Carolyn stared, watching the muscles in his arms and chest ripple under his black T-shirt as his bow scraped so quickly over the strings of his violin that she expected to see sparks flying and smoke rising. His eyes were closed, his face transported as the music moved through him. She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze from him as he played song after song . . . and then his eyes suddenly opened and met hers. Carolyn felt like someone had jammed an adrenaline shot into her heart. She was sure it skipped a beat when his eyes opened, but when he caught her gaze and didn’t release it, her heart started thumping again, charging ahead at a frightening rate that left her breathless and almost dizzy.

The music ended as abruptly as it had started. At least it seemed that way to her. Surely it hadn’t been an hour and a half already, she thought faintly as the band suddenly began to set their instruments aside and move off the stage.

“Break time,” Genie announced over the microphone and Carolyn blinked. She hadn’t even been aware of the woman leaving the table.

“Weren’t they great?” Genie asked. “They’ll be back in fifteen minutes. I can’t wait. How about you?”

The bar erupted in claps and cheers, but Carolyn’s eyes were still locked with Christian’s as he led the band toward their table. He hadn’t even looked away while setting down his violin, and the intensity of his stare made her feel like a gazelle being stalked by a tiger. What remained of her intelligence pointed out that she was being ridiculous, but her instincts were screeching at her to run. Before she quite knew what she was doing, Carolyn stood, tore her gaze free of Christian’s, mumbled something about the ladies’ room and fled in that general direction at little short of a dead run.

“I told you she’d avoid you,” Gia said as Christian watched Carolyn flee. His instincts were telling him to give chase, run her to ground like a panther with prey. The problem was what to do with her once he caught her. He knew what he wanted to do, but it was entirely inappropriate behavior in a public place.