Tempted By The Rock Star

‘Haven’t I?’ he asked quietly. He looked away then, and Aurelie felt a strange twisting inside as she thought of his words last night. Words which made a shivery thrill run all the way through her. I know enough to know I want to know more.

Did she want to be known?

She took a sip of champagne, the bubbles seeming to fizz all the way through her. Maybe she did. At least for one day. One date. That was safe enough, surely.

‘All right.’ She set her champagne glass on the coffee table between them. ‘What do you want to know?’

Luke turned back to her, bemused. ‘You look like you’re facing the firing squad.’

‘It feels that way, a little bit.’

‘I suppose you’ve always had to be careful about what you say.’

‘I haven’t always been careful enough.’ He acknowledged the point with a nod. There had been several tell-all exposés in various tabloids, all with too much truth in them. Aurelie felt herself start to prickle. ‘So what do you want to know?’

‘What do you want to tell me?’

She gave a soft laugh. ‘Not much.’

‘There must be something. Some small, innocuous bit of information that you don’t mind imparting.’

She smiled, felt the tension inside her ease, at least a little bit. ‘Well … I like bubblegum ice cream.’

‘Bubblegum?’ His jaw dropped theatrically. ‘You have got to be kidding me.’

‘It’s delicious.’

‘It’s way too sweet—’

She leaned forward. ‘And pink and sugary and with little bits of gum in the ice cream. Yum.’

‘Whoa.’ He held up a hand. ‘TMI.’

A bubble of laughter erupted from her, surprising them both. He smiled, a real smile, lightening his stern features in a way that made her feel suddenly breathless. His dark eyes glinted gold. She shook her head slowly. ‘I didn’t think you had a sense of humour, you know.’

‘It’s a shy creature. It only appears on rare occasions.’

‘So it does.’ She gazed at him thoughtfully. ‘What’s your favourite flavour of ice cream?’

‘Not bubblegum.’

‘We’ve established that.’

‘Probably vanilla.’

‘Vanilla?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Could you be more boring?’

His mouth twitched. ‘Probably not.’

‘What’s there to like about vanilla?’

‘It never lets you down. Other flavours can be so disappointing. Not enough mint in the mint chocolate chip, too many nuts in Rocky Road.’

‘I have been seriously disappointed, on occasion, with the lack of cookie dough in cookie dough ice cream.’

‘Exactly.’ He nodded his approval. ‘But vanilla? Never a disappointment. Completely trustworthy.’

Like you are? She almost said the words. And meant them. No snide mockery, just truth. Too much truth. She wasn’t ready for that.

‘Well.’ She shifted in her seat, gave him a breezy smile. ‘Now we’ve broken the ice.’

‘Or the ice cream.’

‘That was a seriously weak joke.’

‘I told you, my sense of humour only appears on rare occasions. Anyway—’ he glanced at her as he took a sip of champagne ‘—can you eat bubblegum ice cream? Or does that send your glucose levels through the roof?’

‘Everything in moderation.’

He nodded towards the handbag at her feet. ‘I should have asked before, but did you bring everything you need?’

She nodded. ‘I have a little kit for testing my blood. It travels easily.’

‘When were you diagnosed?’

‘When I was seventeen.’ She swallowed, remembering those awful early days. At the time she’d just been moving from one event to another, dazed, incredulous, hopeful and yet still afraid.

Too late she realised Luke was watching her face, and she knew he could see the emotions in her eyes. Emotions she’d meant to hide. ‘Anyway,’ she said, apropos of nothing.

‘How did it happen?’

‘The usual symptoms. Weight loss, excessive thirst, dizzy spells.’

His eyes narrowed, and she could almost see his mind working. Understanding. ‘And the tabloids claimed you had anorexia. A drinking problem. A drug overdose.’

She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. ‘That’s what they like to do. And in any case I haven’t been a saint.’ She lifted her chin a notch, tried to smile again, but her heart was thudding hard.

Luke gazed at her steadily. ‘Who has?’

‘You seem to have been a regular Boy Scout.’

‘No, not a Boy Scout.’ He rubbed his jaw, a movement that Aurelie couldn’t help but notice was inherently sexy. Although, perhaps the sexiest thing about Luke Bryant was how unaware he seemed of his own attractiveness. He moved with unconscious grace, and her gaze was helplessly drawn to the shrug of his broad shoulders, the reassuring squareness of his jaw. Everything about him solid and strong. Safe.

