by Dawn Ryder
Ramsey jumped and turned on his bandmate. Taz greeted him with a raised eyebrow. “Don’t mess up.”
“He’s not,” Jewel assured Taz. “Even went to see his parents last night.”
There was shock all around the suite. Ramsey shrugged and dove into a mountain of scrambled eggs he’d dumped Tabasco sauce over.
Taz suddenly smiled. “See? I’m right to tell you not to mess it up. Jewel is a keeper.”
“Which means everyone can turn their attention on you,” Ramsey retaliated with a smack of his lips.
Taz’s expression became guarded as the other members of Toxsin took the opportunity to laugh at his expense. He shook his head. “I’m not the one with the commitment issues. Joi is.”
Jewel was itching to ask who Joi was, but a warning look from Ramsey made her reach for a piece of toast instead. There was a knock on the door before Brenton appeared.
“How are we feeling today?” he asked brightly. “Ready to rock? We’ve got a packed stadium to play.”
The buzz in the room started to build. Jewel enjoyed being part of it. The members of Toxsin began to put on their game faces as they scattered to their suites to shower and begin the trip to the stadium. Ramsey kissed her good-bye before running down the hall to dive into an elevator with Taz. The hotel lost its homey feeling with their departure, becoming more of a lonely building. A necessity of success.
Her phone buzzed, showing Bryan Thompson’s number.
“Hello?”
“Good evening, Ms. Ryan, Bryan Thompson here. Mr. Morcant is hoping you have time to meet with him tonight.”
There was a tingle on the nape of her neck—the timing of the call was just too perfectly matched with Ramsey’s departure. Jewel shook it off, realizing that she really didn’t have the right to be picky. A mega offer was a mega offer.
“I do,” she answered clearly.
“Excellent,” Bryan replied. “A car will call for you, say around six?”
“Great.”
She ended the call and ordered herself to look forward to the meeting. Being in a relationship with Ramsey didn’t change her dreams of having her own career. In fact, she needed to be her own person more, because the last thing Ramsey needed was a woman trying to ride his coattails. It would be too simple to get lost in the whirlwind of his bigger-than-life persona. Caught in that gravitational pull she’d noticed about him the first time they’d met.
Yeah. She was going to her meeting with Quinn Morcant, and she was going to give his offer serious consideration. Because there was no way she was only going to be Ramsey’s toy.
No matter how much she enjoyed being played with. The reason was simple. She needed to be his match.
* * *
When Jewel made it down to the lobby at six, she had the contract offer in hand. It was decorated with highlighter now, questions written into the margins. Steven followed her silently until he spied the uniformed driver waiting in the lobby, holding a card with her name on it.
The bodyguard stepped into her path. She was so used to him trailing her, his action surprised her. When she locked gazes with him, she realized she’d misjudged him completely. Steven often came off as a happy-go-lucky guy. It had been a mistake to think Ramsey would have hired anyone who wasn’t deadly skilled. She was looking straight at that reality now. And Steven was making it clear she wasn’t going anywhere until he approved.
“Sorry,” Jewel started. “I’m a little new to having someone along with me. I have a business appointment this evening with Quinn Morcant to discuss the proposal he has made.”
As far as explanations went, it was polished and professional sounding. But she still felt off balance and wet behind the ears.
Well, straighten up, girl. Opportunities are calling.
Steven considered her for a long moment. “We need to work on communication, Ms. Ryan.”
“Yes. My fault,” she admitted.
He turned around to look at the driver. “Ms. Ryan has her own car at her disposal. I’ll see that she arrives.”
The driver wasn’t amused. For a long moment, there was a stare down that had the hotel security moving closer. Morcant’s driver finally reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew a business card. Steven plucked it from his fingers before lifting up his cell phone and tapping something into the screen.
He held his tongue until she was settled in the back of a dark-windowed sedan that appeared in front of the hotel fast enough to make her realize she had been selling Steven short. The guy was a polished professional.
“I hope you understand why it isn’t a solid idea to get into a car with a stranger?” Steven asked softly.
Too softly, because she heard the judgment in his tone loud and clear. “I’m a little new to the lifestyle.”
Steven pulled something from his jacket pocket. It looked like a hair ornament. He held it up. “Press the center, and it sends a signal to my earpiece.” He demonstrated. “And I won’t ask any questions before I extract you. To be clear, there won’t be any conversation until I have you in a secure location. You’ll move under your own power or mine.”
“So ‘oops, I didn’t mean that’ isn’t something you want to hear?”
He shook his head with a menacing look. Jewel held out her hand. “Got it.” She slid it into her hair and made sure it was secure. “No oopsies.”
Steven returned to what she’d come to consider his normal expression. Guess that meant her apology was accepted. But she was still left feeling a little hollow, like she had no clue what she was doing.
Well, she was going to have to learn.
Fast.
Because she was going to be her own woman. She loved Ramsey for the no-excuses artist he was. Didn’t fucking care she was admitting she loved him either, because it only fueled her determination to make sure she was someone he’d be proud to have near him.
His counterpart.
The car pulled into traffic as she opened the contract and focused on the meeting ahead.
