She laughed with a high-pitched nervous ring. “So listen, I don’t usually do stuff like this.”
“Talk to people?”
“No.” She giggled again and swatted his arm. “I just really think you’re hot.”
And I have a girlfriend. He knew he should say it out loud, but his mouth wasn’t cooperating.
“I kinda wondered if you were busy after the show tonight.” She slid half a step closer.
I have a girlfriend in California. “No, just going home to get ready for tomorrow.”
She slid the other half step so her body brushed lightly against his. “I could help you get ready.”
A girlfriend in California who, when I asked her to marry me, said she had to think about it. “Maybe you could.”
* * * *
Seconds after he climaxed and rolled off her, the weight of making a terrible mistake crushed him into her mattress. “I gotta go.” He lunged off the bed, grabbing his jeans off the floor. Candy was going to kill him.
“Okay,” Jennifer rolled over. “You were awesome.”
“Uh, thanks. You too.” He yanked his jeans up, his underwear balled inside the left leg. What the fuck was he supposed to tell Candy? He shoved his jeans down to get his underwear and realized he was still wearing the fucking condom, too. He pulled it off and looked around for a trash can.
“Just drop it on the floor.” Jennifer stretched on the bed, arching. “I wish you didn’t have to go so soon.”
“I gotta get home.” He zipped his fly and grabbed his shirt.
“See you at the show tonight.”
Oh, crap. Tyler ran down the stairs of her apartment to his car. Who had seen him leave the bar? Nobody. After the encore, he’d changed into street clothes and ditched his stage gear with Connie, who was filling in for Candy while she was away.
If Candy had been where she was supposed to be, none of this would have happened. He’d have been standing in front of her in his underwear and there would have been no chance for him to walk out the front door with some chick he’d just met who looked just like her.
Dammit, dammit. Tyler started his car and drove home. Mom and Tiff were asleep. He crashed on the couch without unfolding it. His mother commented on that in the morning, but not on the fact that he was wearing his jeans while his underwear was on the floor with his shirt. He bailed without eating breakfast and drove out to an area of the park nobody went to where he cranked Live’s Secret Samadhi album. Jason and Marc had students all day. Bear worked in his dad’s garage on Saturdays. Brian or Sandy might be home.
Who was he kidding? If any of them found out, they would kill him. Sandy liked to talk about how they were family and they’d deal with things together, but even family had limits. Candy was the greatest and he’d just cheated on her. And Brian? Candy would leave him for Brian. The two of them were tight. Brian would never screw up like this. Brian really could be her hero.
She could never find out. Nobody saw him leave with Jennifer. It never happened. Done deal.
But that night at the gig, she was there. Tyler stopped singing the second he saw her, but they were in the middle of a last choral section and he’d recovered by the time he had to deliver the closing line. Naturally, they would be closing the encore with Def Leppard’s new hit “Promises.” The lights went down giving him a precious couple of seconds to get his shit together before they came back up for the final bows. The audience screamed. Jason moved into position next to him. Marc on the other side. Lights up. Final bow.
She was still there. Standing at the edge of the crowd smiling like the crowd was screaming for her.
“What the fuck happened to you?” Marc snarled as they walked off stage.
“I forgot the lyrics.” He needed to get to Jennifer and tell her to disappear.
“What part of ‘I won’t make promises I can’t keep’ and ‘ahhhh ahhhh ahhhh’ did you forget?” Jason asked.
Tyler veered away from them toward the audience.
“Where are you going?” Connie shouted. “You need to change.”
Tyler kept going until all their voices were lost in the song the DJ had put on when the show ended. Jennifer was still standing on the edge of the lighted dance floor. She didn’t look anything like Candy. What had he been thinking? She wore a short black skirt and a blue top with black nylons and black shoes. The whole outfit was uninspired. Candy always dressed so much more…finished. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
She stroked his sweaty shirt. “I told you, I’ve seen every one of your shows. You were great.” She bit her lip. “So, what are you doing now?”
“I’m busy. I gotta get changed and stuff.”
“You gonna be able to come by my place again after? I had a great time last night.” She slipped her fingers under his shirt, stroking his skin.
It felt good, but she still wasn’t Candy. “Listen, I have a girlfriend.”
She blinked. “You what?”
“I have a girlfriend. Last night was kind of a mistake for me. I’m sorry.” He put his hand on her shoulder. “I really need you to be cool with this.”
Her jaw flexed and her chest started heaving. “You’re an asshole, you know that?” She spun on her heels and stomped away.
Dammit. He didn’t need her telling him he was an asshole. He already knew. Tyler turned back toward the dressing room.
Tessa stood five feet away. If anything, she looked angrier than Jennifer. She couldn’t have heard over the music, but she looked as if she understood. She shook her head and walked away.
Candy would be home in three days. Somehow, in the next three days he needed to find a way to make this right. because there was no way Tess wouldn’t tell Candy the second she saw her.
Chapter 5
Candy wandered through the offices, looking at the pictures on the walls. Tyler would go nuts. Anybody who was anybody had either been here or wanted to be. She wasn’t sure who Joe had an appointment with, but he didn’t need her for it and this was her reward for landing the management company contract. Now she was really going to be able to figure out how to promote Touchstone. When they did get a recording contract, she’d be ready.
