Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND) (13 page)

“I’m too serious to flirt. And I never tease about business,” Jasper said, still staring hard at her.

Chloe blinked, tearing her gaze away from Jasper’s to see everyone at the table was staring at her, waiting for her answer. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Say yes,” Max advised, grinning at how fast his brother was moving in on a woman he just met yesterday. Jasper was finally learning. “We can do some more duets. Maybe we’ll even get Jasper to sing. He’s the one that took voice lessons.”

“You sing?” Chloe asked, staring at Jasper again in shock.

“Max exaggerates,” Jasper said, finally turning his head away to glare at Max, who merely grinned.

Taylor wanted Chloe to say yes, and when she looked at Emma, she saw she had crossed her fingers. They both wanted their friend to take this chance, plus there was the added bonus of a man like Jasper who could make Chloe feel wanted for herself.

Taylor swung her gaze back down the table and drew herself up a little to look as businesslike as possible. “Well, actually—I’ve offered Chloe a job. You may need a singer, but I need an accountant. How is your deal better than mine?”

Beside her, Taylor heard Max snort softly, so she kicked him under the table.

Max reached down to rub his still-healing leg, whispering to Taylor that she was going to pay.

“I already turned you down several times, Taylor Baird,” Chloe said. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want to be an accountant anymore.”

“Then you should definitely say yes to this opportunity,” Ryan said firmly. “All we mortals have is the now, Chloe. You’re too good not to take this chance.”

Ryan felt Emma’s smile as he turned his head. “What?” he asked her.

Emma put her hand on his arm and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “You are absolutely right.”

If she hadn’t pulled away so fast, Ryan would have turned his head a fraction and had his mouth on Emma’s before she realized what had happened. The knowledge made him forget what he’d just said. His gaze was locked on Emma’s profile even after she’d turned back to her friends.

“I don’t know,” Chloe replied thoughtfully. “I was planning to stay a week with Taylor, and then one with Emma while I looked for a real job.”

“Stay here instead,” Jasper encouraged. “You can have your own room, free parking, and use of the facilities. Your friends can come visit. You can look for another job during the day and sing four nights a week, including the weekend. What I’m offering you is a real job, by the way. I expect you to sing.”

“Me? Work for you—the hotel—as a lounge singer?” Chloe said in shock, scared of committing. Plus she also wasn’t keen on being financially bound to yet another man she had romantic ideas about. “I don’t know, Jasper. I’ve never given real performing any thought.”

“No matter what else you think you’re not ready for, you’re ready to sing professionally, Chloe,” Jasper said firmly, no doubt in his voice. “I mean that.”

“Let me think about it,” Chloe told him. “Can I let you know tomorrow?”

“Certainly,” Jasper said, uncaring that his gaze was full of determination and heat as it rested on the woman he wanted. “It gives me the rest of the evening to influence your decision. I can be very persuasive when I want something as badly as I want you to stay here. I plan to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

Max leaned back in his chair and just stared at his brother, the innuendo of what Jasper really was after not lost on anyone sitting at the table, with maybe the exception of Ryan Carmichael, who had just joined the party.

Beside him, Taylor sighed and returned her attention to her plate. Max reached under the table and squeezed her knee in support, then wished he hadn’t because it was very tempting to run his hand up her leg. He moved his hand away quickly so he wouldn’t.

Gazes still locked, Jasper and Chloe continued to stare at each other as if they were alone. Max decided it was on him to rescue the moment and diffuse the tension.

“Well, since we have a cliffhanger about whether or not I’m going to be sharing the lounge limelight on a more permanent basis, I’ll just go fill in the gaps of silence with my lonely piano music. Maybe when you ladies finish your meal, you’ll come sing again. Thanks for dinner, Taylor,” he said as if she had personally invited just him, grinning at her irritated scowl. “Ryan, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

When he walked away, Ryan watched for a moment, then laughed. “I just figured it out. I knew Max looked familiar. He’s
Wicked Wade
, isn’t he?”

