Not Second Best (Drawn to the Rhythm Book 5) Read online

  “Because I don’t like the message I left.” Tessa clenched her teeth. At least she hadn’t left the message on Jason’s voice mail. He’d be listening to it over and over and fuming.

  “Oh. Fine, I won’t. Did you call about anything else?”

  “Well…” The news had to be delivered. “I checked out your new girlfriend. She doesn’t look like she’s on the level.”

  “I know. I broke up with her last night. I caught her sucking face with Jerry Eland.”

  “Jerry Eland?” Tessa tried to picture Jerry but instead ended up seeing Jabba the Hutt. One of the best producers in the business but not at all attractive. Of course the little gold digger would go after that fish. “Sorry.”

  “Yeah, whatever. Is that it?”

  “That’s it.” Tessa clicked back to the official BroRide Web site.

  “Great. Talk to you later.” He hung up the phone.

  Tessa studied the home page picture. Brett really was a good-looking boy. No wonder all the little girls were going bananas for him. Full, dark blond hair. Shocking blue eyes. Normally that color didn’t photograph, but whoever had taken this pic was a pro. Fine full lips. He was thin, but with a good build. She tried to remember how tall he was, but couldn’t. Most of the twenty-four hours she’d spent with him had been horizontal.

  She clicked into his bio. Twenty-three years old. Just a baby. Born on November twenty-fourth, so he was a Sagittarius. They were fun in a smack-’em-when-they-say-something-stupid way. Matched well with her sign of Leo. All the Sags she’d dated had been fun.

  And why did that matter? She wasn’t dating him. She wasn’t even sleeping with him anymore. They’d had a fling.

  Less. A lost weekend, and only half of one at that. If she were sitting across the desk from herself, she’d be telling herself to get away from him as fast as possible. His band’s first album had a couple of hits, getting them a second album, which would need even more hits to get them a third. So they needed a great producer. Like Jerry Eland. Or Jason. No way was party boy Brett Cherney interested in her. He just wanted to hook into the Touchstone machine like Ty’s little chippie had.

  If he wanted to do that, why hadn’t he called? He knew where she worked.

  Oh, God!

  Tessa stood up and walked out of her office. She was losing her mind. Over the last couple of years, she’d watched most of her friends get married and start families and, now, as the last woman standing, she was grasping at straws.

  “Look, I know she works here. Just call her and ask if she’ll see me.”

  The straw she had most recently grasped was leaning on Jody’s reception desk, holding out the desk phone. Jody watched him as if he was trying to get her to grab a poisonous snake.

  “Brett!” Tessa snapped. She quashed the bubble of excitement that rose at the sight of him.

  Brett and Jody both jumped, but Brett managed to make it look like he meant to leap off the desk. “Hey, I wanted to talk to you.”

  “What are you doing here?” Tessa clenched her teeth. Jody watched with interest. Everything said here would be on the grapevine ten seconds after they left.

  “I wanted to talk to you?” Brett repeated, questioning this time.

  Tessa pursed her lips. She needed a good cover, but her brain went on a field trip to yesterday, and all she could think about was touching and licking and moaning. Quick! There had to be something. Something yesterday... Something...kissing. “About Jerry Eland. Certainly. Come back to my office.” She beckoned him with a sharp motion.

  He tossed Jody a smile as he passed her desk.

  “Don’t touch me,” Tessa hissed as they walked down the hall.

  “I wasn’t going to.” He leaned closer and whispered, “Until we got into your office.”

  She jabbed him with her elbow, but he’d danced back a step before she connected. When they passed Helen’s office, she looked up. Tessa was going to have to come up with a good story. Inside her office, she got the door closed before he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. Tessa shoved him back before he could deepen the kiss. “What are you doing?”

  “I came to see you.”

  “Why?”

  Brett rocked back on the heels of his sneakers. “I missed you.”

  “You dropped me off last night. That was supposed to be the end of it.” She put her hands on her hips. God, if only that one simple kiss hadn’t made her so hot. She wanted to be down on the floor with him, trying out a couple of positions they’d missed yesterday.

  “I’ve been thinking about that.”

