As much as he had wanted, Hyde had tried not paying attention to the sexy woman lounging by his pool after his nap. Even through her long dress, he caught the shape of her slender legs. Her hands with delicate fingers had been placed on her stomach. She looked like a queen.
For that reason, during his second shower, despite their disagreement, Hyde couldn’t help but handle himself. He had ducked his head under the streaming cool water that did nothing to shrink his manhood or desire, and he stroked his hardening penis while thinking about Tassia, the girl who had piqued his interest as a pre-teen, and the stranger he didn’t hire years ago but still had an amazing voice and a body he would want to touch.
He remembered how hard his heart pounded in his chest the more he thought about her. Hyde had growled and his body had shaken as soon as he came.
“Tassia.” Probably the one and only time he would be uttering her name in this way.
If he liked betting, Hyde suspected that she would fulfill her contractual obligation but wouldn’t be recording with him, not in person. He wanted that personal interaction, particularly after experiencing the spark from touching her hand while preparing dinner.
When he had gone down the hallway toward the bedroom he thought she would be in, it surprised him to see the door open. He had crept down the hallway to not freak her out when she saw him. When he didn’t see her, Hyde had wondered if she truly did start walking back home. He had spotted her luggage still by the door, so he knew that couldn’t be true. He had also noticed the note his cousin had left for him in his refrigerator left open on the counter. Tassia must have gotten a great laugh out of what his cousin had written.
“I like Pepper.” Tassia smiled as she swiped her fingertip over her phone’s screen.
“Pepper has never met a stranger. In all the time I’ve known her, she’s never really changed.” Hyde sat up taller. “I can tell she likes you. She normally doesn’t fight me for just anyone.” He let his fingers sink into a couple of keys to emit a sound. “I really am sorry I brought you here without telling you the full truth.”
Tassia remained quiet while keeping her stare on her phone.
“Had I asked you, would you have—”
She interrupted him. “It doesn’t matter now. I’m here.” She cleared her throat. “I’ll stay until we’ve finished writing.”
Hyde didn’t expect his heart to pound as hard as it did when she admitted that she would stay. “You don’t want to go home in the morning?”
Tassia snickered. “Maybe it’s the beer talking, but I don’t mind being here now.”
“Beer? Okay. After some sleep and a sober head, if you change your mind in the morning, let me know. The last thing I want you to feel is trapped.” He had had enough of feeling like that in his last relationship until he knew he and Shelby Lynne had to part ways.
“You’ll be the first to know.” Tassia nodded.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m a melody guy first.” Hyde tripped his fingers over the keys and played the opening of one of his songs.
“Before we get to that, I need to ask you something.” Tassia crossed her legs.
Hyde had to keep his full concentration on her eyes in order to not drop his attention to her caramel-colored thighs. “Sure. Shoot.”
“When I auditioned for you years ago, why didn’t you hire me? Wrong sound?” She shrugged. “Wrong look?”
Hyde immediately shook his head. “None of those. Wrong time. There were several reasons behind it. First, I was finally an adult, and I was trying so hard to separate from my Ratty Rat days. I didn’t want people to keep relating to me as that fat, little kid. Miley Cyrus went the extreme route to have people see her as a woman and not Hannah Montana.”
“I was going to ask if that naked picture of you was—”
“Not staged. Not leaked. Not supposed to get out at all.” He shook his head. “It was all embarrassing.”
“What are the other reasons? You mentioned there were several.” Tassia swung her legs back and forth.
“Your audition was during a time when I allowed my management team to make the bulk of my decisions for me. I was in the room, but I was busy writing songs.” To ease her questioning mind, he reached out and held her hand. “Trust me. Had I been paying attention—” He regarded her for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I still wouldn’t have hired you.”
Tassia’s eyes widened. “Really? That’s good to hear from your mouth.” She snatched her hand from under his.
“It’s obvious you are no one’s back-up singer. You belong at the front of the stage. If I had hired you, it would have delayed your progress.” To occupy his hand, he returned it to the keys. “You’re a star.” He thought he caught her cheeks changing to a crimson color.
“This coming from the biggest star on the planet.”
“I’m a music lover. That’s it. And I know what I like.”
She swept her hand down her leg. “Okay. Thanks for the honesty. I guess we can get to work now.” She picked up her phone and showed it to Hyde. “I wrote a few songs. I was very inspired.”
“By the surroundings or the situation?” An uncomfortable tickle crept up the back of his neck.
“Both.” She scooted closer to him on the bench. “This first one I called ‘Kidnapped by the Cowboy.’”
He blinked. Before he could correct her assessment of labeling him as a cowboy, if she indeed meant him, she started playing a tune that sounded decent. Her voice, though, had his insides transformed into jelly…until he listened to her words.
Using the terms selfish, ego-driven, and careless felt like daggers stabbing at his gut until she got to the chorus.
“I got kidnapped by the cowboy. His will gave me no choice. Like I was his little toy. And his games gave me no joy.” Tassia kept her stare on the piano keys until the end of the song. Then she looked at him. “I have more.”
