Taking Something (27 page)

I took in a deep breath, shaking my head.

How convenient.

“Anyway.” She shook it off. “I've got some exciting news.”

“I can't wait to hear it,” I deadpanned, keeping my eyes on Gia the entire time. Every now and again, her eyes would flutter to mine. I wished I knew what was going on in that pretty little head of hers. No sooner than she'd look at me, she would dive right back into a conversation with Landry or whisper something in his ear.

“The label wants to do a big tour for this album,” she said giddily. “A US leg and then a European one to follow. It's going to last most of next year.”

“That's great,” I acknowledged, not understanding why she'd be so excited about hitting the road for an entire year. She was fucking crazy if she thought I wasn't going to take the time to figure out how to get her out of my life. I was already coming up with a plan to get away from her tonight and talk to the brown-eyed girl who kept stealing my attention.

“Even greater,” she continued, “is that I need a tour producer. And who better to tag along and make sure everything is perfect than my loving boyfriend? Vince and Hollace couldn't have been more pleased with the suggestion. You know, since we make such a great team and all.”

The fuck we do.

“How excited are you?” she teased with an evil look in her eye. She was good. I'd give her that. Locking me up for a year to have me all to herself.

“Seriously? You think the two of us being on tour together is going to change the way I feel about you? Because it's not,” I informed her. Especially seeing as how a sexy brunette kept looking in my direction. I felt a nervous flutter deep in my gut. Was there a chance that she wanted me back? I mean, she was totally eye-fucking me right in front of Landry. Maybe they weren't as happy together as the tabloids had made them out to be.

“It doesn't have to be like this, Nick.” Sadie’s expression softened as she spoke. The ballad Sadie and I had first recorded began to play. It must have sparked some nostalgia of the first day we worked together. All it did was remind me of how badly I’d screwed myself. How stupid was I to think that getting into bed with her was going to end well for me?

More and more couples started to dance around us, including Landry and Gia. I couldn't very well sneak her away from him now. Not as he wrapped her up in his arms and held on to her like she was the best thing that ever happened to him. Plus, my ball and chain had locked her arms around me as if she could sense I was about to fly the coop. If Sadie Sinclair wanted to dance at her party, she was going to get to dance and she'd make sure of it.

“Look,” she said, smiling up at me. “I know that I've made some mistakes. Probably done a few things that a normal person wouldn't do.”

“Probably?” I sneered.

“But that's part of this business. Sometimes you have to do some ugly things to get what you want.”

She was right, but I hated it. I thought that I could be that guy. The one who shit on everyone else to get ahead. The one who had no regrets and took what he wanted. And then I met Gia.

“Aside from the fact that we got into this relationship for all the wrong reasons, I really do like you, Nick,” Sadie confessed. “I think we could make this thing work. You know? Maybe being on tour together is just what we need. Get away from everything that's come between us.” She looked to her left and my eyes followed hers. Landry and Gia swayed back and forth, smiling as they talked quietly over the music, leaning toward one another. Landry's hand was caressing her back as if they'd danced a million times. I should have been the one dancing with her. The one holding her in my arms and whispering in her ear. She was mine. Not his. Except…she wasn't mine.

“Look how happy they are together, Nick,” Sadie said, now focusing on her attention to the couple I couldn't take my eyes off of. “We could be that way.” I wanted to believe that Gia had been looking at me because I was what she wanted, but she hadn't called or texted or done anything to suggest otherwise. Maybe Sadie and the rumors were both telling the truth. If she had wanted me, she surely would have told me by now.

“Maybe you're right,” I sighed, remembering that I wasn't the guy who got the girl he wanted. Gia had had plenty of chances to contact me and tell me if she still had feelings for me and she hadn't. “Let me think about it,” I said, really not having any other option if I wanted to keep working for Westwood. Perhaps Sadie and I could find a way to be together. The only person I wanted was with someone else. I had to try and salvage something from this fucked-up catastrophe. Maybe getting as far away from Gia as I possibly could was exactly what I needed. I sure as shit didn't want to keep attending events where she showed up with Landry.

“Yeah!” Sadie jumped, tightening her arms around my neck and letting out an excited squeal. She crushed her lips to mine in a display of over-the-top. “I've got to tell Vince!” She pulled from my arms and ran off to find Vince, leaving me alone on the dance floor. I had to laugh it off. All of the prying eyes on me were waiting for me to say something. Everyone was staring at the commotion Sadie had just caused.

“She gets excited, that one.” I chuckled, backing away from the crowd, wishing I'd never come tonight.

The little voice inside my head spoke up, deciding to mock me.

The spotlight is always what you wanted, right?

I felt eyes on me. One set in particular. I knew who was staring.

Gia.

My eyes found hers. Her head was resting on Landry's shoulder as he chatted up the couple dancing next to them. And she wasn't happy.

I shrugged, putting my hands up, silently asking her what she wanted from me. She'd left me, not the other way around. And then she'd showed up tonight with him. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of taking the high road since she'd decided to hurry up and move on with Landry. I'd quit contacting her just like she'd asked me to. I hadn't been over to her house since the morning I saw her and Landry with Audrey. And now she was glaring at me? As if I'd done something to piss her off? And then she did it. She rolled her God damned eyes. I felt my pulse begin to race as I clenched my fists at my side to keep from storming straight over to her and asking her what the hell her problem was.

I
WATCHED
as Gia politely excuse herself from Landry's arms and headed toward the elevator, never once alerting him or anyone around to the fact that she was flustered. I'd seen her anxious before. I could tell by the tiny crease between her eyes and the way she nervously pursed her lips like her lip gloss was made of superglue. I figured Sadie was too occupied with her own self-righteousness to even notice that I'd be gone. Now was my chance to get Gia alone and find out exactly what her end game was for coming here tonight.

