The dimple flashing in Nate’s scruffy cheek vanished. “Mia, about what happened in Sydney—”
“You don’t need to go there,” Mia said, forcing lightness into her voice. “It was a crazy tour. So much fun. I won’t ever forget it.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“Please, Nate.” She longed to surrender to the intense glow in his eyes and fall into his arms. “You need to focus on Ivy. And so do I. She’s really freaked out about this new direction in her career. I told her you were the best producer in the business and that together you would make platinum.”
“I couldn’t care less about her or her album. I’m only doing this so I can spend more time with you.”
His words sent a spear of yearning through her, but Mia shook her head. “Don’t say that. Ivy needs this album to be great.” Maybe if she had a hit Ivy’s insecurity would stop consuming her, and Mia could begin to live her life far from her demanding twin.
“How long are you planning to keep on being her lackey? Don’t you want to be free to explore what makes you happy?”
“Of course.” And she would have that life if Ivy’s new project catapulted her into the big time. “And someday I’ll have that chance.”
“For your sake I hope someday is soon.” The intensity in Nate’s gaze made her shiver.
“I have to get going,” Mia said, although now that she’d seen Nate again, the last thing she wanted to do was leave. “You’ll text me the details about dinner tonight?”
“Yes.”
As Nate escorted Mia to the lobby, she noticed he didn’t touch her again.
“It was good seeing you,” she murmured awkwardly. She wanted to throw herself into his arms and declare how much she’d missed him. But that would only make the problems between them worse.
Mia maintained a firm grip on her impulses. The connection they’d share on tour had been packed up and put away with the instruments, lights and sound equipment. Sneaking around behind Ivy’s back had been necessary and exciting, but it wasn’t something Mia intended to do any longer.
While on tour Ivy had been distracted by the traveling, flirting with Free Fall’s single band members and blowing up social media for her fans. In Las Vegas, she would be completely focused on her music and on Nate. Mia wouldn’t have any opportunities for time alone with him.
Ever since Ivy learned that she was going to work with Nate, she’d been more agitated and demanding than Mia ever remembered her being. Mia wasn’t a fool. She understood why Ivy was so reluctant to give her space. Heaven forbid Mia would get a life and walk away.
After leaving Nate, Mia was halfway through the errands she was running for Ivy when her phone began to play Ivy’s latest hit, her special ring tone. Mia held off answering for several seconds. But she’d already ignored a bunch of Ivy’s texts, and her sister would have a fit if she didn’t pick up now.
“OMG. Where have you been? I’ve texted you, like, a dozen times.” Ivy’s voice poured from Mia’s smartphone, scattering her thoughts to the wind. Behind closed doors the sweetheart pop star became a demanding diva. “I’ve been dying to hear all about how excited Nate is that we’re working together.”
“Sorry I didn’t respond.” In fact, she’d been lost in thought and hadn’t heard the alerts. “Traffic was crazy and there was an accident...”
“If you were sitting in traffic you should have called.” Ivy barely gave that a second to sink in before continuing, “Whatever. Tell me. Tell me.”
“Of course he’s excited to be working with you.”
“What did he say exactly?”
“That you’re going to make the best album ever.” It was lame, but her sister would freak if Mia shared what Nate had actually said. “But listen, Ivy—”
Her sister’s squeal interrupted her. “I knew it. He is into me.”
“I’m sorry. What?” Mia almost rear-ended the car in front of her when the driver stopped abruptly to avoid hitting an SUV that cut him off.
“Nate. He’s into me.” Ivy sounded quite pleased with herself. “I told you how he was hitting on me on tour.”
“Nate hit on you?” Mia’s stomach clenched in dismay at Ivy’s words. “When was that?”
When it came to her sister, Mia was like one of Pavlov’s dogs. She panicked at the first sign that her sister was scheming. Ivy made an art form out of keeping the focus on her. Even before Ivy became famous she knew how to manipulate a situation to suit her and often Mia received the full brunt of the backlash. Since then Ivy had pulled several stunts to stay in the spotlight. Mia had learned to keep her head down.
“All the time. How did you not notice?”
