Night with Sole Regret

TELL ME III

Melanie left her sedan in long-term parking and made surprisingly good time in the airport. As luck would have it, the rear section of the plane was called first to board and she hurried to take her place in line. Things were definitely going her way. She took it as a sign that she’d made the right decision. She was going to have a great time this weekend, and Nikki was going to be just fine at home. By herself. Melanie was worrying over nothing. At least that’s what she tried to tell herself. Nikki could be a pain in the ass, but Melanie loved her. Perhaps their relationship was a tad unhealthy, but something about Nikki’s dependence appealed to Melanie in a way she didn’t understand. Maybe it had something to do with being an only child and never having to look out for anyone but herself. Melanie liked looking after Nikki most of the time. And she worried about her all of the time.

On the plane, Melanie stuffed her small suitcase in the overhead bin and sat in the window seat, instantly squashed by the broad man who sat in the seat to her left. Squirming for an inch of space, Melanie fastened her seat belt, huddled close to the window, and waited for the rest of the plane to board. Her stomach twisted with a mixture of nerves, excitement, and hunger. She hadn’t eaten since lunch. She hoped Gabe was up for a meal, because she doubted the airline would part with so much as a peanut on this short flight.

Gabe.

Had she actually sighed aloud thinking about him, or had it been a mental sigh?

No matter, she couldn’t wait to see him again. Only a few more hours and she could lose herself in his arms.

The man beside her gave her a long, hard look, most likely because she was grinning like a simpleton who’d been swimming in a vat of vodka.

“Business trip?” he asked.

“Purely for pleasure,” she said. “You?”

“Business. Trying to break in to the UFC. There’s an amateur night in New Orleans this weekend.”

That would explain his broad shoulders and nicked knuckles. He wasn’t a bad-looking man; she just preferred hers a bit on the tall and lean side. Or had ever since she’d laid eyes on Gabe.

“Sounds painful,” she said.

“Nah, it’s fun.”

Getting repeatedly kicked and punched did not sound like fun to Melanie. But perhaps he meant delivering the kicks and punches was fun. Her brow furrowed. Nope. Hurting people for sport didn’t sound like fun either.

The huge man pushed up the long sleeve of his T-shirt, and her gaze landed on the barbed-wire tattoo that circled his forearm. On cue, her heart rate kicked up. She’d made great strides in her tattoo phobia when Gabe had allowed her to examine his up close—and what a pleasurable experience that had been—but apparently she wasn’t completely over her fears. She felt silly for panicking every time she saw certain tattoos, but the fear was still there. She wondered if it always would be. Some people were scared of clowns or spiders or enclosed spaces. She was terrified of certain tattoos. Those rough bikers who had scared the life out of her as a teen had really done a number on her psyche. She just had to avoid tattoos with barbed wire or roses or skulls—so like half of the tattoos in existence—and she could remain perfectly calm.

“Well, good luck with your fight,” she said, turning her attention pointedly out the window to stare at the back of the plane wing. If she didn’t look at the man’s arm, she could sit next to him all the way to New Orleans without having a panic attack. She hoped. She didn’t want to send the entire country to high alert because she freaked the f**k out on a domestic flight. She’d just stare out at the wing and make sure the engine stayed fully functional the entire flight. It would keep her attention off Mr. UFC’s tattoo. Maybe.

“Melanie,” a familiar voice called from the front of the plane. “Melanie Anderson, where are you?”

Melanie’s jaw dropped. What in the hell was Nikki doing here?

Melanie assumed there must be some horrible emergency and no one had been able to reach her because she’d turned off her cellphone in preparation for her flight. Melanie shot up out of her seat—or tried to. Her seat belt threatened to break her pelvis. She wrenched the clasp open and jumped to her feet, nearly banging her head on the overhead bin.

“Nikki, what’s wrong?” Melanie called, waving her hands. She could feel the heat in her face, and her throat was tight, as if someone were strangling her.

“There you are,” Nikki said when she spotted Melanie at the back of the plane.

She was carrying a rather large overnight bag.

Why was she carrying luggage to inform Melanie about whatever emergency had brought her here?

“Hey, big guy, would you mind switching seats with me?” Nikki said to the wannabe cage fighter. “You wouldn’t want to come between friends now, would you?”

She turned on her charming pout—the one that made two-hundred-and-fifty-pound walls of muscle climb out of their seats—and then smiled brightly when he took her bag and started to stuff it into the overhead compartment for her.

