Try Me

Chapter 4

Melanie jumped to her feet and searched for something to wipe the water from the side of Gabe’s face. Chuckling, he lifted the hem of his T-shirt and rubbed the droplets from his skin. She couldn’t help but gape at his washboard abs. It was bad enough that she’d spewed water all over a famous drummer; spitting all over a hot famous drummer with dreamy green eyes and a gorgeous smile was a tabloid-worthy disaster. Her gaze fixed on the hint of a tattoo peeking out above his wide, leather belt near one hipbone. She couldn’t make out what it was before he dropped his shirt to cover his belly. She expected that feeling of unease to settle over her now that she knew he had a tattoo, but she only felt undeniable attraction when she looked at him.

Gabe took the CD from his excited fan and signed it before turning his attention back to Melanie.

“I am so sorry,” she said. “I had no idea who you were. ”And how much of an ass I was making of myself as I criticized your band.

His eyes flipped skyward. “Yeah, I kinda figured that much.”

“I recognized the other guys in the band because I saw them on stage, but you . . . ”

“Were the blur behind the huge drum kit.”

“Yeah.” And he looked like a regular gorgeous guy, not a rock star. She touched her cheeks with her fingertips and found them hot. “I really am sorry I spit water on you. You must think I’m a psycho.”

“Actually, I think you’re charming,” he said. “I’ve never met a woman with the balls to turn Shade down and call him a freak in the same breath.”

Melanie groaned. “I can’t believe I did that.” She plopped down on the sofa beside Gabe again and buried her head in her hands. “I don’t really think he’s a freak. He’s just so . . . ”

“Arrogant?”

“Yeah.” She turned her head to look at him. “But you don’t seem to be.”

“I’m just the drummer.” He touched the center of her back, engulfing her in his body heat and the clean fragrance of soap and hot-blooded male as he moved closer. “Do you have a boyfriend?” He stroked her left ring finger just above her first knuckle. “I know if you had a husband or a fiancé, he wouldn’t let you out of his sight without a ring on your finger.”

Her heart skipped a beat. Was he hitting on her? She was pretty sure he was. Did she mind? Hell no. Even though he was a musician and had a tattoo, she loved what she saw. And she wanted to do so much more than look.

“I’m currently single,” she said. Yay! she added silently.

“I thought maybe that’s why you rejected Shade, that you were madly in love with some lucky jackass. You honestly aren’t attracted to him?”

She shook her head.

“Not even to his notoriety?”

“It doesn’t make him any more special than any of us. So he’s famous. Big whoop. It doesn’t give him the right to behave like an ass. You’re famous and you don’t act like that.”

“Are you sure about that?”

She nodded resolutely.

Gabe leaned closer still, his gaze so intense she felt frozen to the spot. He lifted a hand to brush his fingers across her cheek. Melanie’s heart thundered in her chest.

“I’m going to kiss you,” he said.

She couldn’t drag her gaze from his. She’d never seen such green eyes. The contrast of those bright irises against his dark lashes was mesmerizing.

“You are?”

“Yes.”

“But I’m not attracted to guys like you.”

“Guys like me?”

“Guys with tattoos.”

“Hmm,” he murmured close to her ear.

Her eyelids drifted closed.

“What about guys with mohawks?”

She gasped and her eyes flew open. “Never.”

Gabe pushed his ball cap off, revealing that the sides of his head were not only clean-shaven, but tattooed with black and red tribal patterns. The strip of hair down the center of his head was a couple inches long and jet black with crimson tips. So not her type. Then why was her belly tightening with need and why were her panties uncomfortably damp?

“And I suppose you’d never be attracted to a guy with a body piercing.”

His warm breath caressed her ear. She stifled a groan. Why was everything about him turning her on? She really wasn’t attracted to these bad-boy types. She was likely to cringe in fear when confronted by someone who looked like him. Now, even though Gabe had her cornered against the arm of the sofa, she felt no fear at all. She wanted to touch him. Stroke his mohawk, rub his scalp, caress his tattoos with her lips. How had those desires been spawned? She should be flinching away from him, not swaying toward him. He was exactly the type of guy she avoided as a rule. Yet she wasn’t the least bit afraid of Gabe. She wanted him.

