Sweet Possession

CHAPTER 3

Connor stalked into Malone’s with the beginnings of a headache already wracking his brain. His flight from L.A. had been delayed. He’d spent six hours in Dallas, and just when he was ready to say fuck it and hire a damn car and drive the five hours to Houston, his flight had boarded.

Then, when he’d landed, he had six voice mails, three of them from Pop and another three from Micah, who’d delighted in giving him hell about his meeting with the pop diva. Asshole.

“Hey, you’re back,” Faith called from her office as he passed.

His frown eased into a smile, and he backed up to Faith’s doorway. “Yeah, I’m back. Finally. You’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“Heard it didn’t go too well,” she said, her green eyes bright with sympathy.

He gave up the idea of sneaking to his office to blow off some steam and sauntered into Faith’s office, where he slouched in a seat in front of her desk.

“Let me guess. Micah has been regaling you with tales of my torture.”

Mirth glistened in her eyes as she tried to stifle her laughter. “Well, uhm, yes. I’m afraid he has.”

“Jackass,” Connor muttered.

“Was it that bad?”

Connor sighed. He loved his sister dearly, and he had no intention of bitching at her for the better part of an hour. So he ignored the question. “Where’s Gray and Nathan?”

She accepted the change in subject with her usual good nature, but her eyes gleamed speculatively as if to say she’d get the dirt later. Yeah, she was sweet, but she could also be downright evil.

“They’re out on a job. Pop should be in shortly, and, to be honest, I have no idea where Micah is.”

“Damn.”

“Avoiding Pop?” she asked, her lips quivering with another smile.

“It’s pointless. The old coot would just show up at my apartment.”

Faith did laugh then. “Yes, he would. He’s been muttering under his breath about insubordination and hardheaded employees ever since the record execs called to tell him you’d walked.”

Connor rolled his eyes. “If he wants the job so damn bad, he can send Micah. He’d totally dig the chick.”

“And you don’t.”

“She’s . . . she’s . . . I don’t have words.”

“Wow, Connor Malone speechless. And over a woman. Never thought I’d see it.”

He glared at her. “It’s not what you think. She’s . . .” He couldn’t even finish. Faith burst into laughter, her long blond hair shaking over her shoulders. She reached up to wipe tears from the corners of her eyes and kept on laughing.

He rolled his eyes heavenward and wondered if asking for a sudden lightning bolt would be asking for too much.

“There you are.”

Connor flinched when Pop’s raspy voice filled the room. “Here I am,” he muttered, not turning around in his chair.

Pop ambled up and smiled at Faith. “Your husband said to tell you that he’s going to be running late and for you not to wait on him.”

Her cheeks pinkened, and a soft smile spread over her features. “Guess I’ll head out, then.”

Traitor, Connor mouthed at her.

She winked, then collected her purse and headed for the door.

Pop turned his hard stare on Connor. “Now. You.”

Connor held up his hand. “I don’t want to hear it, Pop.”

Pop grunted. “Well, you’re going to hear it.” He leaned against Faith’s desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t care what happened in L.A. This job is a personal favor to a friend. I told him we’d do it, and I can’t spare one of the others to do it. You’re it.”

Connor set his teeth together. “Just because they all had the poor sense to get all fucked-up over a woman and think they need to all be married does not mean that I get every shitty job that crosses your desk now.”

Pop snorted. “No sense getting your panties in a wad. You’re acting as bad as that pop star you don’t want to babysit.”

Connor scowled but Pop held up his hand. “I’m asking as a favor.”

Connor groaned.

“She’s flying in this Friday. You’re meeting her for dinner Friday night and then she’s coming in to the office on Saturday for a meeting with you and me.”

“Why am I meeting her for dinner?” Connor demanded.

“Because the two of you are obviously off on the wrong foot, and you need to kiss and make up if we have a hope of making this work.”

“Goddamn it, Pop. You go out to dinner with her. I’ll make the Saturday meeting, but I have no desire to spend five minutes with her alone, much less an entire dinner.”

Pop stared at him for a long moment. “Are you refusing the job?”

Connor swore long and hard. “No, I’m damn well not turning down the job. You’ve made it personal by asking a favor and you know damn well I’m not going to tell you no. But I don’t have to like it.”

Pop grinned. Cagey old bastard. “Phillip Armstrong will be e-mailing all the pertinent information as well as what they want from us as far as security. Tomorrow afternoon I want you to sit in on the conference call that he and Barry Kennedy will be heading up. Then you and I will hash out a game plan so that when she arrives on Friday, you two can discuss what will be done during her time in Houston. I left a detailed file on her on your desk. It will give you a very good idea of what this job will entail.”

“Fine,” Connor muttered.

Pop straightened and started for the door. Grudgingly, Connor stood and turned around to follow. Pop paused in the doorway and faced Connor. The old coot was working to keep a straight face. “Think of it this way. You’ve been bitching about wanting to take vacation for a long time now. Now you get two whole weeks.”

“Fuck you,” Connor growled.

Connor sat at the bar in Cattleman’s, sipping a cold beer as he waited for Lyric Jones to make an appearance. He checked his watch again, irritated that she was fifteen minutes late.

Pop was disgruntled that he hadn’t picked a classier spot, but then, from what he’d seen, Lyric wasn’t the epitome of class, and if he was going to be forced to endure this meeting, then she could damn well come to him on his turf.

He’d spent the better part of yesterday reading the notes that Pop had compiled. Micah had even made an appearance, only too happy to shove the latest tabloid under Connor’s nose with a smug, shit-eating grin. How one woman could cause so much trouble and garner so much press was beyond him.