“You two hotties should definitely sit together,” he said. “I’m into feng shui. I like my beautiful decorations in balanced pairs.”

Melanie rolled her eyes until they threatened to glimpse her brain.

“You’re sweet,” Nikki said. “Isn’t he sweet, Mel?”

“Like cotton candy. What are you doing here, Nikki?”

“Going to New Orleans.”

“Well, duh. The luggage and boarding pass sort of tipped me off to that. Why are you going to New Orleans?”

Nikki held up a finger to put Melanie on hold and turned back to the big guy taking up the entire aisle. “Thanks for switching seats with me.”

“Can I get your number?” UFC-guy said in a low, deep voice, his gaze trained on Nikki’s push-up-bra-enhanced bust. Her boobs were currently demonstrating the impressive stretch and strength of the cotton fibers in her skintight pink T-shirt.

“I’ll bring it to you once we’re in the air,” Nikki promised.

“I don’t think you’re supposed to switch seats,” Melanie said.

“Melanie, Melanie, always afraid to break the rules.” Nikki winked at the big guy. “But I’m not. If anyone asks, your name is Nicole. And what will my assumed name be?”

“Richard Bailey,” he said. “Or just Dick.”

“It’s never just d**k when I’m around.” Nikki laughed and settled into Mr. UFC’s vacated seat. She grabbed half of her seat belt and half of Melanie’s and tried to figure out how to fasten two female ends together.

Before the guy could deliver his next incredibly lame pick-up line, he was ushered up the aisle to his seat by a harried flight attendant. Melanie jerked the end of her seatbelt from Nikki’s fumbling fingers and fastened her buckle again. She counted backwards from a million so she wouldn’t strangle the life out of her best friend and greatest liability.

When Melanie was prepared for flight and could talk without breathing fire from her nostrils, she turned to Nikki and repeated, “What are you doing here?”

“Following your advice.”

Melanie made a face of complete incomprehension. “My advice? I told you that you couldn’t come.”

“That’s not advice, that’s an order. Remember just a few days ago you said visualize what you want, gather your courage and go out and get it?” Nikki punctuated her words with opening and closing hands, as if she were putting Melanie’s advice up in lights. “I’ve been visualizing Shade Silverton all week.”

In her head, Melanie started counting backwards from a billion. “I was talking about finding a job. You know, those work-type things that bring in money so you can pay your bills and half our rent and buy your own damned gas.” Nikki was entirely broke and seemed in no hurry to find employment or to move from Melanie’s uncomfortable couch. “How did you even get a plane ticket?”

“I blew the pilot.” Nikki suggestively wiped at the corner of her mouth.

Melanie’s jaw dropped.

Nikki burst out laughing. “Jeez, Melanie, I’m just kidding. You don’t really think I’d do something like that, do you?”

To get what she wanted? Maybe.

“Remember that credit card you gave me for emergencies?” Nikki said, managing to look slightly remorseful. “Well, Shade not calling me for six entire days is an emergency. I’m going to tell him off to his face and then he’s going to apologize to my v****a all night long.”

“Nikki, isn’t it obvious that he doesn’t want to see you?”

“Nope.”

“And that credit card was for real emergencies. How can I trust you when you go and do something like this?” She felt like such a mom these days. Or a harping wife. What had happened to their friendship? Or had it always been this way between them?

“I just want to spend time with you, Mel.” Nikki turned on her best-friend-please-love-me expression, and for once Melanie was too pissed to be affected by it.

“Well, I want to spend time with Gabe. Alone. You might as well get off the plane right now and head for home.”

Melanie grabbed the armrests as the plane began to back away from the terminal. Too late to fix this situation? Not as far as Melanie was concerned. As pissed as she was, she wasn’t against throwing Nikki from a moving plane. She wouldn’t even wait for the emergency slide to inflate before shoving her out the exit and onto the tarmac.

“I’m not going to get in the way of your time with lover boy,” Nikki assured her. “I just think it would be awesome if we were both dating guys in the same band. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

Awesome? Well, if Shade actually wanted to date Nikki, it might be fun—until disaster struck. And Melanie couldn’t fathom the level of drama Nikki would invent in that scenario.

“I don’t identify Gabe as the drummer of Sole Regret; I just think of him as Gabe. Your feelings for Shade—if you can even call them feelings—are all about his fame and notoriety. That is the only reason you slept with him.”

“Not the only reason,” Nikki said.

Melanie blinked at her.