“Who?” Taylor asked, looking at Max as he slid his very attractive body onto the polished piano bench.

“Wicked Wade,” Ryan repeated. “A friend of mine did a piece on him. Max was recruited from college to be a Canadian hockey player. His leg got busted up during a game last season. They had to operate, so he’s been sitting out the season because the healing is taking a lot of time. Max is Wicked Wade.”

Ryan saw no need to mention the drinking problem or the rehab time or the possibility that Max might never make it back on the ice. He also left out that Max had allegedly seduced his friend for the duration of the story. If Taylor was interested in the man and wanted more facts, it was all pretty much documented by the press, including Max’s more infamous seductions.

“Of course,” Taylor said sourly, leaning back in her seat and shaking her head. “That’s why my instincts were sending out alarm signals around him. The man is a jock. Thanks for the warning, Ryan.”

“Warning? What warning?” Ryan asked, confused and wondering what he had said that had been construed so harshly. He thought he’d been extremely careful.

Emma sighed dramatically. “You didn’t say anything wrong, Ryan. Max asked her out, and Taylor hates jocks.”

“No I don’t. My best customers are jocks,” Taylor denied. “I just hate dating them. That’s a completely different matter. And it’s fine anyway, I never had any intention of dating Max. Really. It’s just good to know that my instincts are right. I knew he was a hell of a lot more than just a piano player in a lounge.”

The comment drew Jasper’s attention reluctantly away from Chloe to defend his absent brother. “Maximillan is also a lot more than just a jock, Taylor. Max’s talents are varied. Plus, I’ve never heard any woman complain about him being a bad date.”

Taylor snickered at Jasper’s defense. “Quite nicely done, Jasper. Your brother is lucky to have you in his corner.”

“I’m lucky to have him as well,” Jasper said sincerely. “Our parents left us pretty much to fend for ourselves in life, so it pleases me to see Max is becoming a really good man. He’s lived with me since he was eight.”

“Really? How old is he now?” Taylor asked, picking up her drink and sipping.

“Thirty-one most of the time,” Jasper informed her. “Seventeen, occasionally. Sixty when he’s depressed.”

Taylor laughed. “Fair enough. You’re saying he’s as complex as the rest of us. How old are you?”

“Forty-five,” Jasper answered quickly, meeting and holding Taylor’s gaze. “Since we’re getting so chummy here with our personal info, how old are you? Don’t worry. I promise not to ask what you weigh.”

“I don’t know why not, since you already know what I weigh,” Chloe said sardonically.

Jasper looked at Chloe and saw the truth of her concerns in her eyes. He was not a stranger to female insecurities.

“Yes I do. You weigh a proportional amount that God distributed perfectly,” he said, his tone as challenging as he could make it. “Should I elaborate to your friends about how I know this information about you?”

“No, thank you. Sorry I interrupted your defense of Max,” Chloe said, sighing. The man was charming, just flat-out charming.

Taylor laughed. If she’d had any reservations about Jasper Wade, he’d just dispelled them.

“Emma, Chloe, and I are all forty,” she said. “We were college roommates.”

“I’m forty-two,” Ryan said, interjecting. “In case anyone’s interested.” He made a great show of swinging his gaze to Emma, who laughed.

“I already knew how old you were. I was your personal trainer, remember?” Emma said softly, her gaze twinkling at his goofy teasing.

“Yes,” Ryan said seriously. “I actually remember everything we ever said and did together.”

The smile left Emma’s face slowly as she let Ryan’s statement sink in. She wasn’t ready to think what the man might possibly mean by it. It had been over a year since she saw him last. “You were gone a long time, Ryan. You’ll have to tell me what you did during all that time.”

He leaned over close to her. “Honey, I’m ready to tell you everything. Have dinner with me this week.”

“I don’t know—my schedule is full,” Emma said, stammering. “But soon though. Okay?”

Ryan nodded. “Soon. By the way, I’ve taken a desk assignment for six months, so I’m working from home. Got room in your schedule for a client?”

