“Nice to see you, Seth. You know my contract isn’t up yet.”
“Contract, schmontract. I’ll buy you out,” Seth said with a wave of his hand.
“You can take that up with Jude,” Paisley said, managing to make it sound flirtatious. “He went that way.”
“I’m on the chase! Good luck tonight, girl.” He sashayed away, leaving me lost somewhere between stunned and furious.
“See what I mean?” she said with a wry smile. “They’ve all got one thing on their minds.”
“Sex?” I asked doubtfully, still struck by Seth’s wiggling walk.
“No,” she laughed. “Money. Power. I am but a means to an end.”
“You’re an artist and a genius,” I objected, hearing the heat in my voice before I could stop myself.
She grinned at me, her face lighting up in that honest, natural way which seemed so foreign around these people. “I’ll accept those compliments from you because I think you mean them,” she said with a laugh. “If you were a manager, I’d be looking at you sideways.”
“I’m already looking at them sideways. Do any of them dress like normal people?”
“Oh, honey, they are all utterly terrified of appearing normal,” she said with a wink. “I think if Jude ever lost his glasses, he’d shatter into a million pieces.”
“Paisley, dahling,” a pumped-up blonde with a painted-on face snatched Paisley away from me, squishing her into a hug. It was quite the squish, too; there were so many feminine curves wrapped in skin-tight glitter, I didn’t know where to look.
“Hi, Betty,” Paisley greeted her warmly. “Good luck tonight!”
“Thanks, baby, but I don’t need it. I’ve got half a dozen of these collecting dust. I’m just here for the connections.”
The older woman tossed her hair, which didn’t stray from its perfect heart shape around her head. She dripped money and smelled of wanton neediness.
As I scanned the room, I saw more Bettys and Judes than I ever thought existed. Like savage animals wrapped in shimmer, they stalked each other through the room, baiting with reputations and closing with empty promises. I ached to burst the bubble.
“Let’s sit down,” Paisley murmured in my ear after Betty had wandered away.
We found our seats, and Paisley immediately kicked off her heels and crossed her legs beneath the table. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“What’s so funny?” she asked, her eyes twinkling.
“You are,” I said. “How do you do it?”
“Do what?”
“Stay so…normal, when you’re surrounded by these people and this…stuff all the time?”
“It’s not all the time,” she objected. “I spend most of my time at home.”
“In your enormous mansion?” I teased.
She laughed. “It’s smaller than what a lot of people have.” She paused, playing with the tablecloth. “It is really big though, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah,” I said with a shrug. “My whole apartment could fit in your piano room.”
“It could not!”
“Could too,” I teased. “You’ve lost touch with the little people, princess.”
“You’d have to be little to make that assertion with any authority,” she said, waggling her eyebrows.
“Who says I’m not?”
Risky move, boy.
“Oh, shut up,” she laughed. “You think I don’t know what you got? More grappling lessons, please.”
“Whenever you like, darlin’,” I returned with a grin. “Right here, right now? Make all these puffed-up penguins faint from shock?”
“Oh, we wouldn’t want that,” she declined gracefully. “We’d be sued by the entire industry!”
“We’ll pay them off with royalties from the viral videos,” I winked.
She laughed, but my gut twisted just enough to hurt. I had forgotten for a moment. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to start caring about her and her reputation.
Jude caught my eye and winked at me again, and the twist became a persistent ache. I saw my own slimy ambitions reflected in his devious expression.
Champagne was served. I was never more relieved to see booze.
Chapter 11
Paisley
His green eyes bored into my very soul as his strong hands slid down my body. Satin slid over my heaving bosom, catching on my hard nipples. His hand slid lower and lower, slipping beneath the hem of my nightgown, over the thin fabric between my thighs. All mine. I touched his face, soft as silk. His eyes were on fire, his fingers split me, sinking into the moisture pooling there.