‘Why haven’t you ever talked about your diabetes publicly? Issued a statement?’

She leaned her head back against the seat, suddenly tired. ‘It’s quite a boring disease.’

‘Boring?’

‘Much more interesting to let them wonder. So my agent told me.’

‘Your agent sucked.’

She let out a surprised laugh. ‘Yeah, he wasn’t that great. I fired him a couple of years ago.’

‘You could have said something since then.’

She opened her eyes. ‘Maybe I didn’t want to.’

‘Why?’

‘Because telling the truth and having no one believe you is worse than not telling the truth and having people assume the worst. But I guess you wouldn’t understand that,’ she finished lightly, ‘what with this compulsion to honesty that you have.’

Luke didn’t say anything for a moment, yet Aurelie felt him tense, saw something dark flash in his eyes before he angled his head away from her. Had she inadvertently touched on something painful with her offhand remark? ‘I understand,’ he said finally, his voice low, and she almost asked him what he meant. She didn’t, though, because they’d surely had enough honesty for one day.

By the time they arrived in Camiguin Aurelie had started feeling relaxed again. Luke had steered the conversation back to lighter subjects, moving from ice cream flavours to movie preferences and whether she supported the Mets or the Yankees.

‘Mets all the way,’ he’d assured her solemnly, but she saw a glint in his eyes that made her smile.

They disembarked the plane at the tiny airport and took an island taxi—basically, a rusted-out Jeep—into Mambajao. The capital of Camiguin was no more than a small town of rickety buildings with wooden verandas and tin roofs, the narrow streets bustling with bicycles and fruit vendors and raggedy children darting in and out of everything. It was so different from Aurelie’s usual experience of travelling, when she kept to limos and high class hotels and never stepped outside of a severely controlled environment. She loved this. Craved the feeling of possibility and even hope wandering around the dusty streets gave her.

‘What are we doing first?’ she asked Luke, and he smiled and took her elbow, steering her away from a man on a bike pulling a cartload of pineapples.

‘I thought we could pick up some lunch in the market, and then we’ll take it out to the falls for a picnic.’

‘The falls?’

‘The Tuwasan Falls. They’re pretty spectacular.’

‘You’ve been there before?’

‘I stopped over here the last time I came to Manila.’

She felt a completely unreasonable prickling of jealousy. Had he taken one of his serious relationships to this falls? Was this his go-to place for a romantic date in the tropics?

‘Alone,’ Luke said quietly, yet with a hint of humour in his voice that made her blush. Again. She’d never blushed so much with a man, had never had a reason to. She was Aurelie, she was worldly-wise and weary, beyond shame or embarrassment.

But that act was falling away, flaking off like old paint. What would be left when it was gone? Something good, or even anything at all? She still wasn’t sure of the answer.

‘Come on,’ Luke said, and he guided her to a market stall overflowing with local produce and fish. ‘Anything look good?’

Aurelie surveyed the jumbled piles of fruits and vegetables, the pots of noodles and trays of spring rolls.

‘Crispy pata?’ Luke suggested. ‘It’s deep fried pig’s leg.’

She winced. ‘I don’t think I’m feeling quite that adventurous.’

‘It’s quite tasty.’

‘You’ve had it before?’

‘I like to try new things.’

She pointed to a tray of round yellowish fruit that looked a bit like potatoes. ‘What’s that?’

‘Lanzones.’

‘Have you had those?’

‘Yes, but you have to be careful. If they’re not ripe, they taste horribly sour. If they are, incredibly sweet. You just have to take your chances.’ He picked up a fruit, testing its ripeness with his thumb. ‘Try it.’ The fruit seller quickly peeled the lanzone with a knife and handed her a piece. Warily, she bit into it and then, without thinking, spat the piece out into her hand. ‘Yuck!’

‘Bitter, huh?’

‘You don’t sound surprised.’

He shrugged, and she hit him in the shoulder. ‘You did that on purpose!’

‘Try this one.’

‘Why should I trust you?’ she demanded even as she took the second peeled lanzone.

‘Because even lanzones deserve a second chance.’

Something in his quiet, serious tone made her mouth dry and her heart beat hard. She took a bite, and her mouth filled with the intense sweetness of the fruit. Her eyes widened. ‘Wow.’

‘See?’ He sounded so satisfied, so smug, that Aurelie rolled her eyes.

