Lenny nodded her head even as an electric current ripped through her body.
She knew exactly what he meant but she couldn’t speak for a moment as her voice had gotten stuck in her throat while she had been busy trying to figure out exactly what shade of blue Luke Casey’s eyes were.
Oh no.
He was everything she was afraid he would be. The pictures didn't do him justice. He was even more gorgeous while in motion, as if his raw masculinity had to be felt and no camera would ever be able to capture it. And his voice, that voice that could go from soothing and melodic to a fury filled growl in a span of microseconds, was washing over her like a warm rain shower. She tried not to stare at his perfectly chiseled jaw line as he spoke more words to her. Words she was going to need to respond to any minute.
“I totally agree,” she suddenly blurted out. She didn’t know what she had just agreed to, but Luke seemed satisfied so it must have made sense on some level. She inwardly cursed herself for turning into an instant jellyfish and resolved to not let her hormones ruin this. She just wouldn’t look at his eyes. Or his smile. Or his arms.
Oh, geez, his arms.
This was unexpected, and in no way normal for her. Her body was betraying her logical practicality. She took a breath and resolved to shake it off. She was nothing if not a professional.
Lenny had been ignoring attractive men her whole life.
Luke Casey would be no different.
Right?
“You have a lead on a job in Chicago?”
Luke was trying to be polite, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy.
He had purposed to rescue her from Sway before Sway could start humping her leg. Now Luke found himself trying not to talk to her too eagerly.
He kept trying to meet her eyes––they were the deepest blue he had ever seen, almost sapphire. But she managed to evade prolonged eye contact.
“Nothing definite, just an impulse.” Lenny smiled, and Luke’s gaze flicked to her lips.
Her very kissable lips.
Shit.
This was bad.
This was very bad.
He needed to snap out of it.
He went back to the glassy pages of the magazine.
Pretty guitar, pretty guitar, pretty guitar, pretty girl––No!
“You look familiar.” Harrison was up on his knees in his seat and had turned around to join their conversation. Luke was both thankful and annoyed at the distraction.
“Maybe you saw me at the airport.” Lenny raised her eyebrows.
Harrison chuckled at himself. “Yeah, that was probably it.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Harrison O'Neil, I play lead guitar in the band you’ve never heard of.”
Lenny grasped his hand and Luke was surprised at the sudden surge of jealously that filled his gut when they touched. He pushed it aside quickly. He was not going to lose his head over a girl he didn't know.
“You have gorgeous eyes, Lenny,” Harrison blurted out what Luke and Sway hadn’t gotten to yet. Luke glared at Harrison discreetly but Harrison either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“Thanks,” Lenny accepted the compliment and then added her own, “You have gorgeous hair.”
Harrison blushed and immediately ran his fingers through his luscious locks. He worked really hard at making his hair look effortless and Luke knew he enjoyed people complimenting it.
Lenny seemed amused at his reaction and gave him a small, lopsided smile.
“So Lenny, huh? That's a rather unique, and kind of manly name.” Harrison waggled his eyebrows and Luke had to suppress his laugh. Harrison flirting was the exact opposite of Sway. No matter how hard the guy tried, he couldn't help but come across as adorable and was immediately 'friend zoned.'
Lenny laughed lightly at Harrison's remark and her eyes darted to Luke's. “I guess I've always been more comfortable just being one of the guys,” she explained. Luke felt disappointment drift across him when he realized they had all just been 'friend zoned.'
Harrison didn't seem to mind though, and he kept the conversation going. The rest of the band members began to join in the discussion, and Luke was impressed with how well Lenny held her own. She stayed active in the dialogue, adding jokes and quips. Luke had known these guys a long time and it could be difficult getting a word in edgewise, but Lenny fit in like a missing piece that they didn't know had been missing. That was a weird thought. Don't go down that road, Casey.
Luke did, however, notice that Lenny continuously steered the conversation back to the band. She spoke very little about herself and the guys preferred it that way. They were entertainers for a reason.
The attendant with the drink cart made another pass and he paused at their row. Luke looked up to see the young man looking at Lenny like he was trying to place her. Luke frowned and turned to her as well. She was still talking to Harrison, having not yet noticed the attendant. Was he just checking her out? That was kind of unprofessional, Luke criticized internally.
“Can I help you, man?” he finally asked the gawker.
“I'm sorry, I just, uh, I...” The young man swallowed and tried again having gotten Lenny's attention now. “You look really familiar.”
Wow, this guy was serving drinks to rock stars and yet he'd decided to hit on a passenger with one of the worst lines available. Luke was the opposite of impressed.
“I get that a lot.” Lenny smiled apologetically. “I guess I have one of those generic faces.”
“Oh, sorry.” The attendant turned red and shuffled on his way.
