Page 198 of Sweet Temptation

“I liked it. But I can’t say I’m your target audience.”

She waved that off. “It’s not a finished song yet. I’m working it into my show when it’s done. I’ve been playing around with some vocals he’s laid down for me. I’m just having fun, composing, and maybe getting the world acclimated to the idea of the two of us working together forevermore. The girls go gaga at my shows when they hear his voice.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s gonna be off the hook when we hit the road with the Players and he walks out onstage.”

“You’re excited about it.”

“Hell, yeah.”

“Will you miss being a DJ and playing solo shows?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? In a way. But everything in me tells me I’m headed in the right direction with my music and my career. It’s visceral, the drive to do this. I can feel it, humming in my bone marrow.”

“Huh,” I said.

“What?”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever wanted anything down to my bone marrow.” I was looking at her when I said that. She held my gaze, and slowly smiled at me.

My heart was beating harder, and it wasn’t the music. My whole body was pumping with warmth.

Her.

I wanted her like that.

“So,” I said. “Is this a good time to admit that I don’t totally understand what you do?”

She laughed. “You always get points for honesty, Ronan.”

“I mean, I thought DJs mostly remixed other people’s songs, and scratched records and stuff.”

“Oh, I do that. At my live shows. I have my own style of remixing, and I like picking songs that people might not expect and giving them the DJ Summer treatment. Live shows are a great place to experiment, try new things. Certain venues are excellent for it. It depends on the crowd and their expectations. And I love pillaging my vinyl collection and finding little gems, sampling music from old, old records, especially the really obscure stuff. But there’s a difference between what I do at a live show where people are expecting hot remixes, and the music I compose myself. I usually work both into my shows, especially when I’m headlining.” She smiled, almost shyly. “I really consider myself a creator. A composer and a producer. Even though I haven’t produced anyone but myself yet. I prefer building a song from the ground up.”

“That’s what you’ll be doing with the Players?”

“Definitely. We’ll be making new and totally original music. All of us together. Ash is really insistent on us not writing for our album until we’re all together in one room. That energy is important to him. And I’m really looking forward to that. Because as a DJ, it’s all about energy. When I’m onstage…” She got this kinda dreamy look in her pale-blue eyes. It was mesmerizing, like the state that came over her when she was onstage.

It was magical, for fuck’s sake.

I’d worked at a lot of live shows over the years, huge rock concerts… but I’d never seen anything quite like Summer Sorensen on a stage.

“There’s this collective energy,” she explained, “between me and the audience. This… euphoria… that takes over. And it can be super fucking intense.”

Yeah, I’d definitely felt that at her shows. Her connection to the audience, and them to her, was obvious.

“You might’ve noticed at my brother’s place… that vibe when everyone was dancing out in the night, under the trees. It’s powerful. It’s tribal. It’s intoxicating.” She shrugged. “I just want everyone to have a good time with me. Most DJs, in my experience, don’t really want to be in the spotlight like rock stars do. It’s not about you, the DJ. It’s not about your ego. My brother and I get into debates about this all the time, but at the end of the day, it’s not about your equipment or even the music. It’s about how happy you can make the crowd. It’s about that communication with the audience, the connection. And I really want to bring that to my shows as a rock musician.”

“I see that at your shows,” I told her. “Actually, I feel it. The way you want people to feel good. Everyone can feel it.”

“Good.”

“So where does that desire come from?” I asked her.

She cocked her head at me. A surprised, curious smile lit up her face. “I don’t think anyone’s ever asked me that before.”

“Maybe because as long as they’re happy, they don’t bother questioning it.”

“But you do.”

“I question everything. It’s my nature. Unfortunately.”

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