One More Time Read online

  Perfect.

  Getting laid suddenly seemed like a great idea, the perfect way to get out of my head for the rest of the night.

  I zeroed in on the leader of the pack, a blonde with a nice rack and a red dress that showed off smooth, toned thighs and legs from here to the ocean. She opened her mouth to speak when they neared us, and I caught a glimpse of metal in her mouth.

  A tongue ring.

  Awesome. That would do nicely. I beat her to the punch and flashed her the grin that usually got me what I wanted. “Hey there, sweetheart. How about I buy you a drink?”

  Chapter 2

  Kelly

  “Well, well. The prodigal sister returns.” I smiled when I opened the door to my place to find Alicia holding a bag of snacks and a bottle of wine.

  My sister looked happy, as she always did these days. Her blue eyes sparkled, and her blonde hair was pulled into a loose ponytail that hung over one shoulder.

  She was dressed as the very picture of an efficient young professional, in a black dress that hugged her slim frame, an earpiece that she was in the process of removing, and shiny black peep toe heels.

  My work attire was very, very different to hers. On the best of days, I wore fitted skinny jeans and old band shirts that I’d collected over the years to the office. Today’s was of a band probably only me and its members had ever heard of. They’d disappeared years ago, but I still liked the shirt.

  Pulling Alicia in for a quick hug, I stepped aside to let her into my apartment. It was tiny in comparison to the mansion that she lived in with her fiancé, famous rocker and frontman of Destitute, Jared Larsen. But it was mine, and I loved it. I’d painted each of the walls a different color and had framed retro posters on most of the walls.

  She pursed her lips but couldn’t keep them from lifting a little at the corners. “I’m hardly the prodigal sister. I saw you last week.”

  “Then you disappeared back into Jared and only resurfaced now.” Following her to my kitchen, I reached for two wine glasses and went to dig around the drawer for the opener while Alicia started unpacking the snacks she’d brought.

  “I didn’t disappear into Jared,” she protested, cheeks flushing. “Well, not only into him. I’m trying to get everything set up for the tour too. It’s exhausting.”

  Finally locating the opener, I poured us each a glass of wine and popped one of the chocolate chip cookies she was arranging on a plate into my mouth. “Shouldn’t you be planning your wedding?”

  “Probably, but I just haven’t had time. I think I’ve got the biggest things covered. We’ve got a date, a venue, and a wedding planner. That should do it, right?” She looked genuinely hopeful that I would agree with her assessment. I didn’t know much about wedding planning, but I knew enough to know that that wouldn’t do it.

  Barely suppressing an eyeroll, I handed her wine to her and picked up the plate of snacks to carry into the living room. “You know, if you keep putting off actual planning, you’re risking interference from Mom. Or the band’s manager. Or something horrible like that.”

  She shuddered slightly, then nodded. “I know. Mom would go wild with the budget Jared’s allowing for this whole thing.”

  My eyes had bugged out of my head when she’d told me what the budget was for their wedding. Jared clearly made too much money. Or he just liked throwing what he had at my sister and their impending nuptials. Either way, it was an insane amount of money to spend on one day, as far as I was concerned.

  “Exactly. That’s why you need to start thinking about things like a dress and décor. Or else Mom is going to put me in pink taffeta and you in a Disney princess gown.”

  “At least that’s better than if Jared had to choose my dress.” She smirked, eyes crinkling at the corners at whatever images she was conjuring up in her mind. I had to agree with her though. He’d probably end up having her wear leather or something. “But not by much. Point taken. I’ll try to squeeze planning in somewhere between all the tour stuff.”

  “Deal.” We flopped onto my couches, two white ones that I rescued from a yard sale because they made me think of clouds.

  “Now that you’ve done your official maid of honor duties by threatening me with Mom if I don’t get something done wedding wise, let’s talk about you. How’s the new job going?” Tucking her legs underneath her, Alicia got comfortable and settled in, both hands wrapped around her wine glass as she peered at me over its edge.

