Dylan held up a hand to stop her. “I’m sorry. Truly.” Then he stopped and raked a hand through his hair. What was he supposed to say to her admission? “I’m sorry for your loss. I am. But you have to know that I am trying to get my life straightened out. I hate how I let it spiral so far out of control, and I’m thankful I didn’t kill anyone in the accident. I’ve worked hard to clean up my act and become a better person. Every day is a struggle, Paige, and it continues to be a struggle when people want to pass judgment.”
She sighed. “I’m sure, and I hate how I added to that. I’m normally not like that…I don’t usually act that way.”
Somehow he had a feeling she didn’t realize how transparent she was. And while he had her pegged as the kind of woman who would be a total pain in the ass to work with, there was also something about her that he found…appealing.
“I’m not saying you have to like me,” he said. “Most of the time I don’t particularly like myself. I’m still trying to figure out who I am now that I’m not wasted all the damn time. All I’m asking is for you to give me a chance. In the grand scheme of things, I’m going to be a tiny part of this project. You’ll probably only have to spend like fifteen minutes with me.”
With another soft laugh, she shook her head. “It would probably be more than that.”
“Just…just promise me you’ll think about it. Don’t write me off because of something I did in the past. I’m trying hard to stay positive and look to the future, but I can’t if people keep forcing me to relive the past.”
She pointedly looked at his arm—where his new tat was—and he knew the instant she made the connection.
“I need to keep looking forward,” he said gruffly.
Paige’s expression turned serious. “The past isn’t going to change, Dylan. I’ll admit I don’t know the specifics about what you did or about you in general, but your actions had a definite effect on people. You can’t erase that because you’re ready to move on.”
“I get that, I really do, but I’m not going to let it define me for the rest of my life either. I have to live with what I did every day. Trust me when I tell you it doesn’t just go away. But I think I deserve a chance to prove to the world that there’s more to me.”
His heart hammered in his chest as he waited for her to respond.
“Why this?” she asked, her voice so soft Dylan almost wasn’t certain he’d heard her.
And her eyes.
Damn.
They looked up at him with so much emotion and conflict that he almost didn’t know what to say.
“Honestly? I don’t know. When my manager first presented me with it, I thought, No way.” And when he paused, he knew exactly what he needed to say—to share. And not because he was using it as an angle to win her over, but because she deserved the truth.
“When the band first got signed by Mick, our manager, I could barely read. I struggled with it all through school, but I was too embarrassed to tell anyone and I sort of…I don’t know…fell through the cracks, so to speak. I dropped out of high school at sixteen.” He shrugged. “Mick hired tutors and helped me pass the GED, but it took a couple of years for me to realize what a gift it was.”
“Dylan, I…I had no idea.”
He shrugged again. “I don’t talk about it. Ever. I don’t think the guys in the band know about it. I was embarrassed. Ashamed. Up until then, it didn’t matter to me, but when we had to sign contracts, and there was so much to read and learn, Mick figured it out. He never made me feel bad about it. He simply stepped in and offered to help. I owe him a lot for that.”
“He sounds like a good person.”
That had Dylan laughing out loud. “Sorry. It’s just…Mick’s…Mick. He can be a complete asshole most of the time and he’s a hard-ass about a lot of things, but deep down? Yeah. He’s a good person. But he doesn’t want anyone to know.”
Paige smiled. “Then I won’t be the one to tell them.”
All the tension started to ease away. “I’m not saying I want to put that information out there—about my learning struggles—but let’s say I understand now why reading is so important.”
She nodded. “And if I said I wanted to use it for the campaign, what would you do?”
Dylan’s first instinct was to get defensive, to get mad, but he squashed it immediately. “I’d probably say I’m not comfortable with it, but if you thought it would help, then I’d agree to it.”
“Wow.”
“Exactly.”
She gave him a sad smile. “I wish you had been honest with me earlier.”
Dylan took a moment to let that sink in before responding. “Would it have made any difference? You still would have been disgusted. You took one look at me—the leather jacket, the tattoos, the whole image—and you formed an opinion. Nothing I said was going to change that. The only difference is that we wouldn’t have gone and had coffee and cake pops,” he said solemnly before adding with a sheepish grin, “or gone food shopping together.”
The sound of pure feminine laughter echoed around the parking garage, and Dylan’s grin grew.
“You’re crazy, you know that, right?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Part of my charm.”
She sighed. “Oh, Dylan—”
He knew that tone, knew where it was leading, and he had to stop her. “Don’t!” he quickly, but lightly, interrupted. “Don’t make any decisions yet. Please. Take the weekend to think about it.”
When she didn’t immediately respond, he began to feel desperation clawing at him. Reaching for her hand, he clasped it in his. “I promise you, Paige, from now on, I will be one hundred percent honest.”
“But you—”
“I know I should have been that way from the moment we met, but…can you blame me? You know how you reacted to the news, and you’re not the first one to respond like that, so I’m a little cautious about putting it out there. It was wrong of me, and I’m sorry. Please. Give me a chance to prove to you that I’m not a bad guy.”
