When she could see again, Cadence lifted her head from where it had fallen against Jude's shoulder. He smiled. She smiled back.
"Hey," he said and pushed the hair away from her face.
"Hey."
Then they just sat and stared at each other. If the grin on my face was as silly as the one on his, she thought, we both look like a pair of loonies.
Jude cocked his head toward the huge tub. "Want to try it out?"
Cadence made a sound of mock-fright. "You're going to kill me!"
"Just for a bath." Jude's fingers made lazy patterns on her back. "I promise."
"You get the water started. I'll go get the food."
"You said the magic words," Jude told her. "Food."
Cadence kissed him. "Be right back."
The sight of her face in the mirror made her grin. She was all over FFG. Freshly Fucked Glow, as Marnia called it. Freshly fucked and starving. She piled a plate with the chocolate-covered fruit, grabbed the bottle of champagne and went back to the bathroom.
There were no candles to set the mood, but Jude had dimmed the lights further and turned on the small Bose radio on the countertop. Celtic lullabies echoed softly from the speakers, and Cadence nodded.
"The claddagh should've given me a clue," she said. "But I wouldn't have thought you'd pick this."
"Why?" Jude helped her balance the plate on the tiled tub surround, then held her hand while she stepped into the warm water. "Because I'm a rock singer?"
"Stereotype. Sorry."
Jude smiled as he joined her. "Don't be sorry. It's part of the image. Don't give away my secrets."
As Cadence settled into the water, she scrutinized him. "Do you have many?"
Jude looked around as though pretending to make certain they wouldn't be overheard. "Sure. Like I've never, ever, trashed a hotel room. And I don't smoke."
She laughed. "And you donate to charity. You don't fit the image, Jude Camron."
He sighed and slid deeper into the water. "I'm just a small-town boy."
"With a city-boy's voice."
He quirked one eyebrow at her. "Cadence, do you have my album?"
She bit her lip, but couldn't lie. "No. But I've heard your songs on the radio. I don't feel like changing the station when they come on either."
Jude blinked, then chuckled. "Not the highest praise I've ever had."
"You have a great voice, Jude. And the songs are good." Cadence thought carefully before she spoke further. "If you want my honest opinion--"
He leaned forward to stare seriously into her eyes. "I do."
"I think maybe you're trying too hard to distance yourself from your roots."
"From StarOne, you mean?"
"Not just from that." Cadence nudged the faucet handle and the water stopped flowing. "Though I can see why you'd want to."
Jude laughed again, and she was relieved to see she wasn't offending him.
"StarOne was a great time. I'm still friends with those guys. But I got tired of being the preppy one, you know? Labeled like that. I just want to make great music."
"You do. Your lyrics are poetry," Cadence said sincerely. "Your voice is very strong. And sexy."
He laughed. Their hands, propped on the tub's rim, touched. He tangled his fingers with hers.
Cadence tried to put her thoughts into words that wouldn't sound overcritical. "You know, "Love Me Two Times" is a great song. It's different than the others."
"Even if I snagged the title from The Doors?"
"Even despite that." She squeezed his hand. "Your rock songs are good, too. But have you thought about doing something smoother? Less...angsty?"
"You mean something more like what we're listening to?"
The music had changed from lullabies to soft Gaelic folk songs.
"Yes, actually. You have the voice for it."
"You can't believe how much I'd love to sing something different." Jude relaxed against his side of the tub. "My manager and producers convinced me I'd be better off hitting the rock, hard. They let me get away with "Love Me Two Times" because nobody figured it would get released as a single, but when it was the only song left on the album..."
"And all the others were hits," she finished for him. "They wanted their money. I know how it works."
"But it's climbing the charts and getting great reviews," Jude said passionately. Water sloshed as he sat up. "It's not up there with "Break Me" or "Down and Dirty," but--"
"Yet," Cadence cut in. "But it will be. I'm not a music critic...."
"But you know what you like."
She felt awful for not owning his album. "Yes."
He tugged her fingers. "Do you like me?"
"I told you, I don't have--"
"Not my music." He looked at her seriously. "Me."
"Can I like one without liking the other?"
He let go of her fingers and sat back in the tub, face pensive. "Sure."
Cadence shook her head, moved closer, and brushed her lips against his. "I don't think so, Jude. Your music's as much a part of you as the color of your eyes."
His mouth parted and he snuck another kiss out of her before answering. "Serves me right for asking."
"I like you." She smiled and gave him another brushing kiss. "Very much."
His hands slid along her back and found the softness of her buttocks. He pulled her onto his lap. The water lifted her, made her weightless and cradled them both in decadent warmth.
