Sand & Clay Read online

  Sand & Clay:

  Her Stolen Rock Star

  by Sarah Robinson

  http://www.facebook.com/BooksbySarahRobinson

  Copyright © 2013 Sarah Robinson

  All rights reserved. This document may not be reproduced in any way without the expressed written consent of the author. The ideas, characters, and situations presented in this story are strictly fictional and any unintentional likeness to real people or real situations is completely coincidental.

  Dedicated to Justin

  My first book for my first love.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Everyone dreads Mondays and the start of the work week, wishing they could go back to Friday night when the weekend was just unfolding, everyone except Caroline Sanders. For her, Monday morning was a happy event, it meant she got to see her coworkers and actually be productive.

  She enjoyed getting dressed in her business professional wear and traipsing out of her luxurious Central Park West condo heading to work at a famous New York City law firm, where she currently worked as a paralegal.

  Her father had gotten her this job, just like he had also purchased her condo for her. Caroline Sanders couldn’t be more of a country club, high brow young woman if she tried. Her wardrobe consisted of polo t-shirts, pencil skirts, and ridiculously oversized hats. She was raised on the golf course and never had to take care of herself much.

  She was now 24 years old, but her parents paid for everything and Caroline was just fine with that. She had finished law school and was working her way towards becoming a lawyer but had gotten stuck as a paralegal for awhile. She didn’t love her job but she didn’t hate it either.

  Caroline rustled through her closet, trying to decide between four different shades of brown pencil skirts. She finally settled on one and grabbed a blouse to match it. She held them up in front of her body and looked at herself in the floor length mirror, currently wearing only matching nude bra and panties, her typical practical style.

  Caroline had dark brown wavy hair that curled down to her mid back in perfect waves. Her skin was fair but she used tanning sprays to make it a little less of a contrast with her dark hair. She was about 5’5” and 115 lbs in all the right places. People often told her that she had an amazing smile, her sparkling white teeth, bright pink lips, rosy cheeks and hazel eyes were the first things people noticed.

  She hurried to pull on her skirt, blouse, and matching heels, scooped up her purse and keys, and headed out the door for work. She was a woman of routine and schedules and was never late to work. She stepped into the elevator and took it down to the lobby. The doors opened with a pleasant ding and the doorman smiled and greeted her immediately.

  “Ms. Caroline, how are we feeling this morning?” Jeremy, the doorman, asked her as she stepped off the elevator.

  “Just fine, Jeremy, how's the weather?” she responded.

  “It is a little breezy for July, but it is still warm out there! Really brightens up a Monday for you.” he said.

  Caroline laughed and headed out the door as he held it open for her. She stepped onto the grey sidewalk and hopped into the waiting cab the doorman had already called for her.

  “4634 Lexington Avenue, please.” Caroline told the driver.

  He nodded in response and pulled away from the curb. Caroline sat back and melted into the once-black fake leather seats, and drifted off into a daydream. She always dreamed of the same thing when she had time to herself, standing in front of a crowd at her first gallery opening surrounded by beautiful paintings that she had done.

  The crowd was clapping and tossing flowers towards her, praising her artwork and talent. A silly fantasy, maybe. However, Caroline loved to draw and paint and loved to spend her weekends sitting in the park sketching things she saw. It made her feel less alone to create worlds, scenes, and people on her paper that she could just get lost in.

  “Ma’am, we're here. That'll be $15.85.” the cab driver said to her, snapping her out of her daydream. Caroline rustled around in her purse and pulled out a twenty dollar bill, handing it to him through the opening in the plastic partition.

  “Keep the change, thanks!” Caroline told him, as she scooted herself out of the taxi and onto the sidewalk in front of the Java Jolt, her favorite coffee shop that was just down the block from her law office.

  Java Jolt wasn’t a franchise brand but it also wasn’t a hipster joint overrun with kids in baggy hats and skinny jeans, which made it the perfect place for Caroline. She had breakfast here every morning, which mostly consisted of lattes and warm blueberry muffins.

  She pulled open the front door to the shop and the aroma of coffee swirled around her head, bringing a smile to her face. She practically pranced up to the register, greeting the baristas who knew her well by now.

  “Caroline! Have a good weekend?” George, the barista, asked her as he started ringing up her usual order.

  “Same old, same old, George. Just spent some time in the park, the weather was beautiful! What about you?” Caroline asked.

  “The wife and I actually went to that bed and breakfast that you suggested. It was wonderful, so nice to get out of the city for a couple days and just relax.” he told her.

  “That is so wonderful, tell Marcy that I said hi!” Caroline smiled at him as she collected her blueberry muffin.

  She looked around for an open seat to start enjoying her muffin while still waiting for her coffee, but every couch was occupied. She spotted a couch in the corner which just had one man sitting on it. Even though he had spread his things across the open seat, half the couch was open.

