A ballad. The guy was singing a ballad to me. For me.
And it was beautiful.
“What is he doing?” I whispered.
“I’d say he’s trying to show you that he cares.” Hannah’s voice beside me had me realizing with a start that she and River had followed me all the way up to the front of the crowd. “But maybe that’s just me.”
“That’s my take, too,” River said. He cursed under his breath and his voice was filled with grudging admiration. “This guy has guts, I’ll give him that.”
I eyed the hottie before me with eyes wide with shock. He did have guts. But even this guy got scared sometimes. Even he did stupid things.
He ran away from something that felt too good. He was afraid of turning into his parents. He was afraid to admit that his feelings had been hurt and had lashed out like a jerk.
But then again, he was human. And he was flawed. And he was troubled.
And he was…perfect.
20
Jax
Bianca hugged me hard after the last song ended.
I felt lame. Also, I felt like puking. I’d just laid my heart out on the stage for all the world to see. And Rose?
She’d just stared at me with this look I couldn’t read. Her eyes were wide and filled with a million emotions but not a single one that I could pinpoint and explain.
My mouth was dry, my throat raw—and it had nothing to do with the fact that I’d just spent the past forty-five minutes singing show tunes.
Freakin’ show tunes.
If I hadn’t realized how much I cared about this girl before, that would have been one epic clue.
I’d just sung show tunes for her. And she…was nowhere to be found. When Bianca finally released me with one more squeal about how much fun that had been, I turned to see that Rose had fled from the spot she’d been standing and I didn’t know where she was.
“You did great, Jax,” Simone said with a big smile as she met me offstage.
“Yeah?” I scratched the back of my head. “Rose didn’t seem to think so.”
Simone patted my shoulders. “She looked like she was in shock. Give her some time.” She nodded toward the kissing booth behind us. “Besides, you’re not done for the day just yet. Get moving, hot stuff.”
I gave a humorless laugh as she pushed me toward the kissing booth where the buddies I ate lunch with every day were already lined up beneath the giant sign that Rose had Simone paint to say “Kiss the Players!”
There was already a line and people were whispering and laughing as Simone rushed ahead of me to affix the other signs we’d worked on the day before.
“Dude, is this really necessary?” Ryan asked when I took a seat beside him and the sign in front of him that read. “World Class A-Hole.”
“Yes,” I said. “We acted like jerks and we need to apologize.”
Ryan grumbled but didn’t protest. The other signs were slightly less specific and were mainly different ways of saying “I’m sorry.”
Mine, of course, was even more specific than Ryan’s and way more personal. “I love you, Rose Parson.”
Yup. Nothing like a sign declaring one’s love to make a guy want to vomit. How had I thought this was a good idea? Why had I believed this would work? I was setting myself up for the humiliation of a lifetime here.
“This…may have been a mistake,” I said to Simone as she finished placing the sign in front of me for all the school to see.
Simone fixed me with a no-nonsense look. “Dude, you tried to get the girl you like to fall for you so you could break her heart so you could buy a new amp.”
I flinched. “Well, when you put it like that…”
She arched her brows. “It was either this or replace the kissing booth with a public flogging.”
I nodded slowly. “Public humiliation for the win.”
She grinned. “Exactly.”
“But what if Rose ran away?” I said, sounding far too much like a whiney kid for anyone’s liking. “What if she doesn’t even see?”
It was at that moment that the atmosphere around us changed. The giggling ceased, the voices fell silent, and an anticipatory stillness settled over the crowd. I didn’t even need to see Simone’s eyes widen as she looked over my shoulder to know…
She was here.
Rose was here.
I turned slowly and saw her staring…again.
With that same incredulous look that was impossible to make sense of. I mean, she was shocked, yes. That was obvious. Her gaze flittered over the other guys, her eyes reading their signs before finding me again. Before reading my sign that I’d painted myself so the script wasn’t nearly as neat and curlycue cute as Simone’s.
Was her shock the good kind or the bad?
Was she horrified or elated?
It was impossible to tell.
After what felt like an eternity of standing in the spotlight, under the unwavering stares of the curious crowd, I thought I might break if she didn’t respond.
That was when she gave her head a little shake, straightened her shoulders, and held her head up high. She was walking toward me. Sashaying actually. She couldn’t seem to help herself.
Sexy as sin and the object of everyone’s fascination even as she dealt with what had to be the shock of a lifetime.
She reached the booth and set her hands on it. Her gaze met mine as she licked her lips. Everything about her was poised and cool and perfect…except her eyes.
Her eyes gave her away and I knew she wasn’t even trying to hide what she was feeling from me.
Love.
Happiness.
My heart squeezed painfully in relief.
“I thought you weren’t a fan of drama,” she said. “I thought you didn’t like to make a scene.”
My lips quirked up. “I was wrong.”
“Oh yeah?”
“I was wrong about a lot of things,” I said.
Her eyes grew soft and they shimmered with unshed tears. “So was I.”
