Page 22 of Rock Me

I incline his head.“Go.But you need to rethink your security,” I mutter, disgusted with the situation.

For the next few hours, the police come in and handle things, talking to the employees who had access to the room, questioning Tawny and members of her entourage, but overall, informing Summer and me they’ve come up empty.There are too many people in the club to bother fingerprinting the area, and Tawny and her friends deny having done anything wrong.The cops document the incident, but there is nothing more they can do.

Summer looks ready to collapse from exhaustion, and I turn to the cop in charge.“I’m taking Ms.Michelle home.If you need us, you have her information.”

“Go ahead,” the officer says.

I pull out my cell and call the driver, asking him to meet us at the front of the club.

Then I turn to Summer and meet her gaze, the first time we’ve been alone since the moments on the dance floor.Soft black smudges looked like light bruises beneath her eyes, makeup and exhaustion combining to cause the vulnerable look.

I brush a gentle knuckle across her cheek.“Hey.Are you okay?Because I’m not going to let anyone near you.You know that, right?You’re safe.”

She nods, gazing up at me with wide brown eyes.“I’m really fine.I just don’t understand why anyone would be desperate for me not to win.Other than Tawny, who cares?”She bites down on her lower lip.“Do you think she’s capable of this?Because I don’t want to think that someone I know could do something like that.I mean, I know she’s ambitious, but this is crazy.”She gestures to the mess behind her.

I groan.“I honestly wouldn’t rule her out.She’s caused trouble for you before.You believe she’s the one who turned you in to the producers hoping they’d let you go and she’d have one less person to compete with inStar Power.”I raise an eyebrow.“Which means she’s incredibly competitive and determined to win.At all costs.”

Summer sighs.“At least I have you.And I trust you to take care of me.”

Her words are humbling and they mean something to me.I don’t take them, or the job I was hired to do, lightly.

Chapter Six

Ben

Ican’t sleep.Not with thoughts of Summer circling in my brain.You’d think it would be her safety that concerns me, but I trust in my abilities to protect her from any outside danger.Instead it is our relationship that has me tossing and turning.I can’t keep his hands to myself when she is around.If it was just the physical attraction that is palpable between us, I could tuck it into my back pocket and ignore it while doing my job, but over the days I’ve been with her, I’ve come to realize the fact that Summer is my ideal woman.

Her independence is a turn-on.Daily, she proves that, although she misses having her family around her, she can handle herself in the city and on the job.I admire her drive to succeed and go after what she wants in life with determination and gusto.

Her talent is exceptional.When she sings, I get lost in the emotion behind the music, and her voice transports me out of my head and to a place where I can focus only on her.It will be a huge loss if she can’t see her dream of performing for a living come to fruition.

Then there is the feminine vulnerability she exudes.The soft and sweet woman inside, a woman who, despite her independence, values her family, and though she’ll never admit it, a part of her is a lonely girl who wishes for the time to make friends.I’ve seen the way she looks at Tawny and her girl pack.She doesn’t like those women, but she envies their closeness, though not the meanness that brings them together.

It is that sweet woman I can’t jerk around anymore, giving her mixed signals about what I want from her.Because I know damn well what I desire.The question is whether or not I can have it… and still let her go when the job comes to an end and she takes off for a bigger, brighter life.

***

Summer

After everything thathappened at Echo Nightclub, I can’t sleep.I still can’t quite process that the threat against me is real.Sure, I have Ben living here, and that should be enough for me to take things seriously, but not until I saw the warning in lipstick was Iscared.

But Ben said he won’t let anyone near me, and I believe him.His words and fierce protectiveness make me breathe more easily.Besides, I’m not about to let anyone stand in the way of my dreams finally coming true.I can’t imagine what I will do if this opportunity slips through my fingers and goes to Tawny.For the first time, I’ll have to take a good look at my life and decide what kind of realistic career I want to have.Voice-overs are lucrative for now, but can I count on them long term?Do I need to consider returning to college?

I shudder and refuse to dwell on it, because having to do so means I’ve failed.And I don’t think that way.Ever.I never have.From the time I was a little girl, all I wanted to do was perform.And I will succeed doing it, no matter what whoever wants me gone from the competition thinks.I am not dropping out.

And I have Ben to look out for me, which brings me to the next reason I can’t sleep.Our sensual dance heightened my awareness of the man, and I have no doubt in the moment he felt the same way.It was only when he had time to think that he pulled away.

Which means I can’t give him that time.

I rub my hands together and pace my room, debating doing what my body is begging me to do—walk into the other room and seduce Ben.On his own, he’ll never come to me, and we aren’t alone except in my apartment.If I don’t take advantage now, I am wasting precious time to be with him.Time that will be ticking down if I do win the competition and go off on a world tour.Time I could be spending with him.

I don’t own a negligee, but I have something much better and more enticing, I hope.I have my body.

I look down at my oversized tee shirt, gather my courage, and walk out of her room.

***

Ben