Page 16

I gave her a light kiss before moving back to the counter and leaning against it, watching her work. She was so fucking hot, and I had to fight against the pull I felt towards her. But I knew what was at stake here, and I couldn’t let my desires cloud my judgment. So, I sipped my coffee, trying to ignore the way she filled out her jeans and the way her shirt clung to her curves.
Suddenly, I’d had enough. It was time to end the charade. “You can have it.”
“Have what?”
“The contract.”
Stef looked at me blankly for a moment before going back to making pancakes. “What contract?”
“The recording contract,” I repeated slowly, trying to keep my tone even. “Isn’t that what this is all about? Wolfe told you I was launching a record label, and that I’d come by last night to check out your band. You figured you’d just grab some extra credit to close the deal. I mean, I don’t blame you. No judgment here. It’s just business.”
The look that flickered across Stef’s face was unreadable–a flash of something that disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. And then she switched off the stove and turned away from me, walking up the stairs to the loft bedroom without another word, her movements stiff, mechanical.
I frowned as all the confusion I thought I’d cleared away came roaring back. What the fuck? I thought she’d be pleased. Ecstatic, even. Had I…had I misjudged? No, surely not. But these were not the actions of a person who just got what they wanted. And I had no fucking clue what to do about it. So, I watched as she came back downstairs, her bag over her shoulder, heading towards the elevator without so much as a glance in my direction.
“Wait, I didn’t mean?—”
She turned to look at me over her shoulder, just as the elevator doors opened. Her face was blank, her eyes cold. “Yeah, you did.”
The elevator doors slid closed behind her, leaving a heavy silence behind them. What the fuck had just happened? It seemed like she hadn’t slept with me for the contract. Now I had to wrestle with the idea that itwasn’tan illusion. Which meant…what the fuck had I just done?
CHAPTER 6
Stefania
Oh fuck, I was going to throw up. Or burst into tears. Or both.
‘Isn’t that what this is all about?’
Honestly, Grayson’s words had left me reeling. He’d…he had actually thought that I’d fucked him for a recording contract. That whole time, everything we’d done, and he’d thought I was trading my body for money. Tears burned my eyes. It hurt so fucking much.
The elevator doors dinged open and I stepped out, barely taking in the elegant lobby as I crossed to the revolving door and outside.
When I got to the sidewalk, I stopped dead in my tracks. I had no idea how I was going to get home to Esperance.
How much cash did I have?
Where was the bus station?
Maybe I could afford an Uber?
I reached into my bag for my phone, hoping it wasn’t dead. God, was I going to have to call my brother Dante and ask him to drive the two hours to Raleigh to pick me up? As I fumbled with my bag, a limo pulled up right in front of me. Andrew got out, a wide smile on his face, and came around to open the door for me.
I frowned in confusion and his smile faded.
“Mr. Rivers told me to come and collect you, to take you wherever you need to go.”
My first feeling was to say, “Fuck no,” there was no way I was taking anything off Grayson Rivers ever again. But then I looked down at my phone and saw that it was dead.
Don’t cry.With no money, and no way to call my brother, I had no fucking option but to get in the back of the limo.
Huffing out a breath, I climbed in, not making eye contact with Andrew.
I guess he picked up on my mood because his voice was formal and polite when he asked, “Where to, Ma’am?”
I gave him Dante and Lucy’s address and settled back against the soft leather, staring out the window. Not even twelve hours ago, I was on my knees, inches from where I now sat. Being railed by the hottest guy I’d ever seen. If only I’d known at the time what a monumental fucking asshole he was.
The trip was long and boring, which gave me plenty of time to dwell. Fun times! As the limo turned into the road that led down to the valley, I was hit with a terrible realization. If either Dante or Lucy saw me stepping out of a limo, I’d have an awful lot of explaining to do. God fucking dammit!