Leather over my mouth, smothering my moans as he hooked his fingers against my most secret, sensitive place, forcing the pressure to build between my hips. His thumb rolled over the hard, hot nub until my legs quivered and shook, until my moans turned to screams in his hand. I convulsed, crying out in ecstasy…
Tyler dissolved as morning rushed into my eyes. I was twisted in my bedcovers, my head buried in a pillow, my hand buried in my panties. Soaked with sweat and still trembling from the intense dream, I tumbled out of bed and headed for the shower.
“Taking him to the event was a bad idea,” I told myself as I turned the shower on. “Promoting him from bodyguard to arm candy. He does make good arm candy, though.”
Besides, it wasn’t like I hadn’t already been attracted to Tyler before the event last night. Between his lazy good looks and those blood-pumping self-defense lessons, I’d spent most of my waking—and sleeping—hours entertaining elaborate fantasies about him. It was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid turning them into a reality.
“The last thing you need is another messy, public breakup,” I told myself firmly. “He’s not the one. He’s a bodyguard, a good old country boy. He’s not going to want to jet set around the country with you forever.”
So he can stay home with the kids, my rebellious mind argued.
“Stop that. You are about three thousand steps ahead of yourself right now. Besides, you have work to do. You can’t afford to be distracted right now.”
The firm reminder had me skipping breakfast to head straight to the piano. A tune was playing in my head, but as I transferred it to the keys, I realized it wasn’t mine. I cursed softly, trying again. That was definitely me. Unpolished, unstructured, utterly amateur.
“Come on, Paisley, you’re a pro. You know how to do this.” I cracked my fingers and positioned them. Focus on the country. A simple two-step. You can build anything off a two-step, right?
I had just found my zone when a steady beat broke my concentration. Puzzled, I frowned, trying to place the sound. Whack, whack… It brought back memories of hot summers, playing until the street lights came on. Whack, whack…clank.
“Do I even have a basketball hoop?” I wondered out loud.
I did, apparently. In the little concrete alcove which led into the underground garage, an unused hoop hung over the door. Unused, until today. I paused in the kitchen door for a moment, admiring the view.
Tyler’s dark hair blew behind him as he raced down the driveway, dribbling the basketball. He wore no shirt, and his inked skin glistened in the sunlight, highlighting the cut of his muscles. Sharp hips and tight abs formed a V down to the low-slung hem of his sweatpants, making my mouth water.
Enough. You have work to do.
“Hey, Tyler!”
He spun to face me, bouncing the ball behind his back and catching it again. He smiled at her, tossing his hair, breathing just a little heavy. God, he was gorgeous.
“What’s up, darlin’?”
“I’m trying to work. Could you keep it down a bit?”
“On a day like this?” He extended his arms overhead, taking in the cloudless azure sky, tossing the ball back and forth between his hands. “Not a chance, darlin’.”
“Please?”
“All right, tell you what,” he said, crouching low to bounce the ball, flashing me a wicked grin. “I’ll stop playing…if you beat me. One
on one, let’s go.”
I shouldn’t have. I should have taken the ball, turned around, and gone back to work. But I couldn’t resist that grin, those eyes…or that challenge.
“You’re on,” I said, throwing my hair up in a ponytail.
He bounced the ball at me and I caught it. Childhood wasn’t so long ago, was it? I dodged him, taking pleasure in the surprise I saw on his face.
“Abbott makes a break for it, oh! But she’s blocked at half court! Macintyre won’t let her win so easily!” Tyler bounced around as he put on a dramatic announcer’s voice. I wanted to laugh, but I had a point to prove.
Bouncing on the balls of my feet, I lobbed the ball overhead. He batted at it but missed.
“Nothin’ but net!” I crowed as the ball bounced off the pavement.
“Yeah, whatever. Two outta three.”
“Bring it on.”
I was feeling cocky now, and started showing off. His reactions only encouraged me, as did the one basket he made. Determined as all get-out, I made the final basket by the skin of my teeth, barely dodging his lengthy reach.
