Unexpected Admirer (2 page)

The blouse she wore was a simple, white button-down with a pair of jeans. Her hair was a wonderment of wayward, brown curls. But from the row in front of the stage, her eyes had sparkled up at him and caught hold.

The song ended, and the lights dimmed. His band carried on as the crew pulled two stools to the center of the stage.

Jesse let out a breath. Stage fright was bad enough, but walking toward this woman, he decided it was the lesser of two evils.

The eyes that had mesmerized him now were wide open, perhaps a bit fearful.

He smiled and tried to calm his own nerves. “Hi, I’m Jesse.” He held his hand out to her.

“Melissa.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” He kept hold of her hand. “I’d like to sing to you.”

She nodded as though words were impossible. He understood that well enough. He hoped he remembered the song now that she stood before him.

Jesse switched hands and led her out to the stage where the crew member helped her onto her stool, but he never let go of her hand.

The music formed into the melody the world had accepted. His most current number one hit had given him the leap to super stardom and he hated it, but it encompassed what he was feeling at that very moment.

As the lights came up and he could see her face even more clearly, he knew this would be the hardest song he would ever sing. He, the man who dated super models and actresses, was nearly paralyzed by her beauty. There were no Botox-filled lines, no four-inch high heels on her feet, or even a trace of lipstick on her lips. If anyone he knew found out his heart was flipping in his chest over this woman, they’d have him committed.

Melissa’s hand shook in his. He covered the mic on his cheek. “Are you okay?”

She nodded as the volume of the music increased, and the crowd around them erupted into applause.

Jesse took a breath and began to sing the ballad of
Admirer
to the woman who had him as giddy as a schoolboy.

Chapter Two

Melissa was afraid to look toward the audience. Dear Lord, why was she sitting on the stage holding hands with this young man? No one at the radio station had told her this was part of the show.

She did manage to look back at Jonah, who stood on the side of the stage with her purse grasped in his arms. The smile on his face was enormous and that made her happy, and she realized, in that moment, it had been a very long time since she’d been this happy, too.

Jesse’s thumb brushed over her hand, and when she looked back in his eyes, they pulled her in. So this was what those girls who swooned over the posters in their lockers felt like? But she wasn’t some thirteen-year-old-girl. She was a mother, a widow, a biology teacher. It wasn’t right to feel warm from head to toe because Jesse Charles was gazing at her. She was probably old enough to be his mother. How sweet that he was singing to her. They probably all thought that when he pulled a strange woman onto the stage each night.

But Melissa couldn’t deny that there was more, and she felt it. In two and a half minutes, she’d be just another fool slobbering over herself because of his smile. Even as he gave her hand a squeeze, she knew she had to be smart about what was stirring inside of her. She was thirty-five years old. And she’d been schooled in realism. Losing her husband when he’d performed a routine traffic stop was realistic. Raising her son, taking care of her mother, and making a living as a teacher in a very small town was the reality of her life. Sitting with Jesse Charles was just a moment, literally in the spot light, which she’d look back on and smile.

At the end of the song Jesse stopped singing. But the song continued on, and the words were loud in her ears. It was as if they pulled her from the trace that his eyes had put her under, and she looked out to see the glow of lighters and cell phones waving in a sea of people who finished the song.

Her body trembled.

Jesse lifted his hand to her cheek and guided her attention back to him as he sang the very last line.

The crowd erupted into applause, and Jesse Charles moved in closer to her and kissed her.

The whole world must have stopped in that moment because all she could hear was her heartbeat in her ears.

When the kiss ended and she looked into the eyes of Jesse Charles, she wondered why he looked so shaken. Surely kissing another woman each night made him immune to anything. Was it so bad, her kiss?

She watched him suck in a deep breath and then cover the mic on his cheek as the lights dimmed. “Wow. I hope you didn’t mind that.”

“It was nice of you.”

His expression changed as if she’d offended him.

“I’ve never done that before. There was something about you…”

A stagehand was standing next to her ready to push her offstage and back to the side where she’d come from. She jumped off the stool and turned toward Jonah, who was still grinning.

