by Robyn Nyx
“Donny wants you to come in for a meeting with him and Savana on Monday at eleven.”
Louie raised her eyebrow. Her poker face had never been anything to ride a fortune on. “Really? There needs to be a meeting? I don’t see the point since I’ve finished writing the album.”
Heather ran her hand through her hair and sighed. “Savana didn’t tell Donny the whole truth. She just told him you’d been disrespectful and spoken to her in a way that was unacceptable.”
Louie screwed up her toes then tried to relax them before tackling Heather’s explanation, which was all kinds of wrong. “Okay…did you tell him what really happened?”
“I told him it was a misunderstanding and you were trying to protect me.”
Louie speared a piece of mango, fighting off the desire to imagine it was Donny’s podgy face she was forking. “Did I misunderstand the situation?” Louie tried to keep her tone even. The night had barely warmed up. She didn’t want to toss a bucket of ice on it already, but she had to know.
Heather swallowed whatever she was eating and washed it down with another mouthful of wine. Louie busied herself with eating while she waited for a response, wondering if she really wanted to hear it. Her mom always told her, don’t ask a question unless you’re prepared to hear the answer.
“No. But it’s complicated.”
“You said that yesterday.” Louie cursed herself for the harsh retort. Heather didn’t really owe her anything. They’d just agreed to see where their attraction led. Maybe it had already led Heather to Savana, to femme familiarity. Maybe she was just too not-a-girly girl for Heather, and Savana had reminded her of that. “I’m sorry. Please, talk to me.”
“It happened really fast. One minute I was talking, the next she was kissing me, and then you burst in.”
“Did you like it?” The question felt intrusive, and Louie felt she had no right to ask it, but she did anyway. If she and Heather were going to pursue their attraction, Louie wanted total honesty. She’d fight for Heather, no problem, but she had no interest in sharing.
“Of course not. I’m not interested in Savana, Louie, please know that. It’s trying to keep my career that’s complicated.” Heather chased an asparagus tip around her plate with a fork. “This feels like an odd conversation for our first date.”
Louie nodded. “Agreed. But sexual harassment is the same whether it’s perpetrated by a man or a woman. You didn’t invite it. She abused the position of power she has over you.” Louie took a breath, aware she sounded like a feminist lecture. She didn’t want to push her views on Heather, but women everywhere put up with too much shit because they feared for their job or at worst, their lives.
Heather put her fork down and looked across at Louie. “You really want to talk about this now?”
Louie offered an apologetic smile. “If it’s okay with you, I really do.”
“Okay, let’s do it. But you have to promise you won’t get angry.”
Louie frowned, unsure why Heather would assume her reaction would run to anger and that she wasn’t in control of her emotions. Maybe Heather couldn’t fully dismiss Mia’s accusations about her temper. “I don’t really do angry, Heather.”
“Okay. Savana’s always been an idol to me. Her music has been in my life for a decade, and she was one of the main reasons I took the chance to come to Nashville in the first place.” She moved a stray piece of hair that had fallen across her eye and tilted her head to the side. “Granted, that didn’t work out quite as planned, but I’m happy doing what I’m doing now and I have a plan for my own label.”
Louie liked the sound of that. She could picture Heather as an indie label head, signing artists like Gabe, artists she believed in. She thought again about the potentially huge royalty checks she would receive from the Savana album. Could they run a label together?
“I was beyond flattered when Savana came to Rocky Top and said that she wanted to work with me,” Heather continued. “And she listened to every thought and suggestion I had about each of her songs.” She paused and took a long swallow of water. “When she kissed me, I didn’t know what to do, and you’re right if you thought I looked panicked when you came into the studio. I’ve looked up to Savana for ten years. I love her music, and yeah, I had a crush on her when I was younger. But when we started working together, I went beyond that. For me, it was purely professional, and I didn’t have any sexual thoughts about her.” She smiled and looked a little coy. “Those were concentrated fully on you.”