“My navel’s pierced,” she blurted. One moment of recklessness on her twenty-first birthday.

“I don’t believe you.”

She lifted the hem of her top to show him the jewelry dangling from her belly button. His breath caught, and his fingers traced the slender chain around her waist. A pulse of pleasure converged between her thighs, and she clenched her legs together to ease the building ache.

“God, that’s sexy.” His pinky dipped beneath the waistband of her jeans as he traced the gold chain again. “What other secrets are you hiding, sweet Melanie? I want to discover them all.”

Melanie covered Gabe’s hand before he delved any deeper into her pants. “You have piercings?” she asked, staring up into his eyes. She didn’t see any in his ears or face. It was one of the reasons she hadn’t recognized that he was one of them. His clothes covered his body tattoos. His ball cap hid his unconventional hairstyle and the ink on his scalp. She’d let her guard down with him before she’d realized he was frightening. That had to be the difference. She’d talked to him before she’d known she should be afraid. “Where? I don’t see any.”

“You’ll have to feel it.” Gabe took her hand and directed it to his chest. Her fingers brushed against a hard ridge within his nipple.

“Oh!” She rubbed her tongue against the edge of her teeth, wondering what that bit of metal would feel like if she flicked her tongue over the barbell she fingered under his T-shirt. His muscles tautened beneath her touch and she silently prayed that he was as attracted to her as she was to him. She wanted him to fist her hair in both hands, drag her beneath his long, hard body and press himself firmly against the throbbing ache between her thighs.

“Melanie.” Her whispered name was like a silken caress. “You’re gorgeous.”

The corners of her mouth turned up. “So are you.”

Their gazes locked and everything resembling rational thought vacated her skull. Gabe shifted forward and claimed her mouth in a plundering kiss. Dear God, he had strong, demanding lips. Her fingers curled into his chest, and her breath caught in her throat. When his tongue brushed her upper lip, her entire body ignited. The taste of beer. The scent of his body. The hard barbell of a nipple piercing against her fingertip. All so foreign. So dangerous. So fucking sexy. He tugged his mouth away and looked down at her. Her hand slid down his belly toward his hip.

“Show me your tattoo,” she demanded breathlessly. Part of her wanted to prove to herself that she wasn’t afraid. The other part just really wanted to get another eyeful of his great body.

“Which one?”

“The one on your hip. Are there more?”

He grinned. “I thought you didn’t like tattoos.”

She shook her head, her gaze moving to the design on the left side of Gabe’s scalp. On closer inspection, the tribal pattern looked like a dragon. Not realistic. Artistic. The thick, black lines that made up its long, slender body arched along the edge of his hairline. Red fire spewed from the beast’s terrible mouth inches from his temple. The dragon’s claws seemed to be reaching for his ear. “I don’t. I’m curious is all. It’s not a skull design, is it?” She gulped. What would she do if it was?

“No. Not a skull.”

She went limp with relief. “Then what?”

“I’d be happy to show them to you. All of them. But not here.”

He turned his head to remind her that they were in a fairly secluded corner of a very crowded room. Melanie sat up abruptly and tugged her shirt down over her belly. Had anyone noticed what they were doing? She should be mortified by her reckless behavior, but it excited her instead.

“Force!” someone yelled from across the room and waved wildly at Gabe.

Gabe waved back.

“Why do they call you Force?” she asked.

“That’s my lame stage name.” He adopted a menacing expression—lip curled, brows drawn together—and cracked his knuckles. “I’m a force to be reckoned with.” He grinned and lifted her hand so he could capture her fingertips in sucking kisses.

“Oh.” An aching throb continued to build between her thighs, and she knew there was only one thing that was going to alleviate it. And only one man she wanted to drive it away. The excitement of being with Gabe, of overcoming her ridiculous fears, was far too seductive for her to deny. “I’m not normally attracted to guys like you.”

“So you said.”

Her heart thudded faster and faster as she gathered courage. She wished she could be more like Nikki and make it perfectly clear what she wanted. “If I tell you that I want you, would you believe me?”

“Try me.”

“I want you.”

He caught her gaze and held it for a long moment. “Do you want to get out of here?”

“Will you show me your tattoos?”

“That would require me to get naked.”

She grinned at him. “I’m okay with that.”