She didn’t have the guts to open her eyes. Had she sucked?
“Uh, yeah. Nice little secret you’ve been keeping, Devin,” Odette cooed. “Any other mad skills your personal assistant’s got that you want to share?”
“She’s also really good with her m—”
“Omigod! Shut up! I was joking! Can’t you see you’ve already embarrassed the poor girl?”
“Liberty. Baby, look at me.” Someone nudged her knee.
She peeled open her eyes and focused on Devin’s face. His smiling face. His you-rocked-my-fucking-world smiling face.
“You nailed it.”
“Really?”
“Really. You up for running through the other songs?”
“Okay.” She rubbed her suddenly sweaty palms on her jeans. “What’s next?”
“‘Show Me,’” Odette said thoughtfully. “That’s got a faster tempo.”
Devin started playing, and after the first run-through, she joined in. They did this until they had tackled every song on the set list. Twice.
“Looks like we’ve got our backup singer for tonight.”
Panic set in. “But I’ve never . . .” Been onstage, to say nothing of singing in front of thousands of people.
Then Devin was crouching in front of her, holding her face in his hands. “We’ll get the band together and do a quick rehearsal of these pieces. That’ll give you experience onstage and with the earpieces you’ll need.”
“But—”
He kissed her. Not a sweet shut-up kiss. But one with enough fire that she started to get warm all over.
“Uh, excuse me? I’m still here and not into voyeurism,” Odette reminded them.
Liberty tried to break the kiss, but Devin held her in place. “Odette?” he said without looking away from Liberty.
“What?”
“Tell Crash to call a rehearsal. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know the drill; don’t let the door hit me in the ass on the way outta here.”
Door. Liberty pushed to her feet. “I’ll let you out.”
She was so distracted by their impromptu jam session—wait; how much of a dork was she to call it a jam session?—that after she scaled the stairs, she smacked into Devin. She glanced up. Damn. That heavy-lidded, impatient-to-get-her-naked vibe rolled over her like an electrical storm. Normally, she’d launch herself at him and fight for who got to be on top.
But right now . . .
“So I take it we’re not picking up where we left off before we head into the arena?”
Arena. Why did that word make her gut clench and all the breath leave her lungs?
“Baby. Breathe.” Devin plucked her up—something she rarely allowed him to do—and settled them both in the recliner.
As much as she wanted to play it tough and cool, she buried her face in his neck, letting the clean scent of his skin center her.
After a bit, he said, “You don’t have to do this.”
“But you need me to.”
“Just for this one night. That’s it. It’d save a lot of headaches all around if you could embrace your inner rockstar and walk onto that stage. And if you weren’t good enough to be on there? Sweetheart, as much as I like you, if you sucked ass, I wouldn’t have asked you. I’m a hands-on perfectionist, if you hadn’t noticed.”
“Gee, really? Somehow that escaped my notice in the past few months we’ve been together 24/7.”
“And she’s a comedian.”
“I’ll admit I’m nervous, okay? But two other things occurred to me that might throw a wrench into these plans anyway.”
Devin tilted her head back. “What? Security issues?”
“For one. I won’t be thinking about that as I’m trying to remember words to songs, the part I’m singing, and having all those eyes focused on the stage.”
“Two guards will walk me to the stage and escort me to the room when I’m done. Will that work?”
“I guess.”
“I oughta point out that you cannot be armed onstage.”
“Not even a stun gun?”
He shook his head.
“Shoot. Now I’ll really feel naked up there.”
Devin laughed. “What else?”
“I want to be kept fully in shadow. No one should see my face, either from the crowd or behind a camera lens. No introduction either.”
“Makes sense.” He traced the edge of her T-shirt collar. “You’ll be on your own up there. You have to pay attention for the song cues because all my energy is focused on what I’m doin’ in front of the crowd, not what’s goin’ on behind me. Understand?”
“Yes.” She squirmed out of his hold. “I’d better get dressed in something more appropriate for rehearsal.”
Before she reached her bunk, Devin spun her around and stalked her until her spine met the wall. “One other thing I should warn you about. After the first time you’re onstage, there’s a performance rush, so be prepared for it. I know I am.”
“Meaning what?”
His seductive lips moved over her jaw. “You’ll see. Now, let’s hit rehearsal.”
It took three tries for her to get used to the earpiece—it was very different from the military ones she’d used. But the rehearsal went better than she’d expected. Still, she’d be a nervous ball of energy until the final house lights went dim and she was off the stage.