  “Don’t strain yourself.”

  Brett’s eyes narrowed and so did his lush mouth. “What’s got you so fucking uptight?”

  “I work here.”

  “And you’re embarrassed to be seen with me?”

  “Isn’t that why you took me all the way out to BFE Saturday?”

  “No. I took you all the way out to BFE because it’s my favorite place in the world.” He folded his arms. His white, long-sleeved shirt showed off his muscles beautifully.

  Her heart pounded like a big bass drum about to break its skin. “Brett—” She stopped because there was no follow up to that. “Okay, what happened between us, it was fun. But that was it. Fun. And now it’s over. Poof.” She made a gesture to go along with poof, but he didn’t seem impressed.

  “Why?”

  “What do you mean, why? Isn’t it obvious?”

  “No.”

  Tessa folded her arms. “What do you want?”

  “You? When you’re not being so bitchy.” He smirked, and even that was sexy.

  The intercom beeped. “Wait a minute.” She hurried to the desk and bent across to press the button. “Yes?”

  “Can you come to my office?” Sandy said. Using the intercom now? Crap, crap, crap. This thing wasn’t even a thing, and it was already out of control.

  Brett stepped behind her, put his hands on her hips and tugged her against him. His hard length pressed into her rear.

  “Right now?” Tessa hoped the squeak in her voice didn’t carry through the intercom. She’d never had to test its audio quality before.

  “Yes, please.” The light blinked out, indicating that Sandy had turned his end off.

  Brett slid his hands around her waist, pulling her upright against him. “That the boss calling?”

  She moaned. His hot, solid body was just a few layers of cloth away from sex. “Yes.”

  “About me?”

  “Yes.”

  Brett’s hands strayed under her breasts and her nipples strained with the need to be touched. “Better not keep him waiting.” He kissed her cheek and released her.

  Tessa stumbled to the door. “Don’t touch anything,” she snapped before walking out.

  Chapter 3

  Sandy sat behind his big, blond oak desk with Helen and Jody standing to one side.

  “Impromptu staff meeting?” Tessa grinned. She must look like The Joker. Jody and Helen had seen Brett come in. They were about to do her job and warn her off a bad relationship.

  “Brett Cherney is here to see you?” Sandy asked.

  “Yes.” Tessa glanced at Helen and Jody, trying to figure out which one of them ratted her out, and then decided it really didn’t matter. “I talked to him briefly at the reception yesterday—Saturday—about talking to Jerry Eland about producing their next album, but then I didn’t get a chance to talk to Jerry because I left early.” Tessa had started to nod somewhere in the middle of her speech. Now, she felt like a bobble-head doll so she stopped and clasped her hands behind her back. “I was just going to make that call for him.”

  “Why?” Sandy asked.

  “Why what?” The thought of Brett waiting for her in her office was turning her into a moron.

  “Why did you say you’d put in a good word for BroRide?” That little bit of tension around Sandy’s eyes was either curiosity or dubiousness. If he thought BroRide was all that, or was about to become all that, he’d sta
rt sniffing around for their representation contract. Then she’d be working for Brett. Great. She needed to think fast, and her brain was still out at Hotel California sitting in the infinity pool with Brett.

  “Well, as you know,” she said, “Brian and Suzi originally met because Jason was producing Savitar while Suzi was dating their guitar player. Brett and I were talking about it yesterday, and the conversation naturally turned to producers. Brett probably would have talked to Jerry himself, but Jerry was busy with Ty’s girlfriend. They broke up, by the way. So no worries from that direction.”

  And she was babbling like an idiot. This was why she could never be a trial lawyer. She sucked in front of an audience.

  “So you’re going to call Jerry to put in a good word for BroRide.”

  “Yep.” Tessa started nodding again, but stopped herself before she went bobble-head.

  Sandy nodded back. “All right. If he doesn’t want to, maybe Jason would be interested. He’s got some free time while Brian and Suzi are on their honeymoon, and he’s always looking for a reason to go back to WVA.”

