by Julie Archer
Chapter 14
Hearing Piper’s permission, Mal’s lips met her soft, full ones. It was the sweetest of kisses with the promise of more to come. Had he been on tour, hooking up with someone, he would immediately have taken it to the bedroom, but Piper was different.
He was different with her.
Being home mellowed him; there was no need to rush, to push things to the next level. They could take their time. He sensed Piper needed that. Fighting his desire, he pulled back. Piper’s eyes met his, reflecting the emotions he felt, along with a little questioning.
“Wow,” she breathed. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Was it okay? I didn’t want to force you into anything…”
Piper’s hand covered his. “You didn’t force me.” She smiled. “And it was wonderful.”
He wanted to do it again, but respected that they needed to adjust to what just happened. “More wine?”
“Are you trying to get me drunk?”
“Or I can get some water?”
“Wine will be fine; I was teasing.”
Mal reached for the bottle of Malbec. The fact Piper hadn’t pushed him away or shouted at him must mean that she felt the same way about him. He wondered how long she had been harboring that. He watched as she curled up in one corner of the sofa, her legs tucked underneath her. He topped up her glass and went to sit next to her, gently resting a hand on her thigh.
“What did you think of the song?”
The corner of Piper’s mouth curved up into a smile. “I said I liked it.”
“Only liked it, not loved it?”
“One step at a time.”
He questioned whether she was talking about the song or their kiss. “Sure, I get it.”
They fell silent for a while, unlike their breakfasts together when they could talk about anything and everything. Not wanting things to be uncomfortable, Mal turned on the TV. It was tuned to a music channel that broke for news every so often. He had switched it on during one of those times and was surprised to see a picture of his face on screen.
“Fans are increasingly disappointed not to have heard anything from Mal Colten since he cancelled his recent tour. People are out of pocket and claim to be unable to get hold of his management company to be compensated for their unused tickets…” the presenter was saying.
“What a load of bull!” Mal switched it off and tossed the remote on the table. “I know that Boyd and Therese are on it.” He blew out a hard breath as he put his head in his hands. “I can’t believe they’re saying that.”
Piper stroked his arm. “What can you do about it though? I mean, I know it was your decision to come home, but it’s not your fault if the management company can’t sort things out, is it?”
Mal couldn’t help but smile at her naivety. It was all his fault, and he knew it. Things like this could make or break an artist’s career. If only there was some way to recoup the money for the tickets that didn’t involve him having to leave Fortune’s Bay. “I guess I’ll just have to resume the tour.”
Piper’s face fell and was replaced with a frown as she wrinkled her nose. “What if you did something here?”
It was Mal’s turn to frown. “What do you mean?”
“What if you were to do a concert here in the Bay? Over at Providence Park maybe.” Piper leaned toward him, her eyes wide as she shared her thoughts. “You could make it for locals and any tourists that happened to be here on the date. Make tickets super cheap and put any profits toward those people who paid full price for the tour tickets.”
It was an utterly crazy, ridiculous idea. It would be taking advantage of his hometown residents in order to compensate those who would have come to see him in North Carolina or Oregon, or wherever. He had never done a gig in Fortune’s Bay though, so it would definitely be a once-off. The events planner was always badgering him to do something during the annual Treasure Hunt which, until now, he had always refused to do.
It might just work.
“How on earth did you come up with that?” asked Mal.
“I always thought that the park would make a great place for a concert,” said Piper. “And you could also stream it for fans who weren’t able to come to the show.”
He couldn’t believe that Piper had come up with such a thought. While he would be making some money from the gig, it would go straight into refunds, and by allowing it to be filmed live, it would mean everyone who would have gone to a cancelled gig would be able to see it too. He grabbed Piper’s shoulders excitedly. “I’ll have to run it past Boyd, although I can’t see why he’d veto it.”
Their eyes met, sparking off each other, the excitement of what they’d come up with overwhelming. If they could pull it off… Mal realized he was already thinking of them as a couple, that they were going to do this together. He needed to make sure that was what Piper wanted.
“If we do this, we do it together, okay?” he confirmed.
Piper nodded. “I think we’ll make a great team.”
She shifted her position, so she was looking directly at him. Her hand slid around the back of his neck and took control as she leant in to kiss him. As he was about to move in for more, her lips left his and grazed a path along his jawline, behind his ear and down his neck. Her breath was featherlight as she kissed her way across his sternum and up the other side. Mal shivered involuntarily as she moved back to his lips. He twined his fingers in her hair, breathing in the familiar apple scent he loved, and pulled her toward him. He wanted to kiss her until their lips were bruised and wanting more. He wanted to kiss her long into the night. Piper moaned softly against him and he could feel that she wanted more too. Without a word, he swept her into his arms and carried her upstairs.
Chapter 15
When Piper woke up the following morning, she wondered whether the events of the previous evening were simply a prank pulled by her overactive imagination. What if it had all been a mistake? Or some sort of misunderstanding. She glanced around the room and located her clothes on the sofa near the window. Should she get dressed and sneak back to her own room? Or wait until Mal returned and try to talk to him about what happened? The sight of Mal walking into the bedroom, clad in just his boxer shorts and carrying a tray with breakfast on it, soon put her straight. As he placed the tray on the bed, he leaned over and gave her a kiss.
