Rock Kiss 01.5 Rock Courtship(22)

Three weeks later, it was Abe in the principal’s office with Fox, the two of them being grilled about a stunt involving a dead fish hidden in the staffroom. That stroke of genius had landed them the punishment of having to clean out the entire room inch by inch.

“Winning the scholarship was the best thing that ever happened to me,” David said. It had brought him not only to his friends, but to Thea. “Worth all the extra homework I did to take the tests for it.” A teacher had told him he had the brains to ace the tests, and his parents had made sure he had the peace and quiet to study.

“You still funding stuff for your old school?”

“Yeah.” So smart, poor kids wouldn’t have to leave their neighborhood, leave their families, to get an education equal to that of the wealthy.

Funny thing was, it was only when he’d landed in a school with those rich kids that he’d realized how many of them would trade their wealth for a family like his. For a dad who’d once driven for days just so his eldest son wouldn’t have to spend his first birthday away from home, alone. For a mom who religiously sent care packages filled with homemade treats.

Abe went to say something else, but one of their hosts came over right then. David liked Gerald, but he wasn’t in the mood for the other man’s meandering brand of conversation tonight. Catching David’s twitchiness and proving he was a true friend, Abe drew Gerald away with some bullshit story about wanting Gerald’s advice on a possible investment.

David used the opportunity to sneak out without attracting any further attention.

No way in hell was he going to be late to pick up Thea.

Finally, they were 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.