Let Me Be the One Read online

  At least they didn’t make her look like a whore. Charity had overdressed, too, but in the other direction in a fire engine red minidress and matching heels. When Suzi questioned her about the choice, she’d said it was a rock and roll party. Suzi was certain the email had said dinner, not orgy. She hoped she was right. If not, she was going to do more than puke on her shoes.

  A car door slammed behind them, and Suzi glanced back. Toby and John had followed in their own cars. She shook her head. Arrival by motorcade was a Los Angeles thing she’d never get used to. Last semester she’d crammed nine friends in her car for a McDonald’s run because she was the only one on campus with wheels.

  Greg rang the bell, and the door opened. Suzi’s vision blurred for a second before she could focus on the man who’d answered. Jason Callisto, guitarist for Touchstone, her favorite band ever.

  Jason beamed. In person, his hair was black as sin, and he’d had it trimmed shorter and shaggier than he’d been wearing two years ago. Maybe this was his version of the mommy cut. He and his new wife had just had a baby girl. How old was she? Nine months?

  “Good, you made it. You must be Greg.” Jason shook Greg’s hand. “And this must be your girlfriend.”

  “I’m Charity!” Charity said, bouncing. “I’m so excited to meet you. I’ve been a fan of yours forever.”

  “Thank you. And you’re Logan.” He held out his hand to Logan.

  “Nice to meet you.” Logan shook his hand and eased Suzi forward. “This is—”

  “This is Suzette Miranda Bazian,” Jason said.

  Suzi watched her hand disappear into Jason’s and hoped she wouldn’t keel over backward. If she did, Toby was behind her. He’d probably catch her. Jason Callisto knew her name. Her whole name. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Callisto. Suzette Miranda Bazian is my pen name. Please call me Suzi.”

  “And you can call me Jason.”

  She forced a smile. Her mother would just die. “Thank you.” She held out the bottle. Charity had told her it was stupid to bring wine, but Suzi’s training insisted on a hostess gift, and now she felt dorky. “We brought some wine. I didn’t know what we were having, so it’s a blush.” Hopefully, the plural pronoun would spread the blame.

  Jason took the bottle. “Excellent. We’ll have to have it with dinner. Come on inside.”

  Through the foyer, an archway led into a sunken living room. Photoreal paintings hung along the walls, depicting the same mountain valley, sometimes being attacked by dragons or aliens, and once being observed by Bigfoot eating a banana.

  “The rest of the party is here,” Jason announced, stepping down into the living room. “They brought wine.”

  Suzi wished she’d stayed in the car. In the trunk.

  A curvy redhead stepped forward, holding out her hand to Logan. Dressed in dark-wash jeans, a loose yellow cotton top, and wearing a large yellow sapphire on a chain around her neck, she appeared pleasant and comfortable. “How nice to meet you. I’m Cass, Jason’s wife.” Jason’s wife had the most welcoming smile. If only Suzi could feel something other than sheer panic.

  “Now let me see. You’re Greg, Logan, Toby, and John.”

  The guys all shook her hand and tried not to stare. Jason’s wife had a brilliance about her. No wonder he’d fallen in love with her.

  “And you must be Suzette Miranda Bazian.” Cass shook Suzi’s hand. Turning to Charity, she frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t know your name. I’m terrible with names.”

  “Charity. It’s so nice to meet you.”

  “Charity.” Cass made the name sound outrageous, as if it should have an apostrophe in the middle, or an exclamation point like an African language. “It’s nice to meet you. This is Brian Ellis, Touchstone’s bassist, and his wife Bonnie.” Cass gestured to the other couple in the room.

  Bonnie stepped forward first to shake their hands. She was a tall blonde, sleek and beautiful enough to make Suzi want to crawl into a dusty old book. Brian didn’t say much of anything, but he didn’t need to. He was Brian freaking Ellis. Gorgeous, funny, friendly, cheerful. According to reports on the band’s forum, he was even quite gallant at fan meet-ups. His blond hair had a tinge of gold to it in person. Not much, just a touch, and that might have been from the lighting. He wore jeans and a blue button-up shirt, untucked. Bonnie wore black tailored trousers, heels, and a white cowl neck sweater. Every pose she struck appeared practiced. Cass perched on one of the plush burgundy couches, but at the very edge, as if she were interested in the conversation.

