Title: Pulse

Author: KE Osborn

Series: The Luminous Rock Series #1

Genre: Rockstar Romance

Release Date: January 17

She makes my pulse race.
From the moment I laid eyes on her in that ridiculous giraffe onesie, I knew this girl would rock my world.
Effa’s the lead singer of the world-famous rock band, Luminous.
And I’m their new lighting tech, Kaden ‘Mercs’ Mercury.
Going on tour with an all-female rock band would be simple you’d think, but these girls aren’t an easy push-over.
All the while things back home are taking a turn for the worse, and I’m losing a battle of my own that might come back to bite me on the ass if I’m not careful. My only distraction from the ensuing chaos – a bubbly blonde lead singer, destined to brighten my life.
But with an all-male backup band, tensions are bound to run high when jealousy flares, and lines are blurred.
She sets my pulse racing, but am I enough to kickstart her heart?

Sweat beads on my brow as I pant and huff from the heavy lifting and packing. But eventually, the space is cleared, and now the room that looked like chaos has an open floor. There’s currently two stacks, one for lighting and equipment, and the other for their costly instruments and amps.

This is how it must be done. This is the breakdown that will happen at the end of every show, and this is how things will be run with me in charge. I hope the Luminous crew is ready for me.

I’m fucking hot. All this exertion has me working up one hell of a sweat. My white shirt is sticking to me uncomfortably, so I figure I’ll just take the fucker off. I pull it up over my head and flop it onto my shoulder. Wiping my brow with my hand, I let out a puff of air as I hear a round of applause from behind me.

I jump, spinning so fast I almost slip over, as I turn toward the back of the stage. There I see a tiny framed woman sitting on the end of the stairs staring at me. If that wasn’t strange enough that she’s appeared out of nowhere, she’s wearing a giraffe onesie—in Phoenix, Arizona, in the middle of a scorching hot July. She continues clapping like she’s excited, and I turn around wondering what she’s clapping at. As I look around us, I don’t see anything particularly exciting. So I stare back in her direction as she smiles at me brightly.

“You did amazing!” she calls out.

“Umm… what?”

She looks over at the equipment I’ve been working hard on, for the last probably three hours, and she smiles again. Her smile is unnerving me. She’s far too pretty and far too old to be wearing a giraffe onesie.

What’s with that?

“All that heavy lifting, and not to mention the sorting… I never would have thought to do that! It’s so… organized. It’s much better than how we were doing it.”

I raise my brow, looking around to see if I’m being Punked or something, but again, no one else is here. So I look back to her. “When you say how we were doing it, you mean…”

She jumps from the stage and walks toward me, the giraffe onesie seems almost too big for her as she saunters forward, her cute button nose wrinkling as she continues to smile that dazzling smile at me. It’s so confusing, she looks like a kid, but the face beneath that childish outfit is all woman. She’s so strange. This woman is peculiar, whoever she is.

“Us… the band.” She waves her hands around. “We’re not a very organized bunch. But you seem to know what you’re doing, and that’s great. You can keep us in line, right?”

“You’re with the band?”

She giggles, the sound husky yet delicate at the same time. My cock twitches and I tense my muscles not liking the strange effect this woman is having on me.

“Sure am. I’m Effa, that’s short for Effervescent… you know like the bubbles that make people happy. I like to be the bright light in people’s lives and lift people up when they’re feeling down. I’m the sparkle, the pizazz if you will,” she chatters on while bringing her hands up to her face and twinkles her fingers like she’s doing those stupid spirit fingers from that movie.

A lump forms in my throat as I look at her not knowing if she’s being serious or not. I’m not sure how to take this little interaction we’re having. But the smile on her face and the calmness in her eyes tells me she’s dead serious.

“Wow! That’s ahh… great?” I reply more like a question, kind of unsure what else to say.

She nods, putting out her hand for me to shake. “Nice to meet you. I’ve heard great things. I’m assuming you’re Kaden? Our new lighting tech?”

I place my hand out to shake. My fingers overlap hers. Taking in her tiny hand, I almost envelop it entirely while warmth shoots up my arm when I take hold of her. Then I shake it, once. My reaction shocks me slightly making my answer to her question delayed, so I look back up at her with a half-smile. “Mercs. Everyone calls me, Mercs.”

She giggles that fucking adorable giggle again, and I take a deep breath as she assesses me, looking at my obvious bare chest. “Mercs.” My name rolls off her tongue as she raises her brow. “Sounds expensive… like a fast car.”

