Melanie hadn’t been sure that arriving at Gabe’s place unannounced was a good idea until she saw his face break into a relieved smile. Even his parents, who she’d talked into letting her in, had said he might not be up for company. He’d had a rough few days. So had she, to be honest, but seeing him made all her troubles less important. The only matter important to her at that exact moment was feeling his strong arms around her.

She hurried down the steps, hoping he’d start moving forward as well so they’d meet halfway. Every second he hesitated was one second she wouldn’t be touching him. Eventually his feet propelled him forward, and when she collided with his hard chest, he wrapped both arms around her and squeezed her breathless. He pressed hard kisses to the top of her head as if to make sure she felt each one.

“I couldn’t stay away,” she said. “I’m not sure if you even want me here, but I felt that maybe you needed me.”

His arms tightened. “I might.”

She released a breathless laugh. “Won’t even give me that much?”

“Would you think me less of a man if I admitted I need you?”

She shook her head and leaned back so she could stare up into his gorgeous green eyes. “I’d think you more of a man if you did.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” he said.

“And?” She lifted a brow at him.

“I need you.”

“Good, because I need to be here.”

“Is Nikki with you?” He nodded toward the Bug in the driveway.

“Nope. I was having trouble with my car, so she let me borrow hers. She won’t need it for a few days. She finally agreed to get some help, so I found a good facility and got her checked in.” Facility was Melanie’s nice way of referring to the high-security mental ward at the hospital. “She still doesn’t feel safe, Gabe. She can’t sleep, even if she’s curled up with me. Maybe some intensive therapy will help her.”

Gabe kissed her forehead. “We’ll go see her,” he said, and Melanie’s heart lightened.

She knew her best friend was a pain in the ass, knew Nikki had deep emotional scars and did some really stupid things to compensate for her pain, but Melanie loved her and was glad Gabe was open to Melanie’s irrefutable need to keep her friend safe, to slather her with love, and to never fail her again as she did when she’d left Nikki by herself in New Orleans.

“Really?”

Gabe shrugged. “It isn’t as if I have anything more pressing to do.”

“So the band’s still at odds?”

He snorted on a laugh. “You might say that.”

“You’ll get it worked out.”

“I’m not so sure,” he said, “but I am sure of one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“You haven’t kissed me yet.”

She closed one eye as she teased him. “What makes you so sure?”

“Are your panties damp?”

She shook her head.

“Then I’m positive.”

His kiss was deep and searching, almost desperate. She leaned into it, accepting more, taking more, until her toes were curled in her sandals and her panties were demonstrating their cotton absorbency.

A piteous whine interrupted their moment, and Gabe released her to head for the house. Lady had limped her way to the bottom of the steps, but couldn’t manage to get up on the porch.

“I got you, girl,” he said.

He carefully lifted the dog and set her on the porch. Apparently tuckered out, Lady lay down, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as she panted.

“Do you want to lie there or go inside where it’s cool?”

Her big brown eyes fixed longingly on the front door, she whined, the sound punctuated by her jaws snapping shut.

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” he asked, scooping the dog up again.

Melanie was so busy admiring Gabe’s kind-hearted care of his pooch that she didn’t recognize he needed help until he was practically bouncing Lady in the air to try to get a hand on the doorknob.

“I’ve got it,” Melanie said, dashing up the steps and onto the porch. “If you need help, you can always ask.”

“Hey, you got me to admit I need you. Getting me to actually ask for help?” He grinned at her and shook his head. “One step at a time, baby.”

She laughed and opened the door. “I guess I’ll have to read your mind and anticipate your needs.”

“Works for me.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek before entering the house and placing Lady on a big cushiony dog bed near the door. Beau sat beside her and then lay down, his sleek black head resting on Lady’s pillow. She gave his nose a gentle lick.

“They’re like an old married couple,” Melanie said. And so cute and affectionate with each other, it made her ache for that level of devotion.

Gabe stroked Lady’s silky-looking ears before repeating the motion on Beau. “In sickness and in health.”

“And I suppose I’ll have to stick with you through richer and poorer now that you’re unemployed and all.”

She’d been teasing, but the scowl he sent her quickly wiped the grin from her face.

“Too soon?” she asked.

“Much too soon.”

He stood from his crouched position and headed toward the kitchen at the back of the house. It sprawled out into the great room, its gleaming honey-oak cabinets blending perfectly with the cabin’s timbers.

She trailed after him as he made his way to the sink to wash the dog off his hands.

“If there’s anything I can do to help with your band . . .” Though she had no idea how she could. She wasn’t exactly an expert on getting rock groups back together.