Nikki grinned. “He’s also sexy as hell and has a huge cock.”

Melanie released a tired breath. “Even if he does like you as more than his current d**k wetter, there is no way something like that can last.”

“Who said I wanted it to last? I just want to have fun. Keep his d**k wet if he wants it wet. You’re the one who seems to think s*x has to be meaningful and emotional and all lovey-dovey.”

And that’s what Nikki had been moping about all week. Exactly that. Melanie’s head started to swim again. She wished the woman would make up her mind. Did she just want to have s*x with Shade again or did she want something more? Did she even know what she wanted? “Don’t you want s*x to be meaningful?”

Nikki gnawed on her lip reflectively. “Maybe when I’m thirty.”

Which was in like two years. Nikki had so much growing up to do before then. But there was a part of Melanie that was a little sad that she herself had grown up too soon. Part of her wished she was capable of Nikki’s idea of fun, but most of her was glad that what had started as a night of meaningless s*x with a hot drummer had turned into a chance to find something more substantial with a wonderful, deep, somewhat misunderstood man.

“So what if you get all the way to New Orleans and Shade doesn’t want to see you?” Melanie asked.

Nikki shrugged. “I’ll just join you and Gabe. Every guy wants to have a threesome with two hot chicks, right?”

“Not funny, Nikki.”

“I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

“I’m not sharing him.” Nikki had a way of stealing her boyfriends from under her nose, and she was not going to give Nikki an opening with Gabe.

Nikki released a heavy sigh. “Well, you can’t blame a girl for trying.”

Melanie’s head was thrown back against the seat as the plane accelerated down the runway.

“s**t,” Nikki said. “I forgot I hate flying.”

She grabbed Melanie’s hand and squeezed her eyelids shut until they’d left the earth behind. She didn’t let go of Melanie’s hand until the safety demonstration was long over and the plane leveled out near cruising altitude. Melanie let her hold her hand, stewing over the entire mess. If Nikki ruined Melanie’s time with Gabe, she would never forgive her. She would toss Nikki out on the street and let her sucker some rich, older man into taking care of her.

“I’m sorry, Mel,” Nikki said.

“For what?” Melanie snapped. The woman owed her a list of apologies a mile long.

“For loving you so much.”

Melanie pursed her lips, trying to puzzle through the jigsaw that was Nikki Swanson. “Why are you sorry for that?”

“Because it makes me do stupid things.”

“Wow, Nikki, you must love me a hell of a lot.”

Nikki pouted the pout that worked on guys, but it didn’t make Melanie give her everything she wanted. Much.

“Now you’re just being cruel. You know you mean everything to me. Can we take off our seat belts yet?”

On cue, the flight attendant announced that they could move about the cabin. Nikki unfastened her seat belt.

“I’m going to thank Mr. Big, Muscular, and Handsome for letting me have his seat.” And she was off to play her field. The damned thing was the size of the entire state of Kansas.

Melanie tried to ignore Nikki’s flirtatious laughs from up the aisle as she stared out the window wondering how her mood could have turned sour so quickly. She wouldn’t blame Gabe if he left her at the airport with her baggage. Baggage more commonly referred to as Nikki Swanson.

Gabe smiled when Melanie’s text message popped up on his phone.

We’ve landed. Should I rent a car or just take a taxi to the stadium?

He texted her back right away. I thought you’d like to ride in the limo with me. I have a surprise for you. I think you’ll like it.

He glanced at the small package on the seat beside him. Yeah, he was sure she’d enjoy what he had tucked inside. A little something he’d invented a couple years ago.

A moment later his phone displayed her next message. Limo sounds promising. I have a surprise for you too. Pretty sure you won’t like it much.

Gabe groaned. There was only one thing he could think of that would put a damper on their weekend together. Are you on your period? He texted.

O_o You saw my p***y four hours ago. Did it look like I was on my period?

Thank God, he thought.

No, it looked damn hot with your fingers inside it, he typed to her. I’m sure I’ll like any surprise you brought with you.

We’ll see. Are you waiting in the terminal? I’ll be off the plane soon.

I’m in the black stretch limousine just outside. I’m pretending to be rich and famous. I sent the driver after you with your name on a sign.

Her response? K.

Such a terse reply for Melanie. He should have gone after her, he realized. She was probably expecting the “rush into each other’s arms and spin round and round while you lock lips in the terminal” scene. He didn’t much like public displays of affection, especially since he’d become somewhat of a celebrity. But he did want to make Melanie happy. And wanted her to know how great he thought she was. And smart. And beautiful. And funny. And sexy. Damned sexy. He just didn’t see the point in the entire world knowing how far gone he was over a woman he’d met less than a week ago.