Anxiety filled my gut as I tried to figure out what she meant by that, and what was up with those tears? Were they happy tears? Or was she trying to think of another way to tell me to get lost, or—
“I was wrong about this kissing booth idea.” That soft vulnerable quality had been replaced with a practical tone that had me even more on edge.
Or…maybe she was just thinking about her fundraising efforts.
I cleared my throat. “What about it?”
She pointed a finger at me. “I should never have asked you to take part in this.”
I blinked. “What? Why not?”
She shook her head as if saddened by the whole thing and that was when I caught a glimmer of laughter in her eyes. “Because there’s no way I’m going to let another girl kiss you today. I don’t care how much they’re willing to pay.”
The sun came out from behind the clouds. The birds started to sing. The world started to turn on its axis once more…
Okay, none of those things happened literally. But apparently Rose’s sense of drama was rubbing off on me because that was how it felt. I stepped around the booth and pulled her into my arms.
I kissed her like no one was looking.
I kissed her like everyone was looking.
Honestly, I couldn’t care less either way because all that mattered was that she was here, she was in my arms, and she was kissing me back.
“I’ve missed you, Rose,” I whispered when I pulled away.
“I missed you, too.” She looked up at me with such love and affection, the crowds and this fair faded into the distance. All that mattered was her, and me, and the way it felt when we were together.
“You sure I’m not going to be too much drama?” she asked.
“I’m sure.” I glanced around meaningfully. “I’m starting to think maybe I need a bit of drama in my life. It seems I have a knack for it.”
She grinned. “You definitely do.”
“Do you think you can hand
le me as a distraction?” I asked.
She nodded, her arms slipping around my neck and her fingers toying with my hair. “I’ve been thinking about that,” she said. “Maybe a relationship isn’t a distraction, but a necessity. I mean…how is an actress supposed to know what love feels like if she never experiences it, right?”
I laughed, my heart swelling up in my chest at her use of the L-word. “Right.”
“I can’t avoid feelings and relationships forever,” she said. “And as long as I keep my priorities straight, I won’t let any distractions become a derailment.”
“That sounds very healthy,” I said.
“It does, doesn’t it?” She gave a happy little sigh before placing a light kiss on the corner of my mouth. “I have a lot of baggage to unpack.”
“So do I,” I said.
“But I don’t see why either of us has to deal with it all on our own,” she added.
“Absolutely not.” I said it so firmly that she laughed and I could only grin like an idiot. “You make me happy, Rose Parson,” I said quietly.
“And you make me—”
“No, I don’t think you understand,” I interrupted. I arched my brows. “I’ve got chills.”
She bit her lip to contain a laugh and I loved it. I loved her. “Are they…multiplying?”
I nodded with a rueful shrug. “I might just be losing all control over here.”
She tipped her head back with a laugh. “Join the club. I’m totally out of control over here, Jax. And it’s…” She gave her head a little shake, at a loss for words.
“Terrifying?” I guessed, the laughter fading because…heck yeah. This was the scariest thing that had ever happened to me.
“Yeah. Terrifying,” she said. “And amazing. And beautiful. And confusing and…”
“Perfect,” I finished.
“Yeah,” she said, leaning in to kiss me. “It’s pretty darn perfect.”
Epilogue
Six Months Later…
Rose
“Okay, I’m ready,” I said as I stared out the passenger side window of Jax’s car at the Emerson Performing Arts center.
“Baby, you were born ready,” Jax joked.
I let out a sharp exhale as I tried to get my nerves under control. I might have said ‘okay, I’m ready’ three times already but I had yet to reach my hand for the door handle.
City traffic poured past us where we were illegally parked and I knew I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. It was do or die time.
This was it, the moment I’d been waiting for.
“Sweetheart?” Jax asked gently beside me.
“Yes?” My voice was a touch too high.
“Are you psyching yourself out again?”
I turned to look at him with wide eyes. “How did you know?”
He waved a hand in front of his face. “You’ve got that look…” He looked down to where my hand was clenching his thigh so hard that my knuckles had turned white. “Also, I can’t feel my leg.”
I let go quickly. “Sorry.”
He smiled as he took the hand I’d just removed and brought it to his lips. “You know I would never lie to you, right?”
I nodded quickly. He’d proven himself to be trustworthy and honest time and time again these past six months. He’d been amazing.
His earnest gaze met mine. “Then trust me when I say that you’ve got this.”
He’d watched me rehearse so many times he probably had both monologues memorized as well as me.
I nodded. “Thanks.”
But also…of course he’d say that.
He tilted his head to the side with his brows arched. “You don’t believe me?”
I leaned forward to drop a kiss on his lips. “You’re a little biased.”
“Simone thinks you’re going to nail it, too,” he insisted, his tone sweetly offended that I might doubt either one of them.
“Again,” I said. “She’s my acting coach. Of course she thinks I’m great.”
He leaned back to study me. “Okay, then. Let’s take a beat and ask the most important question there is.”
I blinked. “What’s that?”
He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Do you think you’ll do great?”
