Dear Diary, he’s so talented!
Maddie dragged her gaze from the sight of Zach’s tanned arms, the light covering of dark hair. She was so intensely aware of her body she could almost feel every cell responding to Zach’s masculine proximity.
Even her brain cells seemed to have gone into overdrive as she tried to get her mind around the improbable miracle that Zach had been flirting with her only moments ago. Her skin still sizzled where his thumb had caressed her shoulder. And if she wasn’t mistaken, he’d looked ready to murder Sasha for her untimely interruption before he’d swiftly fixed his scowl.
Sasha, being Sasha, either hadn’t noticed or wasn’t bothered by Zach’s reaction.
Now she fired questions at him, giving Maddie freedom to simply listen to Zach’s deep voice, and allow her gaze to wander over him as he answered her friend.
He’d always been handsome, but the years had added character to his face, gave him an intriguing edge. His strong jaw line balanced his high cheekbones, added a rugged quality to his male-model looks.
Her fingers flexed with the desire to rasp against his evening stubble. The bristly growth emphasised weary lines that spoke of long work hours, and Maddie’s old desire to take care of him nudged at her insides. She tamped the reflex, sure Zach didn’t need her to look after him. If she remembered correctly, he was never short of females eager to smother him in good ol’ tender loving care. In fact, hadn’t Keith mentioned the other night that Zach had just broken up with a girlfriend?
It never took him long to hook up with a new woman once he tossed the old one. How long ago had he and Kimber split? How long did their marriage last? Since Zach had no staying power, she’d give it six months at a push.
She dipped her gaze to his body. Had to admit Zach was still late-night fantasy yummy. From the appearance of his tight well-defined thigh muscles outlined in his trousers, his body fat percent must be close to non-existent.
Suddenly Maddie wanted to be alone with him. She couldn’t stop wondering how it’d feel to have his stubble rasping against her neck, his hands caressing every inch of her body, mouth devouring her, tongue playing with hers, his incredibly fit body pressed against her feminine curves.
Shocked by the direction her thoughts had wandered, Maddie snapped her gaze from Zach’s crotch and paid attention to the conversation before she ended up jumping him right there in front of everyone.
Sasha was in full interrogation mode when Maddie pulled herself from her Zach fantasy.
“Some people would say moving next door to your old schoolmate is a strange coincidence, Zach. What made you choose to move to Surrey when you came back to England?”
He ran the fingers of one hand through his short copper-toned hair as a teasing smile crinkled his blue eyes. “I grew up in Surrey.” He turned that smile on Maddie. Did he have any idea what it did to her? Delicious warmth spread through her, forcing her to return his smile with a tentative one. “It’s my home county.”
Could it be that the small amount of wine she’d consumed was making her see Zach’s friendly attention as something more? As attraction? It had to be the wine messing with her perception. There was no way on this planet Zach would ever be sexually attracted to her.
“Hmm.” Sasha’s gaze swung from Zach to Maddie, alerting her to her friend’s annoying habit of speculation.
“What does ‘hmm’ mean?” Maddie eyed Sasha. She didn’t trust that look.
“Just thinking.”
“Well don’t.”
Sasha’s smile turned cagey. “Why did you move to Zach’s hometown, Maddie?”
“You never let up, do you? It wasn’t because I was pining for Zach or anything—heaven forbid.” From her peripheral view, she thought she saw Zach grimace.
Sensing potential juicy details, the others sat forward, and Maddie could almost see their collective ears prick up. How did she manage to get the questions shifted from Zach to herself?
“Fine.” Maddie heaved an exasperated breath. “On the way back from spending a weekend with Zach at his dad’s, we noticed a piece of land with a view to die for. A few years ago, I saw that same land in the process of development. The houses were beautiful and I thought, why not invest in one of the properties and move out here? My job allows me to live pretty much where I want, so why not Surrey Hills?”
Sasha drained her wineglass. “Why do I get the feeling you aren’t telling us the whole story?”
“Because she isn’t,” Zach cut in.
Maddie met his thick-lashed eyes, the blue of a summer’s sky just before sunset, and caught a glimpse of sombreness beneath his easy smile.
