The laughter that spilled out of her was the first in a week. "Aw, don't be that way."

He continued ranting down the hall and Alyssa couldn't help but smile. And then she realized she was all alone with Marco.

Marco turned toward her and rested his elbows on his knees. God, he really was a beautiful man, even if he had broken her heart. "I really need to talk to you."

She got up from the table. "I have stuff I need to be doing."

He followed and stepped closer, close enough that she could smell the clean scent of soap on his skin. "It doesn't have to be here or now. But later, after work?"

She lifted her gaze to respond, and his knuckles caressed her cheek. Jeez, but hope was such a desperate bitch sometimes, wasn't it? Because Alyssa would've sworn that Marco was looking at her with something close to love in his eyes. She stepped back. "I don't know..."

He didn't let her get away, instead coming right up in front of her again, his hand curling around her neck. "I do. Give me a chance to make this right. Please." He massaged her neck with gentle squeezes she felt everywhere.

"O-okay."

"Okay?" He gave her a small smile.

She ducked her chin. "Yeah."

His lips pressed to the top of her head and Alyssa bit down on the inside of her cheek. She held still, afraid to move lest she break the spell that had apparently fallen over him. She couldn't think of another explanation for his tenderness. Not after the way he'd treated her last week, first with the avoidance, and then with the ugly outburst.

He dropped his hand and stepped back. "Okay. I'll talk to you later, then."

She finally chanced looking at him.

He smiled and left the room.

Alyssa released a shaky breath.

The rest of her shift dragged and raced by in turns, depending upon how she was feeling moment by moment about the coming conversation. At least she'd had the distraction of being assigned as a waitress to the green room in the early part of her shift. There were five guys in the band, and they mostly kept her running to the bar with drink orders. She was glad when showtime finally arrived, though-their running string of pet names and innuendos had gone from being cute and fun to downright sleazy. Van would be thrilled to learn her opinion of them had dropped precipitously.

Unfortunately, they weren't done with her. After the show, instead of clearing out within an hour like most of the bands did, they decided to hang around to party, specifically requesting Alyssa and Tori to wait on them.

Alyssa arrived with their third round of the night about the time she would've usually been closing down the room. Three of the band members were sprawled on the couches and two had pulled chairs over around the coffee table where she set their drinks. The drummer had a girl on his lap who was seemingly trying to devour his mouth with hers. And one of the guitarists had an enthusiastic fan plastered to his side on the couch.

She reached between the couch and one of the chairs to clear away some of the empties. A hand stroked up the back of her thigh. Alyssa gasped and whirled on the guy-the lead singer, Trent-who was sitting in the chair with a smug smile on his face.

"Can I help you?" she asked, immediately regretting her choice of words.

His eyes laughed at her. "Mm-hmm. Hang out with us."

"Thanks, but I can't."

He traced his goatee with his fingers. Before tonight, she'd found him attractive. But now he wore an expression that communicated his confidence in getting his way with her, and it was so not attractive. "I'm sure Pete won't mind," he said. "He's always very accommodating for us."

Ew. Seriously? Alyssa smacked down all the sarcastic comments she wanted to say and reminded herself he was an important customer. "Yeah. Pete is great, isn't he? But I just can't." She stepped out of his arm's reach. "Enjoy your drinks."

His gaze narrowed and he pressed his lips into a line. "We'll have a couple orders of wings. Right away."

She forced a smile. "Coming right up."

The kitchen staff was as grumpy as she was about the order. Alyssa almost asked Eric to deliver the food, but she didn't want to do anything to embarrass Pete or Whiskey's.

"How you making out in there?" he asked as he handed her a platter with one order of each type of wings they offered.

"It's fine. They're kinda assholes, though."

Eric grinned.

"I heard that," Van yelled from the back.

Alyssa laughed. "I stand corrected and bow to your fount of wisdom," she called.

He appeared in the doorway to the back room. "You know, if only more people thought that way, the world would be a better place." He disappeared again.

She rolled her eyes and smiled at Eric. "Wish me luck."

"Hey. There you are," Marco said, leaning in the kitchen door. The position stretched the black T-shirt across his chest, emphasizing the sculpted muscle underneath.

"Yeah. Sorry. I'm going to be a while." She gestured to the tray and pretended it wasn't awkward to be standing between Marco and Eric at that moment.

"I'll hang out, then."

"It's all right. I don't know how long I'm going to be." She stepped through the door as he held it open for her.

He walked beside her as far as the lounge. "Doesn't matter."

She paused. "Really. We can do this another-"

"I'll wait." His big hand cupped her face.

Alyssa's stomach fluttered at the intensity of his gaze. It was everything she could do to not beg for more of his touch. "I better get this in there."

"Okay. Find me when you're done."

She left Marco in the lounge and fished in her pocket for her phone. How late was it, anyway? But her pockets were empty. Where the heck had she put her phone? She hated being without it in case Brady tried to call. Sighing, she reached the green-room door and steeled herself, then went in.

"What took so long, sugar? I was just about to send out a search party," Trent said.