  “It’s been really good. GNM is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” Gathers No Moss, my new employer, was a hot entertainment/music magazine that was almost impossible to get a job at, especially for a freelance reporter and blogger like me. I never would’ve been on their radar if it hadn’t been for some exclusive interviews that Alicia set up for me with Destitute.

  Those interviews really put me on the map, especially since the band had just dropped their most highly anticipated album yet. Which reminded me. “Thanks for arranging those interviews for me. You’re the reason I’m finally on the rock reporting beat and that my blog has taken off. I owe you big time.”

  Alicia scoffed. “You don’t owe me anything. You deserved to get those interviews, and you’re the one who wrote them up. I just hope they treat you right over there and that they understand our Chinese wall.”

  As Destitute’s PR agent, Alicia and I were on opposite ends on the entertainment industry, yet we were also sisters and best friends. Years ago, when we were both starting out, we erected a Chinese wall between us when it came to our professional capacities, and it remained intact to this day. Mostly.

  “I think they get it,” I told her, thinking back at the short time I’d been with GNM. They hadn’t once asked me to pull in a favor with Alicia. “They’re paying me to follow Destitute on their tour though.”

  Her brows rose, and she took a contemplative sip of wine before saying anything. Her shoulders tensed up. “I didn’t know that. No one’s been in contact with me to organize for any reporters to be touring with us.”

  She chewed on her bottom lip, clearly troubled and surprised by the news. “I don’t think they expect me to tour with you. Just to follow the band.”

  “Maybe, but it still makes me nervous.”

  “Why?” I frowned. I knew she would be concerned, but I wasn’t quite expecting the reaction I was getting.

  Sighing deeply, she shifted on the couch and set her wine down on the glass side table. “Because, Kel, I’m their PR agent. I should know about these kinds of things. At the very least, it’s professional courtesy for them to have reached out to me. Besides, we could easily end up on opposite sides of things here.”

  “We’re always on opposite sides of things,” I argued. “It’s never caused any problems for us before.”

  “It hasn’t, but we’ve also never toured on opposite ends before. I’ve heard some of the things that the band has gotten up to on tour before, and it’s going to be up to me to stop their antics from ending up as front-page news, while it’s going to be up to you to put them there.”

  Alicia’s brows furrowed, and she released a shaky breath, worry radiating from her as she started twirling a blonde lock between her thumb and index finger. It was one of her nervous tells.

  “You’re worrying too much about this,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm and even. “It’s not going to be any different than it’s been before. We’ll be fine.” Truth be told, I was sure that GNM probably was expecting me to dig into Destitute’s comings and goings during the tour, but we would figure it all out.

  “I hope so, but you’re probably right. I’m just going to have to be careful about the guys being followed around, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” She pressed the bridge of her nose, took a deep breath, and then rallied, deciding to let it go for now and flashing me a smile. “It’ll be fun for me to have you there with us, despite whatever problems we may face. The guys’ schedules are packed. This way, I’ll have company too.”

  “T
here’s the silver lining.” I smiled. It would be fun to spend some quality time with her. Between both of us having started new jobs recently and her fiancé, we hadn’t had enough sister time in the past couple of months. “Now that we’re on the topic of the guys, how’re they all doing?”

  I’d been looking for an opening to ask her that question casually since she’d arrived. Not to dig for information for an article, but because I happened to be fostering something of a crush on Jared’s moody brother, Caleb. Even though I’d never admit it to Alicia and even though I’d framed my question in general terms, it was really only Caleb I was interested in hearing about.

  My wildly in love sister, however, started the update on the band members with Jared, and it took forever for her to move on from him. It wasn’t hard to understand why she’d fallen for the guy. He was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. A charismatic performer with a reputation for being tons of fun, Jared had captured hearts all over the world.

