Then she started to laugh again and Dylan joined her. After a few minutes, he rested his forehead against hers. “We can’t be in rock-star mode all the time. And even alpha men have to be safe and get their rest.”
“Mmm…I guess you’re right.”
He placed a gentle kiss on the tip of her nose. “I should totally get some rest.”
Disappointment hit her, but she knew he was right. They’d been up since before dawn to catch their flight, and with the time difference and all the traveling and then all the jamming, she knew he had to be exhausted. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, she pulled him in for a hug, loving how hard and warm and wonderful his body felt on top of hers. She loved the weight of him, the muscles and the—
“But first, I’m going to do what I’ve been dreaming of all day,” he said, interrupting her musings.
Anticipation immediately replaced the disappointment. Wrapping her legs around him slowly, she locked her ankles at his lower back. “And what’s that?” she asked breathlessly.
“I’m going to touch every inch of you and taste every inch of you and then exhaust every inch of you,” he said, and Paige could only moan and press up against him in invitation. “Does that sound all right with you?”
Her only answer was to pull his head to hers and kiss him.
* * *
Life got busier as soon as they touched down in LA.
Ariel’s pregnancy and morning sickness meant she was out of the office more than she was in. Robert had asked Paige to step back in on the Literacy Now campaign as the head, and as such, she found there were many ways her sister had dropped the ball.
Typical.
Lucky for her, she and Daisy were used to this sort of thing and knew how to handle a crisis without freaking out too much. Paige knew she was extremely fortunate to have such a helpful assistant and was relieved she could hand off so many of the smaller tasks to her without worrying about them getting done.
In what seemed like a stroke of luck, Dylan was finally feeling comfortable going out and doing things on his own as well—not only on the work for the campaign, but also looking at other ventures in the music industry. While the weekend with Shaughnessy had been great, none of them were ready to commit to going back into the studio just yet. Riley and Savannah were enjoying their time with their daughter and were expecting another; Matt and Vivienne had moved into their new home, and she was embarking on this new career path with her gallery showings. And Julian? Well, he had been a bit of a mystery to her the entire weekend. He was pleasant enough and cordial but very quiet.
He seemed sad to her. Like really, really sad. When he played—the guys had invited Paige and Savannah and Vivienne to listen to them jam for a couple of hours—he played with a focus she’d never seen before. It was like the drums were an extension of himself, and he took it all very seriously. According to Dylan, Julian was an extremely gifted songwriter and drummer and cowrote most of Shaughnessy’s music with Riley. On top of that, he had a near-genius IQ.
All of that added together still didn’t equal the sadness she saw in his eyes.
Another bit of information she’d gotten from the girls was his on-again, off-again relationship with his girlfriend, Dena. They were supposed to get married several times in the past five years but never made it down the aisle. When Paige mentioned it to Dylan, he’d rolled his eyes and told her how he and the guys wished Julian would kick Dena to the curb and be done with her. But they didn’t think it was ever going to happen.
It wasn’t something Paige could begin to understand, but it didn’t stop her heart from hurting for him.
So with a band project off the table for now, Dylan felt he needed to do something creative to keep this momentum going. He was working on music he would use for Shaughnessy at a later date, but he’d been meeting with Mick and some of the executives at their record label about doing some studio work with other groups. It wasn’t his favorite thing to do, but for right now, he was having fun with it.
And on top of all that, whenever they went out and got stopped by the paparazzi, it was in a positive way. It was crazy how all the negativity toward him just…stopped. It was as if that one incident with Morgan had brought to the spotlight how unfair people could be. She knew the tabloids were fickle, and it could all change at any time, but for now, she was thankful things were leveling out for him.
Their new schedules, however, meant they weren’t spending as much time together. Dylan was always asking her to come to the hotel and stay over, but some nights she wanted to go home and crash after a mentally exhausting day. And it wasn’t as if she was against having him spend the night at her place, but whenever he showed up there, he never actually did spend the night. She attributed it to the fact that she had to get up so early and he tended to sleep in. He mentioned how he wasn’t really a morning person and didn’t feel right staying in her house, her bed, after she left for work, so it was easier to just not spend the night. Now it felt like they were drifting apart.
To his credit, Dylan had stayed with her longer than he ever had with any other woman. She knew this because of all the information she’d found out about him when they first met. She hated how she had that kind of data on him, but while her heart was slowly breaking, she could at least cling to the fact that he cared about her enough to stick around for a little longer than was his usual.
“Paige?” Daisy called out as she stuck her head into the office. “Dylan’s here to see you. Can I send him in, or can I keep him out there and stare at him for a while?”
That made her laugh softly. Daisy never held anything back, and for the past couple of weeks, especially since the news broke of Paige and Dylan being involved, she had been asking all kinds of questions about him. Maybe Paige should make him wait to see what Daisy would do, but she missed him too.
And who knew how much longer she’d have him to herself?
With a chuckle, she shook her head. “You can send him in.”