She swiped her finger over the screen and without his approval or permission, she sang the next song she called “Hot for Nothing” about a nice-looking man with nothing to offer.
That one had Hyde seething. She focused the songs on him, and she painted him as a villain. After thinking they had gotten through their misunderstanding, she brought them back to the past. Did she really think he would want to sing about this repeatedly and record this?
“This third song I’ve called ‘Worthless’ to, well, you’ll see.” She pounded her fingers over the piano keys while she sang about feeling good for nothing.
That song had him seeing red. It took every bit of his strength to not tell her how wrong she had been about him. The song titles and content had been the least of his worries about the songs.
“I was working on a fourth song, but I’m not ready to present that one.”
Hyde had to stifle a laugh when he thought about the whole situation. Tassia felt ready to present these other songs to him?
She smiled when she asked, “What do you think?”
Hyde had heard every word she had said, and it brought him back to the moment he had just talked about with Tassia. He finally had made a selfless decision and here she wanted to blast him for it.
“I hate them.” He felt the flames licking the sides of his face as he spoke to her and watched her smile melting.
“They’re supposed to be funny. I was angry when you told me the real reason you brought me here.” She turned her full body to him so that she straddled the piano bench to get closer to him.
At a different time, hell, only minutes ago, he would have wanted to kiss her pouty lips. Then he remembered the words she said through them.
After unclenching his jaw, he finally spoke. “This is a duets album. What part is meant for me?”
She chuckled. “Maybe you can do the doo-wop sound. Or better yet, you can just repeat the phrase ‘I’m sorry’ while I sing. How’s that?”
Hyde stood. “Mistake. I knew this would be a mistake.” He headed toward the door.
“Does that mean you’re giving up on this project? Are you taking me home in the morning?”
He stopped. “Oh, no. I’m going to write my own songs. I’m going to have a good time with mine just like you did with yours. You have a great night.”
Chapter 12
For all his bravado, Hyde didn’t realize how hard it would be to write songs. Strange. He remembered being a kid and banging out a song every hour it seemed like. Then again, he had been inspired. Working alongside Tassia so many years ago provided him some great inspiration for several songs. To prove her wrong, he had almost wanted to break out those old songs to show her he could bring something to this arrangement.
Despite Tassia’s songs not having any duet parts for him, Hyde had been impressed by the fact that in a day, she had written three songs. He suspected that her songs would classify as “club bangers,” as she had once described them. He couldn’t say Tassia didn’t prove herself. She did. He had fallen on the job.
Hyde walked by Tassia’s closed bedroom door to head to the backyard. Maybe if he sat by the pool like she had he could write. The last couple of days had him curious as to what occupied her time. Maybe she plotted on how to kill him. He would deserve it if he hadn’t apologized. How long could she not talk to him?
Instead of thinking about that, Hyde needed to do what he had come here for. Or at least what he told Tassia he had come here for—he needed to get to work.
Hyde sat on the edge of the pool with his feet and lower legs in the water while he held a pad and pen in his hands. He pressed the pen on the paper and—nothing.
“Damn.” Hyde shook his head. “Come on, man. You’ve done this before. You aren’t that far removed from the process.”
Hyde closed his eyes and did what he told Tassia he’d done when he had written songs in the past. He thought about the melody. In his head, the melody matched Tassia. It sounded full bodied and smooth with a hard-hitting beat. What he heard in his head seduced him…just like Tassia had.
He glanced back at the house halfway hoping she would be looking at him. What the hell was wrong with him? Why couldn’t he open up more? Tassia didn’t deserve his suspicion. She didn’t need to get him at less than his best. For that reason, whenever he made food, he would leave a plate out for Tassia. Before coming out to the pool, he had made a salad and a bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwich.
Hyde refused to leave his spot until he wrote a completed song. Sitting on the concrete around the pool caused his butt to tingle as it went to sleep, and the backs of his legs started to sting. Even the cool water he had his lower legs submerged in didn’t soothe him.
“Get it together. Think.” Instead of squeezing his eyes shut and not looking at the blank page staring back at him, he confronted his nemesis head on.
This time he put the pen to paper and started writing, slowly at first. He struggled with the words until he thought about Tassia, what he put her through, and his crush. With her coming back into his life, he started to realize that maybe old feelings hadn’t gone away.
After an arduous four hours of sitting by the pool, Hyde finally had lyrics to a song. He didn’t know how good it would be, but he knew how honest he had made it.
He stood, dried off his legs and feet, and walked back into his house for a bottle of water. He had to smile when he noticed the offering he had left for Tassia had been accepted. Forgiveness had to come.
* * * *
Tassia knew she shouldn’t have sung those songs to Hyde a couple of days ago. Since then, he had kept his distance, barely speaking to her. It surprised her that he didn’t get her loaded in his truck first thing in the morning the next day and drive her back home as fast as he could.
Instead he had prepared a full breakfast with fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and biscuits, and left the meal out for her. He had done the same for lunch and dinner. He had prepared dishes but didn’t eat with her.
