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But there he was near the entrance to the building, his hand out toward me and ready to shepherd my overwhelmed ass inside. I probably would’ve stood there like a dumbass in front of the press, no idea what to do with myself, had he not been there.
“Holy shit,” I said as the doors to the lobby shut behind us, my heart racing. “What the hell was that out there?”
“That’s the paparazzi,” he said with a smirk. “They like to take pictures of famous people and—“
I gave him a quick jab to the shoulder, a smile on my face in spite of myself. “I know that, smartass. But why the hell are they here? I mean, I know that too, but how did they know something’s going on tonight?”
He shrugged. “How they found out exactly, no clue. But two of the most blogged-about couples in the city are getting married in one massive ceremony. This shit’s like catnip to those types.”
He had a point, but at that moment I was a little more distracted by how damned good he looked. Sean was dressed in a pair of dark jeans slim enough to hug his big, built thighs with a pair of stylishly-worn boots on his feet. Up top was a dark green utility shirt with a few buttons undone and some kind military-style silver chain hanging down beneath it. And the sleeves were rolled up enough to show off those positively delectable forearms—they were so hot that I kind of wanted to take a bite out of them.
“OK,” I said, getting my head back into the moment. “As glad as I am that you were there to lead me though all that, wasn’t the plan for us not to show up at the same time?”
“Sure. But I think not being in the same car for all that“—he gestured to the press outside, who seemed to be dividing their attention between us and the rest of the guests in the process of arriving—“was the important thing.”
“True. I guess it’s not the worst thing in the world if we happened to have met in the lobby.”
“Yeah. Stranger things have happened.”
That was most definitely true. Like seeing the guy you lost your virginity to after over ten years, time during which he’d become both a famous rock star and an internationally popular DJ with an especially huge following in Japan.
We stepped into the elevator, and Sean hit the button to take us up. As the door closed, the lobby and press and everything else disappeared, and all I could think about was that I was alone in a small, confined space with a man who I was quite possibly more attracted to than anyone else on the damn planet.
Part of me wanted to hit the stop button, run over to him, and get in a little more “stress relief” before the doors opened up. And he must’ve been able to read me as easily as he had before—a small sliver of white teeth appeared, a look that was almost playful.
“Maybe on the way back down.”
Oh, damn. A tingle of excitement ran through me, and I felt my hand grip onto the metal handrail, my fingers moving up and down it as though it were a substitute for what I really wanted to be handling.
The doors opened to a large restaurant area, dozens of familiar faces there all dressed in casual-but-still-kinda-fancy clothing. It looked like the couples had booked the place for us—maybe they’d been expecting a slightly larger turnout than just the eight or so of us. Among the crowd I spotted our friends, and relief washed over me. The mere sight of them was enough to take the edge off my anxiety.
We stepped into the space, the view looking out over the city, a large stage with a four-piece rock band setup on it.
Theo caught sight of us, his eyes widening with excitement. He hurried over, clapping his hand down on Sean’s shoulder, his other hand wrapped around what looked to be a craft IPA.
“Hey, bud!” Then his eyes flicked to me. “Buds,” he corrected.
Sean looked over his shoulder at the crowd.
“This…definitely is more than a small get-together.”
“No kidding,” I added. “How is it that all these parties end up becoming, well, parties?”
“We’re finding it harder and harder to keep this stuff under wraps,” he said. “And the fucking crazy thing is that no one, you know, was out in the open about the plans. Noah made the reservation, but that was it.”
“Word has a way of getting out,” I said.
“I guess so,” said Theo.
Then he turned his attention to Sean, something clearly on his mind.
“And I hate to jump on you like this, bud,” he said. “But, well…” He tilted his head back towards the stage. “Ah,” said Sean, getting it.
“We’ve been getting some requests to play a couple of songs,” he said. “Nothing crazy—one or two. What do you say? I mean, it’s been a little while since we’ve jammed. Could be fun.”
