Colors of Love (7 page)

“He is not.” Kaz stared indignantly at Tasha, who’d just told her she thought Luke was gay.

Sophie surprised her by agreeing with Tasha. “Definitely gay. But gorgeous, nevertheless. With a beautiful smile. Still doesn’t explain why we’re in the front row.”

Kaz
harrumph
ed but said no more. Like Sophie, she couldn’t understand why Luke had seated them there. Unlike Sophie, her ability to read colors had told her clearly that the band manager liked women. She had no idea how he felt about men, but there was a definite spark between her and him. A lovely scarlet red spark that even now pulsed from her, even though Luke had walked away.

Would he come back? Would she get to ask him any more questions?

Kaz, Tasha and Sophie chatted and laughed throughout the supporting act’s performance, but everything changed when Jordan and Jonah Speed walked onstage.

As Jordan strummed his first note on the guitar and Jonah sat behind him on drums, the crowd erupted into mayhem, and Kaz’s knees went weak. Jordan was even more beautiful in real life than all those glossy magazines had given him credit for. Even telly screens did not do him justice. He was smaller than his drummer brother. Slimmer and leaner. And utterly perfect. His jeans hugged his legs, his long, slim fingers plucked at the strings of his guitar, and Kaz melted.

He stood so close she imagined she could reach out and touch him. She desperately wanted to reach out and touch him. Run her hands over his unshaven cheeks, press her mouth to his full, luscious lips, stare into his startling green eyes and let him set his guitar down so he could pluck her instead of the strings.

For a few seconds she wished she could make out Jordan’s aura, but the smoke erupting from the stage made it impossible. Colors merged together in an unrecognizable smudge. The only hue she could identify was a touch of carmine red, pulsing from Jordan just like it had pulsed from Luke.

Or maybe that was just her imagination. Her imagination was having a field day, letting her mind race free, giving her a chance to picture herself not only with Jordan’s long, slender fingers caressing her naked skin, but Luke’s as well.

What wasn’t her imagination was the way Jordan’s gaze kept returning to the front row where she, Tasha and Sophie sat. He was watching them?

Impossible, she told herself when Jordan looked at Jonah, and then the two brothers both looked over at the front row and grinned. Absolutely impossible. There was no way in hell they were looking at her and her friends. Even more impossible was what happened next. Jamie Speed walked onstage singing. Which would have been no surprise at all—considering this was a
Speed
concert—except he danced across the stage, came to stand directly in front of them and with his gaze pinned on Sophie, blew her a kiss.

The rest of the concert passed in a haze of fantasies come true. For Sophie anyway. Kaz simply stood on her feet, her legs moving naturally to the rhythm of the music pumping through the stadium, feeling nothing less than awed.

Chapter Four

Kaz looked around in amazement. “Let’s face it,” she whispered to Tasha. “We are way out of our league here.”

Tasha nodded, her expression a reflection of Kaz’s thoughts. “Thousands of miles out.” She flashed Kaz a huge grin. “And I love every second of it.”

“Me too.” Kaz raised her flute of champagne in a silent toast. Truth be told, she hated the stuff, but it just seemed right to sip on the bubbly now. The who’s-who of Australian celebrities circulated through the very room in which they stood. Several times Kaz had been forced to snap her jaw shut, or she’d have gaped at the familiar faces of people she’d never dreamed she’d meet.

She’d almost tripped over a star from one of the soapies walking out of the bathroom. The same star sniffed and rubbed her nose prettily, giving Kaz a good example of the meaning of the expression: “powdering one’s nose”.

Rock concert after-parties, it seemed, were everything Kaz had ever imagined. The only thing that didn’t fit in with her imaginings was the fact that
she
stood here, in the luxury suite, rubbing shoulders with the crème de la crème of Sydney society. But right now her focus wasn’t on Sydney society. It was on a certain American band manager who exuded confidence and made Kaz wish she was the one taking instructions from him and not the hotel staff.

