Chapter Five
Summer sat down in front of the laptop and glanced at the screen. Her mother’s face stared back. “Hi, Mom!”
She’d been waiting for this call and the chance to tell her parents what had happened on The Morning Show. Although she’d had to hire a professional agent for the business side of her life, she hadn’t anticipated the changes her actions would cause with the two people closest to her.
Her heart hurt at the physical and emotional distance between herself and the people she loved. Maybe they’d just forgotten her schedule and that’s why they hadn’t called until now to see how her national television performance had gone.
“We’re home!” Her mother smiled, her teeth white against her tan. She looked happy and healthy, and for that, Summer was glad. “We got back the other day and I’ve been exhausted. Between jet lag and unpacking, it’s been just crazy.”
“Oh! That’s good. I’m glad you’re back safely. And I’ve been wanting to tell you about my performance on The Morning Show,” Summer said.
“I want to hear all about it, but first let me tell you about the trip! My favorite stop was the island of Santorini. It’s the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recorded history. I’ve never seen a more beautiful sight, all the white structures built into the mountainside.” She sighed and even held up her phone to show Summer a picture.
“It’s gorgeous,” Summer said. She didn’t want to seem disinterested or shallow, but she had news of her own. “Mom—”
“It was wonderful. I have to admit I wasn’t sure about overseas travel, but I’m so glad I let your father talk me into it! We even rode donkeys down the side of the mountain.”
“That’s nice. I can’t wait to see pictures … and to see you,” Summer said, and before she could speak again, her mother went on to relay more about the history of the places she’d seen on her trip, totally self-absorbed and failing to mention coming to visit and to ask about her life.
“Molly, we have to go! We have early dinner reservations soon.” Her father’s voice sounded in the background.
“Can I talk to Dad?” Summer asked.
“He just walked out to meet me in the car. We’ll call you soon, dear. Bye!” The picture went blank with a double beep for emphasis.
Summer sat stunned, staring at the disconnected screen.
Her parents had obviously not only learned to separate business and family, they’d decided not to care about her career at all. No matter how excited they were about their trip, and she understood it was a trip of a lifetime, how could they not acknowledge or ask about the competition? Her singing? Her well-being? She swallowed over the lump in her throat and lowered the laptop screen, clicking it closed.
She loved her life. She understood she was working toward a goal, but sometimes she was just lonely. She pressed a hand to her eyes and held back tears.
She jumped at the feel of a hand on her back.
“Easy,” Ben said in a gruff voice.
“I forgot I wasn’t alone.” She straightened her shoulders, not wanting him to be a witness to her sadness. She’d just pull herself together and forge on.
“Are you okay?” he asked, sympathy in his voice. He’d obviously heard her mention her appearance and her mother’s preoccupation with her trip. Her father’s disinterest in talking to her.
She swallowed hard. “I’m fine.”
“I don’t believe you.” His hand moved, gliding from her shoulder to the back of her neck, moving her hair aside so he could massage her tight muscles. “Things have changed between you and your folks since the time you were on Star Power. Want to talk about it?”
“What’s the point?” she asked.
“You might feel better.”
She braced her hands on her thighs and tried not to focus on how sensuously good his fingers felt pressing into her skin, molding her flesh in an attempt to relax and settle her down. In one way, he accomplished his goal. His touch took her out of her own head and made her forget about being upset with her parents, but she doubted he’d intended the physical reactions he inspired. The awareness now searing along her flesh, her nipples tightening, arousal trickling through her veins.
She closed her eyes and imagined those talented hands working their way around to her breasts, cupping her heavy mounds in his hands, and kneading the supple flesh. Plucking and pulling at her already hardened nipples until the desire ran straight to her sex, her clit a hard, pulsing knot of need.
“You’re relaxing,” he said, those fingers working magic and weaving a sensual spell.
If he only knew.
“Now talk to me. What happened between you and your parents?”
She blinked and her apartment’s familiar surroundings came back into focus. Her body still buzzed with arousal, but she forced herself to concentrate on reality, not fantasies Ben wouldn’t be making come true.
She sighed and began to explain. “While I was on Star Power, a performance opportunity came up for right after the cross-country tour, and my parents didn’t handle the negotiations professionally. Because of what they considered my front-runner status,” she said, making air quotes with her hands, “they thought they could push harder and make demands.”
“I guess that didn’t go over well?” Ben had removed his hands and she felt the loss. He’d shifted apart from her on the sofa, meeting her gaze.
She shook her head. “No. They demanded so much the people in charge gave the opportunity to someone else who was easier to deal with. Who had a real agent.” She blew out a long breath. “You know, the irony, it wasn’t that the particular performance meant so much to me but what the situation made me realize. The producers on Star Power and the even the musicians who took an interest in the talent on the show encouraged me to hire someone who understood how the business really worked.”
