Prologue

Nate Lansford watched the red carpet closely from the shadowed corner while he waited for his turn before the paparazzi and entertainment journalists. He hated this part of his job. Writing songs, entertaining arenas filled with people? That was the fun part. Standing on a red carpet while someone asked about his latest breakup or when he planned to settle down? Too invasive for his taste.

Especially when he had no plans to settle. There was only one woman who might make him consider it and she was fifty feet down the red carpet. His best friend’s little sister. His friend. Two Grand Canyon–sized reasons to keep up the playboy, bad-boy rocker image he’d perfected over the past ten years.

Lily MacIntyre posed, tilting her head down and smiling that crooked smile she’d never grown out of. He’d lost count of how many etiquette and poise instructors had tried to unhinge that smile from her, but Lily never changed. Tonight, her dirty-blonde hair was pulled up in a neat French twist, and while he knew the four-inch stiletto sandals had to be killing her pretty pink-painted toes, she didn’t show it. Her navy dress plunged just a little too low in the back, giving the photographers too much access to the cute dimple just above her curvy ass.

Nate crossed his arms over his chest, watching as she answered another question. She turned, giving him and the rest of North America a glimpse of one firm, tanned breast before sashaying down the carpet, completely at ease despite the fact that one slip would give the photogs a whole other image of her.

Damn, but he needed to get over this newfound infatuation with Lily. Marriage and kids destroyed relationships. He had to only look to his parents for confirmation of that. He wouldn’t risk the friendship he had with Lily—or her brother—for a few fun nights in the sack. Because felonious dress or not, Lily was a forever kind of girl.

It was so much simpler when she was still playing the part of Rayna, so much easier to pretend Lily was still seventeen. That she was only his best friend’s younger sister. Nate couldn’t put his finger on it, but somewhere between her show being cancelled and tonight everything changed. She wasn’t just his best friend’s baby sister. She had become the woman he couldn’t stop thinking about. Lily meant more to him than she should.

So damned much more.

Glancing over at Lily now, he caught the hesitation as one more question was tossed across the velvet rope barrier between the paps and the stars. She looked back, her complexion turning pale. Another question was heaved across and the slight pallor grew. Nate clenched his fists.

He knew what they were asking, and Lily didn’t deserve it. They’d been looking for a reason to tear her down for months. Since the cancellation of The Rayna Show. The press liked nothing better than to build up a celebrity and then bring them back to mere human level.

The event manager motioned toward him, letting him know he had a few more minutes to wait.

Two more questions were peppered across the barrier. They had her rattled and knew it.

Before he could talk himself out of it, Nate pushed past the manager and started down the carpet.

“Come on, Lily, one more smile, show Trey how little you miss him,” one of the photographers coaxed.

So he was right. Trey Williams, Lily’s former costar, had been hinting that she broke his heart and that was why he wouldn’t re-sign for another year on the show. Teenage girls across the country were up in arms that their favorite show was cancelled, and instead of putting the blame on the person who thought he could do better than a weekly sitcom, they preferred to heap their anger on Lily. The victim of Hollywood lies.

Nate put his arm around her shoulders and whispered, “Keep smiling, you’re almost through.”

The photographers turned their attention to Nate. “What gives, Nate? Are you the reason Lily dropped Trey?”

He grinned and dropped his arm from Lily’s shoulders to her waist, squeezing gently. “From what I heard, there was nothing to drop. Trey wanted off the show, so he didn’t sign the contract. You can’t fault Lily for his actions.”

“So you’re playing publicist now?” The photographer, a balding man who had reported for a number of Hollywood magazines over the years, wouldn’t give up.

“Nah, I saw a pretty lady on the red carpet and couldn’t stay away.” He turned his attention to Lily and shot her a come-hither look. “How you doin’, Lil?”

She giggled, and just like that, she had the carpet back under control. “I do just fine, you rock-and-roll Lothario.” She playfully pushed him away, but he grabbed her hand, leading her down the carpet as flashbulbs popped and more questions were peppered at them.

