Encore

by Rachel Lacey

  Two things.

  * * *

  1. I looked up Cole singing “Coast to Coast” on YouTube, and you’ve got talent. Still not sure how I never knew this after all our years of working together, but let’s change that with my next album, k?

  * * *

  2. You told me once you were holding out for a man who looked at you the way Josh looks at me. Well, you’ve found him. If you don’t believe me, look up that YouTube video I just watched and see for yourself.

  Jenn’s heart lurched into her throat at Kate’s words. No way. There was no way Cole looked at her the way Josh looked at Kate. It wasn’t possible. She and Cole weren’t in love. They couldn’t fall in love…

  “Who’s texting you?” Cole asked.

  “Kate,” she answered numbly.

  “Man, she really needs to chill. I can’t believe she’s sending you more work right after we just left her condo.”

  “She’s just…double-checking travel plans for tomorrow.” Jenn fumbled her phone, and it slid across her knees toward Cole. She snatched it back before he could read Kate’s words.

  “She’s a nice lady and all,” Cole said, not paying the least bit of attention to her phone, “but she’s pretty high maintenance if you ask me.”

  “She’s one of the most popular and highly paid recording artists in America. Of course she’s high maintenance,” she responded to Cole as her fingers typed, That’s crazy talk to Kate and pressed Send.

  “So what are we going to do tomorrow while the boss is out of town?” Cole asked, giving her a heated look.

  She blinked, staring hard at him. There was lust in his expression, sure. But more than that? No way. It just wasn’t there. “I have some work to do, but I can do most of it remotely. I just need to check in at Kate’s after the cleaners have finished to make sure everything’s taken care of.”

  “You really are thorough.”

  “She pays me to be.”

  Watch the video, Kate texted back. You’ll see.

  * * *

  Cole’s gaze slid over the crowd as he sang. The Lion’s Main was packed to bursting tonight. The air sizzled with energy and adrenaline. His fingers skimmed over the frets of the guitar, finding rhythm in the noise. His body moved automatically to the beat, swaying as his foot stomped along with Naveen’s drumbeat. The song was “King of Manhattan,” and right now, that’s what he felt like.

  The crowd screamed and sang, hands up and bodies moving. If he let his vision blur, it almost looked like a multicolored ocean before him, seething and rocking as one entity, pulled by the force of the music. He’d grown bitter toward this song after the nickname it earned him, but now that it seemed to be behind him, he remembered how much he used to love it.

  “Don’t tie me up or tear me down. I don’t need your fancy crown. I’m the king…the king…the king of Manhattan,” he sang, feeling the echo of the crowd roll over him in a wave of energy that sent fire through his veins.

  Fuck, yeah.

  His gaze darted to the right of the stage where Jenn stood in the shadows as she waited for her moment in “Right Away.” She wore black pants that shimmered beneath the stage lights with a snug black tank top. Her red hair was loose and wavy over her shoulders, her eyes locked on his. Even though it was too dark to see her expression, he felt the heat of her gaze like a shock wave that rolled over him.

  Just the thought of her joining him up onstage in a few minutes was enough to make his dick thicken inside his jeans. He winked at Jenn before turning back to the crowd. He belted out the rest of the chorus, then moved out from behind the mic stand, roaming to the front of the stage to slap hands from the crowd as the final bars of music played behind him. He leaned back to grab the mic. “The king of Manhattan!”

  The crowd roared. He pumped his fist in the air, turning again to catch Jenn’s eye. She was still hidden in shadow against the wall, but he could tell she was smiling. So was he. These club shows had been exactly what he needed to wake up the creative beast inside him. He felt revitalized and rejuvenated, and maybe it was his imagination, but the fans seemed to treat him differently since he’d gotten married. They were less grabby, more focused on the music, and it suited him just fine.

  He and the guys played two more songs—older hits that kept the energy in the room high. As they finished playing “Gambler,” he saw the tech wheeling Jenn’s keyboard onto the stage. His pulse quickened, and his gaze tracked once more to where she stood by the wall.

  He could feel the nervous energy rolling off her, and his gut tightened in response. Damn, but he hoped everything went off perfectly for her first performance. Not that he cared personally if she messed up, but he worried what it might to do her confidence—both in her music and in her progress over what had happened in Vegas—if she did.

  “I have a special treat for you guys tonight,” he told the crowd, never taking his eyes off Jenn. “A special guest, I should say.”

  They screamed with excitement, glancing around the room. No doubt they were expecting a big-name celebrity guest—probably Kate—but in his eyes, this was even more exciting.

  “My wife is going to join us for this next song,” he said, motioning to Jenn. She stepped out of the shadows, a wide smile on her face, her cheeks almost as red as her hair. “This is a song we wrote together, and we’re so excited to play it for the first time live for you guys tonight.”

  Maybe the crowd had been expecting a big name, but they applauded their approval of this news just as enthusiastically. Through the cheers, he heard quite a few “awws” from the romantics in the room. Whatever. If they wanted romance, he’d give them romance. He reached out and took Jenn’s hand, tugged her up against him, and kissed her. The stage lights beat down on them, as hot and bright as the lust searing through his veins. She tensed for a moment in surprise, and then she kissed him back as the crowd behind them screamed with delight.