As her way of thanking him for at least looking out for her, she did the dishes.
Hyde couldn’t stay angry with her. He made a mistake and she wrote about it. Taylor Swift had built her empire on her pain. Why couldn’t Tassia do the same?
Hyde did have a point. The songs she had written had no part for him. She still had it in her head that she wrote every song for herself.
She had written duets before for Chantel and Truman. She had it in her to write a duet. She didn’t know if her feelings about Hyde tempered her creativity. She had to break this cycle of holding on to past hurt. They hadn’t slept together. In the last couple of days, they had barely even talked.
Tassia had remained in the bedroom Hyde had allowed her to stay in while there. She glanced by the door at her packed bags. At any moment, she knew Hyde would be scooping her up and shuttling her back home.
At that thought, a knock sounded on the closed, locked door. Tassia clutched her phone as she climbed out of bed and padded to the door. She had on a short sundress this day. Because she had taken a nap earlier, if he wanted to hit the road right now before dinner, she would be ready. Starving, but ready.
Tassia opened the door and found Hyde on the other side. His normal five o’clock shadow had been shaved off completely, showing off his chiseled jawline. Anger no longer filled his eyes. His expression held some remorse. For that reason, Tassia released the breath she held.
“I’ve made dinner.” He nodded toward the kitchen.
Tassia smelled the aroma of seared beef and roasted vegetables. The scent reminded her of summertime and home in Maryland with her father. When she heard her stomach start to growl, she put her free hand on her belly to cover the sound.
“I’ll be out there soon.” She started to back into the bedroom.
“Will you come out here and join me? There’s something I want you to hear.” He didn’t wait for her to answer.
Hyde walked away from the bedroom. Tassia contemplated not leaving the bedroom. She no longer wanted to look at these four walls. Instead she slipped on some flip-flops and left her phone on the bed.
By the time she had gotten to the kitchen, she gasped at the sight. Through the large sliding glass doors to the sunroom, she saw a scene with a dressed table and low lighting. Not candlelight. That would be too intimate. What did Hyde have in mind?
Tassia walked to the table. “What is this?”
Hyde pulled a chair out for her. “Have a seat.”
She waited a beat before she went to the chair and allowed him to move it easily under her. “Thank you.”
“I grilled some steak and chicken.” He pointed to a platter filled with meat with perfect grill marks crisscrossed on them. “I also made some roasted zucchini, onions, and potatoes, and there’s a salad there.”
“I love food cooked out on a grill.” She took in a deep breath. “It always reminds me of summer.”
“I know.” He nodded.
“You do? How would you know that about me?”
“You told me on our final day of shooting. I remembered.” He smiled.
Tassia recalled that she had shared that little bit about herself to him before Burt pulled her up and dragged her out of the studio. She couldn’t believe he remembered.
Tassia looked over at the food before bringing her attention to him. “You made all of this yourself without help?”
He let a slight smile peek through. “Yes. Pepper went back to her place yesterday. She wanted to say good-bye to you, but you were holed up in your room.”
“Will she be back?” Tassia pressed her hands against the top of the large wooden table.
“Probably when we finally leave. She’s about the only one I trust in this house to open it up for me and make sure it’s okay when I go.” Hyde, now wearing a T-shirt and denim shorts, walked over to a darkened co
rner of the room.
Her heart started pounding hard until she saw him pick up a guitar and carry it back to her. When she saw him sitting down next to the table and facing her, her heart drummed for a different reason.
“I’ve been busy these last couple of days.” He positioned the guitar on his leg. “I was also inspired since being here.” He peered at her. “And after listening to your songs.”
Tassia lost her appetite but kept her stare on him. She wanted to prepare for his lyrical beatdown like she had given him.
“This one I called ‘Not Good Enough.’” Hyde strummed on the guitar and kept his gaze on her.
When he sang, the lyrics talked about being a better man for the right woman. The words coupled with the sincerity and gravel in his voice did something to her. Tassia felt a throbbing between her legs that she hadn’t felt sincerely for a long time. She didn’t want to be that woman who fell for a man from a song, but Hyde had written a great song.
He stopped playing for a moment. “This is your part of the song.” He sang her intended part that expressed how Tassia truly felt.
The section talked about wanting a man to step up to her high standards because of her worth. What she liked about the song had to be the way he told a story.
At the end of the song, Hyde placed his hand on the guitar strings before he released a long sigh. “It’s been a really, really long time since I had to write my own songs. I don’t know about you, but I can’t say this was an easy process.” He connected his stare to hers. “If I had to say one thing good about this whole experience so far, it pushed me out of my comfort zone and got me to get out of my own way. It took me two days to write this. What do you think?”
* * * *
Hyde sat rooted in his spot as he waited for Tassia to answer. Suddenly Tassia pushed back her chair, sprang to her feet, and ran over to him. He expected her to maybe get in his face and yell at him. With time alone to think, he finally came to terms with his actions. He had been selfish. He needed to show Tassia he could be a good singing partner and an even better man.
Crazy on You Page 16
