Aftershock by Desiree Holt

both the sound and the way it rolled off the tongue. She was sure it was a phrase the media would pick up and run with. Now, having heard their music live, she was even more convinced of it. She smiled to herself as she drank her coffee and looked over her notes, images dancing in her head. Yes, this was definitely going to work.
    She leaned back in her chair with her coffee cup, enjoying the soft morning breeze. The Plan was still on track. If she focused on nothing but business, maybe she could control what she felt for Rick Trajean, personal feelings she didn’t know how to handle. Park them in a corner of her brain. This week and next, she would prep the band for their media debut. Calls would be made. People contacted. The final details for media day ironed out.
    She knew in her gut this would work. She and Lightnin’ would explode on the music scene like—well—like lightning.
    Damn straight.
     
    ***
     
    “So tell me all about everything.” Meredith Trajean popped a grape in her mouth and hitched herself onto the barstool next to her brother.
    Hungry and with a need to be grounded by his family, Rick had dropped in at his mother’s unannounced and begged breakfast from her. Sitting at the breakfast bar, drinking coffee, watching his mother scramble eggs, and listening to his sister framed his life in a normalcy he badly needed, especially now.
    The abrupt entry of Sydney into his life unsettled him, in more ways than one. Beneath the surface, he sensed a driven woman, one as focused on her goals as he was on his. Maybe more so, which kind of frightened him. Even further beneath lay the warm, passionate woman whose bed he’d shared last night. A woman who opened herself to him in a way he was sure she’d never done before with anyone.
    He had no idea what falling in love was like, nor did he expect it to happen with the speed of light. But Sydney Alexander was breaking through his self-imposed discipline. This was way more than sex. He’d spent the most incredible night of his life with her. Could still feel the silk of her skin, the softness of her curves, her wet heat gripping him. In seconds, he was hard as steel.
    Quit thinking about it .
    If he didn’t discipline his brain, he’d embarrass himself in front of his family.
    What he really needed to do was figure out how he was going to handle this. He had the distinct feeling a relationship scared her as much as it did him. They both had goals and didn’t want anything that would distract them from reaching them.
    Besides, what if their night together was nothing more than the heat of the moment? The heady environment? That first spark of attraction? What if, the next time he saw her, she acted as if nothing happened? Pretended it was all just business? He hadn’t called her because he wasn’t sure yet what to say when he did.
    “Hello. Anyone in there?”
    He realized Meredith was waving her hand in front of his face and jerked himself back to reality. After all, wasn’t that why he was here?
    “I can hear you, brat.” He grinned at her. She’d grown into such a lovely young woman. In two months she’d be on her way to the university and he wanted to send her off locked in a suit of armor and a chastity belt. Or maybe accompanied by an armed guard. It wasn’t too many years ago he’d been a horny teenager with just one thing in mind.
    “Not a brat any longer, big brother.” She stuck her tongue out at him in a playful gesture. “Anyway, I asked you about the hot chick you took to the band party last night.”
    Rick stared at her. How the hell had gossip traveled this fast? “Where did you hear that?”
    She grinned. “I know all. It’s about time you realized it.”
    “Daisy Nestor’s sister was at the party last night,” his mother answered as she scooped eggs onto plates. “Daisy was on the phone to your sister at practically the crack of dawn, wanting the whole scoop.” She turned and set two breakfast plates on the counter. “I