SeduceMe Read Free

studied her closely. He knew better than to fall down
this rabbit hole, but couldn’t seem to stop himself. “Explain to me what you
mean. How can she possibly doubt her self-worth and yet express herself so
eloquently in both literary and musical forms?”
    “I don’t know. Except to say that perhaps they’re channels
for her emotions. Meaning she can pour herself into her music and her writing
and pretend it’s not personal. She does it on a professional level and can
therefore justify she’s simply giving the masses what they want, rather than
admitting she’s revealing anything about herself.”
    He thought of the iTunes tracks he’d purchased and
downloaded when he’d discovered she’d been a musician in her younger years.
“You’re saying she hid behind her violin when she was a child and a teenager
and now she’s hiding behind her computer?”
    “Tragic, isn’t it? For someone so beautiful—and not just
physically—to be so distressed internally.”
    Jane seemed entranced by her encounter with Shana’s soul.
She reached a hand toward the screen and Drake was convinced she had no idea
she’d made the gesture.
    “What is it?” he asked in a low voice, so as to not break
the trance.
    Jane pulled her hand back and pressed two fingertips to her
lips. She stared at the monitor until Shana was admitted into the club and
disappeared from the camera’s view.
    “Oh,” Jane whispered. “That was just…so very odd.”
    “What?” he demanded, eager to hear what else Jane had
discovered about Shana.
    In a compelling tone, she said, “We have to help her.”
    He cocked his head to the side. His gut clenched. There it
was again—trouble looming on the horizon. It was so palpable, he could feel it.
And inescapable, he knew it.
    Still, he hedged. “We do?”
    She nodded. “Yes, yes.” She turned to Drake and wrapped a
slender hand partially around his upper arm. Her tone was back to the
confident, lilting one she’d started with this evening as a smile touched her
lips. “Drake, it’s not just Shana’s photo that caught your attention. It’s not
just her face and her body you’re drawn to. I remember the day you downloaded
several of the compositions from the orchestra she performed with. From the very
first note of her very first solo, you were mesmerized. I don’t even think you
realized how many times you played the haunting pieces, over and over. And then
I found the articles she’d written that you’d printed out. They were scattered
all over your desk. Dozens of them. You connected with her on more than just a
physical level. There’s something about this woman, something inside her that
sort of…calls to you. To me too.”
    His brow jerked up. “She’s human, Jane. That means
off-limits. To both of us.”
    “You don’t understand. Reassurance is what Shana needs, yes.
But not just assurance that she’s attractive—it goes far beyond that,” she said
as she lifted her hand from his arm and waved it in a dismissive way. “She has
no idea how captivating she is, true. Her passionate nature has been channeled
into her career—which is what you respond to and find so stirring. But there’s
so much more within her that needs to be unleashed.”
    Unleashed .
    Now that was a word worthy of raising more red flags than he
could process all at once. Yet damn it all to hell, he was sucked in by how
Jane’s eyes lit with determination and exhilaration. Her grin turned downright
wicked as she stared up at him, coming to whatever conclusion she’d derived
from her brief encounter with Shana’s soul.
    “Drake,” she continued, the twinkle of lust and excitement
returning to her eyes. “May we help her? Please?”
    He groaned. Oh what a loaded question that was.
    As he raked a hand through his hair, he asked, “What exactly
do you propose we do?”
    “Draw Shana from the protective shelter in which she hides.”
    “For reasons we know nothing about, Jane.” They had no idea
why Shana