It's already cramped and it's probably going to get very hot. Why couldn't we watch from backstage?"
