Taking Something (12 page)

“Where in the hell were you?!” Sadie cried out. I opened my eyes to see her hovering above me with a less than pleased look on her face. The morning light shining in the windows through her auburn hair made her look almost angelic, but her tone of her voice said she was anything but.

It was time for damage control.

“Good morning, beautiful,” I said sweetly, pulling her on top of me and peppering her neck with kisses. “I missed you last night, but you looked so peaceful when I got home that I didn't want to wake you.”

“Don't even try it.” She rolled off of me. “God knows who you were with or what you were doing!”

“Aww, Sadie,” I cooed, turning on my side to face her. “Are you jealous? It's cute.” I reached out and tapped the tip of her nose with my finger. She wasn't smiling. “Look, baby…” I scooted my way closer to her. “Yes, I was out late, but I wasn't doing anything that you need to worry about. I have Sadie Sinclair. Why would I ruin that?”

“Oh, like I've never heard that before,” she scoffed.

“I promise. I was with Landry,” I reminded her. Which was true. Sort of. “I was actually convincing him that you would be the perfect fit for this new duet he's working on. I've heard the song, Sadie. It's amazing. We got caught up in music talk. That's all.” I pressed my lips to hers when I saw her carefully thinking about what I was saying. “You're going to be amazing on it. And Landry invited us to dinner this weekend to discuss it.”

I pressed my dick up against her thigh, hoping to spark those sexual desires she always seemed to let take over. I could screw my way out of this situation. I moved my hand underneath the tank top she was wearing and cupped her tit, squeezing it just the way she liked.

“You better not be lying to me,” she mumbled between labored breaths. “If I find out—”

“You won't,” I promised. “I got no reason to lie.”

Not true. I have every reason to lie.

“Just work, nothing else?”

“Yep. All work.” I moved my lips to her collarbone and flicked my tongue against her skin.

“And Landry wants to sing with me?”

“He sure does. Thinks you're great,” I continued sweet-talking against her skin.

“Okay,” she finally submitted, letting her lips find mine. “I believe you.” I continued to make her believe until I had her crying my name. I felt pretty damn good about my convincing ways. That is, of course, until I walked into the kitchen and remembered Gia was there. The look in her eyes was taunting me. Disbelief, disgust, disdain—pick your D-word. Any one of them would work.

“You look like shit, Gia,” Sadie greeted her coldly.

“Morning,” I said, my skin feeling like it was crawling. How could I have been so stupid? I knew the routine. I knew that Gia would be there. Just a few hours ago, I had been talking with her and now I'd just subjected her to hearing Sadie and me going at it.

Dick move, Kline.

Something about it felt so wrong, but what was I supposed to do? Tell Sadie that the reason I was really late was because I was hanging out with Gia? Getting murdered hadn’t been on my list that morning, but neither was the shame I was feeling for fucking Sadie with Gia in the other room.

I didn't hear Gia rushing to a confession of her late-night activities. She wasn't telling Sadie that she'd spent the night explaining to me why the Beatles' Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was the greatest album ever made or that her hometown football team, the Dallas Cowboys, would always be better than my Chicago Bears or that on occasion she would eat an entire bag of gummy bears as a meal.

Gia wasn't my girlfriend. We were nothing more than two people who’d had a conversation and a shared a dance. So why in the hell did I feel like I had done something seriously wrong?

“I'm sorry, Sadie,” she said, casting one more not so pleasant look in my direction. “I should have known better than to stay up so late. It was wasted time.”

Wasted time? Glad I know how she really feels about me.

God damn if she didn't have a way of making me feel like a complete fucking tool. But what did she expect? She knew I was with Sadie. It wasn’t like I could say, “Hey, Sadie. Sorry, I can't sleep with you because Gia told me a few cute things about herself last night and we flirted a little bit.”

“You shouldn't stay up so late. It’s unprofessional. I need you fresh, G. There's a lot of stuff to do this week. I'm flying to New York tomorrow,
remember
?”

