Not Your Groupie: A Second Chance Rock Star Romance Read online

  "What's the hint?"

  I let it ride. I let him stew for another moment. That crescendo was building. Building. I could imagine him standing somewhere behind the stage sweating. Waiting for my text and knowing that any moment now he was going to have to go out on stage and continue the show. For some reason it sent a perverse pleasure running through me thinking of him waiting on one of the girls out in the audience instead of the opposite which I imagined was usually the case.

  I was cutting it ridiculously close, waiting until almost the absolute last moment. Finally once more I started tapping.

  "Think catwalk."

  I sent the message almost at the same time as the stage lit up and fireworks went off. Then he was out singing and dancing. I wondered if he'd gotten the message. He couldn't have possibly gotten the message. He would've had to be standing right beside the pyrotechnics show with his phone out staring at the screen up until the very last moment, up until those fireworks were exploding around him, to see that. Surely he wouldn't be that eager to track me down.

  Only as I looked up on the stage something seemed off. Something seemed different. All the guys were playing and bouncing around on the main stage, but then Grant broke away and he was making his way out onto the catwalk. Only this time rather than going along with it the other guys stopped and stared at him. There was a break in the music that they recovered from immediately, but it made me think something was definitely up. Something wasn’t going as planned.

  I felt an elbow in my side. I looked over and Kayla was looking at me with her brow furrowed.

  "Something's wrong," she said.

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "I've seen the pay-per-views of some of their recent tour," Kayla said. "Grant's breaking the script. He's not supposed to come out on the catwalk for this number."

  I looked back up to the stage. No. He couldn't possibly. Surely he wouldn't risk screwing up the show just to get a chance to test my hint? And yet here he was running along the stage, grasping hands with women as he went along. And as he was grasping their hands I felt a chill. He wasn't just giving a little one-on-one time with the girls lucky enough to be in the front row. No, he was looking at every one.

  He was a man on a hunt.

  Apparently he did get my message, and he was going to make his way to us soon enough. I decided I wasn't going to hide this time though. No, I'd let him see me. I still planned on playing a little hard to get, it seemed like that was something this guy wasn't used to what with his star status and everything, but I wasn't going to ignore him entirely.

  "It's a good thing this is one of the few songs where Grant is the lead!" Kayla shouted as Grant got closer. There was a wave of screaming women and girls following him. Some were crying, all were screaming at the top of their lungs. And then he was on us.

  My breath caught as I stared up at him. As he locked eyes with me and there was instant recognition. He finished with some girls standing next to us and then he was on to me and Kayla. Kayla was reaching out eagerly for him, but I just stood there with my arms crossed looking up at him with an eyebrow cocked. And I realized that all of this was being caught on camera. We were being projected up on the big screens. The girls all through the arena were screaming, and it sounded like they were screaming at me rather than at Grant. I could just imagine what was running through their heads. The girl with her arms crossed not acknowledging the great and sexy Grant.

  Meanwhile he was staring down at me with a goofy grin on his face. He adopted the same posture as me, a serious pout with his arms crossed and one leg stuck out in front of him. The crowd roared in delight and I could hear girls laughing around me. I rolled my eyes and he did the same.

  He did look stunning standing up there. He had lights reflecting off of him creating a halo effect. He was in a button up that wasn't buttoned up very much at all. Maybe one or two at the bottom revealing his muscled chest and his six pack abs. I found myself idly wondering what it would feel like to run my tongue along those abs. I shook myself and tried to regain control.

  Yeah, he looked every bit the rock god as he stared down at me. And I found myself melting. Just a little. To the point that when he got down on his knees in front of me and put his hand out, with the arena screaming around us encouraging me to take his hand, I finally reached out and did just that.

  For a moment it was as though it was just the two of us. The entire screaming arena surrounding us disappeared. We were just a man, a woman, and our arms clasped together as he stared down at me and smiled. I felt my heart fluttering. I felt butterflies in my stomach. I felt weak in the knees as I looked up at this gorgeous man.

  Then reality started to reassert itself. The screaming came back first, then the pumping music, and then I was back in reality and we were surrounded by thousands of screaming women. All of them screaming for him. Some of them screaming at me too, now. He winked and he was gone, moving down the catwalk. Though I noticed that even though he was stopping to make some contact with the women he passed, he didn't stop for nearly as long for any of them as he did with me.

  I suddenly felt an odd emotion as I watched Grant getting a little bit of one-on-one time with other fans in the front row. An emotion that was completely irrational, but I couldn't help it.

  Jealousy.

  Why should they all get a chance with him when he was obviously interested in me? Why couldn't I have a little more one-on-one time? Maybe some more quiet conversation like we had in the diner, away from all this screaming and noise. Away from his element where he was a sexy rock god, though I was starting to warm up to seeing him in that element.

  Grant made his way back up to the stage proper where some members of the band shot him confused glances, but then they were back into the number. The lights went down again and the guys disappeared for what I assumed was a costume change.

  As soon as the lights went down I felt an elbow jabbing me in the side. I looked over to Kayla staring at me. Suspicion was written plain on her face.