  He was clearly a tall man, since his legs were bent to fit between the couch and coffee table. He wore an army type cap that was worn out gray and tipped down over his face, keeping him directly from view. He had wavy brown hair flowing out from beneath the cap, longer than most men would wear their hair, but not long enough to look feminine or hipster. He wore a black v-neck t-shirt partially tucked into faded jeans.

  Caroline walked over to him and put her muffin down on the coffee table.

  “Excuse me? Do you mind moving your things so I can sit here?” she asked him, pointing to his books and papers.

  She noticed that most of it was sheet music and what looked like scratched out lyrics. The mysterious man glanced up at her briefly, then looked back at his papers where he continued to write. Caroline stood there a moment awkwardly, waiting for him to respond but it quickly became apparent that he was clearly ignoring her.

  “Okay, well it looks like you must have some difficulty with moving your arms, so I'll help you out.” Caroline said haughtily as she started picking up his papers and putting them on the coffee table.

  “Hey, hey, lady, don’t touch my things.” he said to her angrily, jumping up from his seat. He grabbed the papers out of her hand and put them down on the coffee table.

  “Jeez, couldn’t you find another place to sit? I like my privacy and I don’t need to be sitting here with some woman and getting my picture on TMZ because of it.” He growled at her.<
br />
  Clearly still angry, he sat back down in his seat, this time leaving enough room for her to comfortably sit down. Caroline stared at him, confused, but then sat down next to him.

  “Well, I don’t know what you're talking about, it’s not like people walk around ending up on TMZ every day. That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?” She said to him.

  “It’s not dramatic, it’s life. Paparazzi are everywhere. I don’t need some scandal right now.” he said, going back to his writing, and trying to give her every nonverbal signal in existence to leave him alone.

  But now he had piqued Caroline’s curiosity. What was he talking about? Was she sitting next to a celebrity? She stared at him for a bit, but couldn’t place his face.

  “Sounds dramatic to me. Am I supposed to know who you are or something?” she asked him.

  He turned to look at her with a very puzzled look on his face.

  “Are you being serious?” He said, staring at her like she had dirt or something gross on her face.

  She pulled back a little bit and then scoffed at him.

  “Of course I'm being serious. Jeez, who do you think you are? God’s gift to the world? I don’t think so, buddy.” She said, turning her face away from him.

  George walked up to Caroline and handed her the latte that she ordered.

  “Thank you, George.” Caroline said smiling at him.

  She noticed George looking nervously over at her couch mate with an excited smile on his face. Then she noticed him whispering with coworkers behind the bar, pointing in the man’s direction. She turned back to her coffee and picked up the newspaper in front of her, scanning the front page.

  “At least you're nice to some people.” The man beside her said, somewhat mumbling under his breath.

  She shot him an angry look but didn’t say anything and went back to reading her paper. The two ignored each other for a while and just went about their business, Caroline reading the newspaper and enjoying her latte and the strange man writing his music. After about fifteen minutes went by, the man abruptly slammed down his paper, took off his cap, and turned his body to completely face Caroline.

  “Do you seriously not know who I am? Have you never heard the name Logan Clay before?” he said to her, determined and slightly irritated.

  She looked up from her paper at him and couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was without the cap covering his face. He had a chiseled jaw line and sparkling blue eyes that seemed to be shimmering even in the dull light of the coffee shop. His skin was the perfect amount of tan under the stubble of his five o’clock shadow.

  She kept her composure though and quickly shook the thoughts of attraction out of her mind. She turned back to her paper, flipping to the next page nonchalantly.

  “Nope. Should I have?” she said, still looking at the paper, although not really reading it.

  “Do you never turn on the radio or read a magazine?”

  He stood up off the couch and walked over to a set of adjourning couches and ruffled through a pile of magazines, found the one he was looking for and pulled it out. He marched back to her and showed her the front cover of the magazine. Sure enough, there he was plastered on the magazine wearing jeans and a button up shirt that was undone and open, exposing a set of amazing abs and tattoos.

  In big letters at the top it said ROCKSTAR LOGAN CLAY ROCKS HOLLYWOOD.

  “Well congratulations to you.” She said and went back to her paper.

  He stood there for a bit longer holding the magazine and then sat down with an angry grunt. He couldn’t understand why this beautiful woman was just ignoring him. Women were always throwing themselves at him. He wasn’t sure if it was because of her indifference or because of her beauty and spunk, but he couldn't deny that he was attracted to her.

  The way she held her newspaper and was purposely avoiding looking at him infuriated him, but it also intrigued him. How is it possible that this woman could be so irritating and so irresistible at the same time?

  Caroline was doing her best not to look at him but she could feel him staring at her now. She didn’t know why she was acting so stand offish to him. He was really handsome and she was definitely attracted to him, but she didn’t like his entitled attitude. That was the one quality in the world that she just couldn’t tolerate, probably because of her own background.

