A Malibu Kind of Romance

by Synithia Williams

  “When will that be?”

  “A few months out, but things are coming fast. The permits are already applied for.”

  He talked to his dad for a few more minutes about the club. Otis didn’t have a problem with Dante opening his own place. Mostly because he probably didn’t believe it would be a place for Dante to showcase the classical–hip-hop fusion music he loved and would be another venue for W.M. artists. Dante couldn’t deny the fear of failure. His dad’s years of experience in the music industry was a cold, hard truth that he really didn’t want to face, but he also couldn’t give in completely. He’d throw the party and invite a few music bloggers and other celebrities. He’d kept his music to himself for too long. Time to introduce some of his fans to what he ultimately wanted to do.

  Chapter 12

  Unlike her previous visit to Dante’s home when she’d wanted to choke him for ruining her date with Carlos, this time Julie didn’t care about Carlos, or anyone else. She looked forward to seeing Dante. She hadn’t seen him much during the day over the past few weeks. She’d had too many meetings with the architect and contractor, preparing the plans for submittal to the city along with her constant contact with Evette on their other projects to have enough time to see him. He had called a few times and asked her to come down to the studio and listen to him and S.A.F. in the evenings. She’d gone and left before she found herself on the desk with him again.

  Valet attendants handled the parking, but Julie didn’t have to worry about that because Dante had sent a car to pick her up. A pleasant surprise that she also knew was his way of making sure she came to the party. It would also control, to some extent, when she left. He needn’t worry. After seeing the less flashy side of Dante, and the more she realized he was afraid of what people would think about his music, she’d relaxed her guard.

  Julie arrived well after the party was scheduled to start, not wanting to appear too eager to see him, and she wasn’t surprised by the crush of people in his place. If the pool party she’d stumbled into was a last-minute thing, she expected that something planned would be elaborate. There were celebrities, hired security and waitstaff. The appetizers could have been served at a five-star restaurant instead of what was ultimately a house party.

  Outside was just as dazzling. A stage was set up next to the pool, which was a brilliant blue, thanks to the lights that brightened the water. She couldn’t hear the ocean over the music, sounds of laughter and constant popping of champagne bottles, but she could smell the salty air on the warm breeze.

  “Hey, Julie.” Esha’s voice came from her left.

  Julie turned and smiled at Esha, who had her arm around Terrance’s waist. Julie was used to attending functions alone, but a wave of relief rushed through her from seeing someone she knew in the sea of Hollywood elite.

  “Familiar faces, finally,” Julie said.

  Esha nodded. “I’m glad you made it. Dante was starting to worry that you wouldn’t come.”

  Julie turned her head and toyed with her dangling gold earring to hide her delighted grin from those words. “I was just running late.”

  Terrance held a beer in his hand and gestured toward the stage. “Now that you’re here, he’ll be ready to start the show.”

  “Show?”

  “He wants to perform the song we’ve been working on but didn’t want to do it until you were here.”

  More happiness bubbled up inside Julie. This time she didn’t turn away. “Where is he? I’ll let him know I’m here.”

  Terrance pointed to the other side of the pool. “Right over there.”

  Julie turned in the direction Terrance indicated. Dante stood talking to another guy whose back faced her. Dante wore distressed styled jeans that probably cost enough to feed a family of four for a month, and a black V-neck shirt. He looked casual and sexy. He looked up as if sensing her gaze. Awareness jolted down her spine when their eyes met. He stopped talking and grinned at her.

  If she’d known he’d greet her arrival with that smile, she would have gotten here an hour earlier.

  She started in his direction. He met her halfway. “Julie, you made it.” Relief filled his voice. He took her hands in his.

  “Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

  “I don’t know—you always surprise me.”

  “Well, I couldn’t miss your debut.”

  Dante chuckled as his thumbs brushed the backs of her hands. “I’ve been performing since I was thirteen. This is hardly a debut.”

  “It’s the debut of your new music. That’s a big deal.”

  He nodded, glanced around and shifted from foot to foot. “Yeah. It is.”

  Julie tilted her head to the side. “Hey, are you okay?”

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” His voice held all the bravado that she expected from Dante Wilson, the superstar, but underneath there was something else.

  “You’re afraid.”

  He scoffed. “Hardly.” He released her hands. Julie reached out to grip his arm, which was hard and tense.

  “It’s okay to admit it. You put everything into this music. Now you’re letting the world see a piece of you that they’ve never seen before. If you weren’t a little bit afraid, I’d think you were heartless,” she said softly.

  The tension left Dante’s arm. The corner of his mouth lifted, and he met her eyes. “I’m far from heartless. If I were, I wouldn’t feel so mixed up over you.”

  Warmth spread up Julie’s face, and her breathing stuttered. He didn’t mean that, couldn’t mean the words. While she wanted to try to guess his angle, guess what his ulterior motive was, she couldn’t. Not when he gazed at her with such sincerity, when he seemed just as baffled by the feelings stirred up when they were together.

  “Well, well, well, if it isn’t Julie Dominick,” a male voice said.

