Seduction by Song Read Online Free

a kiss from a total stranger out of the blue just for the sake of going with the flow, I wasn’t looking to cause a scene—all I wanted was to get back to my seat and forget this ever happened.
    Of course, Romeo wouldn’t be content with such a solution. That smirk, an expression that seems to almost never fall off his face, returns to his lips as he turns back to his audience to announce, “Looks like we’ve got a feisty one here.”
    On cue, the entire crowd erupts into laughter. I roll my eyes at how thousands of people will react like well-trained dogs to the words of one man—don’t they know this is how mobs begin? Before Romeo can continue joking around, or execute any other plans he might have, I turn to leave the stage.
    “ Aww ,” I hear Romeo crooning behind me, still speaking into his microphone and blasting the sound of his voice over the noise of the audience’s mirth. “Leaving so soon, babe?”
    I refuse to dignify that with an answer. He seems to realize that he can’t hold up his concert—he’s not doing a stand-up show here, after all—and launches into his next song by the time I’ve returned to my seat.
    The girls all peer at me one after another, almost timidly as though they aren’t sure if I’m angry. I straighten my shoulders and offer them each my best smile. Ruining the night was the last thing I wanted. I was still determined to have a good time with my girls even if it was at the feet of a cocky rock star who didn’t know the meaning of personal space.
    “Is everything okay?” Maddie leans in to ask during a slightly more mellow part of the song where I could hear her without her having to scream. “What happened up there?”
    I stretch the corners of my mouth way up to force myself to keep smiling. I didn’t want to wreck all her dreams about this guy, even if they weren’t very healthy dreams at all, by telling her anything negative about him, but—how could I explain that catastrophe up there?
    “Oh, you know,” I start slowly, buying myself some time to think. “I just—I’ve never been big on PDA, you know? It was just so sudden!”
    Maddie cracks into a grin a second later, apparently satisfied and pleased by this answer. I relax a little, glad that the night still had some life and joy left in it for her.
    “Good!” she says during a break between two songs during which Romeo addresses the audience with some generic blah-blah message about loving this town. Maddie seems riveted by his words for a moment before she snaps herself out of it to turn to me again. “Good, because we got backstage passes! Ahh ! How exciting is that ?”
    “ So —exciting!” I manage to say without gritting my teeth or cringing.
    Of course they got backstage passes. They’re all practically glowing with glee and I suppose I can’t deny them the chance to meet the band even if I didn’t think the band was all that. Maybe it would be a good opportunity to give Romeo a piece of my mind in private—I didn’t want to ruin a concert for thousands of people, but I sure as hell wanted to ask him how he came to the conclusion that he could do anything he wanted.
    And that was, of course, the only reason I would ever want to see him again.
     
    After the show, about a dozen fans are led backstage. We’re left there to wait for a solid fifteen minutes before the band appears, at which point the girls all instantly swarm forward in a surge of excitement. I linger behind the group, smiling and moving aside politely for a stagehand passing through (or trying to pass through, at least) with some heavy equipment.
    “Well, look at that,” a voice now familiar to my ears says rather suddenly. I roll my eyes as I turn to face Romeo, who’s looking somehow like even more of a rock star with a thick leather jacket sitting across his shoulders. “So the ice princess has a smile in her after all. Welcome to my humble abode, Erin.”
    “Redefine humble ,” I say, unable to keep my annoyance