* * *
“Jewel is good for you,” Taz said from a makeup chair.
“Can’t believe she got you to go see your parents,” Syon added from where he was fingering the strings of his guitar.
“Believe it.” Ramsey made his way across the performers’ backstage room to pick up his own guitar. “That woman holds awesome powers of persuasion. It was good. My mom even fell into line. Sort of. She didn’t bring the Bible out, anyway.”
Syon looked shocked for a moment before he slowly smiled. “The fans are going to be devastated.”
“Yup,” Ramsey confirmed.
His decision felt right.
So damned right it scared him, but in a good way. It had been too long since he’d had something in his life that he was afraid to lose.
But Jewel had been worth the wait.
* * *
The car delivered her to another posh, upscale hotel not too far from where Toxsin was staying. A huge revolving door was centered in front of it. Steven took her through it, insisting on walking ahead of her. Inside the lobby, there were polished marble floors and desk personnel in bottle-green suits.
A woman in a smart brown suit was waiting for her. “Good evening, Ms. Ryan, I’m one of Mr. Morcant’s assistants.”
It was an obvious tactic, replacing the burly driver with a less intimidating female. Jewel didn’t buy it for a second. There was a sharpness in the woman’s eyes that said she was every bit as capable as the driver, even if she was wearing a skirt.
Well, mostly because of the skirt and the fact that the woman looked a little unaccustomed to it.
She was suspicious, but decided it was a healthy approach to take into a meeting with one of Forbes’s most eligible bachelors. Quinn Morcant wouldn’t be giving anything away, so neither would she.
“This way please.”
The assistant didn’t blink an eye as Steven followed them. She took Jewel to a private elevator that required a key card. She swept it through
the card slot, and the elevator door opened.
She led the way forward, inserting a key into the control board of the elevator before the doors would close. There was a soft hum and vibration as the car engaged and pulled them upward. The doors opened into a very nice entryway. The assistant swept the key card a final time to open a pair of double doors.
“I’ll show your escort to our waiting lounge,” the assistant stated firmly.
Steven sent her a look before he followed the woman through another door. Jewel was left standing in the entryway, facing a pair of doors that just might lead to her future. She tightened her grip on her resolve and reached for the door. There wasn’t much use in knocking. A man with a personal assistant certainly wouldn’t be in the dark on just where his appointment was.
She hesitated two steps inside the door. There was music playing in the background, and a table set up for dinner.
“Excellent.” Quinn Morcant didn’t waste the opportunity to let her know he noticed her shock. He was watching the doorway from a position near the floor-to-ceiling windows that made up two sides of the room.
“My plan to impress you is working.” He had on a three-piece business suit that was expertly tailored to his body; there was also a slight Scottish lilt to his voice, making the “you” sound more like a “ye.” Damned if that didn’t tickle her just a little.
She pushed herself forward, repeating her self-imposed dictate to face him head-on. “I didn’t realize it would be a dinner meeting.”
Quinn had closed the distance between them, allowing her to see how blue his eyes were. Oh, hell, he was Scottish through and through, in that way every girl fantasized about after reading a Highlander romance novel.
“Can hardly keep you during the supper hour without feeding you.” He held out a hand. Jewel took it, thinking he meant to shake. Instead, he lifted it to his lips and pressed a kiss against the backside of her fingers.
Man, it was suddenly clear how the man had made it onto the Forbes list. Eligible didn’t even begin to describe him. There was a vibe to him that sent a shiver down her spine.
“I see you’ve gone through my offer,” Quinn continued as though she wasn’t standing there frozen.
“Yes.” Her brain fired up as she lifted the contract between them. Quinn plucked it neatly out of her hands and dropped it on a nearby table.
“After supper,” he declared softly, but not so softly that she didn’t hear the ring of authority in his tone. The guy was used to commanding everything around him, and she got the distinct impression he enjoyed it.
There was no way she was going to let him steamroll her. “Sounds delightful,” Jewel said, her confidence coming to her rescue. Quinn was charming and over the top, but she realized he didn’t steal her breath.
Only Ramsey could do that.
“Excellent.” Quinn actually held a chair out for her. “I like to get to know people before jumping into bed with them.”
He was testing her. Using the word “bed” instead of business. Jewel sat down. The moment she did, a waiter appeared with a bottle of wine. Quinn settled down across from her, but she wouldn’t say he sat down. He swung his leg over the chair and settled onto it. There was something less than civilized about the motion.
“I tend to take that approach in business myself,” she added. The waiter had opened the wine and poured out a sample for Quinn. He smelled it before tasting it.
“Perfect.” His speech slipped into a burr again. The waiter filled both their glasses before moving away on silent feet. Quinn lifted his glass. “To new ventures, Ms. Ryan.”
* * *
Ramsey rubbed a hand over his face, happy to be free of his stage makeup. He was still pulsing from the show, his blood up. Brenton appeared, but it was the set of the man’s body that drew a second glance from more than just Ramsey. Syon, Taz, and Drake all turned to look at the road manager. There was something serious on his mind.
Dead serious.
“Sammy called,” Brenton began.
“And?” Syon prompted him when he fell silent.