  “I’ll mention that.” Tessa took a step back toward the door. As she reached for the doorknob, her hand hovered for a second over the Paternity Suit Insurance Bowl. Jody must have restocked that morning. The damn thing was overflowing with brightly colored condoms. “I’m gonna go now. I left Brett alone in my office, and he might steal something.” As she walked down the hall, Tessa put her hands over her face. He might steal something?

  Brett was sitting in her chair with his feet on her desk, playing with the stuffed toy hedgehog she used to clean off her computer screen. “This is pretty cool. What exactly do you do here?”

  “Entertainment law and whatever little things the band needs. I’m sure you guys have a lawyer.”

  “There’s a firm that handles stuff for us, but I don’t know what they do either. C’mere.” He held out his arms.

  “No.” Tessa closed her office door. That was going to look fishy, but if she left it open, it was going to look a lot fishier. “I told them I was putting in a good word for you with Jerry Eland.”

  “Oh, that’s cool. Thanks. Come here.”

  “Will you get out of my chair?” Maybe distance would help. She stayed by the door.

  “If I get out of it, will you sit in it?”

  Her skin ached to be touched by him. This was, without a doubt, the dumbest thing she could do. He wanted something, and he was going to use her and dump her.

  But she wanted something, too. She wanted to be fucked hard and fast by a boy with a lot of stamina. She didn’t have to give him anything. Shit, Jerry the Hutt was getting cute little girls because he might make them one-hit wonders. Why not take advantage of her well-stocked Rolodex to get the occasional hot guy? She leaned on the desk beside him and located Jerry’s number. “You’re going to owe me something for this,” she said, punching in the numbers.

  Brett leaned forward and slipped his hand between her thighs. “As long as I can pay in sex.”

  Tessa wished she’d worn a skirt today. Without pantyhose. “I want a weekend of your undivided attention at your hideaway.”

  “I thought you said I was going to owe you.”

  Someone spoke at the other end of the line before she could say anything that might incriminate her. “Jerry Eland. Frank speaking.”

  “Hi Frank, it’s Tessa Callisto.”

  “Oh hey, Tessa. I didn’t get to talk to you at the reception Saturday. Did you leave early or something?”

  “Yeah, I was kinda tired.” The reason she’d left early had taken off one of her shoes and was working on getting her trouser sock off. “I was calling about Jerry’s schedule. He have any time free soon?”

  “No. Bastard picked up some little girl at the reception and now he’s taking her to Alabama so he can work with her before he goes to England. This was supposed to be his vacation because he’s committed for the next eighteen months after that, and if anything goes wrong, he’s fucked. Why? Touchstone need him?”

  Brett got the sock off and put her big toe in his mouth.

  “Unnnuh, nooo. I just wondered if he’d have time to work with BroRide.”

  Brett swizzled his tongue between her toes, and she jumped.

  “Shit no, he hates those guys from reputation alone. Too undisciplined.”

  “Okay. I said I’d give you a t-try for them, but”—Tessa yanked her foot away from Brett because he’d licked her instep—“if Jerry’s busy, que sera sera.”

  “Why the sudden interest in them?”

  Brett started opening her pants.

  “I was talking to Brett at the reception and said I would help them out.” Tessa brushed his hands away.

  “I’m surprised he wasn’t trying to get into your pants.”

  Laughing, she shoved Brett’s hands away again. “I think there are enough girls trying to get into his that he doesn’t need to get into mine.”

  Giving up on her pants, Brett slid off the chair, knelt at her feet and pressed his face between her thighs.

  “True. Say, you wouldn’t want to have dinner with me over the weekend, would you?”

  Unbelievable. Frank was asking her out and Brett was parting her legs, apparently intent on getting to her pussy through her clothes. And succeeding. “Ahh. I’m sorry. I have plans this weekend.”

  “Oh yeah, sure. Maybe another time.”

  “Yeah.” Tessa had intended to push Brett away, but her fingers tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. “Listen, it was great talking to you.” Brett took advantage of her distraction. He got her pants open and dragged them down to her ankles.

  “Oh, yeah. Call anytime.”

  “Bye.” Tessa hung up the phone. “Brett, I can’t do business when you—oh!”

