Read One Night with Sole Regret 01 Try Me for Free Online

side until he’d gone off
to college. He didn’t have ink out of rebellion against his
upbringing but because he’d legitimately liked all the designs
enough to have them permanently etched on his skin. To him tattoos
were art, not a statement.
    Melanie pulled into the hotel drive and stopped the
car near a waiting valet. Gabe tensed with anticipation.
    “The ink looks good on you though,” she said, her
eyes fixed on his scalp. “I’m not sure why.”
    He knew exactly why. “Forbidden fruit.”
    “So you think the reason I want you so bad is
because my father would shoot you on sight?”
    “That sounds about right,” he said. And he had no
issue with exploiting her daddy issues.
    “Well, seeing as he’d shoot any man I hooked up with
before a wedding band strangled my finger, don’t think you’re so
special.”
    The door opened, and the valet offered Melanie a
hand out of the car. She exchanged her keys for a valet ticket
while Gabe mentally cursed himself for abandoning his manners and
not being the one to open her door. When had he started sucking at
impressing women? Around the time a sexy accountant had careened
into his chest and didn’t even have the decency to be hot and
bothered the instant he’d touched her.
    “Charge that to my room,” Gabe said to the valet as
he hurried around the car to claim Melanie’s elbow.
    “Yes, Mr. Banner.”
    Melanie managed to look impressed. “He knows you by
name?”
    “I’m a VIP,” he said, “it’s his job to kiss my
ass.”
    Unable to keep his hands to himself for another
minute, Gabe draped an arm across Melanie’s lower back and drew her
warmth against his side. She allowed him to lead her toward the
grand entrance of the hotel, but apparently she was still in
get-to-know-you mode.
    “So if your parents were against you becoming a
musician—”
    “I didn’t say that. They were never against me
becoming a musician. It’s the type of music I chose that they don’t
appreciate. They wouldn’t have minded if I’d become a gospel
singer.” He winked at her.
    “So how’d you become a drummer? It’s not exactly a
church choir instrument.”
    “I was the percussion geek in marching band; I’m not
talented enough to play a real instrument.”
    “Are you making that up?” she asked as they entered
the lobby through a revolving door. She didn’t even gawk at the
opulence. She was too busy sticking her cute nose into his
business. And he was batting zero with dazzling her.
    “Why would I make up embarrassing shit? If I was
going to lie, I’d make myself out to be cool and irresistible,
don’t you think?”
    She tilted her head, appraising him as if he were
some column of numbers that didn’t add up. He wondered if her
limited view of the world served her well in Kansas. She seemed to
like putting everything in a neat little box. And he was pretty
sure she was still desperately searching for the right box to store
him in.
    As it was well after midnight, the lobby was empty
except for the desk clerk smiling to himself indulgently as he
pretended not to watch them. The elevator stood waiting.
    “Tell me something else that makes you less cool,”
Melanie said.
    “Gee, Mel, do you have all night? Don’t you know
that most rock stars began life as outcasts who didn’t want to be
weird but found a bunch of kindred outcasts to make music with? A
few of us somehow manage to make a living off it. Most of us have
to supplement our music habit by delivering pizzas.”
    “But being an outcast makes you normal.”
    He shook his head in confusion. “If you say so.”
    “What were you like in high school?”
    He groaned inwardly and considered making shit up.
He’d been a walking disaster. “Braces.”
    “That explains your perfect smile.”
    She thought his smile was perfect? Maybe all those
painful visits to the orthodontist had been worth it.
    “What else?” she pressed.
    “Tall and skinny.” Was she trying to talk herself
out of sleeping with