Savor (9 page)

you’re taking about.”

“Oh come now. You’d have to be a lesbian not to be attracted to my brother.” She

shrugged. “Then again, I’ve seen him attract even the most hard core of them. There’s just

something about Luka that pulls them all in.”

She was right of course. But I didn’t gratify her with a response. I focused on my

photography, allowing it to ground me in the present. Luka’s sexual pull acted like a magnet,

drawing in anyone with estrogen in their veins. To me, feeling the attraction and not doing

anything about it was wholly different from acting on said attraction. You crossed a line then.

I planned on staying behind that line, thank you very much.

When the song ended, the crew burst into applause. The band left their instruments at the

performance area and moved to the long couch at the other end of the studio. Yana left my

side to speak to them. The makeup girl returned, fussing about. Luka waved her away so she

moved on to the rest of the band members. Dray cracked some joke I didn’t hear that got

Demitri chuckling. Phoenix settled on the couch right beside him. They didn’t quite touch.

Dray sat to the other side of Phoenix while Luka took up the other end. He crossed his arms

and legs.

Someone handed Demitri a shirt and he pulled it on while Phoenix shrugged on a leather

jacket and zipped it up. I chuckled when I saw the arrow on Demitri’s shirt that pointed

toward Phoenix. Oh, you know I just had to take a picture of that. If it didn’t scream “I like her” I didn’t know what did.

A guy in a suit and a woman in a stylish dress holding blue cards approached the couch. I

may not watch a whole lot of TV, but I did recognize them as the hosts of Crescent City

Today. They greeted the band and shook hands with every member. Dray had since removed

his gloves. He must have pocketed them when I wasn’t looking.

The guy with the clipboard counted down again and everyone in the studio grew silent. At

one, the woman welcomed the viewers back to Crescent City Today. The man gave a little

introduction about the band and mentioned the names of each member. Each nodded in turn

while Dray gave a little wave. I smiled, liking him already.

The woman asked them about their tour and Demitri answered. “We are taking a much

needed break. Our schedules have been crazy since this all started.”

The male host smiled and followed up with, “There are rumors of a band member

meltdown. Is there any truth to this?”

Somewhere in the room I heard Yana hiss. I didn’t look away from the couch, my gaze

moving to Luka, who seemed relaxed despite his closed posture. A palpable pause followed

until Luka spoke.

“Demitri is right in saying we wanted a break. And rumors are just that.” He smiled and

the woman actually blushed. I rolled my eyes. Da-yam! The guy knew how to work the room.

At the tail end of Luka’s words, Phoenix said, “We love what we do, but sometimes we

need time to decompress. It’s nice to be back home.”

“I take it this is your only interview,” the man said.

Dray nodded. “We can’t say no to our Crescent City Today family. When we first started

out, you welcomed us with open arms.”

The way the band spoke, taking turns with each question, it seemed they had everything

carefully choreographed. Yet the responses sounded natural. It was like they were so used to

being interviewed that they didn’t really think about it anymore.

“So,” the woman finally spoke, regaining her composure. “Tell us about the next song you

will be performing. I heard it’s new.”

“Yes.” Demitri’s gaze slid to Luka. “The band dynamic is different in this one. We hope that

everyone likes it.”

“Well, why wait?” the man said. He turned to the camera. “When we return, Vicious will

debut a new single exclusively for our Crescent City Today viewers. Stay tuned after these

messages.”

When the producer gave the all clear signal, a flurry of activity resumed. The hosts

thanked the band members for coming to the show. Demitri reached up behind him and

pulled off the shirt in one move. My mouth watered when his muscles rippled at the

movement. The women in the studio fanned themselves, unabashedly staring and sighing.

Phoenix unzipped her jacket and handed it to makeup girl. Dray slipped on his gloves and

pulled out his drumsticks from his back pocket.

