Backstage Pass

“What should I wear?” she asked.

“You look damn good in that towel.” The slight growl in his voice made her throb between her thighs. They were both worked up to a sexual frenzy. How would she ever get through watching his entire show without pouncing on him in front of a stadium ful of fans?

She grinned. “I don’t think that’s wise.”

“Wear a shirt with buttons,” he requested. “The rest, I don’t care.” He sat on the end of the bed to put on his socks.

“Stockings and garters?”

He glanced up. “Yeah. I like those.”

“Panties? Or should I not bother?”

With a growl, he grabbed her and tossed her onto the bed. He tugged her towel open and sucked one breast into his mouth. The other he squeezed firmly. The hard bulge in his pants pressed against her thigh.

“Don’t you have to be on stage in fifteen minutes?” she asked nonchalantly, though had he taken the time to explore the neglected parts of her body, he’d have found her hot, swol en and wet.

He lifted his head to look down at her. “You’re driving me crazy, Myrna.”

“You’ve been driving me crazy al day.”

He grinned. “I think my plan worked a little too wel .” He moved from the bed, his gaze roaming her body as he stood over her.

“I’ve got to go dry my hair, shave, and put on my stage makeup. Get dressed. And try not to look too sexy. I have to get through the next hour without touching you. If you decide against panties, please don’t tel me.”

She chuckled and climbed from the bed in search of clothes. She dressed as fast as she could. She wished she hadn’t mentioned garters. They took too long to put on. By the time she found Brian in the bathroom, he was ready to go. He wore a red felt replica of his discarded lucky hat instead of going for the messy, hairspray and gel look he usual y sported on stage. He didn’t have time to do his hair. The eyeliner he couldn’t do without, however. That was signature. She wiped at a smudge under his left eye with her thumb.

“I didn’t have time to paint my nails.” He gazed at the remnants of chipped black nail polish on his index finger. She hugged him. He trembled against her with a typical case of preshow jitters. “No one wil notice,” she said. “I just need to do something with my hair and face. I’l be right out.”

“You wore a suit? You know what it does to me when you look prim and proper.”

She grinned. “That’s why I wore it.”

He kissed her on the forehead and trotted toward the bus exit. “Don’t be late.”

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

Chapter 23

The crowd was restless and chanting, “Sinners. Sinners. Sinners,” at ful volume. As Murphy’s Law would have it, Brian needn’t have rushed so much. There was a problem in one of the video panels behind the drum kit. Their effects technician was working to get it back online as quickly as possible and the crowd grew louder and more restless with each passing moment. Brian pul ed Jace aside to talk to him while they waited for the signal to go on stage.

“Can I borrow your restraints tonight?” Brian asked.

If Brian’s request surprised Jace, he didn’t show it. “Do you know how to work them? You don’t want them too tight or too loose.”

“If I can’t figure them out, I’l cal you.”

“The suspension chain should be in the case with them. Make sure her knees can touch the bed or you’l hurt her shoulders.”

“I was just going to tie her down, flat on her back.”

Jace shrugged. “I guess that’s okay, but then you only have one side of her body to work with.”

Brian glanced over his shoulder to make sure Myrna hadn’t arrived backstage yet. Trey was rocking up and down on the bal s of his feet, his energy level sky high. Eric was twirling his sticks and pointing them at people as if he were a gunslinger. Sed looked bored and slightly annoyed by the chick who was hovering around him. No sign of Myrna.

“So I should restrain her arms above her head? I wondered why you put that hook in the ceiling over the bed.”

“You’l both get more out of the experience that way. Don’t forget to blindfold her.”

“Blindfold her? Why?”

“So she real y feels what you’re doing to her. You’ve never blindfolded her?”

Brian shook his head.

Jace massaged the silver earring in his left lobe and then the one in his right. “You haven’t been working al of her senses then, have you?”

“What? You mean like sight and touch.”

“Yeah. Taste, smel , hearing, pain, hot, cold, vibration, pressure, smooth texture, rough. Al the senses.”

Brian felt a little strange asking a guy five years his junior for sexual advice, but he wanted tonight to be something Myrna would never forget. “Tel me more.”

“I suggest you blindfold her to heighten the senses she doesn’t use much. Let her watch you jerk off and come on her, but otherwise keep her eyes covered. And since she creams over your guitar playing, I’d get her some earphones and make her listen to our music the entire time. Then she won’t hear what’s coming at her either.”

Brian decided Jace knew what he was talking about. “What else?”

“Ice and candle wax. Keep her guessing on hot and cold.”

Brian felt like he should be taking notes.

“And put the shirt you wore on stage over her nose. Chicks like the scent of their man. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, she’l get off on it. You probably want to bring stuff to put in her mouth. Different flavors. I’ve got some samples in the case with my restraints, paddles, and stuff, but you’l probably want some extras that are specific to her.”

“Do you sit around al day and think up this shit?”

Jace grinned deviously. “Why do you think I’m so quiet al the time?”

The clicking sound of approaching high-heeled shoes drew Brian’s attention to Myrna. Ice. Candle wax. Paddles. Blindfolds. He must have looked suspicious, because she looked at him quizzical y when she drew to a stop beside him.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked. “And why aren’t you on stage yet? I thought I was late.”

“Technical difficulties.”

“Okay, guys. We’ve got it fixed,” one of the roadies cal ed.

The stadium lights went down. The crowd roared.

“I’l see you soon,” he murmured close to Myrna’s ear. He adjusted his ear bud so he could hear himself and the band play without going deaf in front of the amplifier. He rushed up the stage stairs and trotted across the set to his normal spot: stage left. His heart thudded as it always did when his feet first touched the stage. Eric started the first song with several taps on his cymbal fol owed by a drum progression. By the time Jace entered the song with his base groove and Trey strummed the rhythm riff, Brian’s apprehension had vanished. A purple light bathed his body from above and he entered the song with a solo—his guitar a familiar friend. When his solo segued into the lead riff, Sed’s voice growled in his ear and the stage lit up al at once. He could hear the crowd roar over the music.