Light My Fire (Rock Royalty Book 1) by Christie Ridgway Read Free Book Online Page B

she demurred.
    "A sip," he insisted.
    With a roll of her eyes, she took the glass, touched it to her lips, then sputtered as a few drops of tequila landed on her tongue. "Gah!" she said, frowning at him. "I only drink tequila when I've been bitten by a rattlesnake."
    "Funny." He removed the glass from her hand and downed the rest himself. "And you call yourself a rocker's daughter." Then he rubbed his thumb along her cheek again. It warmed under his touch and Cilla's wary gaze cut to his, her big blues looking at him as if she considered he might be a dangerous reptile. Instead of backing off, he caressed her again and leaned closer. "I'll ask again," he said, his voice low. "You okay, baby?"
    "No," she whispered back. "Not okay when you touch me, Ren."
    And before he knew how or what to respond to that, the lights were extinguished. Cami returned to the stage and Ren was grateful for the excuse to turn from Cilla and give his attention elsewhere. Except he mostly didn't. Throughout the next set he was hyper-conscious of her every move. From the corner of his eye he watched her lift her wine glass to her lips. He saw her fiddle with the neckline of her tank top. When she crossed her legs, he tracked the heights to which her hemline rose.
    And wished like hell he'd ordered himself a big glass of crushed ice.
    The instant the second set was over, he was heading straight for the single ladies' table, he told himself. Goal: at least one phone number.
    Not okay when you touch me, Ren .
    Booting the echo of her whisper out of his head, he forced himself to ignore Cilla's next leg-crossing and the inches of bare, sleek thigh the action revealed. To Ren, the forty minutes crawled by, though Cami performed another spectacular set, concluding it with a cover of Dawes' "Time Spent in Los Angeles." He clapped like hell, then rose from his chair when the lights came up. Not looking back, he strolled over to the land of Short Silky Dresses.
    Ren discovered the natives of that particular country were very friendly.
    It relaxed him enough that he chanced a look in the direction of where he'd been sitting, no longer quite so concerned about a Lemons miniskirt or the track of tears on a beautiful woman's face. Jewel was nowhere to be seen, but Cilla stood, half-turned from him, conversing with a man in slacks and a starched shirt. His arm was curled around a woman whose long blonde hair nearly reached her hips.
    As Ren watched, Cilla gave a jerky nod and then the half of her mouth he could see in profile moved up in faux good humor. He tensed, his eyes narrowing. Why was Cilla faking a smile? The answer to the question seemed glaringly obvious to Ren. Had to be some guy from her past.
    One of the short silky dresses put her hand on his arm to reclaim his attention. He turned back, trying, really, to focus on the words coming from her pretty mouth. They were numbers. Her cell number.
    Instead of feeling gratified, Ren's mind couldn't get past Cilla and the fake, strained smile.
    "Excuse me," he said to Short Silky. "I'm sorry, I've got to check on something."
    In ten strides he was touching Cilla's tense shoulder. She jolted, then he felt a little of the steel go out of her. "You," she said, and he saw the emotional storm brewing in her eyes.
    Cutting his gaze to the couple, he turned to them with an easy smile. "Ren," he said, reaching out to shake their hands one at time.
    "Tad," the man said. "And this is Tracy."
    "Tad and Tracy," Ren repeated. It sounded like a tween series on Nickelodeon TV. He tucked his arm around Cilla's waist and drew her against his body. "You ready to go?"
    The other man's gaze narrowed on Ren, clearly trying to figure out what he was to Cilla. Yeah, keep on guessing, buddy.
    As if he didn't notice a thing, Ren slid his hand up Cilla's spine to bury it in her soft cloud of hair, his palm molding to her scalp. "Baby?"
    "Um. Uh, sure." Her eyes flicked to Tad and Ren felt a tremor roll through her.
    Shit. What was that