‘Thank you very much for that life lesson. Message received. Everything deserves a second chance.’

‘Not everything.’ After handing the vendor some coins, he’d placed his hand on the small of her back and was guiding her to the next stall. ‘Just me and the fruit.’

He acted, Aurelie thought, as if he were the only one who’d made a mistake. Who needed a second chance. Yet when she thought of her behaviour at their first meeting—and even their second—she felt as if she was the one who needed to change. Who wanted to prove she was different. Not Luke.

She glanced at him, her gaze taking in his stern profile, the hard line of his mouth, the latent strength of his body. What was he trying to prove?

He’d put several lanzones into a straw basket he’d bought from another vendor, and they added mango, spring rolls and some local sausage and cold noodles to their purchases. The sun was hot overhead even though the air felt swampy, and Luke bought two bottles of water and some sun hats as well.

‘Now to the falls,’ he said, and Aurelie followed him to a tin-roofed garage where he conferred with a young man who couldn’t be more than sixteen before leading her around to the back where a battered-looking Jeep awaited.

‘Your carriage, madam.’

She eyed it dubiously. ‘I don’t particularly relish breaking down in the middle of the jungle.’

‘Don’t worry, we’re not taking this into the jungle.’

‘Where, then?’

‘A car park about five kilometres from here. Then we walk.’

‘Walk? In the jungle?’

‘It’s worth it.’

‘It’d better be.’

Luke stowed their provisions in the bag, handed her a sun hat, and then swung into the driver’s seat. Aurelie could not keep her gaze from resting on his strong, browned forearms, the confident way he manoeuvred the rusty vehicle through the crowded streets of Mambajao and then out onto the open road, no more than a bumpy, rutted track.

The breeze was a balmy caress on her skin, the sun a benediction. In the distance the lush mountains—active volcanoes, Luke had told her—were dark, verdant humps against a hazy sky. Aurelie leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes.

When had she last felt this relaxed, this happy?

It was too long ago to remember. Smiling, she let her thoughts drift as the sunlight washed over her.

‘We’re here.’

She opened her eyes and saw that Luke had pulled into a rectangle of gravel and dirt that was, apparently, a car park. Their Jeep was the only car.

She rubbed her eyes. ‘I must have dozed.’

‘Just a little.’ There was something intimate about the way he said it, and Aurelie imagined him watching her sleep. Had she rested her head on his shoulder? Had she drooled? More blushing.

‘So where is here exactly?’

‘Well, nowhere, really.’ Luke slid out of the Jeep and reached for their basket. ‘But we can follow a path through the jungle to the Tuwasan Falls. It’s about a mile.’

‘A mile in the jungle?’ She glanced down at her leather sandals dubiously. ‘You should have told me we were enacting Survivor.’

He made a face. ‘Sorry. But it’s mostly wooden walkways, so I think you’ll be okay.’

‘If you say so.’

She followed him away from the car park and onto exactly what he’d said—a wooden walkway on stilts over the dense jungle floor. Within just a few metres of going down the walkway she felt the air close around her, hot, humid and dense. Birds chirped and cicadas chirrupped—at least she thought they were cicadas—and she could feel the jungle like a living, breathing entity all around her. A bright green lizard scampered across the walkway, and in the distance some animal—Aurelie had no idea what—gave a lonely, mournful cry.

‘Wow.’ She stopped, her hands resting on the cane railings, her heart thumping. ‘This is … intense.’

Luke glanced back at her. ‘You okay?’

‘Yes, I guess I just thought, you know, first date, maybe a movie?’

He smiled wryly. ‘I know you think I’m boring, but Jeez. A movie? I think I can do better than that.’

‘I don’t think you’re boring.’

‘You think I’m the human equivalent of vanilla ice cream.’

She gazed at him, the railings slick under her palms. Her heart was still thumping. ‘I do,’ she admitted quietly, and it felt like the most honest thing she’d ever said. ‘Completely trustworthy.’

Luke’s eyes darkened and the moment spun out between them, a thread of silence that bound them together, and tighter still. ‘Don’t speak too soon,’ he finally said, and turned away from her to walk further down the path.

‘You mean you’re not?’

‘I mean you don’t trust me yet, and why should you? It’s something I have to earn.’

Despite the damp heat all around them her mouth felt dry. She swallowed. ‘And you want to earn it?’

