Desert Heat

  The big guy with the yellow security shirt standing outside the back entrance smiled as they approached. He opened the door with one hand and held out his other to Damian. “It’s been a while, my man,” he said as Damian shook his hand. “Good to see you again.”

  “Good to see you, too, Doc.” He motioned back at Bethany. “This is my girl, Bethany.” Bethany smiled, still trying to let the idea of being Damian’s girl sink in. “Bethany, this is Doc. He looks after my brother.”

  “I sure do,” Doc agreed, shaking Bethany’s hand very gently. “Nice to meet you, Bethany.”

  With the introductions done, Damian asked Doc a few more questions about the security for tonight’s show. Once he was satisfied, they moved on and went in. Bethany could already hear guitars being tuned, some drum playing, and lots of voices and laughter.

  They turned the corner, and there they were. The members of Desert Ratz in the flesh. Just as when she’d met Dimitri and Mace, seeing these guys, but especially Diego, in the flesh felt surreal. It’s not like any of them were huge stars. Unless you were a fan of the reality show or a classic-car enthusiast, you’d probably never heard of Dimitri or Mace. And with Diego’s band, unless you were a local or, again, followed the show, they were not very famous at all. As far as she knew, they had more of a cult following, though the line outside to see their show was an indication of just how big the cult following was getting. Still, at the moment, she felt like she was about to meet The Beatles.

  Diego shot off the stool he was sitting on as soon as he saw them, put the guitar down, and walked over to greet them. “Damian! What’s up, man?” Diego bear-hugged him for a second, then let go, standing back to look at him. “When you called to say you were coming, I almost didn’t want to get my hopes up. You and Dominic have been such apparitions these past few months. Mostly Dominic, but at least he has an excuse; he lives out of state.”

  Damian nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I know. I’ve just been real busy with work, but I’m working on that now,” he said, holding Bethany’s hand a little more tightly.

  Bethany was doing her damnedest not to stare too hard at Diego. Just like Dimitri, he was even better-looking in person. Even so, and she knew she was probably biased, she still thought Damian was by far the best-looking of the three. As much as her heart thudded away because she was standing just feet away from Diego Santiago, one glance at Damian and that same heart doubled over in delight. This beautifully sexy man was telling everyone she was his girl. And not just tonight or until he was bored with the idea. She was finding out now that in a matter of a week, he’d brought her to meet his family. A family that, apparently, he’d become fairly distant with lately. That had to mean something.

  The thought scared her a little bit—made her feel guilty—but she pushed her apprehension aside. She’d decided earlier when she spoke with her sister that she was doing this because she deserved someone like Damian in her life, deserved to finally be happy after everything she’d been through. She didn’t care what anyone said or thought about it anymore either. She’d made up her mind. If he wanted to be a part of her life like this, wanted her to be his girl, why should she fight it? Because the more she was around him, the surer she was that she wanted this, too.

  Damian introduced her to Diego, only this time she wasn’t just his girl, she was his girlfriend. Bethany wondered how long it would take for her to get used to hearing that, because each time she did she felt like doing a little dance.

  Diego’s bedroom eyes were immediately on her, and he smiled. It was funny how much the two brothers resembled each other, yet they were different in many ways. While the main things, their eyes, lips, the cleft, even the sexy way they grinned at her playfully with those suggestive eyes that made her insides crazy, were so much alike, Diego’s hair was longer, mischievously messy, and his demeanor was more laid-back than Damian’s. Something that went with his whole rock-star lifestyle, of course.

  Damian’s lifestyle was obviously much different. At first she had thought him big, sexy, and full of himself. Now that she knew better, he looked every bit the clean-cut, no-nonsense, hard-nosed yet deliciously sexy detective.

  “Nice to meet you, Bethany.” Diego reached out his hand. “How come I’m just now meeting you?”

  He was asking Bethany but glanced back at Damian for the answer. “It hasn’t been very long” was Damian’s only response, but she caught the humor in his eyes when he glanced at her.

