Cheri wished the floor would swallow her whole.

She gnawed on her bottom lip as Dev, who towered over her by a head, looked down at her. She was so aware of the closeness of his body that she ached for his arms around her, even after his rejection.

And she hated herself for it.

"Look, I was hoping we could just forget it ever happened. I'm sorry I was such an ass."

As hard as it was to swallow that he would rather jerk off in his bunk than sleep with her, she was ten times more embarrassed about her behavior last night. She’d thrown herself at him as shamelessly as the groupies that hung around to get a few minutes with any of the guys. She even bullied that poor fan, who was just looking to get her fifteen minutes with a rock star and have some fun.

That type of thing went with the territory and she’d acted like an entitled bitch when, really, her friendship with Dev entitled her to nothing. Certainly not control over who he took to bed…or didn’t.

Her cheeks flamed as he stepped closer.

"Actually, I wanted to apologize to you," said Dev smoothly. "If anything, I didn't take your request seriously enough.”

She froze and stared at him, her brain skidding to a stop. “Y-you didn’t?”

“I was thinking, if you still want, we could talk about it some more.”

"Seriously?”

Dev nodded. "Yeah."

She'd do almost anything to spend time with Dev, but this was such a total about-face, it caught her completely off guard. Maybe she’d come off as so pathetic, he felt sorry for her. That, she couldn’t abide. "I'm a lightweight. It probably was a bad idea, in truth,” she said, wetting her suddenly dry lips.

"So, you’re telling me that it was the whiskey talking?" Dev’s lips quirked but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

What did it all mean? What did any of this mean?

She was still trying to figure it out when he stepped back.

"You know what? It’s probably for the best anyway," he murmured.

He brushed a lock of hair from her forehead and walked away. Cheri watched with longing as he moved confidently through the throng of people backstage. A woman she didn't know wearing a backstage pass threw herself at him as he passed. Her excitement was evident from how she bounced on her gold high heels, and the way her tits bounced in Dev's face.

The same fire that shot through Cheri the night before rose from her belly and she could no more stop herself from reacting than she could halt a moving train.

She wanted Dev and she finally had her chance. She wasn’t about to let it slip away.

"Hey, Dev!" she called across the backstage.

He turned immediately and his gaze held hers.

"I changed my mind. If you want to talk about…that thing I said."

Dev smiled broadly and walked back toward her, leaving the disappointed fan in his wake.

"You sure now?" His gaze was intense and the melty feeling in her stomach only intensified.

"Yeah. I’m sure."

"Okay then." He towered over her, his blue eyes glittering in the harsh stage lights turned up bright for the breakdown of equipment. “These are the terms.”

This was happening.

This was actually happening.

Immediately her nerves assaulted her, gaining the upper hand on her excitement.

“It’s best,” he said, his husky tone making her stomach do flip-flops, “if we keep this from the guys. The band doesn’t need to know.”

“Of course, totally,” said Cheri. “I wouldn’t want them to know.”

Especially not Rory. He’d never understand.

“And you’ll have to follow the lesson plans exactly,” said Dev. “I don’t want to be wasting either of our time.”

“Lesson plans?” repeated Cheri lamely.

Dev Lachlan was seriously talking about giving her lessons in seduction. She was about to spontaneously combust.

“Oh yeah,” said Dev in a seductively low voice, “no good teacher works without a lesson plan.”

She was pretty sure her panties just melted. Her eyes darted around backstage looking for something, anything to give her some anchor, other than Dev Lachlan’s wide, muscular shoulders and sinful mouth.

“When do we start?" she croaked.

"I've got some thinking to do," he said, his expression solemn. "So I'll let you know tomorrow."

"Okay.”

Dev strode away to meet up with the other band members who were surrounded by a group of women. They all moved off, presumably out of the theater, with a cordon of people wearing red t-shirts with the word "Security" emblazoned on the front and back.

Mischief will ensue.

A small twinge pinged her heart. At one time she, by virtue of Rory, would have been invited to the after-hours hijinks of The Gang of Five. That's what she used to call them, but that was before the band grew a big following, and the women grew more insistent. At a certain point, she knew her presence was spoiling her brother’s fun to some degree, although he’d never say it, so she’d begged off.

Rory.

Crap, she hated keeping secrets from him. But this was the one secret she was used to keeping. She’d been forced to keep it since she was a little girl. Some day, he would step back and realize she was a grown woman who had to live her own life. Until he did, there was no point in trying to explain her feelings for Dev. Especially now that lines were going to be crossed that couldn’t be uncrossed. Rory would only try to stop them, and now that she was finally just a touch away from what she’d always wanted?

Nothing was going to get in her way.

She couldn't worry about all that right now, though. First and foremost, she had to make sure she didn’t let this thing with Dev get in the way of them both doing their jobs. The long checklist she had to go through before her night was over was only growing smaller by tiny increments, and they had a deadline to keep.

She bustled through her tasks with efficiency and--if she did say so herself--admirable focus, only broken by a random thought of what tomorrow would bring and a sizzle of anticipation mixed with panic.

She was finally going to know what it felt like to kiss Dev.

Gina rolled up next to her while the crew finished packing up the last of the equipment, and elbowed her.

“I’m going to make it an early night. Want to walk me back to the bus, open a bottle of wine and tell me what guy has your cheeks so pink you’re practically glowing, friend?”

“Where did you get wine?” Cheri asked, trying not to let the other woman’s words heat her cheeks even more. She promised not to tell anyone, and already the news was threatening to burst out of her.

But Gina wasn’t part of the band. And if she didn’t tell anyone, she would likely explode.

Decisions, decisions.

“I keep a bottle or two on hand for medicinal purposes,” Gina replied with a grin.

“I’m not sure medicinal wine would cure me.”

“Of what?”

“I think I just made a deal with the devil,” admitted Cheri, still shaken to the core.

“Really,” Gina said cocking an eyebrow. “What did it cost you?”

“Nothing much,” said Cheri, “just my soul.”

“Did you have to sign a contract in blood? Because I know some lawyers that could get you out of that deal.”

“No way. This is one deal I don’t want out of, no matter what the price,” said Cheri softy.

“And what’s this devil’s name,” Gina said. “Or, in this case, it’s more like ‘what’s this Devlin’s name’, am I right?”

Cheri shot her friend a stunned look. Was it that obvious?

“Don’t look so surprised. Your eyes follow him around the room, and you always get tense when he’s near you. It’s pretty obvious.”

“Wow, I had no idea,” Cheri said, wincing. What if Gina wasn’t the only one onto her?

As if she’d read Cheri’s mind, Gina continued, “Don’t worry, though, the guys don’t know. They’re too wrapped up in their own shit to notice stuff like that.” Gina sighed and shook her head slowly. “And I’m not going to try to get you to change your mind because I can see that it’s set. I’m just going to give you one word of warning before I take off my world-weary, well-traveled, wise-woman hat and put on my fun friend, let’s-gossip-about-boys hat.” She took Cheri’s shoulder and met her gaze. “Be careful, okay? That man might be a shooting star, but you’re the one in danger of falling.”

The words hung over her for a second, like the threatening clouds of a thunderstorm, but she shrugged helplessly as she admitted the truth. “That ship has long since sailed. I’ve loved him as long as I can remember.”

Gina gave Cheri’s shoulder a squeeze.

“Gotcha. Then we are definitely gonna need that wine.”