The Rocker That Needs Me(35)

With a delighted squeal, I jumped the few feet separating us and threw my legs around his waist. “It’s so good to see you,” I said, hugging him tight.

He laughed, swinging me around and around. It didn’t seem to matter to him that we were on a busy sidewalk, or that people had to stop and walk around us. Shane was the kind of man that didn’t care about public displays of any kind.

“I was going crazy back in the apartment. All I could think about was that I was going to get to see my favorite girl in the world and I couldn’t wait.” He sat me on my feet, scanning me from head to toe behind those shades of his.

“Wow!” He shook his head. “More beautiful than I remember.” His fingers touched my hair, which was longer now than it had been the last time he had seen me. “Okay, sis. Let’s get going before I start having thoughts that could get me killed.”

I slapped his arm, knowing that he was completely kidding. “Do you want to come up?” I motioned to my shoulder bag. “I want to get rid of this thing before we go traipsing around the city.”

He followed me into the building, and I stopped at the doorman’s desk. After making sure that Shane was on my list of approved guests, we took the elevator up to my floor. I knew that everyone was home before I had even unlocked the door. I could hear Linc and Dallas arguing, something that didn’t even faze me these day.

I glanced at Shane. “Keep an open mind, okay?” I told him, trying to prepare him for Linc. I had learned, after my gaffe of not believing Linc was gay, that his type was the pretty boy type. And you didn’t get prettier than Shane. He and his brother were borderline beautiful, in a masculine way, and Linc was going to be on red alert.

“Sure.” He nodded.

Opening the door, I found my roommates spread out around the living room watching the Style Network. No wonder Dallas and Linc were arguing. Dallas knew most of the models on there―had actually been one of them―and knew all their dirty secrets. Linc, who was friends with several of those models, didn’t want to believe Dallas.

Harper, looking bored with the whole thing—the conversation and the television show―skimmed through a copy of The New Yorker. Three pair of eyes turned their full attention on me as I pulled Shane into the apartment. I saw Linc’s blue eyes light up, and I narrowed my own at him.

“Hey, look who I found!”

Dallas gave Shane a once over then another one just for good measure. I glanced at Shane who had his eyes narrowed on Linc, not even noticing the interest in the ex-top model’s eyes. “You’re Linc?” he demanded.

“Yep. That’s me.” Linc grinned, liking the attention.

“Well, there’s something we can talk about later,” Shane muttered to me. “Drake is going to shit a brick.”

I stiffened. “This is none of Drake’s business.”

“Oh, I think it is.” He pushed his sun glasses on top of his head. “But whatever, sis, we can talk about it later.”

I gave him a hard glare and pushed him toward the couch. “Guys, this is Shane. Shane, these are my roommates. Linc, of course. Dallas, who seems to be eye-fucking you...” I shot her a wink, knowing that I would get bitched at later “...and this is my bestie, Harper.”

Harper waved but went back to reading. She wasn’t fazed in the least by Shane’s complete hotness. My friend had a big self-esteem problem. She had no idea that she was drop dead gorgeous and never suspected when guys were interested. I shot Shane a warning look and went to change clothes.

Ten minutes later, I came out of the bedroom I shared with Harper to find everyone laughing in the living room. I stopped, taking them all in before they could notice me. Shane had the ability to put anyone at ease. It surprised me that he had picked the part of the couch closest to Harper, when Dallas had been giving him the green light with her eyes from the moment she had seen him.

He said something that I didn’t hear, and Harper snorted with laughter. It was then that I saw it, the way his eyes danced when he looked at her. Shane had been presented with a challenge when Harper had showed disinterest. He was used to every woman he came across giving in, and now he had found one that didn’t really give a fuck about falling into his bed.

Muttering a curse under my breath, I made a mental note to kick Shane Stevenson’s ass while I was out with him today.

--

The best burger in the world was in my stomach, and I felt like I had gained fifteen pounds. I was stuffed to the point of pain, and it was all Shane’s fault.

As we left the little Mom and Pop place, I groaned, trying to figure out how to make this full feeling go away. The rock star beside me probably wasn’t enduring the same pain as me. He had finished his burger, and half of my own, as well as two orders of fries and some onion rings. With all the junk he had put away during our meal, which had included Shane ordering a huge hot fudge ice cream dessert that I hadn’t been able to even look at because I was so full, I couldn’t help but wonder if he ate like that normally. Emmie probably attempted to keep the saturated fat to a minimum, but now that he was three thousand miles away from her, he was taking advantage. I would have to keep an eye on that and let Emmie know if he kept it up. I took an evil delight in possibly tattling on him.