“So you did.”
“Yes.”
“And it didn’t go over well with Mom and Dad,” he correctly surmised.
“Not at all,” she murmured, not wanting to revisit the painful conversation she’d had with her mother and father. “But we’re family, and I made it very clear I wanted them in my life and involved in my career as far as giving opinions to me and seeing performances. You have to understand they’d been with me since the beginning when I was five and I sang at a local fair. It was always just the three of us.”
Not to mention, she’d given up having a normal childhood in order to perform and sing wherever her parents could book her. Friends? She was the odd duck with other kids, not included in get-togethers because she usually had to say no. Eventually the girls stopped asking. So all she really had was her family.
“Did they distance themselves as soon as you told them?” Ben asked.
She curled one leg beneath her and leaned against the back of the couch. “No, in the beginning they tried to be there, but they couldn’t seem to draw the line between support and, well, frankly, meddling. They’d call Anna and try to get involved, so I had to ask them to leave my agent to me.”
He winced, clearly understanding that had been the last straw.
“After that, they pulled back. They bought a place in South Carolina, but they still knew what I had coming up and when, and they showed some interest in my career, but it was strained. Then they decided to take a long trip to Europe, and I think they lost themselves there. They had a wonderful time, but they also had the time difference, and they didn’t have to think about me or check in on my schedule. But what it comes down to is they can’t figure out how to just be my parents.” She shook her head and sighed.
He placed his hand over hers. “It sucks when your family isn’t what you want them to be.”
Something in his tone told her he wasn’t just talking about her parents and situation. She glanced at him, looking to read his expression, but he did the stoic, shuttered thing too well, and she was too emotionally drained to question him now.
She rose to her feet. “I’m going to lie down for an hour before I have to get the laundry and deal with dinner,” she murmured.
He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something … and then shut it again, obviously satisfied with letting her be. For now, that was just fine with her. First he’d pulled away, then her parents had closed her out. She might have wanted to push Ben on their relationship, but that was before her video chat with her mother and father.
She was too bruised inside to be rejected yet again.
* * *
Ben watched as Summer walked into her room and closed the door behind her. The sound of soft crying reached him and he muttered a curse, but there was nothing he could do. He’d established his boundaries for a reason, but it was hard not to go to her, wrap her in his embrace, and reassure her she wasn’t alone.
Her parents were typical stage parents, living through their daughter and liking the control they’d had over her career. With that taken away, they seemed to have withdrawn their love as well, and he hurt for her. Just like he wished his family could have been a cohesive unit, his mother and father in love and raising him, she wished her parents could give her the support she needed.
But he couldn’t bring himself to break down those walls and tell her about his parents’ marriage and how his father had basically given up, walking away from a lucrative business and his friends after his mother had betrayed him twice. Or how his dad was a shell of the man he used to be because he hadn’t been able to bounce back after the betrayal. Or how much his father’s decline had imprinted itself on Ben’s psyche and how he handled his life.
She’d ended up sleeping through dinner, so he’d locked her safely in her apartment and thrown her laundry into the dryer, then collected the clothes and brought them back to the apartment. She’d thanked him, and she seemed brighter and happier the next day. He didn’t think she was fine. Nobody put pain behind them easily, but she’d moved on, and he was glad she was more like herself again.
It made it easier for him to focus on work, which was his goal tonight. Summer’s club opening and the mingling that would follow required his full concentration. Keeping any client safe in a crowded room was always a challenge, and the way Summer distracted him, he needed all his faculties fully engaged.
He waited in the family room, having already changed for the night. Wearing a pair of black dress pants and a black button-down shirt and a jacket that hid his weapon, he was ready to go.
The sound of a door opening had him turning in time to see Summer step out of her bedroom in a white floor-length gown cut low in the front, exposing her delectable cleavage, a slim fit that outlined her curves and had a high slit up one thigh, revealing creamy skin. Her hair fell around her beautifully made-up face in perfect waves. He wanted to kiss her pink pouty lips with a need that bordered on desperation.
“Fuck, princess, you take my breath away.” The words escaped before he could censor them.
A wide smile that could eclipse the sun took hold, and she beamed at him. “Thank you. You dress up pretty nicely yourself, bodyguard,” she said with a wink, using the name Ivy had bestowed on him.
“Thank you.” He pushed aside the pleasure her words brought him. Work. He needed to focus on work.
She walked up to him, her wildflower scent pervading his senses, and he was grateful for the jacket that covered his body’s reaction to her. At a glance, he realized she was wearing high heels because she nearly reached his height, a perfect fit if he were to pull her into his arms.
“Are you ready to go? There’s a car waiting downstairs,” he said in a roughened voice.
She nodded.
Unable not to be a gentleman, he extended his arm, and she hooked her elbow in his and he led her out into the hallway.
