Meet and greets. They were a necessary evil in the business, especially in a post-Napster world where people didn’t think music was worth anything and meeting the band or seeing them live had become the product while the music was more of a loss leader.

It was a damned screwed up system that made me wish we’d hit it big in the days when music still sold like hotcakes and the money flowed right along with it.

But it didn’t. Especially not these days and extra especially not for a group whose biggest hits were a decade in the past. No, pressing flesh with the fans was where the real money was made on these tours.

I glanced across the room to where Mia was standing with her friend. Blake had brought her straight into the meet and greet which I supposed was a good sign. At least he hadn’t decided to blow the whole thing off like he had at past meet and greets. Not that I would begrudge him doing that. I know I wanted to take Mia out to my bus right now and fuck the consequences.

The “meet and greet room” was actually just the greenroom repurposed for moving fans in and out on a conveyor line. Definitely not one of the better setups we’d had for these things. With four of us and all the fans moving in and out and security on top of that it was tight quarters. A line of women ran around the edge of the room and out into the hallway beyond. All of them looked ecstatic, but that was about par for the course at these things. As always I plastered on a smile and remembered that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity they’d paid extra for even if for me it was just Tuesday, or whatever the fuck day it was. They tended to run together on tour with none of the usual markers to let me know the day or time.

So as much as I wanted to throw Mia over my shoulder and take her back to the tour bus I kept that smile on my face as I met each fan in turn and signed something for them. Every meeting was the same. They squealed, gave me a hug or a handshake, and then security inevitably had to move them along.

I glanced over to Mia to see how she was taking the girls getting up close and personal with me, but there was an unreadable expression there. Damn. She was so beautiful. I couldn’t help but think about how much I wanted her to be the one pressing up against me as I…

No. I chased those thoughts away and concentrated on work and not on how delicious Mia looked in that tight outfit that showed off every hot curve of her body. I definitely wasn’t imagining what it would be like to lean over her, to run my tongue over that body. To taste her.

I shook myself free from those thoughts again. Damn. I realized I was getting one hell of a reaction down below and it happened to coincide with hugging a lady who looked like she was old enough to be my grandma. I wondered what the hell she was doing at this concert, and I had the very rare experience of wanting to sink into the floor and disappear as I realized she was grinning up at me.

Yeah, she felt my reaction to Mia. Whoops. Thankfully she was ushered away by security, staring at me with that huge grin on her face the entire way out. I guess I gave grandma a little bit of a thrill.

I probably should've stopped thinking of Mia after that incident, but it was so much fun.

The meet and greet seemed to stretch into eternity, but eventually the long line of women waiting to press flesh and get a picture and a quick autograph were gone. Talk about an eternity that went by in a blink! Finally it was time to get away from this green room and have a little bit of fun with Mia. Maybe take her for a tour of the bus.

Not that I thought she was the kind of girl who’d necessarily fall for that old line, but I figured it was worth a shot. There was just something about that girl that got me all twisted up inside and I wanted to know more about her even if I didn’t get to know more about her in the traditional sense that I got to know a girl when I invited her back to my tour bus.

It was a testament to how interested I was that I’d take conversation or copulation.

I licked my lips and looked at Mia, wondering what kind of fun was I going to have tonight. Only before I could say anything Todd was there with a hand on my arm. Because it was Todd I didn’t immediately pull away, but I was annoyed that he was keeping me from Mia.

“Not so fast there loverboy,” he said.

“But I’m in Twenty Promises, not Loverboy,” I said.

Todd paused for a beat and then he groaned and rolled his eyes. Hey, what can I say? I’m a sucker for a really good bad pun.

“Come on, you know we still have work to do,” he said.

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and realized Blake was trying to sneak out with Mia’s friend Kayla. My eyes narrowed and Todd followed my gaze. As intended. If I was stuck doing more business then Blake had to come too.

“Hey Blake! Not so fast there!”

Blake froze right at the door and squeezed his eyes shut. The horny bastard knew what was coming and he was trying to sneak out early. Just like him to try and shirk his responsibility, though that was a move I’d pulled plenty of times way back when.

“After party buddy,” Todd said. “Time to schmooze!”

“Fine, let me see if Mia is up for the after party.”

Todd grinned. “Going to a rock and roll after party with the great Grant Thompson, lead singer of her favorite band? I’m sure she’s going to jump at that.”

I didn’t bother to correct him. It would take too much time to explain how incredibly wrong he was, and I didn’t want to get into that now. What I really wanted was some alone time with Mia, but once again it seemed work was going to keep me from what I really wanted to do.

Damn pop star lifestyle getting in the way of a simple date. On a tour bus. Behind a massive arena. Where I’d just finished a massive concert in front of a crowd of thousands of screaming women.

Yeah, the simple life and all that.

I figured I’d open with something nice and simple when I got over to Mia.

"So are you going to come to the after party with me?"

"After party? What's that?"

I grinned and decided the smartass approach was the best in these circumstances. She seemed like the kind of girl who would appreciate that approach.

"Well it's a party we have, and it's sort of after the concert so we settled on that name…"

Mia grinned and smacked my chest. I felt a tingle where her hand made contact. I loved it when she touched me, even if it was to give me a playful smack.

"Smartass," she said. "I meant where is it? Who's going to be there? Is this a real rock 'n roll after party with drugs and booze?"

I held my hands up and smiled. Maybe this would’ve been that sort of party ten years ago, but now that half the guys were married men and the other half were too old for that shit anyways there was none of that crap. We weren’t young enough that we could burn the candle at both ends like that and still be functional for shows like back in the day.

"Nothing like that. Maybe some booze, but definitely no drugs. It's just a gathering we have after every concert for our friends and some of our biggest fans. It's a nice way to unwind."

