Ballad (Rockstar #5) Read Free

healthy. Now, well, now I’m sick even when I’m not sick.
    “This is gorgeous on you,” Spenser tells me and I smirk at his enthusiasm.
    The dressing room door flies open and in walks a tall cool drink of water. Long, dark hair framing an angular and spectacular face. And those eyes. I can’t see what color they are from here, but they pierce and look through a person right down to the very soul. I’m not sure I like that. Especially from someone I don’t know—and someone who looks as dangerous as this man.
    “Knock much?” I snark.
    “Nope,” is his only reply as he makes his way to the chair next to mine. Spenser gets all atwitter as dark and delicious walks with total control and masculinity in his ripped jeans, combat boots, t-shirt, and leather jacket.
    “Who are you?” I ask as he takes a seat next to mine.
    He smirks. “There are just enough people out there who have no clue who I am to keep me humble.”
    Spenser rolls his eyes and tsks. “You, Lucian Cordero, do not have a single humble bone in your body.”
    “Sure I do, only one, but it’s the one I’m not letting you touch.”
    Spenser snorts. “That’s the least humble of them all.”
    Holy Hannah. That’s Lucian Cordero. Lucian Cordero of Burners. Lucian Cordero lead singer of Burners. Oh, but he’s pretty. And the eyes I couldn’t see before? The color of ice. A massive contradiction to his warm laugh and welcoming smile. When his gaze lands on me, it slowly runs down the length of my satin robe-covered body and I’m acutely aware that I’m naked—very, very naked beneath the lustrous material. Then those eyes that see too much move in that snail’s pace back up my body and I straighten my spine.
    His gaze meets mine and I lift a brow.
    “We haven’t met,” he tells me with a frown.
    “No, we haven’t,” I reply and Spenser smirks.
    “I’m Lucian.”
    I look him over in the mirror. Pretty is an understatement. He’s devastating—and I’m sure that applies to him in more ways than one.
    “Coley.”
    He tilts his head, trying to figure out who I am. I know the second it registers. Surprise, appreciation, sympathy, and more appreciation are apparent in his perusal. Such expressive eyes. I bet he hates that.
    “The Blush Baby,” he announces, this time smiling a smile that can’t be mistaken for anything other than genuine.
    “That’s me,” I tell him with the first sincere smile I’ve felt in days.
    “Lucy knows her stuff.”
    “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
    “You should. Yes, you definitely should,” he answers, running his tongue along his bottom lip.
    Holy Hannah. Yep. Devastating seems to be an understatement for the description of Lucian Cordero.
    “Back off, Lucian. Coley’s a nice girl and you—are anything but,” Spenser warns.
    “Of course I’m not a nice girl. And baby has nothing to fear from me,” Lucian declares straight-faced.
    “Sure,” I say. “I know who you are and I know where you’ve been.”
    “That’s handy because I know who you are and where you’ve been,” he retorts.
    I watch in the mirror as all color drains from my face and I close my eyes. How? How can he know?
    “Hey, whoa there,” Lucian soothes. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
    I meet his gaze in the mirror and he reaches out and gently urges me to turn my head with the pressure of one finger against my chin. Such self-restraint, Coley. I roll my eyes at myself. Go on and turn your chin like a fawning fangirl.
    I look into those ice blue eyes—so complex. Light blues melded into grays with flecks of deeper blue within.
    “Baby, I didn’t mean to upset you. I just meant that I’ve read about the Blush Baby campaign and your history as well as Jake’s,” he tells me, leaning forward so his eyes are level with mine, closing the space between us.
    I press my lips together—and my thighs. Seriously, this guy is hot and I’m not immune.
    “Okay?” he asks.
    I nod slightly.
    “We’ve all got