Free Steady Beat by Lexxie Couper Page B

then Jax roared with wild approval, slapping Noah on the back. Congratulating him on his find.
    “Fuck, mate.” Levi shook his head, shaking Noah’s hand. “She made even me tremble.”
    Noah couldn’t find his voice. Didn’t give a rat’s arse. There were no words. There was only one thing he wanted. One thing.
    Pepper opened her eyes and looked at him from her place under the light. Pride and triumph shone in their blue depths. Pride, triumph and a question.
    “Hell yeah,” Noah groaned, smiling at her.
    He ran.
    She met him halfway, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, her legs around his hips, her lips capturing his.
    She kissed him. He kissed her in return. Their tongues melded, stroking against the other, their moans uninhibited. He stumbled backward, holding her tight to his body, knowing he’d never wanted another woman like he wanted her. When his heel tripped over god knows what and he landed on his arse, he didn’t stop kissing her. Just laughed into her mouth, loving the way she giggled in return.
    He didn’t stop kissing her when Samuel told them to get a room. Didn’t even lift his head when Jax threatened to upload footage onto Twitter.
    He didn’t care about any of that. Just kissing the woman who’d approached him in a bar and changed everything.
    Everything.
    It wasn’t until something hard nudged him in the shoulder—twice—he forced himself to tear his lips from hers.
    Samuel stood over them both, the glare back on his face. “We need to talk.”
    “Oh God,” Pepper burst out, her face igniting with red heat as she scrambled off Noah. “I didn’t mean to—”
    He grabbed at her, halting her retreat. He didn’t want her going anywhere. He sure as hell didn’t want to talk with Samuel. “Fuck off, Strings. You can tell me you were wrong later.”
    Samuel snorted. “Two words, Holden. Fleetwood. Mac.”
    Noah let out a growl. He held onto Pepper tighter, even as she wriggled completely off his legs. Cool emptiness washed over him at her body’s absence. His chest ached. His cock…holy shit, his cock had never been harder. “What the hell are you talking about?”
    “Fleetwood Mac,” Pepper’s soft voice—so recently transporting them all to another level of sublime existence—sounded at his left. He swung his head to study her, glad to find her on her knees at his hip. She’d stayed close to him. He liked that.
    What he didn’t like was the torment pulling at her eyebrows. “Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.”
    “Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham?” he echoed. Why did he have no clue what the hell was going on?
    Jax let out a wry snort. “I think what Strings is trying to say, Drummer Boy—in the most obscure way possible—is he’s worried about you and Pepper being in a sexual relationship.”
    Noah frowned at his fellow band members before returning his attention to Samuel. “So what you’re saying is Pepper and I can’t…get it on because of the supposed issues between Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham back in the seventies?”
    Pepper rose to her feet. “I’m just going to…” She pointed vaguely toward the exit, her cheeks pink. “For a bit.”
    Noah wanted to kiss away her blush. Before he finished climbing to his feet to stop her, she hurried away.
    Swinging back to Samuel, he glared at the lead guitarist. “What the fuck is your problem? You just heard her sing and you’re still giving her grief? Jesus, Sam, will you—”
    “Pepper has the most incredible voice I’ve ever heard,” Samuel cut him off, his expression serious. “I just don’t want to see what might be the most amazing thing to happen to us be messed up because you can’t keep it in your pants.”
    “Screw you, Gibson,” Noah snarled.
    “He’s got a point,” Levi commented.
    “Yeah, easy for you to say, Levistan,” Noah shot back. “You’re living your happy-ever-after. I’ve just found mine and now Strings is telling me I can’t—”
    “Just found