The club, named Echo, vibrated with sound as soon as they stepped past the line of partygoers waiting to get in and the bouncers and then went into the entryway.
Both Summer and Tawny had separate makeup stations in the corners of a dressing room, which was made even more crowded by Tawny’s traveling friend group and the addition of security, Ben, and the other woman’s bodyguard.
“Summer, you’re up!” a female voice called. They’d already been informed Summer would be the first to entertain the audience.
She drew a deep breath and rose from the seat in front of the mirror, looking every bit the elegant princess. “Here goes.”
Ben was by her side in an instant. “Break a leg, beautiful.”
She treated him to a breathtaking smile before spinning on her heel and heading out to perform.
He closed his eyes and muttered a soft curse for his careless if not true words before following her out of the room and into the flashing strobes of the club. Purple lighting made seeing well from a distance difficult, and he knew he’d have to stick close to Summer in order to maintain her safety. Even if it challenged his very sanity to be by her side and keep his hands to himself.
* * *
Summer felt like a goddess. She’d never worn such an expensive dress and shoes, never had a gown fitted to her frame so there were no gaps or dips in the fabric. She’d glided on air walking into Echo on Ben’s arm, having to keep reminding herself that he was there as her bodyguard and not as her date.
He looked hot in all black, his facial hair a sexy scruff that needed shaving, but she was glad he’d opted to leave it alone.
She only had to perform two songs, one ballad and another with a fast tempo and beat. She did her thing, singing and dancing, knowing Jade Glow’s people were in the audience watching her, judging her, and after Tawny’s set, they would be comparing them. Yet despite the importance of her performance and all that was riding on her doing well, all she could focus on was the man in the audience there to do a job.
From the moment she stepped onto the stage to perform, she was aware of Ben’s muscular arms folded across his chest, his heavy-lidded gaze shifting between her and the crowd, alert and aware the entire time. She sang more to him than the audience, at least in her mind, and she couldn’t deny the fact that when his gaze was on her, he ate her alive, his desire for her a potent and almost tangible thing despite his protestations that he couldn’t let himself get involved. He never had explained his reasons, and the time had never been right to bring up the conversation again.
She finished on a high and accepted the applause before striding off the stage and handing the microphone to the woman in charge. Tawny went immediately after her, as usual nailing everything about her moment in the spotlight. After her performance, she met up with her entourage, including her agent, as usual.
Instead of standing around, Summer swung past them, head held high, and headed for the dance floor.
“Where are you going?” Ben tugged her back against his hard body.
“I want to dance.” The deejay had begun to spin more music, and the beat was thrumming inside her.
“Well, I’m not letting you out of my sight,” he said with an irritable glance at the crowded dance floor.
She raised one shoulder and shrugged. “Guess that means you’re going to have to dance with me.” She slid her hand into his and pulled him into the crowd.
Thanks to the amount of people, they would have been pushed together for even a fast dance, but the music shifted, and any movement would now be slow. She intended to take advantage, but before she could act, someone bumped her from behind, shoving her into the person across from her, which nearly caused a domino effect of people knocking into each other.
Ben grabbed her, pulled her against him, and began to sway to the music. She tipped her head back, and their gazes locked as they moved in perfect unison. It was too loud for them to talk unless they wanted to shout to be heard, so their sensual movements spoke for them. She had one hand on his shoulder, his arm wrapped around her back, her chest pressed against his, and the hardness of his lower body caused an arousing sense of awareness in hers. He smelled delicious, the masculine scent she associated with him adding to the variety of sensations overtaking her.
Without taking his gaze off hers, he lowered his head ever closer to hers, his lips brushing her mouth one, twice, three times before he licked at the seam with his tongue. She moaned, not that he would hear, and parted her lips, letting him inside.
He tightened his hold, pressing their bodies intimately, hips grinding together to the beat of the music, his pelvis rocking against hers, the sparks of arousal spiking inside her.
She was happy to let the music provide the beat while she and Ben danced sensuously against each other, a subtle shifting and grinding that was hidden by the many people surrounding them.
He lifted his head, meeting her gaze, desire and raw need in his expression, when suddenly Tawny’s loud voice sounded near their ears. “Well, well, well, just like old times.”
Ben immediately stepped back, putting space between them though not letting go of his hold on Summer; however, she knew at this moment, thanks to Tawny’s interruption, it was her safety keeping them close, not his desire to be near her. If the way Ben dragged her off the dance floor was any indication, he didn’t appreciate the reminder of their problematic past.
Tawny was obviously determined to do more than take away Summer’s chance at a career-changing opportunity. She wanted to cause as much trouble as she possibly could. Anything to throw Summer off her game. The joke was on Tawny, because Summer could handle the other woman and her bitchy games.
She just needed to figure out how to get through to Ben, because nobody got lost in a moment like they’d had if he wasn’t yearning to be together again. He was fighting himself, and she needed him to stop.
