For the first time in my life, my mind failed me. I couldn’t think about anything other than the heat of his mouth on mine, the taste of expensive whiskey when he slid his tongue across mine, the feel of his strong fingers on my neck.

I only had a few kisses to compare this one to, but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d had a thousand kisses before. Nothing else would feel like this. Like every cell in my body was suddenly awake in a way it’d never been before. Awake, and aware of this new humming electricity that flowed between the two of us.

Almost involuntarily, my arms went up and around his neck, his hair soft against my fingers. He made a sound in the back of his throat, a hungry, desperate sound, and then his free hand gripped my hip. When his teeth grazed my bottom lip, the shock of it jarred me back to my senses, and I took a step back.

My breath was ragged, and as I looked at Reb, I could see that he was just as affected as I was. That didn’t make me feel any better though. If anything, I felt worse. My first client and I’d kissed him…no, he’d kissed me.

“I’m flattered, Mr. Union.”

His entire body went stiff, his expression hardening.

“But I’m here as your PR rep, nothing else. I shouldn’t have let…I mean, that shouldn’t have happened.”

He nodded and turned away. “Of course not. Sorry about that. Misread the situation.”

“It’s all right,” I conceded, but something about the slump of his shoulders told me that something was off. This wasn’t just some rejected kiss to him, though I wasn’t arrogant enough to think that this was because of me specifically.

“Don’t worry about it.” He dropped onto the couch and picked up the only bottle that still contained some liquid. “It’s not the first time I’ve been rejected by a woman for what I wanted.”

I’d been considering walking away and leaving him to whatever pity-party he’d been throwing for himself, but I didn’t hear just bitterness in his voice. There was sadness there too…and self-loathing.

No matter how much I told myself that it wasn’t my job to get personally involved, I couldn’t bring myself to walk away.

“What do you mean? Rejected for what you wanted?”

He drained the last of the whiskey and tossed the bottle to the other end of the couch. “Shouldn’t you be going? Running away from the deviant after your precious virtue.”

I flushed and told myself that he was drunk, rambling, probably didn’t know what he was saying. Hell, he probably wouldn’t even remember any of this tomorrow.

But this wasn’t about a kiss, and to do my job, I needed to know what was going on. That was why I’d come here, after all.

I walked over to the couch and sat on the arm. It was far enough away from him that we weren’t touching, but close enough that he’d feel more like he was talking to a friend than someone grilling him.

“What’s going on?” When he didn’t answer, I added, “I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me.”

“Why would you want to help me?” he asked, looking up at me. His eyes were dark and open. Sad. “You didn’t want me kissing you, and I thought it was a good kiss. Thought you wanted me to kiss you, but I was wrong. Not the first time I didn’t know what a woman wanted. I used to think I did.”

“You’re not making any sense,” I said. What he was saying should have put me off. All of it sounded like the kind of shit an egotistical little prick would say to get a woman in bed.

But something told me that wasn’t what he was doing right now.

“You might as well know. Nobody else does, but at least you’ll know, and you can get out while you can. Flee the sinking ship.” He made a disgusted sound and smacked the couch with the flat of his hand.

He really needed to quit drinking. This would do worse things for his reputation than trashing a hotel room or punching someone. Fans could handle their rock stars behaving like assholes, but this was the wrong side of vulnerable.

“I’m guessing you did your homework because Chester would have only hired the best, so you know about the break-up.” He glanced at me, and I nodded but didn’t say anything. He continued anyway, “She wasn’t living with me, Mitzi, I mean, but she stayed at my place when we were in New York. She had problems, and I knew it, but she didn’t want to talk about them, so I didn’t.”

He picked at a thread on the couch, and I wondered if he felt more like he was talking to himself rather than me.

“I came in one day and found her in bed with a couple roadies. She was strung out and didn’t even blink when she saw me. She just kept fucking them and told me that it was all my fault. That if I hadn’t made her do…” His voice trailed off, and he raised his head. “I’ve never forced a woman to do anything. You have to believe me.”

Even if my gut hadn’t been telling me that he wouldn’t do that, I could hear the desperation in his voice, and it wasn’t because he wanted me to believe him. He wanted to believe it himself.

“I believe you,” I said gently.

He’d been drunk when he kissed me, but he still let me go when I’d taken a step back. If he was the sort of guy who would force what he wanted on someone, that would’ve been a perfect opportunity to do it. But he hadn’t.

Maybe he wasn’t as bad as I’d originally thought.

“You’re pretty,” he mumbled as his head dropped forward, chin on his chest.

I sighed. “Okay, you’re going to get a crick in your neck if you sleep like that.”

I stood up and then reached down to get a firm hold under his arm. He was bigger than me, but I was stronger than I looked. It took some maneuvering, but I managed to get him to his feet. He kept muttering random things under his breath, but I didn’t bother trying to figure out what he was saying. I was pretty sure I’d figured out the incident that had triggered his change in behavior. Now, I just had to get him sobered up and then we could get started on rehabbing his career.