“You don’t understand.” She carefully removed her hand from his. “This project…I had it all mapped out. I wanted authors and only authors.”
“But from what your father and your sister said earlier, you need to consider some other options. Let me be one of those options!”
“I don’t think—”
“What about the clients?” he asked, almost frantic now. “Don’t your clients deserve to have a say in this?” Wait, did she have clients for this campaign, or was it well and truly hers to do with as she wanted? Why hadn’t he thought of that?
But by the look on her face, he knew he had her.
There was hope.
For him, at least.
“I…I hadn’t thought of that,” she admitted slowly.
“Look, I’m sure you’d like nothing more than for me to leave and let you get on with your weekend.”
“Well—”
“But,” he quickly interjected, “promise me, Paige, that you’ll think about this. Okay?” He paused and then almost sagged with relief when she nodded. “And would it be all right with you if I came by on Monday? I do have an AA meeting at noon, so maybe I can come by in the afternoon, like I did today?”
“I think Daisy would faint at your feet,” she said with a smile.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. I want you to know I’m serious. I’m willing to do whatever it is you need from me—even let you go home and have brownies and wine for dinner when I’d like to keep talking to you and pleading my case.”
And he realized that was only partially true. He enjoyed talking to her. He had a feeling if they didn’t have this conflict over the campaign between them, they’d be able to talk about any number of things at length.
Paige looked at him as if she was trying to figure out if he was serious or not. It was enough to make him sq
uirm. “Why don’t you come in around four on Monday?” she said finally. “I’m not making any promises though, Dylan. I am going to talk to my friends over at Literacy Now, and if they’re not okay with the changes Ariel and my dad want, then I have to honor their wishes.”
He nodded. “Okay, but you need to promise me you’re not going to try to sway them to your way of thinking,” he countered. “I mean, I know where you stand on this, and I can respect that. But like you don’t know me, I don’t know you. For all I know, you’re going to get on the phone with them and paint them a picture of a guy out of rehab who’s a hot mess.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” she said stiffly.
“I have no choice but to take your word for it, don’t I?”
Paige at least had the decency to look contrite. “Point taken.”
“Okay then. As long as we understand each other.”
She nodded. “I am sorry, Dylan. That was crappy on my part to…to jump to conclusions. It’s a sore subject with me…the whole drinking thing.”
“I get it. And I am sorry about your friend.”
“It was a long time ago. High school. But it still…it still hurts. She barely had a chance to live, to experience anything, before it was all taken away,” she said sadly. “It doesn’t take much to bring me there, to that place where it breaks my heart to think about all Marni missed.”
There wasn’t anything he could say. For months, Dylan had been telling himself he was thankful he hadn’t seriously hurt or killed anyone with his drunk driving, but he knew he could have. And standing here now and hearing Paige put it so simply—how those actions affected others—it was powerful.
Unable to help himself, he reached out and took one of her hands in his again and gently squeezed. “It’s not fair,” he said softly. “I can’t imagine what that kind of loss is like.”
“You’re lucky. It was hell. In some ways it still is for me. I keep in touch with Marni’s parents. I go to the cemetery with them every year on her birthday and the anniversary of her death. And when I’m with them, I can’t help but notice how ten years later, it’s still heartbreaking for them.”
With her hand still in his, he nodded. “That’s very nice of you to go with them. I’m sure they appreciate it.”
“They seem to, and honestly, it means a lot to me to spend time with them. Marni was their only child, and I was in the car with her that night. Part of me feels guilty that I’m here and she’s not.”
“You can’t think like that, Paige,” he said earnestly. “You know they can’t possibly think that.”
“No, I don’t think they do. It’s just how I feel. Marni was… Gosh…she was so amazing. She was student body president, captain of the tennis team, and had been accepted to UCLA and had this incredible future ahead of her! She had so much more going for her than—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” he said fiercely. For the life of him, Dylan had no idea why this bothered him so much, but it did. How could she possibly think her life wasn’t worth as much as her friend’s?
Those big, dark eyes looked up at him, and she gave him a sad smile. “You’re right. I know I shouldn’t think like that but…I do. Like I said, this is a sensitive subject for me. So while it’s personal, it’s not about you. Not really.”
They stood there in silence for a time, and Dylan realized he was still holding her hand and was reluctant to let it go. But he needed to. He needed to let her go and have her weekend, and he needed to… Well, there was nothing he needed to do. Again.
Earlier, he had envisioned going out later that night and finding someone to hook up with, but now? Now it didn’t seem nearly as urgent. So he’d go home, eat one of the meals he’d purchased, and…read. Or watch TV. Or…stare at the walls.
Slowly, he let go of her hand and took a step back. “So…I should go.”
“Yeah. Me too.”
“Monday though, right? Four?”
Paige nodded. “Monday at four. Yes.” She smiled.
He smiled.
