Meeting Trouble (New Adult Rock Star Romance) Read Online Free PDF Page B

“All set?”
    I nodded, watching the blonde out of the corner of my eye. She gave me a dirty look and I ignored that too.
    “ Great!” He stood, handing the ticket to the girl and edging away from the heel snaking up his pant leg.
    “ How are we going to work this?” I turned my back to the blonde as Rob took my elbow and guided me away from the couch. “I mean, we’ll get mobbed if we walk out that door, right?”
    “ Oh, definitely.” He slid his hand down to mine and pulled me with him. His fingers were warm and I felt thick calluses on them, presumably from playing guitar. “That’s why I’m going incognito.”
    He put on a baseball cap and a soft brown leather jacket. Then he threw on a pair of sunglasses and turned to look at me, holding his arms out as if to say, “Ta da!”
    “ Take off the glasses.” I laughed. “You have enough problems seeing where you’re going in the dark without them.”
    “ Hey, I said I was sorry about that.” He smirked and tossed the glasses onto a table. “Okay, here’s what we do. Jim over there will take you to your car and show you where to pick me up. Then he’ll come in and get me. Sound like a plan?”
    I saw Jim sitti ng in one of the recliners, feet up, drinking a Coke and eating a handful of peanuts. “He’s… what, your bodyguard?”
    Rob grinned. “Yep. Personal protection agent. That’s the p.c. term.”
    I tilted my head, trying to tell if he was kidding or being seri ous, or maybe a little of both.
    “ Okay, well let’s get your P.P.A. and go.”
    Rob made quick introductions. Jim stood so fast he spilled his peanuts all over the floor. The walk t o my car seemed to take forever and we didn’t talk much. I wanted to ask him if he knew if Rob went out with many fans after his shows but I couldn’t get up the nerve. Jim filled my little passenger seat beside me and directed me to one of the back doors of the venue, very near the stairs I’d climbed with Katie just hours before.
    Jim left me alone there. I took the opportunity to check my hair and make-up in the rear view mirror. It wasn ’t as bad as I’d feared. I smoothed my straight, dark hair, curling the ends under my chin with my fingers. I glanced at the “no parking” sign my little Kia idled underneath, hoping a cop didn’t come by. Jim returned with Rob and I unlocked the door to let him in. The sunglasses were back again and I a bunch of girls flying down the flight of stairs, pointing at the car.
    “ Okay, let’s roll.” He was breathless and I put the car into gear, pulling away from the curb. “Once we’re away from the arena, we’ll be good.”
    I looked at him while we stopped at a red light. “Don’t you think the sunglasses make you look even more conspicuous?”
    “ Yeah.” He tossed them onto the dashboard along with the hat. “Jim insisted. He doesn’t approve of this little trip.”
    “ He could have tagged along.” I looked around for signs to the expressway. I hated trying to navigate in the dark but didn’t want to appear lost.
    “ I didn’t want him to.” Rob’s hand slid over my knee, giving me a brief squeeze. In my surprise, my foot hit the gas pedal harder than I expected when we took off. Thank God the light had turned green!
    Rob flipped through my CDs as I drove. The Attic was only fifteen minutes away, not far at all. My sense of direction was awful, though—hence Katie’s iPhone directions to the venue—and with Rob sitting next to me, I felt even more spacey than usual.
    “ Hey, look!” Rob pulled Trouble’s “Open Season” out from my collection. “Oh, and what’s this? Justin Bieber?”
    “ So?” I flushed. “That Baby-Baby-Baby song was catchy.”
    “ Janis Joplin!” He popped it into the CD player. “This’ll get us in the mood for some blues.”
    Janis started to wail and Rob sang along. I glanced over, feeling my chest constrict. Part of me was acting all casual, a t wenty-something year old woman making small talk