The Opposite Of Right (Bad Decisions Trilogy #1) (3 page)

Jones threw a handful of ice at each of them. “Everybody simmer down. Sit down, too. Let’s take a step back. Cam only said he wanted Kylie on the bus, not in his bunk. Fact is, we need to replace Deondra. How about we don’t overthink it? Ask the girl, see what she says.”

For all his pranks, non-stop talk of sex and an alarming tendency to moon the audience—even when they were at a college or in the Bible Belt—Jones had a cooler head than the rest of them. And when you crammed a handful of people onto two buses for long amounts of time, that became the most important quality to have. Not to mention that his drum solos brought down the house every night.

Cam got it. He regretted sleeping with Suzy more than Jake could ever know. “This tour is our fresh start. Our second chance to grab back our fans before they give up on us entirely. I won’t do anything to screw it up.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Look, I promise I won’t have sex with her on the bus. If she even says yes to working for us. And she probably won’t. How many people can drop out of their lives for a month with no warning?”

Jones retied his bandanna to hold back his long blond hair. “I’m going out there to find a groupie who appreciates my particular…talents. If she likes my drumming, that’s just a bonus.”

After a beat, Jake walked to the door and put his hand on the knob. “I’ll come with you. So Cam has some privacy to take care of our personnel issue.”

It was a peace offering. Leaving the room proved he trusted Cam to be alone with Kylie. “Thanks.”

Cam knew not to walk through a patch of poison ivy. He was smart enough not to eat the tacos out of the back of some guy’s truck in the middle of Mexico, the same ones that had given Jones the runs for three days. So he waited until Kylie perched on the edge of the brown leather couch. Carefully picked the spot farthest away from her in the room for himself. Because this girl with the caramel-colored eyes was guaranteed to be trouble. Did that mean he should pay her, send her on her way and avoid the potential for trouble entirely? Nah. He wasn’t
that
smart.

Leaning against the closed door, Cam asked, “Did you have fun tonight?”

A wide smile burst across her face. “I really did. Like I mentioned before, I’d been having a super crappy day. It made me feel like there wasn’t a single thing I could do right. And then Deondra asked me to fill in for her. I made change, I swiped credit cards, I made a couple who were on their first date blush and I even upsold.”

“You what?”

“You know, when you convince someone to buy something more expensive than what they planned.” She was an expressive talker, her hands as animated as her face. “A shirt and a cap instead of one T-shirt. Or a sweatshirt, which is an even higher price point. Cleaned you out of shot glasses entirely by inventing a drinking game that can be done to your songs.”

“No kidding?” Despite his good intentions, Cam pushed off the door. Came a few steps closer. Because that was a damned good idea. One that none of the suits at the label had ever mentioned. They’d been lugging around those shot glasses since the middle of the disastrous last tour. Hadn’t been able to get rid of them, even for at a lower price. Until tonight. Until Kylie. “That’s amazing.”

She shrugged one shoulder. “I worked at Great America the summer after high school. If you can survive a theme-park gift shop with screaming kids and exhausted parents and grabby hands coming at you from all angles, you can sell anything, anywhere.”

Cam knew he needed to add some due diligence to his gut instinct. Mostly so he’d have a good rebuttal the next time Jake gave him shit about asking her to come on the bus. “Is that your only retail experience?”

“No. I work every summer. I just upscaled myself from magnets and stuffed animals to trendy boutiques in Lincoln Park.” Kylie leaned forward. Which gave him a good look down the cut-off neckline of her shirt, but he dragged his eyes back up after just a glimpse of creamy flesh. He remembered how those breasts had felt against his chest, and Cam refused to sport wood in the middle of a job interview. “I’ll tell you a secret. Some of those women can be worse than a screaming toddler if we’ve sold out of a blouse in their size.”

“Sounds miserable.”

“Oh, no. I like a challenge. I also like the feeling of knowing exactly what I’ve accomplished at the end of the day. Success, and results, are immediate and tangible.”

