Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66753 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 334(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
But Tyler’s fingers twine in my hair and he forces my gaze to his. “I don’t want Debbie,” he repeats. “I want you, Bella. Just you. And I don’t want you to be with anyone else either. I want to take you somewhere.” He laces the fingers of one of his hands with mine. “I want to show you something.” He tugs my hand and shifts to move.
I tug him back. “Tyler—”
“Not to bed, Bella. Not yet. That comes later.” He kisses my hand and it’s this tender, sweet gesture I didn’t know he had in him. And that little touch of his lips travels all through my body, and I am putty for this man who is my boss.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Tyler
It took every ounce of willpower not to act a fool in the middle of one of Nashville’s biggest industry hot spots. But seeing Bella walk out of Becker’s dressing room, her eyes lit up with a smile, I was one wrong word away from trouble. The kind that ends in a Like Father, Like Son sort of headline.
“We probably shouldn’t be holding hands,” Bella says. “You know people might see us.”
I halt and look at her. “I’m not doing this to try and force you into this contract. I just want to hold onto you. Is that a bad thing?”
Confusion flickers in her eyes. “Why?”
“Because it feels good. Because I don’t want you to get away. Because I’m trying to show you that while yes, I want to fuck you every minute I’m with you, it’s not all that’s between us.”
“I don’t know what to say to that,” she whispers. “For so many reasons. Where are we going?”
“A hole-in-the-wall spot I go to sometimes. I think you’ll like it, but you have to hold my hand to get there.”
This earns me a hint of a smile that lights me up with encouragement. “Yes?” I ask.
“Yes,” she says.
That’s all I need to set us in motion, walking hand in hand. No wonder she’s confused. She’s known me for five years and I’ve never been the hand-holding kind of guy. But something shifted inside me with Bella, the same way Dash changed after he met Allie.
“So this place you go to,” Bella says, “you go alone?”
“I do, actually. The food is good and so is the music.” I point across the street to Mel’s Southern Cooking. “It’s there. You ever been?”
“Never,” she says and she casts me a pretty blue stare. “Show me.”
My lips curve and I pull her in a little closer, and guide her across the street. I can smell her sweet floral perfume and with it, memories of us in that hotel room. If I had my way, I’d take her home and repeat all of it, but that isn’t the right move right now. This time it’s talk first, the rest later.
At the door, live music beats tease us with a show. There’s no line and once we’re inside, the hostess shows us to a combo booth-and-chair table facing the stage. Bella slides into the booth and I don’t hesitate, I join her and my hand settles on her leg. Her eyes jerk to mine and the air is thick between us, crackling with sexual attraction.
The waitress sets menus down and then asks, “Drinks?”
I glance at Bella, arching a brow. “This is probably a mistake, considering I don’t hold my liquor well, but I’ll take the pineapple margarita I saw on the board on the way in.”
“It’s good,” the waitress promises.
I order a top-shelf whiskey, and Bella’s hand comes down on my hand on her leg. “What are we doing, Tyler?”
“Trying to figure that out.”
A new singer takes the stage and his voice fills the air. It’s a cover for a Patrick Droney song, “Brooklyn”. It’s a haunting, sexy song, but when I would lean in to kiss Bella, she says, “He’s good.”
I laugh. “Yes, and this is why I brought you here. This place is ripe with hidden talent I knew you’d be hungry to recruit.”
Her lips curve. “Really?”
“Really,” I confirm. “Are you going to recruit him or kiss me?”
“Both,” she says, her mood lighter now. “But first him before he gets away. You don’t want me to sign Becker, which we’re going to fight over. But I need a back-up plan.” She digs in her purse. “Give me a minute.” She gets up and walks to the stage, hanging at the side, and she starts swaying to the music, smiling up at the singer.
Now I’m smiling. She’s so fucking hot and brilliant and everything I didn’t know I needed, but I do. The lyric “we were falling with our feet on the ground”—that’s how I feel. Like I’m falling, but when I’m with her, my feet are on the ground. The song ends, and Bella motions to the singer. He walks to the edge of the stage and kneels in front of Bella. When she hands him her card, the guy grins from ear to ear.