Free Rock Courtship Rock Courtship (Rock Kiss #1.5) by Nalini Singh Page A

about to have their first face-to-face date. It should’ve happened when she returned to New Zealand after her trip to Bali, but her sisters had begged her to stay longer. Since, with the band on vacation, the timing couldn’t have been better, Thea had extended her trip.
    Impatient as he was to see her, David also understood the bonds of family—so he’d sucked it up and ramped up his memo-writing and the phone calls, ready to meet her at LAX when she flew back home. Except she’d never made it to L.A., going directly from Bali to London to deal with a messy situation for another one of her clients. Because while Schoolboy Choir was Thea’s main focus, she’d never dropped the people who’d first given her a shot.
    That situation had dragged on far longer than Thea had expected.
    Then, a massive storm front had disrupted flights across Europe, leaving Thea stuck in London for almost a week longer than she’d intended.
    That was the point where many a man would’ve given up, believing the universe was against their relationship. David saw it another way—the universe was testing him to see how committed he was, how much he wanted this. The answer was simple: Thea was the woman for him. No ifs, buts, or questions.
    He knew.
    Now… now he would find out if she could see him the same way when they were physically together. She responded to his words, his voice, but would she respond to the whole man? His hands shook as he put them on the steering wheel of his car… because tonight, Thea could break his heart all over again. And this time, the wound would be permanent.
    Trying not to think of that possibility, he started the engine. With all the celebrities in attendance at the party tonight, he didn’t think he’d be followed—he was way too boring in tabloid terms, and that was exactly how he liked it. Still, he’d left via the kitchens, having parked the car a block over.
    The drive to the airport was relatively smooth for New York. No yellow cabs made suicidal dashes in front of him, and the flow of traffic was steady. Once there, he zipped a gray hoodie over his shirt, flipping up the hood before he walked inside to wait for Thea’s flight. It landed five minutes after he arrived. His blood turned into a roar under his skin, his heart thumping.
    The wait for her to emerge was excruciating.
    And then there she was. Hair down in a glossy sheet of black that reached partway down her back, she wasn’t wearing one of the neat, professional dresses that skimmed her body. Instead, she had on black jeans that hugged her incredible legs, a simple top in a rich, dark green fabric that looked as if it’d be liquid soft to the touch, and a black belt that buckled over her hips. A sleek black leather jacket and stilettos of glossy black with a red underside completed the look.
    The heels on those shoes were ridiculous and ridiculously sexy.
    Straightening from the wall to head to her, he went to raise his hand to catch her attention when she looked straight at him and smiled. A real smile, one that lit up her eyes. It hit him like a body blow.
    Sucking in a breath, he met her halfway and couldn’t help sliding his hand around her waist to lie on her lower back, his need to touch her voracious. “Hey.”
    T hea had intended to be tough, to not fall into David’s arms like a ripe peach, but God, that smile . Sexy and a little shy and eating her up like she was the most gorgeous woman he’d ever seen. “Hey, yourself.” She surrendered her small roll-on case and attached carry-on to him.
    Neither one of them said anything further. Thea was a whiz with words, but today her throat was dry, her tongue tied up. You’d think after the explicit nature of their memos and phone calls they’d be over nerves, but oh no. It was a whole different ball game now that she was bare inches away from the man who’d given her erotic dreams so hot she’d woken quivering with arousal.
    Leading her to a sleek European sports car, the