message, and she glanced down at the screen before rolling her eyes and turning off her phone.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, not liking the way her jaw clenched at whatever she’d read.
“Nothing. Just Cannon being an ass, like usual.” She put her phone in her purse and then leaned back with a dark frown on her beautiful face.
“Is he giving you problems?”
“He just runs his mouth. After what he said to me last night, Mom made him do the dishes and then clean the downstairs guest bathroom this morning before his meeting.” She smirked. “If he keeps it up, and she continues to punish him by making him clean, maybe he’ll move out.”
“He and I always talked about getting an apartment together when we graduated,” I told her, and she clenched her hands into fists before hiding them in her lap. “That’s not going to happen, Dimples.”
“Why not?” she demanded, her nose flaring. “He’s your best friend. I figured you two would be back to being thick as thieves as soon as he got off the plane.”
“He’s nothing to me except the brother of the girl I love.” I heard her sharp inhale, saw the glitter of tears in her pretty eyes before she quickly looked away. “Unfortunately, he’s also the idiot I have to work with for two more albums because Ma can’t get me out of our contract.”
“Aunt Emmie had the lawyers come up with that contract to protect you and Cannon,” she defended my mom. “She didn’t imagine you and my brother would stop being friends.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going to suck it up and do what I have to. Maybe if we go ahead and record everything now, I won’t have to go back into the studio with Cannon. They can just take everything and divide it between two albums.” Under the table, I trapped her legs between mine and squeezed my knees together since she was hiding her hands from me. “But just because I’m working with him doesn’t mean I’m picking him over you. Tell me you understand that, baby.”
She sighed but nodded. “I know. It’s just that you two will be in the studio together a lot, and eventually, you’ll talk about more than work. When you guys would argue as kids, it never lasted long once you talked it out.” She swallowed hard and gave me a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I guess we’ll just have to see what happens this time.”
“Nothing’s going to happen,” I growled.
Shaw didn’t even look at me, and I’d had enough of the table being between us. I was out of my side of the booth and sliding in beside her before she could blink. Thrusting my fingers into her hair, I turned her head so she had to look at me. “Sorry, baby, but you are stuck with me. I won’t give you up for anyone. I’ll kill your brother, and anyone else who dares to get in my way, before that ever happens.”
I felt her tremble and brushed my mouth over hers. The kiss was quick, just a simple caress of my lips on hers, before I pressed my forehead to hers. “I’m yours, Shaw. My loyalty, my love, every fucking part of me is right here, ready and waiting for you to grab on to. Nothing and no one will ever change that.”
She looked up at me from beneath her lashes. “I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow afternoon to get birth control.”
I’d already been hard, but hearing that, I had to close my eyes to fight the sudden throbbing making my entire body quake. “Shaw…”
“I just want to be ready for…whatever.” She touched her lips to where her fingers touched my face. Slow, soft brushes of her mouth on my chin, my jaw, and then my neck.
Someone clearing their throat behind me had her stiffening, and we both lifted our heads to find the waitress standing there with our food. She gave us a knowing grin and placed our plates in front of us before asking if we needed anything else.
Once she was gone, I adjusted myself in my jeans so I didn’t do permanent damage to my cock and picked up my fork and knife to cut into my steak. Shaw took a bite of her food and then rested her head on my shoulder as she chewed.
With a gasp, she jerked her head up. “We didn’t get sheets or pillows or anything else for the bed.”