Jesse grabbed her hand. “Wait. Don’t let them make you leave.”

Melissa narrowed her stare. “I have backstage passes for me and…”

“Good!” His eyes widened as the music grew louder. “I’ll see you soon.”

The crew member guided her off to the side of the stage, and Jesse went about his work mesmerizing the crowd.

“Mom! Mom! He kissed you!” Jonah dropped her purse on the ground and enveloped her into an enormous hug. “Did you see that?”

She wondered if he knew how silly it sounded. “Yes, I was there.”

Bryce, the man with a striking resemblance to Jesse Charles who had earlier introduced himself as Jesse Charles’s assistant, walked over to them. “Mr. Charles has requested that you both watch the show from here.”

“I didn’t realize the meet and greet passes included all of this.” Melissa looked down at her pass dangling around her neck.

“It doesn’t. He seems to be out of sorts this evening. He’s never been one to pull women on stage. He thinks it’s tacky.”

Jesse was doing his job, hitting the notes, giving the audience what they’d paid their hard-earned money to see, but his eyes were on the side of the stage.

Melissa had been shoved off, beyond the audience’s view, and now was embraced by a young boy. Why had he thought she’d be another one of the single women in the crowd? She had a son, which more than likely meant she had a husband.

Well, he’d play it off as a moment to sing to a fan. No one would be the wiser, but he’d feel like the fool. He’d probably have one pissed of man after him, too.

Just one more song, and he’d go make nice with the son. Salvage the night, and maybe she wouldn’t think he was such an idiot.

After he’d sung his final song he hurried offstage, and Bryce met him, as always, with a towel and a bottle of water.

“Another great show.”

Jesse sucked down the water. “The altitude is torture.”

“I just think you’re a wimp.”

Jesse laughed as he finished off the bottle of water. “What did you do with Melissa?”

The smirk on Bryce’s face was all the razzing he’d get over asking some woman on stage. Jesse knew that.

“She’s over in the corner with her son. You’ve never done that before,” he said as they walked toward them, Bryce keeping close to him—as though to protect him as he always did.

Knowing Bryce was his closest confidant, he could be honest. “There was something about her. I needed to see her.”

“She’s not your type.”

“And I have a type?”

Bryce chuckled. “Well, let’s say she’s not the type Carson gives you.”

“He can bite me. That last woman he put me with, the model, I’m sure she didn’t have an ounce of intelligence in her head.”

“Well, honey, I could have told you that.” Bryce patted him on the back before he turned his head and gave a very blatant look at the ass of one of the stagehands. “Is he taken?”

Jesse laughed as they made their way to Melissa, who was busy looking down at the young boy who he could only hear was speaking much too fast.

“Hi.” His voice shook as he approached them. The boy stopped talking and turned to look up at him. It was most definitely her son. He had the same eyes which had caught Jesse off guard.

Melissa placed her hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Jonah, this is Mr. Charles. Can you say hello?”

“Hi,” the boy’s voice squeaked, and Jesse decided they were in the same boat. He was as shaken meeting Jesse as Jesse was having met Melissa.

Jesse held out his hand. “What’s your name?”

“Jonah.”

“Jonah, it’s nice to meet you. Thanks for letting me borrow your mom.”

“Oh, sure.”

Melissa kept her hand on his shoulder—and her gaze, too. Jesse’s own mother had never looked at him like that. Who would have thought he could be jealous over such an endearing moment.

There was a tightening in his chest, and he didn’t like it. Even if the woman was someone else’s wife, he could salvage the time. Jonah looked like the kind of kid who needed a special moment. Even though his mother looked down at him with pure love in her eyes, there was sadness in his.

Jesse reached for Jonah’s pass, which hung around his neck. “I see that you were coming back here to see me anyway.”

“Mom won the tickets on the radio.”

Jesse shifted his glance from the boy to his mother. There was a blush to her cheeks. The ache in his chest deepened. He didn’t need to hear much more, he knew she was a special woman.

He looked back at Jonah. “What does your dad think of you two staying out so late?”

