I had kissed a lot of women in my life. But not one had ever lit me up the way that Mia did. Everything about her made me crazy. The simple touch of her mouth, the sweep of her tongue against mine, the mere taste of her—tonight mixed with cheap beer and something sweet. Something that was all Mia.

The kiss had surprised her. I could feel the way she went still when our lips touched, but it didn’t last long. In less than a second, she was kissing me back, pouring in all the anger and passion that had been flashing in her eyes as she had yelled at me across the parking lot.

It had been a long time since someone had yelled at me that way. I had meant what I said to Mia. She had changed.

But I liked it.

She had always had attitude. But now she had something else. Something new and powerful and utterly intoxicating.

And I felt it all in her kiss.

Cupping her face, I angled her head so I could kiss her deeply. And she responded in kind, wrapping her arms around my waist, pulling me close. My fingers tangled in her soft, silky hair, my thumbs stroking the line of her jaw.

Our tongues tangled together, our bodies pressed tightly against each other’s, but it still wasn’t enough.

She let out a soft, sexy moan against my lips and I was five seconds away from grabbing the keys from her hand and taking this whole party to the backseat of her car. Until I remembered whose car it actually was.

Luke.

My best friend.

Immediately, I pulled away from Mia.

Fuck. This wasn’t right. Once again, I had let my dick do the thinking when it came to Mia, and I had come within a hair’s breadth of betraying my best friend. There weren’t many rules I followed in life, but the bro code was one of them. And the bro code was pretty clear about when it was acceptable to bone your best friend’s younger sister.

The answer? Never.

So I stepped away from Mia, trying not to notice how fucking gorgeous she looked with her lips red and swollen, and her eyes all dreamy. I wanted so badly to keep kissing her. To kiss my way down her neck, to strip off her shirt and keep kissing downward, between her breasts, across her stomach and down, down, down.

Shit.

I turned away from her just as the soft, dreamy look left her eyes.

“That was a mistake,” I said, immediately regretting how harsh I sounded.

I half expected to get a slap in the face, or another angry rant, but instead, I glanced up to see Mia shrug.

“I guess it was inevitable,” she said, now looking completely casual. “But at least we got it out of the way. Now we can just continue on, both of us being professionals.”

I was disappointed, but that was stupid. After all, I had been the one to pull away. Not just tonight but the night back in college too. It was all for the best, but I was a little insulted that she didn’t seem to be affected by it. If a stranger were to look at her, there wouldn’t have been any sign that we had just shared an incredible kiss. My cock, on the other hand, was still very, very aware of what had happened.

“I’m going to go,” Mia finally said, jingling her keys.

Luke’s keys. It was a good reminder that I needed to do exactly what Mia suggested. Keep things professional. I could do that. Couldn’t I?

I watched as she got into Ruthie and drove away.

Royce and the others would be expecting me back inside. No doubt everyone would want to go out and celebrate, but I wasn’t in the mood. The set had gone well—really well—but the high from the performance had faded. So I went back to my hotel room. Alone.

I tried not to think about Mia, but it was hard not to. I even took a shower, as if I could scrub the memory of her from my skin, but no matter what I did, I could still taste her. Feel her.

I still wanted her.

The feeling was clearly not mutual. Even though she had responded to my kiss, she had also recovered from it with astonishing speed. Not that I could blame her. She was a smart, beautiful, driven young woman. Why the hell would she be interested in a guy like me? I was only good for two things—making music and making love. And I liked variety with both.

A girl like Mia deserved someone stable. Someone who would stick around. I didn’t even know what that meant. My parents certainly hadn’t taught me about that. All I knew was that putting down roots was a waste of time for someone like me. Because no matter what, I’d eventually want to leave. The way my parents did. After all, it was always better to be the one who left, rather than the one who got left behind.

I got out of the shower and ordered room service. I was tired but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep. It was always hard to sleep after a show like tonight’s. Adrenaline was still coursing through my body, though I knew some of that was due to my encounter with Mia.

The phone rang. It was late, but there were only a few people who knew where I was, and even less of them would ever call me.

“Hey, bro,” Luke greeted me, like he knew something was up.

I felt a stab of guilt, then pushed it down. I had nothing to feel guilty about. I’d stopped the kiss.

And started it, too.

“Hey.” I poured myself a glass of whiskey and settled onto the hotel couch.

I took a long drink of the cheap stuff, wishing that the burning I felt would also wash away the taste of Mia. Especially considering I was talking to her older brother. The last thing I wanted was to continue to entertain dirty thoughts about Luke’s little sister right now.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Australia,” he told me. “It’s fucking gorgeous here. And the women . . .” Luke let out a whistle. “They are most accommodating.”

I’d toured Australia once with Method of Madness, and Danny had said the same thing. Of course, Luke was single and Danny had made an art form out of cheating on his girlfriend back then.

“Sounds like you’re having fun,” I observed, taking another sip of whiskey.

“Whenever I can,” Luke said. “I’m busy, but I always find time to check out the wildlife. All kinds of wildlife.”

Just hearing his voice made me feel guilty again. And the timing of the call made me a little nervous, as if he knew what Mia and I had been doing that evening. As if he could sense my impure thoughts for his little sister, halfway around the world. Because they were very, very impure thoughts.

“How’d the show go?” Luke asked.

“Good,” I told him. “We did some covers of the old music but the crowd seemed to dig it.”

“I bet,” Luke commented. “How many panties got thrown in your direction tonight?”

“None,” I said quickly.

“Bullshit,” he responded.

“Mia was at the show,” I blurted out, not quite sure why I was saying anything.

“She was?” Luke sounded surprised.

“She’s doing an article for ChatBuzz,” I told him. “Didn’t she tell you?”

“Is that why she borrowed Ruthie?” Luke wondered.

“Guess so,” I said, feeling even guiltier about that.

I had texted her about the show, half-hoping that she wouldn’t have been able to make it. But when she had arrived, I had been relieved. Glad that she had come. Which worried me. In fact, everything about Mia worried me. In what world had I thought that asking for ChatBuzz to send her to interview me had been a good idea? It was by far one of the worst decisions I had made in recent years. I had put myself right in the path of temptation.

“That’s great that they’re finally letting her write the kind of stuff she wants to write,” Luke was saying. “She’s wanted a big profile for years.”

“Yeah.” I took another sip of whiskey.

I could tell myself that it was Mia’s ambitions that inspired me to ask for her. That I had her best interests at heart. But that would have been total bullshit. I had wanted her on this assignment for selfish reasons, and now it was going to bite me in the ass.

“I wonder why she didn’t say anything to me,” Luke mused out loud.

“She knows you’re busy,” I reminded him.

“Sure, but I’m never too busy to hear how things are going with her,” Luke said. He paused for a moment. “Will you do me a favor?” he finally asked.

“Anything.”

“Will you keep an eye out for her?” Luke wanted to know. “I know Mia is tough, but I also know how things are in your scene. I don’t want anyone giving her a hard time.”

“I’ll take care of it,” I said, as if I wasn’t the one giving her the hard time. As if I wasn’t exactly the kind of guy Luke would warn Mia to stay away from.

“Thanks,” Luke said. “I knew I could trust you.”

His words, kindly meant, were like a knife in my heart. But it only strengthened my resolve when it came to Mia. She was off limits. Just like in college.

Now all I needed was to keep my goddamn hands off of her.