“Morning, sleepyhead.” He smiled. “Did you sleep well?”
Piper reached for one of the mugs of coffee and nodded. “Like a baby; I haven’t slept that well in ages.”
It was, Piper reflected, a total surprise to her that she had slept at all. The previous evening seemed like a dream and had she not woken up in Mal’s bed, she would have consigned it to being just that.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Mal. He got back into bed and tucked into one of the freshly baked pastries, leaving crumbs all over the sheets.
“We do?”
“If we’re going to pull off this gig idea of yours, we need to get started today.” Mal held the pastry towards her. “Want a bite?”
“Mmm, please.” Piper leaned forward, making sure the sheet didn’t fall away from her body. She was still a little shy of Mal seeing her practically naked. “We should speak to Becki Lindstrom, the town events planner. She should be able to help too.”
“I didn’t even know Fortune’s Bay had an events planner.”
“You’ve been living in your rock-star bubble for too long,” teased Piper.
Mal took the mug out of her hand and placed it on the side. “I’m quite enjoying being in this bubble right now though…”
Piper sighed as he pulled her toward him and kissed her deeply. They’d never get anything done at this rate. Reluctantly, she wriggled out from his embrace.
“There will be plenty of time for that later. I guess you’ll have to speak to Boyd? What we’re thinking of doing doesn’t contravene any contract you have, does it?”
Mal shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think I alr
eady broke several parts of the contract by choosing to come home. I’ll give him a call later though, just to make sure.”
Piper wrapped the sheet around her, leaving Mal sitting on the bed, and picked up her clothes. “I need to shower and get dressed. Then we should get to work.”
“There’s a shower here…” Mal looked hopefully at her.
She placed a kiss on his cheek. “There’s one in my room too. I’ll see you downstairs later.”
With, what she hoped was a cheeky sashay through the door, Piper escaped to her own room. Once safely inside, she leaned against the door and exhaled loudly. Several minutes later, she was humming even louder as she showered and washed her hair. There was a definite spring in her step that morning and she knew exactly who had put it there. She headed down to the study to grab her notebook to begin making plans for the concert. As she entered, the sight of the box with all the tools that Mal had bought her made her smile. She picked up the sketches and ran her fingers over the lines. It wasn’t perfect, but she definitely knew what she needed to do to make sure it was. She sat down at the desk, distracted from what she was really meant to be doing, and picked up a pencil.
Lost in her own world, Piper didn’t hear the door open sometime later. When strong hands touched her shoulders, she jumped about eight feet in the air.
“Geez, are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
Mal stood behind her, a sheepish look on his face. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I just get so caught up in what I’m doing that I barely know I’m in the room, let alone know if there’s someone else there.”
“Okay, I’ll make sure I make more noise next time I disturb you,” said Mal, his eyes glinting. He leaned down and placed a featherlight kiss on her neck, causing her to shiver. He gently worked his way along her collarbone, his fingers pushing her hair out of the way.
“Mmm, that’s nice…” Piper closed her eyes, letting Mal work his magic on her.
He stopped abruptly. “Nice? Is that it?”
“No, it’s…” Piper stopped, searching for the right words. “Inspiring.”
Mal’s eyebrows knotted together.
“Here.” She picked up the sheet of paper with her design on it. “I drew this last night, after you gave me the toolbox.” It wasn’t like her to show her work to people so easily; usually she was extremely protective of it. She had no idea if Mal appreciated jewelry, particularly pieces that were designed with women in mind.
“That’s beautiful. You could sell hundreds of these. It’s exactly the sort of thing that a man should buy for the woman in his life.” He handed it back to her, his fingers brushing against hers. “You could make it a centerpiece of a collection.”
“My first collection,” breathed Piper, wistfully.
“Come on, you’ve got the tools and you definitely have the talent. Who says you can’t make it into a collection?”
Piper thought back to the gentleman in the souvenir shop who had dismissed her without a second thought. “A lot of people.”
“Have you really tried? I mean, I know you said that the people in your old job were going to give you a chance, but you can do it without them, right?”
“I need more tools though.”
“Then we’ll get them.” Mal’s eyes lit up. “Why don’t we debut your work at the charity gig?”
“That’s a crazy idea.” Piper’s heart skipped a little. Just the thought that she could pull off something like that made the butterflies in her stomach wake up—different butterflies to the ones that Mal gave her.
“Why? You’ve already got the ideas.”
“But I can’t just pull something together that quickly!” protested Piper.
“We don’t have a date for the gig yet. You can work out how long it would take you to create the pieces, and we can talk to Becki to make it work for you.”
All of a sudden, Piper’s mind went into overdrive. Mal was right; she hadn’t tried to do anything like this before. And if she really put the effort in, it would be possible. The prospect of actually achieving her dream was getting closer and closer. Impulsively, she reached up and pulled Mal toward her, kissing him full on the lips. She broke away. “You’re amazing, you know that?”