  He was kissing Jenn onstage in front of a live crowd, and it might have been the hottest moment in his life. After a minute, he forced himself to lift his head before they got carried away. He grinned down at her, totally punch-drunk with lust and adrenaline. He lifted their hands into the air, turning them to face the crowd. “Jennifer Nix, ladies and gentlemen.”

  * * *

  Jennifer Nix.

  Of course he would introduce her that way in front of the crowd. It was just that Jenn had never used her married name or even thought about it really. With their preplanned divorce, she’d never given any thought to taking his name. Hearing it on his lips, though, she liked it.

  Jennifer Nix.

  She glanced out at the sea of faces, and her head swam. Those newly familiar feelings of fear and anxiety swam in her stomach, rising like a tidal wave toward her throat, and oh my God, she was going to lose it in front of all these people. Her eyes tracked toward the exit as her chest seemed to collapse in on itself. Remembering the only way she’d been able to calm herself in the past, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Cole’s. Closing her eyes, she let the warmth of his kiss settle her.

  He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “You’re going to be amazing. Just focus on the keys and pretend we’re back in the studio.”

  She nodded as tears blurred her vision, because he’d realized exactly what she was doing when she kissed him. She glanced out at the crowd and forced a smile, then walked to the keyboard. It was positioned behind Cole and to his right, near Tom, the bassist, who gave her a warm smile of encouragement.

  And then—because her solo bar on the keyboard opened the song—she sucked in a deep breath and began to play. As Cole had instructed, she kept her eyes on the keys, her focus on the music. As she reached the end of the bar, Cole joined her on his guitar, and then the rest of the band joined in as he began to sing.

  She glanced up, saw him dancing around behind the mic stand as he sang, saw the crowd swaying and smiling, soaking it up, and for a moment, she completely lost her place in the music. Her hands stilled on the keys, b
ut the rest of the band kept playing. She sucked in a breath to center herself and rejoined them.

  The music seemed to swell around her until her whole body pulsed with it. She closed her eyes, feeling its rhythm in her soul as her fingers danced over the keys. The crowd had picked up the chorus of “Right Away,” and she heard their voices singing along with Cole’s throaty baritone.

  Wow.

  Something came over her, a feeling so powerful, it seemed to inflate inside her, filling her with light and warmth until her heart almost ached with it. She’d never imagined being here onstage, not with Cole or anyone else. It had never been a part of her dream. But right here, right now, as Cole sang the lyrics they’d written and the crowd repeated them back to him, she wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world.

  It was one of those moments she knew she’d cherish for the rest of her life.

  All too soon, the song drew to a close. The crowd roared with applause. She stood and walked to the front of the stage as Cole waved and said good night. It was somewhat of an unorthodox song to end on—being a slower number and unknown too—but this was how they’d planned it, and she was glad now because she couldn’t wait to get backstage with Cole.

  The rest of the band joined them, waving and bowing as the crowd went nuts. The guys slapped hands in the audience while she hung back, just watching and smiling. She still had that strangely inflated feeling, like she was so full of joy, she might burst. Then Cole grabbed her hand, and they walked offstage.

  Jorja was there, and she hurried forward to talk to Cole. Jenn felt a sudden rush of something foreign and possessive that almost made her yank him away from his assistant so that she could have him all to herself. What the hell? Annoyed, she pasted on a smile and listened as Jorja ran through the postshow rundown as Jenn had done for Kate a million times. All the while, Cole’s hand gripped hers, warm and strong—a promise of things to come. A slow burn ignited in her belly at the thought.

  Finally, Jorja walked off to oversee the breakdown of the stage gear. The band crowded in around them, talking and laughing with fist bumps and backslaps. Everyone was rowdy with postshow adrenaline. Everyone except Cole, who’d gone strangely quiet, although his eyes gleamed with the same urgency she felt building inside her.

  At the first opportunity, he broke away from the group, leading her down the hall to his dressing room. As soon as he’d shut the door behind them, he pressed her against the wall, but instead of jumping her bones as she’d expected, he cupped her face in his hands, his expression almost reverent.

  “You took my fucking breath away tonight,” he murmured.

  And now he’d taken hers. This man. This night. This moment. It was all so much more than she’d ever imagined, and now she wondered how she’d ever gotten through so much of her life without him.

  “I’m so proud of you,” he said, his thumb stroking her cheek. “Not only did you get up there and sound absolutely fucking spectacular, but you overcame some pretty enormous things just walking out on that stage. You inspire me so much, every damn day.”

  “Cole—” She could hardly speak past the lump in her throat. His face swam in her vision as tears filled her eyes.

  “My only regret about tonight is that we put your keyboard behind me because I couldn’t just stare at you for the whole damn song without turning my back on the audience, and believe me, I considered it.”

  “That would have been silly,” she whispered, wiping away the tear that had splashed down her cheek.

