Wild Chase (24 page)

Resting one hand on the counter and running the other through his hair, he gives me one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen.

“First, I didn’t get much sleep last night. Adam and his little friend, well, let’s just say that expensive suite has some thin walls.”

I blush, tucking hair behind my ear as Vic approaches the counter, eyeing the coffee and food.

“Secondly, I was hiding out at a little cafe when I got some incredible news and I had to come over and share it. My mom taught me to never show up empty handed, so tada! Breakfast a la Jesse. I didn’t know what kind of coffee you liked so I got the hot kind, the cold kind, the frou-frou kind with the whipped cream and sprinkles—” before he can finish Vic reaches over and snatches the Frappuccino.

“DIBS!”

Jesse and I look at each other and laugh. Vic takes a sip and smiles, waves at me and mouths DETAILS as she walks back down the hall to her bedroom.

“Sorry about that. She’s kind of a coffee Nazi.” I say with a rough morning giggle.

He shrugs, his black leather jacket shifting against his kind of tight fitting 2003 Warped Tour t-shirt. I tear my eyes away from him and look back at the counter.

“I brought donuts, too. I know it’s nothing like the breakfast you cooked for us yesterday, but—”

I open the top and peek in. “You found my kryptonite, ya know. Iced coffee and donuts. I can feel my butt jiggle just looking at them.”

Loud, choked sounding laughter escapes Jesse’s lips and I mentally slap myself for saying that.

“You won’t hear me complaining about that, Babe, so help yourself.”

Looking up into those bright cobalt blue eyes of his, he gives me that naughty smirk, and I just shake my head, unable to take my eyes off him. He’s making this a little too easy. My guard is tumbling down with every wink, grin, and sweet comment. As soon as I let myself consider really letting myself like this blue-eyed cutie, I get hit with this sinking feeling of guilt in my gut.

I grab the iced latte and take a sip, attempting to drown it. I smile up at Jesse and grab a donut.

“So what’s this incredible news?”

His eyes light up. “You’ll never believe it, but just say yes.”

“What? Tell me what it is!”

Shaking his head he takes a coffee out of the holder and takes a sip, “Say yes, and I’ll tell you.”

I suck in my bottom lip and let out a laugh, shaking my head.

“You’re evil, you know that?” I go on, taking a bite of my pastry.

He winks, of course, and glances down at his watch.

“Evil in a good way, right?” he flirts, wagging his eyebrows at me.

One more ounce of flirting from this guy and I’m going to end up a pile of mush; so naturally, I cave.

“Ok, fine. Yes. Now, what did I sell my soul for?”

“Are you ready for this?” he asks, his tone suddenly serious and amusing all at once.

I nod, feeling my pulse starting to quicken.

“So, we sent over the new versions of the songs to the head honchos. They were so impressed by the initial improvements that they thought we had hired a new producer. Then they heard the one with you on it and they nearly fell out of their seats, Mel.”

Tilting my head sideways, I gaze into his wildly excited eyes and I’m speechless.

“Huh?” is all I can say.

He laughs and leans in closer to me, taking one of my hands into both of his and holding it tight.

“They want you to keep doing what you’re doing. You knew exactly what that song needed and we have so many more that the label just isn’t happy with, so you’re the outside ear that we need—with the talent to get the job done. With your help, our album could be fixed and out in a few months. Melanie, they want you to help us produce the rest of the album. They even mentioned possibly wanting a demo from you in the future.”

I swear that for a minute my heart stops beating. My hands fly out from beneath his and cover my mouth.

“SHUT UP!” I cry out, feeling the happiest tears I have ever cried start to fill my eyes.

He laughs and reaches out, pushing some hair back from my eyes.

“I’m serious. Avery and I conference called with them early this morning and told them that we didn’t want or need anyone else. You were the one for the job. So it’s yours, if you want it.”

I wipe the tears away, dart around the counter, and fling my arms around his neck.

“You have no idea how much I appreciate this. Oh, my god! Really? I mean, I just… Oh my god!” I cry out into his shoulder. My words are half muffled, but I’m not ready to let him go just yet.

“We’ve got a long day ahead of us, so whenever you’re ready, we should probably get on over there.”

That brings things to a screeching reality.

“What, NOW?” I say, pulling back and staring up at him.

“Well, yeah! It’s the whole reason we are out here in L.A.!”

I grin and dart off to my room, but halt when I hear him call out to me.

Turning around, I see him standing there with that same naughty smirk from earlier.

“What is it?” I ask, confused as to why he’s stopping me.

He just nods at me and smiles even bigger, “Nice undies.”

I look down and realize I’ve been out here this whole time in nothing but a tank top and panties.

Letting out a tiny yelp, my hand shoots down to cover up my tender bits and I take off down the hall.

I hear Jesse’s roaring laughter from behind me as he calls out to me, “Don’t be too long, Trouble!”

Looking down only to see that I have on knickers that say trouble across the butt.

I sigh and laugh; I could have a worse nickname…

By the time dinnertime rolls around, the rest of the band calls it quits and decides to head out. Even a very hesitant Avery, who looks oddly sad today. Once Jesse and I arrived at the studio, we had been working nonstop. Mike started by teaching me everything he could about the equipment, and by lunchtime, I finally got the hang of the basics. This was far different from my home studio. Luckily, I know enough not to look like a complete idiot. I didn’t want to ruin this chance because I knew for sure it wouldn’t happen again if I messed up.

