Page 8 of Hard Rock Tease

"I don't need help. And I don't need help from some fangirl."

Pursing my lips, I resisted the urge to snap at him. "Stop with the fangirl stuff."

"Stay out of my way. I can do this myself."

"I've been hired to do a job. I'm going to do it to the best of my abilities."

"I don't need your help," he repeated.

"You've got it anyway."

Noah scowled.

Naomi smiled. "Looks like we've got the right person for the job."

Chapter Three

As I leftthe interview room, Noah was still bickering with Naomi. She had asked me to step out of the room while she and Noah discussed a few details. I wanted to get out of there before I snapped at him again. What a great way to start our working business relationship.

Relationship. I could feel my cheeks heating up. Not exactly the word I wanted to use when thinking about Noah Hart and myself. We would be working together. That was all.

Of course, my body was showing interest in Noah in ways that it hadn't in a long time.

I was torn between terror and excitement. Putting aside the way my insides gushed when I was near him, there was more than one reason why I should feel worried.

It wasn't so much that Noah clearly resented being forced to work with me. I could deal with that. In college I'd been forced to pair up with fellow students who I had nothing in common with, people I might not have chosen to work with, people I might have clashed with in previous years. Still, I'd managed to be professional and had learned to work with people of all sorts.

Working with a lyricist who was dealing with the musical equivalent of writer's block wasn't all that bad in comparison.

It was that I was supposed to be writing a song forNoah Hart,lead singer of Darkest Days. Noah Hart, the soulful, romantic poet whose lyrics spoke to my very soul. I was supposed to be writing a song with the man who made me the person I was today. The man who saved me during my darkest days.

It was cliched and dramatic, but it was also true.

And I was supposed to write a song with him.

No way. There was no way in the world I was good enough to do something like that. As far as I was concerned, Noah was agod.I was a student barely out of college. Sure, I was pretty good when it came to composing, but I was nowhere near the level it took to work with someone like Noah Hart.

Why had I said yes? Why had I even bothered to show up for this interview? I should have told my professor no. There were dozens of other students I could name who would be a million times better than me for this kind of job.

I gave my head a vicious shake. I couldn't let my insecurities get the best of me. This was the opportunity of a lifetime.

But Noah was right. Iwasa fangirl. I'd been able to hold my own against him so far, but what if I broke down and panted at his feet like my body wanted me to? What if I couldn't control my arousal and embarrassed myself in front of him? What if Noah knew exactly how much I wanted him, and used that against me?

No. I wasn't going to let that happen. I was going to take this chance and I was going to excel. I was going to write the best goddamn rock song the world had ever heard.

All the emotional whiplash was beginning to give me a headache when Noah and Naomi walked out of the room.

"Thank you for waiting, " Naomi told me. "Everything's been sorted. I'll leave you with Noah to work out the details." She shot him a look that clearly saidbehavebefore leaving.

Noah stared at me with his arms crossed over his chest. "Congratulations," he snarked. "I suppose you get to live the dream."

"Excuse me?"

"Doesn't every fangirl wish she could sink her claws into Noah Fucking Hart?" he said, using the nickname fans had come up with.

My cheeks flushed, half in anger and half in shame. He wasn't exactly wrong.

"I'm not sinking my claws into anything. I'm here to do a job. I'm going to work with you whether you like it or not."