HardToHandle

by Hard to Handle

Tonight, she’d tell him good-bye.

  For good.

  THE knock on her hotel door nearly caused Jasmine to scream. She was so upset with herself, she wasn’t sure what to do.

  She’d made out with Barberosa. In the hallway. In front of his friends.

  What was she thinking?

  She hadn’t been, that much was obvious. But it wasn’t all her fault, and blast it, she should really give Barberosa a piece of her mind. Once she’d decided that, she forgot about her clothes and her anxiety over his reaction to them, marched across the floor, and threw the door open.

  Barber said, “Hey there, ho…” His words trailed off. Mute, his mouth still open as he breathed a little hard and fast, he stepped into her room and kicked the door shut behind him.

  His bold staring brought back all of Jasmine’s uneasiness. She smoothed her hands over the cinched waist of her top. Eve had sworn that the tank-style corset with pink plaid off-the-shoulder sleeves and lace trim would be appropriate. Jasmine liked it because, although it covered most of her chest, the hook-and-eye closure down the front was edgy and sexy.

  It went well with the short black pleated skirt with grommets for style. She wore black hose and ankle boots and some heavy silver jewelry that jangled when she put her hands on her hips. “What?”

  “Shhh.” Barber continued to stare. “Just let me soak this in a minute.”

  She went hot with…well, maybe not embarrassment. Maybe more like…interest. The way he looked at her, as if he might jump her bones at any second, made her want to jump him.

  For too many years, she’d fantasized about Barberosa Henry. She adored everything about him: his music, his voice, his long hair, his incredible physique and bold manner. He was the manliest man she’d ever encountered, but with an edge and an innate sexiness that a blind woman couldn’t miss.

  Now she was within touching distance of him, and he was clear about wanting her, and he was even more potent up close.

  For one brief second, Jasmine closed her eyes and relived that mind-numbing kiss in the hallway. Then she opened them and said, “No, Barberosa.”

  As he slowly circled her, he asked, “No?”

  She jerked around to keep him from ogling her backside. “No. You said it was you or the job, and I chose the job.”

  “Yeah, I remember that asinine ultimatum of mine.” His gaze lifted to hers. “Damned stupid of me, huh?”

  So much heat glimmered in his dark eyes, Jasmine was starting to feel exposed. Grabbing up her thick coat, she pulled it on and buttoned it up. “It wasn’t stupid at all. I’ve thought about it, and I think it makes perfect sense.”

  “Yeah? Why’s that?”

  “You’re not a man who’s about to settle down. But I’m not a woman who plays the field.”

  “You’d like playing with me, Jasmine.” He held her captive in his gaze as he moved closer. “I promise.”

  Oh good grief. As her willpower tried to crumble, she threw up both hands. “No is no, damn it!”

  He stopped, his expression enigmatic. “You weren’t protesting when I kissed you.”

  “I know. I lost my head.”

  “In a nanosecond.”

  “Braggart!” Truth be known, she was dying to kiss him long before he took the initiative. “You caught me by surprise, that’s all.”

  “I think I gave you what you wanted.” He eased another step closer. “What you’ve been wanting. Admit it.”

  That did it. Angry tears sprouted, and that only annoyed her more.

  “Ah, damn it.” He rocked back on his heels in disgust. “Do not start crying.”

  She stopped trying to hold Barber back and instead closed the space between them so she could thrust her face near his. “Don’t tell me what to do, Barberosa.”

  “Barber, damn it,” he grumbled. “How many times do I have to tell you?”

  “Fine. You want the truth, Barber? I’ve daydreamed about you since I first met you. That’s right. You. Smoldering hot fantasies.”

  His brows rose so high, they disappeared under his long hair. “You don’t say?”

  She jabbed a finger in his chest. “Women have fantasies—and you’re mine. But that’s as far as it’s going to go because this job is too important to me for me to blow it over a guy, any guy. So, Barber, you will back off, right now, or so help me—”

  “Stow the redheaded temper, toots, I get it.” Putting both hands to the back of his neck, Barber retreated.

  In that particular position, his shoulders and biceps looked huge, his chest wide.