Mia cocked an eyebrow and fixed me with a playful smile. "Some of your biggest fans, huh? So what makes you think I'd be welcome there?"

"Fair enough," I said. "I take it the concert and my serenade didn't improve your opinion of the band or our music?"

Mia moved in closer. Reached up and straightened out a part of my vest that didn't need straightening out, but at this point I was looking for any excuse possible to have close contact with her so I wasn’t exactly complaining. And damn was that close contact fucking delicious.

"Let's just say I'm a fan of certain bodies in the band even if I'm not exactly a huge fan of the band's entire body of work."

“Well maybe you’ll get to see more of that body later if you play your cards right,” I said.

Mia rolled her eyes. “So do lines like that actually work on groupies or something? Because you’re going to have to try harder with me since I’m not dazzled by the whole rock star thing.”

I moved a hand to the small of her back. Just above her ass. It felt nice resting my hand there. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. It seemed to be doing something for Mia as well judging from the way her eyes squeezed shut and her lips quirked up in a goofy grin.

"Okay, I guess I could go to the after party and have some fun."

"Sounds great," I said. "I'd like to have some fun with you."

"So where is this party?"

"Well it turns out this arena has one hell of a nice lounge up top that gives you a nice view of the whole place…"

The lounge was really fucking impressive. It was the first impressive thing I’d seen since we got to the arena considering how they stiffed us in the green room. They called it the Quarterback Lounge. I suppose that was because this was normally a football stadium in addition to being a concert venue for acts who were big enough to warrant booking the place.

The lounge did indeed have a very nice view of the concert floor down below. Though I suppose usually when people were up here spectating it would be a view of the football field down below. I never had time to watch football so I really wouldn't know.

There was also a giant window on the opposite end that had a nice view of the skyline. All in all it was a pretty damn impressive experience even if you weren't the kind of person to be wowed by a football stadium, and I’d been in plenty of football stadiums over the years.

"So then he keeps staring at me like he's expecting something," Mia said.

Mia was giggly. I figured it was a combination of standing next to Grant Thompson for most of the night, much to the chagrin of the wannabe groupies I saw giving us a wide berth which was just another advantage of having her around as far as I was concerned, and the alcohol in her hand. Okay, so maybe it had more to do with the alcohol than with standing next to me, but a guy could dream. She’d been surprised to find out the stuff was free. Or at least it was free for party attendees. I'm sure we were paying for it somewhere down the line.

"And I'm expecting her to recognize me any minute, but she just keeps looking at me like I'm some sort of crazy dude!" I continued, picking up where she left off.

"Okay, so I was looking at him like he was a hot crazy dude," Mia said. "But still. The way he was staring at me was kind of weird."

"It's at that point I realize I've run into the one girl within a ten mile radius of the stadium who has absolutely no idea who I was. It was actually kind of refreshing as well as funny," I said.

Kayla shook her head and rolled her eyes. She reached out and poked Mia in the chest. My eyes followed that motion and lingered for just a moment on her chest. Mia noticed me noticing her friend’s finger between her tits and she blushed. Damn that outfit was so hot! After talking with them for a bit I understood that I owed that outfit to Kayla, and boy was I glad she talked Mia into dressing up a little sexier than she'd originally intended. That was a body that begged to be shown off!

"I can’t believe you Mia!” Kayla exploded. “How many times did I expose you to their album covers? How many times did I show you pictures of the guys? Their poster was hanging over my bed where we'd have sleepovers every other weekend! I'm so disappointed in you! I can't believe you're my friend. I'm so embarrassed that you didn't recognize Grant!"

Mia rolled her eyes. "Hey, give me a break. The guy was a teenager when you showed me all that stuff. He's changed little since then. Besides, I did my best to ignore all of that whenever possible. You know this."

"Those changes were all for the better, I hope?" I asked. It was so weird hearing them talk about how I’d been on posters in their bedrooms. Well, in Kayla’s bedroom at least. The fact that I’d been such an important part of so many girls’ lives was something I tried not to think about too often. That path led to madness. Or a raging ego. Either way it was something I tried not to think about too terribly often.

Mia fixed me with a steady glare that had me taking a step back.

"You're still considered one of the hottest guys in one of the hottest bands in history," she said. "Do you really need to go fishing for compliments?"

"Mia!" Kayla said, sounding scandalized.

I shook my head and chuckled. "It's nice that I have you around to give me a reality check right along with your compliments."

Blake cleared his throat and Kayla looked over to him and smiled. “Getting bored with the party?”

“Well I was wondering what you’d think of…”

I never did get to hear what he was wondering about because he leaned in and whispered, though I noticed that he had his eyes on mine as he whispered. A huge smile spread across Kayla’s face at whatever he whispered, and I could make a pretty good guess what he was asking.

“That sounds perfect!” she said, and then they were walking off hand in hand. Mia followed them until they walked out the door.

“Well that was fast,” she said. “I wonder what he said?”

“Oh you know, the usual star stuff. Asking the girl to go back to his bus for a tour.”

Mia turned back to me and smiled. “Really? Does that actually work?”

“Worked on your friend, didn’t it?”

“Fair enough,” Mia said.

I figured I was never going to have a more opportune moment, so why not go for it? After all, Blake wasn’t the only one who could give a girl the star treatment. The only problem was I had no idea if Mia was going to go for it. She was an enigma. Completely unlike any girl I’d ever met at a concert, and because of that I was in unfamiliar territory.

"So what would you say to a tour of my bus?"

Even as I asked it I could feel my pulse picking up. Damn. It had been a hell of a long time since I’d felt this nervous about propositioning a girl. Still, the die was cast and now all I could do was wait for her answer and hope for the best.