Excerpt 1
“There’s a level playing field between us. We’re almost, maybe, partners, remember?”

Hudson thumbed a droplet of water off the bottom of her lip. The light touch tore through her like a lightning bolt. “I remember everything that’s happened since I walked into our suite yesterday. Everything about you.”

The air was charged. No, the individual molecules of oxygen were charged. The kiss—the one she had so stupidly initiated—had changed everything. Unlocked the professional barriers. Zora was certain that the naked want for him was obvious on her face. 

She interlaced fingers with him. “We shouldn’t.”

“No. Big no.” Hudson lifted their joined hands to brush a kiss on the backs of her knuckles. Then he looked up at her from beneath tragically wasted-on-a-man long lashes. “But I will if you will.” 

His boyish semi-dare made Zora laugh. 

It broke all the accumulated tension. 

Until she put a hand on his neck and pulled his head toward her. Then, a whole new tension permeated the deck. “I want to say yes to you.” Zora whispered the next words against his lips. “I want you.”

“We’re already in unison. That bodes well.” Hudson’s fingers dug into her hips as he propelled her to the edge of the tub. “We’re also in unison that this is probably stupid?”

“Yes.”

“Either one of us can stop at any time with no hard feelings?”

“Yes.” Zora bit back a giggle. Hard to imagine Hudson calling for a time-out to discuss the business implications. Not with all that pent-up lust darkening his eyes to indigo. 

“And that, most importantly, I want you more than I want a recording contract. More than bringing John Bonham of Led Zeppelin back from the dead to jam with me for a night. More than—”

Zora leaned her forehead against his to cut him off. “No comparisons. Be in the moment. Here. Now. With me. That’s the only way this works.”

“Right.” He tugged at her loose ponytail to tip her head back. Then he angled it to the side. And scraped his teeth along where her pulse thrummed in her neck.

Huh. There was a good chance her on-loan couture dress would leave that area exposed. A hickey probably wasn’t a good accessory to meet and greet the heir to the throne. 

Zora didn’t care. A hickey was the least of the problems with what they were doing, and she didn’t care about any of them. Her brain needed to turn off. 

 

Excerpt 2
Zora took both of his hands in hers, immediately noting the callouses from years of wielding drumsticks. And wondered how those would feel dragged over certain sensitive areas of her skin…

“If Central Casting were looking for a hero to star in surfer movies, they’d use you as the example. You’ve got the lanky-but-muscled build, the blond-ish, just-too-long hair that I guarantee every woman wants to feather through her fingers. And you’re nice.”

Hudson rolled his eyes. “Nobody cares about nice.”

Did the man know nothing about women? Sure, some were on the prowl for status and wealth. But most women? They wanted a nice guy. One they could trust. One who was nice enough to put their needs first at least half the time.

Being a nice kisser was good too. 

“That’s not true.” Zora gently banged her knee into his in admonishment. “It is an entirely underrated quality. You’re nice. Loyal. And you have a passion for music that’s intriguing.”

“How do you know?”

“Did my homework, remember? I watched lots of videos of your shows. Mostly, though, it was the way you insisted on hearing me play before letting either of us waste our time this weekend. You care. That’s intensely attractive.”

Okay, she’d gone overboard. The words were all true. But maybe…she shouldn’t have said all of them out loud. 

“I appreciate the ego boost. Trouble is? Dating—anything beyond hook-ups—scares me.”

Zora tapped a finger against her lips. “Hmm. Is it that you’re worried the small talk will dry up? We could use the Notes app on your phone. Make a list of general topics to pull from when things go quiet. Or did the canceled honeymoon give you, ah, the sexual yips?”

He jolted in the metal seat. It loudly squeaked as his weight shifted, and his eyes went wide. “What the hell is that? And I’m already sure the answer is no.”

“The yips. It’s a sports thing. You know…performance anxiety.” Zora peered pointedly down at his crotch.

“No! Wow, you really tossed the rules about what to talk about in an interview out the window. Want to know my inseam? Where I stand on the death penalty and the war in the Middle East? Whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich?”

“We’ve only got two and a half days. Better to get deep. Fast.” 