Cam had never looked at it that way. Probably because he sold himself and his creativity. Couldn’t get much less tangible than that. Which brought him back to the make-or-break question of the hiring process. “I actually meant, did you have fun listening to the concert?”

“Oh.” Her hands flew to her mouth as her eyes widened so he could see glints of green and gold amidst the brown. “Oh my gosh, of
course
I did.”

It was a start. But he needed more. He sat on the couch next to her, letting his wrists hang off his knees. “Why? Just because you’re a huge fan?”

“Yes. Well, yes and no. I’ll shamelessly admit to being a fan. But the new songs you played tonight?” She dropped her hands to his thigh and squeezed. “They were
amazing
. They blew me away.”

Cam didn’t just need the salve to his wounded ego. He needed everyone on the team to believe in Riptide. To be a brand ambassador for the band and on this tour, she had to love the new sound as much as he, Jake and Jones did. “Glad to hear it.”

“I’m honored that I got to be a tiny part of Riptide, just for tonight.”

“What if it wasn’t just for tonight?”

Laughter burbled from her glossy red lips. “My family doesn’t even let me sing along to Christmas carols. I don’t think there’s a spot for me in Riptide.”

“Not in the band. Supporting it. Deondra’s appendectomy leaves us without a goody girl. I don’t know what you have going on in your life right now, but how would you feel about coming on the bus with us for the next four weeks to do exactly what you did tonight?”

Leather squeaked as she shot forward to the very edge of the couch. Her already pale cheeks went even whiter, then flushed a pink that made him seriously wonder if it matched her nipples. Then, to his surprise, she threw herself back, arms spread wide and laughed. A deep belly laugh that made him want to join in even as she rolled side to side.

“Want to let me in on the joke?”

A wind-down chuckle, a snort, and then, holding her ribs, Kylie pulled herself together. “I officially have
nothing
going on in my life right now. I graduated from college yesterday. Since then, I’ve managed to lose my boyfriend, my job and my apartment. So if you really need someone who can drop everything and ride around on a tour bus with you? There’s no one more available than me.”

“Tough breaks.” He shook his head. One of those things would’ve put most people in the fetal position with a case of beer—or chips. Or both. Kylie had one hell of a backbone to work for him all night when her entire life had imploded. “All of them.”

“Yeah. I spent today in a serious nose dive. Until tonight.” She bounced up onto her knees. Swooped her hair behind both ears. “You know what happened?”

Cam couldn’t wait to hear whatever fell from those irresistible lips. “You tell me.”

“I decided my decision-making skills are for crap. That, for a while, I’d do the opposite of whatever seemed right. See if it turned out any better.”

He almost laughed out loud. Although maybe it was just crazy enough to work. “You know how nuts that sounds, right?”

A head tilt paired with a smug-ass grin told him that Kylie didn’t care. “Three hours later, and I’ve got a job and a place to live.”

“That’s all you’ve got,” Cam warned. Better to be upfront. “Room and board—well, a bunk—come with the gig, but we can’t pay you above that. Deondra needs to keep drawing her salary while she recovers.”

“Sounds good to me.” Another bounce sent her hair swooshing into a sunset-colored halo. “Sounds great, as a matter of fact. When do I start?”

Enthusiastic. Beautiful. Liked their music. And from the way she’d helped Deondra, Kylie had a tender heart, too. Jake was right. This woman had the potential to be as dangerous as a nest of jellyfish. Cam shifted a couple of inches away. “Tomorrow’s a rest day for us. We pull out the next day. Can you be ready by then?”

“You bet.” For just a second, white teeth worried at her lower lip. In exactly the spot he wanted to sink his own teeth. “Um, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

Her tongue shot out to slick across her lips. God, the woman was killing him. And she probably didn’t even know the effect she had on him. In a quiet voice, Kylie asked, “Why me?”

“You did great tonight. You’re here. Apparently, you’re available. Sometimes things just line up right.”

“Like our lips, earlier tonight.”

Cam shot a desperate glance at the door. Sadly, everyone in the music industry treated the post-show closed door with a solemn reverence. Nobody would interrupt them even if John Lennon came back to life. Why the hell had Jake trusted him to be alone with Kylie? “Yeah, about that.”

