Romancing Austin

by Riley Bancroft, Evelyn Berry, Cara Carnes, Jax Garren, Irene Preston, Rebecca Royce, Chandra Ryan

  “Not even a little bit.” Her phone rang again. “Damn it.”

  —

  Jake stood in front of the mirror and tried to decide what to wear. He’d hated leaving Lana at DBR’s place. The man had been insistent he’d needed help. Something about his fan mail clogging up the entryway and destroying the creative flow.

  Since it was still her job, Lana had decided to go in and relieve the issue. Apparently if she didn’t, tomorrow would be worse. He could understand her feelings. Why put off for tomorrow what could be done today?

  She’d promised he could take her to dinner. So, what to wear?

  There was virtually nowhere in Austin he couldn’t walk in wearing his usual attire. The fine-dining restaurants weren’t fancy dress places. Instead, they had great food and casual atmospheres. He was determined not to let her leave town without eating in the best places. Sounded as if she’d pretty much been eating only barbecue takeout with DBR.

  Jake loved barbecue, but he’d never had to eat it every single night.

  His phone vibrated in his pocket and he looked down at it. Hopefully, it wasn’t Lana cancelling. The breaking-DBR’s-nose idea rose in his head again.

  He stared down at the number. It wasn’t Lana. Instead, the manager of Rooster required his attention. Jake took a deep breath. Most nights, while he sat home alone in his house, he didn’t mind being bothered with any or all small problems. It was better to be needed than not.

  Tonight, however, he actually had plans, and they were with a woman he had two weeks to impress. There wasn’t time for employee issues.

  Considering he had no other choice, he took the call. “You’ve reached me.”

  “Hey, it’s Lucy.” Yes, he’d known it would be her.

  “Hi.” He sat down on the bed. Shirtless, he looked down at himself. He could actually see where Lana had bit him earlier. He rubbed the mark. God, the woman was so hot.

  “We’ve got a problem down here.”

  “Yes, I kind of figured.” He didn’t mean to sound so grumpy. “I assume it’s something you need my help with.”

  He forced himself to count to ten. Rooster was his business. When you worked for yourself, you were never off. He understood how to deal with multiple problems at once. Most of the time

  It had simply never bothered him before.

  “The musicians. They’re saying they won’t go on.”

  “Uh-huh.” He leaned back on the bed. “You know the protocol. They have a contract. They’ll go on or they’re going to owe us a ton of money. Talk to their management. You’ve handled fussy artists before, Luce.”

  To his horror, she started to cry. “I know. Only I can’t. I won’t be able to do it tonight.”

  Jake never had any idea what to do about women’s tears; when Lana had lost it at DBR’s party all he’d been able to do was stand there and hold her. Over the phone he was even more clueless. He’d been raised in a house with only men. His mother had left when he was two and his father had been a great parent to his five sons. Still, it hadn’t prepared him for the world of women.

  “Lucy.” He used a stern voice. She was his employee and she was at his club. His manager should not be freaking out. “Pull yourself together and tell me what’s going on. It’s South by Southwest. We’re going to have a crowd. No way will the musicians not do what they’re supposed to.”

  “Scott left me.” The woman wailed so loudly in his ear he had to move the phone from it.

  “Scott? Your husband Scott?”

  She sniffled loudly. “And I simply can’t. He said I loved the club more than him. I have to save my marriage. I’m sorry; it’s terrible timing. I quit.”

  A vision of the night before filled his mind. Lana hollering at DBR. Q.U.I.T.

  “We’ll be so sorry to lose you.”

  His plans for the night were going to have to change.

  —

  Jake sat in the manager’s office of his club and listened to the sounds of life outside the doors. The perk of getting to listen to music was why he owned the place. Truthfully, he had no idea what the fuck he was doing. He’d never managed the day-to-day of Rooster. Why stress when other people simply did it better?

  He smiled at the fuck in his thoughts. Lana had rubbed off on him.

