Page 28 of Her Rock Star's Dark Secret

“It will take me about two minutes. That’s not even a hard thing.”

“Here I was hoping Mrs. Wheaton loved my salon and told her friends.” She shook her head. “Thank you, Chase.” She put her hand over his, and they sat there for a moment, their eyes meeting.

His heart sped up as he gazed deeply into her beautiful blue eyes. “You really are a beautiful woman, Lauren. You’re a rare woman.”

Her lips parted, and her eyes shone as she looked back at him.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

His heart swelled powerfully in his chest at that moment, and it surprised him. What was that? He pulled his hand away. This was moving too fast. Too serious, too soon. And the feeling he’d just felt toward Lauren was much too strong.

He didn’t do relationships. He’d seen the way his parents had fought. His dad had mistreated his mother his entire life. Chase didn’t want to end up like them, stuck in a marriage full of bickering. And he had the added stress of his career in the music industry. He’d decided years ago that a relationship just wasn’t in the cards for him, and he’d made peace with that.

But this pull he felt toward Lauren. It scared him. He would have to be careful around her in the future. He had to avoid touching her. It did funny things to him in the pit of his stomach.

“We should get busy,” Lauren said, a blush creeping across her cheeks. “On the memorial, I mean.”

“I knew what you meant,” Chase said. “And I agree. I can fill you in on what we have planned so far.” He pulled out his phone and pulled up his notes app.

He breathed a sigh of relief. He’d had a close call with Lauren tonight, and he would make sure it never happened again.

Because he wasn’t sure, his heart would be able to resist her if he ever felt a pull like that toward her again. He just couldn’t go there.

Chapter 9

Frustration swirled through Lauren, and she had to take a deep breath to keep from lashing out at Chase. He had completely hijacked her memorial, turning it into a huge party. She’d wanted it to be small and simple, and somehow, she’d let him talk her into the charity ball instead of a church memorial.

Big parties reminded her of her ex and how he was partying it up instead of being a father to his child. It infuriated her. Penny needed a responsible, loving father and what she got instead was a thoughtless, absent parent. Penny didn’t even remember her dad. Lauren had a hard time forgiving him when she was up late with a sick child with no one there to help her.

Chase was better at giving Penny attention, and he was practically a stranger to Penny. But she seemed drawn to him from the very moment she’d laid eyes on Chase. Lauren could see the draw. Chase was a beautiful man in every sense of the word. He was funny and charming and kind. And he was amazingly good looking. Completely swoon-worthy.

She saw now that she’d been wrong about him. She’d hated him in high school because he seemed like he had it made. Nice car, rich parents. And then he went to California and made it big in the music industry. Everything he touched turned to gold. And everything Lauren touched turned to ash as if her life were cursed. She was sick of struggling and barely scraping by. She couldn’t imagine how easy life must be for Chase. He never had to worry if he’d have enough money to pay a bill. He didn’t have an angry ex destroying his life or the life of his child.

He got to live it up and party and sing for a living. How nice would that be? Lauren wanted to hate him for it, but she was starting to feel that hate sliding away. Because he was a decent human being. Or at least he appeared to be. But she still couldn’t be sure. She’d been sucked in by Brandon when they’d first met. He was kind and funny and seemed like he wanted to help others. He was also a master at putting on a mask of being a nice guy. Behind the scenes, he’d been physically and verbally abusive to her, and then the cheating began.

That marriage had been the worst nightmare of her life. She’d never felt so degraded as a human being, as a woman and a mother. Brandon was everything despicable and selfish to the core. But no one seemed to notice it. They’d crowned him homecoming king in high school, and he was well-loved. She never saw it coming. It was terrifying to think about how many people were wearing masks around her. She thought about it all the time, especially when she tried to go out or go on one of Alexis’s blind dates. She knew Alexis meant well, but she was still leery of men.

“What’s wrong, Lauren?” Chase’s voice caught her from her reverie.

She shook off the negative thoughts. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”

“You had a dark look on your face.”

“I’m sorry,” Lauren said. “I’m just a little overwhelmed with all these new plans you’re laying out. I’d wanted something a bit quieter. I thought I’d made that clear, but I guess not.”

“I understand. But if I sing, we can charge for the tickets, and we’ll be able to get people from all over the state to come to this thing. That will make up for the fact that it’s last minute.”

“We won’t be able to have it too big, of course,” Lauren said.

“We’re meeting with Aubrey Wheaton tomorrow morning to check out the venue.”

“We?” Lauren asked.

“You’re welcome to come with us. My manager just flew in tonight to help us prepare for this thing. His name is Aaron. You’re going to love him.”

“I feel like this is turning into a big production.”

“What’s the concern with that?”

---