Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND) (14 page)

Max played “Where Did Our Love Go,” and then went straight into “Stop! In the Name Of Love” before he let them get a breath. He was happy when the backup singers punched his shoulders and the lead singer glared at him.

By the time they got to “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” though, the four of them had forgotten there was an audience. Chloe was smiling and leaning into the lead so much that the other three had to work to get their voices up to hers. When the last notes cleared off, the four of them were laughing at each other.

Then three seconds later they all swung startled gazes to the crowd, who were at this point standing, applauding, cheering, whistling, and doing everything else possible to show their appreciation.

Chloe was getting a fair share of drunken date offers yelled at her.

“Oh Good Lord,” she said, blushing even harder as Jasper glared at the most daring of the offenders.

“Need any more convincing that you’re ready for this?” Taylor asked Chloe, who was staring awestruck at the crowd. “Take the job here. Give it a chance for two weeks while you job hunt. What do you have to lose?”

“Do it,” Emma told her. “You have to Chloe. We’ll come back once a week and sing with you. Won’t we Taylor?”

Taylor nodded, hoping she’d be able to keep that commitment.

Chloe looked at Max. “You’re going to have to find us more duets. I’m not making a fool of myself alone up here.”

“No problem, babe. Leave it to me,” he said.

Chloe looked at the table and saw Jasper smiling. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to do this.”

“Live only in the now,” Emma advised, laughing when she heard Chloe sigh.

***

The crowded doorway was full of people willing to stand to listen because there were no seats left to sit. No one really saw the two tall, attractive blondes in the middle of the crowd. If they had processed the lack of attention, both would have assumed it was because they hadn’t dressed well enough to draw it, but neither had her mind on herself at the moment. They were preoccupied with sizing up the competition.

“I don’t know. He looks pretty taken with her, Rayonna,” Lea said sadly. “You saw their kiss. Plus his gaze didn’t move off her the whole time she was singing. Who is she? You didn’t tell me she was a famous singer.”

“She’s not famous or a real singer,” Rayonna said bitterly. “She’s just some woman staying at the hotel on vacation with her friends. Jasper has lost his mind. He dated Aoelin Renard before I snagged him away from her. Before that he dated the CEO of a company. The owner of a five-star hotel can’t follow his successful model ex-wife with an overweight accountant. I won’t be laughed at around the world because my ex-husband married a fat woman.”

“You don’t know for sure she’s just an accountant. Jasper’s staff could be lying to you. And she’s not really overweight,” Lea said, defending the woman with the amazing voice. “She’s voluptuous and old-movie-star glamorous. She’s a real woman, like my sister.”

“She’s huge and needs to go on a diet,” Rayonna told her.

“Oh come on, she is not huge. If you tell me you wouldn’t rather eat cheesecake and wear bigger clothes, I will call you a liar. You complain about that all the time,” Lea told her. “Besides, I don’t know as I want to date your ex. Jasper is so serious looking. Did you see him glaring at the man yelling his phone number at her?”

“You’re not going to date him. You’re just going to be his rebound woman until he’s ready to give me another chance,” Rayonna told her. “You’ve slept with plenty of men for less honorable reasons, Lea.”

“Only the ones I wanted to sleep with, and I don’t see how that’s any concern of yours. We’re friends, not prostitutes together in a model bordello. And I’d much rather be seducing the hunky younger brother. Max looks like a lot of fun,” Lea said, sneaking another look. “Plus he’s lots younger. I’m only thirty-two. He’s closer to my age. I don’t like older men all that well.”

“Lea, I gave you first chance at the Paris showing and chose Milan instead. You said you’d do this for me. At least
try
to seduce Jasper—please. You promised,” Rayonna implored.

“You are such a pain. I don’t know why I tolerate you,” Lea said, sticking her lower lip out in a pout.

“Because in a few years I’m going to retire and start designing. When you hit that point in a decade yourself, I’m going to give you a job,” Rayonna reminded her.

Lea sighed. “There is that. Okay. I’ll come back for dinner tomorrow and be friendly to him, but you will so owe me for this.”