  Logan sat down on the opposite end of that couch, so Suzi settled beside him. Suzi wished she could take his hand or slip one of hers between his legs, but that might look weird. Instead, she chose to fold her hands on her lap. Maybe it was prim, but it was her best option. Brian sunk into a chair with his long legs crossed in front of him. Bonnie curved seductively into the corner of the opposite couch. Toby sat down next to Bonnie and immediately paled, as though he wished he hadn’t. Greg sat next to him with Charity pinned into the corner. Charity arched, throwing her arm along the back of the couch so she could toy with Greg’s hair.

  “Would anyone like a drink?” Jason asked. Cass jumped up to help him.

  After making something for everyone who’d asked, he turned and fixed his gaze on Suzi who had managed to duck him thus far. “Nothing for you, Suzette?” Her name sounded awkward coming from him, more like a form of address than a name.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t drink, and please, call me Suzi.” Her face heated. It sounded so superior and condescending. Or nerdy.

  “Tonic water?” Cass suggested. “Cup of coffee? It’s a little chilly tonight.”

  Logan shifted beside her. He probably thought she was being difficult. Suzi would have loved a cup of tea, but that required heating water and messing with tea bags, making her more difficult. They might not even have tea in the house. Five minutes into meeting Touchstone and she was already a disaster. “Tonic water would be fine.”

  Jason delivered the drink and then sat down beside her.

  Suzi clutched the glass as her mouth dried up. She wanted to drink, but she was afraid her shaking hands would spill it. Of course, that would provide her with an excuse to go home and change. Earlier she’d rejected an outfit of dark wash jeans and a green sweater that would have fit in better. Except spilling her drink all over herself would be embarrassing too.

  “I just loved your last album,” Charity gushed. “‘Take It’ is one of my favorite songs ever.”

  “That’s off Chaos,” Suzi corrected softly, focused on her tonic water.

  “What’s that?” Jason asked, leaning forward.

  Suzi cleared her throat and tried to avoid staring into his dark, dark eyes. “I was just reminding Charity that ‘Take It’ was off Chaos.”

  “I know that,” Charity snapped.

  Suzi took a sip from her glass and gave Greg a hairy eyeball, pleading mentally for him to say something before Charity opened her mouth again. Unfortunately, he was giving Suzi the same look, and so were Toby and John, leaving her no choice. “I thought Bayonet Ball was a really interesting album overall. ‘Love Lies Weeping’ had a lovely lyrical—com—plex—ity.”

  Toby, John, and Greg were now staring at her as if she’d grown a horn in the middle of her forehead. She would have smacked herself in the face, but that would have been a lot more noticeable. And she might have impaled her hand on the horn.

  “Thank you,” Jason said. “That means a lot coming from you.”

  Suzi peered at him to see if he was joking. If he was, he hid it well. How could he not be? She’d just called his Grammy-winning, platinum album “interesting.” Dork, dork, dork.

  “We’ve read your books, of course,” Jason told her.

  Of course. “I hope they kept you up.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wanted to cringe. That had been her automatic response since she’d started getting published until Logan commented that her
books kept him up in all kinds of ways. Could Jason tell how close she was to hypovolemic shock? All the blood in her body must have rushed to her face.

  “Well, I’ll go see how dinner is coming.” Cass stood, breaking the spell.

  “Do you need any help?” Suzi asked.

  “No, I’ve got it.” Cass picked up the wine bottle on her way out.

  “So Jason, did you get a chance to listen to the demos?” Logan asked.

  Suzi leaned against him. He was so getting some tonight for rescuing her. He was going to get some anyway, but she’d have to make it extra rewarding.

  “We did. How do you guys like to work in the studio?” Jason asked.

  Suzi sipped from her glass, trying to appear interested in the details of recording an album. She hated tonic, but unless she wanted to start drinking, she had to get used to it. She didn’t imagine Jason would be too pleased to make her a Shirley Temple, even if she were able to ask for it.

