The phone on my desk rings. “Yes, Mr. Walters, what can I do for you?”
“Aubrey, can you please come to my office for a quick meeting.”
I start grabbing my tablet and pen as soon as he mentions needing to see me. “Sure, I’ll be right there.”
I shake my head. It’s best if I forget about Riff. As much as I would love to experience a night with a sexy rock star, that’s one pipe dream that will never happen.
My mother is probably right, I need to find a nice respectable man with a good job—a man that’s good for my future. She’s been on me for years to leave the bad boy types alone. They always break my heart, and she’s always been there to pick up the pieces.
I hook my pen into my legal pad and stand up just before an audible ding from my computer attracts my attention.
RIFF
My eyes widen as I spot my redheaded wild cat on my laptop screen. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again after she stood me up the other night, so I’m totally caught off guard when I see her picture pop up as one of my new friends on one of my fan sites.
I click on her photo and it instantly fills my entire screen. She’s just as beautiful as I remember, long auburn hair trailing over her shoulders, complimenting her green eyes and fair skin. She’s the absolute model of fucking perfection—one I’m desperate to bed. Everything I like in a woman she has: sex appeal, and fire. Those things combined are a rare find and my libido drives me to possess it.
This request excites me. It’s another shot—a do over—for me to try to get her. She doesn’t hate me, that’s clear, or she would’ve never sent me a friend request. I minimize her profile picture and click on her personal information section. The name Aubrey Jenson rolls off my tongue as I read her name aloud. I finally have a name to go with the beauty I’ve been dreaming about the past couple of nights.
It says she lives in New York, which throws me off a bit because I met her in Texas. I shrug it off and continue reading about her and then my heart pauses for a beat.
Fuck!
She works for Center Stage Marketing? That’s the same company that Noel’s heartbreaker came down to talk to him about. Holy Hell.
Things start clicking as I think about the few stolen moments with Aubrey in the hallway. Noel flying through the door in a rage after arguing with Lanie flashes before my eyes. My dream girl was there on business, and I treated her like one of my random groupies that was just looking to get laid because of that shirt showing off her tits.
No wonder she stood me up. She’s probably not the type of girl who sleeps with rock stars who ram their tongues down her throat on a whim. This chick is different from the rest. She’s classy, not some hooker that will suck my dick on command.
But then again, she did just search me out. Maybe she’s down for a night of hot, sweaty sex after all.
I chew on my thumb as I debate over what to do. The fact that I want to bang her doesn’t change, but my approach will definitely need to be different. This will take more finesse than I’m used to shelling out in order to get laid.
Knowing that we’ve got a common connection almost ensures that I’ll see her again at some point. And when I do, I want her to be so desperate for me to fuck her, she’ll practically tear off my clothes the minute she lays eyes on me.
Yes. This chick will take some wooing. This will be fun. Girls playing hard-to-get is one of my biggest fucking turn-ons. I love a good challenge and I rarely have that when trying to get laid anymore.
I sigh and start putting a plan of attack in my mind. First things first, I need to gain her trust.
AUBREY
The fact that Isaac’s waiting on me to come into his office to take notes presses into my brain as I plop back down in my seat. A private message from Official Riff just dinged into my inbox within a couple minutes of requesting his online friendship.
My fingers shake a little as I click to open it.
Hello Wild Cat,
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the other night…that ticket never expires, just so you know. See you soon.
Riff
I swallow hard at the realization that he remembers me. I don’t know whether to be flattered or scared. He’s sexy as hell, I’ll give him that, and my god, I bet he knows what he’s doing in the bedroom. I love a man that’s forward and goes for what he wants. It’s one of the biggest reasons why I always fall for bad boys. Nice guys just don’t have that edge I need to keep me interested.
My phone rings again, and I glance down at the number.
Shit. Isaac again. He’s probably wondering where the hell I am.
I gather my things and head for his office across the hallway. Luckily for me, my boss typically works with his door shut, so I don’t have to explain why I was sitting in my cubicle with my mouth hanging open staring at a computer screen instead of immediately jumping at the call to come into his office.
I knock once before I hear Isaac call “come in” on the other side of the door.
His office is in perfect order, as always. I never knew a man could be so neat until I met Isaac Walters. He’s hard at work on his computer, typing furiously with his blue eyes narrowed through his glasses. The blond hair on his head lays perfectly in place. His gray suit jacket fits snugly across his broad shoulders. He’s only older than me by a couple years, but he has a refined presence about him that makes him seem so much wiser.
I catch myself staring at him, ogling his chiseled cheekbones and sculpted nose before I shake my head and remind myself that this man is my boss, and a little bit too uptight for my taste. Yes, my boss is model perfect with a little touch of O.C.D. and makes for good eye-candy while I’m at work. This is the type of guy my mother would love for me to bring home, but he’s totally not my style.
“Have a seat, Aubrey. I’ll be right with you,” Isaac says, never tearing his eyes away from his work.
I take my seat across from him and tug down my black skirt as I cross my legs. His ultra-modern black and glass desk gleams from the afternoon sun shining in from the wall of glass windows behind him. There’s nothing better than New York in the summer time. Anything you could possibly want is in this city.
