Feel Like Making Love Read online

  When she could see again, Cadence lifted her head from where it had fallen against Jude's shoulder. He smiled. She smiled back.

  "Hey," he said and pushed the hair away from her face.

  "Hey."

  Then they just sat and stared at each other. If the grin on my face was as silly as the one on his, she thought, we both look like a pair of loonies.

  Jude cocked his head toward the huge tub. "Want to try it out?"

  Cadence made a sound of mock-fright. "You're going to kill me!"

  "Just for a bath." Jude's fingers made lazy patterns on her back. "I promise."

  "You get the water started. I'll go get the food."

  "You said the magic words," Jude told her. "Food."

  Cadence kissed him. "Be right back."

  The sight of her face in the mirror made her grin. She was all over FFG. Freshly Fucked Glow, as Marnia called it. Freshly fucked and starving. She piled a plate with the chocolate-covered fruit, grabbed the bottle of champagne and went back to the bathroom.

  There were no candles to set the mood, but Jude had dimmed the lights further and turned on the small Bose radio on the countertop. Celtic lullabies echoed softly from the speakers, and Cadence nodded.

  "The claddagh should've given me a clue," she said. "But I wouldn't have thought you'd pick this."

  "Why?" Jude helped her balance the plate on the tiled tub surround, then held her hand while she stepped into the warm water. "Because I'm a rock singer?"

  "Stereotype. Sorry."

  Jude smiled as he joined her. "Don't be sorry. It's part of the image. Don't give away my secrets."

  As Cadence settled into the water, she scrutinized him. "Do you have many?"

  Jude looked around as though pretending to make certain they wouldn't be overheard. "Sure. Like I've never, ever, trashed a hotel room. And I don't smoke."

  She laughed. "And you donate to charity. You don't fit the image, Jude Camron."

  He sighed and slid deeper into the water. "I'm just a small-town boy."

  "With a city-boy's voice."

  He quirked one eyebrow at her. "Cadence, do you have my album?"

  She bit her lip, but couldn't lie. "No. But I've heard your songs on the radio. I don't feel like changing the station when they come on either."

  Jude blinked, then chuckled. "Not the highest praise I've ever had."

  "You have a great voice, Jude. And the songs are good." Cadence thought carefully before she spoke further. "If you want my honest opinion--"

  He leaned forward to stare seriously into her eyes. "I do."

  "I think maybe you're trying too hard to distance yourself from your roots."

  "From StarOne, you mean?"

  "Not just from that." Cadence nudged the faucet handle and the water stopped flowing. "Though I can see why you'd want to."

  Jude laughed again, and she was relieved to see she wasn't offending him.

  "StarOne was a great time. I'm still friends with those guys. But I got tired of being the preppy one, you know? Labeled like that. I just want to make great music."

  "You do. Your lyrics are poetry," Cadence said sincerely. "Your voice is very strong. And sexy."

  He laughed. Their hands, propped on the tub's rim, touched. He tangled his fingers with hers.

  Cadence tried to put her thoughts into words that wouldn't sound overcritical. "You know, "Love Me Two Times" is a great song. It's different than the others."

  "Even if I snagged the title from The Doors?"

  "Even despite that." She squeezed his hand. "Your rock songs are good, too. But have you thought about doing something smoother? Less...angsty?"

  "You mean something more like what we're listening to?"

  The music had changed from lullabies to soft Gaelic folk songs.

  "Yes, actually. You have the voice for it."

  "You can't believe how much I'd love to sing something different." Jude relaxed against his side of the tub. "My manager and producers convinced me I'd be better off hitting the rock, hard. They let me get away with "Love Me Two Times" because nobody figured it would get released as a single, but when it was the only song left on the album..."

  "And all the others were hits," she finished for him. "They wanted their money. I know how it works."

  "But it's climbing the charts and getting great reviews," Jude said passionately. Water sloshed as he sat up. "It's not up there with "Break Me" or "Down and Dirty," but--"

  "Yet," Cadence cut in. "But it will be. I'm not a music critic...."

  "But you know what you like."

  She felt awful for not owning his album. "Yes."

  He tugged her fingers. "Do you like me?"

  "I told you, I don't have--"

  "Not my music." He looked at her seriously. "Me."

  "Can I like one without liking the other?"

  He let go of her fingers and sat back in the tub, face pensive. "Sure."

  Cadence shook her head, moved closer, and brushed her lips against his. "I don't think so, Jude. Your music's as much a part of you as the color of your eyes."

  His mouth parted and he snuck another kiss out of her before answering. "Serves me right for asking."

  "I like you." She smiled and gave him another brushing kiss. "Very much."

  His hands slid along her back and found the softness of her buttocks. He pulled her onto his lap. The water lifted her, made her weightless and cradled them both in decadent warmth.

  "I like you, too," Jude whispered. "Very much. And I think you're right."

  She'd pillowed her head on his shoulder, but didn't look up even though his words surprised her. "About what?"

  "My music. My songs. What I've been singing."

  "Oh, Jude. I told you--"

  He turned her in the water until she looked at him. "Cadence, I respect your opinion."

  "We barely know each other."

  He looked to where his hand cupped her hip possessively. "You're not afraid to tell me what you think. I like that. It's not easy to find that in this town."

  Though Cadence didn't live in Hollywood, she knew enough about it to agree. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

  His kiss was stronger this time. "You didn't. I appreciate it. And I agree with you. I'm going into the studio next month to record a new album. I had a bunch of songs I was going to do, and a bunch I wrote but wasn't going to use. I've changed my mind."

  Cadence looked at him for a few silent minutes before she was able to speak. "I'm incredibly flattered."

  Jude waggled his eyebrows. "Wait until the record comes out before you decide that. It could be a disaster."

  "It won't be."

  Their kiss broke when both of them yawned. Jude grinned. "Sorry. It's not the company."

  Cadence laughed. "I'm tired, too. Want to go to bed?"

  He turned her earlier words back on her. "Are you trying to kill me?"

  "To sleep," Cadence said. "I promise."

  "That's not as much fun. But okay."

  Time had passed unbelievably quickly while they made love and soaked in the tub. No wonder we're tired, Cadence thought as they both stumbled toward the bed. It was almost morning.

  She curled into his arms as naturally as if she'd always slept there. His breath warmed the back of her neck.

  "What's next?" he murmured as Cadence slipped toward sleep.

  The question was enough to make her lids flutter open, but she was careful not to betray her emotions by moving. "We sleep."

  "After that."

  Her heart skipped, but wariness made her say, "In the morning, we wake up. I check out of La Fleur and go home, and you go to the studio."

  He sounded as sleepy as she had a few moments ago, before he'd asked her about the future. "Will you give me your number?"

  For one delirious moment, Cadence almost said yes. Reason won out over hormones. She'd just been burned, and badly, by a relationship. Jumping into another wouldn't be very smart, even if it was with a man as sexy, smart, ki