Off Broadway (2 page)

-2-

He’s late
, Avery thought checking her watch for the fourth time in ten minutes.
I can’t be with a late guy. There’s too much riding on this.
She grabbed her phone, preparing to call Nelson and tell him she’d find her own piano player when a scurrying noise came from the door.

Dark cu
rls, dark eyes and the thin muscular frame of a runner stood in the doorway. A pool of warmth dropped to her pussy.
Oh crap, he’s gorgeous
.

“Are you
Avery?” he asked and strode into the room with his hand out. “I’m so sorry I’m late. I took a cab and there was a FedEx truck blocking the street. If I’d known it was so close, I would’ve just hopped out, but this is only my third time in New York and oh Christ, I’m babbling. I’m Dan.”

“Nice to meet you.” Her hand tingled for a second when it touched the rough pads of his fingers, but she pulled back quickly. “Thank you for stepping in to help me.”

He grinned and the air whooshed from her lungs. She wanted to lick him. Every adorable inch of him. Double crap.
Way to keep your vow, Avery. You lasted a whole fucking day.

He moved to the piano and sat down. His fingers
danced over the keys. His long, sensual fingers that probably knew exactly how to find a girl’s clit.
Focus, Avery.
He had on jeans and a rolled up collared shirt. The muscles of his forearms flexed as he warmed up. Arms covered with very little hair, leaving Avery to wonder about the state of the rest of him. She let her eyes fall closed as she imagined his shirt falling away to show every line and plane of his perfect…
Shit. I’ll have to replace him.

“It was perfect timing, actually
,” he said and gave her another adorable smile. “Things had just fallen through with my other job. I thought I’d have to go back to South Carolina. Very depressing, rural South Carolina. I’m glad I could help.”

Oh.
Avery shook the fog from her head. He needed the job. She was going to have to be the asshole who sent him back to depressing South Carolina. She opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, he started to play
Mad About the Boy
and she blinked. Several times. The arrangement was unique and spectacular. Shit. She really had lucked out finding a replacement so fast, and one who could really play? Double bonus.

“Nelson sent me your playlist. I can learn it how you’ve been doing it since we only have a little time, but I’m happy to offer ideas if you’re interested.”

“I’m interested,” she squeaked and moved toward him.
So very interested.

He grinned again and nodded to the stool beside the piano. She sat down.

“Let’s hear what you’ve got,” he said. Then he shook his head and stared at the keys for a moment. Just enough uncertainty to mean he wasn’t another asshole. Double shit.

“Excuse me?” she whispered.

“Sing for me, Avery.” His voice carried the slightest hint of pleading and she nearly creamed in her pants. So screwed.

Her throat tightened so much s
he didn’t know if she
could
sing. It was stupid. She could sing in front of anyone, but this guy had turned her entire body into a puddle of lust in less than three minutes. She shifted and reminded herself about the body bending pussy talking stockbroker. All men were the same. Even cute adorable puppy dog eyed men.

She closed her eyes and opened her mouth and pretended she was at an audition like the thousands she’d been at before.

***

She had the voice of an angel. And she was hot. Pale skin,
strawberry blonde hair, big eyes and a body that made him want to reach out and rip every article of clothing from her tight body. Dan’s fingers moved over the piano keys on autopilot while his cock pressed uncomfortably against the fly of his jeans. He couldn’t peel his eyes away. She lit up the room when she sang. He’d never seen or heard anything like it.

He was going to have to quit. Immediate lust only led to disaster. He’d been down that road before and was not about to get entangled again. But then she stopped and looked at him with her wide eyes
and shy smile and he couldn’t do it. She wasn’t a diva. She was a mixture of sass and innocence. She had no idea what she was doing to him. What she probably did to every guy in every room she sang in.

He shifted again wondering if a bathroom break to grab his cock and relieve some of the pressure would be weird only five minutes into a meeting…

“So do you think you can maybe work with me?” She bit her lip and he imagined what that lushness would feel like wrapped around his dick. He jerked down on his pants, like it would somehow help how the crotch of his jeans was digging into him.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. I think so. We’ll have to rehearse a bunch if you want to be ready. Three or four hours a day at least. I need to see how your show runs and how we’ll work together.”
How he’d manage being in the same room with her. Next time he’d definitely be relieving some pressure before they met up.

She tugged at the neck of her sweater
and his jeans got tighter.
Down boy, we’re not going near this one.