“Sure. Of course.” Mia was glad her sister couldn’t see her expression.
“And I never told you, but that last night in Sydney...” She let the confession hang in the air to build suspense.
“What about it?”
“We were together.”
A curse shot from Mia before she could stop herself. “Sorry, I almost hit the car in front of me. This traffic is—”
“Whatever. Did you hear what I said?”
“About you being with Nate that last night in Sydney?” Mia was torn between a laugh and a groan. Good thing she’d already put her romance with Nate behind her. Now that Ivy had decided she wanted him, any hint that Mia had feelings for him would be disastrous.
“I should’ve told you.”
Mia’s voice was uncharacteristically sharp as she asked, “Why didn’t you?”
“You don’t need to be such a bitch. I’m sorry I didn’t say something sooner, but I wasn’t sure if what we had was going anywhere.”
“And now?” Mia turned into the parking structure closest to the stores she needed to hit.
“Ever since I found out he asked to work with me on my new album, I’ve been convinced what we have is the real deal.” Ivy sounded at the same time dreamy and triumphant. “When will you be getting back to the house?”
“I’m heading to Rodeo Drive to take care of the stuff you wanted me to return.” Ivy loved to shop, but she could be fickle when it came to liking things once she got them home. “It shouldn’t take me more than half an hour.”
As self-absorbed as Ivy could be, when it came to her twin, she liked knowing everything Mia was up to. It had gotten to the point where Mia gave up on having secrets of her own. Or that’s the way it had been until Nate came along. That they shared the ability to sign had enabled Mia to have something all to herself that Ivy couldn’t barge in on and take over.
Mia realized she’d been counting on this album to launch her sister, hoping that it would be enough of a distraction to allow Mia to escape.
Was that how she viewed Ivy? As someone Mia needed to run away from? The relationship between Mia and her sister hadn’t always been so strained. Until the last three or four years, when Ivy’s career really took off, Mia and Ivy had been as close as two people who shared the same womb for nine months could be.
If anything demonstrated how much Mia craved a chance to get out of Ivy’s shadow, it was her clandestine flirtation with a man her sister had shown an interest in. And now Mia realized that despite the way she’d left things that last morning in Sydney, a part of her hadn’t given up on pursing a relationship with Nate.
In the beginning she’d simply enjoyed Nate’s charismatic presence. Not only was the lead singer of Free Fall a musical genius, he had killer dimples that rendered her speechless, and the sort of lean muscles that made her all too aware of her vulnerable heart, unsteady knees and tendency to blush.
At first she hadn’t taken his attention seriously. Fate had seen to it that Ivy was granted all the beauty and most of the talent. Most people outside their family didn’t even know Mia and Ivy were sisters, much less twins. Ivy
had taken their mother’s maiden name because she liked the way it sounded, and Bliss worked great for marketing.
And then one day Nate had been backstage while Ivy rehearsed. She’d stopped the sound check and was shrieking at the drummer for messing with the tempo. Across the ten feet separating them, Mia saw the gesture Nate made, and amusement must have shown on her face because he snagged her gaze and winked.
Mia had signed, asking him if he knew what that particular gesture meant, and he signed back that he absolutely did. For the duration of Ivy’s sound check, they’d discovered through sign language that each had a hearing-impaired family member. That day something unexpected had happened to Mia. She’d made an unlikely friend. And in the weeks that followed, it became more.
Ivy broke into her thoughts. “Can you stop and get me a coffee on your way back? You know how I like it.”
Keeping up with Ivy’s demands required Mia’s full attention. For most of her life that hadn’t bothered her. But ever since Nate had come along and actually noticed her, not as Ivy’s twin or her assistant, but as a desirable woman, Mia spent more and more time thinking about a life away from Ivy.
“Sure.” Now all she needed to do was find a way to explain to her family that she wanted to strike out on her own. And that was not going to be easy. “I know exactly how it needs to be.”
Copyright © 2017 by Catherine Schield
ISBN-13: 9781488011580
Triplets for the Texan
Copyright © 2017 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Janice Maynard for her contribution to the Texas Cattleman’s Club: Blackmail series.
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