  Damn, why did he have to be such an appealing man?

  He dropped his hands and faced her. “It’s not going to go away, you know.”

  Willing the moisture in her eyes to stay put, Jasmine said, “I will stomp it into submission.”

  The corners of his mouth curled. “Yeah?”

  “Absolutely. I suggest you do the same.”

  He laughed. “You are almost too adorable, do you know that?”

  “And you’re almost too appealing.” Her smile was mean. “Luckily, I have a lot of fortitude, so I’m sure I’ll be able to resist you. And now that we have that settled, do you think we should get going? I don’t want to be late my first night.”

  Barber went past her and opened the door with a flourish. He stepped back for her to precede him.

  Wary of his sudden compliance, Jasmine sidled around him. As she passed, he leaned in and said, “I’ll be interested to see how long the fortitude lasts, sweets.”

  She glared at him—and kept going.

  With a hand to the small of her back, he started her down the hall. “Smashing duds, by the way. You look incredible.”

  Damn it. Her knees shivered. “Thanks.”

  “If you sing as good as you look tonight, everyone is going to love you as much as I do.”

  She stumbled on her own feet. Love her? Now why did he have to go and say things like that?

  Jasmine’s heart pounded, her tummy flip-flopped, and when they stepped outside, even the cold evening air couldn’t ease the heat inside her.

  Lord help her, when it came to Barber, she didn’t know if her touted fortitude would be enough to save her after all.

  CHAPTER 17

  W ITH boisterous encouragement from the customers, Barber and his band went straight into a third song. Filled with satisfaction, Roger relaxed back against the wall. Jasmine Petri was a fine addition to the band. Now if he could only find some way to sign up Barber long-term, even if only two or three times a year.

  “What are you thinking?”

  Cam had approached without him realizing it, and he smiled down at her. “Evil thoughts, actually. You wouldn’t approve.”

  “Oh really?” Smiling impishly, she caught the knot in his tie and tugged him a few feet away to a more private alcove. “Let’s hear it, Mr. Sims.”

  For a while now, Roger had noticed that Cam positively glowed. He prayed it was happiness that made her even more beautiful, because her happiness was what he wanted most of all. “Barber has become such a commodity, I was trying to think of how I might tie him to the bar. Even if we only got him here for special occasions, it’d be a huge coup.”

  “Why don’t you just ask him?”

  With a different approach already in mind, Roger smoothed back Cam’s hair. Tonight she wore it loose and soft, and it turned him on. Of course, she could shave her head and it’d turn him on.

  He laughed at himself. “Always the straightforward approach for you, huh?”

  Cam nodded. “I’ve found it works best.”

  Not when you wanted to tie down a rising star, but Roger didn’t say so. “If that’s what you think I should do, I’ll try it.” First. And if it didn’t work, then he’d resort to other ideas.

  Pleased with him, Cam said, “Let’s talk about it more before you make a move. I think we should figure out exactly what you want from Barber. Decide how often you can afford to have him here, and how seldom you’d be willing to
settle for him. Come up with the price, the terms, everything. Then present it to him and see what he says.”

  “He doesn’t have an agent yet,” Roger pointed out, “and that amazes me, but it saves me from having to go through someone else.”

  “Barber is a very down-to-earth person. I can’t see fame changing that.”

  “Me either.” Roger tugged her into a hug and heard her very faint gasp, then felt the way she tried to ease away from him. He levered back with concern. “What’s wrong?”

  Putting her hands over her breasts, she said, “I’m a little tender, that’s all.”

  Guilt crawled over him, mingling with desire. He asked low, “Was I too rough last night?” He recalled being insatiable, especially when she’d seemed more sensitive to his mouth, almost ready to come just from him sucking at her nipples.

  That made her smile. “I loved it.”

  Damn. Roger cleared his throat, but it didn’t help the sudden restriction in his pants. Remembering made him hot, and made him want to do it all over again. Right here, right now. “You’re sure?”

  Instead of answering, she grinned, leaned to look around to assure their privacy, and then she said, “I was going to tell you tonight, but I don’t think I can wait that long.”