Luke wanted to disagree loudly with Lenny's assessment of herself. Generic? Was she joking?
Lenny eased back into the conversation, letting it flow and grow around her. She'd almost panicked when the flight attendant had nearly identified her. That would end her new career before it really got underway. She couldn't risk the shadow of what she was running from decide where she was going.
That brought her back to the band and her goal to win them over. She was finding herself really liking these guys. They were friendly and good-humored and made her feel equally witty and important. That didn’t surprise her; Lenny had always gotten along with guys better than girls. It came from having three older brothers.
And of course the male dominated sport she had just abandoned.
The drummer, Mike Osborn was sitting beside Sway. He was tall and lanky, tattoos spiraled up and down his arms and his hair was a shaggy, caramel color. He hadn’t shaved in a few days, as evidenced by the dark shadow cast across his jaw. He seemed to be the most subdued of the group, even though he was constantly smacking his legs to a beat in his head.
“How did you guys come up with your band name?” Lenny kept the conversation moving with the intent of learning as much as she could about them and preventing them from asking about her. And the band name had always seemed a little ambiguous.
“It’s kind of a long story.” Luke shifted uncomfortably in his seat.
Lenny pushed his knee flirtatiously, “C’mon, you can tell me.” The longer she spoke with them, the more comfortable she got and the more Luke Casey's effect on her dulled. Lenny was pleased to know she still had a handle on her own brain, rock star or not.
Luke looked over at Sway who shrugged.
“I don’t care, man. You already ruined any chance of seduction on my part. It’s still a better name than what Blake thought up.”
“Trophy Wives would have been an amazing name, you jag,” Blake Diedrich said from the seat directly in front of Lenny.
Blake was also a guitarist, but played the grungier side of their songs. He was older than the rest of them and had come from a different band years ago. He was more punk rock than metal rock, but his sound blended nicely with the rest of the group.
Blake had turned around a few times during the conversation and Lenny hadn't missed the appraising gaze that came from his green eyes. He was tall and lean with jet black, short, spiky hair and just like all the other band members, he had tattoos a
nd muscles.
They could easily fit in with the guys Lenny worked out with at her local gym.
Or a random biker gang.
“I always liked Taco Night.” Sway smiled impishly.
“Anything is better than Taco Night,” Mike interjected, receiving a scowl from Sway.
“So, you guys just picked a name out of a hat or what?” Lenny was trying to follow along.
Harrison turned around to face her and Luke again. “Here’s the deal, we grew up in Boston, right?” He waited for Lenny to nod so he knew she was paying attention. “Okay, Sway has always had a…penchant for the ladies.” Lenny looked over at Sway who winked and she suppressed her smile. Best not encourage him. “When he was only seventeen, he started to sneak onto the campus at Boston University to scam on college chicks.”
“Why college chicks?” Lenny asked, her mouth ticking up on one side.
“Because college chicks are experienced and usually pretty easy,” Sway said matter of fact.
“Dude!” Mike grimaced with disapproval.
“Anyway,” Harrison continued, “BU does a lot of research, and some girls picked up on the fact that Sway wasn’t a student. They developed an experiment in order to study attraction and how strong a teenage boy’s libido could be. They did a double blind study in which Sway didn’t know he was part of an experiment and neither did the girls he was scamming on. It was going great for them until Sway got caught by campus police. They threw him out and threatened to turn him in on charges of seduction.”
“Is that real?” Lenny asked, incredulous.
“Yeah, Frank Sinatra was charged for it too, you know,” Sway said, making a sexy face and blowing Lenny a kiss.
Lenny shook her head and waited for Harrison to finish.
“My sister was the one who organized the study, that’s how I found out about it,” Harrison folded his hands together and rested his chin on his knuckles. “We decided that our band was basically that, a double blind study to the public where they didn’t know they were part of it and neither did we. ‘Course we’re more sober now than when we started. So I suppose we’re more aware of our actions.”
“Yeah, and you really don’t want to have to go to all the trouble of changing your album covers and t-shirts,” Lenny teased.
“And Blake would have to get that tattoo removed,” Harrison added.
“You tattooed the name of your own band on yourself?!” Lenny pulled herself up to look at Blake, “Lemme see it.”
Blake tried to feign annoyance but he clearly liked the attention. He stood up on the plane and yanked his shirt up to expose his impressive six-pack and the large tattoo scrawled in black ink across the width of his chest:
DOUBLE BLIND STUDY
“That’s nice and subtle,” Lenny said sarcastically with a grin.
“I was excited…” Blake tried to defend, putting his shirt back down.
“Dude, you were drunk,” Harrison corrected. Blake shrugged in confession.
“Blake came back with the tattoo and we didn’t have much of a choice after that,” Harrison finished his story.