I expected Phoenix to take the mic. Instead she shrugged on an electric guitar with a tribal

design of a bird in flight. In the same moment, Demitri shrugged on a pure white bass. What

the hell was happening? Was this what they meant about a different band dynamic?

I almost fell over trying to position myself between the two cameras at the performance

area. In a jaw dropping moment, Luka stood in front of the mic stand. He threaded his fingers

together, cradling the mic between his palms.

“He’s gonna sing?” I asked no one in particular.

Yana responded, positioning herself at my side. “You better get this.”

“Wouldn’t dream of missing it.”

The producer counted down and I lifted my camera, prepared to watch the whole thing

through the lens.

Luka had his head bowed, eyes closed like the time in the elevator.

The hosts, who now stood to the side of the performance area reintroduced the band and

called the song they were about so sing
Poison
. My heart beat in my throat. I took in one slow breath and released the shutter the second Luka opened his eyes. He looked right at me.

I froze.

Everything around me stopped.

Was he really looking at me?

When he sang, all the blood in my body congregated in my face. My skin burned. His voice

was unlike anything I’d ever heard. Deep, yet quiet, like a sexy whisper. He sang of dark

nights. Of cold beds. Of moments he can never get back. With each lyric that escaped his lush

lips, my heart stuttered.

The song was slow and sensual until they reached the chorus.

Luka screamed, “You are poison. I opened my veins willingly for you. From the moment

we met, you pushed my heart into a prison. You are poison. Poison. Poison.”

The beat picked up yet it seemed like the saddest part of the song. By the time the second

chorus rolled in, a tear I didn’t expect to fall escaped. I reached up and swiped it away. The entire time Luka stared at me. I didn’t get why he did that. I didn’t want him to keep looking at me with those serious eyes.

You are poison. Poison. Poison.

I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. My lungs burned, but the ache in my heart hurt worse.

It was so unlike me to be affected by a song.

Unable to take it any longer, I fell to my knees, clutching my camera close like it was the

only real thing in my life. My dream of running away from someone surfaced. What was

wrong with me?

I was rocking back and forth when a hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me up. My

tear-stained face flicked up to meet intense blue eyes framed by sexy curls. Luka’s thumb

swiped away my tear. For a long second, we stood there staring into each other’s eyes. Still

trying to breathe, I couldn’t speak. My hands shook.

Without breaking eye contact like he’d done while he sang, Luka said to someone I

couldn’t see beyond his shoulder, “Take the helicopter back. We’re riding with Eli.” Then,

without saying a word to me, Luka pulled me toward the elevator. My feet carried me, but it

didn’t seem like I was moving.

Chapter Nine

Confusion

“I don’t know what happened,” I said, fidgeting with my camera’s settings as the SUV

inched forward in city traffic. I’d calmed down about halfway to the lobby. The last thing I

wanted from the screaming horde of fans we had to slog through was to see my tear-stained

face. Thank God Eli led us to a back alley instead. Regardless of my calm, the embarrassment

refused to let me go. In the four minutes it took to sing Poison, I’d ruined my street cred. “I’m not usually that emotional.”

“Do you want to grab lunch before we head out?” Luka asked from beside me. The whole

time he kept his gaze out the window, cheek on his fist.

“I’m fine.” I huffed. “Actually, the sooner I get settled and can boot up my laptop the

better. I’m sure Yana’s waiting for these pictures.” In truth I didn’t trust my stomach to hold down any food. I’d reached my cap of embarrassing situations for one day. Thankfully, the

SUV’s black tint hid me from the world. What the production staff of Crescent City Today

must think of me. Granted, they didn’t know who I was, but I was pretty sure I would forever

be known in that studio as the eye-patch-wearing photographer who burst into tears during a

Vicious performance. And I wasn’t even a hardcore fan.

I couldn’t get the way Luka stared at me out of my head. His eyes held an almost feral

intensity to them. It was almost as if he dared me to look away. Okay, I got that he was

probably staring at the cameras and I happened to be between them, but still. I cued up the

only picture I’d taken of the whole performance. I cursed myself for missing the rest of it.

