Page 48 of Tripped By Love
“This place is pretty cool,” he said.
I nodded. It was pretty amazing, just likethe woman in the kitchen. I caught glimpses of her through the serving window in her normal whirlwind of action mode. But the hints of her weren’t enough. My body was aching to see all of her…to see if she’d taste the same if I crushed my lips to hers again.
A girl drifted down the stairs from the second floor where the interconnecting door joined the restaurant to Brady’s studio, allowing the artists to come to the restaurant without being assaulted by news crews and rabid fans.The woman was tiny and had black hair streaked with bright-blue highlights fanning around her face, hiding it. Even without seeing her clearly, I knew who she was?the youngest member of The Painted Daisies and the shyest, if you believed the media hype.
Willow met her at the base of the stairs, a to-go tray and a bag in her hands that passed from one to the other. Jonas’s eyes journeyed in the same direction as mine, and he gasped as Paisley lifted her head to reveal the tiny, star-shaped birthmark near her left eye that gave her away to the world.
“Holy shit!” he said. It was loud enough to draw the eyes of the couple in the next booth but not loud enough to stretch across the place to the stairs.
My heart picked up pace, adrenaline kicking in as I prepared myself to fight off the crowd if my brother’s reaction sent people flooding in her direction.
“That’s Paisley Kim. Holy fucking hell…” Jonas was almost hyperventilating.
“They’re recording a new album at Brady’s,” I told him quietly as I watched the customers in the café for their reaction. Jonas’s hands shook as he picked up the empty coffee cup on the table and tried to drink from it. “Am I going to be able to take you in there without you losing your shit?”
I was only half-teasing. I couldn’t take him into the studio if he was going to fawn all over them and interrupt their session. My words brought Jonas back to reality and me. He brushed his hand through his brown hair that still needed a cut.
“Yes. Yeah…I’ll get it together. But fuck! It’s really her.”
“Maliyah would be pulling you to the bathroom by the ear to wash your mouth out if she heard all the swear words you just dropped.”
Paisley had disappeared up the stairs, and my brother’s eyes were still stuck at the top where she’d disappeared into the studio. Willow dropped off our coffees in the to-go cups she knew I wanted and our meals all at the same time. She looked at Jo-Jo’s stunned expression and gave a light laugh.
“I take it he saw our latest guest?” she teased.
I nodded.
“She’s so quiet when you talk to her you’d think she could never sing a note—and especially not in front of an audience of thousands,” Willow said.
“She’s shy,” Jonas defended her, which was sweet and comical all at the same time.
“You don’t say,” Willow offered back. She winked at me and headed over to the next table to ask if they needed anything else.
I shoved Jonas on the shoulder. “Eat, so we can go.”
“Eat. Right. Food.”
It did very little to ease my concern about him keeping it together when we went next door.
After a few minutes, Jonas asked in a much calmer voice, “You know she writes all their lyrics, right?”
I shrugged. I didn’t. It wasn’t my job to keep track of the band in that way. I knew which members caused the biggest ruckus and had the most rabid fans. I knew which one needed two bodyguards and which one barely needed one.
“She’s got the strongest voice too, even though the critics are always praising Palak’s smoothness or Fiadh’s brogue,” Jonas went on.
I’d finished the potato-and-onion omelet that Cassidy had perfected and enhanced with a spice I could never quite place and sat back to take in Jonas. He continued to ramble about the band, their strengths, and their weaknesses between bites. I was impressed by how much he knew. Hope eased through my chest that being in the studio today might help him forget?at least for a while?Mel and her problems back in Austin.
I flagged Willow down for the check.
“She says you know better than to ask to pay,” Willow said with another saucy wink.
I groaned. I hated that Cassidy always covered my meals. It was the reason I didn’t eat here as much as I wanted to and also the reason I always ended up tipping as much as the bill.
When I slid out of the booth, I headed for the stairs with Jonas trailing me.
“Wait here. I’m just going to duck in and say thanks,” I told him, inclining my head toward the swinging door to the kitchen.
I pushed my way inside and was hit with the sounds and heat of the space as the grill sizzled and Cliff chopped so fast his hands were a blur. Cassidy was at the large, free-standing mixer in the corner. She had a white apron layered over her T-shirt and a pair of black pants she rarely wore. I was certain Cassidy’s wardrobe had more skirts than any other woman on the planet.