They spent the entire flight laughing and entertaining Lenny. They talked easily, having no reservations about her seemingly innocent presence. She had built the perfect platform for her next statement.
It was time to cast the net.
“You guys make it sound fun but hard. I wish I could come along to help you out,” she said, keeping her voice light and sweet.
This was it.
They all exchanged glances, momentarily silent.
Harrison spoke first.
“Actually, we do need an assistant—”
“Dude!” Blake smacked him.
“Ow!” Harrison protested, rubbing his arm. “What?! Maybe it’ll get Carl off our back!”
They all seemed to consider this for a minute. Luke turned to Lenny and asked, “What do you say Lenny? You wanna join a bunch of ugly, smelly guys for a few months?”
Lenny smiled. It had actually worked. She nodded at all of them and kept her tone even as she replied, “What do you mean? Like, work for you?” She tried to look confused.
“Yeah!” Harrison's face lit up. “Then you can hang out with us every day.”
“That would be amazing.” Lenny smiled but she noticed Luke's eyes shift down and away from hers. The other members were already discussing how they could sell the idea to Carl but Luke remained silent. He'd already given his verbal approval and Lenny got the distinct impression that Luke was the leader in more areas than just lead singer. If he had disagreed with this than the deal would have been off.
Luke suddenly came back to the conversation and his easy smile returned. Whatever he had been thinking about had been settled and Lenny tried to push his obvious discomfort with her to the back of her mind. She would just have to prove to him that she could do the job.
She was doing this.
Running away with rock stars.
What could go wrong?
** END SNEAK PEEK **
Read Learn to Fly for FREE!
Other titles by Heidi Hutchinson
Double Blind Study Series:
Learn to Fly
In Your Honor
Tectonic
Deepest Blues
The Hope That Starts
Brand New Sky
Into the Night We Shine
Matter of Fact
Soaring Bird Series:
Like the Back of My Halo
Sushi and Sun Salutations
Puppy Love and Peanut Butter
In Between Series:
In Between the Earth and Sky
In Cold Mud Series:
Stubborn Hearts
Crossover with Bria Quinlan:
Things That Shine
www.heidih.net
Also by Smartypants Romance
Green Valley Chronicles
The Love at First Sight Series
Baking Me Crazy by Karla Sorensen (#1)
Batter of Wits by Karla Sorensen (#2)
Steal My Magnolia by Karla Sorensen(#3)
Fighting For Love Series
Stud Muffin by Jiffy Kate (#1)
Beef Cake by Jiffy Kate (#2)
Eye Candy by Jiffy Kate (#3)
The Donner Bakery Series
No Whisk, No Reward by Ellie Kay (#1)
The Green Valley Library Series
Love in Due Time by L.B. Dunbar (#1)
Crime and Periodicals by Nora Everly (#2)
Prose Before Bros by Cathy Yardley (#3)
Shelf Awareness by Katie Ashley (#4)
Carpentry and Cocktails by Nora Everly (#5)
Love in Deed by L.B. Dunbar (#6)
Dewey Belong Together by Ann Whynot (#7)
Hotshot and Hospitality by Nora Everly (#8)
Love in a Pickle by L.B. Dunbar (#9)
Scorned Women’s Society Series
My Bare Lady by Piper Sheldon (#1)
The Treble with Men by Piper Sheldon (#2)
The One That I Want by Piper Sheldon (#3)
Hopelessly Devoted by Piper Sheldon (#3.5)
Park Ranger Series
Happy Trail by Daisy Prescott (#1)
Stranger Ranger by Daisy Prescott (#2)
The Leffersbee Series
Been There Done That by Hope Ellis (#1)
Before and After You by Hope Ellis (#2)
The Higher Learning Series
Upsy Daisy by Chelsie Edwards (#1)
Green Valley Heroes Series
Forrest for the Trees by Kilby Blades
Seduction in the City
Cipher Security Series
Code of Conduct by April White (#1)
Code of Honor by April White (#2)
Code of Ethics by April White (#3)
Cipher Office Series
Weight Expectations by M.E. Carter (#1)
Sticking to the Script by Stella Weaver (#2)
Cutie and the Beast by M.E. Carter (#3)
&nb
sp; Weights of Wrath by M.E. Carter (#4)
Common Threads Series
Mad About Ewe by Susannah Nix (#1)
Give Love a Chai by Nanxi Wen (#2)
Key Change by Heidi Hutchinson (#3)
Educated Romance
Work For It Series
Street Smart by Aly Stiles (#1)
Heart Smart by Emma Lee Jayne (#2)
Lessons Learned Series
Under Pressure by Allie Winters (#1)
Key Change: A Slow Burn Rockstar Romance (Common Threads Book 3) Page 36