"I like you, too," Jude whispered. "Very much. And I think you're right."
She'd pillowed her head on his shoulder, but didn't look up even though his words surprised her. "About what?"
"My music. My songs. What I've been singing."
"Oh, Jude. I told you--"
He turned her in the water until she looked at him. "Cadence, I respect your opinion."
"We barely know each other."
He looked to where his hand cupped her hip possessively. "You're not afraid to tell me what you think. I like that. It's not easy to find that in this town."
Though Cadence didn't live in Hollywood, she knew enough about it to agree. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
His kiss was stronger this time. "You didn't. I appreciate it. And I agree with you. I'm going into the studio next month to record a new album. I had a bunch of songs I was going to do, and a bunch I wrote but wasn't going to use. I've changed my mind."
Cadence looked at him for a few silent minutes before she was able to speak. "I'm incredibly flattered."
Jude waggled his eyebrows. "Wait until the record comes out before you decide that. It could be a disaster."
"It won't be."
Their kiss broke when both of them yawned. Jude grinned. "Sorry. It's not the company."
Cadence laughed. "I'm tired, too. Want to go to bed?"
He turned her earlier words back on her. "Are you trying to kill me?"
"To sleep," Cadence said. "I promise."
"That's not as much fun. But okay."
Time had passed unbelievably quickly while they made love and soaked in the tub. No wonder we're tired, Cadence thought as they both stumbled toward the bed. It was almost morning.
She curled into his arms as naturally as if she'd always slept there. His breath warmed the back of her neck.
"What's next?" he murmured as Cadence slipped toward sleep.
The question was enough to make her lids flutter open, but she was careful not to betray her emotions by moving. "We sleep."
"After that."
Her heart skipped, but wariness made her say, "In the morning, we wake up. I check out of La Fleur and go home, and you go to the studio."
He sounded as sleepy as she had a few moments ago, before he'd asked her about the future. "Will you give me your number?"
For one delirious moment, Cadence almost said yes. Reason won out over hormones. She'd just been burned, and badly, by a relationship. Jumping into another wouldn't be very smart, even if it was with a man as sexy, smart, ki
nd and talented...and famous, as Jude Camron. No. That road to heartbreak was strewn lined with groupies and paparazzi. Not her style.
So, with a heavy heart, but a tone forced to be light, Cadence said "No, Jude."
"Love me one time, we go our separate ways," he whispered. "Love me two times, and I could break." His arms tightened around her for a moment, but he didn't continue. "Understood."
He didn't understand. He couldn't. Cadence didn't feel capable of explaining, so she let herself drift into dreams with his arms around her.
The sound of his cell phone woke her, but she pretended to sleep while he made muttered arrangements with Bernie. While he crept out of bed. While he dressed and left the room just as the golden California sun began to edge the curtains.
Only then did she open her eyes.
* * * *
Destiny came up and booted her in the ass one year later.
"And now, what you've all been waiting for," said the radio announcer. "The new song by former StarOne frontman Jude Camron. One week on the charts and it's already hit number three. Here's...'Rhyme or Reason.'"
Traffic blared behind her and she pulled off to the side of the road to listen, shaking, throat tight. The song was everything she'd told him would sound good. A soft, Celtic-flavored ballad with flowing lyrics and gorgeous instrumentation.
A love song.
Time stopped while Jude's voice surrounded her. She lost herself in the song, and when it was over, Cadence put the car in drive, got back on the highway, and followed her heart.
The room wasn't as grand as the one Marnia had treated her to the year before, but while much had changed in Cadence's life over the past twelve months, the status of her bank account had not. She put her purse and her keys on the bed, then looked around the empty room.
And she drives, all night if she must.
She was a fool. It was just a song. Did she really think he'd meant it for her?
Just to have the chance of seeing him again.
He hadn't used names. He was a rock star, for goodness' sake. Famous the world over!
To the place where once they held hands and said each other's names.
He'd probably been with dozens of women before and after her. She was a blip on the radar screen of his sexual history, as evidenced by the fact he'd never called her. Never tried to get in touch with her. It wouldn't have been that hard.
Where he waits, knowing she'll come and it will be the same.
Ridiculous. No, she hadn't given him her number, but, surely, in an entire year, if he'd wanted to find her....
The knock on the door made her turn. This was it. She opened it.
He was there.
He stepped through and closed the door behind him. She searched his face, looking for the differences a year must have wrought, but could find none.
"How did you know I'd hear the song?"
"I didn't," Jude said.
"And how did you know I'd come back here?"
"I didn't know that either."
Cadence looked around the hotel room, not the one they'd shared, but still feeling it was the right place to be anyway. "So how did you know when to get here?"