  His heart beat slow and hard. “What?”

  “I hope you’ll be excited.”

  Imagining everything from awful to wonderful, blood rushed into his head. “Tell me.”

  She bit her lip, grinned, and said, “I’m pregnant.”

  The world closed in, Roger’s vision dimmed—and then bright light exploded. “Pregnant?” He meant to shout, but it emerged as a very wimpy whisper.

  Biting her bottom lip again and trying not to laugh, Cam nodded.

  “Pregnant?” he said again, this time stronger, louder. “You’re sure?”

  “Yes.”

  Every ounce of strength left him, and he sank to his knees in front of her. She was so…slim. Her belly was flat, maybe even concave. He held her hips and kissed her through her dress.

  “Roger,” she whispered on a laugh. “Get up!”

  He looked at her face, saw her blush; he loved her so damn much, he wanted to cry. “We’re having a baby?” Damn it, he was crying. He pressed his face against her and held on.

  Her hand in his hair, gently coaxing, Cam came down to her knees, too. “Yes, Roger. I’m not far along yet. I’ve only done a home test, but we can set an appointment with the doctor and he can give us a date.”

  He crushed her close. “God, I love you.”

  She cried, too. He heard it in her voice when she said, “I know.”

  As quickly as he’d gone weak, Roger felt superhuman. On a laugh, he surged back to his feet and scooped her up in his arms, turning her in a circle, kissing her.

  Cam smiled at him, wiped his cheeks. “I love you too, you know.”

  “Thank you.”

  That made her laugh. “Oh, Roger. You are going to be such a terrific dad.”

  “I will,” he promised. “I swear to you, I will.”

  Her smile trembled. “I don’t have a doubt.”

  Someone rudely brushed against them, almost knocking them over.

  Roger regained his balance, furious even as he turned to see who’d been so rude. He saw a massive man muscling a path to the edge of the dance floor. He paused at the outskirts of the crowd and started searching the audience.

  Oh hell. Furious, Roger quickly set Cam back on her feet. “Stay here.”

  “Roger!”

  Knowing how Cam felt about him getting involved in any physical altercations, he paused long enough to say, “I know, Cam. I promise I won’t start anything. But this is my place and I—”

  “Go.” She smiled, showing her trust. “Take care of business, but avoid a conflict if you can.”

  “I will.” He moved away from her and approached the jerk who’d rudely elbowed them. “Excuse me.”

  The guy glanced at him, then away. “Get lost.”

  Roger took in the buzzed head, the outrageous tattoos, the scars, and the attitude. “I’m the proprietor here. Can I help you with something?”

  Without looking at him, the man said, “You can fucking well leave me alone.”

  More furious by the second, Roger narrowed his eyes. “I can have security here in two minutes.”

  “Yeah?” The guy stared down at Roger, which made him pretty damned tall given that Roger stood six-two. “By then I’ll have found Handleman, so why bother?”

  Not intimidated, but hoping to avoid a scene as Cam had requested, Roger said, “If you’d like to wait by the door, I can find him and send him to you.”

  “Don’t bother.”

  Just then Barber bounded off the stage. He helped Jasmine down next. While the other band members headed for the bar to get a drink, Barber led Jasmine toward the tables where Harley and Stasia sat with Dean, Simon, Gregor, and their wives.

  The big bruiser bunched his shoulders and smiled, showing several missing teeth. “I already found him.”

  HE came through the place like he owned it, elbowing people out of his way, a pissy look on his face.

  Harley saw him right off. How could he miss him? While giving his attention to Stasia as she enthused on Jasmine’s talent, he also kept track of the guy. He was built like a fighter, and he moved like a fighter, but Harley didn’t recognize him.

  Right behind the bully was Roger, and behind him, Cam. Wearing a furious frown, Roger spoke into a radio, no doubt calling security. Given the look on the man’s face as he approached, Harley didn’t blame Roger for anticipating trouble.

  Harley figured it was about to come his way.

  “Excuse me,” he said to Stasia, cutting her off in mid-sentence. He pushed back his chair and moved around the table to stand in front of the women.

