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Suddenly we’re through the crowd then through a door into a long corridor, the noise of the crowd and the interim music instantly muffled. But still Danny doesn’t stop; he keeps on striding and I keep on following. We pass an open doorway, and someone calls his name. I turn my head and catch a glimpse of a room where the other band members are hanging, but Danny ignores them, neither turning nor stopping.

I wonder if they know where he’s taking me. And why. I also wonder why I don’t care.

The corridor gets more dimly lit the further we travel, but I notice the glow of the exit sign ahead and realise we’re heading out. When Danny reaches the door, he pushes down on the bar and drags me through to the alley on the other side, the door clunking shut as he gently guides me backwards until my shoulder blades bump into the wall.

It’s dark and cool and quiet. The sound of music and the faint smell of garbage are things I’m barely conscious of as Danny smiles and mutters, ‘You came.’ His hands slide to my hips as his mouth crashes on to mine, hot and urgent, and I open to him and clutch his shoulders, his shirt damp beneath my palms as his tongue licks into my mouth and I breathe him in, filling my senses with the feral sexuality of this sweaty, sexy drumming rock god.

But I want more than just his smell in my head. I want his smell all over me. Like I want my smell all over him. I want to imprint on him so bad. Seeing those women panting afterhim has really pushed my buttons, and I want to claim him as mine even though I know I cannot compete with that kind of adoration.

My jacket falls off my arm as my trembling fingers slide to the tab of his fly and pop it open. But his hand clamps over mine.

‘No,’ he mutters as he wrenches his mouth away.

It’s gratifying to see him breathing as hard as me, the fog of our combined breath mixing in the cool air between us, but my brain is just as foggy. No? But, why? Why did Danny stop? I am so horny for him right now; even my nipples pressing against the fabric of my bra is too much to bear, and he seemed like he was into it. But he’s putting on the brakes and I don’t know why.

‘Is there something wrong?’

His thumb brushes my bottom lip and it tingles in its wake. ‘No. I just… don’t want to do this in an alley with you between sets.’

I blink. ‘Isn’t that why you brought me here?’

‘No.’ He chuckles. ‘I brought you here so I could get you alone. I haven’t seen you for a few days and I wanted you all to myself.’

That’s good. I know it’s good. He wants to see me. And part of me – the scrubs and stethoscope good girl – sings inside. But Danny has woken another side of me and it’s wonderingwhyhe doesn’t want to bang one out in the alley with me. I know that’s not what I should be hung up on, but I am.

I try not to frown, but I do anyway. ‘Why not?’

‘Why not what?’

‘Why don’t you want to do me between sets?’

He chuckles again, his hand hot at my waist. ‘Oh, I do. I just… This isn’t exactly a hospital, Doc. It’s kinda grungy and freezing and there’s trash cans not far away and—’ He halts abruptly, eyeing me speculatively as he inserts a finger under my chin andtilts my face upwards so he can inspect it thoroughly in the semi dark.

‘You want me to fuck you up against this wall in this filthy alley?’

I squirm at the wicked image emblazoned across my inner eye. But Danny seems sceptical. He obviously thinks I need the aroma of antiseptic to get off. Prior to meeting him I might have agreed, but he’s making a dirty, dirty girl out of me.

‘Isn’t that what the women in there want?’ I challenge. Those women reaching for him, invading his space like they know how up for dirty-alley sex he really is.

Groupies.

He shrugs. ‘Some of them.’

His response depresses me. He knows what they want. If I’d been one of them would we even be talking now? Isn’t this what he likes? Isn’t this rock and roll?

A small smile tugs at his mouth. ‘Jealous, Doc?’

‘What do you see in me?’ I ask, suddenly serious. ‘This world, your world, is so big and bright and colourful and loud and… sexy, and I don’t understand why you even want someone as bland and beige as me. There’re women back there screaming your name. I’m sure a few would have cut me just now if they’d had a knife to hand.’

Danny regards me through slitted eyes for a second as if he’s trying to figure out if I’m for real or not. Then that smile tugs a little bigger. ‘You wanna know?’ he says, and his voice is low and silky smooth as his hands apply pressure at my waist, and I’m suddenly spun around, cheek and breasts plastered to the cold brick wall.

I gasp at the contact, my palms landing flat above my head for purchase as the move temporarily unbalances me, and then I moan as he pushes in behind me, jamming his hips against mine. My skirt might be sensible and warm but I can still feel thebite of his zipper and the thick ridge of his cock as he presses into me.

‘I like that you bashed on my door and weren’t reticent in telling me to quit the racket when a lot of dudes I know would have backed the hell away from a six foot four, bare-chested tattooed guy. That’s brave. I like that you always hold the door open for old Mrs Appleby. And that you seem to be on call to every resident in the building whether it be a sick toddler or someone’s gout playing up. I like that you paid Mr Wong’s gas bill last month when he was between jobs. That’s kind. You’re such a good girl.’

His whispers that like he knows exactly how my body is going to lurch, and I wonder what Mr Wong would think if he could see me in this alley right now.

‘I like that you’re probably the only woman who’s never even attempted to flirt with me, but when it came to the crunch you didn’t pretend you didn’t want me, you didn’t deny the dictates of your desire that night in the elevator. That’s decisive.’