Unraveled: Hearts of Rock, #1

By Alyssa Breck

Evie Brant lives quietly under the romantic radar until a coworker invites her to a concert where she meets Lyle Crane, the sexy singer of a heavy metal band. A little harmless flirting between the shy paralegal and the outgoing rock star provokes a crazed fan to eliminate her competition.

Chemistry brews between Evie and Lyle when a gunshot rings out in the dark and the unlikely couple is set on a collision course neither of them saw coming.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alyssa Breck
• Release date: Apr 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533764416

Book preview

Chapter One

Evie stopped at the coffee shop in the lobby of her building and ordered her usual, a mocha soy latte, no whipped cream. She was nothing, if not a creature of habit.

The receptionist was on the phone as Evie passed her desk. Evie waved and smiled as she passed. The girl held up a few slips of paper to stop Evie. Phone messages.

Evie’s office was located toward the back. Only the lawyers got the window offices. Leather bound legal books lined shelves on either side of the hallway. All the information was now online so the books weren’t used much anymore but they lent the distinguished appearance a law firm should have. Evie liked the feel of the books and the smell of the pages so she still used them at times.

The calendar was jam packed for the following week and Evie was making notes on the briefs she’d need to prepare when Nina plopped down in one of the chairs across from her desk.

Dude...

Nina had been a secretary in the office for the last two years. Being on the same office team, she and Evie worked closely but Evie had a habit of keeping people at arm’s length.

What’s the matter? Evie asked as she closed the calendar program on her computer.

Nina huffed. So, remember I told you that guy from the radio station got me tickets to the Downside concert?

Yes. That’s tonight, isn’t it? Evie sipped her coffee and leaned back in her leather chair.

Yeah. Well, Josh just texted me and said he can’t go. Short fucking notice, huh? He was supposed to be my designated driver, dammit. Why does the universe hate me?

Surely, you can find someone else to go.

Yes. Which brings me to why I’m sitting in your office, Evie. Nina smirked.

Evie shook her head. I don’t even know who that band is.

I’ve got backstage passes and I’ll buy you dinner. We’ll make it a girls’ night out. It’ll be fun. Nina sat forward in the chair and put her hands on Evie’s desk. Her fingernails were painted black and she wore dark makeup around her eyes. Nina was pretty in a wild, devil-may-care way. Dark hair framed her face in a sharply cut bob and blunt bangs lined up straight across her forehead just above her eyebrows. The guys in the office would like to take her home, Evie guessed, but they wouldn’t want her to meet their parents.

Evie sighed and she scrambled to find an excuse to beg off. Friday nights were her time to stay up late and read, maybe polish off a bottle of wine and then sleep in on Saturday morning. A concert with a crowd of strangers wasn’t her idea of a good time.

Come on. I’ll do all the typing on the Maxwell file for the next month. Please. I don’t want to go alone and I need someone I can depend on to get me home afterwards. Nina smiled and batted her eyelashes. When’s the last time you had a night out with the girls?

Okay. Okay. Evie laughed and wagged her finger at Nina. But I’m going to hold you to the Maxwell case typing and I’ve never really had a girls’ night out. This might be fun.

Nina squealed and stood up. Yay! It will be loads of fun. I promise. Thank you! Oh, hey, check out my boots. She rounded the corner of Evie’s desk and stuck her leg out. Black patent leather went up to her knee. The heel was a good three or four inches. Break neck height.

Nice. But your feet are going to be killing you by the end of the night.

It pains to be hot. Nina winked. Stand up.

Why?

Let me see what you’re wearing.

Evie got up and spread her arms out. It’s casual Friday. I wasn’t planning on going out tonight.

You look good. Just lose the cardigan and pull that scoop neck down a little, show some cleavage. Your boobs look great in that shirt. If I were into chicks, I’d totally do you, Evie.

Heat crept into Evie’s cheeks and she crossed her arms over her chest. Thanks, I think. The one advantage to being curvy was boobs.

Nina made her laugh. She had a dry sense of humor and wicked quick wit and she wasn’t afraid to say what was on her mind. Evie envied that. Nina was a free spirit.

Evie was more sheltered and afraid. She preferred to fly beneath the radar and not draw attention to herself. The men her mother used to bring home had started looking at Evie when she was a teenager and she went out of her way to not look attractive to them. She hid her breasts under baggy sweatshirts and didn’t wear makeup. Evie didn’t want to end up like her mother.

Pulling her blonde hair up into a ponytail, she put on her glasses. A stack of manila folders and three deposition transcripts sat beside her computer monitor. One brief and two medical record summaries needed to be done before she let Nina drag her to the Downside concert.

***

Murals of whales and swirly ocean scenes covered the outside of the Long Beach Arena. Evie had been inside before but it was years ago. Thanks to Nina’s radio station hookup, she and Evie were seated in the front row orchestra section. The view of the stage didn’t get any better than that. What was the point of going to a concert if the seats were in the nosebleed section and the band looked like tiny ants?

Evie sat down in the stiff theater seat and checked her email on her phone. It seemed the lawyers in her office never took any time off and she knew for sure that one would be there all weekend making more work for both Evie and Nina.

Nina snatched the phone out of her hand. We’re not working tonight. Forget about the scales of justice for one night, okay?

Okay. Okay. Give me my phone. I’ll put it away. I promise. Evie tucked the phone into her back pocket. Gone.

The band that opened the