Rock Me: Sexy (New Adult Rockstar Romance) (New Adult Rock Star Erotic Romance) (23 page)

Hugo chuckled. “This isn’t a pissing
match. I’m protecting her.”

“From me?”

Hugo nodded. “Yes.”

Tyler lashed out angrily. “I’ve never
done anything to hurt Katie.”

Hugo’s hand slammed down on the desk. “Oh
no? You’re the one that made her flush her career down the toilet. She
sacrificed her whole bloody career for you… And I highly doubt you were worth
it.”

His angry accusation swam in Tyler’s
head. Nothing made sense. “What happened?”

Hugo regained his composure. “She doesn’t
want you to know.”

Tyler was going to keep digging until he
got some answers.
And this man knew them.
“Is it about the video? Of
Cassie and me?”

Hugo raised an eyebrow in surprise, but
said nothing.

Tyler pressed him. “So you know about
that?”

“Obviously you do, too. You were never
supposed to. What do you know about it?” Hugo stood up and faced the window
overlooking the city.

The cat and mouse game was getting old,
but Tyler played along. “I know that Katie set me up for her own gain. I don’t
call that much of a career sacrifice.”

Hugo shook his head. “Hmmm. You think you
know things. But you don’t.”

Tyler jumped up from his chair. He was
tired of the cryptic remarks. “What don’t I know?”

Hugo turned to him. “She loves you.”

Tyler couldn’t believe it. This asshole
was playing him for a fool. “If she loved me so much, then why did she betray
me?”

“She didn’t betray you. She saved you.” He
spoke with the authority of fact behind his statement.

Tyler kicked at the chair in frustration.
“I need to know the truth. Things aren’t adding up. Nothing makes sense. My
life is shit right now and I want to know why.”

Hugo calmly gazed out the window. “Did
the tape air? Did it hurt you at all?”

“No.”

Hugo shrugged. “Forget about it then.
It’s over. You’ve got the world dancing at your feet right now, Tyler. How is
your life so shitty?”

He couldn’t just forget it. He was
miserable. “Because she ran away from me.”

It just slipped out. He had only realized
it fully when he said it. He was miserable because she was gone. Not because of
the tape or anything else.

Hugo sighed. “Do you still love her?”

Tyler’s heart was pounding in his chest;
his palms were sweaty. Panic ripped through him. He couldn’t move. Couldn’t
think.
What was happening to him?

“Yes.”

The clarity of truth suddenly came
crashing down on him like the weight of a thousand bricks.
He was in love
with Katie.

I was scared to be back on my old turf.
New York City, a city I loved, felt like enemy territory. Hugo had forced me to
return. He said that I couldn’t hide out forever, cowering in fear of Thornton.
He argued that I had made Rock Star Diaries the huge phenomena that it was and that
Thornton could never take that away from me.

I had rustled up no prospects on my own,
so when Hugo said he might have a job opportunity for me, I had no chance but
to see what it was. Hugo assured me that it was legitimate; he had pulled some
strings. He said that power wasn’t worth having unless you wielded it every
once in awhile.

Hugo had asked me to come to Blackstone
where he had set up a meeting with my prospective employer. When I arrived, I
was surprised to see him waiting for me in Blackstone’s reception area.

“Kaitlyn, you look stunning as usual.”
Hugo kissed my cheek.

I frowned slightly. “Hugo. Are you sure
this is okay? These people know about Thornton’s vendetta against me? And
they’re still interested in hiring me?”

Hugo smiled encouragingly. “You’re a
tremendous talent. Don’t forget that. Hold your head up high.”

I rolled my eyes at the pep talk. “I’m a
little nervous about this. Can you blame me? Look what happened the last time I
let you talk me into a mysterious meeting.”

Hugo winced. “Do you regret doing Rock
Star Diaries?”

“No.” I answered with certainty.

