Playing it Kale (The McCain Saga Book 4) (14 page)

“People fall in love in mysterious
ways,” I say as he meets my eyes.
 
And
his own
expression warms.
 
We both lean forward, our lips meeting.
 
One of his hands rests on my hip.
 
His touch is fire and electricity.

“I don’t form too many theories,” he
whispers against my lips.
 
“But I can’t
help but feel like there’s some kind of grand plan, and people just find the
right person when they’re supposed to find them.
 
Nothing we can do to stop that.”

“Like how we both just happened to be at
your brother’s wedding?” I say as I rest my forehead on his.
 
“Under the light of a
thousand stars?”

“Some cosmic shit like that,” he says
with a nod and a smile.
 
He presses one
more quick
kiss to my lips before backing up again.
 
“Your turn.
 
Tell me about your family.”

“Ugh,” I say as I flop back onto my back
and stare up at the ceiling.
 
“My family
is just…boring.”

“What?” he says with a chuckle as he
pokes a finger into my side, making me squirm.
 
“You come from crazy scientist stock.
 
How could your family be boring?”

“They are,” I say through a laugh.
 
“My parents work at UW researching one thing
after another.
 
You saw what they were
like.
 
I mean, they’re my family, and I
love them, but we’re not exactly close.
 
They have their lives, they raised me, and now they expect me to just be
like them.
 
When I broke away from that,
I think it made them reevaluate everything they ever taught me.
 
Makes my brother look like
the perfect child.
 
He works at
MIT and also teaches physics part time there.”

“See, tell me about him,” Kale
encourages.

“Fine,” I say with a sigh.
 
“His name is Carson.
 
He was married once for about a year, but
he’s so devoted to his work that his ex couldn’t handle sharing him.
 
She left him last year.
 
He’s thirty-one.
 
So the age gap meant that we weren’t exactly
close, either.
 
He has an IQ that would
make Einstein hang his head in shame.
 
And
he’s about twenty times more socially awkward than I am.”

“Oh man, how does the poor guy live?”

“Kale!”
I cry, play-smacking him on the shoulder.

“I kid, I kid!” he says as he starts the
world’s best tickling war.
 
Cause it
gives me every excuse in the world to put my hands all over his half-naked body.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

There was a small part of me that had
hoped that Elysium might give Kale and me one day together before they put me
to work.
 
But it doesn’t happen that way.

I’m lying in Kale’s arms, wearing
nothing but a pair of underwear and the shirt that he blessedly discarded last
night, when one of the producer guys, Matt, that I met down in LA, Matt, walks
right in and starts talking full speed about starting in on the single of “Angel
On
Your Shoulder
.
”

I bolt up in bed, gathering the sheets
in front of me, pulling them right off of Kale.
 
He lies there in just his underwear, trying to rub the sleep from his
eyes.

“Seriously, you two together is the best
publicity I’ve seen happen naturally in all my time in the industry,” Matt
says.
 
He shakes his head and
smiles.
 
“That stunt on the pavement you
two pulled yesterday has everyone going nuts.
 
They’re going to flip when we do the shoot next week.”

“How much footage did that jerk get at
the airport?” I ask in horror.

“More than
Shurrock
wanted, but enough to be amazing coverage for the both of you,” Matt says as he
pulls out his phone.
 
He scrolls for a
second and turns it around for us to see.
 
Kale sits up and takes the phone from him.

Yep.
 
There we are, in all our heated reunion glory.
 
Kale lying on the pavement,
me lying on top of him.
 
My hand
is up his
shirt,
his eyes are closed in ecstasy.
 
Just looking at the pictures turns me on.

“Damn,” Kale says as he tosses the phone
back to Matt and tackles me to the bed.
 
“You’re bloody hot horizontal, Whit.”

“Kale!”
I screech in horror and delight.
 
“There
is someone in the room with us!”

“He’s from Hollywood,” Kale says as his
lips connect with my neck.
 
“Trust me,
he’s seen far worse.”

“It’s true,” Matt says as he goes back
to his phone.
 
“But seriously, Whitney,
we need to get rolling as fast as possible on recording that single.
 
Elysium wants to hit this thing while the
iron is still hot.”

“I’ve got to go,” I say, trying to
disentangle myself from Kale.
 