She started reading her way down the gold records lining one hallway. Would it be tacky to take a picture of herself standing under them? She peered up and down the hall. Nobody around. If she worked fast— She got out her camera and tried to line up a shot.
“You’ll never get it that way.”
Candy jumped, fumbled the camera, and dropped it.
“Here, I’ll get it.” Before she could stop him the tall, lean boy had snatched up her camera. He had a shaggy but expertly cut mop of light brown hair and round blue eyes. “Shift over a bit. A bit more. There. Say seventh heaven.”
“Seventh heaven.” Candy laughed in spite of herself.
“One more for luck.” He clicked the shutter again and handed the camera back.
“I didn’t think there was anyone here.”
He shrugged. “I blend into the background pretty good. What are you doing here?”
“Waiting for my boss to get out of a meeting.”
“Ah, I’m waitin’ for the old man to get out of one. How much trouble do you want to get into?”
“None.” Who was this guy and why was he lurking around a record company? He looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place the face.
He laughed. “Come on. Have a little adventure. Did you know there’s an old recording studio in the sub-subbasement of this building?”
“There is?” He had a weird accent too. It sounded as if he couldn’t decide whether he was American or English, which was either really pretentious or really cool. He seemed more cool than pretentious.
“Yeah. Hopelessly outdated so they never use it anymore, but you expect Frank Sinatra to walk in any second.”
“That sounds cool.”
“You wanna see it?”
“I don’t
know. Is it okay to go down there?”
“Nobody’s going to stop us.” He held out his hand.
Candy bit her lip. He was way cute and carried himself with utter confidence, but Tyler… “I have a boyfriend.”
He shrugged. “I have a girlfriend. I just want to show you the sites. Nothing like seeing it new again through someone else’s eyes. I’m Ricky by the way.” He held out his hand.
“Candy.” She shook his hand.
“So we going to look at this deserted and possibly haunted studio or what?”
Ricky had more charm than ten men should legally be allowed to have. He took her down in the elevator to the basement and then down two flights of stairs. Two guards saw them, but he just waved and told them where they were going. The guards waved back making her wonder if maybe he was the son of the owner or something.
“Wow, it does feel like Frank Sinatra is going to walk in any minute.” Candy ran her hand over the soundproofing on the walls. Against one wall was a standup bass with an ugly crack in the neck and a couple of ancient looking mic stands.
“All the old boards are still in here. I think it would be cool if somebody brought some new equipment down here to do some recording. A guy who used to work down here as an engineer told me sometimes you can hear the fault grinding in playback.”
Candy pulled her hand away from the wall. “Is it safe?”
“As safe as anywhere. Give me your camera, I’ll take some pictures.”
She handed him the camera and posed under his direction. Occasionally, he’d arrange her, but his touch was very businesslike.
“You are a great model. Working with you is like working with my sister. You ever do any modeling work?”
“No.” Either his sister was a model or he was that attracted to her. Whatever.
“How long are you going to be in town? I’d love to get some shots of you with my camera.”
“I don’t know.” Candy glanced around the room. Way down in the sub-subbasement, nobody knowing where she was. This might not have been the brightest idea. “My boss is probably looking for me.”
“I’m not talking about now. I mean tomorrow or something, if you’re not busy.” His eyes lit up. “You could come out to the house.”
“I really should get back.” Candy started backing toward the door. He still had her camera, but that would be a small loss.
“Ah, and she freaks out right on cue.” Ricky shifted his weight to one leg and tossed his head. “There’s about thirty people in this building who will swear I’m not a serial killer or a rapist.”
Candy stopped. She shouldn’t take his word on it, but for some reason she did. “Well, I’d have to talk to my boss. I’m really out here on a business trip.”
“Business trip? Are you older than you look or are you some kind of prodigy?”
Candy shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Let’s go find him.”
“I don’t want to interrupt if he’s in a meeting.”
“Trust me, that won’t be a problem.” Ricky ushered her back upstairs.
Joe was standing in the atrium, scowling until he noticed them getting out of the elevator.
“Hello, Joe. Meeting over?”
“Yeah. You found a friend.”
“Joe, this is Ricky. Ricky, this is my boss, Joe Goldman.”
Ricky held out his hand and Joe shook it as if they were equals. “I was hoping I could borrow your assistant for a little while.”
“Borrow her?” Joe’s eyebrows shot up.
“I’m into photography and the camera loves her. I’d love to get some shots.”
“Sure, you want to take her now?”
Candy tensed. Joe was going to let this strange boy just take her away. What was wrong with him? Didn’t he even want to know who Ricky was? A last name maybe? Mr. Dale would never do this. “Joe!”
“Trust me, you’ll be fine.” Joe patted her shoulder. “We don’t have anything planned tonight, but we have another meeting tomorrow morning at ten that might take all day and we fly out the day after. Tonight is your only chance.”