The camera focused on Luka while the rest of the band was a blur. His eyes were a cobalt blue

I’d never known possible until I stared it in the face. I hadn’t even retouched the photo and

already it looked studio quality. Magazine ready.

“I like it,” Luka said. His breath tickled the side of my neck, he suddenly sat so close. I

flinched away in surprise. “I want that for the cover of our next album.”

With my back against the door, I stared in disbelief. “Y-You want the picture?”

He reached out, palm up.

“What?” I dropped my gaze to his hand.

“The camera, please.”

Almost immediately, I shook my head. “No one touches my camera but me.”

He tilted his head at me like he was trying to figure out an enigma. “Fine, the hard way it is then.” Quick as a snake strike, he had his hand around my wrist. In one strong pull, Luka

draped me across his lap.

“What the hell are you doing?” I struggled, kicking my legs up and down and pushing away

from his chest with my free hand, the other clutched my camera like a baby blanket I couldn’t

live without.

“Quit squirming,” he whispered into my ear and I froze, rolling shivers ravaging my body.

Now that I didn’t move, I distinctly felt his hardness against my hip. Like I was

electrocuted, I jumped out of his lap and returned to my corner. I hated that my breathing

came out hard and shallow. Didn’t I just say I’d reached my cap of embarrassing moments for

one day? I should have known being alone with Luka in a confined space was dangerous.

As if I hadn’t run away from his arousal, Luka ran his hand through his curls. The flaxen

locks bounced back in place. For a second, I couldn’t look at anything else. My arms still felt the rings circling his fingers while he held me in place.

“I want to see the pictures you took,” he finally said.

Did he sound breathless?

I couldn’t let myself think that way. Surely his dick coming to life was just because he had

a girl on his lap and not because of me personally. Come on, I wore an eye patch outside of

Halloween for crying out loud. It was possibly the least attractive thing about me I couldn’t

hide.

On reflex, I reached up and ran my fingers down the velvety patch. The hard dome still

covering the monstrosity beneath calmed me. Luka watched me as I checked the fastening at

the back of my head. Only when I was satisfied that the patch was secure did I let my hand

fall.

“Come here,” Luka said softly. His tone almost sounded pleading to my ears. “Show me the

pictures you took.”

I hesitated, my eye unabashedly dropping to the clear bulge in his pants. I must admit,

leather hid it well. Luka adjusted himself in his seat, crossing his legs. He lifted his hands as if in surrender.

“If I promise not to touch you, will you show me the pictures?”

Of course I considered his words. “You promise to behave?”

He nodded, crossing his heart. I laughed at the earnestness in his blue eyes. They were my

favorite part of him. He patted the seat beside him and winked. He looked so adorable I

couldn’t help but grin back. Finally more relaxed, I inched my way toward his side of the

SUV.

“Eli, will you bring us to Testino’s?”

The bodyguard grunted his response and the SUV took a right turn, effectively launching

me the rest of the way to Luka’s side. We sat hip to hip, and warmth climbed up my neck. His

scent enfolded me in delicious air. God, I could smell him all day.

“I told you I didn’t need lunch,” I insisted, keeping my eye on the black digi screen of my

camera.

“You might not be hungry, but I am.” Luka smiled. “You can watch me eat.”

Shaking my head in an attempt to hide another grin, I turned on my camera and waited for

it to boot. Luka’s gaze left my face to stare intently at the three inch LCD screen. I cued up the first photo of the day, the one I’d taken in my apartment of him. He stared at it like he

was reading a top secret file.

“Thank you,” I said three pictures into the gallery later.

“What for?” Luka asked absentmindedly, all his focus truly on the pictures.

For a second I forgot to respond to his question. His body heat seeped into mine from

shoulder to leg. It didn’t help that he leaned in to get a closer look at the LCD screen. With each inhale, my nose memorized his sweet spicy scent. It couldn’t be soap, but it didn’t