  Julie’s gaze swung to the left. Antwan? Her stomach tightened. Her palms got slick with sweat. What the hell was he doing here? She’d seen him only twice since the opening of his nightclub—the night when the three other women he’d been sleeping with showed up. Julie’s body went ice-cold. She was over Antwan and avoided guys like him. Or she had until flexing her rules and getting closer to Dante.

  Don’t just stand here like an idiot.

  “Antwan,” she said with a short head nod.

  Antwan was cute, but his swagger and confidence made him downright irresistible. He wore a pair of dark jeans and a shirt along with a red plaid button-up over the ensemble and a gaudy platinum-and-diamond chain.

  “Julie,” he said in a slick voice that held too many memories she’d like to forget. “I didn’t know you were out here.” His tattooed hand rubbed his chin. Julie thought he’d added more. God, to think she’d once pressed that hand to her heart. It made her stomach lurch.

  “I’m partnering with Dante and Raymond on a new nightclub.”

  Dante looked between the two. “You know each other.”

  Julie nodded. “I helped Antwan open a nightclub in Atlanta.”

  “That’s right. I remember Raymond said something about that.”

  Antwan shifted and regarded Julie with an affection that she knew was all for show. “Julie and I used to date.”

  “A long, long time ago,” she said.

  Dante pointed at Julie, then Antwan, and frowned. “You two dated?”

  Well, at least she could rule out that Dante and Antwan had shared secrets about her. “Like I said, years ago.” She regarded Antwan. “What brings you to Malibu?”

  Antwan nodded toward Dante. “We’re working on an album together.”

  Julie turned to Dante. “Really?”

  “We’re thinking about it. Antwan’s considering signing with my family’s label, and it’s only natural we’d consider a collaboration.”

  “What abo
ut your music?”

  Antwan laughed. “It will be his music. He’ll write the song—I’ll do the rap. In fact, Dante and I are going to perform tonight. Give a little test run of what we can do together.”

  Julie turned back to Dante. “Terrance said you were doing another song.”

  Dante nodded. “We are after I indulge Antwan. Why don’t you grab a drink and sit close to the stage? I want you to see both and tell me what you think.”

  He sounded as if her opinion was important to him, which started a fluttery feeling in her stomach. “Sure.”

  “Good seeing you, Julie,” Antwan said. He ogled every one of her assets highlighted by her sleeveless cranberry-colored minidress, lingering on her thighs and cleavage. His gaze was both familiar and unwanted. “I really hope we can catch up while I’m in town.”

  Julie barely refrained from rolling her eyes; she did, however, give him an uninterested smirk. “Don’t count on it.”

  Antwan snickered. “Why? You hooking up with Dante now, or is Raymond still sniffing around, keeping other men away?”

  Anger shot up Julie’s spine. Her eyes narrowed, and she prepared to tell Antwan just where to go when a tall beauty that Julie recognized as a model hurried over and threw her arms around Dante’s shoulders.

  “Thank you for inviting me,” she said in a sexy purr and kissed his cheek.

  Dante’s lips curved into a tight smile that didn’t reach his eyes as he pulled the model’s arms from around him. “Alicia, hey, when did you get here?”

  “Just now. And guess what?” She turned and used her finger to tell another equally tall and beautiful woman to come over. “I brought my sister. Maybe we can relive Vegas.” The sister came over and plastered herself on Dante’s other side, putting a matching lipstick print on that cheek.

  “I’m down for that,” the sister said in an equally enticing voice.

  Antwan howled with bawdy laughter. “Damn, Dante, you party like that?”

  As the girls laughed, Dante glanced at Julie. Julie took a step back. The rose-colored glasses that she’d seen Dante through crashed to the ground. No matter what she thought she’d seen in him over the past few weeks, this was the real him—a partying playboy who would probably treat her just as casually as Antwan had.

  “You guys have fun. I’m going to get a drink.” She turned her back on the disgusting display and hurried to the bar.

  Carlos sat on the edge of the bar. He raised his hand in a friendly wave when they made eye contact. She hadn’t talked to him since their date. There were no sparks there, but for now, she was happy to have a conversation with a guy without the sparks and flutters that caused her to make dumb decisions.

  Carlos pushed out the stool next to him, and she gladly accepted. “Thanks.”

  “I was hoping you’d be here tonight,” he said.

  “Why is that?”

  “I enjoyed our first date.” She raised a brow, and he held up a hand. “The ending was different, but before that, it was very nice.” He leaned over, placed his hand over hers and squeezed.

  “I had a good time, too.” She pulled her hand, but his tightened.

  “Maybe we’ll get together again sometime. Unless Dante won your affections.”

  Julie refused to look back at Dante and the wonder twins clinging to his side. “Does it look like Dante has won my affections? We work together. That’s all.”

  Carlos let go of her hand. “Good to know. How about tonight’s our do over? And we end things the way I’d hoped we would have the first time?”

  “How did you want things to end?”

  He waved at the bartender, pointed at his drink, then held up two fingers. “I’ll just say a lot differently than they did.”

  The music lowered, and the crowd cheered. Julie swiveled toward the stage where Dante and Antwan were.