Hugo put his hand on my back and started
walking me towards his office. “Then you won’t regret this. Kaitlyn, you know
I’d only do the best for you, darling. I hope I haven’t made a big mistake.”

Mistake wasn’t a word I wanted to hear
from Hugo, but I didn’t have any time to digest the remark because he had
opened his office door. I stopped breathing for a moment and blinked my eyes.
Tyler was standing in Hugo’s office.
My rock star
. He was looking so
breathtakingly sexy that it hurt.

“Tyler.” His name caught in my throat; it
sounded like a breathy whisper.

I had stopped still in my tracks, not
daring to take another step, until I saw Tyler’s gorgeous smile.

“I’ve missed you, Katie.”

It was all I needed to hear. I launched
myself into his arms, my heart pumping excitedly. “What are you doing here?”

Tyler wrapped his arms around my waist
and pulled me into him. “I’m here to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

I knew I was smiling like a crazy person,
but I couldn’t help it. “I accept. Whatever it is.”

Tyler laughed. “You’re too impulsive for
your own good. How am I going to keep you out of trouble?”

I began to protest, but he cut me off. Before
I could even blink, he had captured my lips in a kiss. I kissed him back with
hungry abandon, missing the taste of him, missing the feel of his hard body
against mine, just missing everything about him. And I had almost forgotten how
thoroughly he devastated my senses. Every nerve ending was tingling erotically.

Tyler pulled away. “Katie, stop
distracting me. We have to talk.”

“No.” I was still caught up in the heady
sensation of his kiss. I never wanted it to stop. “We can talk later.”

“C’mon. Let’s sit down.” Tyler pulled me
over to a chair and then pulled me onto his lap. “We need to talk now.”

I twisted in his lap until I could see
his face. “I thought you hated girly talk?”

Tyler grimaced. “If we had talked before,
we could have avoided all this confusion.”

“What confusion?” I was following along
with the conversation, but I was severely distracted by Tyler’s warm body being
so close to mine.

Tyler seemed to tense up slightly. “I
found out what happened, Katie. What you did for me.”

Suddenly, I was on alert. What did Tyler
know? “What do you mean?”

“Jesus. The night you left. I wanted to
talk to you, so I followed you to your hotel and managed to get a key to your
room. I saw the damned video of me and Cassie. And I thought that you had done
that to me. That you were going to use it on the show. I was so…hurt. I felt
like you betrayed our friendship.”

I felt nauseous. Tyler was never supposed
to have seen that tape. “Tyler! No. I promise you. I didn’t –”

Tyler stopped me. “Shh. It’s okay. I
know. I know you had nothing to do with setting me up. And Hugo told me how you
risked your whole career to erase everything. I just went berserk when I saw
it. I just assumed the worst. I’m sorry.”

I shook my head, tears threatening to
spill. “No. God, no. I never wanted you to see that tape. Cassie came to us
that day. She wanted to confront you about the baby on the show and Michael was
determined to do it. I told them both no fucking way, but Michael was furious.
I should’ve known he might go behind my back, but I was shaken up by the baby
news. I took off, I dunno, to think and be by myself. When I came back, it was
already done. And Thornton was on the war-path, insisting that I use the
material. It was a nightmare.”

Tyler rubbed wearily at his face. “Jesus,
Katie. You should have told me. I never would have let you give up everything
for me.”

How could I explain it to Tyler? “I know
that. After Thornton threatened me, I just reacted. I destroyed the tapes and
then I was so scared. And the whole baby thing on top of it. I just bolted. I
didn’t want you to feel guilty about any of it. I chose to do it, Tyler, fully
knowing the consequences. And I’d do it again.”

“Katie, if you’d just told me, we
could’ve dealt with it together. It was only the mistaken thought that you had
done this to me that crushed me. If I had known the truth from the start, even
if it had aired, I would have dealt with it. And you wouldn’t have lost
everything.”