Given, I
don’t try hard, but I do try.

“No!” he cries dramatically when I
finally break from the bed.
 
“Don’t leave
me here!”

I shake my head and chuckle as I try to
pull the shirt down over my rear end.
 
I
don’t mind Kale checking it out—which he is doing currently—but I do mind what
Matt sees.
 
“You can
come
watch for a little bit.
 
Why don’t you
call Julian or something?
 
You’re going
to get bored after a while.”

“Fine,” he says as he flops back onto
his back and stares up at the ceiling.
 
His arms curl up and his biceps flex.
 
Yep, he has no idea he’s doing it.
 
“But she’s mine after six tonight.
 
You got that, Matt?”

“Technically she belongs to Elysium, but
we’ll see what we can do,” he says as he walks out.

I dress.
 
Scarf down a bowl of fruit the house chef has prepared.
 
He actually prepared an entire awesome spread
for everyone at the house, but Matt’s in such a
hurry,
I don’t get time to fully enjoy it.

And the second I’m done eating, we head
down into the bottom floor of the house.
 
I’m handed a guitar I’ve never used before and am told to start from the
beginning of “Angel.”
 
We do an entire
run through.

And then do it again.
 
With the guitar.
 
Without it.
 
With me harmonizing with
myself.

It’s actually a lot of fun.
 
Yes, I’m singing the same words, over and
over again.
 
But I can tell they’re
building things up.
 
I start to piece it
together in my head, how it will be layered.
 
I imagine how a drum beat will fit in with it all.
 
The keyboard, sound
effects.

It’s going to be amazing.

This is Kale’s song.
 
And I never could have recorded it like I did
if he hadn’t been on the other side of that glass, grinning at me like a fool almost
the entire time.

I hold his eyes strong and hard as I
sing every word and feel every emotion that is meant for just him.
 
People might look at Kale and see no deeper
than his beautiful skin.
 
But I see a
million emotions play across his face as we stare at each other.
 

Kale said he loves me.
 

Every cell of his being reflects that
right now.

“Freaking awesome,” Matt says through
the speakers after the tenth time we record the third verse.
 
“It’s shaping up just brilliantly.
 
Let’s take a break for lunch, and we’ll work
on your guitar riff.”

I pull the headphones off and set them
on the hook.
 
I open the door to the
sound booth, and a crazy grin forms on my face as Kale saunters up and wraps
his arms around me.

“I didn’t know it was my song you were
going to be launching with,” he says as he briefly presses his lips to mine.

The kiss sends a current of electricity
that shoots from my lips, down my spine, branching out into my limbs, and
sending all my lady hormones crazy.

“Seems fitting, doesn’t it?” I say
through my smile.
 
“This all started with
you, why not launch with you?”

Kale shakes his head.
 
“I just gave the shove.
 
This all started with you, Whit.
 
You’ve got that crazy amazing voice, the
superstar personality, and looks we’d all trade our souls for.
 
This is just you, angel.”

“You say the nicest things,” I say to
him, echoing his words from yesterday.

He chuckles and takes my hand, leading
me back upstairs.

The chef is crazily trying to finish the
preparation of lunch.
 
Hadley is on the
phone, as usual.
 
Calvin is on the couch,
furiously clicking away on his tablet.
 
Matt chats with the production assistant.

It’s chaotic, but surprisingly, the
sight warms me.
 
I don’t know these
people all that well, but they’re
my
people.
 
We’ve all got each other’s
backs.
 
We’re here in Washington, hiding
away together.
 
Like a weird family on
vacation.
 
And we all have this common
goal: to make some amazing music.

There’s a soft knock on the door and
everyone’s eyes dart to it, and collectively we all hold our breath.
 
Tony starts for it.

“Relax,” Kale says as he walks toward it,
as well.
 
“It’s just Julian.”

“Who’s Julian?” Hadley asks, holding her
hand over the speaker end of her phone.

“Chill out,” Kale sighs as Tony opens
the door, revealing the man himself.
 
“Just my brother-in-law.”

“Whoa,” Julian says, a look of surprise
and humor saturating his eyes.
 
“Uh, hi everyone.”

“Sorry,” Kale says, waving Julian
in.
 