I adjust the yellow legal pad on my lap and click my pen, ready to jot down the list of notes I’m sure he’s about to fire at me.
Once Isaac is satisfied with whatever he’s working on, he turns his chair to face me directly. That’s one thing I’ve learned from him. Direct eye contact lets people know you mean business. It’s hard not to give him one hundred percent of your attention when he turns his gaze in your direction.
He folds his large hands together on his desk and clears his throat. “I was curious how it went this weekend with Black Falcon.”
Oh shit!
This is surprising. We never really make small talk, and it kind of shocks me he’s interested in an account that doesn’t belong to him. Maybe Noel has called Diana and demanded that Lanie be fired, and I’m automatically going down too because of association.
I take a deep breath and internally cringe. “It went okay, I think.”
Isaac nods. “That’s good. So, you think you’re up for working with them a little more then?”
What? “I guess so.”
“Excellent. I’ve been assigned to create the design for the Noel’s children’s literacy campaign, and I’m going to need a lot of help from you on this one since you had a chance to meet with the band and hear Noel’s vision directly.”
My shoulders relax, even though I’m still in shock a little bit. From what Lanie told me, Noel Falcon couldn’t get away from her fast enough. I figured we’d be in some deep shit for losing such a large account for the firm, but from the way Isaac is talking, Black Falcon is still our client.
“Of course, anything you need.”
Isaac leans back in his chair. “It’s funny you say that, because what I actually need from you requires a bit of…discretion.”
“Okay. No proble
m.”
“I know you’re close to our intern, Lanie Vance, and I’ll need you to obtain some information from her.”
I scrunch my brow, confused on where he’s going with this. “What kind of information?”
“It seems that Noel Falcon is quite smitten with her, and has requested that she alone handle this account for him. Diana smoothed things over with him and led him to believe that was exactly what was going to happen. She even agreed to send Ms. Vance on the road with Black Falcon, at his request, for two weeks to appease him, but naturally we can’t allow an intern who’s still wet behind the ears run a million dollar project.”
Things start to click. “So, you’re going to work on it here, while Noel is left to believe that Lanie’s in charge?”
He smiles. “Precisely.”
“How am I involved in all of this?” I don’t like the way this sounds. It feels an awful lot like he’s asking me to lie to my best friend.
Isaac leans in and rests his elbows on the desk. “You’re going to keep me on the inside track. Get her to tell you things about the band, and then report back to me.”
I swallow hard. “I’m sorry, Isaac, but that feels like a huge betrayal of my best friend’s trust.”
He nods and scoots his chair back and walks around to the front of the desk. His tall frame towers over me as he leans back against his desk while both hands rest on either side of him. “I know this sounds bad, but it’s not exactly what you’re thinking. Diana was going to give this account to someone else until I threw my hat in the ring. I didn’t think it was right to pull the rug out from someone like that, so I figured if I took the account, that since you know her, you could get her ideas. That way, we can still implement some of them…if they’re good. She’ll still get some credit.”
“That seems awfully nice of you, but I can’t help but wonder why you would get involved.”
He shrugs. “Because you work for me, and I would like to keep it that way. If your friend quits because she gets angry over the Black Falcon account, I don’t want her to convince you to quit with her. I like having you around.”
That’s kind of sweet, in a weird twisted way, but I’m not sure why he would go through all the trouble. It’s not like we talk much, other than when we have to for business-related things. This sudden act of chivalry causes me to raise my eyebrows.
“Isaac, even though I love Lanie, I wouldn’t quit my job on a whim. Center Stage has been my dream place to work since my third year of college. I’m glad you put your faith in a new grad and hired me even though I had no experience. No one else would’ve given me a shot like that, so I’m grateful to you for the chance.”
Isaac’s face lights up and his smile brightens. “Good, because I really don’t want you to go anywhere. Matter of fact, I would like to keep you around so I can get to know you better.”
I meet his gaze with my mouth slightly agape. Why am I getting the distinct feeling he’s trying to make a play for me? This is so not good. I can’t get into a relationship with my boss—it could end my career.
Feeling a bit uneasy about the situation, I stand and fight the instant urge to run as fast as I can out of this office. “Okay, well, will there be anything else?”
He pulls his lips into a straight line. “No. That will be all, Aubrey. Please keep me informed of Ms. Vance’s progress on the campaign.”
I nod curtly and flee from his presence.
Shit.
I flop down in my desk chair inside my little cubicle and run my fingers through my hair. How can I tell a man to take his O.C.D. ass and beat it because I’m totally not interested in dating my boss? They certainly never prepare you for this in college. They should teach When Your Boss Wants to Fuck You: 101.
I punch the spacebar on my keyboard, ready to fire a message of warning out to my best friend, but the message from Riff still sits on my screen.
If I tell Lanie about this, she’ll probably quit and ruin the one shot she has at getting her foot in the door here. Pissing off people as powerful as Diana Swagger is highly inadvisable. She practically runs New York’s advertising world. If she wants to destroy you and make sure you never work in this town again, she will.