  * * * *

  “That was fantastic. This is going to be so cool,” Greg effused from the phone Logan had hooked onto the dashboard.

  Logan glanced at Suzi. Greg’s enthusiasm wasn’t catching. She was staring out the window. His beautiful, bright Suzi had retreated into a shell before they’d left home, and he’d only seen glimmers of her all night. “Jason has some really good ideas, but he’s gonna be a pain in the ass to work with.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I’m going shopping with Bonnie Ellis tomorrow,” Charity sang.

  “This is going to be the big breakthrough, man,” Greg said. “This is going to be huge.”

  “I know.” Logan caught Suzi’s eye. Maybe she was jealous that Charity nailed a meet-up with Brian Ellis’s wife. Suzi didn’t like shopping, and Bonnie Ellis had been kind of a bitch all night, but that didn’t mean Suzi wasn’t down about it. “You got along well with Cass,” he said to her.

  “She’s very nice,” Suzi mumbled.

  “I can’t believe you told Jason you hoped you kept him up.” Greg snorted. “I thought I was going to die laughing.”

  “Jesus Suzi, that was so dirty,” Charity howled.

  “I didn’t mean it that way.” Suzi twisted sideways in her seat. “I meant up as in with nightmares.”

  “But the way you write…” Greg whistled. “Sometimes you keep me up. Hey!” A thump had preceded his protest.

  “You are gonna be so fucking famous,” Charity said. “And then we are going to live in a huge house like that, and I am going to fuck you on every square foot of it.” There were kissy noises on the other end of the line. Logan hoped someone was watching the road.

  Suzi turned forward, staring out the windshield. “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “I know, Suzi.” Reaching over, he lifted her hand to his lips. She didn’t seem happy. Why wasn’t she happy? Meeting two-fifths of Touchstone should have made her whole year. When he met her, she’d had a Touchstone poster hanging on the wall of her dorm room above the poster of his band. “It’s going to be great. They read your books.”

  “Yeah. That’s good. They didn’t say if they liked them.”

  “He said your compliment meant something because they’d read your books. I think they liked them.” The porno sound effects through the phone intensified. Not the soundtrack he needed for this conversation. “Hey, you die in a car crash now, and I’m gonna kill you.”

  “Fuck you,” Greg said. Charity giggled.

  “We’re home. See you tomorrow.” Logan disconnected the line. “Jesus, she’s hammered. I’m glad we got out when we did. I think she was working up to hitting on Jason or Brian.”

  “Would she have?”

  “When Charity’s drunk enough she’ll hit on anyone.”

  Suzi twisted her hands together in her lap. “I should have told Greg to stop her earlier.”

  Logan laughed. “Earlier, as in when she got dressed? I can’t believe she went there like a total tramp. You looked fantastic, Suzi. You were the most beautiful woman in the place.”

  “Do you think I annoyed them when I was talking about the album? I was trying to cut Charity off before she said something even dumber than talking about songs from the wrong album.”

  “You were fine.”

  “I told them their platinum album was interesting.” Suzi groaned and covered her face. “Damned with faint praise. I love that album. ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ is so beautiful it makes my mother cry. Why couldn’t I have said that? Lyrical complexity? I sounded like a professor.”

  “It was good. They weren’t mad.”

  “Oh God, I just about propositioned Jason in front of his wife. You don’t think–—do you think I caused an argument between Jason and Cass?”

  Well, at least she wasn’t worried about missing an outing she didn’t want to go on with a person she didn’t like. He should have guessed she’d be more inventive with her stress. “I don’t think so.”

  “But at dinner he said I was a pretty young thing, and she sounded annoyed.” Her sweet face wrinkled with worry.

  “I think he said that because you’re pretty and you’re a lot younger than he is.” Logan shook his head. “He’s like fifteen years older than you.” Though Jason had been watching Suzi a lot… Had his register lowered when he said Suzi was pretty?

  Jason could be thinking about trading Cassie in on a younger model, or rather, writer. How was Logan supposed to fight that? Gee, Suzi, I know you’re being wooed by the singer of one of the greatest rock bands in the world, and I’m sure you think he’s sexy, but you should stay with me because I’m cute, too? All Jason had to do was crook his pinky at her, and she’d be gone. What woman in her right mind would pass up the chance to live in that house? With that guy?

