explosion. Oddly, she’s smiling.
“Thanks for sticking up for me.”
Relief floods through me. “I guess I should have told you about Chris’s dumb ass not wanting us to be together, but I was never going to let him affect anything between us.”
She nods. “Yes, you should have told me. You and I could have strategized together to figure out how best to deal with it. We’re stronger together, right?”
“We are.”
She steps forward, pressing up against me, and my arms circle around her waist. Even though I’m easily a foot taller than her, we just fit somehow. Standing on her tiptoes, she brushes her soft lips against mine in a feathery kiss. My cock swells in response to her touch, straining against my jeans.
“That’s for agreeing with me,” she murmurs.
The sweet, light scent of her perfume fills my nostrils.
“I will agree with you more often. I will agree with you all night long.”
I let go of her, walk over to the door and lock it. She follows me, arching an eyebrow in question.
“You know, I’ve got the conference room booked up for the next hour.” I flash a grin at her. “Ever done it on a conference room table?”
“No, I haven’t.” She smiles sweetly…and reaches over and unlocks the door and opens it. “And that’s for not telling me about Chris’s Callie-ban. Anything else hugely important that you’ve forgotten to tell me?”
“No, but I have a hugely painful erection right now.” I try to smile winningly, which is hard, because most of the blood in my body has rushed south and it’s making me light-headed.
“That is so unfortunate. I’m sure you will remember it every time you consider keeping secrets from me.” Her eyes gleam with mischief.
“I don’t keep secrets from you! Well, I kind of did when it came to Chris and him not wanting us to be together, I guess, but in my defense—”
She holds up her hand. “Whenever someone says ‘in my defense’ it generally means they know they’ve done something bad and they’re trying to weasel out of it. Moving on. What had Monica and Parker and Magnus all storming out of the conference room?”
Well. Apparently there will be no conference room nookie.
I explain about the concert, and why it would be a potential disaster for Magnus to play there.
“You’re right,” I say to her. “We are stronger together. And this affects you too. Chris holds most of the cards. If we breach our contract, he can really make life hell for us. What are your thoughts on it?”
“For starters, have you had your contract reviewed by a good lawyer? One who represents your interests, not Blue Blazes’?”
“Yeah. Once Chris started turning into an asshole, which happened a few months after we signed on with him, we took the contract to several lawyers.” I shake my head. “The contract is ironclad. Although there’s nothing in the contract that says he has any say over who I date. He can’t really control that.”
She frowns in thought, nibbling her lower lip, which does strange things to my libido. “This problem with Chris goes beyond whether or not you and I can come clean about being a couple, though. I feel like he’s almost openly trying to sabotage you, and you need to figure out why. Have you had any luck figuring out who Terra Jones’ inside man might be?”
“None whatsoever. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“Okay, this may sound crazy, but is there any possibility that Chris and Terra Jones are a thing?”
I consider it for a moment, then shake my head. “It’s not a bad theory, but the way Chris is screwing us over all the time means that he’s risking losing a fortune. I don’t see how Terra Jones would fit into that. Also, he doesn’t tend to have long-term affairs, more like brief flings and lots of high-end hookers.”
“What an absolute charmer. Yeah, that was my next question, whether he would somehow benefit from ruining you guys, because if so, I think it would make sense to consider him your main suspect.”
“I can’t see how. He is insured, but if we couldn’t tour or sell our music, he’d lose far more money than he could earn from the insurance payout. Also, if Skylar found out that he’d caused that kind of financial lost, she’d fry up his cojones and serve them to him on a platter.”
Callie’s face squinches up in disgust. “Sebastian! Now I’ve got that image stuck in my head and I can’t unsee it!”
“What