Hot Buttered Yum (5 page)

She closed her
eyes as she moved, concentrating as she placed one foot in front of the other,
and tried to think of something other than stepping back out on that stage.

Lucas
Alexander’s evil smile popped to mind. She moaned in torturous ecstasy as she
silently counted the steps she took across the room. That man registered a
twenty on her Richter scale.

She’d dreamed
about him last night. In the dream, he’d smiled at her, flirted with her, and
then he’d taken her in his arms.

And she’d taken
him for a spin.

Only he was more
like a shiny sports car sitting on the showroom floor. One that
she wasn’t allowed to touch.

She made a face
at the thought.

Stupid hormones.
They had to go and get all worked up over someone she couldn’t have.

She turned and
headed back the other way. She needed more than twelve feet to get a good pace
going. Next time she’d head out the back door to the beach.

It was silly,
really, when she thought about it. Why couldn’t she have a little fun with
Lucas? It wasn’t as if she had any real say in the voting. She could pay to
vote just like anyone else. Other than that, she had no sway over matters
whatsoever. She was merely there to help with the show. She would entertain
with witty banter, announce the day’s competition, then spin the lottery wheel and
draw out the names.

Easy. Simple.
Not a conflict of interest.

Ugh
.

Only, she knew
she was making excuses. It wouldn’t look good. Kayla would worry it would hurt Seaglass. And Roni didn’t want to
hurt anyone, least of all her friend’s business.

So yeah, she
supposed sleeping with Lucas wouldn’t be a good idea. Unfortunately.

She just had to
keep telling herself that every time she caught a peek of him.

Right now,
though, she should focus on something else. Something other than what she
wanted to do with Lucas.

Like the fact
that she was about to take to the piano on a stage for the first time in three
years.

She thunked the palm of her hand against her forehead and squinted
her eyes closed tighter. She still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to that.

Step, step,
step.
Pivot.

Somehow Kayla
had talked her into it. A guilt trip. She’d explained
what a thrill it would be to both the contestants and the crowd to have Roni give a special “mini-performance” with the band. They’d
be brokenhearted if she didn’t. And Roni had fallen
for it.

She supposed it
would be a bit of a thrill for her too. She loved performing. Or she had. So
how could it not be exciting? If she were to be honest, she’d also admit that
she missed the rush of it sometimes. A little.

Not enough to go
back, though.

Yet playing just
one song … well, one song with the band and then a small solo number …
was fine. She could do that. It would be fun. But she had not allowed herself
to be talked into a full concert at the end of the two weeks. That would be
going too far.

Pivot.

She was retired
from all that. She played for fun now. Only.

That’s why she
refused to take any money for her performances. And hey, what wouldn’t be fun
about playing “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with an up-and-coming country
band, along with twenty-four gorgeous, half-naked men gracing the stage?

So yeah, okay. She
could do this. Do her master of ceremonies duties … and stay focused only
on that.

And do
not
do Lucas Alexander.

She slammed into
something hard, only then realizing she was still walking with her eyes closed.
When she opened them, she wished she’d kept them shut.

Lucas stood in
front of her.

Big, wide, bare
chest. And of course, he was wearing the requisite smile. The man had to know
what that smile did to her.

Her heart tried
its best to pound its way out of her chest.

“Morning,
gorgeous,” he said.

She gave him the
evil eye. He sounded gravelly and satisfied, as if they’d just crawled from beneath
warm sheets together.

He chuckled,
apparently unimpressed with her mean look.

“Shouldn’t you
be out front getting ready to go back onstage?” she grumbled.

“Probably. In
fact, Kayla will likely hunt me down any second now. She caught me heading this
way.”

Roni shot a look at
the now closed door. She’d left it open when she’d come in.

“You closed my door,”
she pointed out.

“I did.”

“Why?”

He leaned in and
put his mouth to her ear. She could smell mint on his breath. “Because I wanted
to be alone with you,” he whispered.

Her treacherous
hand reached out and pressed, palm flat against his heated chest, and the
muscles behind her panties did a little spasm.

Damn the man.

“There’s no good
reason to be back here alone together,” she spoke into his neck, since he was
still leaning into her. His hands had crept to either side of her waist and his
cheek was so close to hers that it would take only a tiny shift to press her
skin against his. If she hadn’t been concentrating so hard on not letting her
fingers burrow into the soft hair on his very,
very
hard pecs, she might have been
embarrassed by the shaky squeak of her voice.

“Any chance I
could change your mind today?” Heat dampened her ear as he spoke.

Her shoulder
inched up, closing the gap to her ear, as if he’d touched his lips to her instead
of merely whispering a hair’s breadth away. The hair on her upper body stood on
end, and her lower body melted. He didn’t have to say what he wanted to change
her mind about. Her. Him. And a little something that would end with a
screaming orgasm or two.

Her eyes popped
open. She’d closed them again.
Sigh
.
And her hand was still planted firmly in the middle of his chest.

And no,
unfortunately, she was not going to have any screaming orgasms anytime soon.

Drat
.