“Just be understanding,” he said, drying off his hands on a dish towel. “That’s all I need from you. That and to be my guinea pig for testing out my inventions.”

His smirk reminded her that she liked him best when he wasn’t being so serious, and she was more than willing to be his test subject.

“I hope you mean for the sex toys.”

“Are you ready for a workout? I’ll probably need to up my productivity. I need to find something to keep myself busy now that I’m unemployed. Or maybe I’ll go back to school and finish my engineering degree. Or maybe I’ll wait tables. I can’t stand being idle.”

“Whatever you decide to do, I know you’ll rock at it.”

He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, bunching up his green Yoda T-shirt that read mc2 E is. “I really just want to be the drummer of Sole Regret.”

“You do have the hair for it.” Grinning, she reached up and wrapped a lock of crimson-tipped black hair around her finger. He hadn’t bothered to spike his Mohawk today, so the longest of the strands at his nape were long, silky to the touch, and oh-so inviting.

“Exactly,” he said, grinning. “How am I supposed to find a real job with dragons tattooed on my scalp?”

She giggled. She was used to his ink now, but corporate America might have a bit of trouble overlooking his head and body art. “Have a little patience,” she said. “I’m sure you guys can work something out. It’s only been a few days since Jacob left.” And Gabe had ranted on the phone about it for as long. Melanie figured he needed an in-person sounding board, so that was why she’d taken a week’s vacation and headed south. At least she hadn’t done anything as impulsive as quit her job, though she had been working on her resignation letter so she could join Sole Regret on tour when Gabe had delivered the surprising news that the band had called it quits.

Gabe sighed. “You know, Jacob was the one who drew me into this world, and he sure as hell didn’t hesitate to kick me back out of it.”

“Best friends can be such pains in the asses,” she said.

He chuckled and massaged his forehead with splayed fingertips. “You’ve got that right. Why do we put up with them?”

Melanie shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.”

“I should probably try to get ahold of one of the guys. Let them know my little chat with Jacob was a waste of time.”

“So you did talk to him?”

“I didn’t mention that?”

Melanie shook her head. On the phone he’d told her about his many attempts to call Jacob, which had all gone unanswered. Well, he’d ranted about it, actually. “Last I heard he still wasn’t taking your calls.”

“He never did. I saw him in person at his ex-wife’s house. Though I guess he’s living there now.”

Melanie blinked and cocked her head to one side. Surely she was hearing wrong. “What? When did that happen?”

“When Jacob makes life-altering decisions, he doesn’t hold back on completely altering his life.”

“I guess not.”

Melanie couldn’t believe her ears when Gabe told her about Jacob’s interview on the local news and how he’d basically given up everything so he could be with his daughter.

“His ex-wife’s using their daughter to get what she wants?” Melanie shook her head. She hated bitches who did that. Tina should be glad that Jacob wanted to be involved in their daughter’s life. There were plenty of dads who didn’t give two shits about the kids they created.

“I hope those two don’t scar that poor little girl for life. It can’t be easy to be stuck between them.”

“She’s probably too young to understand she’s being used as a pawn,” Melanie said.

“What I can’t believe is that Jacob is stupid enough to let Tina get away with it. What is he thinking?”

Gabe’s eyes drifted out of focus as he stared into space over Melanie’s shoulder.

“Earth to Gabriel,” Melanie said when he didn’t acknowledge her existence for several moments.

He started and then grinned sheepishly. “I was thinking maybe he isn’t that stupid. Maybe Tina’s the stupid one for letting him get close to her again.”

Gabe apparently had a huge blind spot when it came to Jacob, always willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Melanie figured the jerk was getting exactly what he wanted at the expense of his friends and fans.

“You know I can’t stand the guy, right?” Melanie asked. “He’s the biggest egomaniac I’ve ever had the displeasure of meeting.”

“Once you get to know him—”

“You realize he’s a user. Don’t you see that?”

“If this is about his hooking up with Nikki . . .”

Melanie closed her eyes and shook her head. Jacob had annoyed her the first time she’d met him, pissed her off by using her friend for sex and promptly discarding her, and the ass hadn’t earned himself a single brownie point by destroying Gabe’s career. “You know what? I don’t want to talk about Jacob anymore. If you want to talk about Adam or Owen or Kellen or anyone else on the entire planet, I’m happy to listen, but I came here to talk about you, to see you.” She probably should have realized that by being Gabe’s sounding board, she’d be hearing a lot about Jacob, but she could only tolerate so much.

“I need to talk about Jacob,” Gabe said, scratching his upper lip, which was covered with a sexy length of stubble. “With someone not close to him.”

Well, she definitely fit that description. And she wanted to be someone Gabe could depend on. She supposed she could suck it up a little longer for his benefit.