  She hadn’t answered her phone so he’d texted her and hopefully she would show up. His Texas roots beat at him, and he couldn’t believe he wasn’t picking the lady up. He’d grown up in a small town two hours north of Austin, and the values never really left him. Even if he’d picked up some more out there notions than his father would approve of.

  He drummed his fingers on the desk. Why had Lucy hired such an inept assistant manager? He’d been totally hands-off during the hiring of the staff. It appeared he’d have to make changes.

  A small and brilliant light shined under the door. The floor glowed. Lana. He grinned and stood up before she knocked.

  Jake rushed to open it. “So sorry about how tonight worked out.”

  “I’m seeing your club, which is fun. I mean you could take me to your other offices, only I’m sure I wouldn’t understand them.” She pursed her lips. “No easy way to say this. Rooster is not running well, no offense. Sorry. I shouldn’t have said such a horrible thing.”

  He sat on the edge of the desk and crooked a finger toward her. She accepted the invitation and leaned against him. Her easy way with him made his soul fill with joy. “What would you do differently?”

  “I’m not the person to ask. I’m the woman who followed an inconsiderate boss across country only to quit her job and still be stuck with it.” She sighed loudly.

  He rubbed her shoulders and she softened against him. Someday, soon hopefully, she wouldn’t always be so tense. Of course, his plan to show her a good time so she’d stay had to come true first. Since she couldn’t see the golden light around herself, she had no idea they were destined to be together.

  The problem with being the only person in the room who could see things.

  “Seriously, indulge me, because today I’m feeling really irked. I never expected to ever have to run Rooster. I know, naiveté at its very best, right?”

  She kissed his chest. Affection proved to be very easy between them. A real treat for a change. “We all fall in over our heads sometimes.”

  “I knew I wouldn’t earn money here. It’s a venture for my soul. As long as I can afford it, I’ll run it at a loss.”

  She drew back, her thick brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “What part didn’t you follow?” He hated when confusion happened. No one ever followed his train of thought.

  “The bit about the club not earning you any money.”

  “Oh, yeah, I take an annual hit here. For me, it’s all about the music.”

  “Jake.” She drummed her fingers on his chest, which managed to make a straight signal right to his balls. Not surprising. He’d probably spend every day he was with her hard as a rock.

  “Lana.” He liked the name-saying thing.

  She pinched him. “Listen. You have a music club on Lamar. There is no way such a place should not be earning you a sweet penny. Big bands come here. They’re lined up outside. I could barely squeeze in, and my name was on the list to be sent back here.”

  His heart rate sped up. “Are you saying my place has been run so badly it’s not earning what it should?” He’d been warned when he opened the club it would take years to be profitable. For the most part, he’d been biding his time waiting for the money to finally catch up.

  “Listen, I’m no CPA. I do have a business degree. I know profit when I see it. Dexter wants to play here. He’s very A-list right now. Rooster is a club that should be banking it.” She sighed. “It could be management or maybe how long it’s been open or…” Her voice trailed off.

  “Or someone has been robbing me blind.”

  “I didn’t want to say such a thing.” She bit her lip, and he pressed down on it with his thumb to make her stop. Her
lips were too precious to be damaged in such a way.

  He had very little temper. In his life, things tended to lay out the way they were supposed to. He didn’t hold a particular belief system, yet he could see there was a path and he walked on it. These thoughts tended to help him keep his cool when others lost their shit.

  But like every other red-blooded American male, he did not want to be taken advantage of. Or seem a fool in front of the girl he wanted to be with.

  “Give me a second.” He scooted her off her knee and grabbed his cellphone. Quickly, he dialed a number. His accountant’s voice mail picked up, and he left a message asking her to call him. Afterwards, he disconnected.

  “Hey.”

  “Yes, baby?” He walked over to her and pulled her against him.

  “I could be wrong.”

  “You’re not. I can feel it.” He kissed the top of her head. “And when I find the person who cheated me, I’m going to rain the fury of my so-called resources down on their heads.”

