Page 55 of Hard Rock Tease

"I hope he isn't giving you too much trouble with yourconsulting." He stressed the last word, giving me an oddly penetrating look.

He knew. August definitely knew I was writing the song for Noah. Did he know we'd had a fight? Maybe August knew everything that went on in the band.

"Noah's not too bad once you get to know him." I was lying through my teeth of course, but I didn't want to bad mouth August's fellow bandmate in front of him.

"If you ever need help getting through that thick skull of his, let me know."

"Actually…" I wondered whether I should tell August what happened. The thought of confessing our sexual escapades and subsequent falling out was embarrassing enough that I found myself flushing. No. No one could find out about that. "We had a bit of a misunderstanding. I'm trying to find him so I can clear things up."

"Please be patient with him."

I blinked. "Patient?"

August nodded. "He can be difficult to work with."

I choked back a snort. "I've noticed."

"Like I said. If you ever need any help."

"I'll remember that. Thank you."

The rest of the mansion was as full with people as the front rooms had been. I had to tiptoe around drunk people and duck to avoid flailing limbs. When I finally found the back entrance to the pool, my dress was spotted with splashes of beer and smears from sticky fingers. I was glad I hadn't worn white.

I found Noah sitting out back, slumped over on one of the stone-carved benches. He leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees and a beer in one hand.

"Hey," I said tentatively.

He inclined his head a fraction of an inch, not meeting my eyes.

"What?" he said flatly.

I flinched, but steeled myself. "I thought we should talk about what happened."

"Nothing happened."

"Are you really going to pretend that we didn't…" I looked around surreptitiously, making sure no one could overhear. "Pretend we didn't spend weeks having sex with each other only to have you throw me out during our first fight?"

"Nothing. Happened." He stressed each word carefully. Probably wanted to forget all about his temper tantrum. Maybe he also wanted to forget about the rest of it, too. The thought made my heart clench.

"Fine. If that's how you want to play it. If nothing happened, then that means there's no reason why we can't continue working together as adults."

"Right."

"Okay." I stood there, fuming. "Then I guess I shouldn't mention that song you were playing whennothing happened."

He glowered at me. "What about it?"

I folded my arms across my chest like armor. "I liked it. I think you should use it."

"Use it how?"

"Use it for your album. That should be your song."

"No."

I raised an eyebrow at his curt reply. "Why not? It's good. Better than anything the two of us have been able to come up with."

"The stuff we've come up with has been fine."