She pushed
against him, putting a few inches between them, and then forced her hand from
the firm, tanned flesh. She closed her fingers in her palm and lowered her arm
to hang at her side. Kayla made an announcement over the back speakers. Time to
line up.

“No,” she
muttered. “I’m not changing my mind.” She knew she sounded pouty. But dang, he
would have been a good diversion for the next couple of weeks.

Lucas wrapped
his fingers around her clenched fist and leaned in again, putting his mouth
back to her ear. “It would be fun,” he cajoled. “Hot,” he whispered. She
shivered. “And not a single person other than us would have to know.”

Right. Because it was so easy to keep a secret on this small island.

His thumb
stroked along the outside of hers, each movement licking heat along the
underside of her wrist before zipping up her forearm. His touch frustrated her
even more. But she didn’t pull her hand out of his.

Because she
liked it.

She tilted her
head back, lamenting the fact that she was only five feet tall. Even in heels,
he still had almost a foot on her.

It was a shame,
really. That they couldn’t have a good time. Because she liked him. Not only did he have that fun vibe
going, not only was he sexy as sin, but she’d bet big money that he knew how to
handle a girl. And yesterday at lunch he’d pushed his work aside and returned
her attention when she’d sat down with him.

Charles had
never put work aside for her.

“I’m the face of
the competition, Lucas,” she whispered. “I’m the one everyone will see. Every
day.” Geez, how she wanted not to care about that. “I
can’t …” She trailed off as she realized his fingers were now entwined with
hers.

She looked down
at their hands and gave a half-hearted tug, but he kept hold of her. When he
didn’t turn her loose, she made a face at him. He smiled in return. The corners
of his eyes crinkled with the action.

“Someone could come
in here and see us holding hands,” she pointed out, her tone droll. Not at all
accusingly as she’d intended. “Do you want to get me in trouble?”

“I want to get
you to smile.” His words were simple and honest.

She let out a
soft breath. “Lucas.” Her voice was pleading. He seemed like a good guy.
Really, he did. She’d paid far more attention to him the night before than she
should have. He’d been polite and pleasant. He’d chatted up everyone, making
people laugh and seemingly having a good time. And other than teasing Roni mercilessly, he’d been adorable. “I’m sorry I
flirted—”

“No, you’re
not,” he said. “You’re sorry it’s more complicated than you thought. But it
doesn’t have to be.”

The band quit
playing and the crowd went silent. Her mouth turned dry.

The curtains
would be closing and the piano rolled to the stage.

“I see no
reason—” Lucas’s words stopped and his features hardened. That’s when she
realized that the edges of his blue irises were trimmed in a thin strip of
gray. They were intriguing, beautiful.

“What’s wrong?”
he asked.

“What do you
mean?”

His hand
squeezed hers. “You’re shaking. What’s wrong?”

The man had gone
from teasing and playful to take-charge and intense in an instant. She looked
down at their hands twisted together. Yes, her hand was shaking. Her whole body
was, actually.

Then she heard
her cue and knew that the curtains would be opening again soon and she would be
up. “You’ve got to go.” She shoved at him. “I have to take my spot.”

Instead of
leaving, he gripped her hand tighter. He peered down at her. “You’re nervous?”

She shrugged,
embarrassed. “Apparently.”

He stared at her
for two long seconds and then brought her hand to his mouth. He pressed his
lips to the spot above her knuckles. “You’re going to wow them, you know.”

“What?”

“You will be amazing.
You’re brilliant onstage. All you have to do is put your fingers on the keys,
close your eyes, and nothing else in the world will matter.”

He was trying to
calm her nerves. What a sweetheart. And the fact he’d keyed in on exactly what
her issue was didn’t miss her.

She swallowed
around a lump in her throat. She was going to be okay. She could do this. She
was exemplary at this.

And anyway, they
were talking one song. One and a half. His hand tightened
around hers again and he whispered, “Knock ’em dead.”

Then he was gone,
and she got to her spot just as the curtains began to open.

It was go time.

The curtains parted, revealing Roni at the piano surrounded by the band. Her wrap dress
with its vibrant mix of colors crisscrossing her body pulled all eyes to her.

Instead of
greeting the crowd, the group launched immediately into an intro to “The Twelve
Days of Christmas.” No singing, merely playing. Letting the crowd absorb and
appreciate Roni.

Lucas wanted to
stand in the shadows and watch her. That’s all. Just watch. Wait for her to
finish so he could go to her and make sure she was okay. The audience seemed transfixed.
It was an honor to see her play. Everyone in the room seemed to understand that
fact.

She wasn’t
looking at anyone now. She hadn’t so much as lifted her head.

She was watching
only her own fingers. Yet he could tell that the tension was already
disappearing from her shoulders.

Lucas had been
shocked to feel her shaking in her dressing room. The quieter the crowd had
become, the more her body had quivered.

At first he’d
been egotistical and thought it was his touch.

But he’d quickly
realized that though they may have off-the-charts chemistry, even he wasn’t
that good. The woman had radiated fear.