“Okay. Did you want to start now? Because I made some notes.” She leaned over
to retrieve something from her bag and her perfectly framed ass made his mouth go dry. “Here.”

She handed
him a notebook, her fingers brushing over his.

“Thanks.” His eyes dropped to the list she’d compiled. “Ambitious show.”

She smiled. “Yeah. It is. That’s why I was so panicked about losing my piano player.”

He opened his mouth to ask her about what happened, but shut it again. The less personal information he knew about her, the better. He would help her out with the
Carmichael, but he couldn’t be her new full-time piano player. He wasn’t stupid. There’s only so much time a man can spend with a beautiful woman before he makes a move. No matter what lessons he’d learned in the past, he was still a guy. And every part of his hardened body knew that two weeks of rehearsals with this hottie was going to be like surviving the seven circles of hell—even if he took time before they met each day.

He glanced at the list again. “
Material Girl
is one of your songs?”

A blush crept up her neck.
A blush that probably would look amazing when she was naked and writhing beneath him. Screaming his name. Thrusting her hips against his. Sucking his cock… Holy shit he was so fucked.

“Yeah. Scott never really liked it, but I think it’s funny. Ironic, I guess.”

He looked her over. “Because you’re a material girl?”

She adju
sted her sweater and Dan looked down. Her nipples were hard. Christ.

“What do
you
think?” she asked and a whole new side to her emerged. Was she flirting?

“Too soon to tell. I’ll le
t you know in a week.” Even worse, he flirted back. Stupid. Stupid. He needed to get a hold of this. He sat back on the piano bench and signaled her to the stool. “So let’s start with that one then.”

She shimmied onto the
seat and his eyes couldn’t turn away from the way her tight jeans clung to her thighs. This was going to be the longest two weeks of his life.

-3-

It was a grueling first week.
Dan was a shockingly focused and unrelenting taskmaster. Avery worried she would put too much strain on her voice trying to teach him the show, but as soon as Dan heard her voice starting to falter, he’d insist they finish for the day and take her for tea at the coffee shop across the street from the rehearsal space. They talked too long, breaking only when he had to leave to walk his dog.

The tension
Avery felt around him increased every day they were together. He was damn sexy, the way his body moved around the space, the way his T-shirt clung to his lean, hard form when he suggested a dance move. She was going to wear out her arsenal of sex toys before the gig was over. And maybe run out of batteries.

To make matters worse, he was incredibly talented.
His ideas were completely in line with hers and he pushed her to take risks in a way Scott never had. Plus, the way he fretted over his dog was so cute that her cheeks ached from smiling whenever he mentioned his Nelli. 

Nelson checked in often, popping in to watch a number or to discuss promotion for the
Carmichael. She was glad for his unscheduled visits because it kept her from considering the intimacy of hours alone with Dan in the rehearsal space. Intimacy made even more obvious by the delicious hungry way that Dan looked at her when she sang. She told herself it was a normal show crush springing from their natural camaraderie. But she’d never come home from a day rehearsing with Scott with a sopping wet thong. Or a need to use half the toys in her arsenal.

“I want the two of you to do a trial run this weekend,” Nelson said on Friday afternoon. “I can see the magic is happening in here, but I think we need you to get in front of an audience to see if the dynamic works.”

Avery swallowed and glanced at Dan from the corner of her eyes. Did dripping pussy juices equate to magic? Probably.

“We’re not ready,”
Dan said.

“It
’s not a big venue. Hugo’s Supper Club. Mostly people having drinks after work. Not too many people are there on Saturday nights,” Nelson said. “But we need to get you in front of some people before we throw you to the sharks. I talked to the columnist at the New York Times today and he’ll be at the Carmichael on opening night. We can’t risk the show falling flat.”

Avery
squeaked and gripped the top of the piano. Dan rose and crossed to her, putting his hand on the small of her back. Her nipples pebbled and she leaned back into him briefly before forcing herself to step away.

“You okay?”

She took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ve been waiting for a Times review for a year. I just wish I didn’t feel so nervous.”

He lifted her chin up and gave her a hard look. “You’re amazing. The Times is gonna love you. You don’t have anything to worry about.”

Her stomach flipped. She imagine his hands running down her neck. Across her collarbone. Pinching her nipples. Pushing down her panties. Sliding inside her. Sliding her clit between the strength…holy shit, she was about to lose her mind.

