One thing though: she'd been right all along when it came to her impressions about some of these so-called rock stars. They had zero regard for women and didn't consider them useful for more than fulfilling their lusty desires. Even at the workplace, a woman like her would have to deal with getting hit on by some entitled celebrity who couldn't understand that some people, like her, had boundaries.
Not a word was exchanged between them till the car stopped in front of the building holding the Jessica Charles offices. Mandy wasn't sure what to say and for all she knew, Ethan had changed his mind about taking her to London. Maybe he'd call Jessica and say he wouldn't require Mandy's services after all. She'd be kicked out of the first big assignment she'd had in her career and then she'd likely get fired altogether after Ethan withdrew his interest in the firm.
Hiding her sudden surge of panic, Mandy turned to look at Ethan. "Um … so we'll follow up with the details for the upcoming tour?"
He barely glanced her way, checking his watch almost pointedly. "My people will get in touch." Then he met her eyes with a detached look that said he couldn't wait for her to leave. "Thank you, Mandy. Looking forward to working with you on the tour."
Mandy's deep sigh of relief passed inaudibly from her parted lips. She even managed a smile.
"Me too. And thank you, Ethan. Take care."
Mandy stepped out of the car and then watched it speed away from the curb. Part of her was filled with pure elation that she hadn't lost the opportunity, but another part of her felt a twinge of absolute dread. She'd managed a narrow escape from Ethan Tyler today, but the next time, she wasn't sure she'd be so lucky.
"Where to now, Ethan?"
Ethan broke out of his dark musings at the sound of Vernon's voice. Vernon doubled as his driver and handler, and when needed, crowd controller. Built like a Samoan linebacker, he had the patience of a saint. Ethan had to resist the urge to bark at him for interrupting his thoughts.
Ethan could still smell Mandy's perfume, lingering like a waft of heaven on the expensive leather upholstery. He cursed under his breath.
"Kerry and a couple of her pals are expecting us to pick them up later for dinner at Ben Jin's. Then we hit the club." If there was ever a day that needed salvaging, this is one of them, Ethan thought. "But first we need to meet up with the rest of the guys for practice. Jaime will freak out if I miss it," he muttered.
"Got it, Ethan," Vernon replied.
Ethan knew he should simmer the hell down. He had no one to blame but himself. Being around Mandy had not been a good idea. At all. Not alone in close quarters and certainly not for long periods at a time. He couldn't trust his own urges. The things he wanted to do to her. He could still feel the imprint of her curves beneath his fingers. He bit hard on his lip and imagined how good hers had tasted and how sweet – how impossibly sweet – it had been inside her soft, giving mouth.
Any other woman and he'd have had her. More than once by now. He'd never gotten rejected by a woman he desired, and he certainly would never have let her slip from his grasp once he'd had her in it. And Mandy had been well within his grasp – he'd had her alone in his room, trapped against the wall, and if he'd wanted to have his way with her, he would have. That was what he kept telling himself. But then Mandy's words kept ringing in his ears. That he could never be the man she would want to be with even if he succeeded in seducing her. In more ways than he cared to admit right then, that had hit a nerve.
At age twenty-five, Ethan knew he'd had more than his fair share of women. He knew of his reputation and hadn't done much to tame it despite the media exaggerating the number of lovers he had or outright lying about who he was or wasn't dating. He hadn't cared much about his personal image or even the fact that he was a sex symbol. But when it came to his music, the members of The Strum were not just rock stars, but rock ‘n' roll gods. And when Ethan took the stage with his custom guitar, shredding right along with Jaime's vocals and Henson's drums, they could whip a crowd into the kind of frenzy unrivalled by any other band. That was all he cared about.
Some might consider the group too young to understand what it really meant to possess such wealth, power, and fame. There were screaming fans at every sold-out concert and women falling over each other for just one night in their beds, but it wasn't all about the Hollywood-type glamor and the excesses that came with it. There was also the dark reality that the outside world never got to see. His abused past - his inner demons and fears that only music seemed to quell, if only for a little while.
There was something about Mandy that struck a chord in all of that. You could meet someone and in a second, it could change your world. Ethan had only felt such intensity a few times in his life: when he was writing that next visceral, ferocious song The Strum was popular for, or when he was on stage doing one of his lightning fast riffs and killing it like the bad boy instrumental virtuoso he was known to be.
He'd thought that with Mandy, it was all about the sex and just getting a piece of that hot, curvy ass. But even when he had gotten that close; even when she was nothing but a flushed, wet, trembling mess in his arms … he'd held back. He'd let her escape his desires, and there'd been only one reason overriding every other that kept him from closing in for the kill: he wanted more than just her body. He wanted it all.
Chapter Five
Mandy was just a bit shaken as she walked into Jessica's office. The items purchased on the shopping trip with Ethan were to be delivered later, so all Mandy needed to do was show up in Jessica's office and give her boss a rundown of the day's events. Minus the part where Mandy had gotten hit on by Ethan Tyler, that is. Mandy had a feeling Jessica would have crowed in fury to hear Mandy had dared refuse their biggest client anything.
"I'm glad the day went well," Jessica said with deep satisfaction. "We'll work on getting you ready for the London gig. You're supposed to be on my team handling another photo shoot tomorrow, but I need you to focus totally on Ethan so I'll take another assistant. Once we can get them to take us on as the band's main stylist, there'll be no stopping us." Jessica said with a snarky little smile.
"Thank you, Jessica. I'll just go over Ethan's design album and add my notes along with suggestions for the concert wardrobe set."
"You do that," Jessica said, giving Mandy a dismissive wave. Mandy escaped to her cubbyhole with a relieved sigh. Just another hour or two and she would be done for the day. And what a day it had been. Just as she reached for the Ethan Tyler portfolio, her cellphone rang. It was Marcus.
"So, where are you?" he asked in a gruffer voice than usual.
"At work, of course. Why?" Mandy asked, unable to hold back a smile.
"Just checking. You having to cater to a rock star and all – I need to make sure my girl's okay."
"I'm fine; everything went um … very well," Mandy said, trying to keep her tone neutral. Guilt surfaced once again when she thought of how easily she could have ended up on Ethan's bed only a few short hours ago.
Shivering inside, she went on, "So we'll be meeting for dinner tonight?"
Mandy was almost desperate for things to get back to normal. Spending the evening with Marcus would definitely put things back in perspective after the high of spending the afternoon with Ethan and almost giving in to his incredible magnetism. She still felt a buzz between her thighs when she thought of the hunger and heat of Ethan's hot mouth on hers. He hadn't done much more than kiss her and she'd been putty in his hands. And when he'd made her fingers graze his imposingly rock-hard masculinity, she'd been half-afraid of what lay in wait if she only surrendered. She still couldn't believe how close she'd been to falling, and now remorse made her want to run straight to Marcus for the support she needed.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. To her dismay, he told her regretfully that he had to get on a flight to New York for an important business deal that he was about to close.
"I'll be back in a couple of days, just in time to see you before you go on your London trip." Marcus said in his deep, reassuring voice.
Sometimes she felt like he was a considerate friend rather than a loving, passionate boyfriend. Still, it felt good that he'd cared enough to call her to make sure she was safe from some rock star's whims.
By the time she was back home in her sizeable studio apartment, she was exhausted. All she wanted to do was cook a quick meal and relax. Mindlessly, she scrolled through the apps on her laptop, choosing to open YouTube where she searched for videos of The Strum.