I jutted out my chin stubbornly. “I would
never allow it to air. Not on
my
show. No way.”

Tyler pulled me against him and tucked me
in his arms. “Well, I’m hoping I can make it all back up to you. I really do
have a job offer for you.”

I sat up, my eyes filled with amusement.
“Oh boy. I can’t wait to hear this one.”

Tyler laughed. “No, I’m serious. The band
has decided to re-sign for another season of Rock Star Diaries. The guys waited
and put it off so long that we kept getting offered more and more money. Then
Scott got a real hotshot guy in to renegotiate all our contracts. The record
deal, the show, everything. So, besides getting offered an unbelievable amount
to do Rock Star Diaries, we added some other stipulations. For one, we wanted
more control over the show. And more importantly, we made it clear that we won’t
sign unless you are the Executive Producer and any lawsuits or actions against
you are dropped. Thornton had no choice but to accept.”

My mouth fell open. “What? I can’t
believe it.” The full impact of what that would mean soaked into my brain. “That
would solve all my problems! But, Tyler, I don’t know if I can work for that
man.”

He kissed my forehead. “That’s okay. If
you decide not to, we’ll figure something out. You don’t have to make a
decision right now, but I promise you that I’m going to do everything in my
power to persuade you to say yes.”

“Oh my.” A flash of heat suffused my body
when my thoughts took a wicked turn.

“Oh yes.” He smiled devilishly. I knew he
was thinking the exact same thing.

I licked my lips. “Are we done talking
for now? Because I think I need a little bit of that persuasion you were
talking about.”

“Hold on a second. We still haven’t
talked about Cassie.”

My smile faded. “You don’t have to
explain anything to me, Tyler. I never doubted that you would take
responsibility for your baby and however you need to support Cassie. And I’m
okay with that. In fact, I admire you for that.”

Tyler took a deep breath. “Well, it turns
out that I’m not the father. It was just a stupid ploy on Cassie’s part. Her
story didn’t hold up for very long. I’m not sure if she told the real father
yet. No one’s seen her around.”

I felt outrage on Tyler’s behalf bubbling
up. “What a bitch! Look at all the destruction she caused without a care to
anyone. I can’t believe she’d try to do that to you! How did she think she’d
ever get away with it?”

Tyler brushed it off. “Forget about it
Katie. She was desperate and the actual father is a real pig. She’s going to
have a rough time of it. I kind of feel sorry for her. I know what Sabrina went
through. It’s not going to be easy for her, by any means. But she created all
her own problems. After what she pulled with Alex, we should have kicked her to
the curb… I doubt we’ll ever see her again.”

I shuddered. “I don’t even want to know
what happened with Alex. She sounds like bad news. So, you’re absolutely sure
you’re not the father? That’s terrific news, Tyler.”

Tyler agreed. “Yeah, I have to say that
I’m really relieved about it. Now I just want to forget this big mess ever happened
and concentrate on the future.”

I couldn’t believe how everything had
turned around. It was like a fairytale ending. “So what are your plans for the
future?”

“I’m glad you asked.” Tyler smiled
devilishly. “My immediate plans involve getting you back to my hotel room and
getting your clothes off as soon as possible.”

I pretended to contemplate it for a
moment. “Very ambitious. But can you pull it off?”

“Watch me.”

***

I snuggled in Tyler’s arms blissfully and
completely sated. He was a fabulous lover, but when his single-minded focus was
trained on his partner’s pleasure, the results were unimaginable. I was still
shaking with the after shocks of our lovemaking.

I loved this man with all my heart. Every
part of him: the good, the bad and even the ugly.

My fingers traced the tattoo on his arm.
“What would your diary say for today if I took a peek at it?”

Tyler turned to me and grunted. “I don’t
have a diary. I hate writing. I used to get D’s in writing class. I should’ve
gotten F’s, but the teachers didn’t want me to repeat the class. I was that
hopeless. I write like a caveman.”