Gabe was shirtless. His hair, which had grown out to almost completely cover his tattoos, had been shaved on the sides again. His Mohawk was at least four inches longer than when she’d met him and was fashioned into tall spikes. He wore studded leather cuffs on each wrist and an intense expression as he pounded away on the skins, his entire body—pumping legs, flailing arms—moving to the beat in his mind. A grimace of longing twisted his handsome features into an expression of elemental need.
Watching him—her rock star—play those drums as if a huge piece of him were missing without them made tears spring to Melanie’s eyes. She swallowed the huge lump in her throat, but it did no good. Regret threatened to suffocate her.
What had she done? Barged into his life. Invited her friend to live in his house. Monopolized all his free time. Forced him to start a business he’d had no intention of starting. Turned his attention from making the music he loved to her.
She covered her mouth and said into her palm, “Oh God, I’m sorry.” She’d been so focused on building their new life together that she’d completely steamrolled over the life he loved—the one he’d had before he’d met her.
The drumming stopped abruptly. Gabe slid his drumsticks under his snare as if ashamed that she’d caught him using them.
“I didn’t realize you’d be home so soon,” he said.
“Don’t stop playing on my account,” she said, rubbing wetness from her cheeks with her fingertips. “Please don’t stop.”
“Are you crying?”
She couldn’t stay away. She rushed to his side and wrapped her arms around him, hugging the side of his head to her chest. “You haven’t played since I moved in.”
“It’s noisy,” he said. “I didn’t want to disturb you.”
She laughed, kissing the recently shaved side of his head. “It wouldn’t disturb me. And if it did, I’d just go sit on the porch. You need this, Gabe. This drumming. It’s part of you.”
“Honestly, I haven’t felt like playing. I figured it would just remind me of everything Jacob took from me when the selfish bastard dismembered the band.” He twisted so he could look up into her eyes. “I’d forgotten how fun it is.” He grinned, and her heart melted. “I don’t know if Sole Regret will ever get back together or if I’ll ever play drums professionally again, but I will play them for fun.”
Melanie laughed because the man made her so damned happy, she couldn’t help it. “I’m glad. And I want your band to get back together. I really do.”
“Are you sure? You can tell me the truth. I won’t be upset. I know you don’t buy into the whole rock star gig.” He rolled his eyes at her. “You’re so not impressed.”
But she was impressed. More than impressed. “Watching you play the drums is the most erotic experience I’ve ever had.”
He snorted “More erotic than riding the Sex Stallion?”
“Way more erotic than any sex toy.”
“Sounds like a challenge.” He smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her. “That’s one way to inspire my filthy, inventive mind.”
“Play for me, Gabe,” she said. But then she shook her head and added, “No, play for yourself. Lose yourself in your rhythm. That’s what really turns me on.”
His bass drum thudded, and she jumped. Within seconds his entire body was moving again. She couldn’t look away. Not when her ears began to ache from the loudness. Not when her breathing quickened and her heart started to race. And certainly not when sweat began to trickle down his flexing pecs, abs, and back. As enticing as his lean, muscular body was, it was that look of intense concentration, of love—a look she recognized from their bedroom—as he played that drew her closer and closer until she was close enough to touch him.
Sole Regret needed to get back together. She wasn’t sure why it hadn’t seemed all that important to her until now. Maybe because she simply hadn’t recognized how important it was to Gabe. And if the band was important to him, it was important to her.
Unable to keep her hands to herself another second, she reached out and touched his shoulder. His skin was damp with sweat and cool to the touch, but she could feel the heat just beneath the surface. His concentration shattered, he stumbled over a beat and then lowered his sticks, gathering them into one fist. He wrapped his free arm around the backs of her thighs.
“Are you sufficiently turned on?” he asked. “Or should I continue?”
“You should always continue,” she said. “But this isn’t about me at all. It’s about you. I’m an idiot for not seeing it before. Can you forgive me?”
He cocked his head to one side, confusion written across every devastatingly gorgeous line of his face. “Forgive you? For what?”
“For not trying to help you get the band together.”
“You went with me to talk to Adam, as well as to Jacob and even Amanda.”
“But I didn’t do anything.”
“Baby, that’s not your responsibility.” He set his sticks down on his snare drum, freeing his hand to take hers. “Standing beside me while I sort this shit out, that’s all I require of you.” He lifted her hand to his lips. “And you’ve done a fine job of that. You’ve stood by me through it all.”
“But I want to fix it.”
He laughed softly and kissed her wrist. “You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t want to fix problems for someone you care about, but the ball is bouncing between Jacob and Adam now. We just have to be patient and hope we aren’t eighty years old before they set their differences aside and stop being selfish jackasses.”
She bit her lip, trying to think up a course of action. “There has to be something we can do. Are they both coming to the party tomorrow?”
Gabe shrugged, his gentle, seeking kisses along the inside of her wrist and palm wreaking havoc with her pulse as well as her ability to keep her hands from trembling.
“I know Adam will be there,” he said. “It’s his party too. Jacob was invited, and I was planning to ask him to be my best man if he comes, but I’m not sure if he’ll show.”
“He’d better come,” she said, and it sounded like a threat. Because she knew if Jacob bailed on their engagement party, his indifference would hurt Gabe, even if Gabe somehow managed to hide his feelings.
“If he doesn’t, I’ll just ask one of the other guys to stand up with me. It’s no big deal.”
But it was a big deal. And she planned to make sure the right person was her groom’s best man when Gabe pledged his forever to her. If that person was Jacob “Ego-Maniac” Silverton, so be it.
“So,” she said, hoping that a subject change would wipe the melancholy from her lover’s face. “Is there any way to make love while drumming?”
He bit his lip. “Make love?” He shook his head. “Doubtful. Fuck? Oh yeah. I can definitely fuck while drumming. Do you think you could handle the bass?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “What do I have to do?”
He shifted his stool back and stood, wrapping his fingers around her hips and arranging her in front of him facing the drum kit. He moved in close behind her, rubbing the hard bulge in his pants against her ass while his hands slid up her sides to cup her breasts.
“There are three pedals on the floor in front of you,”
he said. “Step on one.”
Distracted by the feel of his body behind her and the exertion-intensified masculine scent of him—the man smelled like sex, and her hormones were raging in response—she wasn’t sure where the floor was, much less the three pedals. When she didn’t move, he nudged her side with his elbow.
“Go on now. I won’t be able to drum, fuck, and hit the bass pedal. You have to help me out.”
She liked being helpful. She looked down, and beyond the snare drum in front of her knees, she spotted the pedals he’d mentioned. “I don’t think I can reach them. There’s a drum in my way.”
“Good point,” he said. “And your pants are in my way.”
She unfastened her pants and shimmied out of them, her flip-flops, and her underwear before kicking them all aside. “One problem solved.”
His soft chuckle near her ear made her shiver with anticipation. One of his hands massaged her breast, the other moved down her belly to cup her sex. A finger slipped between her lips to tease her clit.
“I also can’t drum with my hands full of glorious Melanie,” he whispered.
“I guess this idea is a no-go then,” she said, leaning back against him and opening her legs to give him better access. That