  Caroline didn’t like to think about it or admit it, but she didn’t like living such a privileged and cared for life. She wished she would've rebelled more and picked her own future, rather than following her father’s dream for her to become a lawyer.

  Her mind started to drift back to her love of painting and then she thought of painting him. This man next to her would make a great subject of a painting with his chiseled features and handsome looks.

  She shook her head and quickly removed those thoughts and went back to scanning the newspaper and enjoying her latte.

  Realizing she was still trying to ignore him, Logan decided to leave. He just could not stand sitting next to her another moment. He was beyond irritated and confused, and felt slightly rejected. He gathered up his music sheets and notes and headed up to the counter to order a coffee to go.

  Caroline glanced up as he started to leave and couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret in her stomach, as if she had just missed out on a potentially great opportunity. To be honest she had heard of Logan Clay before and recognized him once he showed her the magazine, but was too stubborn to admit that to him.

  Caroline put down the newspaper and sighed, Logan had already left the store. She took the remaining sips of her latte and stood up. As she did so, George the barista, rushed over to her.

  “Caroline! You will not believe what just happened! Do you know who you were sitting next to?” George said excitedly. He suddenly looked like a star-crazed fan with his wide smile.

  “Yes, Logan Clay. What about him?” she responded to George.

  “He was completely interested in you! You were sitting next to him for like half an hour, and I saw you guys chatting. Are you going to go out with him?” George asked excitedly.

  “What? Of course not, plus he wasn't interested in me at all. He was a little full of himself, if you want my opinion.” she said, brushing her hair over her shoulder.

  “Oh, really? Well then why did he tell me to give these to you?” George said as he pulled three tickets out of his apron pocket and spread them open in front of her face.

  “Concert tickets? For this weekend’s show, front row at Madison Square Garden? I heard that those shows were all sold out.” Caroline said, astonished as she looked at the tickets.

  She secretly was excited and wanted to go, after all she did love music and loved concerts, especially free ones.

  “Not just concert tickets, Caroline, THREE concert tickets. You know what that means, he definitely likes you.” George grinned at her, practically jumping up and down like a young child.

  Caroline couldn’t help but laugh at his behavior and his presumption, there was no way that Logan wanted anything to do with her after their little hostile encounter today. Although, he did leave tickets for her….

  “How do you get that from the number of tickets he left, George?”

  “Isn’t is obvious? He didn’t leave you one, because then you wouldn’t want to go. He didn’t leave you two because he doesn’t want you bringing a date and he didn’t leave you more than three because he doesn’t want you to get lost in some group where he won’t get the chance to see you. I can pretty much guarantee you that you will get to go backstage." George told her.

  “That’s just ridiculous, George. You are reading way too much into this.” Caroline laughed as he shrugged his shoulders and handed her the tickets. She took them and tucked them into her purse and then waltzed out the shop door and headed down the block to her office.

  Chapter Two

  She couldn’t help thinking about Logan the entire day at work, was George right? Was she really interested in a guy that seemed
so full of himself though? She always thought of herself as a girl of standards, but here she was feeling butterflies in her stomach for someone who was known to be a notorious ladies man and womanizer.

  He was always all over the tabloids hanging over some model or floozy woman. She had always pictured herself with another lawyer, or a doctor, or someone with a job that actually took education and skill and didn’t involve sweating on a stage while strutting back and forth.

  Her parents had a great marriage, her father was a doctor and her mother was a nurse and they've been married happily for 30 years. They enjoy their house on the beach in the Hamptons where there biggest worry is weeds in the rose garden.

  She had just automatically assumed that she would end up the same way with the same type of life and same type of practical man as her father. And yet, here was another path that suddenly opened up to her that she had never thought of before.

  Caroline sighed and rifled through the papers on her desk. Caroline knew she had to get back to work and stop drifting off into her head, so she decided to push away all thoughts of Logan for the rest of the day and just concentrate on her projects.

  ~**~

  About six hours later, Caroline trudged through her front door, dropped her purse on the floor, and tossed her keys on a nearby table. She collapsed on the couch and just laid there. Work had been exhausting, lots of running around for the senior partners and busy deadlines that just seemed impossible to meet.

  She glanced over at her phone that was dangling precariously out of her purse by the front door where she had dropped it. She scooted to the end of the couch and reached out to try and get it, nearly falling off the couch.

  It would have taken a lot less energy to just stand up and go get it, but Caroline was stubborn and didn’t want to get up. Her father had always joked that she was so stubborn that once her mind was made up, nothing in the world could budge her.

  She turned her phone on and flicked through her list of contacts, finding her friend Aralia’s phone number. She clicked the number and the phone began to ring.