It was starting to get crowded; what looked like students piling in to fill the bar, all yelling drink orders and staking out claims to tables. It wasn’t a dive but it wasn’t a trendy Silicon Valley bar either. This had more of a local vibe; a neighborhood place where regular people came to meet friends and hook up. And from the snippets of conversations she was picking up, they were excited to see the band.
Justin traded high-fives with the bartender and shouted their order, only waiting a minute to have their drinks served. He grabbed the two bottles, nodding toward a table in front of the stage marked with a reserved sign on it. They settled on the stools, both taking sips of their beer as they watched the band warm up.
“Thanks for the drink.” Tess saluted Justin across the table. “Now tell me more about this bet you didn’t take.”
He waggled his finger at her. “I’m not sure I should tell you. That might be breaking the ‘wingman code.’”
“What the hell is the ‘wingman code’?” Tess asked, glancing over when the band started a short sound check. “They aren’t bad.”
Justin threw a look over his shoulder at them and shrugged. “They don’t suck.”
“And you’re his best friend? High praise.” Tess poked him in the arm to get his attention back to answering her question. “What is the ‘wingman code’?”
“It means that I shouldn’t tell you that I almost bet Adam that he would eventually bring you here. You see, if I told you that I told him he was interested in you as more than an independent contractor and that I told him he would bring you here to try to impress you...well, that would be breaking the ‘wingman code.’” Justin saluted her with his drink and grinned from ear to ear. “But I wouldn’t do that.”
“Of course not.” Tess laughed at him, shaking her head at his absurdity. Justin Ling was the very loose yin to Adam’s tightly wound yang and it was easy to see why they were such good friends and even better business partners.
“Do you like him?” Justin surprised her with his question and shocked her even more with his attempt to look like it didn’t matter. But it clearly did matter and it should when you were just trying to look out for your best friend. It was sweet and it deserved a straight answer, so she gave him the most honest one she could.
“I do like him.” She swirled her finger in the condensation formed on the glass of the beer bottle, mulling over how much she wanted to share about her situation with Adam. She couldn’t try to convince Justin that there was nothing going on; he’d never believe it. “But this isn’t anything to get excited about. It has a shelf life.”
Justin leveled a look at her that gave away nothing. No surprise that he was so successful at the poker table. “That’s a real shame, Tess. Total bullshit but also a real shame.”
She sputtered and spilled beer on the table, preparing to argue with him about the bullshit comment but the band started playing a really loud song and any chance for argument was lost. Tess glared at him, noted that Justin was no longer paying any attention to her, and then focused on the happenings on the stage.
The band was tight, with a driving sound and excellent vocalist, but they really lacked stage presence. Not one of them really engaged with the audience, even though the crowd was completely riveted on them. Her attention was riveted on Adam.
Adam was seated behind the drum kit, baseball cap pulled down low over his face while he wailed away in a rhythm guaranteed to get people on their feet. And it was working. The crowd was dancing, the energy enough to raise the roof, and Adam looked sexy-as-hell with his arm muscles flexing with every beat.
Tess couldn’t take her eyes off him. Adam was a commanding man, quietly owning a room with his brilliant mind and determined focus but this was a wholly new outlet for all of that intensity. One song ran into the next, and the crowd got bigger and rowdier with every one.
And then the set was over and she was on her feet cheering for the band as they took their bows. Without any fanfare, Adam jumped down from the stage and bounded over to her, sweaty and boyishly sexy with the baseball cap now turned backward. His grin was wide and contagious and she offered no resistance when he pulled her against him with a hand around her waist and took her mouth in a kiss.
They broke apart, still laughing, and he looked down at the table and grabbed her beer, chugging down half of it in a few long swallows.
“Hey! That’s my drink,” she protested, shoving against his chest. “Is this how you treat a groupie, rock star?”
“If you were any good at being a groupie, you’d have my own cold beer waiting for me.”
“Well, if you were Mick Jagger, I would.”
“Ha! I knew I liked her,” Justin interjected, handing off a beer to both of them as he returned from the bar. “She won’t take any of your shit and she’s completely unimpressed by this ‘I’m in a rock band’ crap.”
“You’re just jealous,” Adam shot back.
“Well, of course I am,” Justin said with a comical roll of his eyes. “Women love rock stars.”
Adam waved him off, looking down at her with curiosity. “So, what did you think?”
“I think I’m pissed that I didn’t come to hear you sooner. You guys are really good.” Tess ran her hand over his chest, ending with a poke in his side. “And it really explains all of the drumsticks lying around your office.”
Adam grinned at her, his gaze slipping down to her mouth, and her heart pounded, her mouth going dry at the heat in his intense focus. Tess wasn’t one to hesitate once she’d made up her mind and she’d made up her mind about this fling with Adam.
He was smiling when their lips met, the pressure soft and teasing. Tess ran her tongue along his bottom lip and she felt rather than heard his groan at the touch. Adam tugged her around to face him, his large hands on her hips as he pulled them flush against each other. He slanted his mouth over hers, tongue now invading as he deepened the connection between them.
The noise around them faded into a blur of music and voices as they sank into each other. He tasted of beer and heat and the promise of something darker. Her hands wandered over his chest, the softness of the T-shirt fabric covering the hard muscles underneath. Tess was dying to lift his shirt and find out what was hiding under the clothes but this was not the place, although they had decided that it was their time.
Adam broke the kiss, his hands lifting to frame her face, fingers tangling in her hair. “I’ve got something I want to show you.”
“I’m pretty sure I want to see it,” she answered, allowing the leer to coat every word.
Adam took a step back and held out his hand, the dimple showing when she slipped her hand in it. “Well, then, let’s go.”