*****058:

I took the kids to the studio with me and we sat together in the sound room, them being absolutely silent, unlike normal spoiled brat kids who ran all over everywhere like they owned every space they occupied. If I said sit, these kids sat. If I said be quiet, they were. How had I lucked out so much?

Oh. I gave them gum.

Maybe that helped. They each had a whole pack.

And they sat on stools in front of me, as I stood and with earphones on we recorded the new mix for Songs of a Stranger, the one we'd semi-plagiarized from Victorine Alissa. Note: I don't care that she thought it was plagiarized, it was a collaboration, and even though there was a female voice needed for the bridge---- hell--- she wasn't going to be it.

I saw my artist in the foyer even now. Dang, but Tatiana Bekah was gorgeous!

She came inside the room as we were recording and I felt the collective sigh from my guys. My divorced brutha, Ben actually whistled. Tatiana had recorded with us before, and we'd collaborated a few times, but she was a diva, incredibly talented and very popular, one of the biggest-selling solo artists of all-time. Her rich brown hair hung in seductive waves to her waist, tied up in little jeweled braids and ribbons--- not like some fairy chick, but in this hot way only she could pull off. Her eyes and skin were flawless, her outfit a marvel of simplicity, some kind of cream colored quilted stuff, a dress to her thighs, with copper threads woven in. She wore stiletto heels she could have kicked an assassin's eyes out with, and no doubt knew how to use them.

The music stopped, Tatiana usurped all the light in the room and graciously greeted us, aware that she'd interrupted a recording, and not caring. Her smile was benevolent, her eyes on the kids warm and crazy lovely. She had a giant purse attached to her left arm and she reached inside as if she'd planned it her whole life, and brought out a little teeny tiny baggie with a golden charm of a piano for Felicity.

How in the world?

Oh, she'd not known they were going to be here, just that Felicity collected charms. Somebody did their research.

Her scent when she leaned in for my kiss was disruptive--- not flowery, more like cream sherry or cream vanilla. I wanted to lick her. I glanced at Jeff who was close to me, wanting to touch this princess diva, I could tell. I started to take that step to block her from him, and he insinuated himself between me and the stool she leaned against to talk to Felicity, as she put the new charm on the necklace. You'd have thunk she was totally unaware of the admiring men around her--- intent on the little girl who was as captivated as we were. But there was that about Tatiana that was always aware--- of everything.

"You were ready for me, lover?" She smiled up at me, and my heart raced, damn but this girl elicited the response. And I didn't even feel sorry for responding to her. No one did, because you instinctively knew that even with the attention paid to us in the moment, she was way out of every guy's league. Was there an unattached King of an unknown fantasy kingdom somewhere? That guy was her lover already.

"More ready than you'll ever know." I quipped, and my voice broke on a pre-pubescent crack. I had no choice but to clear my throat, as did every guy in the room, feeling for my ineptitude.

She smiled wickedly--- but you'd think it was just a sweet, calm, beneficent smile. From her purse, she pulled out some kind of tablet and handed it to Virgil.

"You like Pokemon?"

I knew he didn't know what it was. We kept screen time to a bare minimum. He nodded, caught in her spell. She gave me a sidelong glance, brows raised in query, I had to shake my head, feeling like an idiot, didn't all kids play video games at six? Weren't they all experts by now?

She turned the tablet to swipe at it and then handed it back to Virgil. "How about this?"

I leaned over. Some kind of race car game. I nodded with my stupid smile in place. Then I clapped my hands together, more to distract myself from the Sorceress's lure. "Let's do this." I knew we only had her for a couple of hours at most.

One thing I can say for Tatiana is that when in the studio, she was completely professional. Very little distracted her. She was here to do a job, and she knew how to do it. I'd seen her plenty of times outside of the studio and found her to be just the opposite--- gracious, relaxed, ready to be flexible, having fun. Not here. Not now. She was all business.

I also knew she was about to strip. Tatiana usually did to record.

An assistant had been brought in for just this purpose. Off came the scarves, the jewelry, the watch, the stilettos, the earrings, everything. She left herself with that same sheath-like cream colored short dress and the leggings, and now stood about five inches shorter, cute and cuddly and far less intimidating.

The kids stared at her, and then at me, and then--- yeah, back at their distraction toys, and the music played in our ears.

Everything else was forgotten.

This, my friends, is also a big part of my life.

*****