“Abbott wins! The crowd goes wild!” I danced backward, laughing.
“Good job,” he said with a sly smile.
I saw the glint in his eye, and I knew. Elation quickly flipped to fury, and I ran at him.
“You jerk! You let me win!” I jumped to tackle him, but he caught me in his strong arms, holding me still.
“Whoa there, little lady,” he laughed at me. “You have work to do, remember?”
“That doesn’t mean you get to let me win!” I punched him lightly on the top of his shoulders.
He chuckled from his throat and moistened his lower lip, distracting me instantly. His hard body mashed against mine, the effortless way he held me off the ground, those eyes, those damn lips…
My hands trailed behind his neck, my fingers laced together behind his head. He met my gaze evenly, smoldering. The rush of exercise and competition beat hot in my blood, mingling with the tingle between my thighs.
I caught myself a hairbreadth before the kiss, gasping at my own audacity. I wriggled out of his arms and took a few steps backwards, still trying to break the gaze. A few shuddering breaths later, I had wrestled myself under control.
“Um… So, we should go out, blow off some steam,” I suggested, tearing my eyes away. “Do you want to? I mean, go out somewhere? Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just…out of the house. I need a change of scene, you know, to get the music flowing, I think I might be stagnating a little bit here, and what you said last night made a lot of sense, you know, that I’m surrounded by these people and this stuff all the time, I don’t really know how to connect…” I was babbling, and I cut myself off with a sharp inhale.
He was watching me with amusement thick in his glittering eyes. “Sure,” he said calmly. “I’d like that.”
“Great. Um… Yeah. Good.”
With that, I turned and walked back into the house. Fled, really. As much as anyone could flee without actually running. I thought I was going to die from the embarrassment; terrible for me in the moment, but excellent for the songwriter in my head, who gleefully instructed me to work it into my music.
“You’re a cruel and brutal mistress,” I told the piano.
I managed to siphon some of the cringiness of the moment into some scribbled lyrics and a rough tune. This album was coming together in bits and pieces.
I was scraping the bottom of the barrel, I was sure of it. My first album had poured out of me fully formed, like some goddess from the head of Zeus. The second was structured, fed to me by Jude and his team. They told me exactly what they needed, and I provided it. The third was an explosion of everything I had wanted to do during the second album, but hadn’t been able to.
As for this one… If something didn’t change, this would be my last album. My legacy would die with a whimper. If I had to keep scraping ideas together like this, my music would sound more and more forced. My label would notice. My fans would notice. The whole freaking world would notice, and I would be the first to know. Tyler crossed my line of sight as I was pondering the problem of inspiration, and flashed me that wicked smile of his.
“All right, Tyler,” I murmured to myself, cracking my knuckles. “Prepare to be immortalized.”
It was scathing and catchy and perfect. I worked on it all day long, and it was nearly usable by the time I put it away for the day. I tucked it into the box with my other almost-finished works, then told Tyler to get ready to go. It was time to get back to reality and mingle with the masses.
“Dress down,” I told myself as I shuffled through my closet. “Time to mingle within, not float above.”
Anxiety twisted my gut. The floating above had been my protection for so long, I was afraid to let it go. I had to remind myself several times that Tyler was my protection now.
“Besides,” I scoffed at myself as I donned the tight band tee. “It’s not like anything’s going to happen tonight anyway.”
Chapter 12
Paisley
It had been pure luck that a decent band was playing the club that night, and sheer force of reputation that got us in around the packed line. As excited as I was, Tyler parted the crowd with his shoulders and brought us right up front, close enough to get sweat flung on us from the lead singer’s dreadlocks. It had been way too long since I’d been on this side of the stage.
I let myself get swept away in the music, the excitement, the energy of it. Without performance pressure, I shouted along to the song. No costume changes at this concert. No mic checks. Just me and the music and the wave of fans crashing around me.
“I thought you didn’t sing rock!” Tyler shouted over the crowd.
