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Time to take charge, Jake thought with a flash of irritation. The girl might be easy on the eye, but she was more than likely another time-waster or wannabe—and God knew he’d auditioned enough of them in the past four days to be honestly weary of hearing any more.
To make matters worse, he’d lived with a girl just like that and she’d all but broken him with her relentless desire for fame and fortune. Not to mention what she’d been prepared to do to get it. In any case, the girl in front of him probably couldn’t sing for toffee.
But even as his cynical gaze surveyed her he felt a hot flash of desire throb through him. He was almost dizzy with the power of it, and in that moment he saw it as a warning to steer well clear—because something told him that, given the chance, the allure of this incredible beauty would be too hard to resist.
The realisation that he might be tempted honestly scared him. Temptation was never a simple option. In Jake’s book it equalled weakness, and he was a man who liked to be in control. From a young age he’d quickly intuited that if he didn’t take care of himself and instigate boundaries then he was damn sure no one else would.
‘Actually, you’re too late.’
But even as the words left his lips he immediately belied them. Helplessly drawn, he found himself moving towards the bewitching woman, and somehow the necessity to get her to leave…and quick…melted clean away. All his instincts told him to take the chance to admire her beauty while he could. After all, it wasn’t every day that a veritable angel presented herself in front of him…
‘What I mean to say is’ he went on ‘is that you’re too late for the auditions today but you can come back tomorrow if you’re serious. If not, then all I can do is thank you for your interest and wish you well.’
‘You’re questioning if I’m serious or not? If I’m not serious about auditioning then why do you think I’m here?’
Surprised that she would come back at him like that, Jake sighed. His innate instinct was for self-preservation, and his mind scrambled to give her a legitimate reason why he couldn’t let her audition today.
‘Well, if that’s the case, then you won’t mind coming back tomorrow, will you? We’ve been auditioning since early this morning and we could all use a break,’
Watching her wrestle with the emotion his words must have wrought, he saw her hand tuck her hair behind her ear, then free it again as if she wasn’t quite sure what to do next.
‘I was really hoping you could hear me tonight. The thing is, I won’t be able to make it tomorrow’
‘Then you can’t be that serious about auditioning, can you?’
Hot colour suffused her apple cheeks—but not because of embarrassment, Jake guessed. His cutting rejoinder had infuriated her.
Not wanting to be swayed by her angelic face and big green eyes, he told himself to stand firm. Nonetheless, he heard himself ask, ‘What’s your name?’
‘It’s Caitlin. Caitlin Ryan.’
‘Well, Caitlin…’ Folding his arms across his chest, he let his light-coloured gaze flick an interested glance up and down her figure, simply because it was too irresistible to ignore. ‘Like I said, if you’re serious about auditioning then you’ll come back tomorrow, when it’s more convenient for us to hear you. Shall we say around eleven-thirty?’
‘I’m sorry…’ The woman’s incandescent emerald gaze was immediately perturbed. ‘I don’t want to be a nuisance, but I honestly can’t make it tomorrow. A close friend—the manager of the shop where I work—is having her wisdom teeth removed, and I’m the only one who can stand in for her while she’s away’
Jake fought down a compelling urge to laugh out loud. Of all the answers he might have expected her to furnish him with, the imminent removal of a friend’s wisdom teeth hadn’t been one of them!
He could almost sense Rick’s laughter bubbling up behind him. Damn. It was going to be pretty hard to refuse this beauty anything when she was staring back at him like some little girl lost, those big green eyes of hers reflecting equal measures of hope and disappointment.
