Broken Resolutions: A Rule Worth Breaking / The Man She Can't Forget / Billionaire Boss, M.D.

‘This is where the auditions are being held, isn’t it?’

Glancing nervously round her, the girl took in the five men standing there, as well as the stacked plastic chairs lining the walls, the dusty floor and the lofty ceiling with its yellowing cracked plasterwork. Her expression was definitely bemused, as if she couldn’t quite believe where she’d landed. She still hadn’t moved any further away from the door.

‘Am I too late? I’m sorry I couldn’t get here a bit earlier but I’ve been stocktaking’ Swiping a hand down her short black skirt, she tugged the edges of her raincoat together in front of it, as if she might have inadvertently displayed more than she wanted to.

‘Stocktaking, you say?’ Rick’s wolfish grin grew even wider. ‘You can check my stock any time you want to, honey.’

Time to take charge, Jake thought with a flash of irritation. The girl might be easy on the eye, but she was more than likely another time-waster or wannabe—and God knew he’d auditioned enough of them in the past four days to be honestly weary of hearing any more.

To make matters worse, he’d lived with a girl just like that and she’d all but broken him with her relentless desire for fame and fortune. Not to mention what she’d been prepared to do to get it. In any case, the girl in front of him probably couldn’t sing for toffee.

But even as his cynical gaze surveyed her he felt a hot flash of desire throb through him. He was almost dizzy with the power of it, and in that moment he saw it as a warning to steer well clear—because something told him that, given the chance, the allure of this incredible beauty would be too hard to resist.

The realisation that he might be tempted honestly scared him. Temptation was never a simple option. In Jake’s book it equalled weakness, and he was a man who liked to be in control. From a young age he’d quickly intuited that if he didn’t take care of himself and instigate boundaries then he was damn sure no one else would.

‘Actually, you’re too late.’

But even as the words left his lips he immediately belied them. Helplessly drawn, he found himself moving towards the bewitching woman, and somehow the necessity to get her to leave…and quick…melted clean away. All his instincts told him to take the chance to admire her beauty while he could. After all, it wasn’t every day that a veritable angel presented herself in front of him…

‘What I mean to say is’ he went on ‘is that you’re too late for the auditions today but you can come back tomorrow if you’re serious. If not, then all I can do is thank you for your interest and wish you well.’

‘You’re questioning if I’m serious or not? If I’m not serious about auditioning then why do you think I’m here?’

Surprised that she would come back at him like that, Jake sighed. His innate instinct was for self-preservation, and his mind scrambled to give her a legitimate reason why he couldn’t let her audition today.

‘Well, if that’s the case, then you won’t mind coming back tomorrow, will you? We’ve been auditioning since early this morning and we could all use a break,’

Watching her wrestle with the emotion his words must have wrought, he saw her hand tuck her hair behind her ear, then free it again as if she wasn’t quite sure what to do next.

‘I was really hoping you could hear me tonight. The thing is, I won’t be able to make it tomorrow’

‘Then you can’t be that serious about auditioning, can you?’

Hot colour suffused her apple cheeks—but not because of embarrassment, Jake guessed. His cutting rejoinder had infuriated her.

Not wanting to be swayed by her angelic face and big green eyes, he told himself to stand firm. Nonetheless, he heard himself ask, ‘What’s your name?’

‘It’s Caitlin. Caitlin Ryan.’

‘Well, Caitlin…’ Folding his arms across his chest, he let his light-coloured gaze flick an interested glance up and down her figure, simply because it was too irresistible to ignore. ‘Like I said, if you’re serious about auditioning then you’ll come back tomorrow, when it’s more convenient for us to hear you. Shall we say around eleven-thirty?’

‘I’m sorry…’ The woman’s incandescent emerald gaze was immediately perturbed. ‘I don’t want to be a nuisance, but I honestly can’t make it tomorrow. A close friend—the manager of the shop where I work—is having her wisdom teeth removed, and I’m the only one who can stand in for her while she’s away’

Jake fought down a compelling urge to laugh out loud. Of all the answers he might have expected her to furnish him with, the imminent removal of a friend’s wisdom teeth hadn’t been one of them!

He could almost sense Rick’s laughter bubbling up behind him. Damn. It was going to be pretty hard to refuse this beauty anything when she was staring back at him like some little girl lost, those big green eyes of hers reflecting equal measures of hope and disappointment.

‘Give the girl a break, man.’ As he planted himself beside Jake Rick’s amiable features creased into a persuasive smile. ‘The band is still set up, so what have we got to lose?’

