Hitting the Right Note (2 page)

“Call me if you need someone to scrape you off the bar floor,” JJ called.

She grinned as the sound of Torrina's laughter followed her across the lobby.

Pushing the door to the stairwell open, she began her trek up the steps to the sixth floor. She spent most of her life bypassing elevators for the stairs, so her thighs were used to the workout. Once inside her room, adjacent to Torrina's, she slipped off her jacket and sank down onto her bed to take off her strappy shoes. She had just freed her toes from their confines when she heard a knock on the door.

“Room service.”

She grinned and hurried to open the door. Her bellhop was dressed in a gray ribbed sweater and leather jacket instead of a uniform, and carried several take-out containers and a bottle of something sparkling instead of pushing a hotel dinner cart. Plus she was sure it was illegal for someone to look that deliciously handsome.

She grabbed the lapels of his jacket and pulled him inside.

“Perfect timing,” she murmured before his lips met hers. He managed to kick the door closed and wrap his arms around her without dropping any of his packages.

JJ snuggled closer, slipping into the familiar place where her body fit in his arms. Okay, so she may not be getting married, and her sister may have just abandoned her in the single zone. But at least she wasn't hanging out there alone. Being in the 70 percent might not be so bad after all.

“G
ood show?” Rayshawn Forbes asked with a chuckle, when they finally broke away from each other.

“You tell me,” JJ said, settling her arms around his shoulders. “Weren't you watching?”

“I got there late from my meeting,” he said apologetically. “Only caught the last part of the performance.”

JJ pouted, and he kissed her upturned lips briefly. “From what I saw it looked great, though.”

He paused, and JJ watched as his deep brown eyes roved over her face. “I'm so proud of you, babe.”

She ran her hand over his smooth, nut-brown skin, touching his strong, angular jaw, catching her finger in the dimple in his cheek, feeling the stubble of his goatee and razor-thin mustache beneath her fingertips. She smiled. She had always thought he looked more like an R & B singer than a talent manager. But he was a manager. And he was hers.

“Thank you. I couldn't have done any of it without you.”

Her eyes floated closed as his lips met hers again with gentle, soft kisses that she had come to get used to over the past few months. She had always thought it a bad idea to mix business and personal life, but when she first met Rayshawn several months earlier, the attraction between them had been immediate and undeniable. She had met him at Lost and Found, the little jazz bar she used to sing at. That first night, when he gave her his card, she had passed it off as a pickup line. But then he showed up the next night, and the night after that with two other associates, one of whom invited her to audition for backup vocals for Deborah Cox. She never got that gig, but the things she learned through the process were priceless. In a matter of weeks she had signed on with Rayshawn to manage her, and in turn his agency, Franklin and Forbes, provided her with a vocal coach, a demo CD and a press kit and everything she needed to get her foot in the door of the music industry. By the time she got around to auditioning for Jayla's team, she was ready.

During that whole time they had done their best to keep things entirely business. But once she got the Jayla Grey gig, all that changed. All it took was an unplanned kiss at a celebration dinner and it was all over.

He pulled her closer as his kisses deepened. She melted into him, glad to finally have a few moments together. They were both traveling in Alberta, Rayshawn for some business meetings, and JJ for a weekend concert blitz for Jayla Grey. But so far their schedules had allowed them barely any time together. This was the first occasion they'd had to be alone in the past three days.

Rayshawn's hands gently traced her shoulders, her back, the curve of her spine, and then edged lower. JJ gently pulled away, putting some distance between them.

“Our food's getting cold,” she said, trying to slip out of his embrace.

“Let it.” He pulled her back, capturing her lips for a brief moment.

“Shawn . . . ,” she murmured against his lips, pulling away again.

He knew what that meant. He sighed and released her. “JJ, you're going to kill me one of these days,” he grunted, releasing her. “Go get some plates.”

“You started it,” JJ threw back slyly as she headed over to the single cupboard above the sink to look for dishware. “What did you get us?”

“Cheap Chinese food,” he said, opening the cartons in front of him. “I know you love that. Plus I picked up two movies.
Do the Right Thing
and
Inside Man
.”

JJ smiled. “Another Spike Lee night, I see.”

Rayshawn grinned. “I'll let you pick which, babe.”