Jesse smiled and looked at Melissa, but the smile that had permeated her lips since he’d met her backstage slipped away and Jonah’s head lowered. He’d said something horribly wrong.

“Jonah’s father died three years ago.” Melissa’s voice had softened, but her hand remained on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry.” Jesse swallowed hard. “My dad died when I was ten. It was hard.”

Jonah looked up at him. His eyes had grown damp. “I miss him.”

They had a connection—him and this young man.

Bryce caught Jesse’s attention. The show might be over, but the stage fright was still very real. It was time for the doors to open and the fans that adored him to come in a gawk. He was thankful for them all, but he didn’t enjoy the closeness. Perhaps he’d learned that from his mother. She’d kept her distance his whole life, staying only close enough to dive into his wealth when she needed.

Jesse sucked in a breath.

“Jonah, would you like to meet all these people with me?”

Jonah’s head lifted, and he looked back at his mother. “Can I?”

“Oh, you should stay out of Mr. Charles’s…”

“Jesse,” he corrected her.

Melissa looked up at him and smiled before she looked back at Jonah. “You should stay out of Jesse’s way.”

“Really, he wouldn’t be in the way.” He leaned in closer to her. “I’d enjoy the distraction.”

Jonah looked up at his mother again. “Please.”

Melissa dropped her shoulders. “For a little bit. We need to get home. We have school tomorrow.”

Jesse found humor in that. “You go to school?”

Melissa narrowed her brows and then the smile was back as she understood what he’d said. “I’m a teacher. Middle school biology.”

“You’re much too pretty to be a biology teacher.”

Her cheeks filled with color. “Well, thank you. I’m sure my students figure I fit the part.”

He didn’t suppose she knew what they really thought. The woman was making his head spin and he’d been with women that society deemed perfect. They hadn’t cut it, but she…

Bryce nudged him. “They’re ready to open the door.”

“Jonah is going to be my assistant tonight.”

Bryce nodded. “Oh, good. My replacement. C’mon, Jonah, I’ll show you what we need to do.”

Melissa watched her usually shy son walk away with the man who obviously spent his life taking care of the pop star.

“Really, you don’t have to do this.”

“He’s a great kid. Is he ten?”

“Yes. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him smile as much as he did tonight. Thank you for that.”

Jesse ran his hand over his hair. “That is certainly validation for my job.”

“Well, a mother can’t give a son who has lost so much that kind of joy.”

“I think you’re selling yourself short.”

Why did this man find it necessary to flatter her? She was nothing to him, but his charm on her was working.

Jesse looked toward the door where a crowd stood just beyond a large man who held them out. “I suppose I’d better get over there. I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Thank you.”

He touched her arm as he passed by her, and a shiver ran through her. What was it about this young man that had her mind turning to mush? Why had he pulled her on that stage, and why was he being so kind and considerate to her son?

Honestly, she’d figured he’d wave to the crowd and they’d call that a meet and greet. But this…she never would have dreamed.

Melissa found herself a place against the wall and leaned up against it. The room was filled with young girls screaming and chattering. Jesse took pictures with each of his adoring fans and gave them each a moment of his time. Certainly he wasn’t stereo-typical to what she’d expected.

“He hates this part.”

Melissa looked to find Bryce leaning up against the wall next to her.

“He doesn’t look like he hates it too bad.”

“It’s part of the job. He likes to perform, but all the hype…it’s not for him.”

Melissa couldn’t imagine. Why would someone want to be as famous as Jesse Charles and not like it?

“It’s very nice of him to pay attention to Jonah. He really doesn’t have to do that.”

“I think they have a connection. Jesse’s dad died when he was ten. Right about the time he began to perform.”

Melissa laid her hand on her chest. Her heart ached every time she heard such a thing. She knew what Jonah was going through. It was bad enough that so many people grew up that way.

“I just hope he’s not let down tomorrow. I don’t know how to explain to him that people like Jesse don’t stick around to be your friend. They pull people on stage and make them feel good for that moment. I understand it, but I don’t know how to make him understand it.”