My sanity, for one thing, thought Jake, with grave misgiving. If Caitlin Ryan looked like a little lost puppy now, before he had even heard her sing a note, God only knew what she was going to look like when he told her Sorry…don’t give up the day job.

Expelling an aggrieved sigh, he dragged his fingers impatiently through his mane of dark hair and stared at her.

‘Okay,’ he drawled, his tone painfully resigned, ‘I’ll give you ten minutes to show me what you can do.’ Or, more to the point, what youcan’t. He couldn’t pretend he was expecting very much.

* * *

Caitlin’s heart beat double-time. Okay, I can do this, she told herself. Singing is second nature to me.

But her morale-boosting self-talk didn’t seem to be having a great deal of effect as she nervously made her way across to the stage. The three young men already there ambled casually back to their instruments and she wondered how many singers they’d already auditioned—because frankly they weren’t looking too impressed.

Registering the band’s name on the large bass drum in front of the drum kit, and privately acknowledging that she’d never heard of it, she somehow made her lips shape a smile. The lead guitarist introduced himself first. Telling Caitlin that his name was Mike, he extended his hand to help her as she negotiated the final step of the wooden staircase that led onto the stage. He had an open, friendly face she noted, unlike Captain Ahab down there, who looked as if he’d just as soon as take a bite out of her rather than throw away a smile on someone who was clearly a time-waster.

Why, oh, why had she thought this was a good idea? Just because she loved to sing, it didn’t mean that she had anywhere near enough talent to make it her career…

‘By the way, I’m Rick. The man who told you to come back tomorrow is the head honcho. Aren’t you going to take off your coat?’

At the foot of the stage the fair-haired man who’d persuaded his boss to give her a chance grinned up at her, with a teasing twinkle in his dancing hazel eyes that was in complete contrast to the reception Caitlin had received from his stony-faced colleague.

As his dark, brooding friend stayed ominously at the back of the hall she noticed he was staring back at her, as if to say, Your performance is going to have to be exceptional if you’re going to impress me. He was regarding her as if he fully expected her to disappoint him. Who was he anyway? Caitlin wondered? He might be the man in charge of the auditions, but although he’d asked for her name he hadn’t volunteered his own.

In answer to Rick’s comment about removing her coat, she answered, ‘I’d rather keep it on, if you don’t mind. I’m feeling a little bit chilly.’

Her hand curved round the mike stand as if to anchor her to something solid. Oh, why had she worn this stupid short skirt? Because her friend Lia had told her she should make an effort to ‘look nice’ for the audition, that was why. Caitlin should have stuck to her preference of wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

Raising his voice so that she could hear him clearly, Rick asked, ‘So what are you going to sing for us?’

Caitlin told him. It was a song that was regarded as a classic in the annals of rock culture. Although it had a driving, pulsing beat, there was also great passion and pathos in the lyrics and she loved it.

‘Good song choice.’

She couldn’t help colouring at the approval in his voice and turned her head towards the band so that he wouldn’t see he’d unsettled her. ‘Is that okay with you?’ she asked them.

The blond bearded drummer, who’d introduced himself as Steve Bridges, answered her with a precise drumroll, and to Caitlin’s right the stocky Scottish bass player, whose name was Keith Ferguson, played a couple of chords on his guitar.

‘Let’s rock and roll, then, shall we?’ Rick gave her a mock salute. ‘It’s all yours, honey. Take it away.’

I can do this, Caitlin told herself dry-mouthed as she waited for the band to play her in.

For a couple of seconds she squeezed her eyes shut tight. If she wanted to stay strong she wouldn’t glance at Mr Tall, Dark and Foreboding, lest one disapproving look from those strangely light blue eyes of his smothered the small vestige of courage she had left. But as the music struck up around her fear helpfully receded, replaced by her desire to sing.

She knew this particular number inside out. What she wouldn’t admit to the present company was that she’d only sung it in the bath or in the privacy of her bedroom. Oh, and once to Lia. Her lack of experience would really freak them out if they knew about it before they heard her. Suppressing a suddenly uncharacteristic urge to grin, she listened for her cue, then opened her mouth and launched into the vocal.

* * *

Electricity shot through Jake’s system with all the power of a lightning bolt. His stomach muscles clenched hard as excitement and shock suffused him. As he listened to the honeyed, sexy vocal emanating from the raven-haired beauty onstage he knew they’d struck gold. He didn’t even have to let her finish the song to know it, but of course he would.

Caitlin’s classy vocals melded with the rich, tight sound the band had worked so hard to attain as though they’d been made for each other. Her performance was stand-out amazing…knee-buckling.