Free One Night with Sole Regret 06 Tell Me by Olivia Cunning

a cab,” she said. “Or maybe Gabe will let you ride in the limo.”
    “Do I have to ride up front with Parker the penguin?”
    Melanie laughed. “No, hon.” She cupped Nikki’s streaked cheek in one palm. “You ride in the back and drink champagne.”
    “But I don’t like champagne.”
    Melanie smiled and kissed the tip of Nikki’s nose. “Drink it anyway. Wait here,” she said. “I’m going to go talk to Gabe about the limo. Okay?”
    Nikki nodded and the in stant that Melanie stepped away, two guys tripped over each other trying to get to Nikki’s side, as if the first to touch her could claim her as a prize.
    Melanie found Gabe slumped forward in a chair, his elbows resting on his knees and a bottle of beer between his palms. He was staring at the spot between his impressively large feet with a scowl on his handsome face. The high forehead, square jaw, and long straight nose would have looked good on anyone. His lower lip was slightly larger than the upper and just begged to nibbled on. Every visible inch of the man was long, lean, and hard. Masculine. Lord, he was gorgeous. And he was even better looking when he smiled; his perfect grin lit up his mesmerizing grass-green eyes from the inside. Melanie intended to put that smile back on his tasty lips as soon as possible and keep it there. She hated the glum expression he was currently sporting, especially since she knew she was responsible for it. It didn’t suit him. Or her.
    She squeezed onto his chair, resting on one hip until he scooted over to give her more room. He gaped at her as if stunned to see her. He didn’t really think she was going to give up her weekend with him to coddle Nikki, did he?
    “I need your help,” she said.
    “With?”
    “Nikki.”
    “I don’t know any hit men, but Adam might. He runs in some rough circles.”
    “Not to kill her,” Melanie said. “To get her to the hotel. Can she ride in the limo?”
    “The rest of the band should be coming here from the hotel now,” he said. “She can ride back after the show.”
    Melanie crinkled her nose and shook her head. That was not what she had in mind at all. “She’s leaving now.”
    “And you are…”
    “Staying here with you. But that’s why I need your help. I can already feel myself slipping up with my intentions to stay strong, just to make her happy. I need you to do my dirty work for me and make sure she gets to the hotel because if I see her looking all depressed and crying, I’m going to cave in to her wishes again and she’s going to end up sleeping between us and hogging the covers all weekend.”
    His brow furrowed with confusion. “You want me to ride with her?”
    “No, baby,” she said. “I want you to play your rock star card and get someone to do it for you.”
    “Oh.” He grinned, and she melted beneath the warmth of his smile. “Now that, I can do.”
    “Well, hurry up about it. My lips are lonely.”
    He gave her a sample of the company his lips could provide hers, climbed from the beige club chair, and handed her his beer. “I’ll be right back.”
    She shifted into a more comfortable spot in the chair and took a swig off his beer. “Maybe there are still some knights in shining armor left in the world,” she said, and tipped the neck of the bottle toward him in a silent toast to his heroics.
    While waiting for Gabe to return—she owed him big time for handling Nikki for her—Melanie scanned the room, feeling as out of place as she had the first time she ’d been backstage with the band. She couldn’t help but notice people were staring at her with curiosity. Was it because she had just bossed Gabe around or because her attire was unlike anything else in the room? She really liked Gabe, but this scene was a rude reminder that they came from entirely different worlds. She didn’t fit in his reality and he didn’t fit in hers. So why did she feel that they fit together so well? Maybe she should try a little harder to blend in