“He had throat surgery,” Mia said. She put out her hand. “I’m Mia Navarro, his translator.”
“You’re more than that,” Nate signed, while she and Hunter shook hands.
“Nice to meet you,” Hunter said. “I can’t wait to get up there and spin for this crowd.” He indicated the DJ booth that overlooked the dance floor. “They’re on fire.”
“We’re glad to have you here,” Mia repeated.
Hunter’s eyes widened as he gazed from her to Nate and back again. “You weren’t kidding about the translating. That’s cool. Your own secret language.”
“It’s been handy having her around the studio these last few weeks.”
Mia translated what Nate signed, and then added her own two cents. “His handwriting is terrible. I don’t know what would’ve happened if he’d been forced to write down everything he wanted to say.”
Hunter laughed and Mia could see why Melody had been hung up on him for so long. His engaging grin made it easy to smile back. Nate nudged her with his elbow and she shot him a questioning glance.
“Stop flirting with him.”
“Did Trent mention to you that I’m interested in booking some time in at Ugly Trout?” Hunter asked, his keen gaze missing little of their exchange.
Nate nodded.
“I’ve got a couple artists I’ve started working with and thought it might be good to have them come to Vegas while I’m here.”
“Speaking of artists,” Mia said, “Ivy’s here tonight. Why don’t we head over there and you can say hi.” Mia glanced at Nate as she finished speaking and sent a mischievous grin his way.
There’d been a very brief flirtation between Hunter and Ivy a year earlier. Hunter might be the perfect anecdote for Ivy’s stress. If nothing else, he’d be a good distraction. Although Hunter liked to play as hard as he worked, he was an advocate for clean living. Maybe reconnecting with him would convince Ivy to send Skylar and Riley packing.
“It would be great to see her,” Hunter said. “Lead the way.”
* * *
As he gestured for Hunter to follow Mia, Nate could tell she had something up her sleeve. By the time he reached the table, introductions were being made and Ivy’s girlfriends fell over themselves swarming the DJ. Not only was Hunter charismatic and good-looking, but his net worth was in the high seven figures, making him a player worth pursuing.
Ivy didn’t seem to be as impressed, but she was the star and, as always, wanted everyone to know it. But when Hunter gave her his best wicked grin, she thawed and patted the cushion beside her.
Mia signed an explanation. “They had a brief thing and I think she still likes him.”
Now Nate understood. “So he’s a distraction?”
Her smile was all the answer he needed and it gave him an idea. Maybe having Hunter in Las Vegas was going to be a good thing, after all. Having him spend time with Ivy might kill two birds with one
stone.
The friction between Nate and Ivy in the studio meant that recording the album wasn’t going smoothly. He could put it down to artistic differences, but more likely she’d picked up on his disgust for the way she treated Mia, or any number of the other things that irritated him about her. Whatever the cause, the chemistry between them was all bad.
Nate had heard nothing but good things about Hunter as a producer, and he suspected the DJ would love an opportunity to work with Ivy. Maybe he’d have better luck dealing with the pop princess. And if Hunter was reluctant to tackle Ivy’s album, maybe he’d be interested in her personally. She was beautiful and talented enough to appeal to him.
And that was the second reason to push them together. Weeks earlier Trent had signed Hunter to a one year contract as a DJ with Club T’s, which meant Hunter was going to be spending a lot more time in Las Vegas. While he promised to be a huge draw on Sunday nights, Nate was worried this might further disrupt Melody and Kyle’s relationship.
A year earlier Melody had been dating Hunter. They’d been together eighteen months and she found him lacking in the commitment department.
Kyle was Trent’s best friend since high school and had always treated his buddy’s little sister like family. After listening to Melody complain about her relationship woes, Kyle insisted that if Hunter thought he had competition, he would stop taking her for granted.
At some point during their six-week ruse, both of them got caught up in their pretend romance. But it wasn’t until Hunter came to his senses and realized he was about to lose Melody that she and Kyle admitted to each other that they’d fallen in love.
For a while things were going great between them. But then Melody had gone on tour with Nate and the separation had taken its toll on the fledgling romance. Melody and Kyle were committed to making the long-distance thing work right up until Melody got caught by the paparazzi coming out of a New York City club hand-in-hand with Hunter.
The whole incident had been innocent enough. He’d taken her hand to keep from being separated in the crush leaving the club, but there was too much history between Melody and Hunter for Kyle to dismiss the episode.