Gabe added, “I can’t think rationally if I can’t distance myself from all the emotional garbage everyone’s feeling at the moment, and if I can’t think rationally, I can’t find a solution.”

She ducked her head to hide a grin. She’d assumed he always tried to outthink his problems. She wondered if that ever worked out for him.

“I made some lemonade just before you pulled up,” she said, slipping her arms around his waist and pressing her belly against his. “Let’s sit out on the porch and enjoy the evening air while you torture me with tirades about Jacob Silverton.”

“No tirades.”

His hands slid up her back and drew her against his chest. She pressed her face into his neck and inhaled his mesmerizing scent. This was more like what she’d had in mind when she’d hurried down from Topeka.

“But I am going to talk about him.”

“And I’ll listen.” And try to offer sound advice. But more than likely she’d also seethe.

Gabe gifted her with a lingering kiss that made her heart pound and her skin flush with heat, and then he released her. He filled two glasses with ice, and she poured the lemonade. She carried both glasses, as Gabe decided Lady would like to hobble around the yard for a while. The happy dog seemed to get around pretty well as long as she didn’t have to navigate any steps.

Once Lady was safely sniffing around the yard, Beau beside her, Gabe took the seat beside Melanie on the log porch swing, and she handed him his lemonade before taking a sip of her own. One of her eyes squeezed shut as her taste buds registered the tartness—exactly how she liked it.

“Have you thought about getting a different singer?” She hoped the question didn’t upset Gabe, but it had been her idea of a solution from the moment he’d dropped the bombshell of Sole Regret’s unexpected breakup.

“And guitarist?”

“Why would you need a new guitarist? Adam doesn’t want to continue with the band either?”

Gabe sipped his lemonade, squeezed his eyes shut, and shook his head. “Wow, that’s sour.”

“You don’t like it?”

After he pried his eyes open, he swallowed a gulp. “Love it.”

She smiled. This could become a tradition for them—drinking sour-as-hell lemonade on the porch and talking while the sun disappeared behind the surrounding trees. Before she’d come to Gabe’s house, she’d assumed Texas was all flat and desert-like, but his little slice of wilderness was rocky and wooded, and the nearby lake they’d visited the week before had been vast and pristine—all so unlike what she was used to in flat and farmy Kansas.

Gabe scratched at his jaw. “I don’t know what Adam will want to do. I just assumed . . .”

“You know what happens when you assume.”

“I don’t think Adam can function without Jacob, to be honest.”

“Has he ever been given the opportunity to try?”

Gabe chuckled. “I suppose not. Jacob rides his ass like he’s trying to scale the Grand Canyon.”

Melanie snorted at the visual of Jacob riding an Adam-faced donkey up the Grand Canyon. Her lemonade burned the back of her throat as it tried to escape through her nose. “Don’t make me laugh when I’m trying to swallow.”

“No promises there.” He grinned at her. “I love that you swallow.”

She snorted again and slapped playfully at his thigh. “So getting a new singer is a possibility?”

“Maybe as a last resort,” he said, “but Jacob’s voice is so unique, we could never find a true replacement. The band could find a hundred drummers to replace me—”

“I honestly doubt that.”

“—but not one vocalist that can fill Jacob’s shoes.”

“Lots of bands get new singers.”

“And they’re never as good as the original. Never.”

“What about AC/DC?” She did pay attention to Nikki’s nonstop blathering about rock music on occasion. “Van Halen?”

“Depends on who you ask.”

“So maybe you’ll find someone better than Jacob. You never know until you try.”

“Last resort,” he said, making it clear that it was not a solution he wanted to entertain.

“So what you really want is advice on how to win him back?” Melanie said, sucking an ice cube into her mouth since her lemonade was already gone.

Gabe chuckled. “You make it sound like I’m some high school girl who can’t get over my crush.”

She lifted her shoulders and shook her head. That sounded about right to her, but then she hadn’t known any of these guys for long. Their bond must be strong to have gotten them through the challenges of becoming a successful rock band. That would be a bond worth saving. At least it was for Gabe, and if saving this band was important to Gabe, it was important to her too.

“Do you think Jacob will come back if Adam apologizes?” It had been Adam’s disappearance right before a performance that had sent Jacob packing.

“I think we need to replace Adam to get Jacob back.”

“Is it a good idea to accept Jacob’s ultimatum?”

Didn’t Gabe realize one should never, ever give in to a bully’s demands? And to an outsider, Jacob’s ultimatum—Adam goes or I go—had sounded an awful lot like bullying. Jacob hadn’t let anyone weigh in on his decision. It had been his way or the highway, and in the end, he’d been the one who’d taken the highway—on foot.

