And wow, that sounds really fucking creepy.
“It’s nice to meet you, Gus,” she says with a pretty smile and a small laugh, likely at my blunder. “I really love your band. I think I listened to your last album on repeat for months. Especially that song…” She tilts her head, gnawing on her bottom lip as she thinks. “Oh, it was Time Surrender. That song is incredible.”
Holy Christ.
“Thanks. That means a lot,” I tell her, still a bit dazed.
I don’t know if I’m starstruck, overwhelmed by the idea of her singing this song with me, or over-the-top attracted to her. Maybe all of the above. Definitely all of the above, because I can’t help but smile like a fool at the idea that she actually knows our music and listens to it.
My eyes flitter around her face, feature by feature, my voice dropping a notch. “You were really great in there. I didn’t know you sang country. Not my favorite genre, but you make it sound good.”
She smiles in a way that makes her blue eyes sparkle as she stares up at me, and I instantly feel it. A pulse between us. An infectious kinetic energy that draws me in just a bit closer, watching as her smile grows just a touch brighter as I do.
“I don’t usually, but Catherine Strong and I go way back, and once I heard that song, I couldn’t say no to being on it. Are you and your band recording here today? I’d love to meet them too.”
She glances past me, searching for the other guys, and I shake my head. “Nope. Not today. It’s just me.” I take another step, wondering what the hell I’m doing as I encroach just a bit more, my eyes feasting down on her as an impish grin I should not be giving curls my lips.
And yet, I can’t make myself stop.
Is she feeling this the way I am?
“Naomi,” Lyric interjects, grabbing her attention away from me. “We need to talk to you about something.”
“Sure,” she agrees, clearing her throat and dragging her gaze away from mine. “Just give me a second to get my things.” She turns around, walking back toward the couch, and Christ… She’s goddamn exquisite. The thrumming of my heart in my chest is the rudest of awakenings.
She cannot sing this song with me.
I’ll devour her. I’ll strip her bare like the most delicate of flowers before I eat her whole.
I want her.
Insanely so.
I practically choke on my own laugh. This woman has the voice of an angel and the allure of a siren. What is any sane, rational man supposed to do with that? Not go near her? Not indulge in the fantasy placed before him? Not realize just how incredible a gift she is?
I rub a hand at my mouth, trying to wipe the smirk from it.
Life has a real fucked-up sense of humor.
I can’t remember the last time I was this instantly attracted to a woman.
And yet, she is everything I never imagined I desired for this song. The lingering notes of her voice in my head remind me she’s the only one who can sing this with me. The smiles of Lyric and Ethan are the smack in the face I evidently need.
I am meeting this woman for one reason and one reason only.
And that officially makes her off-limits. No matter what my dick might think.
Chapter Four
Naomi
* * *
“I need to talk to you about something.”
I hear Lyric say the words, but all I can focus on are her eyes. I’ve known Lyric forever. Her father and my father went way back. But sometimes, she falls into this space. This record executive space and I lose sight of the girl who used to dance around my playroom in braided pigtails.
“Okay,” I draw out the word, and something in her tone has me flicking back to Gus for a moment. His gaze meeting my own, he offers me a smile that despite the sudden shift in the tempo of the moment, makes my chest flutter a little. I quickly look back to Lyric.
“Gus has written a song. Not his usual style and he needs some very specific help with it.” I nod my head impatiently, waiting for her to follow that up with whatever she’s about to try to push on me. There’s more to it than needing help with a song, I can feel it. “We’re thinking it would be brilliant as a duet—”
“No,” I interrupt, the word flying out of my mouth without conscious thought despite the truth behind it. “Absolutely not.”
“Nai, let me finish.”
“No, Lyric. And honestly, we shouldn’t even have this conversation in front of Gus.” I glance in his direction again because he seems nice enough and I don’t mean to be rude or a bitch to him. “Please don’t take this the wrong way…” I blink at him, tilting my head. “You’re not the lead singer of your band, right? So why are you here with this and not your brother?”
“Because I wrote it,” he states simply, those gray eyes doing things to my insides I wish they wouldn’t. “And my brother won’t sing it.”
I take a second to think that through. To try to remember what I read about him and his brother and his band last summer. There was a lot of drama. A lot of contradictions. A lot of false stories and lies. I’ve lived my fair share of those and then some, so I don’t exactly read much into tabloids or entertainment rags. They had a field day when my life fell apart, so as far as I’m concerned, they can all screw off.
“I don’t understand,” I admit when I come up empty.
“I’m in love with my sister-in-law,” Gus continues without missing a beat. Like it’s nothing to admit such a forbidden, taboo, troublesome thing. “I’m trying to work past it because, well, it’s time. So, I wrote a song that Jasper cannot sing because it’s my goodbye to his wife. I need to put this song out there. It’s just how it is. But fucking Jasper being Jasper thinks it’s meant to be a duet. I trust him because he’s better at this than I am. That’s how we got here.”
He pans his hands around the studio and then over in my direction.
I smile before I can stop it. “I don’t think I’ve ever encountered anyone as forthright and honest as you are.”
He shrugs. “It’s no secret and I have nothing to hide.”
God. He’s like a freaking black rhino in my world. Extinct. Honesty and the music industry are nemeses. Fiercest rivals. They do not mix words or mingle blood. But Gus is just there. He’s just laying it all out for me to take in and make my own. No judgment. No fear. He’s a man who owns his soul and emotions and damn, I think I want to be him when I grow up.
So…if we’re being honest.
“I can’t do it, Gus.”
“You haven’t read it, Naomi,” he challenges, stepping forward once more and raising an eyebrow. Damn him. I don’t like him in my space like this. It’s intrusive as hell. A little intimidating if I’m honest with his size and heat and overwhelmingly gorgeous face.
His gray eyes, a smoky gunmetal, sear into mine, imploring me. It catches me off-guard, momentarily weakening a resolve I have no desire to weaken. He smirks, tilting his head, and when he does that, I catch a hint of his cologne—ocean, sunshine, and summer breeze. It might as well be my own personal brand of kryptonite.
I clear my throat and straighten my spine. “It doesn’t matter. My answer won’t change.”