He glanced back at her, and his eyes were darker than ever. ‘Yes.’

Her mind spun with this revelation. She wanted to tell him that he’d already earned it, that she trusted him now, but somehow the words wouldn’t come.

They didn’t talk for a little while after that, because the wooden walkway became decidedly rickety, and then it stopped altogether at the bank of a rushing stream.

Aurelie raised her eyebrows. ‘What now, Tarzan?’

‘We cross it.’

‘Did I mention my leather sandals?’

‘You might have.’

‘And?’

‘I didn’t think you were the type to care about shoes.’

She wasn’t. ‘No, but I’m the type to care about getting my big toe eaten by a giant barracuda.’

He laughed then, a great big rumbling laugh that had a silly grin spreading wide across her face. She liked the sound of his laughter. ‘I don’t think there are any giant barracudas.’

‘No?’

‘Only medium-sized ones.’

She pursed her lips, hands firmly planted on her hips. ‘Is that your sense of humour appearing on this rare occasion?’

‘Oops, it darted away again.’ He stepped onto a flattish rock in the stream, the water flowing all around him, and stretched out his hand. ‘Come here.’

Cautiously she reached out and put her hand in his. His clasp was dry, warm and firm, and with his other hand on her arm he helped her onto the rock. Their hips bumped. Heat flared.

‘This is cosy,’ she murmured and he gave a tiny smile.

‘That’s the idea. Next rock.’

He stepped backwards onto another rock, sure and agile, and Aurelie followed him. She could hear the water rushing past them, felt the warm spray of it against her ankles. In the middle of the stream she looked down and saw a bright blue fish darting very near her toes. She slipped and Luke slid an arm around her waist, balanced her. Easily.

‘The secret is not to look down.’

‘Now you tell me.’

Another rock, and then another, and then they were on the other side. Luke smiled at her rather smugly, and Aurelie shook her head.

‘This is all a big lesson, isn’t it? How to Trust 101.’

‘Is it working?’

‘A little,’ she admitted. ‘What if I’d fallen?’

‘But you didn’t.’

‘But what if I had? What if you’d slipped?’

‘Me? Slip?’ He shook his head, then gazed at her, his head tilted to one side. ‘Do you think it would have ruined everything?’

Her lips curved. She liked being with this man. ‘Not everything. But after the lanzone …’

‘It was delicious.’

‘The second one.’

‘Exactly.’

He hadn’t let go of her hand, and now he led her alongside the stream, the ground soft and loamy beneath them. Aurelie found she quite liked the feel of his fingers threaded through hers. They walked along the bank, winding their way up through the dense foliage, until Luke stopped suddenly.

‘Close your eyes.’

More trust. ‘Okay.’ She closed her eyes and felt Luke tug on her hand. She took a step. Another.

‘Open them,’ he said softly, and she did. And gasped in wonder.

Chapter Seven

‘WOW.’

‘Definitely worth it, huh?’

She turned from the stunning view of the falls to Luke’s rather smug smile. ‘I wouldn’t say definitely. I think my sandals are ruined.’

‘Leather dries.’

‘It is amazing,’ she admitted and his smile widened. Not so smug, she decided. More like … satisfied. Happy.

‘Let’s find a place for a picnic.’ He tugged on her hand again and they picked their way along the rocks until they found a large flat one, warm from the sun and perfect for a picnic.

Aurelie stretched out on top of it as Luke unpacked their lunch, her gaze on the waterfall once more. It truly was a spectacular sight, a crystalline fountain flowing from the fern-covered rocks, falling in a sparkling stream to a tranquil pool fifty feet or more below.

She turned to watch Luke peel a lanzone with a knife. He glanced up, smiling, a decidedly wicked glint in his eyes. ‘Care to try another?’

‘I don’t know if I dare.’

‘This one’s sweet, I promise.’ And with that wicked glint still in his eyes he fed her a chunk of the sweet, moist fruit, his fingers brushing her lips as she ate it. The barest touch of his fingers against her mouth sent little pulses of awareness firing through her, flaring deep down. Desire. It seemed amazing that she could feel it. Want it—and him. She’d never wanted anyone before, not like that. Not since Pete.

‘Tasty,’ she managed, and swiped at the droplets of juice on her lips. Her heart rate was skittering all over the place, and all from that simple touch and the feelings and thoughts it had triggered, a maelstrom swirling through her.

