“Whatever.”
When Melody led Ivy and Javier out of the conference room, Mia turned to Nate. A blend of resignation and anxiety caused her chest to tighten. Conscious of the production assistants that remained in the room, Mia signed, “You and I working together is going to make her crazy.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do. And you’re not the one who has to live with her.”
“You don’t have to, either.”
“Please tell me we’re not going to have this discussion every day for the next month.”
“It’s not my fault that your sister misunderstands our relationship.”
“By ‘our relationship’ do you mean yours and mine or yours and hers?”
“Both.” Nate’s eyes were liquid silver as his gaze settled on her lips. “Now let’s go find an empty studio so I can kiss you.”
“You are nothing but trouble,” she declared.
The next four weeks were going to be heaven and hell. As much as it delighted her to be working so closely with Nate, keeping him at arm’s length was going to be a nearly impossible task.
“When it comes to you I am very determined.” He put his palm on her back and nudged her toward the door.
Just that fleeting touch sent her pulse skyrocketing. A nagging twinge in her chest bloomed into a sharp dig, but she smiled through it. Three days ago she’d woken in his arms and for a few minutes her world had been perfect. But the reality was that they couldn’t be together. He wanted something that was impossible for her to give right at this moment. And she couldn’t bring herself to hope that he’d wait around long enough for Mia to be reassured that her sister was strong enough to go it alone.
Mia’s hands shook as Nate escorted her into a control room. She was relieved to find it occupied. On the other side of the glass, a group of studio musicians were jamming. The intensity of their concentration broke as the song came to an end. Smiles and high fives were shared all around.
Nate signed and then pushed a button. Mia stared at him until he made a gesture and she realized he wanted her to speak.
“Sounds good. This is Mia,” she translated, then waved. “She’s going to be my voice for the next month.”
“You should keep her on permanently,” a bald, barrel-chested guy with a goatee called out. “She sounds way better than you ever did.”
“Looks a lot better, too.”
Once the sound engineers introduced themselves, Nate indicated the door across the hall, which led to another control booth. In the studio a young man rapped to an intricate beat that Mia recognized as something Nate had been fooling around with during the tour.
“You wrote that.”
He nodded before introducing her to the guy manning the booth. His name was Craig.
“Moving on.”
Nate opened the door to another studio and gestured her inside. The control booth on the other side of the glass was empty. The studio held a set of drums, a couple keyboards and several guitars.
As expected, he spun her around and pinned her against the door. He’d promised to find them an empty studio where he could kiss her, and he’d delivered. She didn’t resist as his lips found hers and he stole her breath away. Damn. The man knew how to kiss. His tongue traced her lips until she parted for him. She expected him to deepen the kiss, and when he continued nipping and nibbling her lips, she was the one who pushed up onto her toes and took the kiss to the next level.
Both of them were breathing hard and flushed when he stepped back and signed.
“Feel like fooling around?”
“Depends...” She tucked the hem of her shirt back into her pants and drew the word out, wondering what Nate had in mind.
“Give me a taste of what you’ve been working on. Just play around a bit with some of it and see what happens.”
“I can play some of the melodies.” Mia glanced at the instruments.
“And the lyrics.”