Lilah slapped Aidan's arse as he took a bow after the song had ended, which made the audience cheer loudly.

"Isn't he just precious?" She laughed and hugged him. "Don't you think he needs to be up here with me more often?"

Applauding and cheers rang out from the audience one again. 

Aidan smiled, his eyes darting toward one special table in the room. He could sense Alicia's unease, the way she shifted in her seat, the tension in her body, the way she fidgeted with the bowl of nuts and the way she avoided looking up at the stage. The woman had him under her spell like no other had before. 

He covered the microphone with his hand and leant in close to Lilah. "I need a favour. I need to borrow the stage for a few minutes."

"Oh." She looked surprised, but her usual nonchalant attitude returned almost immediately. "Do you have a Valentine, Aidan O'Shea?"

"Maybe." He winked.

"Okay. We'll take a break. Drinks on the house?" she asked.

He laughed.

♥ ♥ ♥

"I would like to beg your indulgence..." Aidan's voice stroked Alicia like an ethereal hand stroking a troubled soul. "There is someone special here tonight, so I would like to perform a song I wrote a long time ago..." He looked out across the room.

Alicia felt as if he was staring directly at her, but it must have been her imagination. She was sure that he was about to serenade the beautiful singer who had just taken a seat at the bar.

The room had fallen silent. He lifted his guitar and strummed, eyes closed as he wove the most wistfully beautiful tapestry of sound she had ever heard. What a lucky girl Lilah was to be the one who inspired such soul-searing music.

♪The skies up above were tainted with lies,

The gloom smothering me, beating me down.

Want to get back up,

Lift my face from its shroud,

But my heart's wrapped in stone,

And it's weighing me down.

It's weighing me down.

Stone heart weighing me down, stone heart...♫

Alicia felt a knot of emotions listening to him, the story about his lost love flashing through her mind again. Every ounce of his pain came through clearly as he sang. 

♪Searching for something I lost along the way,

Searching for something that never was mine,

Searching for something that's nowhere to be found,

Nowhere to be found...♫

He jumped off the stage, the audience clearing a path as he made his way toward the centre of the room. He played his guitar expertly, his words chipping away at her heart, his voice dripping with the rawness of his pain.

♪Every night is another night in a strange bed,

'Cause I'm never alone, don't mean I'm not lonely.

Another warm body,

Another cold soul,

Thoughts trapped inside,

As I dream with a broken heart,

Trying to melt a heart frozen in stone,

A heart frozen in stone, stone heart...♫

Why did it still feel like he was looking at her? Alicia was certain that every woman in the bar was feeling the same way, that was how good this man was at drawing you in with his voice.  

♪Searching for something I lost along the way,

Searching for something that never was mine,

Searching for something that's nowhere to be found,

Until she found me...♫

He looked up as he sang the last line, and Alicia felt the soft sounds filling the room with a magical air of romance, the huskiness of his voice stirring something long forgotten inside her.

"That's what I wrote a long long time ago, but tonight..." He laughed, speaking to the pregnant crowd, but to Alicia, it felt like he was talking directly at her. "Tonight a different song has taken hold of my heart, a song that's still writing itself." She wasn't sure if she'd imagined it, but his voice seemed to tremble slightly, his eyes darkened by an emotion she could not define.

♪Night I first saw her; I was blessed by the heavens above.

The look in her eyes reminding me how to love,

Memories we're still to make invading my head,

Awakening something inside of me long since dead,

The final note to an unfinished song,

Final touch to an unfinished song...♫

"Does anyone even write rhyming songs anymore?" Veronica laughed. "Sounds like a twelve-year-old's Valentine's Day card to his first love."

"Well, I would say that she's a very special girl. No guy would make this big a fool of himself for just any girl." Jacques looked at Alicia.

He was passing the bar area where Lilah sat. Alicia glanced in that direction and noticed the slight frown on the beautiful star's face. He was coming toward their table. Oh my God! He was looking directly at her. He was singing directly to her.

♪Mesmerised by the way that she smiles

Heart beating like I've been running for miles

You're a precious gift

I'm no longer adrift

The final note to an unfinished song,

Final touch to an unfinished song...♫

"That first part was really good, but this bit is a serious contender for the worst song I've ever heard," Jacques said, his expression one of amusement.

Sounds of laughter and giggling ran through the crowd as he paused while trying to rhyme the last words of every line. Somewhere in the room, someone was booing, another moaning about it being an anti-anti-Valentine's song.

♪Searching for something I lost along the way,

Searching for something that never was mine,

Searching for something that's nowhere to be found,

But now I've found you...♫

He was, by then, standing in front of their table, gently strumming the guitar, his head slowly lifting to meet her gaze. Alicia felt woozy, her fingers gripping Jacques' hand fiercely as his words spoke directly to her soul. There was no mistake this time; he was singing for her. He was singing to her. Her face was suffused with heat; the room seemed to have grown unbearably hot.

She had a vague awareness of Jacques trying to pry his trapped hand from hers as Aidan put the guitar down and took her free hand. She was rising from her seat, but it all felt like a dream – maybe she was drunk and passed out and this really was all a dream.

♪You melted a frozen heart,

You nourished a parched soul,

No more running in circles,

Now that I've found you,

Now that I've found you,

Now that I've found you...♫

He sang softer with each new line until only she could hear him.