Anne Rollins is having a really bad time of it. Her roommate ran off, owing Anne more than two months’ of back rent, taking quite a bit of the furniture with her. She needs money, and fast, or she won’t be able to keep her little sister in college. She reluctantly accompanies her next door neighbour Lauren to a party at Lauren’s best friend’s, who just happens to be recently married to David Ferris, the guitarist in world famous rock band Stage Dive (see the previous book in the series, Lick).
Anne feels out of place at the party, surrounded mostly by strangers, and her teenage idols, so tries to find privacy on the balcony. There she has an argument with her boss/best friend about how she shouldn’t have let herself have been taken advantage of. The conversation is overheard by the object of all her teenage fantasies, Malcolm Ericson himself, the drummer for Stage Dive. Mal claims Anne is a doormat and needs to learn to set boundaries for herself. As their conversation progresses, Anne shows that she can hold her own and catches the eye of most people at the party when she loudly tells Mal to mind his own business.
Still worried how she’s going to pay her rent, not to mention her sister’s next tuition fees, Anne is surprised to discover a new sofa in her living room when she returns from work the next day. Mal claims he’s been kicked out of David’s, and needs a place to stay. He also really needs an image change fast and a nice, sensible, steady girlfriend would do wonders to calm his bad boy, rock star playboy reputation. He’s already paid Anne’s rent and promises that they will keep things completely platonic in private, as long as she agrees to play his girlfriend in public. Not one to say no to the half-naked rock god she’s idolised for much of her life, Anne agrees, even though she’s not sure how she’s going to be able to keep feelings out of the deal.
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