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

him or what?
    She lifted the hem of his shirt to flash his belly.
“Not an ounce of fat on those abs, but not skinny. Fit. And you are
tall. I suppose that’s a benefit for a drummer.”
    “I was so not attractive, Mel, I didn’t touch my
first boob until I was twenty.”
    “And how many boobs have you touched since?”
    He grinned. “I don’t grope and tell.”
    Inside the elevator, Gabe retrieved his room card
from his wallet, glad that they’d checked in early and his
belongings were already up in his room. He swiped the card over a
panel to access the penthouse. The band had rented out the entire
upper floor for the night. He had hoped something like that would
turn Melanie’s head, yet she insisted on asking him to share
secrets about his less than head-turning past.
    As soon as the elevator door slid shut, she turned
to face him. She rested both palms on his chest and gazed up at him
with sultry, hazel eyes. He hadn’t noticed the blue and green
flecks in them earlier. He opened his mouth to compliment her, and
she interrupted him by saying, “Just tell me one more personal
thing about yourself. I’m much more comfortable with Gabe than I am
with Force.”
    “Force equals mass times acceleration,” he said.
    “Huh?”
    “The reason they call me Force is not because I bang
things hard—though I do. It’s because I planned to major in physics
before I dropped out of college my sophomore year. I was going to
become an engineer and invent things.” Actually, he invented things
despite his lack of degree. That was something he was definitely
keeping to himself, however. No one knew about his inventions. It
was bad enough he’d shared the secret behind his nickname with her;
only the band knew how he’d picked it up. So why was he telling
Melanie? She had the strangest effect on him. He felt vulnerable.
Exposed. She’d stripped away all of his cool. It wasn’t a feeling
he was accustomed to, and he wasn’t sure he liked it.
    She slapped him in the chest. “So that’s why
I’m so attracted to you,” she said. “I knew it couldn’t be the
famous musician thing.”
    She raised up on tiptoe to kiss his neck. Every
muscle in Gabe’s body went taut.
    “Melanie?” he whispered.
    Her warm breath tickled his neck. “I do love a man
with brains.”
    Brains that ceased to work when a certain sexy
accountant suckled the pulse point in his throat. He didn’t put the
geek in “band geek” anymore. He’d hated being that awkward, meek
guy. He no longer entertained dreams of building mechanical hearts
and artificial limbs. He was a rock star. Success hadn’t been
handed to him on a bronze cymbal. He’d earned it. Melanie had
better get used to the idea that the thing she was trying so hard
to reject was a huge part of who he was.
    Gabe reached over and pressed every button from the
first to the tenth floor. The elevator jolted as it stopped on the
next floor and then the door slid open.
    Melanie jerked away, her gaze nervously darting to
the empty corridor. No one was there. She stared up at him with
wide eyes. “Do you think there’s something wrong with the
elevator?”
    “I pressed all the buttons.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I don’t march anymore.”
    The elevator doors slid shut and they started upward
again.
    Her eyebrows drew together and nose crinkled in
confusion. Gabe moved his hands to her shoulders and slipped the
spaghetti straps of her tank and her bra straps down her slender
arms. He used the lightest of touches on her silky skin, watching
for her reaction.
    “What do you like?” he asked.
    “Huh?”
    “Do you like a gentle, easy touch?” He stroked her
skin with a feather-light caress and then curled his fingers to
apply more pressure as he moved his hands along the back of her
shoulders. “Or something rougher?”
    Eyes wide, she shook her head. “I don’t know.”
    The elevator stopped, and the doors slid open
again.
    He slid his hands to her breasts and freed them from
her