Tonight? She wasn’t ready for tonight. Did Joe honestly think she was going to run off with this person she’d just met? Not that she didn’t trust him, but this wasn’t rational. Like making over a random boy who walked into her section at the store wasn’t rational.
“Dad’s going to be busy for a while yet. I can get us a ride home and bring you back to wherever you’re staying by seven. I’ll even spring for dinner, no strings. Deal?”
Candy glanced at the clock over the reception desk. Two thirty. Four and a half hours with this total stranger? But her gut told her it was the right thing to do. This boy had the run of a major recording company. He, or his dad, might be in the position to help Tyler. She checked Joe’s expression. He had that predatory gleam in his eye he only got when he was about to make a major deal. “You sure it’s okay?” she asked him.
“Kid, you are exactly where you’re supposed to be.” Whatever that meant.
Ricky asked the receptionist to get him a car and tell his dad he’d gone back home. They were in the backseat of a chauffeured car heading, literally, for the hills in half an hour. He asked a lot of questions about Tyler and Touchstone and when she played the demo for him, he said it was good, but raw. They needed, he claimed, a good producer and named a few names Candy recognized from major hit albums.
His dad’s house was mammoth. She’d been impressed by Joe’s condo, but this place had gates and a gatehouse from which a good-looking Hispanic man waved.
“Jorge, our caretaker,” Ricky explained. Then he pointed out Luis, the gardener, who apparently lived in a different building at the back of the property. With his family.
Who was this guy? And who the hell was his dad?
“Come on in. I’ll grab my camera. The light is amazing at this time of day. Hello Sharon. Sharon, this is Candy. I met her down at the offices. Candy, this is Sharon, she’s our cook. Is it going to be a problem to have one more for dinner?”
“You little pest.” Sharon smiled. “Of course not. Nice to meet you. I was planning pork chops and applesauce. Is that all right with you?”
Candy nodded.
“Great. Let me go get my camera.” Ricky ran up a set of stairs at the side of the kitchen leaving Candy to look around.
The huge kitchen had stainless steel everything and a stove the size of a compact car. The counter tops were golden marble and the rustic table could have seated ten. Callisto’s apartment, where she lived with five other people, would have almost fit inside it. Sharon had turned back to the counter where she was peeling apples. People made applesauce fresh?
Ricky rushed out with his camera. “Come on. I don’t want to miss the light.”
“Ricky, you watch out for critters!” Sharon shouted after them.
“What critters?”
“I don’t know. Sharon has been warning me about critters since I was a little kid. I used to think they were monsters. Let’s start over here.”
She followed him to one corner of the garden. Maybe his dad did own the record company. “This must have been a great place to grow up.”
“Well, yeah, when we were here. We live in London part of the year and here and sometimes we go to our place in Greece. And Dad has an apartment in New York.”
“I would love to go to London. Or New York.” Or anywhere. “This is the first time I’ve even been out of Indiana.”
“Lean on this tree.” He positioned her, critically adjusting the angle of her head. “You should go. It’s pretty fabulous. Everybody should see Abbey Road Studios once. It’s an amazing space and it’s right in the middle of a neighborhood where you wouldn’t expect. Leighton’s house is right around the corner too. Don’t move.”
Candy had gotten used to the “don’t move” line. He alternated between that and “try not to look like you hate me so much.” He shifted her from one
tree to another and then to a granite elephant statue he said came from India and then to the edge of a reflecting pond. And into the pond. Luis came to watch and shook his head as she kicked off her shoes at the edge of the water and waded around the lily pots at Ricky’s direction.
The light was disappearing behind the mountains when Ricky decided they needed to go all the way to the back of the property where there was some scrub. He settled her under a spindly bush, gave the standard lines and backed up to take his shots.
“Your boyfriend’s band is pretty good.” He snapped a couple of pictures. “I’ll see if I can get Dad to listen to them.”
“Thanks.” Whoever his dad was, that had to be a good thing. Ricky had been very careful to not make any promises beyond dinner and driving her back to Joe’s condo when they were done. Tonight when she called Tyler she’d have something to tell him that wasn’t going to annoy him.
“Dammit, the light’s all gone.” Ricky looked up at the sky. “Hey, maybe I could take some pictures of your boyfriend’s band. The picture you’ve got is okay, but it looks like it was done by a portrait photog. Move back a little.”
Candy slid further back under the bush. The band picture looked as if a portrait photographer did it because a portrait photographer shot it. Part of a deal she’d worked with Joe’s blessing. Something pinched her. She twisted around to see if the bush was attacking her and felt another pinch on her leg. “Ow!”
“Quit moving around.”
Candy jerked as burning poke stabbed her right at the line of her bra. “Ow. Something’s biting me.”
Three more stings erupted under her shirt. Candy jumped up and yanked her shirt over her head. “There’s something in my clothes.” Another sting at the top of her thigh.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know,” Candy wailed.
Ricky grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the bush. “Red ants. We don’t have red ants in the yard.”
“Make them stop!” Candy got her jeans open and tried to kick them off without taking off her shoes. Ricky attempted to catch her before she fell over, but she landed hard on her hip.
Keep Coming Back to Love Page 8