Besides all that, going on the road with the man she still loves, even though she denies it, might be the start of a beautiful new relationship for her. One that I can tell even as an outsider isn’t completely over for either one of them.
I stare at Riff’s message, and the thought occurs to me that I cannot only get insider information from Lanie to help her out secretly with the ad, but I may have just won myself a new connection in the form of a sexy, tattooed rocker.
I hit reply and begin to type.
Riff,
I’m amazed and flattered you remember me. It’s nice to know the golden ticket still stands. I am kind of curious as to what it grants me admission to?
Aubrey
I hit send before I have a chance to chicken out. Since my last break up, I swore off the bad boy type, but I can’t help but to still be attracted to them. When I saw my mother over the weekend back in Texas, she went on and on about how at twenty-four she was done with college, settled down with my father, and was ready to start her family. She just can’t understand that I’m not ready to settle down, or feel that I have to.
I’m still young, with my entire life ahead of me. Twenty-four isn’t old by any stretch of the means. What’s wrong with messing around with a guy for fun every now and then? It’s not like this thing between Riff and I will ever turn into a relationship anyway. My mom would have a heart attack if I brought someone like him home to meet her. She would like nothing more than for me to find a nice, boring man like Isaac and pop out a few heathens.
I shudder at the thought. Not that there’s anything wrong with Isaac, but I know me. He would bore me to tears, and the organization issues he has would drive me insane.
I shake my head. The last thing I need to be thinking about right now is men, especially my boss. I’ve got bigger problems than that—namely, how and if I can break the news to Lanie about what’s going on in the dirty underworld of Center Stage Marketing.
Chapter 3
RIFF
It’s been a couple days since I received my Wild Cat’s reply. So many times I’ve stopped myself from answering and telling her to name the time and place so I can fuck her out of my system. I don’t want to seem desperate.
It’s been a long time since I allowed a chick to get under my skin this way. The last time was clear back in high school when I set my sights on the Prom Queen. I didn’t relent in that situation either, not until I had her legs thrown over my shoulders and she screamed about how big my cock was while we were in the back of my Charger.
Sexy women that play hard to get are my downfall.
I lean my head back against the headrest of the captain’s chair while Big Bertha rolls down the road and I fish my phone from my pocket. To hell with trying to resist her allure. It’ll drive me bat shit crazy if I don’t have her soon.
“Who you calling?” Trip, our crazy-ass drummer, flops down in the seat beside mine with a huge bowl of cereal.
I ignore him and open up the social media site on my phone. “Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but I’m not calling anyone.”
Trip readjusts his baseball cap. “Damn, dude, just trying to make some conversation. This place is boring as shit with you and Noel not really talking.”
I raise my pierced eyebrow and shoot him a sideways glance. “That’s not exactly my fault, now is it?”
He takes a huge bite of his cereal and swallows it down before he answers. “Don’t start this shit again. Are you ever going to let this go? You weren’t in love with Sophie. You said that yourself.”
I shake my head and search out Aubrey’s message. “That’s not the fucking point, and you know it. Regardless if I loved her or not, you don’t go behind your friend’s back and fuck his girl. Period. Drunk or not. That’s no excuse.”
>
Trip nods in agreement. “Yeah, yeah. I get that. And you’re totally right, but you’re going to have to find a way to get past this shit. We’re still a band, and we’re trapped on this tiny fucking bus for far too long to allow this tension to go on. What’s it going to take to fix this?”
I flip my lip ring in and out of my mouth a few times while I reflect on his words. He’s right. Things around here have been tense for the past couple of months. It sucks for everyone because Noel and I have completely zapped away all the fun of being out on the road together. Yeah, it’s partially my fault for bringing a chick on the road with us, but both of them fucking knew better, and I completely blame him.
Her—I couldn’t really give two shits about.
But what Noel did broke our brotherly bond. It’ll be hard to forgive him for that, but Trip’s right. We can’t keep going like this.
“I think I need to learn to let it go, for the sake of the band, and quit being a total fucking dick to him all the time. He’s apologized to me several times—still claims he was too wasted to remember sleeping with her though. It’s hard to let it go. Every time I see him, I think about it.”
“I’ve been friends with you a long time, man. You’ve been through a ton of shit with your family, and I know it’s hard for you to trust people. Hell, if this had been anyone other than Noel, I would’ve helped you beat his ass myself. It was a dick move on his part—he knows that—and now he has to deal with the fucking mess he’s gotten himself into by knocking Sophie up. Be the bigger man, and let it go. It’s what’s best for this band. We’ve worked too damn hard to get here to flush our careers down the toilet over some skanky hoe.” Trip gives me a pointed look and then drinks down the remaining milk in his cereal bowl.
For the guy that’s the goofiest motherfucker in the band, he’s sure making sense out of this fucked up situation.
When he gets up to go to the sink, I open Aubrey’s last message. The thought of exactly what I’ll be willing to give her when she cashes in that ticket makes me smile. It’s nice to think about her and get my mind off all the other shit I’m going through.