"I've been staying here for a month," Jude said. "Waiting for the desk clerk to tell me you'd checked in."
"And how long would you have stayed, waiting?"
"I don't have a checkout date."
He smiled, and she melted, and in the next moment he was kissing her.
"It's a wonderful song," she whispered when they parted long enough to breathe. "Everyone's going to love it."
"I wrote it for you," Jude said. "I don't care about anyone else."
"This is all pretty sudden," she said, even though after a year of dreaming about him it didn't seem so sudden at all. It seemed long overdue. "There isn't any..." She paused, considering, and everything became clear. "There isn't any rhyme or reason to it."
"Nope," said Jude and kissed her again. "Not one bit. But who cares about making sense when we could be making love?"
"That sounds like they lyrics to another great song."
Jude pulled her closer and tipped her head back for a searing kiss that left her breathless. His hand found her rear, and he walked her back to the waiting comfort of the wide, soft bed. "I'll write it later."
The song became the number one hit the following year and more than paid for the simple, stylish wedding and extravagant honeymoon suite...at La Fleur.
A PERFECT FIT
A shadow fell across Audrey Winsom's textbook, and she looked up, shading her eyes against the early May sunshine. She smiled when she saw the man interrupting her studies. "Joel, hi. Have a seat."
He grinned down at her, his dark hair falling over his chocolate-brown eyes in the way that always had her itching to brush it away. "Audrey, my favorite head shrinker in training. How's it going?"
Audrey moved over so he could slide into the seat next to hers. She gestured at the book. "Just me and Advanced Developmental Psychology."
Joel made a face and reached across her to close the book with a solid thud. "Bor-rrring."
Audrey laughed, but opened the book again. "Maybe. But the final's in two weeks. C'mon, Joel, you need to study for it, too. Why not come over tonight? I know it's Friday, but we can order pizza, buckle down, crack open the books. Lauren's going with her dad until Sunday, and I plan to study all weekend."
Joel shook his head. "Can't."
"Ah." Audrey nodded. She studied his face, the high line of his cheekbones and the perfect curve of his mouth. Of course he wouldn't want to hang out with her on a Friday night. "Hot date? Who's it with this time? The cute blonde from Counseling Procedures? No...let me guess. It's the brunette who giggles at you in the café."
Joel laughed. "Jennifer is the blonde, and she's got a new boyfriend. Marianne's the brunette and no, it's not her, either."
Audrey pretended to study him thoroughly before saying, "Aha! I have it! Secret agent stuff, right?"
It was a well-worn joke between them. Secret agent or a gigolo, two careers that would suit him should he decide not to become a psychologist.
"Something like that. Not," he added, "that anything could be more exciting than a night with you, going over human development."
"Riiiight." Audrey rolled her eyes at his non-subtle flirting, which she'd steeled herself not to take seriously about two seconds after meeting him the first time.
They laughed together. Joel nudged her shoulder. Audrey turned to look at him.
"What?"
"Is that all you ever do?" he asked her, for once the teasing gone. "Study?"
Audrey closed her book to look at him. She sat silent for a moment, thinking. "It's important I get good grades, Joel. My future and Lauren's future depend on me being able to support us."
He nodded and did something unexpected. He leaned forward to brush a strand of hair that had come undone from her ponytail away from her face and tuck it behind her ear. The simple gesture, far less outrageous than some of the flirtatious things he'd said to her in the past, nevertheless made her catch her breath. She looked into his eyes.
"I admire you," Joel said.
She couldn't ignore the sincerity in his voice, but Audrey ducked her head, looking away. "Joel..."
He leaned back, effectively breaking the moment. "Maybe next week instead? There's plenty of time before the final. You can even cook me dinner. I'll bring a movie for Lauren, she'll veg out in front of the tube and we'll make a night of it."
It had become safe to look at him again, and she gave him a raised brow. "Sounds fine, except for that me making you dinner part."
Joel winked as he got up from the table. "I could make dinner for you instead. I'm not just a pretty face. I make a mean omelet, Audrey."
"Oh, yeah?" She laughed and threw a balled-up napkin at him. "Such modesty. Fine, I'll make dinner."
Laughing, Joel ducked the napkin and gave her a little wave as he walked away. Audrey stared after him a moment
, admiring his long, lean form, the bag slung with such casual fashion sense over one shoulder, the confidence in his stride. She knew he was more than a pretty face. He had a great sense of humor and a real brain, too, beneath the perfect features and golden smile. They'd been paired off by chance in the first class they'd had together, and the easy way he broke down and absorbed even difficult concepts had impressed her from the start. Studying with Joel made her push herself, and they often vied for top position in their classes.