Page 32 of Stolen Voices

I bite my lip, unsure if I should say anything, but something about the way his eyes are staring back at me has my lips loosening. “Taking care of me. Worrying about me. No one does that.”

Eli frowns. “What about Hudson? Does he not take care of you?” His jaw muscles tick, and I can’t help but chuckle.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Hudson is great. For an agent. But he knows how the music industry works, and his expectations are not the same. With Eli, it’s different. There are moments where it feels like he more than cares for me, and not as a client but as a person.

“What did you mean?” he asks.

If I hadn’t heard him in the hallway, I might say. But right now? He’s not equipped to hear what I have to say yet. Maybe ever.

I look Eli in the eye, hoping he sees past my walls just for a second. “Hudson’s a good guy.”You’re a good guy.

“Calliope,” he grunts my name, and shivers slide down my spine.

“Elijiah,” I whisper his name back.

He closes his eyes, taking a deep breath. When they open, the gold flecks in his irises glimmer like embers in a fire. “I hate when you do that,” he confesses.

“Say your name?”

Eli visibly swallows and nods. “Yes.”

“Ditto, Mr. Miller.”Lie.

I like it when he says my full name. It brings back a lot of memories I keep buried so that I can make it through every day without falling apart.

“Such a brat.” Eli scoffs, tugging a lock of my hair.

I wish he would tug more and press his mouth to mine.No, bad Callie.Thinking about kissing Eli is a slippery slope to having dreams of him doing all kinds of dirty things to me.

“I know.”

Eli stands, resting his hands on his hips, looking hot as hell. His shirt is rumpled—three buttons undone, showing a sliver of his firm chest—and his hair is a mess, but he’s never looked sexier.

“Before I forget, can you tell me what you’re allergic to?”

“Oh, yeah. Almonds. Hazelnuts. All tree nuts, really.”

“Peanuts?” he asks, rubbing his jaw in the way he does when he’s thinking.

“Strangely, no, but I avoid them anyway.”

“Good to know.”

I yawn, the exhaustion settling in my bones.

“I’m going to let you get some rest. I’ll be back to check on you. Holler if you need something.”

“Mm-kay.” I sink back into the soft duvet and pillows, breathing in the delicate linen scent. His scent.

Something in me settles, and for the first time in a long time, I feel safe and cared for. Even though I wish Eli would look at me as more than a client, at least I know he’s watching out for me, and that’s more than I can ask for.

Feeling safe in Eli’s company, I let sleep take me under.

Tonight, I’ll welcome the dreams of my agent talking dirty to me right before he defiles me. Tomorrow, I’ll go back to pretending I don’t have a huge crush on my agent and today never happened.

It was good while it lasted.