“Really?” Cristi shimmied closer. “Now I’m intrigued.”
Zach seemed more than happy to oblige her curiosity. “It’s true we were driving back from our weekend at my dad’s, but we actually made a pact to live on Surrey Hills if they ever built exclusive houses on that spot of land.”
“You made a pact?” Sasha asked.
Maddie picked up her drink, then put it down again. “I don’t remember that.” What she did recall was Zach insisting she go with him to his father’s birthday celebrations because he dreaded having to spend any time alone with his father.
That was the weekend before her drunken attempt to kiss him.
“Of course you do, Mad.” Brows raised, forehead wrinkled, mouth turned down, Zach looked a little hurt that she could’ve forgotten. “We hooked little fingers on it, and everything.”
He was teasing her. Theirs had been a passing conversation about the land’s potential. At the time, she had welcomed the distraction from the crippling disappointment that even two days in an environment outside of uni hadn’t encouraged Zach to see her as more than a friend. His gaze hadn’t so much as flickered with interest.
Tamping down the humiliation she still felt for her naive longing, she said, “What were we? Three?”
Zach laughed—deep and sexy—and Maddie could have listened to the sound her entire life.
“Let me get this straight.” Keith leaned forward to get an unhindered view of Zach and Maddie around the girls. “You two made a deal to share a postcode, and years later you kept it?”
“We didn’t make a ‘pact’ or a ‘deal’.” Maddie tried not to bristle because she didn’t want anyone—most of all Zach—to guess how much it touched her that he hadn’t forgotten their passing conversation all those years ago. “I said, ‘wouldn’t it be nice to live there?’ And Zach said, ‘sure’. That is not a pact.”
“Okay, it’s not a pact,” Zach leaned close, sending delicious warmth over her in sentient waves when he dropped his arm around her shoulders. “But it’s great to have my bud back.”
Maddie set her jaw against the aggravation the word ‘bud’ triggered. She shot him what she hoped was a disparaging glance. “Next you’ll want to guzzle beer and bump chests.”
Zach’s gaze dropped to her cleavage. He wrenched his eyes back up, his gaze clashing with hers. The smile he gave her was as downright suggestive as the follow-up wink.
“If that’s an invitation, I say yes!” he said in an undertone just audible enough for only her to hear.
Maddie drank down the contents of her wineglass. Her nerves strummed with tension, flustering her as her hormones responded with a jump-this-man-now message.
She had to do something fast to distance herself from Zach. Whatever was going on between them was turning her brain to mush and her body to liquid. If she didn’t interrupt it, she was liable to make a complete idiot of herself.
Zach opened his mouth.
Fearing what he might come out with next, Maddie hastily returned her glass to the table, letting her mouth release the words of a barely formed thought. “Did I ever mention Zach played the sax?”
Sasha looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. Maddie was beginning to think she might if she didn’t gain some breathing space from Zach soon.
“He used to be fantastic.” She turned to face him. “Do you still play?”
He frowned at her. “Haven’t had much time lately, but I still play. Why?”
“Great! I have an idea.” She gestured for him to let her by before she did what her impulse suggested, and pressed her lips to his. “Give me a minute.”
He slid out of the booth so she could get out, but stood close to the table. “What are you up to, Maddison?”
Maddie tried not to notice when every inch of her body that brushed his as she moved past him flamed from the contact.
“Humour me.” She flicked a hand in a careless gesture, hoping no one had noticed she’d nearly pressed it against Zach’s chest. What was the matter with her? “I’m feeling a bit nostalgic.” And perhaps the excuse had more basis in truth than she would have liked to admit.
“Maddie believes I was a cad back in the day.” Zach retook his seat, obviously willing to play along. “But I didn’t spend half as much time chasing girls, as I did jammin’ with my boys.”
Maddie hurried toward the dais. The last thing she wanted was to remember Zach’s skirt-chasing youth. She waited at the shadowed edge of the stage until the band ended the jazzy number they were playing.
“Hi.” She beckoned to the saxophonist as he unclipped his sax from the strap around his neck.
He glanced at the four men behind him. “Take five.”
Maddie estimated him to be mid-fifties. Slender build, his afro completely white, the lines on his face told her he’d seen more of life than she cared to imagine.