“Someone tipped him off,” Brenton responded. “Claims Jewel went to a dinner meeting with Quinn Morcant.”
Ramsey eyed Brenton. “He’s trying to contract her art work.” It was the right thing to say, but he didn’t like it. It meant Jewel was out with another man. A thick wave of jealousy crashed into him.
“Sammy’s source claims she’s there selling your new piece of music.” Brenton dropped the real reason he was so tense.
“Bullshit,” Ramsey said.
“I don’t think so,” Taz agreed.
“Neither do I.” Syon added his two cents’ worth.
“Jewel doesn’t roll that way,” Drake stated firmly.
“Well, Sammy thinks so. It’s a good source. She had opportunity.”
“So…she’s guilty?” Ramsey countered. “Was that source Tia, by chance?”
Brenton’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t know.”
“Well, find out,” Ramsey shot back. “Because Tia started in on Jewel the second she could, and Tia isn’t one to quit while she thinks she’s ahead. Someone is feeding her information. She knew Jewel was a virgin.”
“That’s not good,” Taz said. “It’s someone with top-floor access.”
“I’ll get on that,” Brenton added.
Quinn Morcant was smooth and as much of an appreciator of the ladies as Ramsey had been himself. He suddenly realized exactly what sort of asshole he’d been. “I’ll go find her,” he said.
“Wait for me,” Syon insisted, but Ramsey was already on his way out the door of the performers’ area. The press was camped out, flashes going off as he emerged. For the first time, he felt crowded. There was something hollow about it all, and he realized what he was feeling was fear.
Fear that all he was going to have was his rock-star life.
It wasn’t enough.
Shit.
His parents were right.
* * *
Jewel’s head was spinning when she made it back down into the car. Steven was watching her, but Jewel had her hands full trying to keep her thoughts together. Quinn was cutthroat. A business shark that made normal sharks look cute and cuddly. She’d taken to sipping the wine in an effort to maintain her wits. The trip back to the hotel wasn’t long enough for her, and she was still struggling to sort her thoughts into order as she headed into the lobby.
“Why did you go see Quinn by yourself?”
Jewel jumped, looking up to find Ramsey bearing down on her.
“I was discussing the contract offer he sent me.” The paparazzi were surging to life, the scent of a fight rousing them. Jewel walked through the lobby toward the elevators, because Ramsey was tense, clearly spoiling for a fight.
She made it into a car, but Ramsey followed her. He pointed Steven toward another car before the doors slid shut.
“What are you doing jumping on me like that?” she asked the second the doors shut. “Couldn’t you wait? Or maybe…trust me?”
“It looked bad,” he continued, as though she hadn’t spoken. “Really bad that you went alone to see someone you know is in direct competition with my producer.”
“So that’s why you’re barking at me in front of half the crew, like I was stepping out on you?” She bit back her temper and dug deep for some patience. “It was a business meeting, about my career.”
Ramsey scowled at her as the doors opened on the top floor. “A meeting that smells like it included wine.”
That stopped her in the middle of the hallway. She turned around, unbearably conscious of the fact that they weren’t alone. She struggled to make her tone even. “The last business meeting I went to with you included naked people in the pool and a topless woman in a shoestring bikini bottom kissing you. I’m not planning on coat-tailing my way through life, which is exactly why I went to the meeting. To discuss my art.”
She was losing it. In some corner of her mind, she realized he was jealous and l
ashing out at her. Jewel turned on her heel and headed down the hallway, away from the suite she shared with him. She ended up in a conference room, reaching for the sliding glass door and pulling it open for air.
She needed air!
It was just a misunderstanding.
Like hell. It was an epic failure on his part not to trust her. Her phone buzzed, and she reached for it. Her mother’s number flashed on the screen. She opened the line, desperate for a distraction. She didn’t want to face the fight she was having or its destructive implications. Suddenly, all of the confidence she’d had in her relationship with him went dead like a jet engine that just stopped in midair.
Just falling, and all the time, she was aware of her impending death when she hit the ground.
Ramsey was suddenly there, pulling the phone out of her hand. “Whoever it is, they can fucking wait.”
He punched the power button on the phone, killing it completely, and dropped it into a chair.
“That was my mom.”
He froze, her statement impacting and making it through the haze of jealousy holding him in its grip.
“And we are not talking about this now.” She held a hand up between them. “I am way too pissed off and you’re…” Words failed her.
“I’m jealous,” he confirmed. “Aren’t you happy?”
“What?” she asked in a hollow whisper. “How could I be happy to see that you don’t trust me?”
“Morcant isn’t just anyone,” Ramsey continued. “The guy could charm the habit off a nun.”
“Oh…so I’m expected to understand when I come out of a restroom and find you lying across a bunch of pillows and kissing someone, but how dare I have a dinner meeting with a man who is equally as attractive as Vicky?”
“Someone said you gave him our new music piece.”
She felt like he’d punched her in the chest. Her heart just stopped between beats. “How can you even say that to me?”
The other members of the band were in the doorway. “I would have walked out of the meeting if he’d even asked!”
“I had to bring it up, because someone told Sammy about your meeting with Quinn.”