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For a couple of seconds she squeezed her eyes shut tight. If she wanted to stay strong she wouldn’t glance at Mr Tall, Dark and Foreboding, lest one disapproving look from those strangely light blue eyes of his smothered the small vestige of courage she had left. But as the music struck up around her fear helpfully receded, replaced by her desire to sing.
She knew this particular number inside out. What she wouldn’t admit to the present company was that she’d only sung it in the bath or in the privacy of her bedroom. Oh, and once to Lia. Her lack of experience would really freak them out if they knew about it before they heard her. Suppressing a suddenly uncharacteristic urge to grin, she listened for her cue, then opened her mouth and launched into the vocal.
* * *
Electricity shot through Jake’s system with all the power of a lightning bolt. His stomach muscles clenched hard as excitement and shock suffused him. As he listened to the honeyed, sexy vocal emanating from the raven-haired beauty onstage he knew they’d struck gold. He didn’t even have to let her finish the song to know it, but of course he would.
Caitlin’s classy vocals melded with the rich, tight sound the band had worked so hard to attain as though they’d been made for each other. Her performance was stand-out amazing…knee-buckling.
Catching sight of the exchanged grins between the band members, he also saw Rick’s silently mouthed ‘Eureka’ as he turned round to give Jake the thumbs-up. There wasn’t one girl Jake had heard sing in the past four days who came even remotely close to the talent of Caitlin Ryan. Hell…there wasn’t one girl he’d heard sing in the past couple of years who was even in her league. The woman delivered a song as if she was born to it. Damn.
He moved his head in wonder as he watched her, her body moving in a naturally sexy sway to the beat of the music, her shapely legs drawing his appreciative gaze despite her strange insistence on keeping her coat on. With the right clothes and make-up this girl would be sit up and beg gorgeous. As good a singer as Marcie had been, she couldn’t hold a candle to Caitlin Ryan in the looks department. He didn’t wholly go along with the idea that a singer needed to be attractive, but good looks certainly didn’t hurt in this business.
Suddenly his desire for sustenance at the local pub dissipated like snow in the desert. Jake was excited again. Enthused. When the mood was on him he could work twenty-four hours a day without a break if he wanted to, and he would willingly do so to get this band on the road again, expecting nothing less than the same commitment from everyone else.
* * *
As the last chords of the music died away Caitlin inhaled a relieved breath to steady herself. Then she reluctantly released the microphone.
Behind her, Steve Bridges blew an appreciative whistle. ‘That was incredible. You absolutely killed it.’
Feeling her face grow warm at the compliment, she was taken aback when the two men who had been watching her vaulted onto the stage.
‘What other bands have you been in?’ Jake demanded.
Glancing back into his mesmerising eyes—eyes the colour of blue ice melting under steam—Caitlin’s heart bungee-jumped to her toes. ‘I—I haven’t been in any other bands,’ she admitted softly.
‘You’re kidding me.’ Rick looked completely nonplussed.
Startled that he didn’t believe her, she widened her eyes in surprise.
‘I wouldn’t pretend about something like that. The truth is I’ve only ever sung for my own amusement and because I’m compelled to. I just love music. I’m passionate about it.’
The rock-hard muscles in Jake’s stomach compressed tightly. He could tell she had passion…had it in spades, he thought. That was the major difference between her and the instantly forgettable wannabes he’d recently auditioned.
‘So you’ve never sung professionally before?’ he queried.
‘No. I haven’t.’ Her huge green eyes were absolutely guileless. Gazing back into their depths was like looking down to the bottom of a clear unsullied lake on a hot summer’s day.
‘So, what do you do to keep body and soul together?’
‘You mean for a living?’ Caitlin sighed. ‘I’m a shop assistant. Remember I told you I had to stand in for the manager earlier today?’