  “So you’re the singer?” Diego’s question surprised her. She’d assumed since Damian had been such an apparition to his family lately that he hadn’t told them much about her. “Damian says your voice is amazing.”

  Feeling her cheeks warm, she turned to Damian. “I do sing.” She smiled, trying not to appear as uncomfortable as she felt, because Damian was looking at her weirdly. “I don’t know about amazing but—”

  “We have guest singers all the time on our shows. It’s something the fans get a kick out of, actually.” Diego smiled at her, exchanging glances with Damian. “So would you mind coming up and doing a couple of songs with us? You know any of our songs? If not, we could play around with a cover of some classic, no biggie.”

  Of all the pounding her heart had done this past week alone, not to mention when she’d been singing to Damian last week, this was probably the hardest it’d pounded yet. “No,” she said.

  “Great.” Diego started back toward the stool he had been sitting on, and Damian smiled.

  Snapping out of her sudden excitement about the unexpected invitation, she remembered. “I meant no,” she said shaking her head at Damian. “I couldn’t.”

  “Sure you can,” Damian said, tugging her hand. “And you’ll be great. Just remember what you promised,” he said, his smile teasing.

  She tugged back until he stopped and looked at her. Diego and the guys were already setting up for what she imagined was an impromptu practice with her before going onstage. She must’ve looked as panicked as she felt, because Damian suddenly looked concerned. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she tried toning down her alarm. “I’ve just never gone onstage this unprepared,” she lied. “I’m not supposed to be . . .” She looked at his unwavering eyes and glanced away for a moment, cursing herself for letting that last part slip.

  “You’re not supposed to be what?”

  Remembering her conversation with her sister earlier, she racked her brain to come up with something. She glanced back up at his concerned eyes. “If Simon finds out . . .” Seeing his brows shoot straight up and his expression go hard instantly, she shook her ahead. “I mean Amos.”

  “If they find out what?” he asked, his brows coming together now.

  She gulped as she touched his arm, feeling how tense he’d gone. If it weren’t for the topic they were on, she might be tempted to press up against him and kiss him, because even this intense side of him was sexy as hell. “I’m not supposed to be working on the days he made me take off. There are a lot of people out there, and your brother’s shows get uploaded to YouTube a lot. Simon’s a big fan of Desert Ratz, too. I mean from the looks of the line out there, I think everyone in Vegas is. I just don’t wanna risk it getting back to them that I took time off my show only to get up onstage somewhere else.”

  Bethany stared at him as indifferently as possible, reminding herself to blink. She knew from the beginning, when she realized why Damian looked at her so intensely, as he was doing now, that he was studying her expressions—using his expertise to his advantage, which she didn’t think fair, but at the moment she had to admit she wasn’t being completely honest. It was partly true Amos would be mad if he found out she did a show somewhere else when she was supposed to be taking time off, even if her time onstage was just for pleasure. But he and Simon were not who she was really concerned about her performance getting back to. It’s why she had never told her sister about taking over the lead in Imagine at the Crown that one weekend. She knew taking the lead in such a big sho
w with that much exposure was a risk, but at least with that show she’d worn heavy makeup, and in the elaborate costumes she’d be hard to recognize. Tonight, while this was not one of the biggest venues in Vegas, it was pretty significant, and she’d be completely exposed. As much as she’d have loved to sing with them, she couldn’t chance it.

  Damian stared at her for another moment, his jaw clenching once before he turned to Diego and the other guys. “Diego, she’s sort of playing hooky from her other show that she normally does Friday nights. If word gets out she got onstage somewhere else, her boss might have a problem with that. But,” he turned back to Bethany with a strained smile, “she can do something with you back here if you want, so you can hear what I was talking about. “

  “Sure.” Diego nodded, patting his hand on the empty stool next to him. “Get over here, girl. If you sing half as good as you look, I may just have to beg you to come onstage with us another time when you’re not being a bad girl playing hooky.”

