Kade seemed pleased with her response and draped his arm around her to settle in and watch the show. Jace, Evan, and Andre did the same, but she didn’t miss the not so casual touches among them. The hand sliding over a knee, the whispered words to each other. At one point, Andre pulled Evan into his lap and Evan’s pale complexion went decidedly more pink. When Tessa surreptitiously leaned forward, too curious not to look, she could see Andre pinching the fabric of Evan’s dress right above her belly. It took Tessa a second to realize what was happening, but then she remembered what Evan had on beneath. Andre had to be tugging the chain that was hooked to whatever was attached to her nipples. When Andre gave a harder pull and Evan’s head lolled back, her lips parted. Tessa felt an answering twinge in her own breasts. Her nipples beaded against the fabric of her dress. Kade glanced over at her.
Had she made a noise? Some indication of how fast her heart was beating. His gaze drifted downward, and she followed his line of sight when he smiled. Her nipples were prominently pebbled against her dress, their state obvious since there was no bra holding them in check. He squared his body to block her from the main part of the bar and ran the back of his hand along the front of her dress. Her sex clenched when he grazed her breasts.
She closed her eyes. “You’re
going to kill me.”
Amusement lit his eyes and he pressed a soft kiss to her mouth. His fingers circled her wrist, and he moved her hand beneath the table to his lap. The hard length of him filled her palm. “Does it help to know I’m equally tortured?”
“A little.” He leaned back from the kiss and she lifted her wine glass with her free hand, trying to look nonchalant as she breathed through the rush of need. Kade placed her hand back in her own lap and gave her thigh a squeeze. Not yet, his movements whispered. But soon.
She forced herself to refocus her attention to Colby and the music. She had no idea what Kade planned for tonight but was determined not to ruin things worrying over the possibilities.
Trust. In order for this to work, she had to trust him.
She could always use her safe word if it was too much.
But by the time the show ended, with the combination of her barely there undergarments; Kade’s caresses; Jace, Andre, and Evan’s interactions; and Colby’s deep, sexy voice drifting around them, she knew she would have a hard time saying no to anything. Her body was begging for more than the soft brush of cotton against it, and her panties were so wet, she was afraid to stand up for fear of having a telltale spot on her dress.
Colby left the stage and Tessa took a long pull off her second glass of wine. Kade sent her a wicked smile and trailed his fingers along the back of her neck. “Enjoying yourself?”
“I’m thinking really not nice words about you right now.”
He laughed. “Good, I’d hate for you to be thinking polite ones.”
A chair scraped across the floor, drawing her attention, and the man who’d been on stage a few minutes earlier joined them.
“Well, would you look at that. They’ll let any riffraff in here these days.” Colby turned his chair backward and parked it at the end of their table, straddling it. “What’d y’all think of the show?”
“All right,” Jace said with a shrug.
“Passable,” Andre offered.
“I may be slightly traumatized,” Kade concluded.
“Fuckers.” Colby grinned and tipped back a beer. “With friends like these . . .”
Evan rolled her eyes. “I thought it was great.”
“Well, thank you, sweetheart,” Colby said, all charm and dimples.
“That’s only because she came by the third song,” Jace added.
Evan looked chagrined at that, and she gave Jace a backhanded smack on the arm. “Let’s just announce it to everyone.”
Colby’s lips curved. “It’s all right. My voice has that effect on women. And Jace needs all the help he can get.”
Jace gave Colby a one-finger salute, but there was humor in his eyes. Tessa didn’t know what to think of this strange group. They were obviously kinky and more sexually open than she’d ever seen any group of people be. But she could tell it was so much more than that. There was a comfortable affection and trust there. A vibe that spoke of deep, abiding friendship and respect. She couldn’t imagine being surrounded by a group like that.
Colby’s focus swung her way, landing on her with a full weighty examination. “And how ’bout you, darlin’? Enjoy the show or do you share your man’s shitty taste in music?”
Her man. That sounded so foreign in her ears. She cleared her throat and set her wine glass down. “It was fantastic. You sound like Josh Turner, but your songs have that old school country vibe to them. It doesn’t sound like country trying to be pop. I love that.”
His smile went broad. “Well, lookie here. Vandergriff’s got himself a woman who’s not only beautiful but vastly superior to him in intelligence and musical taste.”
Kade sniffed. “Tessa, meet my soon-to-be-former best friend, Colby Wilkes.”
Colby didn’t hold out his hand to shake hers, but gave her a nod and a smile. “Good to meet ya. And I’m glad y’all made it out tonight. I was about to go to Kade’s house and personally serenade him with my new stuff if he didn’t make it to a show soon.”