1 Tuesday 806pm, 4 Days
“Everyone good?” I scan my bandmates from behind my drum kit, looking for any sign that we need to run something again. Man, I hope not. After two weeks of tour rehearsals, I’m ready to crash. It’s not like I have the wedding of the century coming up or anything. Oh wait.
“Hey, Case. Thanks for sticking with us as MD,” Luke says, falling into stride as we make our way to catering. “I know you have a lot on your plate.”
“Not a problem. Getting married doesn’t m ake me a shitty music director.”
Luke smirks and bumps my shoulder as we walk. “You know what I mean. You ready for this?”
“Which? The world tour or spending the rest of my life with your best friend?”
“You’re my best friend.”
“Fine. Second best friend.”
“Marriage, dude. Touring’s the only thing you’re good at.”
“Fuck off,” I laugh, but my smile fades. Am I ready? I mean, I was ready to marry Callie Roland the day I met her in that little café. So what just tightened in my chest? Can you be too ready to marry someone?
“Hey bro, that was supposed to be an easy question.” Luke’s quick study of my face belies the
humor in his tone.
I force a smile. “I’m a hundred percent ready to see you in your bridesmaid’s dress.”
“Ha. Don’t worry. Callie’s letting me wear a tux even though I’m standing up for both of you.” The concern returns to his face, the questions, and I pretend not to notice as we approach the makeshift green room where our girls are waiting for us.
Well, waiting may be generous. Callie, Holland, and Mila have been inseparable since rehearsals for our joint NSB and Limelight tour forced us into 24/7 bonding. We’re practically standing in their laughing cluster before they notice us.
“Hey, hon!” If there’s ever a moment you want to hang onto, it’s the look on Callie’s face when she sees me. That inner chest-clench returns.
“Hey, babe.” I draw her in for a kiss, and my body doesn’t give a shit about our audience. All it remembers is that our crazy schedules have kept us apart for too long.
“You’re sweaty,” she whispers.
“Yeah, sorry. The lights and stuff.”
“I know. It’s sexy.”
My eyes shoot to hers. She’s not exactly the flirty, PDA type. “Really? Interesting.” Cue adrenaline. Cue… that.
A smile teases her lips when she notices me harden against her hips. Where did this minx come from?
“Maybe I’ve been missing you lately. A lot,” she says, gaze moving down my chest and landing on the zipper of my jeans.
I pull her tighter, erasing the rest of the distance between us so she can feel more of my response and suffer with me.
Her exhale leaves a hot impression on my shoulder, and I swear it burns my skin.
“You, me, hotel room, now,” I growl against her ear.
She locks her arms around my waist, forcing us into painful alignment. I’m not an impatient man, but this?
“Get a room,” Luke calls over, his arm tucked around Holland. Jesse and Mila are wrapped up as well. You’d think we’ve been on the road for a month, not down the hall for six hours. Eli, Sweeny, and the rest of the Limelight guys are enamored with the snack table.
“We intend to,” I call back, leading—yanking?—my girl to the exit. “Catch you later.”
“Uh.” Luke points to the clock on the wall.
“What?”
“Kenneth wants to review final notes in fifteen minutes, and then we have the WHTX interview.”
“Fuck.”
“Language,” Callie says. I give her a glare that she returns with a not-so-innocent smile. “Oh well. Guess I’m on my own again tonight.”
“Can’t we reschedule?” I ask Luke.
“You mean, for after we tear down and roll out tonight so you can get to your wedding extravaganza?”
“Fuck!” I run a hand through my hair and send an apologetic look to Callie.
Her smirk melts into compassion, which is ten times worse.
She knows how much I’m hurting at this point.
It’s pure torture the way she licks her lips.
Exposes her neck with a tug of her hair down her back.
I trace my thumb over her skin, and her lids flutter closed.
Maybe she’s hurting too. Am I an asshole to hope so?
“I can try to stay awake?” she whispers, and I let out a long sigh. She’d do it too because with Callie, everyone else comes first.
S’why it’s my job to take care of the world’s caretaker.
“No, babe. We’ll be late tonight. Get some sleep.” I lean down for a quick kiss and don’t dare to let it deepen.
“Less than a week, Case.” Huge gorgeous eyes turn up to me, brimming with anticipation. Love. Hope. Lust. Possession. All the things I want to abduct back to our hotel and ravage until she’s the one locking us in the room and blowing off responsibilities. Blowing off.
Stop it, Casey.
I glance back at the guys. “Maybe I should quit the band,” I mutter.
“On what grounds? Horniness? Seems short-sighted,” she says.
“Hey, there’s nothing short about my horniness.”
Her grin is almost too much to bear. “Okay, fine. And then do what with your life?”
“I don’t know. Be your sex slave?”
She laughs “Yeah? How well does that pay?”
“I don’t know. What are you offering?”
“Depends. Would you finally give in to getting a cat?”
“Those are your terms?”
“Two cats.”
“Two?”
“No wait, three.”
“You’re impossible.”
She plants a kiss on my lips. “Have fun with your band stuff. I’ll see you later, hun. Maybe I’ll sleep naked just in case.”
How can an angel be so evil?
Holland and Mila are waiting for her, and blow air kisses at us.
“Newlyweds,” Eli mumbles behind me.