“Of course,” she told Sadie. “Everything is under control,” she added as soon as Sadie had her breakfast in front of her. Don't think I didn't notice that today there was only enough food for Sadie. She must have decided on the number people eating about the time she heard me smack Sadie's ass.

God, I'm a dick.

“I've got to get your dry cleaning. I'll see you at the studio.” With that, Gia was gone. Unfortunately, my guilt stayed.

“New York, huh?” I asked as I watched Gia walked out the door. I had to force myself to think of anything but walking out that door and telling her I was sorry for being an inconsiderate jerk.

“Yeah. A photo shoot for some magazine. I can't remember,” she shrugged, taking a bite of the whole wheat toast in front of her. “Wanna go? It's just two days. I'll be back Friday.”

“I can't, babe. I've got lots to do on the album.” I mentally high-fived myself. Two whole days of freedom from Sadie. “You'll have Gia to keep you company though, right?”

“Gia? No. She doesn't do trips unless it's absolutely necessary.”

“Why's that?” That was weird. Most assistants traveled right alongside their bosses.

“She's got lots of family stuff going on. She doesn't like to be gone overnight if she doesn't have to.”

“That's nice of you. Most people wouldn't care what their assistant has going on.”

“I'm not a monster, Nick.” She laughed. “Plus, I'm glad she stays home. She's too busy calling back here every five minutes to be worth shit to me on the road. I'll have a couple bodyguards with me. One of them can make a coffee run if need be.”

“So what's the deal with her anyway? Gia?” What exactly did she have to check on back home? Maybe she had a boyfriend?
Shit.
Maybe she had a husband? I'd researched the hell out of Sadie, but I knew hardly anything about Gia.

“What do you mean?”

My curiosity was getting the best of me again. Sadie was still in a post-coital haze though, so I thought it might be okay to ask without raising any suspicions.

“She got a boyfriend or something that keeps her home? Because if that's the case, you need to let him know that she works for you,” I added to keep the conversation about Sadie. I knew how to be smooth with her. Keep her in the spotlight and I could ask whatever I wanted.

“A boyfriend?” She laughed. “No. She knows that I don't have time for her to be dealing with a relationship.” She took a bite of toast. “Something happened when we were younger. Something that made her reevaluate her priorities. It was a tough situation,” she added vaguely. “There wasn't room for a career in this business on her plate.”

“But she kind of stayed in it. Working for you and all,” I replied, feeling a little tinge of excitement about the fact that Gia was single.

“Kind of. She'd been acting and singing her whole life. It's not like she has a big skill set or a degree in anything. We barely managed to pass the homeschooling with our schedules. She needed a job so I offered her one.”

“I see.” I walked up behind Sadie and wrapped my arms around her, sensing that it was time for me to knock one of the hugs I'd assumed Sadie would think she needed today off the list.

“Enough about Gia.” She smiled up at me over her shoulder. “Tell me more about Landry wanting to sing with me.”

“Call me when you get there,” I told Sadie, knowing she'd call or text me at least ten times before she arrived in New York. I closed the trunk on the town car that had arrived at the studio to take her to the airport. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled my mouth to hers.

“I will,” she agreed. “Sure you can't come with me? I don't like being apart.” She had made that fact perfectly clear. On many occasions. “Don't want you having any fun without me.” She giggled.

“Wish I could.” I shrugged. We'd been over this a handful of times since she’d told me she was going to New York. “I've got to get this album ready or Hollace is going to skin me alive. It's not going to be fun. It's going to be work.”

“I know,” she sighed. “I'll miss you.”

“You too.” I pulled open the car door and nudged her toward it. “It's two days, babe. You'll be okay. Now go take some pretty pictures.”

She climbed into car wearing a pout. I just smiled as I shut the door and felt the air return to my lungs. The past twenty-four hours had been full of ups and downs. Sadie had been fine one minute and lunatic the next. Constant ego stroking was taking its toll on me, but I couldn't give up this close to the end. We had six of the thirteen songs we needed for the album, and it was starting to sound pretty good. Even the song she'd written. Gia's suggestions had really made it work.