For now, though, she figured Ben needed time to stew and be angry at himself for kissing her instead of guarding her, so Summer strode ahead of him into the dressing room area. She’d left her purse with her lipstick and gloss in a drawer of the vanity. She wanted to touch up her makeup since her lips felt damp after her gloss had been licked off by Ben.
She approached the area to which she’d been assigned, finding it empty, no people hanging around, but when she reached her mirrored section, she stopped short. All her things were strewn everywhere. A vase of flowers, which had been on the counter, was lying randomly across the floor, surrounded by shards of broken glass. The drawers were open, and her purse had been removed and emptied out, the contents mixed among the flowers.
And someone had written on the mirror with what looked like lipstick, the words Drop Out or Else scrawled in red on the reflective surface. This was the first time she’d had visible proof that there was a threat of some kind against her, and she was freaked out.
Summer spun around in a panic and ran directly into Ben’s hard chest.
“Whoa,” he said, grasping her forearms tightly. He glanced beyond her, taking in the wreckage of what had been her backstage area.
“Fuck. Who the hell was watching this room?” he yelled, keeping Summer tucked protectively beneath the shelter of his arm.
And she didn’t want to leave there anytime soon.
* * *
Ben was furious. His job was to guard Summer, not to danger-proof the club. Either someone hadn’t done their job or the powers that be thought it was enough to have coverage on the girls, to hell with other types of threats. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was the latter. Orion Motors and Jade Glow just wanted the talent protected.
Speaking of the talent, Summer had curled into him for protection, and he hated to admit how much he liked her there, about as much he’d liked that hot kiss and grind on the dance floor. He ran a hand through his hair. Something had to be done about this attraction between them, or at least his on-again, off-again reaction, but now wasn’t the time for him to dwell on what.
The club manager, who had introduced himself earlier, walked over to Ben. He took in the situation at a glance and groaned. “Shit.”
Ben frowned at the man. “Did you have anyone keeping an eye on this room and the women’s belongings?”
He shook his head. “I’m so sorry, sir, but we didn’t. People could have come and gone all night.”
This was why a bodyguard was often only half of the equation. Obviously nobody was paying for investigative services. They’d just reported the initial threat to the police and hired Ben.
“Call the cops. Now.”
He glanced at Summer, who had pulled herself together and was watching the interaction between them. “Do you think they’ll find anything helpful?” she asked as the manager stepped aside to make the call.
“No.” His gut told him they wouldn’t discover prints that would lead to a culprit. Just everyone and anyone who’d had access to this room, which was the entire club. A couple could have snuck in here for a quickie and the girl fixed herself up after. Anything could have happened in here in between the time of the act and when they’d walked in.
“The police will be here soon,” the manager said.
Ben glanced up at the ceiling, looking for signs of video cameras and finding none. “I don’t suppose you have cameras covering the room?” he asked the other man.
“No.” He shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “Look, I need to greet the cops when they show up.”
Ben inclined his head. “Go. But you need to rethink your security,” he muttered, disgusted with the situation.
For the next few hours, the police came in and handled things, talking to the employees who had access to the room, questioning Tawny and members of her entourage, but overall, informing Ben and Summer they’d come up empty. There were too many people in the club to bother fingerprinting the area, and Tawny and her friends denied having done anything wrong. The cops documented the incident, but there was nothing more they could do.
Summer looked ready to collapse from exhaustion, and Ben turned to the cop in charge. “I’m taking Ms. Michelle home. If you need us, you have her information.”
“Go ahead,” the officer said.
Ben pulled out his cell and called the driver, asking him to meet them at the front of the club.
Then he turned to Summer and met her gaze, the first time they’d been alone since the moments on the dance floor. Soft black smudges looked like light bruises beneath her eyes, makeup and exhaustion combining to cause the vulnerable look.
He brushed a gentle knuckle across her cheek. “Hey. Are you okay? Because I’m not going to let anyone near you. You know that, right? You’re safe.”
She nodded, gazing up at him with wide brown eyes. “I’m really fine. I just don’t understand why anyone would be desperate for me not to win. Other than Tawny, who cares?” She bit down on her lower lip. “Do you think she’s capable of this? Because I don’t want to think that someone I know could do something like that. I mean, I know she’s ambitious, but this is crazy.” She gestured to the mess behind her.
Ben groaned. “I honestly wouldn’t rule her out. She’s caused trouble for you before. You believe she’s the one who turned you in to the producers hoping they’d let you go and she’d have one less person to compete with in Star Power.” Ben raised an eyebrow. “Which means she’s incredibly competitive and determined to win. At all costs.”
Summer sighed. “At least I have you. And I trust you to take care of me.”
Her words were humbling and they meant something to him. He wouldn’t take them, or the job he was hired to do, lightly.