It surprised her she’d had such a strong reaction to Luke Struthers. Just one month ago she’d gathered together the courage to walk away from a man who’d almost choked her with his affection. Martin’s love had become too intense and too serious for her comfort. So she wasn’t prepared for desire to now hit her so forcefully between the eyes. Well, legs.

But maybe the attraction was this strong because that was all it was. A physical reaction. No emotional ties and no questions of marriage and babies and forever.

Or maybe the attraction was so strong because he was freaking Luke Struthers—
Speed
’s band manager.

She eyed him thoughtfully—okay, lustfully—over her glass. He’d promised her answers, even promised her she’d have more questions. And he was right. She had a million of them. True, she could have asked for answers from Sophie, who’d not only been invited onstage by Jamie Speed himself but seemed to be Jamie’s love interest.

But Sophie wasn’t at the party yet, although Kaz had been told she would arrive any minute. With Jamie.

So she eyed Luke with determination, knowing if he didn’t make his way over to her soon, she’d head him off, hopefully in a private corner somewhere, where no one else could see them…

“Holy crap!”

Tasha’s stunned oath jerked Kaz out of her musing.

“Is that—?” Tasha gaped at someone across the room. “Oh, my God. It is. It really is. I’ve got to meet him, Kaz. I have to. Have no choice, really.” She was already walking away, her eyes glazed with wonder.

Kaz scanned the crowd but had no idea who Tasha had targeted. She would have kept scanning had a warm hand not landed on her arm and warm breath whispered over her neck.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t she of little faith.”

Kaz’s lungs ceased to function. She fought unsuccessfully to draw air into them.

“Told you I’d see you after the concert,” Luke said.

Kaz ignored the lack of oxygen and cheekily checked her watch. “You did indeed. I just had no idea ‘after’ meant two hours later.” She put on her best I’m-not-impressed expression and wondered how long it would take for Luke to see through it.

Less than a second, apparently. He chuckled. “Admit it, Bernie was at your side before the final encore.”

Kaz couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips. “Bernie”, it turned out, was one of the burly security guards who tailed
Speed
wherever they went. He’d been dispatched by Luke to collect Tasha and Kaz and escort them to the after-party. In the back of a giant black Mercedes. With darkened windows and a fully equipped bar. And a chauffeur. And buttery-soft leather seats. And an engine that purred through the streets of Sydney.

“Bernie didn’t give me any answers,” she pointed out. In fact, Bernie hadn’t said very much at all.

He raised a brow. “You still have questions? After everything that happened tonight?”

“Only about a million.”

His fingers curled around the arm he hadn’t yet released, just like they’d curled around her arm earlier.

Kaz liked the sensation. Very much.

“Walk with me. I have to make sure the interviews are going okay, but I’ll answer what I can as we go.”

His touch burned through her skin, leaving Kaz lightheaded. She didn’t care what Sophie or Tasha had said about him being gay. Luke was as interested in her as she was in him. There was no denying it. Her breasts tingled as she fell into step beside him.

“So, you can confess now, it wasn’t the usher who asked you to look into the mess-up with the seats, was it?”

Luke shook his head. “You haven’t realized yet?”

“Realized what?”

“There was no mess-up. Your original seats probably sat empty the whole show. Jamie asked for you to be moved to the front row.”

Kaz shook her head in wonder. “So he and Sophie
do
know each other. From before the show, I mean.” Why hadn’t Sophie said anything?

Luke raised his eyebrow in a manner that told her he couldn’t really believe she was asking. “Intimately.”

Ooh, she and Sophie were long overdue for a talk. “And you knew he was gonna invite her up onstage with him?”

“No. That took us all by surprise. Jamie’s never done anything like that.” He steered her out of the hotel suite and knocked on the door of the next room.

It was opened by another burly security guard.

Luke stepped inside with a nod, bringing Kaz with him. “Five minutes,” he told the people gathered in the suite.

