Free Rock Bottom by Adriana Hunter

anyone else for a long time and it was best, Gage
warned himself, not to start now.
    This time
when he felt someone place a hand on his arm to get his attention, he turned
with a snarl only to realize that it was Kate and his face immediately softened.
    Her beautiful
pale skin was flushed with excitement and she was smiling. His heart eased as he
looked into her face, relief washing over him.
    “You enjoy
the concert?”
    A deliciously
pretty blush spread over her cheeks. “It was awesome!” Kate replied with a
bright smile. “I wanted to watch this last performance from the audience and I
was really glad I did. Standing so close to the stage…to you. It made the music
feel more…I don’t know, alive?… It was just so intense.”
    “Glad you
enjoyed it,” Gage murmured, handing her a glass of champagne from the passing
server, before snagging one for himself and downing it in one gulp.
    What he
wouldn’t do for some hard whiskey right now – what he wouldn’t do for a
room to whisk Kate into so he could peel her out of those sinfully tight jeans
and sexy boots before ripping off her top so he could taste her exquisitely bare
skin.
    He could tell
she was nervous beneath his unwavering gaze on her body, and she hid her nose
in her glass before saying with a teasing tone, “I must admit, you’re quite
sexy up on that stage.”
    “Is that
right?” he chuckled, snaking his eyes over her once again. She had the sexiest
curves, just begging to be devoured by his hungry passion. “Well, then we make
a good pair, don’t we…because you’re incredibly sexy yourself.”
    Kate’s eyes
sobered as she gazed up into his face. “You’re amazing, Gage,” she said softly,
suddenly very serious and it caught him off guard. “You’ve always been amazing.
I just never had the faith in you that I should have had. I didn’t have faith
in myself either back then. I just wanted to make sure that you knew how sorry
I am.”
    Gage’s brows
creased in dismay. “Why do I have a feeling that you’re saying goodbye to me?”
    Kate
shrugged, looking around at the gathering of media, the gig promoters, band
members and the small crowd of groupies. When she turned back to him, her face
was guarded. “It’s not like we both didn’t know the score. It’s clear that
there’s only one way this could go.”
    Gage paused,
frustration swelling in his chest. “I see. And that would be…?”
    She merely
smiled and shook her head before downing her champagne. When she lowered the
glass from her lips, he could see she was gripping the stem so hard her
knuckles whitened. Gage stared at her piercingly and caught the wild fluttering
in her throat, the breath snagging in her chest as their eyes held. She made to
turn and walk off but he grasped her elbow, making her face him again.
    “Kate…” he
began, before a heavy hand fell on his shoulder and he turned to see his
bassist Jeremy looking quizzically at him.
    “Gage, we
need you for a few. We’ve got stuff to round up with the promoters and they
want you to make an appearance at the after party. It’s completely sold out and
they’ll deal with a lot of heat if you’re not there.”
    “I’ll talk to
you later,” Kate said lightly, moving away from Gage before he could stop her.
Gage felt Jeremy’s hand close tighter on his shoulder and he pulled away from
him angrily.
    “Come on,
man… You’ve been on that tail for the whole tour,” Jeremy groaned in
exasperation. “We’ve got a ton of press to do, and we can’t do it without you.”
    “You’re going
to have to,” Gage replied with a growl, his eyes trained on Kate making for the
open doorway of the crowded room.
    “You’ve lost
your mind, man,” Jeremy said wryly, his gaze flitting to the redhead that was
pushing her way through the crowd. “The way you are around her. She really
means something to you, doesn’t she?”
    Gage turned
to Jeremy for a brief moment, his fiery eyes glowing with annoyance.