Diamond by Sharon Sala Page A

started to explain why she was there, then stopped when he saw their smirks. They didn’t believe him, but he didn’t care. He knew when the time was right, Diamond would prove herself all on her own without any help from him. Her talent was proof enough.
    Diamond’s smile never quite bloomed as she politely shook hands with each of the band members. Besides Mack, there was Jake, Monty, Al, and Dave. They all gave her varying looks of interest, none of which had anything to do with singing talent. And when Jesse’s manager arrived, she got another, more calculating look. But this time, it was not unexpected. Tommy Thomas didn’t like her, and considering their brief history, it was no wonder.
    Tommy glared and then slid a practiced smile in place. He shook hands with Jesse and gave Diamond an offhand slap on the back as he swept past.
    Diamond wisely ignored Tommy’s locker-room greeting and refused to respond to the antics of the men in the band. As the session got under way, they seemed to forget she was there. It was just the way she liked it. And so was Jesse’s music.

    Five hours later, Jesse’s voice faded on the last note of the song he’d been singing, as strong and clear as when they’d begun. His broad hand splayed across the guitar strings and pressed gently, stilling them into silence.
    Diamond shivered and leaned her head against the wall. Listening to him make love with his voice was almost too much for her to endure. And that was exactly what Jesse Eagle did with a song. He seduced and compelled, enticed and begged. And in the end, when the song was over, it was easy to believe that he’d been singing it just for her.
    It was a singer’s magic and the trap that often caught his female listeners. Diamond was aware of his magnetism but determined not to believe in the magic his songs created. She knew he sang them for himself as much as for everyone else’s enjoyment. There was no one special woman in his life, but she suspected there was a long line of many who’d come and gone. She had no intention of falling for that line or into that trap, and it might have been possible to avoid doing so if she hadn’t seen what happened next.
    Jesse leaned across the stand holding his sheet music and pointed toward a passage he intended to rearrange. His guitar lay across his lap, held firmly in place with one hand as he gestured with the other. And all the while he was talking, he unconsciously stroked the warm, golden wood with his fingertips, letting them run along the curve in the instrument as a man follows the shape of his woman’s body with his hands.
    The strokes were long, slow, steady, and unceasing. She could see the moisture from his fingertips leaving small, almost invisible tracks across the wood.
    Diamond jerked up, overturning her chair as she stalked out of the room.
    The men looked up, surprised by the noise. She’d been so quiet, they’d almost forgotten she was present.
    But not Jesse. He’d felt her presence throughout the day. He knew, to the moment, when she’d shifted in her chair and had seen her swing one long leg over the other as she changed position. He’d also heard her humming softly to herself through song after song. But her exit was unexpected, as was the expression he saw on her face. It was pain.
    Jesse slid the guitar from his lap and called for a break.
    The men smirked, allowing a few off-color remarks to surface as Jesse quickly followed Diamond out of the studio. Mack stared, mentally calculating the time it would take for Jesse to tire of her before he could make his move. Just looking at that woman made him hard.
    The room she’d just left wasn’t hot, but Diamond was. Watching Jesse’s hands on that guitar had set a dream in motion that she’d been trying to deny existed. Try as she might, the feelings inside her were too strong to ignore. She knew the signs. They were rare, but it had happened once before when she was younger. Before she knew that all men