He came over to Maddie, a slight limp marring his walk. “We’re about to take a break.” His soulful brown eyes reflected the smile he gave her. “If you have a request, it’ll have to wait for a bit.”
“Perfect.” Maddie gestured behind her. “Do you see my friend over there?” She looked past the tables and booths in the low-lit club to their table. “The cute guy on the left end of that booth.”
The saxophonist’s gaze followed her pointed finger. He chuckled. “I see him, but I’ll take your word about his cuteness.”
“His name is Zach Canady. He plays the sax like a dream.” She turned back. “How about you let him fill in for you while you enjoy your break?”
Maddie watched as the saxophonist stroked his neat salt and pepper beard in contemplation. “Like a dream, you say?”
She nodded, grinned to alleviate the indecision she caught in his gaze fixed on the booth over her shoulder, before his brown eyes swung back to her. “You won’t regret it, I promise.”
Seeming to make a decision, he flicked a glance over the club. “Hey, why not. We can always throw him off stage if he’s no good, right?”
“If he disappoints, I’ll do it myself.”
He chuckled, shook his head. “Okay, tell him to come on up. We have a second sax he can use.”
“Thanks. I’ll tell him.”
Varying degrees of curiosity followed her as she headed back to the booth. Maddie’s cheeks ached from the wide grin she couldn’t subdue. Her insides fizzed with excitement and a touch of happy nostalgia.
Back in her university days, when she wasn’t putting in late nights at the library, she’d hang out and listen to Zach play the sax. Each time she heard him play, she’d fallen deeper in love with him for his carefree artistic talent.
Or so she’d thought.
At twenty, she’d convinced herself she’d loved Zach. At thirty-two, she knew what she felt had been deep admiration for a carefree existence she could never enjoy.
“Okay, party-Zach, you’re up.” She used the nickname she’d tagged him with years ago. “They’ve got a spare sax they’ll lend you.”
Zach gave a cocky grin. “You do realize by tossing me up there you threw yourself along, too?”
Maddie backed up. “Oh no, you don’t.” She hadn’t spared a thought for the old Zach’s wicked sense of humour.
He nodded slowly as he stood, stalked her around the booth. “Come on, Botella. I’m not going up there without my ragdoll to help me out.” His fingers sparked against hers as he clasped her hand. He swung his attention back to their group of friends. “Did you guys know Maddie sings?”
She used her free hand to punch his steely arm. “How many times do I need to tell you, stop calling me ragdoll?” A hated nickname he’d given her the first day they met.
Zach pulled a pained expression just as a spotlight landed on them.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” the saxophonist said into the mic, his deep laugh vibrating through the speakers. “We have an unexpected treat tonight. Put your hands together for ‘cute’ Zach Canady. He’s going to take over while the band takes a break. I hear he plays ‘like a dream’.”
Zach squeezed Maddie’s hand as applause started. He tugged her toward the stage with him, raising a hand in appreciation of the support as they passed small intimate tables for two and spacious booths.
“You do understand I’m going to make you pay?” he said in an aside.
Maddie smiled, nodded as if he’d given her the greatest compliment, and said through her teeth, “It’s starting to dawn on me.”
Yet she couldn’t help but grin. By singing on stage in front of a jazz club full of patrons, surely she would make Zach notice that only an exciting woman did something so spontaneous.
Brilliant idea.
Zach stepped onto the dais and helped her up. “So you think I’m cute, huh?” He shot her a whimsical grin.
Maddie ignored the wrench of embarrassment that he’d noticed the reference. She almost felt back in high school, ready to cringe behind her hands because the most popular boy found out she thought he was cute.
“I didn’t expect the band leader to announce it. I was simply pointing you out.” She pulled her hand from Zach’s warm grasp. Who knew a man’s hands could send that amount of heat through a woman’s body? Just to ensure he knew she meant nothing by the comment, Maddie shrugged a shoulder. “You know you are, so don’t make a deal of it.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, sweetheart.” The jovial smile fell. An indecipherable expression entered his gaze for a second before he blinked it away. “Do you remember the lyrics to In the Wee Small Hours?”
