Kat stared after him, watching his sexy, loose-legged swagger as he headed to his motorcycle, fighting the urge to go drag him back and rip off his clothes and have her wicked way with him.
With a frustrated sound, she rushed back to the living room, away from the door and the hot man on the bike. Her phone had stopped ringing, but Jason’s words played in her mind. Take your agent’s calls. He might have something to say worth listening to. She frowned and reached over the couch to snap up her cell. Jason didn’t say anything without a purpose. Kat hit her voice mail button and listened to the most recent message from Michael.
“I know you’re a perfectionist even when it comes to being stubborn, but listen up.” Kat ground her teeth. Michael had been with her through her painful split from Jason. He knew good, darn well she was trying to be smart and keep her personal and professional lives separate. That wasn’t stubborn, it was smart. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and Jason, but he wants you on this job in a big way. He gave the studio an ultimatum, Kat. He insisted they do whatever it takes to get you—including doubling your offer—or he’ll pay back his signing bonus and walk. I know Jason’s involvement is messing with your head, but if you won’t call me back, call him. Call one of us.”
Kat dropped the phone and stared at it like it was a snake about to bite her. A second later, she launched herself into action and ran for the door, yanking it and the screen open, just in time to see Jason’s motorcycle turn the corner.
“What are you doing, Jason?” she whispered, at the same moment her eyes caught on something sitting on top of the porch stairs. Her heart skipped a beat as she forced her bare feet to cross the porch and pick up the KandyKat bar, all too aware of the memory it was meant to stir. You’re sweeter than candy, Jason used to say, right before he proceeded to prove he meant it. He had no intention of keeping his hands off of her. That was the message now. He wanted her to show up tomorrow with her eyes wide open.
Kat turned and went back inside, shutting the door behind her, trying to shut out temptation, the memories, to shut out him. She fumbled to find her phone to call Jason, and then stopped. If she called, he’d know years hadn’t erased his number from her memory any more than they had erased him from her heart. Not that he didn’t know that. He knew. She didn’t hide how affected she was by him. She couldn’t if she tried, so she just didn’t try. Still, she hesitated. Jason had threatened to quit over her. She glanced down at the Kit Kat bar. She didn’t understand what was going on with him, only that she had to talk to him. She had to understand. Kat dropped her face into her hands. She was going to the auditions tomorrow.
* * *
IT WAS SIX O’CLOCK on the dot the next morning and Jason sat at a long table beneath the stage with Darla and Lana to his left, when the odd sixth sense he’d always had for Kat shot through him. He turned on the pretense of surveying the rows of stadium seating filled with hopeful dancers waiting to audition. He scanned and found her inside the entrance, off to the right of the doors, leaning against the wall. Jason smiled to himself and turned back around. He picked up his coffee and took a sip, savoring more than the caffeine. She was here, that was what counted. And he knew his Kat. She wouldn’t be against that back wall for long, especially considering Ellie and her assistant choreographer for the day were calling the first group of dancers to the stage. No, she would stand back there, adrenaline pumping with the desire to be in the mix of things. He gave her an hour, tops, before she was on the stage.
He relaxed into his seat, watching Ellie take the dancers through steps. He glanced at the scorecard he and the other judges would use to rank the dancers, then compare them to Ellie’s notes. Those with the top scores at the end of the day would be called back for another audition. Darla wouldn’t need her scorecard. She’d know every dancer and their strengths with incredible exactness.
Ellie was about to dismiss the third group forty-five minutes later, when Kat called out, “Wait! Wait! Ellie, hold on a minute.”
Jason smiled, not even needing to turn around to know she was running down the aisle. “It’s Kat,” Darla said, glancing behind her and then at him, narrowing her gaze. “You knew she was here.”