  He was the stuff that dreams and fantasies were made of, especially since it turned out that he was also kind and smart—something he had managed to keep from the public pretty effectively.

  Until he met Alicia though, those were all women had of him: dreams and fantasies. The man milked the rock-star lifestyle for all it was worth and didn’t show one hint of settling down.

  Now, however, the tattooed, former bad boy was a committed, one-woman man, and he wasn’t afraid to let the world know it. It was cute actually.

  Alicia was yammering on about some of the antics that he, Nick, and Matt had been getting up to during the promo for the upcoming tour. Nick Masters and Matt Tillman, rhythm guitarist and bassist for Destitute, were often cited alongside Jared when it came to ridiculous pranks or crazy stunts.

  They were both super popular with the ladies as well. All the men of Destitute were, though. Matt’s divine hazel eyes and sweeping light brown fringe were iconic, as was his easygoing smirk and charming ways. Unlike the other four members of his band, Matt’s skin was unmarked of any tattoos, and fans around the world were dying to see if, when, and for whom he would finally ink up.

  Nick, on the other hand, was rumored to have gotten his first tattoo at sixteen, and he’d kept going since. Now twenty-seven, his back and arms were like works of art, adorned with pictures and words that supposedly told the story of his life to those who knew what to look for.

  According to Alicia, his personality was exactly as laidback and easygoing as it was reported to be. I knew that she thought he was too easygoing at times. With hazel eyes that were more blue than green or gray, and jet-black hair, he was seriously hot. Unfortunately for the women of the world, he knew it, and he had no problem letting as many as possible get a taste of him.

  When she’d rounded out the latest on the Trio of Trouble, as she’d nickamed Jared, Nick, and Matt over the last few weeks, Alicia took to giving me an update about Dominic LeSalle, the band’s drummer. Dom was the oldest of the bunch at thirty-one, and possibly the most mysterious—not least of which because of his position right at the very back of the stage.

  He usually chose to keep that position in interviews if he could and didn’t waste words with bullshit. If he spoke, it was because he had something to say. Otherwise, he would simply shrug and let the question get snapped up by one of his bandmates.

  Shoulder-length brown hair, piercing gray eyes, and a chiseled chest full of ink, combined with his intense passion for his music and his well-documented pursuit of perfection meant that he too was not in short supply of fans. I’d met him once or twice at Jared and Alicia’s, but while he was always polite, he mostly tended to keep to himself.

  He’d been rumored to have been in a couple of relationships since the band started, but they were always no more than a fleeting rumor. Dom got photographed with enough women that I was pretty sure he followed in his bandmates footsteps when it came to the fairer sex, keeping his relationships to a one-night-only deal.

  Alicia didn’t linger on Dom for too long, noting that he’d been taking the time when they were not doing promo mostly to himself and that she’d been relieved when he’d okayed the final album for release, as she’d been worried he would insist on rerecording or waiting until he thought the track selection was perfect.

  When she finally reached Caleb in her update, I had to actively stop myself from leaning forward or appearing too interested. Caleb, like Jared, was tall, dark, and hot. Unlike his brother, he was reserved, wasn’t known for entitled rock-star antics, and didn’t seem to like being the center of attention.

  He was stockier than his athletically built brother and kept his hair shorter, evenly cut and sticking up on top. Black ropes of tattoos covered his muscular arms, the most famous of which was a thick, black skull on his upper right bicep.

  According to some of my colleagues, Caleb had a problem with his temper, and the band kept covering it up. Alicia told me once that she didn’t think he had a temper problem necessarily, but that her opinion of the matter was that he simply didn’t like getting cameras shoved in his face or hearing the world talk about his business.

  In the few times I’d met Caleb in person, I agreed with Alicia. He didn’t come across as being aggressive at all. I got the idea that he just liked being left alone. Mostly. Like the others, Caleb had his own fan club that spread like wildfire across the globe when Destitute had first broken out of the local scene, and women pursued him like they were in heat.

