Looking For Trouble (4 page)

Jess might not be hungry for food, but her
eyes were hungry for the sight of the good looking cowboy,
evidently. Involuntarily they moved from his square jaw, over his
broad shoulders and down the muscular expanse of his back to his
firm ass, then back up. Memories of the night they shared flashed
through her mind like snapshots, and heat zinged through her body,
causing her mouth to dry up as all the moisture in her body flooded
south.

"You done gawking?" he asked harshly,
pinning her with his eyes, then he added, "If so, I need to go eat
before this thing kicks off."

Jess felt her cheeks flush, and swallowed
then said, "I wasn't gawking."

"I beg to differ, darlin'...if you'd have
been staring any harder, my ass would have a brand on it from your
eyes," he said with a smug smile, then he turned and walked
off.

Travis stiffened beside her, and said with
disgust, "God, that guy is such an asshole...I'm definitely having
Denver keep an eye on him."

"No! Travis, just leave it alone..." she
said and put her hand on his shoulder. All she needed was to cause
a brawl here. It was hard enough trying to recover her career,
without wrecking it before it even got off the ground again, by
pissing off a client...ruining their event.

He huffed out a short breath, then shoved a
hand through his spiky blond hair, "Alright, Jess...but be careful
with that guy," he said then kissed her cheek again. "I'm going to
the hotel, break a leg, and I'll see you after the show."

"Thanks, Travis...give Angel a kiss for me,"
she said with a soft smile, already missing her precious
three-month-old little daughter.

Although she usually stuck to water when she
worked, because beer tightened up her vocal chords, Jess decided
she would get that beer to settle her nerves, before she took the
stage. Quickly, she headed over to the bar and then downed a cold
beer, before heading toward the stage to get ready. She still
needed to change her shirt, before show time, so she headed
backstage and stepped behind a curtain, then lifted the wet t-shirt
over her head. The cool air on her skin felt so good, she almost
didn't want to put another shirt on.

She stood there for a moment cooling off,
then reached down into her duffle for the shirt she'd brought for
the show, a fire engine red halter with a rhinestone buckle between
her breasts. Jess was thankful for the Goodwill store in Dallas,
because she'd found a lot of show clothes there...if not for them,
she'd probably be wearing t-shirts for all her shows. Jess had
better use for her money these days, other than flashy show
clothes...diapers, formula and cute little dresses for Angel were
her priority now.

They wouldn't have to worry about money soon
though, because Jess was determined to restart her career, and her
brother was helping. She'd already had some interest from a couple
of labels, he'd contacted. Travis was acting as her manager right
now, since she couldn't afford a real one, and was doing a good job
of stirring up interest.

Feeling a breeze as the curtain was suddenly
flung back, Jess sucked in a breath and stood up. Her eyes latched
onto the last person she wanted or expected to see standing there.
"Get out..." she gasped then her gaze followed Wade's to her chest
and she realized she was standing there naked from the waist up,
and jerked the shirt up to cover her breasts.

His eyes sizzled over her, then met hers,
before he said in a gravelly voice, "No need to cover up on my
account, I've seen the goods, remember?"

How could she forget? And how could he make
her feel so trashy for what she'd done.

She'd told him a year ago, that coming on to
cowboys at a show wasn't typical for her, but obviously he didn't
believe it. His words and his insolent stare made her
feel...dirty.

Well, he'd participated too, so he could
kiss her ass...how dare him judge her. Let the bastard think what
he wanted, his opinion of her didn't matter, she just wanted to get
this show over with and hit the road.

"Just get the hell out of here, Wade...I
need to get dressed," she hissed then turned her back and pulled
the shirt over her head.

"I just wanted to tell you that people are
starting to get here, so you probably have ten minutes or so to
finish getting set up."

"I don't need you to tell me how to do my
job. I assume you have one here, so why don't you go do
that
instead?" she told him snappily, then turned around to face him,
hoping she was sending out 'back off' signals. There was no way she
was rehashing anything with him, if that was what thinking.

He ignored, or didn't pick up her warning
signals, because he grinned then said, "And I wanted to tell you
happy birthday..." before he pulled his hand from behind his back
and shoved a handful of red garden roses at her. They were wrapped
at the bottom in tin foil, and he'd evidently picked them himself.
The sweet aroma drifted up to her nostrils and wrapped itself
around her heart.

Nobody,
nobody
, had ever given her
flowers before, or remembered that today was her birthday, not even
her brother, or her best friend, and she didn't know what to say.
She wasn't prepared for him to be thoughtful, especially after how
she'd treated him earlier, and just now. Oh god, don't do this to
me, she prayed silently then took them from him.

"Thank you," she said in an emotion clogged
voice, then put her nose to them and inhaled deeply, feeling tears
burn her eyes. Walking up to him she leaned in and kissed him on
the cheek. The smell of his skin mixed with the citrusy cologne she
remembered so well, warred with the smell of the roses and caused
all kinds of confusion inside of her.

Wade put his hand to her cheek then turned
his mouth to give her a lingering tender kiss, then he pulled back
and fingered her hair. "I loved your blond hair, but this could
grow on me too, I think," he said in a low sensual voice, then
winked at her.

Jess wasn't going to tell him it was a wig,
something she was trying out for fun, because Angel had black hair,
just like his. The more she didn't appeal to him, the better off
she'd be...maybe she
would
cut off her hair and dye it
black.

"Wade, we can't go back there...it was a one
shot deal, sugar, you know that," she said breathlessly staring
into his deep brown eyes. "Thank you for the flowers and for
remembering it was my birthday, though," she told him then stepped
back and smiled. He nodded then gave her a pinched smile, and an
intense stare before he turned his back and walked out of her life
for a second time.