But he didn’t mind her knowing it, so he started a new message to her.

Actually, I don’t trust myself in your company in public.

Send.

Figured you wouldn’t want your picture published all over the Internet with Force Banner’s tongue in your mouth.

Send.

And his hands all over you.

Send.

He waited eagerly for her next message. He was only half joking. Damn, he needed to be in, on, and around that woman in every capacity.

Her reply came at last. You overestimate my sense of propriety.

He laughed aloud as he read her text. Maybe he should have gone to pick her up in the terminal and to hell with what the tabloids published. He would have followed that impulse if he’d been wearing his ball cap and hadn’t already dressed for the band’s performance that night. His foot-high, red and black mohawk tended to draw attention, and people easily recognized him as someone they should gawk at. He wasn’t sure why. Nothing to see, folks. Nothing to see.

His phone sounded its text alert again.

BTW, I’m hungry. I hope you’re planning to feed me.

He’d promised to feed her the night they met, and they’d ended up distracted with more pleasurable preoccupations.

I can think of a few things I’d like to put in your mouth.

When she didn’t text him back and the minutes ticked by one after another, he decided he had offended her. He really did act like a horny i***t whenever they interacted. She was probably at the ticket counter trying to book the next flight back to Wichita. He decided to curtail his enthusiasm a bit and behave less like a caveman and more like his regular self. It had just been a long time since he’d been this crazy over a woman. So unequivocally in lust. He sure as hell didn’t want to f**k this up by making her think the only thing he was interested in was s*x. He was definitely interested in s*x but now that they had an entire weekend to spend together, he was determined to learn everything about her. Everything. So that lust might have a chance to become something more. Or if they found out they were incompatible outside the bedroom, so that he could get the woman out from under his skin. Or try to.

He decided to send another text, even though it did make him seem almost as desperate as he felt. I’ll order something to be sent to the hotel room. What are you in the mood for? Whipped cream or whips and chains?

Again she didn’t respond.

Crap. Had he managed to screw things up already? They always bantered back and forth like this through text messages, but maybe she wasn’t as keen to be naughty in real life. If so, the weekend he had planned would have to be entirely reconfigured into something a little less p**n script.

The limo door opened, and Melanie peeked in through the door. Gabe’s breath stalled in his chest. Had she always been so lovely?

“I’m in the mood for sausage,” she said. “Big, thick, and hard.”

His breathlessness ended in a chuckle.

“And juicy,” a female voice said from behind Melanie.

Melanie closed her eyes and pursed her lips. Gabe got the impression that she was counting in her head.

“Hi, Force!” the same female voice called, and the achingly beautiful face of Melanie’s friend Nikki appeared over Melanie’s shoulder. “Did you miss us?”

Gabe’s gaze darted to meet Melanie’s, but she had her eyes squeezed shut. He could tell the enabler in her was losing the battle to the hair-pulling, b***h-slapping she-cat that was about to break loose.

“Is this your surprise?” he asked. His surprise for her seemed to start flashing neon signs—XXX and Live Nude Girls and Adults Only. He grabbed the small package on the seat beside him and shoved it behind his hip as discreetly as possible.

“I told her she couldn’t come,” Melanie said out of the corner of her mouth, as if that would make it possible for Gabe, but not Nikki, to hear her words.

“But I took some initiative!” Nikki said as if she’d just been accepted into Harvard for Cheerleaders.

“Great,” Gabe said flatly. So much for kissing Melanie all the way to the venue while he used his surprise to make her scream his name in ecstasy. “I have to get to the stadium. Are you coming or not?”

“I’m not coming yet,” Melanie said with a naughty smile, her eyes popping open. “But I’m sure you can help me with that.”

His heart began to thud with excitement as she pinned him with a sultry look that without a doubt meant that she was very keen on being naughty in real life, if only they could manage to ditch her companion.

“Why don’t you ride up front with the driver?” Melanie said to Nikki, whom Melanie was very effectively blocking by splaying her body across the open door like an Olympic goalkeeper.

“Why?”

“I’m sure he gets lonely up there all by himself,” Melanie said. “And he’s really cute. Didn’t you notice?”

Gabe scowled. Melanie had noticed? He didn’t like to hear that.

