Will stood at his door and stared at her for just a few seconds too long, obviously.
"You were expecting a boy, right?"
"Er, yes. I guess." Will stammered but managed to open the door wide enough for her to accept his movement as an invitation to enter.
"No problem." She bustled past him with her guitar case. "Happens all the time, people think a bass player named Jude will be a boy, right?"
"Right." Will agreed, thinking to himself that there was no way Jude could ever be mistaken for a boy once anyone had met her.
"Just don't ever call me Judith. I hate that. Even if it was what my mother wanted."
His eyes followed her into his hallway, feasting on the unexpected arrival's looks. Jude's hair was blonde, didn't look dyed and hung around her shoulders in large waves that drifted away from her face as she moved. Her skin was nicely tanned and her figure, what he could see of it, was nicely proportioned.
"We're down in the basement." He indicated an open door that led down to his studio and then followed her down the stairs.
"Nice set-up." Jude nodded as she looked around the room packed with recording equipment and musical instruments. "Looks like a girl with a bass could have some fun down here."
"I spend half my life down here." Will laughed as he sat at the mixing desk. "When you're ready you can plug in there. I've got you DI'd to the desk then." He pointed to a large amplifier next to a drum kit.
He watched her purposely take off her oversize black denim jacket to reveal a tight white T-shirt that was having a hard time wrapping up her figure. Her jeans were hip huggers and the gap between them and the T-shirt revealed a thin layer of skin with her navel prominently displayed. When she pulled an old brown Fender Jazz bass from her case, Will instantly recognized her as a player rather than a poser. Figuring she was in her early twenties, that guitar was most likely older than she was and would be unrecognizable as a classic instrument by most people her age. So far so good.
Jude plugged in and tuned up with deliberate, sensual movements and it was hard to concentrate on setting up the tapes he needed her to play along with as Will wanted to turn around and soak up more of her looks that he was finding an incredible turn on. By the time she was ready to go he had to cross his legs to disguise his growing bulge.
When Will started the recording of the song for her and Jude spent a few moments listening to the rhythm and the melody of the track. She started playing along without asking what key the song was in and immediately hit a nice groove. Will nodded his approval, she was a player alright.
Jude had heard about Will from lots of local bands who he'd recorded in the past. He was known as a talented musician and the new band he was putting together was tipped for big things. Now she also knew he was cute.
Playing was second nature for her and as her fingers moved skillfully on the fretboard she managed to get a few glances at him while he played with some knobs on the mixing desk and put on a pair of headphones. Will was tall and wore his jeans long so they frayed at the bottom of each leg. He wore a long sleeve shirt and had a really clean look that she liked. His face looked a younger than his twenty-five years and he had the most vivid blue eyes she had ever seen. She also noticed that he was looking at her, a lot. She almost missed a note when she realized there was a growing heat between her legs.
"That was pretty good." Will announced, pulling off his headphones. She had played her way skillfully and imaginatively through several of the songs he wanted the new band to play.
He stood up, walked over to a small refrigerator in one corner of the room and pulled out two beers. He offered one to Jude who was beginning to need a refreshment about then and she took it with a grateful nod.
They discussed her previous experience and the ideas Will had for the new band. Without saying it, he thought she would fit right in. Jude was thinking exactly the same thing and noticing that Will was having trouble keeping his eyes off her body.
Rather than let her leave his evening, Will found an excuse to keep her with him a little longer—suggesting that she play on a song he was working on, for himself, not the band. He cued up the tape, let her hear the track and watched as she concentrated on getting a feel for it. It was a beautiful song, slower and more atmospheric than the other things she'd heard from him, and full of emotion. She asked that he play it again and this time played a soulful bass line over the top. Will watched her as she laid the track, nailing what he was looking for first time.
"That's a beautiful song." Jude's voice had softened a little as she soaked in the emotion of the track while he replayed her work. "Whoever you wrote that for is a very lucky girl."
Will sniffed at the thought. He smirked, "She didn't think that. She walked out because I spent more time down here than I did with her."
"Maybe she should have spent more time down here with you then." Jude smiled as she drank the last of her beer.
For a fleeting moment Will wondered if the beautiful creature in front of him was flirting. He figured he wasn't that lucky, so the thought was easy to dismiss. Jude showed no signs of packing up though as she wandered around the room checking out his equipment before she slumped onto the sofa along the wall from the mixing desk.
"Why'd you leave your last band?" Will asked as he returned to the refrigerator for more bottles.
"The drummer wanted into my pants and I wouldn't let him." she said matter-of-factly. "He was a gorilla, all hair and tattoos. Not exactly my type. He wouldn't let it go, so I left."
Wanting into her pants he could sympathize with. Handing a refill to her and watching her eyes as intensely as he dared, Will asked, "And your type would be..."