“I’ll check and get back to you,” Emma said. “Leave me your number.”

“I don’t have any new business cards with me,” Ryan said, patting his pockets before pulling a pen out. “Fortunately, I’m a reporter so I always at least have something to write with, even if it’s just on a napkin. But we can do better than that. Give me your hand.”

He pulled Emma’s hand to him and wrote his phone number on the back of it. Realizing he was holding her hand in his and how nice it felt, Ryan slowed the writing down, slowly drawing each number while she breathed slowly and watched him with wide eyes. By the time he was done, Emma’s breathing was ragged and his heart was beating in time with her breaths. They both looked up a little surprised.

“Well okay,” Taylor said, dizzy with all the romance at the table. “I think I need to clear my head. Ready to sing, Chloe? We’ll do a couple with Max so you can get used to him just in case you decide to take Jasper up on his offer.”

After she stood, Jasper captured and tugged on Chloe’s hand to keep her from following the other two women immediately.

“Chloe, whatever you decide about singing here won’t change how I feel about dating you,” Jasper said, repeating what he’d said last night to her, because it was still true.

“If my size doesn’t bother you, I can’t imagine you worrying about much else,” Chloe told him.

“
Your size?
Good God, woman, you’re a fantasy come true. Hasn’t any man ever told you that?” Jasper whispered fiercely, exasperated with not being able to properly reassure her.

Chloe felt heat roll through her at Jasper’s compliment. “A fantasy, huh?” she repeated, her tone betraying her disbelief. “Tell me that again when I’m on top of you.”

“Now that’s going to cost you a public kiss,” he said firmly, unwilling now not to do something. “I’m in bad shape already. I didn’t need to know you were thinking about the same things I was. I want that tonight, Chloe.”

“Too bad—you can’t have it tonight. We just met yesterday,” Chloe said on a laugh. Charming, just flat charming. And sexy—the man’s eyes were as talented as his lips.

Bending her mouth to Jasper’s, Chloe felt her cleavage straining in the black dress. She might look like a duck in it next to her friends, but Jasper Wade made her feel like swan.

Chloe took her time enjoying his mouth, forgetting for a moment that she wasn’t somewhere private with him. When she lifted her head, she was dizzy. “You make me drunker than any mai tai, Jasper Wade.”

She walked on wobbly legs to the piano, enjoying the low male laughter that followed her.

“She really is a fantasy woman,” Ryan commented when Chloe was gone and he and Jasper Wade were the only two left at the table. “You’re probably lucky the woman doesn’t know just how alluring she is with those looks and that voice.”

“I’ve thought the same thing a hundred times since I met her yesterday,” Jasper said, smiling ruefully as Chloe took her spot beside the piano.

***

“Guess we’re starting with a ballad after that prolonged kiss,” Taylor said, hoping her tone was more teasing than mean. It was hard to be genuinely nice when she was so freaking envious she could die from it.

“You betcha, girlie,” Chloe said, laughing, launching into a trembling romantic version of “Endless Love,” pleased when Taylor caught up and Max joined her in singing it.

“Payback time,” Taylor said to Chloe afterwards while the crowd was still applauding. She went into “I Want You Back,” grinning when Chloe made groaning sounds and shook her head.

Chloe’s lower range made the song a challenge for her to sing without reaching hard for the necessary high tones. She ended up laughing through most of it. When the audience started clapping along, she had no choice but to sing it the best she could.

At the end, the applause was deafening again, but Chloe also saw they were laughing. She reached out and pulled Taylor’s hair playfully making her call out and Emma giggle.

“Okay, if we’re even now, can we do some easier songs?” Chloe demanded.

“Scoot over, Goldilocks,” Max said, using his greater bulk to slide Taylor along and over to the very end of the bench. “Since it’s obviously oldies night, I’m playing. You three are singing. I’m sure you know this one.”

Taylor slid off the bench to stand by Emma to sing backup.