Mal’s mouth turned up at one corner. “I could say the same about you.”
Chapter 16
The conversation with Boyd had gone something along the lines of his manager yelling at him, asking him what the hell he thought he was doing, to Boyd calming down and asking what help he needed. There were times when Mal held the phone at arm’s length, just to retain his eardrum. However, once he had managed to persuade Boyd that it was a good thing to do, his manager cooled down and started talking about the logistics of the idea. When they reached that point, Mal knew that Boyd was on his side. They agreed that Boyd would talk to Therese about a PR strategy and how they could keep it low-key and exclusive, but also available to all of his fans.
“Who’s going to sort things out from the Fortune’s Bay side?” asked Boyd.
“There’s an events planner,” replied Mal. “Who knew? We’ll sort out everything that’s going to happen locally, and if you can let us know about the live filming, that would be great.” The sound of a pen scratching on paper told him that Boyd was writing notes as he spoke and probably working out what he was going to say to Therese.
“How did you come up with the idea?” Boyd asked.
Mal started to pace the floor. He wasn’t sure yet whether he should tell Boyd about Piper. He also reasoned that if he didn’t and something got out on social media without his manager knowing, there would be hell to pay. He and Piper hadn’t been out in public together, even though it had only been a couple of days since they got together. He knew how the Fortune’s Bay gossip worked though; he’d been victim of it plenty of times before. Maybe honesty was the best policy here.
“You know Piper…” he began.
“Your house sitter? She came up with the idea?”
“Yeah…and there’s something else I need to tell you about her too.”
“Don’t tell me you hooked up with her?”
It’s so much more than just a hookup, Mal wanted to say. She’s the most amazing woman and I think I’m starting to fall in love with her, even after such a short time. Instead, he tempered his response. “Not exactly, but I am interested in her.”
Boyd sighed heavily and Mal could almost feel the breath in his ear. “Just be careful, Mal. I don’t want to have to bail you out again.”
The way Boyd spoke insinuated that Mal was some kind of player that had a string of broken relationships and women begging to be compensated for being led on. Since Cora, there had been a little of that, but he never promised anything to anyone. Now he wanted to promise Piper a lot more.
“Don’t worry, it will be fine.”
They talked for a couple more minutes about nothing in particular and then ended the call, Mal promising to update Boyd once he’d spoken with the events planner. That was his next call.
Mal didn’t know a great deal about the woman responsible for pretty much everything that happened in Fortune’s Bay, but from what he could see, about the visitors she attracted to the town, she certainly excelled at her job. The write-ups on the town’s website were glowing and pretty much everything she touched seemed to turn to gold. He found her details from there and tapped her number into his phone. As he waited for it to connect, he wondered what Piper was doing. He couldn’t wait until lunchtime when he could update her on what he’d achieved that morning. He only hoped that she had been able to find the inspiration she needed to sort out her collection.
Becki Lindstrom answered on the fifth ring. Her tone was apprehensive, as if answering an unknown number was something to be suspicious of which, in most cases, it was.
“Becki, hi, I’m not sure whether you know me…” Mal wished he’d rehearsed something to say because he felt like a bumbling idiot. “It’s, um, Mal Colten. I, er, wanted to
speak to you about an idea we’ve had.”
It was a surprise that she didn’t immediately hang up. He guessed it wasn’t every day that a famous singer called up for a chat.
“Is this a joke? Look, someone’s played this prank on me before.”
“Please don’t hang up!” begged Mal. “Look, I know you probably won’t believe me, but I am really who I say I am. I’m currently in my studio at Bayview House and I can assure you that it isn’t a joke. I’m sure you heard about the cancellation of my last tour?”
“Of course, who didn’t?”
“Then you know I really should do something to make it up to those fans who lost out.” Becki was silent on the other end of the line. “At least hear me out.” Mal briefly outlined what they were thinking of doing. He also added that he wanted vendors and artists to have an opportunity to showcase their work, so it wasn’t just a musical event. “It would be great if you could come over to the house, and we can discuss it in more detail.”
“Sure, I think I can do that. How about some time next week?”
“Can you not do it before?” asked Mal.
There was a rustling of papers and fingers tapping on a keyboard. “I can probably move a few things around. Would Thursday work? Around eleven?”
That was still a couple of days away, but Mal knew better than to argue. “Great, we’ll see you then. You know where to come?”
Becki let out a cross between a giggle and a snort. “I think most Fortune’s Bay residents know where you live, even if they won’t admit it.”
Chapter 17
The day of the gig dawned just like every other Fortune’s Bay morning, warm, bright and sunny. Piper felt anything but. She had been awake since the early hours, fretting over pretty much everything while Mal snored gently beside her. A million questions spun around her brain: what if no one bought any of her jewelry; what if someone had an allergic reaction to the metals she’d used; what if people were shocked about her and Mal being together; what if it rained and no one came? The last one was complete nonsense. It hardly ever rained, and the park would be packed. With Becki’s expert organization, the gig was being billed as a community event, and residents and tourists alike were excited about it.