“This doesn’t count!”
He laughed, then his eyes widened. Before I could see why, his arms were on either side of me, holding onto the bar. His body rocked with the impact of the human wave, crushing against me. My senses were full of him, sweat and leather and masculinity. The brutal music vibrated my veins, blasting through my body, slamming me back into him. I was breathless. I was aching. Only the knowledge that everyone around had a camera on their phone kept me from turning and taking his mouth right then.
The song shook to a bone-rattling close, and the band wandered away. The lull was like the first gasp of air after a body-crushing orgasm.
“What do you want to drink?” he asked, still shouting from the disorienting bass.
“Long Island, please!”
“Lookin’ to get twisted?”
“Just a little,” I laughed. “It’s the freakin’ weekend, right?”
He shot me a wink and a grin, sending a molten trickle of heat through my core to settle in my hips. I didn’t know how much longer I could resist.
My lusty groan was swallowed by the noise of the crowd, and I turned away to watch people set up for the next band. I hadn’t even bothered to check who else was playing this club tonight, but when the kick drum came out, I started bouncing with excitement.
I felt a firm tap on my shoulder.
“I know, right? I didn’t even know! How lucky was tha—” The word died on my lips as I turned around and came face-to-face with fleshy, fish-eyed Bart Matthews.
“Paisley,” he gushed. “I knew you would be here. I always know where you are. I’m your biggest fan.”
“Tha—” My throat closed, my mouth gone dry. I cleared my throat. “That’s great, Bart.”
“You know my name!” His eyes widened, enraptured. Shit.
“Yeah, look, I can’t really give autographs or anything without my manager’s approval…”
“Oh, I don’t need an autograph,” he said with a big smile.
“Good!” I interrupted him. “Well then, I hope you have a great time, and I’ll just be…”
“Dance with me,” he said, stepping forward.
“There’s no music right now, I’m just gonna…” Where the hell are you, Tyler?
“A h
ug then,” Bart said, opening his arms and moving closer. I backed away, but the crowd was dense and he was persistent.
“No, Bart,” I said firmly. “No hugs.”
If I can’t get to Tyler, maybe I can get to the door.
“What do you mean, no hugs? Come on, it’s not like I’m asking you to marry me.” His smile was even creepier in the low light of the club, and I couldn’t seem to move fast enough. I was living in a nightmare.
With a grim smile, I turned my back on him and shoved my way through the crowd.
“Paisley! Paisley, don’t be like that.”
The door was so close, but Bart was right on my heels. Grabbing my arm hard enough to hurt, he spun me around.
“You do not disrespect me like that in public,” he growled, inches from my face. “You’re mine.”
“Ow, Bart, you’re hurting me!”
“I don’t like to hurt you, baby, but when you misbehave like that… Blocking me? Unfriending me? And now this.” He shook his head, a disappointed look darkening his face. “I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Let me go,” I gasped as his fingers dug into my arm.
He pressed me against the wall, trapping me with his body. “I’ll never let you go, Paisley. All I wanted was a hug. You see what you made me do?”
“See this, asshole.”
A fist slammed into Bart’s face, knocking him to the ground. Tyler lifted Bart off the floor by his collar and dragged him to the door.
Shaking with fury and terror, I followed a few steps behind as Tyler threw Bart into the street, leaving him to stumble away into the dark, bleeding. Oxygen finally filled my fear-constricted lungs, making me lightheaded as Tyler walked back through the door.
“Sorry, Paisley, I think I…”
I flung my arms around his neck before he could say another word, kissing him like the hero he was.
He tasted just the way I thought he would; clean and earthy and one-hundred-percent man. Tyler wrapped his arms around me, a protective embrace which quickly morphed into something more carnal as I flicked my tongue into his mouth. His tangled with mine, stroking languidly as if he were savoring my flavor.
Protect Me - A Steamy Bodyguard Romance (You Can't Resist a Bad Boy Book 5) Page 7