  And Jason Callisto was what? The fifth guy he’d thought was trying to steal Suzi from him in the past three months? Sixth? Suzi was hot, but every guy in the world couldn’t be after her.

  Could they?

  “I don’t think they like me,” Suzi muttered.

  Logan pulled the car into the garage. It was tiny, so he had to concentrate, which gave him a minute to let that sink in. They didn’t like her? How could they not? But if that’s what she thought, good. It would make it easier to keep her. “It doesn’t matter if they like you. I love you.” He reached across the seat and pulled her into his arms. “I can’t wait until finals are over, and you can come out to West Virginia with us. I can’t stand to be without you.” He kissed her, teasing open her mouth.

  Suzi melted in his arms. She twisted toward him in the front seat of the car. “Make love to me,” she whispered. “Right here. Right now. Let me show you how much I love you.”

  “Suzi, I know how much you love me every time you look at me.” He pulled her skirt up over her hips, relishing the silken softness of her thighs. She’d worn thigh-high stockings to please him. Before they left, she’d treated him to a preview. All night long, the knowledge of those stockings had lingered in the back of his mind.

  “You make me feel so good.” Unbuttoning his shirt, she kissed his chest as she bared it. “Every time you touch me, it’s magic.” She pulled his shirt out of his pants, and the friction was tantalizing. “Do you like this?” she asked, swirling her tongue in his belly button.

  “I love everything you do.” He tangled his fingers in her hair. In the harsh light of the garage, it lay across his skin like suede.

  Her fingers worked open his pants, pulling them down. He’d hoped to get inside the house before they got this far, but when she wanted him, she was unstoppable. As if he wanted her to stop. Her hot mouth closed over him, and he shuddered. Every time she touched him was a gift. Her lips and tongue stroked him. “Jesus, Suzi. You’re the most amazing woman ever.”

  “Ever?” she asked, panting. She continued to stroke him with her hand. “What about all those other women?”

  “There are no other women.” Opening the car door and reclining the seat, he reached
for her before she could go down on him again. “No. I want to be buried inside you when I come. I want to feel you wrapped around me.” He pulled her shirt over her head and dragged her into his lap so he could reach the clasp of her bra.

  She straddled him, sinking onto him. Her body clenched, wringing a groan out of him. He arched up to capture one of her hard nipples between his lips.

  “Oh yes.” She threw her head back, clutching the headrest for balance as she rode him. “You make me feel so good. I love you. You’re the only man I’ll ever love.”

  His climax smashed into him, carrying him along for a few endless moments until it left him beached. Suzi thrust twice more before she cried out and collapsed on him. She lay with her head in the crook of his neck, gasping. Logan stroked her hair. “I love you, Suzi Q,” he murmured. “I’m glad you want to come with us to record.”

  “I’m sorry I’m mucking this up for you,” she whispered. Her voice grated on the edge of tears. She hated to cry. If she was that close to tears, she was really upset. “I know how important it is.”

  “You’re not fucking it up.” He twisted her hair around his fingers.

  “Jason and Brian and their wives all hate me. Jason thinks I’m a little girl.”

  “He doesn’t think you’re a little girl.”

  “He called me a pretty young thing. Isn’t that going to make things difficult for you?”

  “No. You don’t have to hang out at the studio if you’re uncomfortable.” That would make it a lot harder for Jason to seduce Suzi away from him. Logan could already picture the other man with his deep, golden voice talking to Suzi, luring her away. He could see her in Jason’s arms. As if already being married would stop Jason if he decided he wanted her. Jesus, Logan was an idiot for bringing her around the other man at all. The risk was insane. He needed to keep her away from Jason. “I guess they live on the side of a mountain out there. You’ll have the great outdoors to explore when you’re not writing. And that campground Jason’s wife owns. I bet there’s stuff to do around there. I bet there’s historical things, too. Stuff you like. Civil War battlefields and museums in Washington.” She was interested in history. Letting her travel around would keep her out of Jason’s range and still make him a hero.