“He is sort of cute in that tuxedo.” Nikki giggled. “Like a handsome penguin.”

Melanie rolled her eyes at Gabe. Why did she continue to hang out with that chick? She was obviously annoyed by her.

“Go keep him company.”

“Okay!”

Melanie launched herself into the car and slammed the door behind her before Nikki could change her mind about keeping the handsome penguin in the driver’s seat company.

“I am so sorry about that,” Melanie said, her hazel eyes concealed behind thick lashes and black-framed glasses. “She just showed up on the plane, demanded some big cage fighter give up his seat so she could sit beside me, flirted with him through both flights, and then invited herself to ride in the limo.”

“I get the feeling she’s hard to deter once she sets her mind on something.”

“If only she’d show the same sort of dedication to getting her life back on track.”

Gabe had been playing out his reunion with Melanie in his head all evening, and this was definitely not what he’d had in mind. He’d figured they’d already be locked in an endless kiss—hands roving, bodies pressed together—but Nikki’s unexpected appearance made him feel awkward. It was as if Nikki were sitting between him and Melanie, even though the woman was in the front seat. Melanie was obviously affected by Nikki’s presence as well. She sat stiffly and glanced repeatedly toward the front of the limo as if waiting for a zombie to launch itself through the glass.

A knock sounded on the window between the driver’s seat and the passenger compartment before it slid down with a mechanical whir. Nikki, who was now wearing the chauffer’s black cap, faced backwards and leaned over the seat, waving both hands. She had a killer smile affixed to her face, and her blue eyes were wide. She really was a beautiful woman. Stunning. Gabe was sure most men tripped over their d***s trying to get in her pants. He was not one of them. Why would any man settle for superficial beauty when he could have someone like Melanie, who had brains, sensuality, and good looks?

“This is so exciting!” Nikki said, and instantly Gabe understood why Melanie put up with her. Why she loved her. Nikki was vividly alive, the kind of woman who would still be young when she was ninety-five. That sort of vigor was addictive to be around, though it could be exhausting. “Why aren’t you two humping yet?”

Gabe chuckled. He’d been wondering the same thing himself.

“Because someone keeps interrupting,” Melanie said.

“It’s okay,” Gabe said. “We have three whole days in which to get our hump on. Let’s get you some food and cruise down Bourbon Street. We can hump later.” He winked at Melanie, and she released a long sigh. Was she relieved or disappointed? He couldn’t tell.

“Can we get bourbon on Bourbon Street?” Nikki asked. “I’m thirsty.”

“Alcohol makes her lose her pants,” Melanie warned.

“I know a great place to get bourbon,” the driver said.

Nikki hugged him around the neck. “I knew I liked you, my handsome penguin.” She pecked a kiss on his temple.

A strange sound came from Melanie—like a suppressed snort. Confused, Gabe glanced at her just in time to see her burst into laughter.

“I can’t…” She was laughing too hard to breathe, much less speak clearly. “I can’t believe…” She gasped for air. “…you called him… …that to… …his f-face…”

“Well, I don’t know his name. What’s your name, handsome?” Nikki asked and brushed a lock of hair from the driver’s forehead. He reminded Gabe of a young John Travolta. Dark hair. Blue eyes. Cleft in his strong chin.

The driver pointed to a slender gold name tag on his chest. “Parker.”

“Parker the penguin?” Melanie sniggered and then snorted before bursting into delighted laughter again.

“You okay?” Gabe asked her. He was pretty sure she was turning blue from lack of air.

Melanie clutched her stomach and nodded, blinking tears from her eyes as she struggled to get a handle on her case of the giggles.

“She gets like that when she gets wound up too tight,” Nikki said. “Eventually she explodes into a fit of laughter. It’s best to set her off as early as possible. No telling what kind of fit she’d have if she was allowed to keep winding.” Nikki made circles in the air with one fingertip.

“I’m not wound too tight.”

“Really?” Nikki said, her eyebrows arched high on her forehead. “I still have about fifty eye-daggers in my back from the plane trip. Care to take them back?”

“You should be glad they don’t allow real weapons on flights. I’m still pissed at you, Nicole Evelyn Swanson,” Melanie assured her, but the tension she’d drawn into the limo with her had vanished. “Now close the damned window so I can greet my sexy rock star properly.”

Nikki grinned. “Better hurry. I’ll be interrupting you again when we stop for food. And bourbon.” The window slid upward, giving Gabe and Melanie privacy and Gabe a strange case of nerves.