“
They hate everyone.” Avery got back on track of the conversation. “And Nelson’s right, no one’s seen us together. What if we mess it up?”

He squeezed her hand. “We won’t. We’ve accomplished so much in the past week. It’ll be fine.”

The brief squeeze made her pussy clench and her thighs tightened in a pathetic attempt to satisfy a part of the lust, or at least keep it under control.

Nel
son coughed, breaking the sexual tension surrounding the two of them. “I’m gonna bring in a bass player to join you. He’s a regular at Hugo’s. He’ll help show you the ropes and fill the seats with some of his fans.”

Avery snorted. “A bass player that comes with groupies?”

Nelson winked at her. “Yeah. You’ll like him. All the ladies do.”

Dan
cleared his throat. “I don’t think we need a bass player.”

Nelson shook his head. “Yes, you do. It’ll break up things a bit for you. And we’ll see if Avery can generate
as much heat with other guys as she does with you.”

Avery felt the blood rush to her face. She looked at
Dan, but his face was trained on Nelson with a hard expression.

N
elson arched his eyebrows. “You need the bass player.”

Dan
and Nelson had some sort of silent communication before Dan finally nodded. “Yeah. I guess we do.”

Avery ignored the butterflies in her stomach. She was a professional. She could do this. “Okay. So
Hugo’s Supper Club tomorrow night?”

Nelson clapped his hands. “That’s my girl.” He kissed her on the cheek and chucked her under the chin. “You’ll be fabulous as always.”

He snatched his phone from his pocket and waved goodbye as he exited the room. His voice carried from the hall, already barking orders at someone on the other end of the line.

Avery
turned back to Dan. “Do you think we can pull it off?”

He tapped his chin. “What’re you wearing to the show?”

“What?”

“Your costume. What does it look like?”

“It’s pretty simple. Masculine. Tight pants at first, and heels, but then it’s sort of just this body suit with a man’s tie.” Her cheeks burned and she looked to the music sitting on the piano to hide her flush.

“Yeah, that’ll work.”

Avery snorted and looked up. “Of course, it’ll work. I’ve been doing this a long time.”

He grinned.
“I just wanted to make sure that we were all going to finally get to see those legs. You’ll need to shop the merchandise a bit if we’re going to draw them in.”

She shouldn’t say it. She knew she shouldn’t say it. But her mouth-brain connection refused to work. “You want to know what my legs look like?”

He chuckled and a dark hunger crossed his face. “Sweetheart, you’re a woman, I’m a man. I’d have to be dead not to want to see what your legs look like.”

Avery flushed. “Nothing special. Just legs.”

Dan ran his thumb over his bottom lip. “Uh huh.”

Avery stared at him for too long. Heat sizzled throughout her body. Images of her legs wrapped around his naked body assaulted her.
The way his rough finger rubbed on his lips assaulted her again. She took a steadying breath. This could not happen. He was too talented and she couldn’t lose him as a piano player. He’d inched his way into being a creative partner to her and her career was too important to mess things up.

“I’m gonna go,” she whispered.

He nodded. “Yeah, you better.”

She bent to gather her things and
she heard a small groan escape his lips. She lifted her gaze to meet his.

“Go,” he said.
“We’ll meet here tomorrow at ten to do a dry run of the show. We’ll just work on choreography and the last song so you don’t have to strain your voice.”

Avery hitched her bag over her shoulders and shook the fogginess from her head. “Yeah. Sounds good. I’ll see you.”

She slipped out the door, shutting it behind her. He felt the same. No doubt. How the hell were they going to get through this without fucking it all up? She leaned against the outside wall and smiled when she heard Dan start to pluck out the Darth Vadar theme song on the piano. Dum dum de dum, indeed.

***

“I need a favor,” she said to her brother the minute she’d walked into the diner.

He stood and kissed her on the cheek. “Hello to you too, sis.”

She signaled him to sit and slid into the booth across from him. “Rich, this is serious. I never ask for favors.”

Rich folded his meaty hands in front of him and nodded to the waitress. The
waify girl with over-bleached blonde hair rushed over in a matter of seconds.

“What can I get for you?” She didn’t look at Avery at all.

Rich winked at her. “Your number.”

Avery snorted, but the girl ignored her and handed him a slip of paper. “I already had it written down for you.”

Of course she did. Rich collected phone numbers like the Yankees collected World Series Championships. Avery chided him about it all the time, but Rich thought it was funny. Probably because he’d never been on the end of an unreturned text.