“Hold the door,” I said when I finally managed to make it through the crowd. I turned my body to the side to slide between the closing elevator doors.

She was in the back corner, her eyes wide with surprise that I'd actually followed her. A handful of partygoers stood between the two of us, successfully putting the lid on everything I wanted to say to her.

“Excuse me,” I said, exchanging a smile with a couple I recognized from the other events I'd attended since coming to this Hell on Earth. Choreographers, I thought. I brushed by them, wanting to get closer to her. “What the hell was all that about?” I whispered harshly, settling by her side. An older gentleman cast a questioning look in my direction. I smiled, trying to keep calm and tell him to mind his own damn business.

“What are you talking about?” she whispered back, her icy stare from a few minutes ago still intact. She was definitely pissed about something. The way I saw it, she wouldn't be pissed if she didn't still want me. It was like a switch flipped in my head.

You're Nick fucking Kline. You see something you want, you take it.

I left Sadie, Landry, and any and all concerns of my future up on that roof.

“You know exactly what I'm talking about,” I hissed against her ear, slipping my hand behind her, away from the prying eyes of the other passengers, knowing that one of them would happily run back to Sadie and tell her what they'd seen. Gently, my fingers brushed across the bare skin of her back. The way her breath hitched—almost stopping completely when I did—fueled the notion that she still had feelings for me. She was crazy to think that what we'd shared would disappear simply because she’d said it had to. I didn't speak again until the doors opened in the lobby and the other passengers stepped off. “You don't get to tell me to move on and then act like a jealous ex-girlfriend. Don't forget you're the one who told me to be with her.”

“You're right,” she replied timidly, pushing the button to close the doors before anyone could enter. I stepped up behind her, pressing myself against the curve of her ass and letting her know exactly how happy I was to see her. “I guess I didn't realize how hard it would be to see you with her. Make sure you let her know that her makeup artists did a fantastic job of covering up the hand print I'd left on her face.”

“You slapped her?”

“You bet your ass I did. She lied to me. She caused me a lot of heartache and took years away from my little girl of getting to know her father. She's lucky all I did was slap her,” she said. The protective look in her eyes as she thought about her daughter broke me. She had finally stood up to her. Now if I could just understand why she wouldn't admit her feelings for me.

“Is that why you came tonight? To call Sadie out in public?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I came here for you.”

“You came here to see me?”

“No… I mean, yes…” Her words jumbled together as I lowered my lips to the back of her neck. Her skin tightened under my kiss, and she shivered, making me want to wrap her up in my arms. I was powerless to stop myself from touching her—kissing her. Like a magnet, she drew me in, even if she didn't mean to.

“I thought I could handle it. I wanted to support you on your big night,” she confessed.

“So that's the only reason you came? Moral support?” I asked as she rested the back of her head against my chest. “I don't buy it.”

“Yes. Landry asked me to come and I thought I could do it. I thought…” Her words trailed off the second my hands slipped under the fabric of her dress and wrapped around to her stomach.

“I hate seeing you with him,” I said, my hand snaking up her body, caressing every inch of her skin I had memorized. If I could have gotten away with kidnapping her at that moment, I would have done it. I wasn't sure how much longer I could have my hands on her—cute little whimpers of excitement spilling off her lips—without ripping her dress off and burying myself deep inside of her.

“It's not—”

“Did you pick out this dress because you liked it or because you knew it would have me fucking losing my mind?” I breathed in her ear, not wanting to hear her reasoning. I had her alone for a short elevator ride.

I couldn't let her go without reminding her why we belonged together. Breathing her in as deep as I could, I lowered my mouth to her neck. I had to taste her. Had to flick my tongue against her skin and see if she was as sweet as I remembered. I removed a hand from under her dress and hit the button for the twenty-third floor—the floor right underneath of the rooftop deck where our dates were waiting.

“All you have to do is say the words and I'm yours. I don't understand why you're making this so difficult.”

“Don't,” she insisted, her tiny frame dipping and turning away from me. She stepped over to the other side of the elevator. The distance she put between us spoke volumes. “I can't.”

“Is it him?” Maybe I'd been wrong. I leaned back against the wall and crossed my arms. “Have you decided that he's what you want now that he knows about Audrey? Because judging by the heavy eye roll you gave me and the way you hauled ass out of there after Sadie kissed me, I'm not sure you do.”

“That's not what happened.” She mimicked my position, crossing her arms. As if that was going to keep the feelings she was fighting for me at bay. Her eyes were avoiding me like the plague. “Landry has nothing to do with it.”

“I know you still have feelings for me,” I told her, pushing his name to the back of my mind. I couldn't think about him. This was between me and Gia. “I don't understand why you're so hell-bent on denying it.”

“My feelings for you are not the problem,” she mumbled, her eyes now cast down as she moved her foot slowly across the floor.

“Then what is the problem?” I demanded, stepping up to her. I reached down, taking her chin in my hand and tilting her head up.

“Please don't.”

“Don't what?” I asked, placing my forehead against hers. “Don't tell you that you're all I think about?”

She looked away as if she couldn't stand to look in my eyes. I knew she was scared that if she did she'd see the truth—that we belonged together.

I moved my lips to her ear. “Don't touch you?” My hands went to her waist before slipping around to spread out across her back. She might have not been looking at me, but I could tell what she was feeling. Her back arched to be closer to me. The way she swallowed hard looked like she was choking on what she really wanted to say.