Chapter 12

Late Sunday afternoon, Chloe walked Emma and Taylor to the front door as their cars were being brought around.

“So I’m not going to bother with a rental car after all. Jasper said I could use one of the hotel’s hybrids when I needed to go to interviews. I guess I’ll go back to the Taylor’s secret shop and buy some more slut clothes—I mean, evening wear for performances. See? I am so not the right person to be doing this,” Chloe complained.

Taylor only laughed in response.

“Seriously—I’m not smooth or confident without lubrication, and I refuse to drink every time I sing. What if I have a meltdown and you two aren’t there to mop up the puddle?” Chloe demanded.

Stopping at the genuine fear she heard, Taylor let go of her rolling suitcase and took hold of Chloe’s shoulders.

“I know you’re scared. You’d be crazy if you weren’t. But as much as I don’t like Max as potential hot guy material, something tells me he’s going to be a great help to you because he loves his brother. Just be careful with Jasper. He looks like he wants to attack you, and I think soon he’s going to.”

“Are you kidding? That’s the one thing I’m not worried about,” Chloe said sincerely. “I’m looking forward to Jasper running out of patience. I’m close to that point myself. It’s going to be interesting to see which one of us gets there first. I really do like the man, Taylor. He makes me feel like a centerfold.”

Emma giggled, put her arms around Chloe, and hugged. “Just keep living in the moment, and you’ll be fine.” She squeezed hard once more and let go. “We are a phone call away. I’ll be sending good energy to you this week.”

“Thanks, honey,” Chloe said, hugging Emma back. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but okay.”

Taylor’s car rolled up first. It was a sleek Porsche roadster which she had painted pink for business reasons. “See you Friday night.”

Chloe and Emma both nodded as she climbed in and rolled away, her PLSPORT license plate winking in the afternoon sun.

Emma’s ancient Honda Civic rolled up right behind it.

“I can’t believe you still have that car. How old is it now?” Chloe asked, shaking her head at the meticulous appearance of the well-used vehicle.

Emma pondered. “Eleven years, I think. It was new when I bought it. When the next generation of hybrids comes out, I’ll probably trade up then.”

“I love you, Em,” Chloe told her, hugging one last time before watching her jog to the driver’s side and climb into the car.

After Emma drove away, Chloe turned to go back inside and ran into Sam.

“Hi,” she said. “Bartender Sam? Right?”

Sam put out a hand. “That’s right. I’m Sam Hanson. And you’re Chloe—our new lounge singer.”

She nodded, swallowing the misgivings she had which had formed a hard knot in her throat when Sam had blurted the truth out with a smile. “Yes, I’m Chloe Zanders. I guess I’ll be seeing you regularly for a little while at least. Sam—is Max a good guy?”

“Usually. Why?” Sam asked. “Did he make a pass? Jasper will kill him.”

“No—no pass. I’m just nervous about working with him,” Chloe said on a laugh.

Sam shrugged at her concerns. “No worries there then. Max is going to be on his best behavior around you because he knows how much Jasper likes you.”

“Wonderful,” Chloe said, rolling her eyes as heat flooded her face with color. “Just what I need. More pressure. Be nice to the
girlfriend
.”

“It’s not like that. If you’ve got time, let me get something from my car and I’ll buy you a drink,” Sam told her. “I’ll give you the dirt on everyone who works here and tell you what Jasper was like in college.”

Chloe laughed and it helped dispel her worry a bit. “Fine. I’d like a drink. If I go to my room right now, I’m going to have a nervous breakdown about staying here. Jasper had plans, so I’m on my own this evening.”

“Not anymore. Wait here and I’ll be right back,” he said on a laugh.

Sam went over to an elegant looking green convertible in a model Chloe couldn’t identify and came back shortly with a briefcase.

“Nice car,” she said, admiring the sleek lines.

“That is the English Corvette, a 1979 Triumph TR8. It was ten years old when I bought it right after I got my first job out of college. Still a beauty, isn’t it?” Sam said.