He’d read
through the schedule the night before and had seen that she would be playing
today. He’d been exuberant at the thought.

Yet as she’d
stood there, vibrating in his hands, it had clicked. Something had made her
walk away from playing. Something that had turned the brown
of her eyes to a bottomless pool of worry.

This woman had
played for packed houses with large symphonies. She’d played solo concerts all
over the world. She’d even once played a special event for the president and
first lady of the United States.

Yet she’d looked
today as if she’d rather run from the building than head out to the stage.

He had to hand it
to her, though. She didn’t shirk her responsibilities. When the time had come,
she’d done what she had to do. She’d tossed her head back and walked right to
the middle of the stage.

And she was
shining out there.

He glanced down
at his partner for the day, Melody Harper, an older lady who stood at his side.
Both of them, along with eleven other contestants and their helpers, were ready
to head out when given their cue. Melody was alternately smiling at him and
then at the band. Or maybe she was smiling at Roni.
It was hard to tell. Especially when he could barely pull his
own gaze from Roni long enough to pay much attention
to anything else.

Kayla Morgan
marched back and forth in front of the line of them, a pencil tapping against
her clipboard as she counted out a silent beat. She was wearing a headset with
a small microphone positioned in front of her mouth. He saw her speak into it, presumably to the person she had on the other side of
the stage lining up the remaining contestants over there.

But at the
center of it all was Roni, her fingers gliding over
the keys and her face settling into a comfortable glow.

His eyes drifted
to her hair. The interesting thing about her today—along with her being almost
too scared to walk out on stage—was that her hair seemed to better fit what he
knew about her. It had lost yesterday’s smooth, contained style, and today it was
literally exploding around her head. Black curls were everywhere. They were
glorious. It felt more like the pianist who played with wild abandon.

The instant Roni’s
fingers had touched the keys, she’d been transported
back in time. She’d been doing this since the age of three, trained by her
father, who’d also been a child prodigy. He’d begun taking her on the road with
him at the tender age of six. She’d loved it.

She’d missed her
mom, of course, but overall, she’d loved every single second of it.

With each “day”
the band sang now—first day of Christmas, second day of Christmas—the men reentered
the stage with their designated helpers, stepped to the center to wave, then
edged back, leaving a gap for the crowd to see the band.

Roni watched until
she saw Lucas and his partner come onstage, and then she closed her eyes.

She got lost in
the music. The sound of the guitars and drums pumped through her, but it was
the touch of the ivories under her fingertips that she felt the most. And the crowd. She knew the excitement wasn’t for her. Not
yet. But she fed off the energy.

Her fingers glided
over the keys as she thought about all she’d walked away from. She’d had to
walk. She’d been too broken.

And she’d never
regretted it.

But she did miss
it. She missed this.

This excitement.
This feeling of doing what she was born to do.

“Ladies and
gentlemen,” the lead singer spoke softly into the microphone several minutes
later. The band faded out and the singer announced reverently, “Ms. Veronica Templeman.”

A spotlight
shown down on her as she transitioned into her solo and everything else seemed
to fade away. She played a medley of Christmas songs, with her own classical
spin thrown on top. She’d recorded the piece on her last CD and had been
practicing it in a new key for weeks.

The crowd
quieted as her hands flew in front of her.

There were no
nerves now, only contentment. And coursing adrenaline.
She played as if she were the only one the audience was there to see.

As her fingers reached
for each note with exact precision, Roni let her mind
drift to the first time she’d played at Carnegie Hall. She’d been ten. The
specialness of that performance had been that her mother and brother had gotten
to come up.

Then she thought
about the children’s hospital in New York City. Her first time there, hundreds
of kids had sat in the audience. Kids there for nothing more than getting tubes
put in their ears, or possibly just visiting their less healthy siblings. Kids who’d
called the hospital home for months.

Some who’d had
no idea that they would never get the chance to go home again.

Unwanted emotions
threatened to creep into the edges of the music and Roni
stubbornly pushed them aside. She was playing here now. On Turtle Island. Not
in New York City. And not for anyone but a rowdy crowd of
women looking to have a good time and spend a little money.

She was not
playing for a child who had no mother.

Or a child who
had no home.

She shoved
everything from her mind but the song pouring from her fingertips and the fact
that this was her one and only shot. Then she would go back to playing at Gin’s.

She raced toward
the end, and felt tears slip from her eyes.

When she hit the
final note, she stood.

Shoulders back,
chin up, she felt twice her size. The place exploded.

Her hands
tingled with the flow of blood, and her body shook from excitement. That had
been euphoric.

That
had been
living.

That had scared
her to death.

She didn’t mean
to, but her gaze sought out Lucas’s. He was standing with his partner, but he
seemed to have forgotten she existed. He stared at Roni
with an understanding that made her breath catch. Somehow, he knew what she’d
just felt. She had no doubt about that.

He knew he’d
just witnessed her coming alive.

And she had. She
loved playing. She loved performing. She missed it.

But she couldn’t
go back.

She couldn’t
live without the pieces of her heart it took from her every time.