  “Not to me,” he said, his voice all low and gruff and possessive. He held her so close that she could feel his iron shaft pressing into her belly, and yet he made no move to undress her. He just kept looking at her like she hung the moon or something, and it was seriously messing with her heart. It beat erratically, bumping into her ribs and making her head swim. “But the next best thing was watching the crowd watch you. That was pretty damn amazing too.”

  “I don’t think they were watching me.”

  “They were, baby,” he murmured, dipping his head to bring his lips to hers. “They were.”

  They kissed, hot and greedy and desperate, hands groping, tongues delving as all the air between them evaporated. There was no more talking then, just a frantic scramble to rid themselves of clothes, and then Cole was pushing inside her. They both moaned, the sound combining to resonate in her chest as he filled her.

  She thrust her hips against him as need curled inside her, impossibly strong. Memories of the night flitted through her as they moved together, the way Cole had looked up there behind the microphone, stealing looks at her as often as he could, the way it had felt to be out onstage, a part of the music for the first time. The crowd, singing her lyrics. And Cole. Cole looking at her like she was the center of his universe…just as Kate had said.

  Boom. The orgasm exploded inside her, so powerful her whole brain seemed to detonate along with it. Cole groaned as he found his own release. Her mind went blissfully blank for several long beats of pleasure. As she came back to herself, she realized something else.

  She had fallen hopelessly, endlessly, in love with Colton Nix.

  21

  The next week was one of the best Cole could remember. He and the guys played another show with Jenn. In such a short time, he’d developed a really great rapport with Naveen, Tom, and Ricky. They had more fun and played better together than any other combination of musicians he’d ever worked with. And having Jenn up there onstage with him was just…well, it was amazing, and energizing, and really fucking arousing.

  With Kate lying low in LA, he and Jenn had spent a lot of time in bed. A lot of time together in general. They wrote a new song. They went back to the gun range. They even did one of those wine and paint classes—a private class just for the two of them. His painting sucked, but he’d had fun, and she suggested he auction it for charity. She knew endless ways to sneak around the city without him being recognized, and it seemed like they had fun together no matter what they were doing.

  On Wednesday afternoon, though, they did something that he never would have anticipated doing with Jenn—or any other woman, for that matter. They sat down for an interview together. After their first performance together at The Lion’s Main, they were inundated with interview requests. Jenn was initially hesitant but eventually agreed to sit down with a reporter from Modern Rock Magazine that they both knew and respected.

  “I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” she said, smoothing her hands over the front of her dress as she paced the living room.

  “Relax.” He stood and pulled her in against him. “It’s great publicity for both of us.”

  “I don’t need publicity,” she murmured against his shirt.

  “Yes, you do. We’re getting your name out there as something other than Kate’s assistant or my wife. You wanted this, remember?”

  She nodded with a resigned sigh. “I’ve been at a million interviews like this one before. I’ve just never been the one answering the questions.”

  “We’ll answer them together.”

  There was a light knock at the door. Jenn straightened, pulling out of his arms and running her hands through her hair.

  “That’ll be Jorja,” he said, turning as his assistant let herself inside.

  “Hi, guys,” Jorja said as she bustled into the room. She set out snacks on the coffee table and made her way around the living room, checking the arrangements that the cleaning crew had put out that morning, the same arrangements Jenn had already fussed over repeatedly herself.

  Thirty minutes later, they welcomed Todd Wright from Modern Rock Magazine and his assistant, Willa. They made all the usual pleasantries while Jorja brought out drinks and got everyone comfortably settled in the living room.

  “Great place you’ve got here,” Todd commented as he settled in an armchair across from where Cole and Jenn sat on the couch. “Love the character.” He gestured toward the back wall, with its exposed brick and piping.


  “It’s what sold me on the place,” Cole told him.

  “I’m going to set this out here,” Todd said, putting his recorder on the table between them. “Just forget it’s there. You know the drill.”

  “Sure do,” Cole replied with an easy smile.

  “Well, as you know, we wanted to start by talking about your recent club shows here in New York. It’s something that not a lot of musicians of your caliber do—playing these smaller clubs and especially between albums. What draws you to that format?”

  “Those clubs are where I started out, back when I was with Quentros. The vibe is so different from a big concert stadium. People go to the clubs to hear something new, something different, and that’s what I like to do there. I try out new songs that haven’t been recorded yet. Sometimes I don’t know what works, what really moves me, until I’m singing it in front of a live crowd.”

  Todd asked several more questions about the new music Cole was working on, when they might expect to see a new album, and his experience working with Kate on “The Love You Give.”

  “Speaking of Katherine Hayes,” Todd said, glancing from Cole to Jenn. “I hear it’s thanks to her that you guys met.”

  “That’s right,” Cole answered. “Jenn is Katherine’s assistant.”

  “A story of love at first sight,” Todd said with a smile.

  “Something like that, yeah.” Cole reached for Jenn’s hand and gave it a squeeze. She’d been awfully quiet so far during the interview, but he had a feeling that was about to change.

  “What initially drew you to him, Jenn?” Todd asked.

  “Well, it wasn’t his name,” Jenn answered, giving Cole a sly look. “I don’t date men in the business as a rule, but there was just—I don’t know—a connection between us right away. We talked first, talked a lot, but obviously, it turned out to be so much more than that.”