“Everyone’s a little on edge right
now with all the press going nuts.”

“Nuts
does
indeed seem an appropriate description,” Julian says as he smiles and nods at
the small crowd.
 
“You two are all over
the news and blowing my phone up constantly.”

“Uh, hang on, before the conversation
goes too much further,” Hadley says, rushing over with her own tablet.
 
“I need you to sign this saying that you
won’t disclose the fact that we’re here and anything you hear in this house
won’t leave this house.
 
Elysium Tracks
is insisting.
 
Sorry.”

Julian just chuckles and shakes his head
as he signs on her tablet with his finger.
 
“My lips are legally sealed shut.”
 

I watch him as he banters with Hadley
and Kale for a minute about secrecy.
 
Julian is a beautiful specimen.
 
He’s not built big, but he’s lean.
 
His arms under his short-sleeved T-shirt are fully covered in
tattoos.
 
His hair is parted and slicked
back in a look that seems very signature to him.
 
Intense dark eyes.

It’s easy to see how a woman would be
instantly attracted to him.
 
He looks
like a true-blue bad boy.
 
In a serious way.
 
But
Kale keeps insisting he’s a total nerd.

It’s a strangely endearing combination.

“So,” Julian says, turning to me.
 
“I’ve seen you and my brother’s face all over
the TV and internet, and I sure remember that amazing performance you gave at
my other brother’s wedding, but we have yet to actually meet.
 
I’m Julian
Dohring
.”

I take the hand he’s extended out to me
and shake it.
 
“Whitney, but I guess you
know that now,” I say with an awkward chuckle.
 
He smiles and laughs, too.
 
“It’s
nice to meet you.”

“So is it true?” Julian asks as he lets
my hand go and slides his hands into his pockets.
 
“You two are like, a real deal thing?
 
The next big celebrity
couple?
 
Whale, as they’ve been
saying?”

“She didn’t immediately dump my ass when
I used the ‘L’ word yesterday, so I guess you could say it’s the real deal
thing,” Kale says as he slips his hand into mine and looks at me with hunger
and love in his eyes.

“No shit?” Julian says, actually looking
taken aback.
 
“
You
used the ‘L’ word?
 
Wow,
I guess people take you by surprise.”

“Shut up,” Kale laughs, his nostrils
flaring slightly, as he fakes a punch at Julian.
 
“You who
was
too scared
to tell my sister you loved her until she basically forced you to propose.”

“Seriously?”
I ask with a chuckle as my eyebrows
raise
.
 
“That sounds like quite a story.”

“Best night in the history of mankind,”
Julian beams.
 
“The
night I conquered the unconquerable Sage McCain.”

“I still can’t believe you got Sage to
go under the needle,” Kale says as he shakes his head.
 
“She’s been terrified of
shots
her entire life.”

“Sage, your scary, uber-put-together
sister has a tattoo?” I ask in disbelief.

“Just one,” Julian says, and I can see
how proud he is of that fact.

“Where was it you said she is again?”
Kale says as the chef announces that lunch is ready and we all head for the
kitchen.
 
Kale grabs a gallon of orange
juice off the counter and starts downing it right out of the jug.

This must be a normal thing,
cause
it doesn’t even phase Julian.
 
“She’s in Japan.
 
Or rather, she’s in the air on her way home
from Japan.
 
She gets back in tonight.
 
About the same time Riley and Lake get back
from their honeymoon.”

“We should have everyone over,” Kale
says, excitement in his voice.
 
He looks
at me, his eyes bright.
 
“Everyone can
officially meet Whitney, and who knows where we’ll be after a few days.”

And everything in me glows that there
was a “we” in that sentence that implies wherever I’ll be, Kale will be there,
too.

“Sounds good?” I say, unsure, because
the thought of actually meeting all of his family is intimidating.
 
But Ming is coming over tonight.
 
I invited my parents, but Mom gave some
reason they couldn’t come that sounded a lot like an excuse.
 
So, Ming is it—I’m down to one person I can
count on.
 
Kale is lucky he has a whole
clan.
 
How could I ever say no to that?

“Can we?” Kale asks to the rest of the
house.
 
Cause in reality, this new, crazy
reality, it’s really up to the powers that be.