“He’s gay,” she told the waitress. “And been living with the same guy for years. You’re not bringing him over to our side. Trust me on this one.”

The waitress squinted at Rich. He offered a charming grin and handed the slip of paper back to her. “What can I say?” He shrugged. “My guy’s big dick has ruined me for women.”

The waitress opened and shut her mouth several times. Finally, she turned to Avery. “Coffee?”

“Two chocolate milk shakes and an order of fries, please.”

The waitress scratched the order onto her pad and stalked away.

Rich grabbed Avery’s hand between his. “Chocolate milk shakes? It must be serious. What’s up?”

“I need you to come to my show tomorrow. Can you get off work?”

“I don’t know, A. It’s a Saturday night. Why didn’t you tell me earlier you were performing? I would have asked off.”

Avery’s shoulders slumped. “Nelson just got us the gig.”

The waitress wandered over and placed a bottle of ketchup on their table with a loud thunk. She was gone before Avery could say thank you.

Rich squeezed Avery’s hand. “You know I love to see your shows. But you’ve been doing this a long time. I thought you were over stage fright?”

Avery released a breath. “It’s not exactly stage fright. I’ve just got this new piano player and I want your opinion about how you think we come across on stage.”

Rich raised an eyebrow. “How do
you
think you come across on stage?”

Avery squinted her eyes shut tight then slowly peeked at him. “Like I want to fuck his brains out.”

Rich tilted his head back and laughed, the sound echoing through the tiny diner. His muscly, overly waxed chest convulsed. “Oh Jesus, Avery. You’ve fallen for him, huh?”

Avery dropped her head into her hands. “It’s a hot mess. I want to lick every part of him. But he’s
so madly talented. And he makes me sound so good. I considered firing him, but he’s too good for my show. I can’t fuck this up.”

The pause between them was long enough that Avery knew she wasn’t going to like what her brother was about to say.

“Maybe sleeping with him won’t fuck it up?”

Avery
crossed her arms and tilted her head. “Sleeping with him will for sure fuck it up.”

Rich nodded. “Yeah. It will. You don’t really have a great track record i
n that area, babe. No offence, but you’re worse than most of the gay men I know.”

“That
is so not my fault,” Avery huffed. “You have no idea how hard it is to find a guy who likes sex, is good at sex,
and
who isn’t a complete asshole.”

The waitress returned and set the milkshakes down, sloshing one
of them so it made a brown puddle on the white tabletop. She dropped a dirty rag on top of it and mumbled a half-assed apology. Rich grabbed her wrist before she walked away.

“Gay men are never worth getting huffy over. We’re too self-absorbed to notice.” He winked at her again, but she just shook her head and walked off.

Rich turned back to Avery. “What about that non-profit lawyer you hooked up with? I thought he sounded like he had a lot of potential.”

Avery shook her
head. “Impotent. And then he had the nerve to tell me it was my fault when I broke it off. He said if I didn’t want to have sex so much, he wouldn’t have had any problems.”

Rich laughed again. “Yeah, they did kind of break the mold when they made you.”

Avery took a gulp of her milk shake. “That is such a load of crap. There are lots of women who like to have sex. But we’re fed this whole bullshit story about how we shouldn’t want it and that if we do, we’re whores.”

Avery could feel the eyes in the restaurant trained on her. She took another sip of milkshake.

“Sorry.” She shrugged. “I guess I said that kind of loud. And I can’t fucking help it.”

Rich patted her hand. “It’s okay. But Avery, women aren’t the only ones who are fed all that stuff. Guys are supposed to want to have sex all the time.
You know not every guy has the sex drive of a high schooler in an 80’s spring break movie. And when they don’t, they feel like something’s wrong with them, too.”

“Are you talking about Brandon?”

Rich scoffed. “Fuck no. He’s hung like a stallion and can’t get enough of this body. But there have been times when I haven’t been exactly up for fucking and if it were anyone but Brandon, I probably would have felt like my junk was broken.”

Avery smiled. She and Rich had talked about expectations of guy’s sex drives a lot. Ever since her high school boyfriend had told all his friends that she was a nympho and no mortal man could keep up with her. Rich got really protective of her after that, knowing that reputation would lead the wrong kind of guys to her. He got his ass kicked by a lot of older guys trying to keep them from man-handling his sister. Until he joined the wrestling team and started lifting weights.