  With her insides all in knots, she smiled at Damian nervously, letting go of his hand and walking over to the stool. Diego did the introductions of the rest of the guys in the band. This was another thing she’d always liked about the Desert Ratz. They were less than a half-hour from performing in front of what looked like a packed house, and you’d think they were performing at a backyard party. Every single one of them looked completely laid-back, in jeans and T-shirts, except for Diego, who had opted for a white, snug-fitting tank that showed off his muscled, tatted-up arms and shoulders.

  She informed them that while she did know most of their songs, she wasn’t sure if she knew all the lyrics by heart. Diego shrugged, smiling at her with that heavy-lidded gaze, just another attribute his entire family seemed to have plucked off that tree on the planet Just Not Fair. She smiled, recognizing the song he’d begun to strum on his acoustic guitar as one of her favorites. “You know this one?”

  “‘Rivers of Babylon’?” she asked just to be sure.

  He smiled in confirmation. “Does this key work for you?” She nodded, glancing at Damian, whose smile was full of encouragement. “Ready? On three.” Diego mouthed the numbers one through three, giving her just enough time to clear her voice, and they began singing almost immediately in perfect harmony.

  Just as when Damian’s brows had shot up earlier at her mention of Simon, Diego’s brows did the same after hearing her sing just the first verse. Only unlike Damian’s darkened scowl, Diego was smiling as he sang with her. He turned to Damian with an approving nod and an even bigger smile. Damian returned the nod as if to say, I told you so. The whole band was smiling now, snapping their fingers along, adding a little more rhythm to the song. She hadn’t sat in an open jam session in a long time. It felt so good she was almost tempted to just go onstage with them, but she knew the risk was too great.

  After a few more songs, their short session was over. Diego reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder, the excitement all over his face. “You have got to go on with us one of these days. They’ll go crazy for you. And now I’m gonna have to come see your show.”

  Feeling all warm and fuzzy, she took the compliments, not just from him but also from the rest of the band, with as much swagger as she could. But the whole time her insides were a skittish mess.

  “You sticking around after the show?” Diego asked Damian. “We’re gonna hang out here for a while after. They’re bringing in a ton of food for us, so we’re just gonna kick back, grub, have a few drinks, and chill.” He turned to Bethany, “Maybe we can even do some more jamming.” He smiled very sweetly, but like Damian’s smile, there was also something very sexy about it. “I’d love to do a few more songs with you. You guys should stay. It’ll be fun.”

  She was glad she knew the gaze and that smile were just something that came naturally to the men in this family, or she might have thought he was flirting with her.

  Damian glanced at her, tilting his head, leaving it up to her. Since she couldn’t think of anything more exciting than hanging out backstage with Damian and the Desert Ratz, she grinned, nodding, and the brothers exchanged pleased glances.

  “Cool,” Diego said, then punched Damian playfully. “Me and you can do some catching up.”

  Diego insisted they help themselves to something from the full bar they had backstage. At this point Bethany was ready for something to calm her insides; she felt completely ready to burst. She actually could think of something far more exciting than even this that she and Damian could do after the show, but she was glad they’d been given an alternative. She might have been good and not gone out and bought the sexy panties she’d been tempted to, but the panties she had worn were hardly ratty. Just thinking of Damian’s kisses and his hard body pressed against hers while she got ready today, she’d made sure she chose one of her sexiest pairs. She wasn’t sure she’d have the willpower to stop things from going further, and if she had done what Trinity had proposed, she was sure she’d be furious with herself if things got that hot tonight, and she had to stop.

  Damian ordered a bourbon on the rocks from the bartender at the exclusive backstage bar, and Bethany asked for an Amaretto sour. She stood at the bar by choice, not wanting to get up awkwardly onto the stool, while he sat down on the edge of the stool next to her. They stirred their drinks gently, as they watched the band prepare to go onstage. She didn’t know him well enough yet, but she picked up a negative vibe from Damian as he sat there quietly stirring his drink and staring at the band. She hoped he hadn’t mistaken her excitement about hanging after with the band as excitement about hanging out with Diego. That did excite her, but she didn’t want him thinking it was for the wrong reasons. His brother might be crazy sexy just like Damian, but there was something about Damian she’d never felt with anyone else. Not even with his semifamous brothers, who’d both been cordial to her. While meeting them excited her in a different way, for completely different reasons, it didn’t even compare to what Damian did to her.