I grin and tilt my head. “Na nothing like that. My last name’s Mercury… nothing fancy.”

Her eyes light up, and she bounces on her toes. “Oh, my! Are you related to Freddy? Please tell me you are! He’s a lyrical genius. A melodic mastermind. A gifted God. Oh praise Gaia, please tell me it’s true?” she asks, grabbing my other hand and gazing desperately into my eyes looking so full of hope.

I almost feel sorry that I’m going to have to disappoint her. Wincing, I shake my head with a grimace. “Sorry, no relation. But I do love Bohemian Rhapsody.”

She gasps. “Oh man, me too! That and A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton. Oh, Gaia, that song gets me every time.”

I let out a bemused laugh. Those songs couldn’t be more polar opposite if they tried. Shaking my head, I look down to see our hands are still joined, and she looks down too and chuckles rubbing her thumbs over my skin. It sends a tingle up my arms.

“Your skin is really smooth for a roadie. Do you moisturize?”

I laugh again. What the hell is with this chick? She’s something else. “Umm… no. Just my natural umm… softness?” The last word comes out in a higher tone, and I’m not even sure it’s what I meant to say.

She tilts her stature and brings my hand up to her cheek, placing my open palm on her face. Her cheek is warm and velvety soft to the touch. Her cheeks are flushed slightly pink against her pale face, which I’m pretty sure has little to no makeup on. Even though, she still looks stunning. I tense up wondering what the hell she’s doing. I look around to see if anyone’s watching, but there’s definitely no one around. I look back and notice her eyes are closed, but she’s smiling wide while holding my hand with hers.

“Umm…” I murmur as she sways from side to side like she’s in some kind of trance.

“Shhh… I’m feeling your energy.”

My muscles tense completely and I swallow hard wondering what the hell kind of world I’ve stepped into.

I’m pretty sure I am being Punked.

Ashton, you can come out now!

“My energy…” I ask and trail off in a hushed tone like somehow I’m going to interrupt her flow.

What the fuck?

“Yes, you have a calm energy. But for some reason, you’re very tense right now. You also have a nervousness about you, like you have a big problem weighing you down.”

I furrow my brows at her detailed, and somehow completely accurate reading of me, and I pull back in shock. My hand dropping from her face as our fingers finally disconnect.

She opens her eyes and looks at me with a weak smile. “It’s okay, I know I’m eerily accurate at these things.”

I step back and take a deep breath. “How can you tell all that from me touching your face?”

She half-smiles, her bright, happy demeanor changing slightly. “I can sense things. I’m in tune with the world and its energy. Some say it’s hippy shit. Some say I have psychic abilities. I don’t really know. I call it my gift. Gaia gave it to me. It helps me sing. Helps me give my gift to the world so I can connect with people… you know?”

I furrow my brows. “Can you read minds and shit?”

She bursts out laughing, so hard she bends over grabbing at her stomach, her giraffe hoodie falling forward over her face, looking actually a little bit cute as she rambles on it a fit of hysteria.

I tilt my stature in annoyance, and as if to sense my annoyance she stands up straight and looks at me, still giggling, but shaking her head and sighing with a long puff of air.

“Oh Mercs, you kill me. No. No one can read minds. That’s parlor tricks. I don’t have ESPN or whatever it’s called.” I bite my lips and try to hide my smile. “I’m just me. Effa. Lead singer of Luminous, and you are our savior. Thank you for fixing us. I can’t wait for you to make our stage shows far more like betterer or… something like that.”

I laugh and nod my head. “Betterer… that I can do.”

“Great! So Luke has sent through all the details of our show to you I’m assuming?”

I nod. “Sure has. Including the set list. I downloaded all the songs and choreographed a lighting show for it based on the live stream of the Cali performance. So it’s similar, just with a few improvements and tweaks. You’ll still have all your lighting cues, they’ll just be better… and, more importantly, on time.”

She smiles wide then lets out a heavy sigh. “I think I’m going to like having you around, Mercs. I like people who are organized, seeing as the roadies are so unorganized. We need people on our team to keep us in line. You might be just the man we need.”

“I’ll do my best, Effa,” I reply and she nods.

Her face takes on a more serious tone than before. “That’s all I ask.”

AMAZON

Australian author K E Osborn was born and raised in Adelaide, South Australia. With a background in graphic design and a flair for all things creative, she felt compelled to write the story brewing in her mind.
Writing gives her life purpose. It makes her feel, laugh, cry, and get completely enveloped with the characters and their story lines. She feels completely at home when writing and wouldn’t consider doing anything else.

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