  Antwan took the microphone. “As some of y’all know, I’m considering moving over to W. M. Records. When that happens, you’ll get a lot more of what you’re about to experience. Let’s do this.”

  The DJ cranked up the music, and Dante’s smooth tenor started the song. Julie had to admit, Dante’s vocals and Antwan’s rapping was hot. The crowd loved them together. Any song they put out would be a surefire hit. Would he really give up a chance for another almost guaranteed hit to make an album with S.A.F.?

  They finished, and, of course, the partygoers went wild and begged for more. Dante grinned, his brow glistening with sweat from his exertion.

  “Hold up, hold up,” he said to the crowd. “I’ve got something else I want you all to hear.” Terrance, Tommy and the rest of the group came up onstage. “This is something new that I’m trying. Tell me what you think.”

  Julie was a ball of nerves. Her heart pounded, and her stomach twisted as if she were the one debuting new music. Dante looked across the space directly at her. His eyes filled with the same nervousness that fluttered in her stomach. She lifted her glass to him in salute. Dante raised his chin, then started the music.

  Instead of watching him, Julie gauged the reaction of the people at the party. There were looks of confusion when the violins started, but there was also curiosity. When the drums and bass picked up the beat, the confusion gave way to enthusiasm. Before long, the rest of the partygoers were bobbing their heads and moving to the music. When they finished the song, the crowd was on their feet, clapping and cheering.

  Julie put her drink down and clapped with them, a huge smile on her face. If Dante needed a boost to tell him this was what he should be doing, then he’d gotten just that. He glanced at her, his grin so big and triumphant that her heart stuttered in her chest. She turned to get her drink off the bar to raise to him.

  Her hand bumped against Carlos’s. She turned, frowning, as he pulled his hand away from her glass. His smile was apologetic. “Sorry, I was trying to move the glass out of the way.”

  “Was it in your way?”

  He shook his head. “No, the bartender was wiping things down.”

  She glanced at the bartender, who was wiping the bar but was not near them. Still, he could have been right behind her when Carlos tried to move her glass.

  “No harm, no foul,” she said.

  She took the glass, then turned back to Dante and raised it. His joy from earlier was gone. He scowled at her, then turned his glower on Carlos. He couldn’t possibly be upset that she was sitting with Carlos. If anything, he deserved the angry stare after he’d had two supermodel sisters offer up their favors to him so blatantly. Here she was, once again, getting caught up into thinking there was more to him than she’d originally expected just because his music moved her.

  She took a sip from her drink and turned back to Carlos. “How did you enjoy the music?”

  Carlos looked from her glass to her. “I liked it okay, but it’s nothing like the music we played on tour. I think they should just stick to that.”

  “Really?”

  “Just my opinion. But, hey, who knows what catches on and what doesn’t? I wish him well.” He picked up his drink and held it out to her. “A toast to his success.”

  Julie touched her glass to his. “To his success,” she said, taking another sip. She glanced at the stage. One of the model sisters had jumped up and was trying to plaster herself against Dante. Dante still glared at Julie. Heat spread up her cheeks. God, I’m ridiculous. Blushing, again, just because he’s looking at me.

  Julie downed her drink. Time to go before she became even more wrapped up in the crazy feelings he evoked in her.

  She smiled at Carlos. “I think I’m going to call it a night.”

  He pouted, odd for a grown man. “That sounds like a goodbye. I thought we were making tonight our do over.”

  “I’ll have to take a rain check on that. I’m really not in the mood for partying.” Or watchin
g Dante scowl at her when she talked to another man while simultaneously having a supermodel trying to jump his bones on stage.

  “Let me at least walk you to the door.”

  “There’s really no need.”

  “I don’t mind.” He gave her a cute smile. “Maybe I’ll convince you to let me drive you home.”

  “I’ll let you walk me to the door, but driving me home isn’t necessary.” She stood.

  “You said that about walking you to the door, but you changed your mind.” His voice carried too much confidence that she would let him take her home. Too bad for him; she wasn’t in the mood for any guy to try to sweet-talk his way into her pants.

  She couldn’t bear to look back at Dante and see him probably fawning over the two models. Instead she waved at Esha and headed to the door.

  “You really should let me drive you home,” Carlos said. “You’ve been drinking.”

  Julie’s lip twisted. “Only two. Besides, Dante sent a driver, so I’m good either way.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” Her footing slipped on the way into the house. The lights danced, and her vision went blurry. “What the...”

  Carlos quickly wrapped an arm around her waist to steady her. “Are you okay? You drank a lot. I couldn’t let you drive home like this.”

  His voice was raised. The sound made her head throb. She pressed a hand to her temple. The people, lights and furnishings all spun like a merry-go-round. Her stomach churned. She hadn’t drank enough for this to happen.

  “I’m...okay.”

  “No, you’re not. I’ll make sure you get home, okay?”

  He sounded way too eager. Carlos pressed her closer to him, his hand resting on the side of her breast, his thumb caressing her through her dress. The churning in Julie’s stomach intensified.

  “What did you put in my drink?” Her voice slurred.

  He leaned close to her ear. “Just something to make you a little friendly. Don’t worry—you won’t remember anything tomorrow.” His hot breath blew in her ear.