One corner of Hudson’s mouth worked up. As did the eyebrow directly above it. Those full lips pursed for a second before he said, “I don’t have any trouble in that area.”

Whoops. Zora realized how supremely sexualized her words could have been. Especially since they’d already been talking broadly about his penis. Yowza. 

There was literally no comeback. Or rather, no space in her brain to look for one, given that all she could think of was Hudson’s sexual prowess. Fair? No. Sexist? Yes. Unavoidable? Absolutely.

With an attempt at a smile that was probably as crooked as Jersey bookie, Zora glanced away and said, “Guess I need to go on and update your Wikipedia page with that tidbit.”

 

Excerpt 3
. “You’re too good to be true. What are you hiding from me?”

Evidently, super-exhausted Hudson had no filter. Zora took a chance that he wouldn’t remember this conversation by the time he woke up.

“That’s what I’m wondering about you.” They stood, toes almost touching. When he’d stood after messing with the clock, the bed had hemmed him in from stepping away from her. The shortness of the clock’s cord had kept her too close. Too comfortably close, with her jacket brushing his chest.

“Well, ah, good night.” Hudson put an arm around her shoulders in a half hug. 

Totally normal. The music industry was big on hugs. Better than the socialite world that did the stupid double-cheek kiss. What even was the point of that?

Zora tipped her head back to make out his blue eyes, half-lidded and bleary in the residual light. “Good night.” To close the loop, she put her arm around his waist.

But then the light disappeared as Hudson lowered his head to give her one of those polite pecks.

He missed. Or at least, got half on her cheek and half on her lips.

Feminine instinct kicked in. Zora pursed to peck him back.

It wasn’t a peck. Not for more than a hot half-second. Hudson immediately corrected his aim to kiss her fully on the lips.

It was good. Just firm enough. Just squishy enough. It was a kiss they both sank into. Zora didn’t have jet lag to blame it on. Couldn’t blame it on a mere one-and-a-half glasses of sangria and a shot of port. 

She’d spent all day with a man she genuinely liked. A super attractive man who shared her passion for music in a way that few did. That chemistry that Claudia had told her to find and capitalize on? It fizzed between them in a professional sense, but also more than that.

It made her lean into the kiss. And when Hudson’s tongue licked at the edge of her lips, she opened for him. 

Because Zora wanted him.

Hudson’s hand splayed wide across her spine, pulling her closer. The firm gesture made her gasp at the sheer alpha masculinity of it. In other words, sexy AF.

Her other hand flew up to tunnel through his surfer blond-streaked hair. The kissing onslaught continued. Because they were way past a casual smooch. Their tongues danced together, stoking an already molten fire.

Good God, he knew what he was doing. Chills raced up her spine while heat pooled between her legs—as well as every place he touched. The warmth under his palm at her spine. Where her breasts flattened against surprisingly hard pecs. Their thighs lined up, with the strong width of Hudson’s pushing and lifting in between a little.

And meanwhile, his lips kept devouring hers. 

Hudson must’ve hit the bed with the back of his knees because they suddenly bent. He fell onto the mattress, taking her with him.

Zora sprawled flat, legs flying straight out behind her. Hudson rolled on top to keep from sliding off.

Wow.

She’d take those muscles pressed against her any day…or night. But that position also made it all too real. How easy it would be to keep going. 

Hudson pushed her higher on the bed at almost the same time that he freaking jettisoned off of her. 

“So, I, uh, better go brush. Before I pass out. That’d be embarrassing.”

“Yep. You definitely seem ready for bed.” Did Zora regret the double entendre? Not even a little. “I’m off to set more alarms.”

“Thanks. Again. For, well, everything.”

The bathroom door closed. Zora hurried out and up the stairs to her room on the second level of the suite. It was wise to put an entire flight of stairs between them.

Because what they’d done hadn’t felt like a mistake. It’d felt more right than any kiss she’d gotten in years. They’d synced into each other’s rhythms, both breathing and kissing. As if they’d been partners for years.

But it was a mistake.

Zora needed a hit band way more than she needed a hot boyfriend. So that was it. A wild few minutes in a foreign country. An adventure.

One that absolutely could not happen again during the rest of the weekend.

Adulting almost never lived up to its hype.