Funny thing was how she seemed as reluctant as he was to walk away. Was it possible her night wasn’t looking any more promising than his? Should he ask her to dinner? To a movie? Or maybe—?
“Have a good weekend, Dylan. And…thanks. For listening.”
“Oh…um…yeah. No problem. Anytime.”
With a small smile and wave, Paige turned and walked over to her car. Dylan watched as she climbed in and stood back and waited for her to pull out and drive away.
With nothing left to do, he got into his car and made his way home.
To his personal prison.
* * *
It was as if the entire world was against her.
By three o’clock on Monday, Paige was fairly certain she was the only person alive who understood what had made her concept for this campaign so perfect. Now, as she made her way to her office, she felt completely defeated.
And more than a little pissed off.
After lunch, she had been summoned to her father’s office, which was never a good thing. He’d sat her down and explained, in his gentle yet condescending manner, how he had gone and talked to the Literacy Now people and they were thrilled with Ariel’s revisions.
Revisions? Ha! More like sabotage!
She had meant to call them earlier, but the morning had gotten away from her after going and getting her tire replaced. By the time she’d arrived at the office, it was time for a meeting with another potential client for a new restaurant opening in Hollywood. Paige wasn’t going to be in charge of the campaign, but her coworker, Xander, asked her to sit in with him.
Either way, she hadn’t made the call and what it all meant was that she was no longer heading up the project. Ariel was. Not that they were cutting her out completely. Oh no. That would have been too kind. No, now she had the task of playing a supporting role in babysitting the talent.
Namely, Dylan Anders.
As she turned the corner and strode past Daisy’s desk, all she could think of was how badly she wanted to punch something.
Or someone.
“Hey, Paige!” Daisy called out as she walked by. “You have a couple of messages from—”
“I’ll call them tomorrow,” Paige said firmly as she crossed into her office and slammed the door.
It wasn’t until she was alone in the silence of her office that she realized her heart was ready to pound right out of her chest and she was trembling.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit,” she murmured as she began to pace. This was supposed to be her chance—her turn to head up a project and stop being the gofer! Literacy Now was her baby—those contacts were her friends—and as usual, she had been tossed aside while being patted on the head.
“I know you’re disappointed,” her father had said, “but you’re an important part of the team.”
Yeah right, she thought miserably.
Babysitter. She was relegated to playing babysitter to a rock star who had a reputation for being hard to handle. Paige had argued how Dylan wasn’t that guy anymore—and it had come as a bit of a shock to her as the words poured out of her mouth!—but no one was ready to believe it. His past was in the tabloids and no one was ready to take him without a handler.
“Paige seemed to hit it off with him,” Ariel had said when their father had called her in to join their meeting. And when Paige had argued her point, her sister had pulled the pregnancy card and claimed she felt queasy and made a run for the bathroom.
And never came back.
That had led to her father gushing over how excited he was about becoming a grandfather and how they needed to not upset Ariel in her delicate condition. Then he added how this sort of project would be perfect for Ariel because she could delegate so many of the tasks because of all the groundwork Paige had already done.
Even now it still
made Paige roll her eyes.
She stalked over to her desk, sat, and face-planted on the paperwork.
If this were a job where she wasn’t working with her family, she’d quit. She’d seriously be packing up her office right now and storming out the door.
And while quitting seemed like a good plan, Paige knew she’d never go through with it. Some way or another she’d be guilted into coming back—because her father was all about appearances, and having a daughter leave the firm looked bad—and then everyone would think she was a sore loser.
There was no way she was going to let that happen.
No matter who she had to babysit.
So unfortunately, quitting wasn’t an option, and she was stuck. Again. Doing a job she hated. Again. And what was worse was how no one seemed to notice or care. She thought about her conversation with Dylan on Friday and realized that now it was personal. Her resentment toward him went up several notches.
Then she closed her eyes. All weekend, he had been on her mind. She’d done her research, and even though he had a colorful reputation, he wasn’t a bad person. She almost wished he were; it would have made things so much easier right now. But no, Dylan Anders was sexy and charismatic, and she’d been darn mesmerized by watching video clips of him all weekend long.
Not something she would be willing to admit aloud.
He was a talented musician, he was incredibly sexy, and he had the perfect amount of swagger that she discovered she found attractive too.
It was like the tattoos all over again.
“God, what is happening to me?” she murmured. Four days ago, she was completely content listening to John Legend or Ed Sheeran, and now? Now she had all of Shaughnessy’s music on her iPod and had it on a continual loop.
There was a light knock on her door, and Paige lifted her head as Daisy peeked in.
“Sorry to bother you, Paige,” she said softly. “I heard about Literacy Now. I’m so sorry.”
Straightening, she asked, “Who told you?”
“Ariel stopped by with her revisions for the schedule and wanted me to give you a copy.” Placing the folder on Paige’s desk, Daisy gave her a sympathetic smile. “You could look at this as a good thing, you know.”
One More Promise Page 7