Maddie nodded. How could she forget the words to one of her all-time favourite songs? “It’s been a while since I last sang in front of a crowd. Hope my vocal cords don’t squeak from lack of use.”
Zach winked at Maddie and her insides went like warm treacle as he took the sax one of the band members handed him, his forearms flexing as he angled the strap over his head. “That voice would sound great no matter what.”
She hugged the compliment to her heart, knowing perfectly well that Zach meant it as nothing more than a throwaway remark. She pushed the dopey sensations away and concentrated on the task ahead.
“Maybe we should kick off with an upbeat number before going for the slow romantic song, what do you think?”
“That’s fine with me. What do you suggest?”
A wicked impulse to tease Zach about how they had met brought to mind a very fitting song. Zach had been caught messing around with a guy’s girlfriend—granted he hadn’t known she wasn’t single. Maddie had felt sorry for him and had rescued him from being roughed up by the girl’s big, mean, boyfriend.
“How about Bad, Bad Leroy Brown?”
“I’ll give you the honours.” He tipped his head toward the microphone.
Maddie stepped over to the slim mic, unhooked it, and held it between her hands. “Hi, I’m Maddie. Somehow my effort to put Zach under the spotlight ended with me up here as well.”
She got a few laughs.
“Please forgive me if I’m a little rusty, it’s been years since I sang to a crowd.” She turned her head to look at Zach. “I think we have time for two songs while the band takes their break, right?”
He nodded.
Maddie turned back to the room. “We’ve decided to start with Bad, Bad Leroy Brown. Then we’ll tackle In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, what do you think?”
“How about, Let’s Face the Music and Dance?” yelled a female voice Maddie was pretty sure belonged to Sasha.
“Thanks for the request; we’ll see what we can do.” She exchanged a glance with Zach who began the jazzy lead-in.
~*~
MADDIE MOVED HER body to the beat and began to sing to piercing whistles and a collection of whoops. He suspected the majority of the noise came from their table.
She hadn’t forgotten how to perform. She used to hang out with him and the guys when she wasn’t buried in her books. Once he’d discovered she could sing, he had encouraged her to join them in an old lockup near campus to blow off steam. Back then, the sessions always seemed more relaxing and fun when she put in an appearance.
Maddie had the audience laughing and applauding with her antics. It wasn’t until she looked directly at him as she sang, that it occurred to Zach she’d chosen the song to rib him.
Then she exacerbated the fun poking by stabbing her finger in his direction with each ‘bad’.
“Come on, sing it with me.” She encouraged the crowd with a beckoning gesture, and he had to provide the melody while the whole place sang along.
He was going to make her pay big when he got the chance. Except suddenly, all of the ways he could make her pay seemed to lean heavily toward pleasure rather than retribution.
She even ended the song with the required, “Woof, woof,” to laughter and huge applause.
“Thank you.” She cast him a grin so slow and effective, it made his solar plexus leap.
He winked in acknowledgement of the smile, and hoped none of his emotional—or physical—reactions to her showed.
Soft cheeks flushed, eyes sparkling with laughter, she turned back to the audience. “Now I’d like to sing something quite different. In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning, is a personal favourite. I hope I can do it justice.”
The spotlight went off, allowing them to share the same low lighting as the rest of the club. When Maddie began to sing the place erupted again, but soon settled into the slow romantic tune.
Zach ripped his gaze from Maddie’s trim bottom. The sensual sway of her hips hypnotized him, sent a distracting shockwave of heat to his loins and he nearly missed a beat.
Focus. She’s Maddie. Your friend. Would you eyeball Keith or Dane’s butt like that? The very thought revolted him. The perfect solution to drooling over Maddie was to superimpose Keith or Dane on her image.
A great plan, until she slowly closed the space between them and ended the final strains of the old Frank Sinatra song gazing up at him with such longing he felt compelled to cover her lips with his. Give in to the impulse, which had ensnared him the moment he saw her over the garden fence.
He released the Berg Larsen mouthpiece. Maddie stepped closer, her red lips slightly parted as if she was about to speak, only she said nothing—just stared up at him.
Without conscious thought, he lowered his lips to hers.