It was her voice that first captured my attention.

Sultry and powerful one moment.

Angelic and poignant the next.

A voice that belonged to someone who sang with all her heart and soul.

But because the auditions had been done blind, all we knew of her was that she was Voice #24.

The penultimate name on the list in fact.

But the moment we heard her, we all knew.

She was the one we were looking for.

I remember having to excuse myself to take a phone call and rejoining the others when they had already moved to the faculty hall for a celebratory dinner. The panelists had already made their selection, and it was an evening for crew and cast members to get to know each other.

Dean Garrison had called out to me as soon as I arrived. "This is our most promising pupil," the older man had enthusiastically introduced her at that time, and I remembered simply nodding because it was the polite thing to do.

But privately, I was thinking it was all B.S.

The student he had singled out was a tiny blonde thing whose features were neither beautiful nor unattractive. The only thing she had going for her was her admittedly remarkable curves, but countless other women had that, too.

She hadn't any personality, hadn't anything that I found particularly interesting. And that was enough for me to dismiss her except for the dean's last words.

"She's also Voice #24."

What the fuck?

When my gaze had snapped back to her, it was then I had seen the gleam of mischief in her doe-like eyes.

Damn her.

And that was it.

Every time I dropped by to attend rehearsals, everyone assumed it was my way of honoring my late great-grandmother. That the love for arts still ran passionately in my blood. And while it was true that those things did play a role---

They wouldn't have been enough to make me rearrange my entire work schedule just to fit in rehearsals.

As much as I hated admitting it even to myself---

Damn her, damn her, damn her.

She was the reason I kept coming back.

And every damn time I was in the audience---

She would always look straight into my eyes.

Always.

And the moment she started to sing, it was as if the whole damn world had melted away, and she would sing like she was making love to me.

Always.

Seducing me without ever touching me.

Teasing me.