Louie smiled back. She didn’t want to make this harder than it had to be, and so far she’d heard nothing to suggest there was anything to worry about it. Savana was wrong. She was in Heather’s league because Heather wanted her there. “That makes me happier than you could ever know.”
“But here’s the thing I’m struggling with when you’re talking about framing what Savana did as a sexual assault. If I had liked it and had responded, doesn’t that just make it a successful come-on from Savana? Is it only because I didn’t respond that people might want to call it an assault?”
Louie nodded. “I see what you’re saying, but in this situation, it feels more like an abuse of power. She’s used to getting what she wants when she wants it, as if there’s no option for anyone to say no. I never saw you give her any signals that you might be interested. It wasn’t as if you’d given her the eye across the studio and invited it, y’know?”
“You asked if I liked the kiss.” Heather touched her fingers to her lips for a moment as if recalling the feeling.
Louie wanted to gather her in her arms and kiss her with such passion that she’d forget she’d ever been kissed by another woman. “And…”
“I felt nothing. It didn’t set my world on fire.” She cast her eyes downward. “Not like I think you might.”
If Louie’s heart could’ve performed an Olympic gymnastics routine, it would have. All the fears she’d been having, the flashbacks to Mia’s betrayal, the thought she wasn’t good enough for Heather, softened like an out of focus photograph. Louie pushed her chair away from the table and knelt beside Heather. She reached up, took Heather’s face in her hands, and pulled her gently into a soft kiss. Heather’s hair fell onto Louie’s skin and made her shiver. Heather kissed her back, and just as she’d predicted, her lips lit Louie’s internal world. A fire of passions raged through her body from her mouth to the tips of her toes. She felt somehow more solid and yet weightless. The heartbreak of past experience fell away like petals from flowers in a strong wind, and it swept Louie up into a vortex of aching from which she didn’t want to escape. All thoughts of Savana and Rocky Top dissipated and lost their importance.
Louie reluctantly broke away, aware they weren’t as alone as she felt in that moment. She got back to her feet, retook her seat, and looked at Heather with a smile. “The world I know just went up in smoke.”
***
Louie scooped the last spoon of whatever dessert she’d ended up with into her mouth. If Gabe was going to ask what she had to eat at the fancy-pants restaurant, she’d have no real idea. The night had passed by in a blur since she’d kissed Heather. They could’ve been in a room filled with a hundred of Nashville’s finest, and Louie would have been oblivious to all of them. All she could hear, all she wanted to hear, was Heather. All she wanted to see, touch, and taste was Heather.
Louie paid the bill, leaving Chloe a hefty tip, and offered Heather her hand. “I’m assuming you came by taxi?”
“I did.” Heather stumbled a little on her heels. “Which is a good thing since you’ve gotten me a little buzzed.”
Louie raised her eyebrow. “Tell me you can still make sound decisions though, huh?”
“Oh, of course.” Heather looked at Louie as if she were her next course. “I never drink that much unless I’m at home. Which is where you’re taking me, yes?”
Heather’s straightforward attitude appealed greatly to Louie. “Absolutely.” Whether or not the offer of a chauffeur service would get her ac
cess inside Heather’s house was unclear. For now.
As they headed out of the pod, Louie offered her arm for Heather to hook into, but she shook her head. Louie looked around. The corridor was empty and the doors to the other dining pods were closed. They were alone but for Chloe and she was walking away. Yet still Heather couldn’t—or wouldn’t—simply put her arm through Louie’s. Hell, straight friends walked through town like that all the time. But none of those friends looked like Louie in a two-piece suit and tie. Louie clenched her jaw and waved Heather through to the back exit where she’d parked her truck. Another gesture of discretion on Louie’s part that didn’t sit well.
Heather caught hold of Louie’s hand at the exit door and pulled her back into a deep kiss that pushed Louie’s irritation to the back of her mind. She opened her eyes to see Heather looking beyond her. Louie broke away. “I should get you home.”
