She gave a quick cough to cover, then cleared her throat. “The label and management sent me. I’m the new social media person. I was supposed to stop by today and meet the guys.”
“Oh, right.” Elise’s whole face relaxed when she smiled, her reserve melting into a quiet friendliness that was hard not to respond to. “I don’t think they’ve started yet. Come on in the house.”
She took the steps up to the front door two at a time, gesturing with her good hand for Poppy to follow her. They made their way through the fancy marble foyer, down a winding hallway past what might be the most beautiful music room she’d ever seen, and into a kitchen filled with natural light. And gorgeous, tattooed men.
The four remaining members of Shaken Dirty were sitting around the big, round kitchen table, boxes of pizza spread out before them. Four bright shiny bottles of soda open in front of them. Soda. Not beer. Not scotch. Not even wine coolers. Not that she expected wine coolers, but she sure as hell didn’t expect Cherry Cokes either. Maybe she wasn’t the only one worried about Wyatt falling off the wagon…
They were also talking over and around one another, and laughing while doing it. Jared was telling Wyatt about a Rolling Stones concert he’d attended a few months before, while Quinn and Ryder were arguing about the season premiere of some TV show she’d never heard of. Except both pairs also seemed to be paying attention to what the other pair was talking about because they would interject comments at random moments, which often led to debate and more laughter.
The whole thing was both chaotic and also delightful to watch, the friendship and camaraderie between them more than obvious. At least until Quinn spotted Elise and reached over, mid-sentence, to drag her into his lap so that he could plant a kiss on her.
A very deep, very thorough kiss.
“Geez, man, she’s only been gone an hour,” Jared ribbed him. “I’m pretty sure her tonsils are still intact.”
Quinn flipped him off, keeping his mouth planted firmly on Elise’s. He only glanced up when Ryder looked over at Poppy and raised his brows. “Who are you?”
Suddenly, every guy in the room was looking at her. And while Poppy had had a lot of experience with rock stars through the years, she still wasn’t anywhere close to being prepared for the powerful wave of sexual magnetism that hit her as four of the sexiest alpha males in existence leveled their attention at her.
“Oh, that’s Poppy,” Elise said. “The label sent her over. She’s your new social media director.”
“Oh, really? Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Jared asked right before he burst out laughing. “I’m pretty sure Wyatt’s got a different name for it. Right, man?”
So much for disguises.
Poppy’s cheeks burned at Jared’s amusement—and the dark, wicked look Wyatt was giving her that said he saw right through her attempted disguise. Biting her lip to keep from whimpering, she closed her eyes and prayed that the ground would open up and swallow her down.
Chapter Five
Sadly, the universe had other plans for her, and none of them included an earthquake or hurricane or any other major natural disaster hitting Austin, Texas, at that exact moment. More was the fucking pity.
Jared wasn’t being obnoxious as he grinned at her—he looked more amused than anything else—but still it mortified her. Still it had her wanting to run or hide or at least bury her head like an ostrich and pretend if she couldn’t see them, then they couldn’t see her either.
But that old song by Martha and the Vandellas was playing in her head—“Nowhere to run to, baby, nowhere to hide”—and so she just stood there like a deer in the headlights as Jared smirked at her and Wyatt studied her, his eyes roaming over her from head to toe like he owned her. Or like he wanted to…
She shut that thought down fast, shoved it deep inside of herself where she didn’t have to examine it. Where she didn’t have to admit that a part of her was more than a little intrigued by the idea of belonging to Wyatt, even for a short while.
“You’re our new social media director?” Ryder asked with a smile. “That’s cool.” He got up from the table, extended his hand. “I’m Ryder. It’s nice to meet you.”
She almost laughed at the idea that he thought he had to introduce himself to her. Like she didn’t know who he was? Like most of the Western World didn’t know who he was? Then again, she’d always heard the guys from Shaken Dirty were really nice, really down-to-earth, and not overly affected by the fame that had skyrocketed them so quickly to the top of the charts. It was nice to know some of the rumors in this industry were actually true…and not just the bad ones.
She took his hand, ignoring the instinctive nervousness that came from having all that lead singer sexual magnetism focused directly on her. “Nice to meet you, too, Ryder.”
“Thanks for helping us out with the social media stuff. Caleb was telling me the label had a plan to change up how we relate to fans on Twitter and stuff. You must be it.”
“I am,” she agreed, mouth dry and pulse pounding at the half-lie. Lying didn’t come easy to her. And betraying these guys’ trust right out of the gate, when they’d been so welcoming? Her stomach churned with discomfort. “I’m really excited to get to work on the new campaign.”
“We like excited around here.” His grin turned just a little wild. “Don’t we, guys?”
The others made muted sounds of agreement, and she found herself blushing for the second time in as many minutes as her eyes met Wyatt’s once again.
“So, introductions,” Ryder continued. “That’s Quinn over there, attached at the tongue to Elise.”
Quinn flipped him off a second time, but he got up to shake her hand as well. As he did, she noticed that his nails were painted the same hot pink as Elise’s motorcycle.
He caught her looking and just grinned. “My woman likes to mess with me when I’m asleep. Turns out there’s no nail polish remover in the house.”
Elise snorted. “Sure, play the victim. Like you didn’t spend half the night before cutting up my underwear.”