Kaz just stopped herself from gasping out loud. She knew her eyes were enormous, but she couldn’t help staring.

There was Jonah Speed, sitting with a foot hooked over his opposite knee, a beer in one hand, looking casual and relaxed—even with a TV camera focused on him. A Channel Nine News reporter held a big, fluffy mike between them.

This close, Jonah’s presence took Kaz’s breath away. He was massive. Bigger than either of his brothers. His shoulders, the ones she’d always admired, weren’t just big. They were easily the width of a small pool. Or ocean.

Kaz did not have to read his aura to know the man exuded sensuality. In fact, his colors seemed to fade behind the flare of his sexuality. He had a presence about him that made Kaz want to strip her clothes off and throw herself at him, naked.

Even Jonah’s smile, with those luscious, full and tantalizing lips, was wildly provocative. As for his eyes, they held the promise of fulfillment of every carnal, illicit fantasy ever imagined.

She strongly suspected if she gave in to her instincts to strip, she wouldn’t be the first one. The Nine News reporter seemed a little flushed. And the cameraman? Well, Kaz had to wonder if he’d undone the first three buttons of his shirt before he’d come into the room—or after.

Still, it wasn’t the inconceivably sexy drummer that had Kaz’s heart racing a whole lot faster than it had any business racing. It was the feel of Luke’s hand on her arm. It was the knowledge that he stood beside her. That she was with him—he’d actively sought her out. It was the glowing circle of scarlet that encapsulated both of them.

Jonah saluted Luke, showing he’d heard and understood, and the reporter checked her watch. “Five minutes,” she promised.

Luke gave a short nod and backed Kaz out of the room. The door was closed behind them. Luke signaled to someone standing a couple of meters away, introduced him as the organizer of the Australian leg of the tour, and asked the man to please knock on Jonah’s door again in five minutes.

When they were alone, he gave her his full attention. “There’s time for one more question before we go into the next suite.”

Kaz swallowed. Standing on the receiving end of Luke’s attention was a heady sensation indeed. It caught Kaz in her belly and tugged, flipping it around as though a thousand butterflies had taken flight.

Despite the swirl of color surrounding him, it was the streaks of viridian that seemed to glow especially bright now. The viridian gave her a very clear indication that Luke was experiencing emotional and mental stress. Coupled with his halo of charcoal grey, Kaz couldn’t help her concern.

Instead of asking more about Sophie and Jamie, she asked something way more personal. “Are you okay?”

He blinked. “Pardon?”

“You seem…” she hesitated, wording her thoughts carefully, “…well, a little tense.”

He looked perplexed. “I do?”

Kaz reached up with her free arm and ran a gentle hand over his temple. Was it just her imagination, or did sparks flare where she touched him?

“You have tiny lines here. Stress lines. They made me wonder.” That wasn’t strictly the truth. It wasn’t the lines that made her wonder.

Luke narrowed his eyes in surprise. “You picked up on that?”

“I did.” Kaz didn’t explain about the colors. People tended to look at her funny when she spoke of auras. “Are you? Okay, I mean?”

He gave her a careful half-smile then shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m fine, but thank you for asking. It’s the concert and the interviews. Things can get…demanding at times.”

Oh, she had no doubt Luke’s job was demanding. She also had no doubt that whatever worried him had nothing to do with work. He was the kind who thrived under pressure. No, whatever had upset him was deeply private. Too personal to talk about with a woman he’d only just met. No matter how powerfully the waves of attraction flowed between them.

“Ready to go in? There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

Luke was ready. He shifted on his feet, telling her there would be no more personal questions anytime soon.

“Someone you’d like me to meet?”

“Uh-huh.” Luke smiled, knocked once, and the door was opened. He nodded at the security guard and led Kaz inside the hotel suite.

She knew she should take time to look around, appreciate the luxury of the room, the understated opulence of the décor. But her gaze was snagged by Jordan Speed, and she couldn’t see much of anything else.