His trip to the grocery store to get a steak and a six-pack of beer had been soured when he noticed that every single magazine at the checkout had some tale of her latest antics or publicity stunt plastered over the covers.

It would seem that nothing the woman did was shielded from the world, and worse, she seemed perfectly okay with that.

He downed the last of his brew and shoved the empty bottle across the bar. As he glanced sideways, he saw her come in. To his surprise, she wasn’t accompanied by her bodyguards. Not very smart.

She was dressed in tight-fitting jeans and a regular white T-shirt. There wasn’t a hint of pink in her hair and not a spot of makeup dotted her face. She looked remarkably clean-cut and wholesome. Good grief.

Her fingers were shoved into her jeans pockets, and she looked around warily. Unease billowed off her body in a cloud. She looked uncertain, and again he was struck by the odd vulnerability he had glimpsed during her last number at the concert. Clearly he was losing his mind.

Finally her gaze locked on to his and he lifted his hand in greeting. Her eyes glazed over, and it was as if she locked the attitude in place. The cockiness was back in spades.

She twisted her lips and sauntered over, throwing her bag over the bar stool as she slid up to the bar beside him.

“Nice place,” she drawled.

“I think so.” He held up a finger and motioned to the barkeep. “Drink?” he asked her when the bartender walked over.

“Just water.”

“Beer and a water,” Connor ordered.

She leaned forward and rested her elbows on the scarred wood of the bar. As she wiggled her body to move closer so she could lean, he caught a whiff of her perfume. To his surprise it smelled soft, nice even. He would have expected something strong and overpowering. Like her.

“So,” she said as she made a V with her fingers and pressed them to her lips. “Here we are.”

Connor nodded.

She sighed and turned sideways to look at him. “Look, let’s at least be honest. I don’t like you. You don’t like me. Neither of us wants to be here and you don’t want to babysit me any more than I want a goddamn nanny.”

Despite himself, he chuckled. He couldn’t help it.

“Not bothering to deny it, are you?” she said dryly.

He shook his head. “Nope. Don’t see the point in blowing smoke up your ass.”

She sighed again. “I’m guessing you weren’t given any more choice than I was.”

“Nope.”

“Not a man of many words, are you?”

He shrugged. “You pretty much said it all.”

“Well, it’s obvious that we aren’t going to be best friends forever, so why don’t we sit here for a few minutes, you can have a beer or two, and then we can leave and pretend we played nice?”

Connor smiled and, though it pained him, he found himself not quite hating the thought of spending a few more minutes with her.

“I can play nice for a few minutes,” he conceded.

She snorted. “You mean if we ignore each other.”

His smile widened. He glanced over her again, noting the absent flash and glitz. “You look . . . different.”

She cast him a baleful stare. “Just in case you think that the pink hair and flashy clothes are just part of the stage show and that underneath I’m this really nice, boring girl, let me dissuade you of that notion. I just didn’t want to get my ass kicked by coming into a place like this in anything but good-ole-boy gear.”

Connor was fascinated by the snarl on her lips. It almost looked cute. Then he shook his head. She had as much personality as a pit bull and the pit bull was probably friendlier.

She spread her hands and turned up her palms in a supreme “I don’t give a fuck” gesture. “What you see is what you get.”

“Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?”

Anger flashed over her face and her eyes narrowed. He could get off on pissing her off. She rose to the bait so easily.

“Just tell me what it is you’re supposed to do for me so we can get this over with,” she muttered.

Connor studied her for a moment, her stiff posture, her obvious discomfort being here with him. She shouldn’t have come alone, especially not in light of the details he’d gotten from Phillip.

“How bad has it been?” he asked bluntly.

She looked up, her blue eyes flashing in surprise. Then she shrugged. “You’ve talked to Phillip and Barry, I’m sure.”

“They haven’t been with you,” Connor pointed out. “A few visits on the road and phone calls from their office don’t count. Not with me. If I’m going to be responsible for your safety, then I need to know exactly what I’m dealing with.”

For a moment it seemed her shell cracked, and he could see the lines of fatigue grooved around her eyes.

“It’s not as bad as they make it out to be. I bring a lot of it on myself.” She lifted one small shoulder in a gesture of indifference. “I never wanted to surround myself so tightly with security that the public couldn’t get in. But now . . .”

“It’s too much,” Connor guessed.

“It’s exhausting. There have been a few threats.”

“And Phillip wants to crack down, not make you so accessible.”

Lyric nodded.

“So tell me. How hard is my job going to be?”

A small smile curved the corners of her mouth upward. “I won’t lie to you. I’m used to doing things my way.”

“We don’t have to get along for this to work, but you do have to listen to what I tell you. Every word. And you have to follow directions.”

She made a rude noise under her breath. “Just stay out of my way as much as possible.”

“Deal.”

She glanced sideways and appraised him with a seeking stare. “I think I like that you’re not kissing my ass.”

“It’s not your ass I want to kiss.”

The statement stunned both of them. Holy fuck, had he just said that? She blinked in surprise and then visibly retreated. The cocky, self-assured veneer was back, but for a moment, he’d seen something in her gaze that spoke to him. Longing.

With a smirk, she leaned forward and planted her lips solidly on his. Heat scorched a path from his mouth straight to his dick and flayed open every nerve ending along the way. She licked over his lips as if challenging him to open to her, but before he could, she pulled away and slid off the bar stool.

“Guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” She gave him a flip wave and strode out of the bar.