She brought the plates over and put them next to the food containers.

“I'm gonna let you get away with that tonight,” she said, her wagging finger a mock threat. “You're lucky I'm in a good mood.”

Her good mood continued to stretch through the evening as they lounged together, watching
Inside Man
and picking at their food. Rayshawn stretched his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled deeper into his embrace. This was nice. This was how life should be.

JJ had just paused the movie as Rayshawn went to refill their drinks, when the phone rang.

“JJ, we have an emergency.”

JJ curled her feet up under her. “What kind of emergency?”

She knew her sister Lissandra, and so she knew that she should wait to be concerned until after she got details.

“You will not believe what Sydney is trying to do. I swear, she and Hayden got engaged like two seconds ago and it's like she lost her ever-lovin' mind, do you believe she wants to—”

“Lissandra, get off the phone and leave JJ alone,” Sydney said.

“Hey, Syd,” JJ said, acknowledging her eldest sister, who had likely just picked up another extension of their home phone line.

“Hey, JJ,” Sydney said cheerfully. “How was the show?”

JJ grinned. “It was amazing, Syd. The room was packed and the crowd was full of energy. Jayla was on fire tonight. Oh, and I have news!”

“What news?” Sydney asked, echoing JJ's excitement.

“Jayla wants me to come on tour with her!”

“Oh my goodness, JJ!” Sydney squealed. “That's amazing!”

“Yeah, yeah, that's great,” Lissandra said, cutting in impatiently. “But we have bigger issues here. Do you know Sydney wants to move Sheree into the house?”

JJ momentarily forgot her news at the mention of the name Sheree. “What!”

“Now, JJ, before you jump to any conclusions, hear me out,” Sydney said. “You know I wouldn't do this unless it was really serious. Plus I didn't say for sure that we were going to do it, I was just saying we should consider it.”

“Consider it?” JJ asked, her stomach tightening. “You want me to consider living with Sheree, the woman who lied about being pregnant so she could marry our brother, Dean, then stole his money, and left him so distraught he ran his car into a tree and ended up in the hospital?”

“I know but—”

“Sydney, this is the same woman who almost ran you off the road with her car less than six months ago,” JJ continued. “The same woman who left us with debt up to our eyeballs from Dean's medical bills. The same woman who has caused our family nothing but chaos since we met her.”

“I agree, but—”

“This woman almost ruined your relationship with Hayden,” JJ argued.

“I know,” Sydney said, cutting in. “But Hayden is the reason I am asking you guys to consider this. He is Sheree's half brother and pretty much the only family she has left. If he doesn't want to give up on her, how can I? And now that we're talking marriage, I have to accept that she is going to be a part of my life too. Actually, all our lives.”

“Oh, hell no,” Lissandra said.

“Sydney, you can't be serious. I can't think of anything that would make me be okay with moving Sheree into our home,” JJ said.

“Well, maybe—”

“Babe,” Rayshawn called from the kitchenette. “You think they have any club soda? Was thinking of making some of your sangria.”

JJ winced and covered the mouthpiece of the phone. But the dead silence on the line told her it was too late. With the mouthpiece still covered, she rushed over to her mini fridge, dug out a bottle of carbonated water, and tossed it at Rayshawn before slipping into the bathroom and closing the door.

“Who was that?” Sydney asked finally.

JJ cleared her throat. “Uh, no one.”

“So no one has a deep male voice and calls you babe?” Lissandra asked.

JJ said nothing.

“Don't tell me that Saint Judith has a man in her hotel room,” Lissandra said with a laugh. “Oh, this is too good.”

JJ's cheeks burned, even though she knew her sisters couldn't see her. She needed to end this conversation now.

“So you were about to say something about Sheree?”

“Uh-uh,” Sydney said. “We're not about to skip over this. Do you really have a man in your hotel room, JJ? Please tell me that Lissandra isn't right.”

“There is someone here,” JJ said. “But it's not what you think. We just had dinner and so he was just making sure I got back to my room okay.”

It wasn't a complete lie. They really did just have dinner. But a year ago, JJ would have condemned her sisters if they had tried to pull off a half-truth like that one. However, she had told so many half-truths to so many people over the past couple months that it was almost becoming second nature. She was a better liar than she thought. Or maybe the assumption that people made that she never lied—which had been true up until recently—just made her lies that much easier to get away with.

