“It hits all the right spots,” Kara supplied.

“And hits them over and over and over…” Starla grasped the table edge and tossed her head back in mock ecstasy. Candace felt her cheeks flaring red as the other girls laughed.

Kara’s smile dimmed as she noticed Candace hiding behind her beer again. “You like it, don’t you?”

Starla interrupted her pretend orgasm to stare at Candace with great interest.

“We, um… I wouldn’t know, actually. But I’m sure I will.”

“Whoa. I’ll be waiting for the phone call to thank me, then. And for the Godiva and Cheval Blanc, of course.”

“Did you actually do his piercing?”

“I did. I am a complete professional, don’t worry. Hell, ordinarily I wouldn’t have even brought it up, but I figured you two were going at it like bunny rabbits already.”

Candace startled when the door opened and Brian walked in with a platter of burgers, only to pause when the other three girls dissolved into fits of laughter. “Oh, hell,” he said. “I can only imagine what I’ve interrupted.”

Kara had no shame. “We were just discussing the joys of the apadravya. Why don’t you enlighten us with the male opinion, Bri?”

He gave a sheepish grin and walked over to the counter. “I’m a good boy and a gentleman. I don’t discuss those matters.”

“Whatever.” Kara laughed. “Marco said you had plenty to discuss after you put it to use for the first time. You called him raving.”

“I have to know,” Candace cut in, not particularly wanting to hear about that. “How did he take it when you pierced him?”

“He screamed like a little girl,” Kara said.

“The hell I did!”

She sent Candace a wink. “Just kidding. He was one of my silent, stoic ones. Got a pretty good flinch out of him and that was about it. Now tell us how it really felt.”

He laughed. “Shit. I wanted to scream like a little girl. If I hadn’t already had the PA part done, I probably would have screamed, curled up in the corner and cried for my mommy.”

“You, sir, are a good man,” Janelle said, lifting her drink in his direction. “If only more of you were willing to torture yourselves in the name of getting us off.”

“Don’t paint me as too much of an altruist,” he said, his gaze lingering on Candace. She drew a deep breath, meeting his gaze directly, unflinching. Too often its intensity had chased her own downward. No more. There was nowhere else she needed to look but at him. For a moment, he seemed to lose his train of thought, and she felt a rush of pure feminine triumph. “I get plenty of benefits myself.”

In their hometown, among their families, Brian was the offbeat. Here, in this breathtaking crush of colorful bodies, it was her. As they’d entered the main gates and she’d stopped to stare in astonishment, he had chuckled and said, “Welcome to my world.”

She’d never seen anything like it before in her life.

She was sore, she was sweating, she was exhausted, she was nearly deaf, and she was having the time of her life. She’d seen every kind of tattoo conceivable (but when she’d made that remark to Brian, he’d replied, “Uh, no. You haven’t.”). Every hair color that could possibly be imagined and some that couldn’t. She’d watched fights break out. She’d witnessed security pile on top of troublemakers, wrestle them to the ground and escort them out. She’d helped someone crowd surf over the top of her head and she thought her finger was broken from the experience. She’d seen two girls making out. Later, one of them had tried to pass her a joint, but Brian had promptly waved it away.

Always, he hovered protectively at her side, shoving moshers away from her, sending threatening looks to the guys who ogled her or—God forbid—tried to lay a hand on her.

The bands were amazing. She didn’t know who half of them were, but electricity filled the air with each new stage set-up as fans anticipated the next set. Music rumbled and thundered over the speakers even between sets as the crowd thinned and loosened a bit, people leaving to get more drinks or food. But when the first bone-rattling riffs of the next band split the air, the crush was back, tightening, frenzied, feverish. There was nothing to do but go with the never-ending flow of bodies as she was pushed and pulled by the crowd.

She would’ve thought something like this would make her panic. It might have, if not for one startling revelation: she belonged here. In this sea of people, she felt actual acceptance. They were all here for one thing: to forget their problems for a while, to let the music become their world. No one knew her or where she’d come from or what she’d done. They were just like her. And all the while, Brian was with her, watching out for her. Every time she looked at him, he was looking back, a little grin lingering on his lips.

Darkness fell. By now, the wedding was over and her family was cursing her name. Once, she’d seen Brian check his cell phone, and her heart had leapt into her throat. What if they called him? Naturally, after last night, they would check with him if she went missing, wouldn’t they? Especially Michelle; she surely still had his number.

But he’d simply shut the phone and slid it back into his pocket.

Now, rainclouds were gathering overhead and there was electricity in the air as the crowd awaited Korn’s set. Candace’s feet and calves ached like crazy and more than once she’d envied the people who had seats, or the girls who were perched on top of their boyfriend’s shoulders. She didn’t dare ask Brian if she could do that. She’d figured out if you took up that position, you were more or less expected by the crowd to flash your boobs at least once. Not happening.

The lights went out, plunging the stadium in utter darkness except for the stage, and the roar from the crowd was deafening. Candace joined, but her voice died in her throat as she felt Brian’s arms encircle her waist from behind and his lips move next to her ear.

“This place is about to go apeshit,” he warned as the crowd surged and propelled them forward. At that moment, she was glad for his arms locked around her. The last thing she wanted was to lose him in the dark.

His shirt was gone. He’d long since stripped it off and shoved half of it in the waistband of his long black shorts. With his damp, naked chest pressed in tight at her back, she wanted to groan in ecstasy…and might have actually done it, since he probably couldn’t hear her, anyway. The desire to turn around in his arms and kiss him was overwhelming. She imagined flinging off her own top and letting their bodies slide against each other. But she couldn’t very well do either of those things right now, and it was pure torture.

Bass thundered across the sea of people like a storm blowing over the ocean, and the crowd rippled and roared accordingly. She was so short she couldn’t see much over the guys in front of her, but she could glimpse the band members as they pounded out the riffs that whipped the audience into ecstasy.

It couldn’t be her imagination that Brian was lowering his head a bit, nuzzling his face against her hair. They were getting jostled so much, it was hard to tell. But her breath began to rasp through her lungs. His arms were as impenetrable as steel around her, not allowing for even a centimeter of space between them. She leaned her head back against the solidity of his chest, hoping she wasn’t wrong, hoping…