After hours and hours of working between two different tracks, the guys head out, leaving Jesse and I behind.

Avery hangs back, and no matter how hard I try not to, I can feel him watching me.

“Did you guys want to go out with us and maybe get something to eat?” the blonde asks, his voice low and heavy. Now it’s more than obvious that something is bothering him.

Before I can say anything, Jesse speaks up, though his eyes stay busy on the notebook in front of him.

“Nah, I think I’m going to order something for us here and see if she will help me work on a few more things.”

Avery pauses and looks at me. Of course, a look between us can never just be a look. His eyes darken and I feel the pull inside of me. My body tells me to go to him; it craves the need to comfort him, but I can’t. I won’t. We stay like this, outwardly silent, until he nods and says goodnight. He walks out and leaves me feeling off balance again. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to be around him without feeling like this.

“So, Trouble, you hungry yet?” Jesse asks, jerking me back to life.

I roll my eyes and laugh. “Yeah, lunch seems like years ago.”

We spend a few minutes chatting about dinner and then get lost on adding another rhythm guitar piece to one of the songs. Before we know it, another couple of hours have flown by and the cleaning crew is coming through for a second time. I can tell he’s not ready to leave so I do something I know could possibly turn out a couple different ways.

“Why don’t we go back to my apartment for a while? We can order a pizza and work on the lyrics to that song there. It’ll be more comfy than these chairs. My butt’s starting to go numb,” I suggest as I get up to stretch.

His eyes light up, “Yeah, that sounds like a plan.”

Luckily, Vic is out like a light when we get back and I shut her door quietly behind me. We ordered pizza on the way over and the delivery guy was waiting for us when we arrived. Jesse and I settle onto the couch with our food and immediately start to dig in. As we enjoy our late dinner, talking and laughing for a little bit, the conversation suddenly turns serious.

“So, if I can be so bold, why is it that you’re off the market?” Jesse asks, wiping his mouth and glancing over at me.

My heart jumps slightly and I wonder what in the hell I should say to him. I run a hand through my hair and give him a halfhearted shrug.

“Fell for someone who didn’t stick around. I guess I kind of had my heart… stolen. God, that sound’s so corny,” I say, clenching my eyes shut and leaning back on the couch.

I hear him chuckle softly, “No, it makes perfect sense.”

I straighten up and look at him, “How about you?”

Jesse takes a deep breath and throws his uneaten pizza crust into the box.

He shrugs, “I guess you can say I had mine crushed.” He stops and sighs. I regret asking him, but on the other hand, it makes me feel closer to him—knowing that he understands what it’s like to feel broken.

“I had a massive crush on the same girl for years and by the time we were in high school, I finally built up the courage to ask her out. She actually said yes, but when our date rolled around, she literally laughed in my face when I showed up to pick her up. She said something like she’d thought the whole thing was a prank. She didn’t even remember my name. God, the guys laughed so hard at that. I just decided not to get hung up on any one person after that.”

I swallow and nod, thinking about the stupid girl that turned him down. She’s probably kicking herself now! What a bitch!

“For what it’s worth, she was an idiot,” I blurt out.

I watch him laugh, “Thanks. And whoever it was that took your heart, well he’s not as stupid, but he’s an asshole.”

Laughing and nodding, I boldly reach out and hold his hand.

“Love sucks,” I confess, losing myself in his ocean blue eyes.

He nods, holding my gaze, “Love blows.”

“Love bites.”

With a wicked gleam in his eyes, he leans in within an inch of my ear and whispers, “So do I.”

Sweet. Baby. Jesus.

When he pulls back, I know that my entire face is red. I laugh nervously as he jumps up, and he returns with his notebook. Before I can ask what he’s doing, he flips to a clean page and starts to write.

“Sorry, that kind of jump started a song in my head and I wanted to write it down before I forgot it.”

I watch the black hair fall into his face as his pen furiously scratches lyric after lyric on the notebook in his lap. He’s lost in his head, and I can’t seem to take my eyes off him. He really is beautiful. I probably shouldn’t keep saying that about the male species, but there’s just something about a man who gets lost in music like I do; it’s mesmerizing.

His hand swoops up to tuck the stray strands of hair back behind his ear, drawing my eyes to his strong jaw. He peers up at me for a brief moment and catches me staring. A cute lopsided grin crosses his face before he winks and then turns his attention back to the paper in front of him.

The urge to kiss him floods through me, and then suddenly, it’s all I can think about. My eyes rest on his lips and stay there. I hear part of my head starting to argue against my steamy thoughts but with each breath, I push it further to the wayside.

I think I want him to kiss me. I know I want to feel his lips against mine. And I know for sure that I want to feel him kiss my neck again. This whole thing between us feels easy. I know that I’m not going to get my heart stomped on again and then, just like that, it’s the green light I’ve been waiting for.

“Jesse?” I say quietly, not really sure what’s going to come out of my mouth.

He turns to me a moment later, still slightly lost in his song writing, and raises an eyebrow, “Hmm?” he says.

“Kiss me.”

He looks startled for a moment, almost unsure, but suddenly his notebook falls off his lap as he lunges.

Tangled up in each other, we fall back onto the couch, my hands mussed up in his hair. With one hand above me, supporting him, his other clasps onto my hip. Our lips hungrily move against the others, each moment passing only intensifying the heat between us. I open my eyes for a moment and almost stop breathing when I swear I see his eyes open… and gray ones looking back at me. I shut my eyes and kiss
Jesse
harder.