Heather held onto Louie’s hand as she opened the door onto the steel staircase at the rear of the building. She felt cool but it didn’t reduce Louie’s rising temperature. Problem was, she was both horny and irked. The alley was dark and the steps came out a few hundred feet from the sidewalk. Louie led the way down with Heather still firm in her grip.
A side door from the restaurant swung open against some trash cans and shattered the silence. Heather loosed her hand from Louie’s instantly. She balled her now empty hand into a fist and stuffed it into her pocket. The guy who emerged from beyond the steamy heat barely noticed them and was focused on lighting his cigarette. Louie unlocked her truck. She moved to open Heather’s door, but Heather put her hand up.
“I got it,” she said.
Louie shrugged and got in the driver’s side, gunned the truck, and sped off the moment Heather clicked her seat belt into the lock.
“In a hurry, baby?” Heather asked.
The way Heather drawled the sexy term of endearment almost had Louie pulling over and diving into the back of the truck like a sex-starved teenager. Her mind, preoccupied with the clandestine nature of their date, was battling her body and starting to lose out. She didn’t want to think about any of that. She just wanted to hold Heather in her arms and let the heat of their attraction hit the gas and take off.
“Something like that.” Louie drove in silence before she pulled into the Capitol Mall State Park and switched off the engine.
“I haven’t parked since I was a teenager, and it never went well,” said Heather. “But my driver was never a girl, and they weren’t a quarter as hot as you are.”
Louie released her seat belt and leaned toward Heather, who moved closer and took Louie’s face in her hands. Heather caressed Louie’s cheek and her eyes focused only on Louie. Not beyond or around her. On her. Louie stopped overthinking and let it be. She kissed Heather hard and deep, the sexual frustration of the past month melting and reforming into an uncontained passion. She put her hand on Heather’s thigh and slowly dragged her fingers and the hem of Heather’s dress upward. Heather traced her tongue over Louie’s before she sucked Louie’s upper lip into her mouth. Louie’s breath hitched and her pussy tightened in response.
Heather released her own seat belt and slipped her hands around Louie’s back. She pulled Louie’s shirt out of her pants and ran her nails along the base of Louie’s naked back, making Louie moan softly. Louie gripped Heather’s thigh harder, kissed her deeper, tried to express all her longing without words.
Louie opened her eyes to see the bright headlights of another car pulling into the lot. She broke away unwillingly and breathless. “I better take you home before we get arrested.”
Heather adjusted the hem of her dress and slid down a little in her seat. “That’s a good idea.”
Louie turned the ignition and drew away. She adjusted the crotch of her trousers to get more comfortable. Heather’s handling of her had her throbbing against their seam. “Am I coming in for coffee or hot milk?”
Heather laughed. “You think I’m that easy? The meal and the company were divine, but I don’t tend to put out beyond second base on a first date.”
“A true lady.” Louie placed her hand on Heather’s thigh, just about keeping the temptation to push a little higher at bay.
“A lady on the streets…” Heather said, gave Louie a sideways glance, and winked.
Louie swallowed hard. She couldn’t wait to put the end of that saying to the test.
Chapter Thirty-four
If the look on Mandie’s face was anything to go by, Heather was heading into a storm of epic proportions. She wore a mix of holy hell, pity, and good luck, if the combination of such things could be conveyed in an expression, and she looked even more overwhelmed than she had on Friday. Heather decided she’d ask if Mandie would be interested in joining her label when the time was right. She wouldn’t be able to offer her the same pay or company benefits, but she could offer a more stable and pleasant environment to work in. And there’d be no stupid rules about having to wear skirts. Heather smoothed hers down as if it had ruffled in rebellion at the thought of being banished from her work wardrobe. She knocked and waited until she heard Donny’s harassed voice call her in.
Predictably, Savana was already there. Heather had been hoping she’d be able to have a private chat with Donny before everyone else descended, but it wasn’t to be.
“You’re late.”