  "What the hell was that about?"

  I fixed my best friend with my most innocent look. Granted it wasn't very innocent. I was always a terrible liar, at least face-to-face, and Kayla had an uncanny ability to tell when I was bullshitting. Still, I wasn't going to tell her the truth. I was still hoping I could figure out a way by the end of the night to explain all of this away.

  "I have no idea!" I shouted over the crowd.

  I glanced through that crowd. I was definitely getting some very interesting looks from the women surrounding us. Some were looking at me with obvious jealousy. Others were staring with outright hostility. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable being surrounded by all these women who would kill to have the experience I'd just had. And once more I found myself reflecting on the irony that it was probably precisely because I wasn't willing to kill to have that experience that I'd had the experience in the first place. It was as though he was drawn to a woman who didn't immediately see the rock star.

  Interesting. Very interesting. Not at all what I would have expected from a man who'd probably had women throwing themselves at him for years because of who he was and what he did.

  "You're not telling me the truth," Kayla said. "Out with it. Do you know Grant or something?"

  "I don't know Grant! I swear!" I held my hands up in a defensive gesture.

  What I was telling her was the truth. Mostly. I didn't know Grant. I'd just met him briefly in that diner. So what if what I was feeding her was only the truth from a certain point of view? The fact stood that everything I said was one hundred percent the truth even if it wasn't exactly the truth she was looking for. She just wasn't asking the right questions, and that wasn't my fault.

  "There's something you're not telling me," Kayla said.

  I cocked an eyebrow at her. Let her have her suspicions. It's not like anything else was going to happen. He'd had his fun. He'd come up and embarrassed me in front of my friend and thousands of women in the arena. I figured that w
as where it was going to end. I hoped that was where it was going to end.

  And yet, deep down there was a part of me that desperately didn't want that to be where it ended. I kept thinking of how wonderful his eyes looked as they stared into mine. I kept thinking about how delicious his ass was in those tight jeans as he walked away from me. I could watch that man walking away all day long and never get tired of it.

  "I'm watching you!" Kayla said.

  I couldn't help but laugh. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Of course she was watching me. She was standing right next to me! She couldn't very well not watch me.

  I shook my head and sat down as the next song started. I figured the excitement was over, and to be perfectly honest I needed to have a seat and rest for a minute. I was still feeling a little shaky, a little weak in the knees, from that brief perfect moment of contact.

  Not that I was swooning for Grant. No way. I just needed a quick rest. That's all.

  8

  Mia

  I thought it was over. I was lulled into a false sense of security because I didn't feel my phone buzz in my back pocket. After that brief hand hold he would glance down and smile at me in particular every time he passed by, hell I even got a couple of weird looks from the other guys in the band which got me an elbow from Kayla every time, but there were no more over-the-top performances with him going down on one knee and begging me to acknowledge him.

  As the concert went on I felt a sense of disappointment that there were no more repeat performances. I was kicking myself for feeling that disappointment, but I suppose the heart wants what the heart wants even if the mind is screaming that this is a notorious band that I'd hated my entire life and what the hell did I think I was doing betraying myself by mooning over the lead singer like one of those silly girls I used to make fun of?

  I stomped down on that voice. It could shut the hell up. I was finally starting to see some of the appeal that Kayla saw in the group. At least I was seeing the appeal in one member of the group in particular.

  And yet still I only saw him as a cute guy. Sure I had that brief rock star moment, that brief time when it seemed like there was a halo of light surrounding him and for an instant I saw what all the other women in this arena must be seeing, but mostly when I looked at him I just saw the hottie who could carry a random conversation in a diner, as crazy as that sounded considering his current surroundings.

  But like I said, that sense of security was a false one. That disappointment that he wasn't paying any attention was silenced in a major way as they launched into one of their first really huge hits that signaled the concert was coming to an end. I had been on the edge of my seat every time he walked past, but at this point I figured nothing was going to happen and so I felt safe enough getting right up against the stage, separated only by that small fence and a lazy security guard, with the rest of the screaming girls.

  I told myself I was still just playing along for my friend. I was still just acting like the fangirl to placate Kayla. It had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to get closer to Grant, with wanting to have even a small bit of that magic I'd felt when he was right in front of me.

  No, it had absolutely nothing to do with that.

  I actually found myself smiling as the song started. It was a slow one. Something I recognized from dances back in the day. I shook my head and pulled myself back into the present. Back to where the band all appeared on stage with four spotlights shining down on them. Grant stepped forward and started walking down the catwalk crooning to the crowd.

  I glanced away from the stage and saw cell phones up in the air all through the arena. Women were swaying back and forth singing or mouthing the words. I had no doubt that if they turned the music off there'd be an entire arena full of women singing right along with the song, word for word.

  Amazing. Their music wasn't my cup of tea, but I couldn't deny the effect it was having on all these women.

  "I'll join you in forever…"

  Sure they were cheesy lyrics, but the way the women in the arena were squealing it seemed to be working for them.

  "So what do you say? Want to join me up here?"