‘You know,’ she said as Luke arranged the rest of their picnic items onto two paper plates, ‘I don’t really know anything about you.’

‘What do you want to know?’

‘Something. Anything. Where did you grow up?’

‘New York City and Long Island.’

‘The Hamptons?’ He nodded, and she hugged her knees to her chest. ‘I guess you grew up pretty privileged, huh? Bryant Enterprises and all that?’ She didn’t know much about the Bryant family, but she knew they were rich. Featured in the society pages rather than the trashy tabloids like her. ‘And you have a brother, you mentioned?’

‘Two.’

‘Are you close?’

‘No.’ Luke spoke mildly enough, but Aurelie sensed a dark current of emotion swirling underneath the words, a tension and repressiveness. She was getting to know this man, and now she wanted to understand him.

‘Why aren’t you?’

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. ‘The short answer? Because Aaron’s an ass and Chase checked out a long time ago.’

‘Those are rather nice alliterations, but what does that really mean?’

Luke sighed and sat back, his arms braced on the rock behind him. ‘It means my older brother, Aaron, loves to be the boss. I can’t really blame him, because my father encouraged it, told him he was going to be CEO of Bryant Enterprises when he was older, and he needed to be responsible, authoritative, et cetera. Let’s just say Aaron got the message.’

Aurelie observed the tightening of Luke’s mouth, his eyes narrowed as he gazed out at the falls, the sunlight catching the spray and causing it to glitter.

‘And Chase?’

‘Chase is my younger brother. He was always a rebel, got in trouble loads of times, expelled from boarding school, the whole bit. My father disinherited him when he was in college.’

‘Ouch.’

‘I don’t know if Chase even cared. He made his own fortune as an architect and he hardly ever gets in touch.’

Aurelie hugged her knees. ‘That’s sad.’

‘Is it?’ He glanced at her, eyebrows raised. ‘Maybe he’s better off. When I do see him, he always seems happy. Joking around.’

‘Maybe that’s his schtick.’

‘Maybe.’

‘And what about you?’ Aurelie asked quietly, because that was what she really wanted to know. ‘Where did you fit into that picture?’ Luke hesitated, and she knew she was getting closer to understanding. ‘Or didn’t you?’

‘I suppose I was the classic middle child.’

‘Which is?’

‘Caught between two larger personalities. As we got older we all drifted apart and that seemed easier.’

‘It doesn’t sound like a very comfortable place.’

‘No, I don’t suppose it was.’ Luke turned to her with a faint smile, although Aurelie could still sense that dark emotion swirling underneath. ‘I don’t miss my childhood, at any rate. I was shy, awkward, and I even had a stammer.’ He spoke lightly, but it didn’t matter. Aurelie knew it hurt. ‘My father didn’t have much time for me, to tell you the truth.’ He glanced away. ‘He didn’t have time for me at all.’

‘Sounds a bit like my childhood,’ Aurelie answered quietly.

Luke turned back to her, his gaze sharp now, eyes narrowed in concern. ‘Oh? How so?’

She swallowed past the ache that had started in her throat, an ache of sympathy and remembrance. She’d never told anyone about her childhood. In the world of celebrity, it held a touch too much pathos to be interesting. ‘Well, my mother didn’t have much time for me. And my father wasn’t in the picture.’

‘Who raised you?’ That thoughtful crease appeared between his brows. ‘Your grandmother?’

‘I wish. I only stayed a summer with her, when I was eleven, but it was the happiest time of my life.’

‘Then where did you grow up?’

‘Nowhere. Everywhere. My mom never stayed in the same place for more than a few months, sometimes a few weeks. She’d get a job in a local diner or something, enrol me in school and find a deadbeat boyfriend. When he started stealing her money or knocking her around, she’d move on, dragging me with her.’

‘That’s terrible,’ Luke said quietly, and Aurelie shrugged.

‘I got over it.’

‘Julia Schmidt,’ he said after a moment. ‘Your mother. You bought the house from her, didn’t you?’

She nodded. ‘When my grandmother died she left it to my mom. I was only seventeen, and I think she hoped it would help my mom settle down.’

‘But?’

Aurelie sighed. ‘My mom didn’t want to settle down. So I bought the house from her for far more than it was worth. I was famous by then, so I had the money.’

‘And you finally had a home.’

She blinked hard, amazed at how quickly and easily he understood her. How in this moment it felt good and right and safe, rather than scary.