  “Caleb was doing well,” Alicia was saying. “I think he’s getting used to the fact that his brother got engaged, though I still have that feeling that he doesn’t think our relationship will last.”

  I’d wondered about that statement since the first time she’d told me about the impression she’d gotten from Caleb. I didn’t know him well enough to offer a real opinion. Anyone who had eyes could see that Jared and Alicia were crazy for each other, which left me interested in why he would think they wouldn’t last. But there were no answers forthcoming.

  Alicia stopped talking about the band after that, changing the subject back to our jobs. We chatted for a few more hours about that, the wedding, and then planned a trip to visit our mom soon.

  All too soon, it was time for Alicia to go back to her love nest, and we said our goodbyes. After clearing up the wine and snacks, brushing my teeth, and trying to clear my mind before getting into bed, I tucked myself under the covers.

  Lying there in the darkness, sleep evading my every attempt at chasing it, there was no point is denying what it was that was keeping me awake: Caleb. I couldn’t get his brooding scowl or soulful brown eyes out of my mind’s eye. He’d never touched me, but I had a wild imagination, and it wasn’t all that hard to imagine what it might feel like if he did.

  That got me all hot and bothered, and I ran around trying to find new batteries for my battery-operated boyfriend. Too bad I’d run out. Reaching underneath the sheets, I did a poor job trying to work things out myself and then fell into a dreamless, exhausted sleep.

  Deep brown eyes followed me all the way to dreamland. And stayed with me all through the night.

  Chapter 3

  Caleb

  “I love your new place,” Missy, the blonde from the bar, gushed. “It’s lovely. When did you move in?”

  It was a common misconception, people thinking I’d just moved in. Looking around, I could understand why. Jared was always on my ass about buying more stuff for the house, but I had everything I needed: a TV, gaming consoles, my guitars, a couch, and a mattress. Unlike my brother, I didn’t think that wasting our money on useless luxuries was a great idea. I was happy with what I had, and I didn’t see the point of buying anything else.

  “Two years ago,” I said.

  Missy looked stunned for a second but recovered quickly. Her blonde hair shone in the dim lighting of my living room, blue hues dancing across it in the light of the swimming pool glowing from outside on my deck. “You must really hate settling in then?”

  “I’
m settled,” I told her firmly. “Don’t need anything else.”

  She looked around at the meager furniture and pasted a smile on her face. “Boys will be boys, right? I guess since you’ve got your TV and your games, you’re all set?”

  Something about the way she said it rubbed me the wrong way, or maybe it was the hint of understanding that lit up her soft brown eyes. She didn’t understand shit. Still, she wasn’t here as my therapist, so I didn’t fucking care.

  “I guess so. Can I get you something to drink?”

  I hoped she would say no, but I wasn’t a fucking caveman. If she wanted a drink before we got down to the real business of why she’d agreed to come home with me, I’d give her one. If she said she wanted wine though, she would have to have it out of a tumbler. I didn’t have any wine glasses. I didn’t need them. I hated that shit, and keeping some around for women seemed futile since they would never return.

  “I’ll have a beer if you’ve got one.” She lifted a manicured eyebrow and tilted her head like she thought I was about to say no.

  “I have beer,” I told her, moving to the kitchen to grab a couple. Instead of staying out in the living room, Missy followed me and asked a bunch of questions about the house. I answered her as briefly as I could, already regretting bringing her here.

  I should’ve just come home alone, rubbed one out in the shower, and gone to practice that new riff I was working on. It would’ve been simpler that way, horny as fuck or not.

  “You know, I’ve heard rumors about how you guys like to live. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe a gold-plated piano or something. Definitely not this.” Missy accepted her beer and took a small sip.

  “Us guys?” It was always interesting to hear which category I’d been grouped into. Though it was entirely possible that Jared or Nick might’ve actually had a gold-plated piano at some point. I couldn’t be sure anymore, with the amount of crap they bought.