Finding Emotion (The Last Shot Tavern Series)

Chapter 2

Skylar tried hard not to tap her big-ass boots as she waited behind the cameras. The crew had already given her dirty looks once. Mandy kept glancing her way beside her, feeling the bundle of energy Skylar was giving off. Her manager always looked put together and calm, and most of the time she was, but she also knew when Skylar was a bomb about to explode.

“Maybe we should skip out,” Mandy murmured, almost too low to hear.

Skylar was tempted. The host had been a bitch earlier anyway, letting Skylar overhear her complaining about interviewing a two-bit performer like her. She doubted she’d get decent coverage from the program. Besides, blowing things off was almost expected of her given her volatile reputation.

Skylar knew what was eating her. The host resembled one of her ex-bandmates, Sorcha, with her long, blonde hair and bitchy expression. She tried to remind herself of better things. The fan from the night before had made her feel good, and Mandy had confirmed the girl was happy with the gifts. Having straitlaced Damon Lynch’s eyes on her hadn’t hurt either. He was hot despite that wimpy attitude. Even now, he smiled for the cameras beautifully as his interview began to wrap up.

“Nah,” Skylar muttered back, not looking away from the other rock star.

She wasn’t sure why Damon was drawing her attention even more than the day before when he looked so basic. Hell, he was wearing a sports jacket, even if it was over jeans. It was a baby-blue color that made his eyes pop all the brighter, especially under that bleached hair of his. His fingers tapped his knee repeatedly, giving his nerves away.

Skylar hadn’t thought the man had nerves. The times she’d noticed him before other interviews—and, hell, before performances—he was a cool cucumber. Only once had he seemed like more than an automaton, and that was right at the start of the tour. He’d been nervous then too.

“You’re a delight to have on as usual, Damon,” the host was saying with a smile. Skylar had already put the woman in her hate column, and that smarmy smile did nothing to dissuade her. “And you seem so appreciative of your fans.”

“I am,” Damon responded, his legs shifting even as he flashed a smile. “The fan response to a tour like this makes me want to do even more.”

The host leaned toward him. “But are all the fans supportive? There was a rumor early on that was never confirmed. Do you want an opportunity to speak to it?”

Skylar frowned. She still couldn’t quite remember what the rumor was, but for her to have recalled it at all the night before, it must have been thrown around a lot.

Damon’s hand squeezed his knee, but he shrugged. “I try to ignore the gossip. It’s often wrong.”

The host nodded, her hair slithering over her shoulder as she tilted her head. The familiarity of the practiced gesture set Skylar’s teeth on edge. “So the reports of a stalker are false?”

“A stalker?” Damon shook his head, though he looked away from the host. Skylar followed his gaze to his manager, who waited in the wings with a scowl on his face. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“But isn’t that what you said to the police when the tour kicked off in California?” The host smiled, an excitement in her eyes. “All from receiving a gift in your hotel room?”

Skylar lifted an eyebrow. She wondered if some girl had mailed her dirty panties to the prude or something.

Damon maintained his smile, but it appeared strained at the edges. He leaned forward, looking toward the camera. “I would like to address something.”

His manager tensed at the rock star’s words.

“I actually receive a lot of gifts from my fans, and while I appreciate the gesture, I ask that you stop.” His aquamarine eyes had an intentness to them as he stared straight into the camera. There was a narrowing to them that made Skylar’s insides clench.

Then he ruined it by adding that boyish grin he liked to flash. “I’d much rather gift you with my music. Your enjoyment of the songs I create is all the gift I need.”

Some fans in the audience screamed out their love, and Skylar rolled her eyes. Her interest in Damon waned at the saccharine gesture. What a poser. That was totally not what he wanted to say, not from what those clenched hands were saying.

“What’s the most unique gift you’ve received?” the host asked.

Damon shook his head with a laugh, but his neck had tensed again. “Oh, I wouldn’t want to call out a particular fan.”

“What about the gift at the beginning of the tour? The one that police confiscated for their investigation?” The host’s smile remained, but there was a hard edge to it as she gripped her notes. “We received confirmation that the police were called to the hotel you were staying at. Your fans are worried, Damon. Are you certain you wouldn’t like to recant your prior denial of a stalker?”

The host looked just like Sorcha in that moment. Like she owned the world, even while she was burning someone else’s down. Skylar’s eyes narrowed.

Damon shifted in his seat, his face going blank.

Skylar’s boots had clomped forward before her mind caught up.

“Oh, lord,” Mandy muttered, but she subdued the show’s producer who tried to stop Skylar’s progress.

The host’s eyes widened, just as every mean girl’s had when Skylar hadn’t backed down.

Damon’s jewellike ones flashed when Skylar moved to him and climbed straight onto his lap. His startled hands went to her hips, likely to push her away, but her mouth had already latched onto his.

Skylar gave all she had to the hungry kiss, thrusting her tongue deep even as her hands mussed up his surprisingly soft hair. She wanted to laugh at the stiffened shock her move had placed him in. He really was a prude, though not an unaffected one based on the hardness she cradled between her legs. He didn’t kiss her back, and she bit his lip for it, then was rewarded with a bit of heat in his eyes when she lifted her head. Her bright-red lipstick had transferred to his mouth, and she wiped at it even as she laughed.

“Damon, sweet face, stop covering for me.” Skylar wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling his face into her cleavage even as she grinned sideways at the host and the camera behind her. “You see, I got so loud that night that the guests filed a noise complaint. I couldn’t help it. Damon might be as loving as all his songs claim, but he’s also an absolute tiger in the sack.”

His fans in the audience gasped, making Skylar’s lap-it-up smile easier to maintain when the host glared.