One day, she knew Angel would ask about her
daddy, and when that day came, she'd tell her the truth about Wade
Roberts, but not until she had to. For now, Angel was hers, and
Jess wasn't taking the chance that someone would try to take her
away from her, or control the decisions she made regarding her
little girl.

The thought caused shivers of horror to
dance along her spine. Jess had enough of letting men control the
direction of her life. Why would she take that chance? She barely
knew Wade Roberts, and didn't trust men in general thanks to Ray,
and her daddy.

Even though Wade had been an equal
participant in Angel's creation, their time together
had
been a one shot deal, they both understood that, and since Wade
Roberts had done the responsible thing and used a condom every
time, all
four
times, he didn't deserve to have his life
upended like hers had been anyway.

It wasn't his fault that he had just been
unlucky enough to be in the two percent that the label on the box
warned about. Jess felt lucky though, she hit the lottery...she got
Angel, her baby girl...and she wasn't sharing.

Jess shook herself to clear her head and
walked outside of the curtain and up the stairs to the stage.
Jazzie wasn't here yet, and people were standing around talking
under the tent. They'd probably have to start without her, which
wasn't a big deal, they had songs they could do without a
fiddler.

She walked back to the drum set and smiled
at her big, brawny and multi-tattooed drummer, Denver. "Hey
Den...let's start off with the Bonnie Raitt list, until Jazzie gets
here, whatcha think?"

"Sounds good, babe--let's give em something
to talk about?" he said and grinned.

"Yup...I'll let everyone know," she said
with a wink, then told the guitar players, before she walked back
to the mike, then said, "Hi, everybody, I'm Jess Sparks and this is
my band, she stepped aside and said, "That's Denver on the drums,"
and waited while he did a little solo, then said "And that's Big
Mike on the bass guitar," and he pounded out some heavy beats, then
she said, "And last but not least, our ever so talented lead
guitarist, Tony..." and after he shredded like he was lead in a
heavy metal band, he switched to some country swing then
nodded.

Jess stepped back to the mike and looked
around the room and then purred, "Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk
About, guys," then Denver started the slow sexy beat and she hummed
then growled out the song, like her idol, Bonnie Raitt, but with a
Jess Sparks twist.

Although there weren't many people there
yet, the couples who were there migrated to the dance floor, and
started belly-rubbing to the tune. Her eyes moved over the dancers
and they stopped as did her heart, when she saw Wade Roberts,
dancing with a tall leggy redhead. She swallowed down the spurt of
jealousy that clutched her heart, because they looked like they
knew each other well. Wade had his hands on her ass and she was
stuck to him like glue. It looked like he was singing the damned
song to her. When he gave the woman that sexy grin of his and that
dimple dented his cheek, Jess missed a note, then turned aside and
coughed, before picking back up at the melody.

Yeah, she'd told him to get lost, but she
didn't want to have to see him practically making out with another
woman in front of her. Now, she was sorry she'd picked the Bonnie
Raitt run, because those were slow sexy songs, and she'd have to
sing them and watch him.

When she finished the last note, tears stung
her eyes as the band started the opening notes for 'I Can't Make
You Love Me', so she closed her eyes and pretended to be into the
song, so she didn't have to see what was going on. It was the
longest three minutes of her life, but she knew the torture wasn't
over...because next on the playlist was 'Love Sneaking Up on
You'.

Jess sucked in a deep breath and let it go,
she had to get over herself, and give these people the show her
client was paying for, whether or not the sight of Wade Roberts
with the redhead was tearing her heart out. She was a professional,
and this is what she did for a living.

She stiffened her spine, and jerked the mike
off the stand, then when the band finished the intro, she worked
the stage and teased the few cowboys at the table lining the stage
as she sang, and they whistled.

When she looked up, her eyes met Wade's
glittering gaze, and he gave her a smug grin, then pulled the
redhead against him and ground his hips against her. That's when
Jess realized what he was doing...he was playing games with
her...purposely trying to get her goat, because she'd rejected him
earlier.

Well, two could play his game, and she was
afraid he'd come out the loser here, because Jess
always
played to win. And her luck was running, because the next song in
the line up was 'Love Me Like a Man', a bluesy guitar solo that was
intended to heat things up, and he better put on his asbestos
underwear, because the song was one of Jess's favorites.

The band finished playing, and rested,
because they knew this was a solo for her. She grabbed her electric
guitar, and plugged it in then put the strap over her head and shot
Wade a cocky grin, before she strutted to the edge of the stage and
took a wide spread stance in front of a good looking cowboy in a
black Stetson, probably in his early twenties, and winked at him.
He tipped his hat back and fanned himself, then grinned up at her
dreamily. She started strumming the strings, making love to her
guitar, because that's what this song called for.

Rotating her hips in time with the sexy
rhythm, she crooned to the man, then when she got to the
instrumental part, she sank to her knees in front of him and
played. When she got to the last line of the song, she leaned
forward giving him a good look at her new and improved baby
boobage, then licked her lips and sang, "I want a lover I won't
have to work to understand...don't put yourself above me,
baby...just love me like a man." The guy looked shell-shocked, his
face was frozen in a smile, and Jess wanted to laugh, but she just
stood back up then smiled and blew him a kiss.

When she turned around she was glad to see
Jazzie was there rosining up her bow. She gave her a smile, then
walked over to her. "Bout damned time, sugar," she told her then
took a long drink from the water bottle she had on a stool.

"Was that because you're interested in that
kid, or because someone else was watching?" Jazzie asked her with a
grin, but Jess saw the concern in her friend's dark eyes.

"Maybe both?" Jess said coyly, then told her
best friend, "He's messing with me sugar, and he deserves to be
tortured. He's been bumping and grinding that redhead just to
punish me for rejecting him earlier. How'd you know he was here
anyway?"