mouth dropped open. The woman had legs that went on for days. They were displayed in a formfitting black dress with a deeply cut V neckline and a long, almost waist-high split up the side. Her natural hair was styled in a thick, wavy bob that stopped at her shoulders. Her skin tone was slightly darker than caramel, but lighter than pecan, more like cinnamon. Her body was to die for, and her smile shone brighter than the stage lighting.
“If you don’t close your mouth soon, bro, you are sure to attract flies,” Brice said.
“You all sure know how to make a lady feel loved,” the mystery lady said. Her voice was so sultry and soulful, a shiver of awareness coursed through Jarred.
He could do nothing but stare at her, spellbound by her presence. He squinted his eyes and leaned forward to get a better view. Upon closer inspection, he recognized that there was something familiar about her, then it hit him like a sack of bricks.
“Hey, isn’t that—”
“Nerd Girl,” Langston finished.
“Be quiet, you two. Her name is Nevealise not Nerd Girl,” Brice said angrily.
“We know her name, Brice,” Jarred countered. “It was just an expression and you know it. We all called her that back then.”
The last time Jarred saw Nevealise, she was headed to Cambridge for her freshman year at MIT. Jarred had known from his sister that she had a crush on him. Nevealise had been Kat’s friend and math tutor, and was often at the house. Kat had kidded him often enough about her friend’s crush. However, he had no interest in the young woman who, at eighteen, was six years his junior. Jarred remembered he’d called her “Jailbait.” At the time he considered her far too young for him. Besides, he was already in a relationship with Lainey.
Well, I’ll be damned. Little Nevealise Tempest has grown into a stunning woman.
She used to come around with her father, and usually had a book in her hand. He and his brothers had dubbed her “Nerd Girl” because she was always spouting something she’d discovered in a book, and was a whiz at equations. Her visits with her father were what led her to become his sister’s tutor. If he remembered correctly, she was two years older than Kat, which would put Nevealise at around twenty-eight now. No longer jailbait. If he was honest with himself he’d admit the moment their eyes met, he wanted to drag her offstage and have his way with her.
“What the hell is she doing, singing in a club? Didn’t she graduate from MIT?” Jarred murmured.
“Damn, she is fine,” Langston declared.
Just then Nevealise bellowed out a soulful rendition of Joss Stone’s “Put Your Hands On Me.”
That voice. It held Jarred captive. He couldn’t turn away even if he tried. Not only was she beautiful, but her singing was glorious.
“Does her old man know that his daughter is a lounge singer?” Jarred asked.
“None of her family knows. For the record, she isn’t only a singer, she owns the place. Hence the name,” Brice told them.
“Who cares whether or not her family knows? She’s good,” Langston said, bopping to the tune.
Like magnet to metal, Jarred and Nevealise’s eyes met and lingered. She was the first to break eye contact as she finished the song and transitioned directly into another. This time she sauntered out into the crowd, stopping at their table to place a kiss on Brice’s cheek. She flashed Jarred and Langston a quick smile, then continued mingling with the other guests. For the first time in his life, Jarred was jealous of his youngest brother.
“Don’t get your hackles up, big brother. Nev and I are just friends,” Brice snorted.
“What are you going on about, Brice? What hackles?” Jarred said, unable to take his eyes off the woman.
Langston chuckled. “Who are you kidding? You practically came out of your seat when Nerd Girl kissed Brice’s cheek. That scowl didn’t help, either.”
Jarred sent Langston a scathing look that could have melted iron. “What I don’t understand is why are we killing ourselves with her father’s mess and she’s out here having the time of her life?” he retorted.
“You can’t blame that on her. Her father never wanted her to have any dealings with the business, even after she graduated top of her class at MIT. She did what she had to do, and she does it well,” Brice said proudly. “Besides, it’s our mess now. We acquired the company, remember?”
Jarred didn’t say anything further. He sat back and listened intently as she sang. He would have been content listening to her all night if he didn’t have an erection that was making it impossible to be comfortable no matter what he did. He squirmed in his seat, trying to adjust his trousers, which were continually growing tighter.
He gazed at Nevealise just as she moved her head in their direction. His lips lifted in a slow smile, and then he winked at her, causing her to miss a beat. Not that anyone would notice. Oh, but he did. Gotcha! It appeared he still had some kind of effect on her. My night has just taken a very interesting turn, he thought, and he hoped to enjoy it to the fullest.
Nevealise startled a bit as Jarred Manning winked at her. What was he playing at? Better yet, what was he doing here? Although she hadn’t seen him in years, Nevealise didn’t figure Heavens would be a hangout for the oldest Manning brother. Closing her eyes, arms stretched out in front of her, she let the smooth sounds of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Cry Me a River” run flawlessly from her lips. After she finished her number, Nevealise opened her eyes to another standing ovation.
“Thank you, thank you.” She smiled, looked around the packed lounge, bowed and then walked offstage, but not before she caught the eye of Jarred again. He was standing, smiling and clapping heartily along with the crowd. Taking a deep breath, she briskly exited and headed to her dressing room.
Nevealise flashed the bodyguard standing by her door a quick smile, and proceeded inside. She plopped down on the chair in front of the vanity and mirror, and released a long breath she hadn’t known she’d been holding. She placed her hand on her abdomen, trying to calm the butterflies having a party in her stomach. She stared at her reflection in the mirror. The hazel eyes that stared back at her showed how she felt: nervous.
“Oh, goodness,” she chanted a few times, before picking up the bottle of chardonnay she always had waiting for her when she left the stage, and pouring a couple ounces into her tulip-shaped wineglass. She sipped a little bit at a time, wanting to savor the taste.
Seeing Jarred Manning again had stirred up feelings in her that Nevealise thought she’d long forgotten. Feelings she had long ago filed away as her first teenage crush. Tonight Jarred’s bold stare had her insides quivering straight to her core, causing her to cross her legs, trying to stem the vibrations she felt there.
Nevealise had felt daring as she’d sauntered out into the crowd and stopped at their table. She’d kissed Brice on the cheek, only to look up and catch Jarred’s molten gaze. Her eyes instantly zoomed in on his full, kissable lips. Her sassy move to show the brothers that she was no longer the girl they often referred to as “Nerd Girl,” that she was in fact a woman in charge of her sexuality, had backfired on her.
Who was she kidding? At the mere presence of Jarred she’d become a nervous wreck, almost dropping in a dead faint to the floor. It should be a sin to be so fine. The handsome devil knew he’d gotten to her when he’d winked at her. Although she’d recovered quickly, she’d missed a beat in the number she was performing. Jarred had arrogantly smiled and lifted his glass to her.
Enough thinking about Jarred Manning. She needed to bring her body under control. Nevealise was reacting to him like she was a sexually charged teenager. Her mind knew that; however, her body moved to its own beat, and was having the hots for Jarred Manning.
Sighing