“Well darn,” Daisy muttered with a small laugh of her own. “Fine.”
A minute later, Dylan walked into her office and quietly shut the door behind him. “Hey, beautiful.”
“Hey, you,” she said as she got up from her chair and walked around the desk toward him. It was crazy and maybe stupid, but she loved to kiss him and be kissed by him. Some days it was the equivalent of a cup of coffee.
Or a cake pop.
Up on her tiptoes she went, looping her arms around his shoulders as her lips met his. It was sweet and slow and so delicious that she couldn’t help but melt against him with a happy, little sigh. When she lifted her head a minute later, she was smiling.
“Other than giving me the strength to finish this day, what brings you here today?” she asked with a sassy grin. They hadn’t talked about him stopping by, and as far as she knew, he had plans to do some recordings today.
They both made their way to sit, and once she was seated, Dylan spoke. “I have a proposition for you.”
All kinds of dirty thoughts ran through her mind—the first being if she locked the office door, could they be quiet enough not to alert Daisy to what they were doing?
“A proposition?” she asked in a sultry voice.
For a minute, it looked like he blushed. “Baby, if I thought we could be quiet about it, I’d be propositioning you all over that desk.”
“But…”
“But I know how loud we can be,” he said with a wink. Slouching in a way that only Dylan could make sexy, he grinned at her. “Recordings got canceled for today, and I figured I’d take you to lunch.”
And that had her grinning like an idiot.
There were so many ways Dylan surprised her, but none more than when he did something spontaneous and sweet like this. Putting dirty-girl Paige aside for the moment, she straightened in her seat. “I would love that. Thank you for thinking of me.”
“I’m always thinking of you,” he said, his voice solemn and serious.
Standing, Paige grabbed her purse from her bottom drawer.
“How much time do you have? I was thinking of trying this new Italian place a buddy of mine invested in. It’s across town, so you know traffic will be a bitch, but if you’re not in a rush…”
“I’m not, believe me. I need to step away from the office for a little while. I’m beginning to think…”
The sound of the door opening stopped their conversation.
“Ariel,” Paige said with a forced smile. “I didn’t realize you were coming in today. How are you feeling?”
“Much better,” she said with her usual grace and charm. “My doctor gave me something to help with all this morning sickness and I’m starting to feel human again.”
“Oh. That’s great. So you don’t think you should be at home and resting? Maybe it’s work that’s not helping with the sickness.”
With a small shake of her head, Ariel turned to Dylan. “It’s good to see you,” she began. “And you were on my list of people to call today.”
Dylan looked at Paige and then to Ariel. “I was?”
She nodded. “I was wondering if you’d consider lending your…celebrity…to the cause.”
Dylan looked over at Paige again and then to Ariel.
“Ariel,” Paige said, “what are you talking about?”
“Well, I think we’re doing well with the PSAs and all, but I feel like we’re building up to this big event that’s not very big.”
“The fund-raiser is going to be big, Ariel,” Paige argued lightly. “We have five hundred people coming who are all big contributors to the arts. I know we’re going to—”
“Be bored,” Ariel finished for her. “We’re going to be bored. And what good is it to have a rock star on board if we’re not utilizing him to his fullest potential?”
A trickle of unease began to work its way down Paige’s spine. “Excuse me?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“You have him talking to people and groups and on camera for commercials and in print ads, but it’s not a very rock-star thing to do. Why isn’t he playing music? Why aren’t we letting him play music?” she asked with a little more emphasis.
“Ariel, maybe we can talk about this—”
“Gah, Paige! I’m telling you, this is an amazing opportunity! No one’s going to question why Dylan’s doing it since you’re ‘dating,’” she said using air quotes. “It would look weird if he didn’t play!”
“I don’t think it would look weird,” Paige murmured. “We’ve got a band booked. They do a wide range of music, so we can have dancing as well as soft music during dinner. I don’t think it’s necessary—”
“Well, I do, and I was talking to Dad earlier—”
“You’ve talked to Dad about this already?”
She nodded. “And we thought it might be fun and great publicity for Dylan and his band to perform at the fund-raiser.”
For a minute, Paige wasn’t sure what her reaction should be. Excitement? Sure. The thought of getting the kind of publicity from having the first live performance from Shaughnessy in years would be a huge boost to the campaign and the bottom line. Disappointed? A little. After all, it was yet another change to her original plans where this campaign was concerned.
“I came in here to get your opinion, but with Dylan here, it’s even better,” Ariel said. “If you have time, Dylan, I would love to sit and talk to you about it.”
Dylan looked uncertainly between Paige and Ariel. “Um…I was getting ready to take Paige to lunch.”
“This won’t take too long, I promise,” Ariel said with a big smile. She reached out and touched Dylan’s arm. “I already have things mapped out and would love your input on how to make it all happen.”
He looked at Paige, and she could see the indecision in his eyes. “Paige?”
She let out a quiet sigh. “I’ve got a few things to finish up here, so why don’t you talk with Ariel, and when you’re done, we’ll go eat. Okay?” She forced a smile, and she had a feeling Dylan knew she was faking it.