The car drove away and I went back to work.

“How's it going?” a deep voice called out from behind me. I'd been so ingrained in mixing with my headphones on that I hadn’t heard the door open. Hollace Westwood was in the studio for the first time since we'd started recording.

“Good, good.” I nodded, pulling the headphones down. “It's really starting to shape up.”

“Let's hear it.” He pulled up a chair and unplugged my headphones. Talk about an on-the-spot evaluation. Hadn't heard from him in days and now he was here, wanting to hear what I'd been working on.

“Okay,” I complied. I ran through everything we had recorded, with the exception of her song. I didn't know if it was quite ready. I nervously watched as he bobbed his head along and waited for that occasional smile to pop on his face.

“I like it,” he finally said when the last track had played through. That was good enough for me. Would have been nice if he’d gushed for minute, but it was acceptance.

“Thanks. We've been working really hard on it.”

“That's true,” a sweet voice added. “They've been in here every chance they get.”

“Gianna Grayson,” Hollace said, turning in his chair. “I haven't seen you in a while. How are you?” He stood up and proceeded to hug her, which, judging by the surprised look on her face, she hadn’t been expecting. “Besides beautiful as always.” He grinned.

“Thank you,” she replied as I watched a blush creep across her cheeks. “I'm well.”

Does she seriously not know how beautiful she is?

“That's good to hear.” Hollace looked down at his watch. “I better get going. Lots to do.” He waggled his eyebrows. “More music, more money.” He laughed.

“Thanks for stopping by.” I stood to walk him to the door. “Should have this one finished in a week or two.”

“Perfect. Let me know which one you think is best for her first single.”

I nodded. “I will.”

“And Gia,” he said, pulling the door open. “Let me know when you are ready to get back in that studio. Offer always stands.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. “But I'm not quite ready yet.”

As Hollace let the door close behind, Gia turned to face me.

“Offer stands,” I said excitedly. “Offer stands?”

“Don't even start. Not an offer I want, Nick.”

“He's standing there dangling a record deal and you're just…‘Nope’?” I was starting to question her sanity. Who turned down a record deal from Hollace Westwood? No one, that’s who. Except this exasperating woman apparently.

“Pretty much.”

“I don't get it.” I went back to my chair. “I probably never will.”

“Probably not,” she confirmed.

“So what exactly are you doing here?” The last time we had seen each other hadn't exactly been pleasant.

“Sadie sent me,” she informed. “Wanted me to make sure you weren't ‘jacking around’ while she was ‘hard at work.’” She crooked her fingers like quotations, and I could actually hear the words coming out of Sadie's mouth. I knew Sadie's pretty red head was spinning at the thought of me alone to my own devices. What she didn't know was that she was sending me the one woman I actually didn't mind spending time with.

“Hey, about the other day…” I had to get it off my chest. I felt like an ass for screwing Sadie when Gia was in the other room. I'd taken morning sex completely off the list since that day.

“Don't worry about it.” She shrugged, trying to hide the fact that I knew she'd been disappointed or disgusted or whatever her eyes had screamed at me that morning.

“I am worried about it,” I insisted. “We'd had a fun night at the bar and I was jerk for not even considering how you'd feel about—”

“Feel about what? I can't feel any way about anything, Nick. You're Sadie's boyfriend. We are…” She paused. “Friends. At best. Forget it happened.”

I nodded. “Okay.” As much as I wanted to disagree and insist that we were slightly more than friends, I couldn't. She was right. Sadie was my girlfriend, and I couldn't let myself get caught up in worrying about how Gia felt about me sleeping with her. As I sat there looking at her, I couldn't help but wonder exactly how she did feel about it. Regardless of what she was saying, I could see by the way she nonchalantly pretended to pick lint off her shirt that she was trying to keep from focusing on me.