  Naturally, the other guys caught on quick enough, and they too got to their feet. The man approaching grinned in evil delight, and pointed one massively muscled arm at Harley with intent.

  So stupid. More than anything, Harley hated theatrics. Usually it was the guys without enough talent who resorted to such idiotic antics.

  Stasia stepped up beside Harley. “What’s going on?”

  Hoping to insulate her from the ugliness, he said, “Move back against the wall and stay there.”

  “What?”

  “Just do it.”

  Too late, the guy halted in front of him. “Hard to Handle. ’Bout time I found you.”

  Sizing him up, unimpressed with his ridiculous show, Harley asked, “And you are?”

  “The guy who’s going to break your fucking elbow this time.”

  Harley cocked a brow. “Be specific, will you? Do you mean now, later, or what?”

  “In the ring, you jackass.” His sneering gaze went to Simon. “Now that Sublime’s run off, that leaves me and you.”

  Simon and Dean came up alongside Harley, and they both looked deadly. Wishing they’d back off and let him handle it, Harley relaxed his stance. “As you can see, Simon hasn’t gone anywhere. He’s right here.”

  “Yeah.” The guy’s lip curled. “Because he’s worried about his little buddy.” He laughed. “That’s right. I heard that Sublime is training you.”

  Damn, news traveled fast. But then, if the idiot arrived in town today and first looked for Harley at the gym, he probably would have heard the latest developments.

  “That’s the plan so far,” Harley said.

  “It’s not going to do you any damn good. I’m still going to destroy you.”

  Simon laughed. “You and a shitload of steroids?”

  The guy lunged forward, but Dean stepped in front of him, stopping him with a hard shove to his chest. “This is my brother-in-law’s place, Kinkaid. Do not start any shit here or I swear you’ll regret it.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Can’t be getting the place all messy spilling Handleman’s blood, huh?” He retreated a step and glared at Harley with hatred.

  Behind t
he men, the women clustered close in apprehension and dread—all but Dakota, who surveyed the scene with disdain.

  Harley stepped forward, separating himself from the others. Kinkaid. So this was the man he would fight for the title. He was a big bastard, but also an idiot. “You say we’re going to fight?” Harley shook his head, and told a provoking lie. “I’ve never even heard of you.”

  “Because you’ve been off licking your wounds, Handleman, that’s why. But I’m unstoppable.” Kinkaid thumped a boulder-size fist into his own chest. “I’m going to take you apart, and I’m going to enjoy doing it.”

  “Right. If you say so.” Harley relaxed even more—to the point he knew he looked bored. “Now is there anything else you wanted before I get back to my company?”

  So hot under the collar that his eyes bulged, Kinkaid screwed up his face. “What kind of chicken-shit talk is that?”

  “I don’t explain myself to morons. If we fight, I’ll let my fists do the talking.”

  “Not if, when. It’s been decided.”

  “You, my friend, have to pass a drug test first, and I’ve got my doubts on that score.”

  Kinkaid leaned closer. Through clenched teeth, he said, “Maybe you ought to stop talking right now, get a little taste of what I have in store for you.”

  Stasia said low, “Harley…”

  And Kinkaid’s gaze shot over to her. Malice lit his eyes and his mouth stretched into a mean smile.

  Harley stepped in front of her. All signs of boredom were gone. “Don’t even think about it, Kinkaid. You can’t be that stupid.”

  Kinkaid laughed. “Why not? You wanted to fight Sublime, so you fucked his old lady to goad him into it. Almost worked for you, too.” His eyes narrowed. “Maybe my luck will be better.”

  Pandemonium exploded.

  Simon let out a roar, Dean tried to restrain him, and Dakota threw a sucker punch to Kinkaid’s crotch.

  As the poor sap went down wheezing, she said, “I’m Simon’s old lady, buster, and Harley never slept with me.”

  Dakota hadn’t pulled the punch at all, and Kinkaid hadn’t seen it coming. She’d nailed him.

  Eyes bulging and mouth slack in agony, the poor sap looked ready to puke, or pass out, or both.