  “I don’t know you very well yet…”

  He liked the “yet”. It implied there would be more. “I feel as if you do. I know you’re right. I’m actually incredibly logical when I’m not dreaming. Still…”

  “Yes,” she whispered. “Well, I know you’re going to handle your club’s money better. It’ll be great. And you should totally not worry about it. Whatever has been happening, it’s going to work out.”

  He kissed her sweet lips. Yes, it would.

  4

  “You can’t quit me, Lana.” Dexter strummed on his guitar, singing at the top of his voice. “It’s not allowed. You’re my assistant, Lana. You work for me.”

  If he would only devote as much time to working on his upcoming album, he’d be in better shape. Five more days.

  “Do you want to meet the candidates?” She stood up, ignoring his singsong voice. “I’m down to four. I’m going to pick an assistant for you today if you don’t.”

  “Lana,” he sang again. “Don’t leave me, Lana.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Sounds like a song title. Millions of girls will weep. They’ll have no idea you wrote it about losing the girl who orders your socks and scoots your women out of your bedroom in the morning.”

  “You think?” He rose and sauntered toward her. “You know what I think the problem is?”

  “Which issue in particular?” The maid hadn’t come in yet, so she started washing dishes. The night before, Jake had taken her to a restaurant called Uchi. She had loved every second of her food. It was Japanese. They’d eaten off the chef’s menu. Her stomach clenched. She wanted more, although she couldn’t eat so many calories very often.

  Not if she still wanted a waistline when her time in Austin was over. Her heart panged at the thought. He’d been hard-selling her on Austin and himself. The latter she needed no help with; the former was growing on her. Still, she wasn’t going to continue to work for DBR. Not for all the money in the world, which he had offered the day before despite still owing her a bonus. Some pain outweighed money.

  After dinner, they’d gone to Jake’s club, where he had to spend every night since he still hadn’t found anyone he liked to hire. He worked all day, romanced her, and then spent all night running the club. His CPAs were inside checking everything out.

  Lana kept waiting for the freak out, which had to be on its way. The yelling, screaming, or blowing off their plans would have to show up sooner or later like all the other men she’d ever dated. Except he had an ability to roll with things beyond what she had ever seen before. He seemed to believe everything would be exactly as it should be.

  And when she was with him, she could feel it too. Sigh. When she got back to New York, her friends were going to think she’d gone off the deep end.

  New York. It felt farther and farther away. For some reason, the distance also bothered her less. Oh hell, she knew the reason and his name was Jake Perry.

  “You’re not listening to me.” Dexter shook her shoulder, and she turned to look at him.

  “Sorry. What?” She scooted away so he didn’t have such easy access to her anymore.

  “The problem here is you and I never slept together.”

  She snorted. “Funny.”

  “I’m totally serious, Lana.”

  She put down her dish to stare at him and wanted to throw up in her mouth as soon as she did. He wasn’t kidding. In fact, he was doing his puppy-dog-eyes thing she’d watched him do a million times with girls from every city they’d visited.

  “Oh. Dexter. Gross.” She shook her head. “No.”

  He stepped forward, running his hand down her arm. “I promise I’ll make it good.”

  “Listen, buddy, we’ve been through the no-sleeping-together before. The answer was no then and it’s no still.” She shoved him off. “Keep your hands to yourself, and we’ll part ways in five days, never to darken each other’s doors again.”

  “Oh, I don’t think your leaving is going to happen.”

  She tried to take a deep breath and failed. “What do you mean?”

  “Have you called any of your connections in New York? Los Angeles? Anyone want to hire you?”

  She had, actually. And none of her contacts had called her back. Not even some of the people she considered her closest friends. The lack of communication hadn’t particularly bothered her. People were busy. However, with his snide remark, her heart fell into her stomach.

  “What did you do?”

  “I don’t want to lose you, Lana. No other assistant has ever understood my needs as well as you do. No one manages me as you can.” He put his hands on his hips. “I made a few calls. Everyone understands you work for me.”