My lips twitched, the anxious energy starting to shift to something more…exhilarating and less terrifying as I thought about it. “Yes,” I said honestly. “I’ve come a long way this year and I think I stand a really good shot of winning.”
He grinned like I’d just made him proud.
“I might not win…” I ignored his sudden frown, his adorable righteous anger at the mere thought. I smiled. “But even if I don’t…” I leaned forward until my forehead touched his. “I’ll figure it out.”
His eyes darkened, his voice softened. “We’ll figure it out.”
I nodded. That’s the way we did things these days. Together. Building trust had taken a while and we were still a work in progress, but we were a long way from where we’d started, thanks to each other and our friends.
He tugged on a strand of my brown hair—my very visible reminder that I was done putting on a performance every minute of every day. These days I kept my real life real and my acting had become an outlet. Some people, like Hannah, for example, might even refer to it as my therapy.
She probably wasn’t wrong.
Jax had his music and I had my acting, and we both used those outlets to sort out our issues.
“Win or lose,” I said, pausing to take a deep breath. “I’m going to go in there and knock their socks off.”
His grin was sudden and brilliant, and it still made my heart leap with excitement every time I saw it.
“They won’t know what hit ’em,” he added. “And, win or lose, you and I are going to enjoy a weekend in the city and celebrate the fact that you worked your butt off, on and off the stage.”
A surge of emotion left me speechless and I blinked quickly. “Don’t you dare make me ruin my makeup,” I said. But we were both smiling like lunatics. We were awfully proud of ourselves for growing up so much this year and for taking big steps to not repeat our parents’ mistakes.
He pulled me in close and gave me a kiss. “I love you, my little diva, you know that right?”
I nodded. “I love you, too, player.”
He gave a huff of laughter at the now-old joke. “You good?”
I thought about it as I studied him, this guy who’d become such a huge part of my life and who’d helped me learn so much. “I’m better than good.”
He grinned and I took a mental picture of that smile, those eyes. He’d be with me on stage, even if it was just in my thoughts, and he’d be cheering me on every minute of the competition.
For a guy who started off the year hating my guts? He’d become my number one fan.
I turned to look out the window again and this time I spotted a familiar face. “Ooh, there’s Layne,” I said. A tall blonde was a few paces behind her in the crowd of scholarship hopefuls and their parents. “And there’s Lillian.” I finally started to move toward the door handle as my nerves were replaced with a flicker of excitement to see my girls. “I should catch up with them. Wish them luck.”
I opened the door as he called after me, “Break a leg!”
I turned back and poked my head in with a wicked grin filled with all the confidence and presence I could muster. “I’ll do better than that.” I winked. “I’ll break their hearts.”
He was still laughing as I got out onto the sidewalk and waved to the girls from my Diva Squad.
“That’s my girl!” he called after me.
I grinned and blew him a kiss before rushing off to meet the others and show these judges who was boss.
Thank you for reading! Want to find out how Simone meets her match? Read her story for FREE in Striking out with the Star Pitcher!
Turn the page for a free sample of the second standalone YA romance in the multi-author The Dangers of Dating a Diva series, Kissing th
e Hero by Christina Benjamin.
Be sure to check out all four books in the series, including:
Kissing the Debutant by Michelle MacQueen & Ann Maree Craven
Kissing the Shy Guy by Stephanie Street
If you missed Hannah & River’s story, you can find it in Playing the Enemy!
Kissing the Hero
By Christina Benjamin
Chapter 1
Layne
No, no, no! This can’t be happening.
I looked down at the text from Lola again, willing the words to change. I waited for those hopeful little bubbles to appear, telling me this was all a joke. It was definitely something my best friend would find funny. Lola had a warped sense of humor. Maybe she thought telling me she had mono was some kind of hilarious prank.
It was almost April Fool’s Day. Perhaps she was just testing out a joke. I typed back a quick response.
Me: Not funny.
Lola: Tell me about it. I feel like death.
Me: Lola, stop! You don’t have mono.
Lola: Except that I do. Did you know it’s called the kissing virus?
Me: Gross!!!
Lola: Says the girl who’s never been kissed.
Lola: PS - Kissing Mark Jennings was anything but gross.
Me: Well I hope it was worth it!
Lola: It wasn’t. I’m really sorry, Layne. I’m devastated I won’t be able to perform with you.
Me: With me? Um, no. I’m dropping out of the competition.
Lola: You can’t! Your songs are amazing!
Me: Too bad you’re the only one who can sing them.
Lola: Not true. You should sing them.
Me: I’m the songwriter, you’re the singer. That’s the deal.
Lola: Fine, then find another singer. Don’t drop out, Layne. This is your dream.
“I thought it was our dream,” I muttered to myself as I shoved my phone in my backpack.
The warning bell rang, and students shuffled around me, rushing to their next class. It’s what I should be doing too, but for some reason I couldn’t convince my feet to move. The realization that my dream was dying was still setting in and it made it impossible to focus on even the simplest things, like putting one foot in front of the other.
Kissing the Player (The Dangers of Dating a Diva Book 1) Page 17