“I know you're not trying to sell me that.”

Except with her sisters.

“Look, are you going to explain about Sheree or not?” JJ asked impatiently.

“And she's catching attitude too, Sydney,” Lissandra said. “What is really happening with our little Diana Ross?”

“Sydney?” JJ pressed, ignoring Lissandra.

“We can talk about Sheree when you get back tomorrow. Nothing's happening before then,” Sydney said soberly. “Right now, I think you have more important things to deal with.”

JJ didn't miss the disappointment in her eldest sister's voice, and it hurt more than the teasing from Lissandra.

“Okay,” JJ said quietly. “I'll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Lissandra said. She chuckled. “And remember: no glove, no love!”

She heard Sydney sigh. “Bye, JJ.”

JJ hung up the phone, closed her eyes, and rested her head in her hands. Her guilt felt as real as the pressure of her fingers against her temples. What was she doing? Why was she letting Rayshawn stay, even though it was almost two a.m.? Undoubtedly he thought he would be crashing for the night in her hotel room. And why wouldn't he think that? They had let it happen before. And even though nothing other than sleeping had happened yet, it was only a matter of time. Her body had already come close to betraying her more than once.

“J, everything okay?”

JJ opened the door to the bathroom and found Rayshawn standing on the other side, concern marring his handsome features.

“What happened?” he asked.

She dropped her eyes and slipped past him into the room. “You know it's late. I think we should call it a night.”

There was a pause, but JJ busied herself picking up plates instead of turning to face him.

“It was your sisters on the phone, wasn't it?”

She nodded. “Yes, but it's not about them.” She carried the plates and food containers to the kitchenette. “This is about me. And I can't keep doing this.”

He raked his hands through his hair brusquely. “Doing what?”

“Acting like we can sit here together, and fool around at two in the morning in my hotel room, and nothing's gonna happen.” JJ dropped the plates into the sink, the crash jarring her senses. “You know I'm not trying to have sex with anyone right now . . .”

“And you feel like I'm trying to do that?” Rayshawn asked, an edge in his voice. “JJ, we already talked about this. I know you're celibate, and I'm cool with that.”

“Are you?” JJ asked, turning around to look at him. “'Cause I don't know too many guys who are . . .”

“I'm not too many guys,” he said, crossing the room to stand in front of her. “I thought you already knew this.”

JJ's eyes fell to the floor.

“Babe.” He lifted her chin with a gentle touch. “My hands may wander from time to time, and I'm sorry. It's just reflex, and just me wanting to be close to you. But have I ever forced you to do anything you didn't want to?”

JJ sighed. “No.”

“Then trust me,” he said. “What's important to you is important to me too. And I know this thing, waiting, is important to you. So I'm respecting that.”

JJ nodded.

He looked at her a long moment. “You know, maybe if your sisters met me . . .”

“No,” JJ said, moving around him and out of his reach.

“Babe, if they got to meet me, they would know who you're with all the time,” he said, his eyes following JJ as she busied herself around the room, picking up items out of place and straightening furniture. “They'd see I'm a good man and I'm not trying to hurt you. Maybe they would even like me.”

“It's not that simple, Shawn,” JJ said.

“Then what is it?” Rayshawn asked. She could see his frustration, sense it bubbling at the surface. He
was
a good man, and he was good to her. How could she tell him, then, that no matter how good he was, her sisters wouldn't think he was right for her because he was too different? His values were too different. His faith—or lack of it—was too different.

She walked over to him and put her arms around him, kissing him deeply before pulling away. “Thanks for the dinner, Shawn.”

He closed his eyes and let his head fall back. “You're kicking me out.”

She smiled and stroked the sides of his face with her thumbs. “Just saying good night.”

His head came forward and his eyes met hers. “JJ. Sooner or later . . .”

“I know,” she said. JJ followed him to the door as he grabbed his jacket and keys, then tipped up to kiss him briefly.

“Call me when you get in,” she whispered against his lips.

She watched him walk down the hall until he turned the corner. Then she closed the door and leaned back against it. Rayshawn was right. Sooner or later she would have to make a choice about them. She had a feeling it was going to be sooner. She just had no idea what that choice was going to be.