  “Something wrong?”

  His eyes were immediately off the band and on hers. “No, why?”

  “I dunno. You seem quiet suddenly.”

  He squeezed her hand, pulling her to him between his legs. She’d felt his hard body against hers on more than one occasion now, but this was the first time she had felt his hard thighs wrap around her like this, and it made her heart pound like only he could make it. “Nothing wrong at all,” he said, staring down at her lips, then kissing her long, deeply, and more passionately than she’d expected him to in front of all these people.

  With a low groan, he pulled away, still rubbing his big, strong hands on her bare back as he had when he first arrived at her place. “God, what you do to me. It’s insane.”

  She moved in closer to him, the naughty girl in her wanting to know exactly what she did to him. She didn’t have to move much closer to feel it—his very male version of what she was feeling—and she was sure those panties she’d so carefully picked out would be soaked before the end of the night if they kept this up.

  Bringing her hands to his face, she cradled his strong jaw in her hands. “I know exactly what you mean.” Staring into his eyes, she wanted to make one thing very clear in case there was any doubt. “No one, and I mean no one, has ever made me feel this craziness I feel when I’m with you.”

  One brow lifted slightly, but it was enough. That one subtle gesture was pretty telling of what he’d clearly been doubting. Gads, had she been that pathetically starstruck by his brother? So bad it rattled Damian? She had to wonder if this was something that maybe had happened to him before. Having two brothers who were in the limelight like his had to be tough. She smiled, feeling a little guilty that perhaps she had gone overboard. “You believe me, right?”

  Looking at her very seriously, he pulled her even closer, holding her firmly by the waist. She now stood between, and in the safety of, his hard thighs, her upper thigh very aware of what she was pressed against. Breathing in deeply, she concentrated on his
eyes and tried not to think about how warm that made her entire body. The serious expression softened, and given where she was standing now and what she was feeling against her thigh, she thought she might see some of that smoldering desire she’d seen in his eyes before. Instead there was a sweetness—a tenderness she’d also seen in his eyes before, but at a moment like this it surprised her. “I do believe you.” He smiled, his big, warm hands caressing her bare back gently. “This week should’ve been a bad one for me, given how bad the case I’m working on has been. Instead it’s been one of the best of my life.” He kissed the corner of her lips softly. “And that’s because of you. So, yeah, if you’re feeling anything like what I’m feeling then I absolutely believe you.”

  He kissed her again, softly this time, but still very deeply. His tongue did what it had so frantically done just earlier, only it moved much slower, very thoroughly tasting every inch of her mouth. Almost as if he were trying to demonstrate something to her with his kisses. Show her what he’d just told her. That he knew just what she meant because he was feeling it, too. A sigh escaped her as they continued to kiss. She couldn’t help but smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling her body even closer against his.

  How did this happen? How did this wonderful man pop into her life out of nowhere and sweep her off her feet? Because that’s how she’d felt from the moment he first kissed her back at the shop. She’d felt it even before that, felt it the night of her show, but that kiss had confirmed it. Swept—he’d completely and utterly swept her off her feet, and she was loving every moment of it. She felt ready that very second to give herself to him—show him with every part of her body just what he made her feel. But she’d settle for just being in his arms like this, having his mouth devour hers blissfully . . . for now.

  “Are you two gonna watch any of the show or just stay back here and do that all night?”

  Breathlessly and with her heart still beating erratically, Bethany pulled her lips away from Damian, though he held her body firmly where it was—against his. She turned, feeling a bit embarrassed, to face a smirking Diego and Quirce, the bass player of Desert Ratz.