Donny’s gruff bark disconcerted her more than usual. He was clearly in no better mood than he’d been before the weekend. She glanced at her watch to see it was ten thirty. The meeting wasn’t scheduled until eleven, so she wasn’t quite sure why she was being yelled at for being late, but she didn’t question it. Savana barely made eye contact, and her smile was brief and unconvincing. Heather guessed she didn’t take kindly to her calls and texts going unanswered all weekend.
“Sit.”
Donny motioned at the couch Savana occupied and Heather did as she was bid. He went back to a call on his cell phone at the far end of his office, speaking in tones hushed enough that she couldn’t hear him. Heather had never heard him whisper, especially on the phone. His logic seemed to be that the louder he was, the more powerful he was.
Heather wished she’d brought her iPad in with her so she could at least pretend to work. Instead she was forced to inspect her nail polish and cuticles as though she were appreciating a priceless work of art. The silence and awkwardness between her and Savana stretched on for minutes.
“Where were you all weekend?”
Heather frowned at Savana’s question, more than a little taken aback at her invasive tone. “Busy catching up on some audition possibles.” Donny had delegated her regular duties to a seasoned exec, but they hadn’t been keeping up. Heather picked up the slack while she thought about the hot Saturday night make-out session with Louie. She didn’t feel the need to share that nugget with Savana.
“On your own?” asked Savana.
Heather smiled politely. “Yes.” She stopped herself from asking why. Savana’s sub-question was clearly, “Were you with Louie?”
Savana sighed deeply and leaned forward. “Really? Then Louie didn’t rob a bank to take you to the Birdcat Bench?”
Heather fought to keep the immediate rise of panic that constricted her throat. Louie had assured her the waiting staff were discreet, and she’d even arranged for them to use the VIP exit to minimize the possibility of them being seen together. How could she explain it? There was no way dinner at the Birdcat could be construed as a business meeting regardless of the fact they’d just finished Savana’s album and were working together. Louie’s understanding had been amazing, but for a moment, when Heather pulled her hand from Louie’s as they left the Birdcat, Heather was sure she’d seen Louie clench her jaw. It left her with the feeling that maybe Louie wasn’t as cool with being quiet about their relationship as she’d said she was.
She brought herself back into the room. The silence after Savana’s question had already been too long. And how Savana had gotten the information was largely irrelev
ant right now. How she might use it could be a problem. So far Savana had neglected to let Donny in on her own secret; surely, she wouldn’t out Heather and get her fired.
“What does it matter, Savana?”
Savana gave a short laugh and shook her head. “You can do better than her.” She leaned closer to Heather. “I know you felt something when I kissed you,” she whispered.
Overwhelmed. Surprised. Stunned. Heather glanced at Donny, still at the farthest point away from them and apparently too intent on his own conversation to hear theirs. “I wouldn’t have thought you wanted to talk about that here.”
“Where else can I talk about it when you won’t answer my calls and texts?”
Heather crossed her legs and leaned back into the sofa, feigning a sense of calm she didn’t feel as she tried to make sense of what was happening. The Queen of Country was acting like they were in some sort of romantic relationship. Heather had heard all about lesbian drama from Emma’s tales of the city, and she’d been glad she’d managed to avoid it for the most part. Until now. “I needed some thinking time.”
Savana raised her eyebrows. “And you can think while you’re having a romantic meal in a private area of the most exclusive restaurant in town with a nobody?”
Heather struggled to minimize her physical reaction to Savana’s incendiary words. Who the hell did she think she was? Louie wasn’t a nobody. She was a wonderful, kind, and gentle woman, and the way Savana spoke about her inflamed Heather. Defend her then. Her reticence taunted her, while her ambition grabbed hold of her vocal chords to prevent her from protecting Louie’s honor. Heather compensated by giving herself assurances that Louie was perfectly capable of standing up for herself.
“I’m not sure what you want me to say, Savana,” said Heather, totally out of her depth with this whole situation and wishing she had Emma speaking into an earpiece to give her some damn clue as to what she should say.
“I want you to say that you’ll stop seeing that boi bitch and be with me.”