Gabe rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know. Maybe we’d all be happier if Adam were gone. He’s been the center of all our problems from the start. Well, not him. His heroin addiction.”

“I thought he’d gotten clean.”

“He has, but the same selfish irresponsibility that led to his addiction is part of who he is. And we tolerate it because he’s a talented motherfucker.” Gabe released a heavy sigh through his nose and then shook his head. “Never mind. He’s more irreplaceable than even Jacob. He writes our music.”

Melanie’s ringing phone interrupted their discussion, and she considered ignoring Nikki’s call, but one of the concessions for Nikki agreeing to get help was that Melanie would answer every time Nikki needed to talk.

“Sorry,” Melanie said. “I have to take this. I promised her I would pick up.”

Gabe shrugged and took another drink of his lemonade before setting it aside and rising to join his dogs in the yard. She smiled at their exuberance—of all three of them—as she answered the phone.

“How are you doing?” Melanie asked.

“I’m bored. God, I’m bored. When are you going to spring me out of this place?”

“You promised you’d give it at least three days.” And she’d been there just over twenty-four hours.

“Yeah, but I didn’t realize how freaking boring these places are. There aren’t any cute nurses to flirt with or anything.”

Melanie covered her eyes with one hand. “You’re not there to find dates.”

“I know. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” And she wasn’t just saying that.

“How’s Gabe? Did I interrupt anything aerobic?”

Unfortunately no, but she knew Gabe was having a hard time coping, and while inventive sex might take his mind off his troubles for a while, it wouldn’t fix anything. “We were just talking.”

“About me or the band breakup?”

“Both.”

“Does he think I’m crazy?”

“He thinks you’re troubled.”

“Good, because I don’t want him to think I’m crazy just because I’m locked up with real lunatics. He’s still the drummer of my favorite band even though he’s boinking my bestie. Tell him that they haven’t made me wear a straitjacket or anything.”

The man in question was currently tossing a stick for Beau to fetch while Lady sat panting at his feet. “You can tell him yourself. He said we’ll come visit you soon.”

“Really?” Melanie could hear the smile in Nikki’s voice. “When?”

“I don’t know yet. I’ll call you when we make plans. How was therapy?”

Nikki blew a raspberry, and Melanie hoped her childish response didn’t mean she wasn’t taking her sessions seriously.

“Nikki, you promised you’d try.”

“It’s stupid. I already know why I’m the way I am and how I feel about the things that have happened to me. Telling some dumb psychiatrist about it doesn’t help. The only thing that helps is being with you.”

The familiar guilt of trying to make something of her life without Nikki gnawed at the pit of Melanie’s stomach. “Nikki . . .”

“I’ve got to go,” she said. “It seems all the cute nurses work the night shift and just clocked in.”

“Nikki?” Melanie got no response.

With a heavy sigh, Melanie slipped her phone into her pocket and leaned forward on the porch swing. With her toes just touching the ground, she rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her palms. Gabe was a great guy. She wanted him to become a permanent part of her life, but Nikki had to be a part of it as well. She couldn’t figure out how she’d ever get the three of their lives to blend, especially now that Nikki had made it clear that her affection for Melanie wasn’t as platonic as she’d thought.

The swing shifted as Gabe sat beside her again. “Girl troubles?”

Melanie snorted and lifted her head from her palms. “How did you know?”

“Trouble and Nikki go hand in hand.”

“I’m not sure what to do. My life was traveling a nice, neat little course until you and Nikki entered the picture.”

“If I’m too much trouble—”

“You?” She shook her head and scooted closer to him so their hips were touching. “You’re worth the trouble.”

“And Nikki?”

Melanie released a heavy sigh. “She’s worth the trouble too.”

“I guess your life’s course will stay a little messy, then.”

She tilted her chin, her gaze holding his as she silently begged him to kiss her. “Guess I’ll have to learn to live with a little mess.”

He burrowed his fingers into the thick, tangled mass of her curls and closed the distance between their lips. Her body instantly ignited into an inferno of lust as pleasure sizzled along her nerve endings. Her hands slid up the back of his T-shirt seeking warm, smooth flesh, and she pressed her suddenly aching breasts into his firm chest, the hard ridge of the barbell in his nipple piercing sending a thrill straight to her core. He deepened the kiss, his tongue brushing against hers. Her moan of torment was cut off by the ring of his phone.

The muscles of his back tensed beneath her exploring fingers, and he pulled away slightly.

“Can you hold that thought?” he asked. “It’s Adam. I need to take this call.”

Between interruptions from her friends and his, she feared they were never going to end up naked and sweaty.