Kylie straddled him. Hooked her wrists behind his neck. “We were interrupted. Let’s pick up where we left off.”

Heaving a deep breath, Cam said, “That’s not a good idea.”

The wide-eyed enthusiasm disappeared, replaced by a knowing, sultry look full of promise and passion. “That’s
exactly
why I want to do it. Bad decisions are a recent specialty of mine.”

“No, I mean, I promised the guys.” Cam kept his promises. Sure, he thought this particular one was stupid, but he still planned to keep it. Performing was the equivalent of stripping yourself naked in front of hundreds, if not thousands, of people. There had to be deep trust between the people doing it with you.

She licked her lips again. And it was obvious that this time she did it on purpose, eyes locked on his. “What, you’ve saved your lips for them alone?”

Funny girl. Funny girl with soft breasts pressed tight against his chest. And thighs that kept grinding her pelvis against his. “I promised them no hanky-panky on the bus.”

“We’re not on the bus yet.”

Smart girl, too. Cam did love a good logic loophole. No one could fault him for obeying the letter of the law instead of the spirit. Or if they did, he’d at least have a decent defense. With his last shred of self-control, he shook his head. “It wouldn’t be right. You work for me.”

“Not yet. I haven’t signed on the dotted line. In fact, I’m not even sure if I have a pen on me
to
sign.” In one swift movement, Kylie whipped her Riptide shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor. “Maybe you could help me look for it?”

Creamy breasts just big enough to fill his palms spilled out of low-cut black lace. The lace was sheer enough he could see the color of her nipples through it. They were about three shades paler than her hair. Sexy as hell. He’d been hard since the moment she sat on his lap. But now he was
hard
. Ramrod hard. Steel-girder hard. Could break a stack of boards with just his penis hard.

Cam wasn’t sure if he was giving in to his lust, or just giving in to the inevitable. He didn’t care. Framing her breasts, capturing their weight in his hands, he groaned, “God, you’re beautiful.” Then he licked a long, wet line along the edge of her bra. Kylie felt like satin and tasted like sin. It was his favorite combination.

“Help me be bad,” she whispered into his hair.

He was a rock ’n’ roll star. It was practically a contractual requirement to say yes to an offer like that. Still, Cam had standards.

“Let me make you feel good,” he offered instead. Using his thumbs, Cam swooped the lace down so he could cup her breasts. Then he lifted the right one up to his mouth and engulfed it.

Kylie’s nipple was already hard. But Cam didn’t believe in leaving something so important to chance. So he sucked and swirled and licked, all to make it crest of
his
accord. The way Kylie bucked against him left no doubt that she liked it. The natural enthusiasm he’d noticed when she’d spoken of selling his T-shirts translated equally strongly to sex. Good.

She’d been thrumming in his blood all through the concert. Ever since that surprise kiss in the hall. Desire for Kylie had amped him up, kept him hotter than usual under the spotlights. So now that he had the chance to do something about it, Cam didn’t want to go slow. Yeah, he wanted to savor her. Stroke every damn inch of that incredibly soft skin. Lick his way from freckle to freckle. But right this minute, he had to have her. Period. The want, the need, was too overpowering.

He undid her jeans. Well, he undid the first button. Sort of yanked the rest right out of the buttonholes. At the same time, Kylie clawed his shirt over his head. “Stand up,” he ordered. Instead, she shimmied forward, leaning over his shoulder to rest her chest on the back of the couch. It positioned her tiny ass right in front of Cam’s face.

To help him remove the jeans, Kylie wriggled as he pushed. Every inch of skin that was revealed danced and swayed enticingly before his eager gaze. She was a born seductress. And he was a goner.

With her jeans off, Cam hitched himself lower to slide beneath her upraised torso. He braced her hips above him as he licked down her quivering stomach to the black satin between her legs. Soaked through, it stuck to her folds like a second skin. Made it that much easier for him to nibble his way to her core.