  I realized some of those women I was staring at were staring right back at me. And there were some of the same looks I'd seen earlier. Some looked jealous. Some looked angry. Some had huge smiles on their face and they were pointing behind me.

  Behind me.

  There was only one thing behind me. The stage. What the hell…

  Then it hit me. Those words. He was talking to somebody. I felt a chill run down my spine and I squeezed my eyes shut as I turned around. When I opened them Grant was standing right there in front of me, light streaming down around him, and he had his hand out. Everyone around me was absolutely silent. Kayla was staring dumbfounded as I reached out.

  I didn't have any control of myself in that moment. He was so gorgeous, and he was asking me up on stage with him.

  I glanced behind Grant to one of the giant monitors and realized that once more I'd embarrassed the hell out of myself by completely ignoring the show while he came up right behind me. No wonder all the women I'd been looking at while I was ignoring him had been staring at me like I was crazy.

  I looked at his hand. He was reaching for me. Inviting me up onto the stage with him. I was reaching for him. Accepting that invitation, as crazy as it felt.

  And inside I felt giddy. I couldn't believe it. This rock star was reaching out to pull me up on stage. In that moment I was every bit the giddy girl who couldn't believe her luck. Not because this was the lead singer of Twenty Promises, no not that. But because this was Grant, and he was so hot. Because of our little flirtation. Because he'd seemed so interesting when I met him in the diner and I'd thought how nice it would be to go on a date with him. Maybe get up close and personal with him.

  I just never realized that getting up close and personal would involve getting on stage in front of an arena full of screaming women who’d love to take my place. Well, eat your heart out ladies, because this was the Mia show right now. I reached up, my fingers brushed against his and it was as though there was electric magic dancing between our fingertips. Then he reached out to clasp my hand and I was climbing up.

  It's odd the sort of things you notice in a moment like that. I noticed how smooth the catwalk was under my feet and I wondered how they were able to move on the thing. The arena erupted around me. I saw jealous faces in the crowd. I saw ecstatic faces in the crowd as women looked up at me with pure joy. No doubt projecting themselves into my impossible dream moment.

  I glanced over my shoulder to Kayla who had neither of those expressions on her face. She was just standing there with her eyes open wide and her mouth hanging open. Staring up at me in disbelief as I looked to Grant. Yeah, there was definitely going to be no explaining away this one. I was going to have to come clean. She was going to hate me for it, but I didn't care. Because all I could concentrate on was Grant.

  Handsome Grant. Gorgeous Grant with just the hint of stubble on his strong jaw line. With his muscled body that looked absolutely delicious. I wanted to run my hands all over him right here and now, only that definitely wouldn't be appropriate up on stage. I had a feeling he'd be more than happy to let me do that, but at the same time I also had a feeling it would incite a riot.

  That was the last thing I wanted. To have my obituary read that my cause of death was being torn apart by a bunch of rabid fangirls.

  So I just stood there on the stage with my own hand in his, staring at him as he got down on one knee, never missing a beat as he sang looking up at me and staring deep into my eyes. And as I locked eyes with him, deep brown eyes that were so intoxicating, I found myself losing control. I found myself riding a wave of giddiness. A wave of pleasure that was sending a fire burning through my body and a chill running down my spine at the same time.

  My entire body was shivering as I looked down at him with a huge goofy grin that I couldn't control. As he stared up at me w
ith those beautiful eyes I felt weak in the knees. It was as though the only thing keeping me upright was his hand around mine holding me steady.

  In short, it was one of the most magical and romantic fucking moments of my life, made even more so because it was completely unexpected.

  I found myself mouthing the words right along with Grant. How did I even know the words to this song? Oh, right, because you couldn't avoid hearing the damn thing when I was younger. Still, I was surprised the words had imprinted on me to the point that I could still remember them word for word all these years later. I also felt something funny around my eyes. Almost as though they were burning. As though my vision was blurring. I moved a hand up to my cheek and realized a tear was rolling down my face.

  Damn it. Not only was I being serenaded in front of an arena, but I was also about to lose it in a major way in front of an arena. This was all too much for me. It was too overwhelming. It was too much of an incredible experience. An experience I couldn't believe and yet it was happening.

  Who thought when I met a cute guy at the diner behind the venue that I'd be getting serenaded by one of the most famous singers in the world? An international sex symbol!

  Finally the song started to wind down and he did something that very nearly set me on fire again. He pulled my hand out and his lips brushed against it. It really was the perfect moment. My body was on fire where his lips made contact. I was imagining his lips brushing against other parts of my body, and my lips were only the very beginning of that list. I allowed myself to be completely lost in the moment and I felt lightheaded. I saw stars dancing in front of me and for a moment I worried that I was in very real danger of losing consciousness.

  I swooned. Damn it. I fucking swooned in front of a crowd of thousands of people! And thankfully Grant was right there. He caught me in his arms and looked down at me as the crowd went wild and the last strains of the song faded. I looked up at him, not quite believing that this moment could get any more magical than that kiss on my hand, but then it did.