“Um…sure. Okay,” he said and then turned to Ariel. “This won’t take long, right? Maybe thirty minutes?”
“Thirty minutes tops,” Ariel agreed and then led him from the office, chatting the entire time about her vision for the show.
When the door closed behind them, Paige did something she had never done before.
She picked up her coffee mug and threw it against the wall in frustration.
* * *
There was a war waging within him.
As Dylan made his way toward Paige’s office, he knew he’d screwed up.
But for a good reason.
Ariel and Robert Walters had offered him—and Shaughnessy—a chance to get some free publicity while contributing to a good cause. It was something that interested him greatly, and he knew if he pitched the idea to the guys, they’d be on board too. It should be a win-win.
Then he remembered the look on Paige’s face when he’d left her office.
The disappointment.
The sad acceptance.
And this time, her family wasn’t the only one to blame.
He had put that look there right along with Ariel.
He looked at his watch and cursed. Ninety minutes. He’d been gone for ninety minutes, and he could only hope she was still here and hadn’t gone off to lunch without him. Honestly, he had lost track of time once Robert had started his pitch for all the benefits of having Shaughnessy and a few other bands play a public concert to raise awareness for literacy. It wasn’t that it was such a new or different idea—actually it was pretty unoriginal—but at his current point in life, it was exactly what he wanted and needed.
Turning the corner to Paige’s office, he saw her door was slightly ajar. He knocked lightly and heard Daisy call him in. When he stepped inside, he looked around and didn’t see Paige but did spot her assistant picking something up off the floor.
“Need a hand?” he asked and immediately went over and crouched to help her. He picked up several small pieces of porcelain and looked at Daisy. “What broke?”
“A mug,” she said but didn’t look at him.
Dylan looked around and tried to figure out how a mug would get dropped and shatter this far from Paige’s desk. “Um…”
Beside him, Daisy finished picking up the scattered debris, stood, and tossed it in the trash can by Paige’s desk—all still without looking at him.
“Is Paige here?”
“No.”
He sighed and tossed the few miniscule pieces of shattered mug in the trash before raking a hand through his hair. “Do you know where she went?”
“Out.”
So he really had screwed up. “Look, I’m not sure what happened here but…”
Then she turned toward him, and Dylan had to admit, he took a step back because she looked fierce. “But what?” she snapped. “But you think it’s okay to hurt Paige’s feelings and then come waltzing back here and expect her to be waiting for you?”
“Daisy, I—”
“I have worked with Paige for a long time and believe me, she gets angry, but she’s always in control of it. It never gets the better of her. This was the first time she ever did anything even remotely…violent. And why? Because of you! You and Ariel!”
“I didn’t think it would be an issue,” he said defensively. “I thought it was all fine and good because it was for the campaign! I thought she was okay with it!”
Liar, liar, liar…
“Well, she wasn’t,” Daisy said with a small pout.
“Come on, Daisy. Where is she? I need to talk to her.”
She studied him for a moment. “I don’t think she wants to talk to you right now.”
&
nbsp; “I’m sure she doesn’t, but I need to make this right with her.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“This whole thing that’s going on with you and Paige—it’s a way of keeping the bad press reports away, right?”
He let out an aggravated sigh. “That’s how it started but—”
“Do you care about her at all? Or is all this about you and your reputation?”
Damn. She may have seemed like a chattering airhead most of the time, but she certainly didn’t pull any punches when she needed to. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I care about Paige. A lot. That’s why I need to know where she is so I can talk to her.”
Ten minutes later, Dylan was in his car, speeding out of the parking garage. Once he’d gotten Paige’s whereabouts out of Daisy, the woman had continued to chatter at him about how he better make things right. He was trying to, dammit! Right now he wished he knew what to say and how to say it. He’d never had this kind of situation before, this kind of relationship, where he cared enough to want to make things right.
And now that he did, it had him feeling so sick and twisted up inside, he wasn’t sure he liked it.
He hadn’t wanted to talk to Ariel, if he was being honest with himself. He knew it was going to rub Paige the wrong way even if it was for the right reasons. He should have simply suggested they make an appointment to talk after his lunch with Paige.
Yeah, that thought hit him about thirty seconds after he’d walked out with Ariel. Unfortunately, the woman talked almost as much as Daisy did, and he couldn’t get a word in edgewise for far too long. Then her father had joined in. Dylan had to wonder how Paige managed to have conversations with either one of them because they never seemed to shut up!
There were plenty of things Dylan had learned to accept about himself over the course of his life. First, he was a screwup. Most of the time it was by his own choice. It had started as a way to get some attention from his parents and then it became a way to get attention period. He was a classic case of the child who lashed out for all the wrong reasons. His parents weren’t bad; they weren’t abusive; they just weren’t overly attentive. And to a guy who clearly enjoyed being in the spotlight, he took matters into his own hands to get them to see him.
One More Promise Page 19