Two hours later, the awards show was over and Nate fielded the last question from the meet and greet following the event. He offered a wave to the crowd of reporters and slipped from the room into his limo.

And froze.

“Lily.”

She sat in a corner of the seat, legs curled under her, mascara streaked over her cheeks.

“Hi.” She waved her hand toward the windows. “My limo was…gone. And that photographer kept hounding me.” She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand. “And then I saw your driver and decided to hide out here for a little while.”

“I’ll take you home.”

She smiled a watery smile. “Thanks. And I’m sorry. For all of this.”

Nate shrugged and tapped on the glass to signal the driver that he was ready to leave. They were quiet for a moment.

“You need to fight back, you know. Malibu and Beverly Hills etiquette won’t help with a guy like Trey. He’s making you the scapegoat for the show’s cancellation.”

Lily shrugged, and moonlight caught her pale skin through the rear window. “It will just sound like I’m making excuses. I wanted off the show just as badly as he did. The networks and producers know that. I can handle the storm.”

“Like you did tonight?” She didn’t reply, so Nate pushed. “They had you rattled. You didn’t know what to say or where to look. You were frozen to the carpet and they swarmed like the vipers they are.”

He reached across the backseat, pushing a lock of her hair behind her ear. His fingertip grazed her smooth skin and fire lit in his veins. Nate ignored the burn.

“Don’t.” Her words were a whisper, but still loud in the back of the limo.

“Don’t, what?”

Finally she looked at him, her deep brown eyes molten in the darkness. “Don’t be my brother’s best friend tonight. Don’t be my cheerleader. Just…” Her hand trembled against his on the cool leather seat. “I’m not America’s favorite sixteen-year-old any longer. I don’t need to pretend I’m still sixteen, and the magazines are already burning me at Trey’s sacrificial altar, so why not send that old image up in flames all the way?”

She leaned across the seat, brushed her sweet lips across his cheek, and Nate nearly lost it. He was holding on by a thread. This was Lily.

The same girl he’d grown up with. The Lily who’d brought him home after school because she noticed he hadn’t eaten lunch for three days. The Lily who cheered for him at the high school talent show. The Lily who couldn’t really want him, because if she did…he would ruin her.

Nate groaned when her lips brushed against his. A bit of her hair had come loose from the sleek updo and brushed against his neck, fanning that trickle of flame even hotter.

Her hand traced the line of his jaw, and Nate’s resistance burned to the ground. He pushed her back into the corner and dug his hands into her hair. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”

She panted. “I know exactly what I want, Nate Lansford, and what I want is you.”

Nate lowered his lips to hers, tasting the sweetness of her lips for the first time. Her tongue tangled with his, pushing him further, asking him for more. And Nate gave it.

When Lily arched her back, Nate reached for her breast, feeling her nipple pucker beneath the fine silk of her dress. She moaned, a tiny sound, but it was enough to pull him back into the present.

What was he doing? This was Lily. The girl who made him want to be more than the kid from the wrong side of Malibu’s tracks. His friend.

He couldn’t mess that up.

Nate pushed away from her, fisting his hands in his hair as he tried to put a few more inches between them. The back of the limo was too tight. He was too close to Lily. He needed air. Space.

Distance.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was rough. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

“Don’t. Don’t put that friends-first excuse out there. I don’t want any more friends—”

“I know. You want the bad boy. The guy who will push all the lies and innuendo from Trey into the background.” She blanched at that, and Nate wanted to apologize. Lily didn’t deserve that; things had been…tense between them for months. But he couldn’t back down. Couldn’t apologize because he wasn’t sure he could regain control if she offered him one more taste of her sweet lips. He hit a button on the side panel and the limo pulled to the side of the road. “Larry will make sure you get home. And we’ll just forget this ever happened.”

“Nate. I want you.”

“No, you don’t. You don’t know what you want, Lil, and I’m not going to put our friendship in jeopardy because of that.”

He got out of the limo and hit the roof twice to signal the driver to continue on. Then he stood there, watching, until the rear lights faded in the distance and he was alone in the darkness.