  “Oh.” Rage made her shake. Lana still held the dishrag, and before she could stop herself, before her brain could tell her hands that to do so would be a very bad idea, she hit him. Over and over again. The washcloth squished and flipped, flinging water as it made a smacking sound against his way-too-expensive faux leather t-shirt.

  “Hey.” He darted backwards. “Stop whacking me. It hurts.”

  “Good. I hope it does. Listen to me. For the last five years I have done everything you wanted, and I’ve done it with a smile on my face, most of the time. Because you are talented, and I believed in what you were doing.” She stopped whacking him. Her hands shook and his eyes were huge, which told her at least he listened. “You’re a giant child. A horrible, nasty little boy. I’ve learned something in my time working for you. I’ve figured out if I ever have children, then maybe the universe,” as she said it, she could hear Jake in her use of universe, “will gift me with girls. Who I can then spend a lifetime teaching to stay away from the likes of you.”

  “Lana…”

  She didn’t give him the chance to finish. “You want to ruin me? Have at it. It’s the last desperate measure of a little icky boy. I’m a grown up, so that means I’m still going to find you someone to replace me because, frankly, I hate to think of you out there in the world barely functioning by yourself.”

  Lana pointed her finger in his face. “Touch me again with any part of your body and I will cut it off.” For effect, she added, “See if I won’t. Try me, DBR, I mean it. I might relish the chance to show you how serious I am.”

  He stepped back. “Okay. I hear you. Sheesh, lady. No need to freak out like such a shrew. God, were you always such a bitch?”

  “You know what? I think I was. I think I’ve always been exactly as I am.”

  —

  “So, I hit him. Right there. With the dishrag.” Lana paced the room. “As if I was a crazy person.”

  Working out on the floor of his office, Jake did pushups while she spoke to him. She shook her head. Maybe he didn’t have a gym membership; maybe he somehow made office exercise work for him. How many of those things did he do a day while he worked?

  “Good for you. I’d say it was a long time coming.” Up and down. “I think you were downright calm. If I’d been there…”

&
nbsp; She laughed. “You would have what? Lectured him on his behavior?”

  He raised his head to look at her. “I’m getting the impression you don’t think I have it in me to break his nose?”

  “I’m sure you could. I question whether you would. And your lack of machismo is not such a bad thing. Anyone can break someone else’s arm…”

  He interrupted. “Nose. I said nose.”

  “Sorry. My bad.” She tapped her foot. His exercising made her feel downright stagnant. As soon as she got back to New York, she’d join a gym. “Listen…”

  “I’d break his nose for you, Lana.”

  “Don’t bother. Five more days—no, four left. Today is over.” He stood and walked over to her. He wrapped his arms around her. He didn’t smell sweaty. All of those pushups and he didn’t so much as glisten. “I have to tell you something.”

  “Other than how Dexter ruined your chances of working in New York?”

  “Yes, something else.” She tweaked his chin. Why did being with him have to be so easy? Was it the fact that she knew it was temporary? “I booked my plane tickets today.”

  She’d sat in front of the computer and almost not done it. Her hand had shaken when she’d clicked purchase. Austin was getting better every day. Yet her heart remained in Manhattan. She was a New Yorker. It had been a mistake to think she could live anywhere else—even if Jake Perry made her decision really difficult for her. She couldn’t change the vision of her entire life based on a man she’d known nine days.

  Although what she’d be doing in Manhattan remained in question, since DBR made it impossible, again, for her to find work. She might starve to death. At least she’d be doing it in the city of her choice.

  He brushed his hand over the side of her cheek. “You did?”

  “I did. I need to go home.” And her words were the truth.

  She had to walk the streets of New York, feel the concrete, the huger-than-life buildings, the brilliant noise, the stimulation, the lights on at two am, which would never shut off. More than anything she needed to wash off the stink of Dexter in the place she understood better than anything in the world.