third “husband,” had moved to Nashville from Mississippi with high expectations of becoming a songwriter or entertainer. He had taught himself to play the piano and guitar at a young age, and by the time he was in his teens, had mastered both.
Though he was boyishly good looking and had an infectious personality with a sparkling, white-toothed grin, after six struggling years that bordered sometimes on starvation, he had not made his mark in the music business to the degree he had envisioned. He had only recently had several of his songs accepted by a well-known publisher/producer who assured him he could get him some cuts. Word was finally getting out to those in the know in Nashville that he was one of the best guitar pickers around, which was opening the door to play for various entertainers’ recordings.
To keep himself available for those calls, Luke had taken a temporary job in a bookstore, where the owner, a real music lover with empathy for struggling artists, was aware and agreeable that he might have to take time off occasionally when he was called to fill in on studio gigs.
But before that fortuitous happening, Luke had become completely dejected and was seriously considering returning to Mississippi the day he met Lee and Harm.
Nearly a permanent fixture at the local bookstore where he would later work, Luke was an avid reader with secret aspirations not only to conquer the music world, but one day become an author himself.
The day they met, Luke was so engrossed in his selection that he literally ran into Lee, which was—as he would laughingly recall later—like running into a brick wall.
It was a meeting that not only changed his mind about leaving Nashville, but changed his life forever.
Six feet tall and wiry, Luke was pleasantly muscled, keeping his body in shape with strenuous runs and exercise. He wore his lustrous brown hair long enough to secure it in a ponytail. His eyes were as unique as Kayla’s in a different way, but just as compelling. They were an unusually opaque gray and, once focused on you, seemed to hold you spellbound with their animal-like, hypnotic intensity. And when in the throes of orgasmic climax, they fascinated Kayla by the way they took on a steely, cutting-edge hue.
Luke was a nonconformist and free spirit, traits Lee and Harm had felt drawn to the day they met him in the bookstore after introducing themselves and carrying on a prolonged conversation.
Knowing Kayla’s penchant for good books, Lee and Harm had gone there in search of a particular volume she had expressed a desire to read. They intended to present it to her on her forthcoming thirty-fifth birthday as an added surprise to go along with the cake and their personal written pledges of whole-body massages, complete with whatever submissively sensual pleasuring was her choice from each of them for another year.
The conversation among the men had progressed, and over the next few weeks, either Harm or Lee had continued to visit the bookstore. Soon the three men struck up a friendship. Finally, satisfied as to their similar philosophies and personal preferences, they invited Luke back to their home for a meeting with Kayla.
That meeting went just as they thought it might, with Luke’s reaction to the proposition placed before him almost predictably enthusiastic.
He and Kayla hit it off immediately. It was obvious that not only were they compatible, but sparks seemed to fly between them.
When Kayla asked if he would like to become her next partner, Luke’s answer was a resounding kiss, followed by a laugh and a promise to immortalize the moment in song. He never left.
* * *
As Kayla dropped her bathrobe languidly, Luke’s grey eyes heated up.
God, she’s beautiful. Toned, tanned, and sexy as hell.
For a moment, Luke’s mind went blank as a surge of lust went through him. With an effort, he reigned in his raging hormones and picked up his guitar.
“The song I’ve written about you,