“Cars last forever in California, don’t they? So how long have you been the bartender here?” Chloe asked.

Sam smiled as he held the front door open for Chloe to enter. “Since I gave up investment banking, which would be about thirteen years ago now. But I also manage the bars at Jasper’s other two hotels.”

“Jasper owns more than one hotel?” Chloe asked, stopping in shock then walking on when she realized Sam was still moving forward.

“Yes. I’m sure he’ll tell you about it sometime,” Sam said, smiling.

Both of them slowed as they saw Jasper following a tall, well-dressed blonde into the café.

Chloe stopped dead and stood still. “That was Jasper’s ex-wife wasn’t it? He told me he was meeting her before she left. He didn’t say she looked like that. Is she a model?” She saw the truth on Sam’s face. “God—how crazy am I? I can’t do this. I’m getting my things and taking a taxi to Taylor’s.”

“No, you’re not,” Sam said firmly, gripping Chloe’s arm and dragging her along with him, thinking Jasper was going to owe him big for this.

If he hadn’t seen Chloe kiss Jasper last night, he would be damn tempted to steal the woman away from his stupid friend who left her alone to play nice with Rayonna. Sam could think of lots of ways to reassure Chloe that even a well-dressed model was no competition at all.

“Come with me. You’re going to let me make you a drink and listen to my stories about Jasper. Rayonna is nothing more than a clone of several others before her. Jasper Wade was trained from the cradle to be seen with women like that, and he hasn’t really liked any of them. Trust me. I’ve known the man for over twenty-five years. You are our type, Chloe. If I say any more on that subject, Jasper is going to want to kick my ass.”

Chloe breathed out a breath at finding yet another charming man and let Sam Hanson pull her into the lounge and onto a bar stool.

“Mai Tai, right?” he asked.

Chloe shook her head. “No—I need something stronger than that to banish the vision of Jasper and his ex. Rum and coke. Strongest rum you have, double-shot please.”

Sam shook his head and laughed. “I’ll make you a drink for free if you answer a question. Why does a woman as sexy as you not know it and enjoy it? Are you unaware of your appeal or just scared?”

“
A woman as sexy as me
?” Chloe asked on a laugh. “Since I have trouble having the word sexy applied to me without laughing, we’ll just go with scared.”

“Rayonna is history and has been for while. Jasper is totally gone on you,” Sam told her. “Surely you know that just in two days. I have never seen him pursue any woman as aggressively as he’s going after you, nor kiss a woman in public as if he owned her. If you’re not interested in him, let him down easy, okay? Oh, and let me give you my phone number before you run. You’re my type too.”

Chloe laughed and sipped her coke. “No can do, Sam. I’m gone on Jasper as well. I don’t know how much longer I can keep pretending I need more time to be sure. It’s happened so fast my head is spinning.”

Now it was Sam’s turn to laugh. “See? Sexy, beautiful, and honest. I knew you had the winning combination. Too bad Jasper found you first.”

“Stop,” Chloe protested, laughing to cover her pleasure at his flirting. “I bartended to work my way through college. I picked up guys like you every night.”

“Me too. Well, not guys. Let’s just say I totally agree that a bartender is never without company when he or she wants it,” Sam told her, flirting a bit still because he couldn’t help himself. Chloe’s laugh was too charming to resist. In fact, everything about her was hard to resist.

Chloe Zanders was sitting across from him wide-eyed, nervous, and all but begging to be reassured about her attractiveness. Any sane man with his senses intact would have wanted to answer that need in her. Suddenly, what he’d said to Jasper about cutting in on him with Chloe wasn’t a joke, so Sam made himself remember how Chloe had lingered over kissing his friend the evening before. It brought his lecherous thoughts down a couple notches.

Chloe sighed into her half-finished drink. “You know, in college I was a terrible flirt and routinely dated multiple men. I didn’t take many of them seriously. I enjoyed them all. Then I got a job in a prestigious accounting firm, made big bucks, and found myself accidentally in a relationship with a married man because the SOB lied to me.”