Nikki swayed toward him and pressed the back of her hand to her mouth. “I don’t feel so good.”

The only thing worse than having Nikki miss her chance at talking to Shade would be Nikki throwing up all over him.

“Are you gonna be sick?” Shade asked, setting his beer down on the table he was leaning against and taking her by both shoulders.

“I think . . . ” Nikki swallowed queasily. “I think I need to lie down for a bit.”

“I’ll take her home,” Melanie said. She should have cut her off from the alcohol earlier.

“No,” Nikki said and stomped on Melanie’s foot. “I’ll be okay. It’s just a little loud in here.” She glanced up at Shade, her long lashes obscuring her eyes, her body in a completely submissive stance. “Is there a place where I can lie down for a bit?” she asked. “With you on top of me?”

Melanie blinked and turned her head to mouth, Wow.

“If you bring your friend with you,” Shade said.

Melanie’s head snapped up. Was he serious? “Having kinky sex with my best friend and some freak I don’t even know is not my idea of a good time,” she blurted.

A guy behind her burst out laughing.

Nikki elbowed her in the ribs.

Shade just smirked. One eyebrow appeared above the rim of his dark sunglasses. “Then what is your idea of a good time?”

She didn’t think watching tear-jerkers in her jammies would convince him of her fun-loving nature, so she settled for making a sound of incredulous frustration, turned in the opposite direction, and stalked off. Or tried to. She took precisely one angry step before crashing head-on into a hard body.

The man steadied her with both hands on her upper arms, his cold beer bottle pressing into the flesh of her biceps. She didn’t lift her gaze to look at him, but stared at his green T-shirt, feeling like a complete tool.

“Where’s the fire, baby?” he asked.

“In my pants,” Shade said and laughed.

Melanie shoved away from the man and headed for a nice safe corner to collect her thoughts. She half-expected Nikki to come after her—to either berate her for calling Shade a freak to his face or because she’d ruined Nikki’s chances with the egomaniac—but several minutes of staring at the wall convinced her that Nikki had deserted her for a guy she didn’t even know. Again. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed her suspicions. Nikki was laughing and hanging all over Mr. Rock Star Jerk, who seemed to have his gaze trained on Melanie as he suckled a spot right behind Nikki’s ear. When Melanie narrowed her eyes at him, he took Nikki’s hand and led her out a back door.

Melanie scrubbed her forehead with two fingers and turned to stare at the wall again. She considered leaving, but she couldn’t desert Nikki without backup. They’d arrived together, they’d leave together. Besides, the woman’s love life was a disaster. What if she needed Melanie’s help? Considering who she’d left with, the chances that she would need Melanie to bail her out of trouble were all but guaranteed. Melanie supposed attending an after-party alone with a crowd of tattooed metal-heads was better than waiting for Nikki in the car by herself, but not by much. Resigned to her fate, Melanie found the free end of a sofa and sat to wait, keeping her eyes diverted from the people milling about the room.

Her gaze trained on the door that Nikki had just exited, she didn’t notice the man sitting next to her until he spoke. “I’m surprised you didn’t go with them.”

She tore her gaze from the door to look at him. His striking green eyes captured her attention from the shadow beneath the bill of his baseball cap. He was quite possibly the most attractive man who’d ever spoken to her without Nikki at her side. She recognized his T-shirt as the one belonging to the guy she’d careened into a few moments earlier. “Huh?”

“Jacob and your friend.” He pointed the neck of his beer bottle toward the door that Melanie was so fixated on.

“Jacob?”

“More famously known as Shade.”

“Oh.” She settled her hands on her knees. “I didn’t realize he had a normal name.”

He laughed. “You didn’t think his mother named him Shade, did you?”

She shrugged. “Never thought about it.” Her attention moved to the door again. “What kind of a dork uses a lame stage name anyway? And why Shade? Because he wears sunglasses all the time?”

“Yeah, he has to wear them. He has vision problems.”

Melanie’s stomach dropped and she covered her big, blabbering mouth with one hand. “He does? Shit. Now I feel bad.”

The guy chuckled. “I’m just fucking with you. He wears them because he enjoys looking like a douche twenty-four seven.”

Melanie laughed. It felt good. Her severe case of anxiety decreased substantially, and her bitchiness finally took its leave. “I’m not usually this disagreeable. I just really would rather be anywhere else than waiting for Nikki to finish her fun. I honestly don’t understand why she thinks he’s so hot. He looks like a prison inmate.”

When the guy didn’t speak, she turned her head to look at him again.

He traced his bottom lip with his middle finger as he assessed her. “You don’t seem too enamored with the band. What brings you backstage?”

“A friend I can’t tell no.” She sighed. “I’m such an enabler.”

“Or maybe you’re just a good friend.”

“More like a dumb friend. If I’d quit sticking my neck out for her, maybe she’d learn some responsibility.”

“But if something really bad happened to her, you’d feel responsible.”

She gawked at him, surprised he understood the truth behind her actions so easily.

He smiled, revealing a set of perfect white teeth. That simple expression transformed him from gorgeous to dazzling.

Melanie’s breath caught. Wow. Now this guy . . . She could understand wanting to jump in bed with him on short acquaintance. Please and thank you.

“Yeah, I totally get it. I’m one of those enabler types too,” he said.

“So you admit you’re as dumb as I am?”

He chuckled. “I guess so. Would you like a beer?”

She shook her head. “I have to drive and I’m already at my limit.” She was pretty sure her sudden lightheadedness was caused by the company, not the alcohol.

“How about a Coke then?”

She smiled at his thoughtfulness. “Water?”

He nodded. “Jordan!” he yelled at the man at the bar. “Bring the lady a water.”

“Got it!”

He turned his attention to her again. “So are you going to tell me your name?”

She relaxed into the sofa cushions, glad she’d found a normal person to talk to. She’d thought she’d have to spend the entire night pretending to be invisible. “Melanie Anderson. Yours?”

He laughed. “You really aren’t enamored with the band, are you, Melanie?”

What did that have to do with telling her his name? “I like their music, but they’re not my favorite band or anything. A bit too heavy for my tastes. Nikki is the one obsessed with them. She dragged me here against my will.”

A glass of water was pressed into her hand. “Thanks,” she said to the bartender. She took a sip and waited for her gorgeous companion to speak again.

“I see. I’m Gabriel Banner.” He grinned at her and suddenly overwarm, she wondered if someone had switched off the AC. “Call me Gabe.”

A totally normal name for a totally normal guy. She would have felt uncomfortable talking to any of the other men in the room—tattooed, pierced, strange haircuts, chains and leather—but Gabe looked as normal as she did. His only notable flaw was the Texas Rangers ball cap he wore. The Angels’ fan in her wanted to poke fun at his team loyalty, but she could forgive one little fault.

She smiled and offered her free hand in greeting. His hand slid into hers. Though he clasped her hand with a gentle grip, she could feel the strength in those long fingers. Her heart fluttered when his fingers brushed the back of her hand. “Nice to meet you, Gabe. How did a normal-looking guy like you end up backstage with all these, erm, interesting folks?”