  Brett sucked her clit, flicking his tongue against it as he pulled with his lips. He pressed two fingers up inside her, searching, and she clutched the edge of her desk, head lolled back, riding his mouth and hand. Biting back moans of pleasure, she hooked one leg behind his head, urged him on until she splintered apart.

  He caught her before she collapsed across her desk, pulled her down into his arms. “Feel better?” he asked, licking his lips.

  “Brett, you can’t do that while I’m on the phone.”

  “Okay, I won’t do it when you’re on the phone anymore.”

  Tessa struggled to her feet. Her pants were still wrapped around one ankle and she’d completely lost track of how long they’d been in here. Helen, Jody, and Sandy were going to want answers. She grabbed the Kleenex box off her desk and handed it to him before fixing her clothes. “I’ll call Jason and talk him into producing you.”

  “Tell me about it tonight.”

  Tessa halted in the middle of dressing to stare at him. “What do you mean tonight?”

  “I’ll pick you up for dinner.”

  A date? He was asking her out on a date? “No, you won’t.” She pulled her pants the rest of the way up and fastened them.

  “Why not?”

  “We’re not dating.”

  He shrugged. “We could be.”

  “No, we can’t.” Christ, did he honestly think they could be more than a means to an end for each other? Better disabuse him of that notion quick.

  “Why not?”

  Because he was twenty years younger than her. Because he was a horny rock star who screwed every woman he could get his hands on, and they were lined up around the block for the privilege. Because he got his furniture cleaned weekly. “Because I said so. Let’s just keep it simple. I’ll give you what you want, and you give me what I want. Pick me up at my house Friday at six.”

  He frowned and shrugged. “All right. I’ll pick you up Friday. We can go back out to the hotel if you want.”

  “Just don’t come back here.”

  “Why?”

  He still wasn’t getting it. Thick boy. He was going to make her be inexcusably cruel for his own good. “Because you’re a booty call, Brett. Nothin
g more. We’re not in a relationship. I can’t have Brian so I’ll take you.”

  Brett’s jaw flexed, and his face went white. “Yeah. Okay.” He put up both hands in a warding-off gesture. “Whatever.” Then he walked out of her office, leaving the door open behind him.

  Tessa dropped into her chair, staring after him while her heart ground to a powder. She’d felt less pain breaking up with other guys. Why did it hurt? It shouldn’t. Bad enough she’d had to slap him down, but did she have to suffer the sting, too?

  Her clothes felt inside out, and her eyes burned.

  She pushed herself to her feet. Crossing the room, she realized she didn’t have her shoes on. She pushed the door closed before going back for her shoes. He needed to get it through his head this was all physical. Why was he trying to make it something more?

  Someone knocked.

  Tessa straightened and tried to look like she hadn’t been getting oral sex ten minutes ago. “Come on in.”

  Sandy leaned in. Great, two disasters in one day. Or did this total three now? “Jody said Brett just stormed out of here. Something wrong?”

  “Jerry’s booked solid.”

  “And he’s not happy with Jason?” Sandy frowned, coming the rest of the way into the office. If he thought Brett was rejecting one of his boys, Brett was going to be near the top of the shit list for the rest of his life.

  “No, not at all. I haven’t even called Jason yet. He was just a little frustrated.” Oh, frustrated. Maybe that was why he was so mad. But he had to know seducing her in her office where she couldn’t give payback was a bad idea. “Everything rides on this next record, and he’s young.”

  “I hope you warned him it doesn’t get any better. Everything always rides on the next record these days.”

  Tessa nodded. Hopefully, Sandy wasn’t gearing up for one of his “back in my day” speeches. As bad as his lectures had been back in high school when she was a kid and couldn’t relate, they were worse now that she was older and could. “I’ll call Jason and get him to do it. Then I’ll smooth Brett’s feathers. Jason’s as good as Jerry anyway.”

  “Better. That boy always had an amazing ear for a tune.”

  “He’s good.” Sandy wasn’t leaving. What did he want? Tessa checked the time on the computer. She hadn’t even been here for two hours and she wanted to go home to eat ice cream in her pajamas all weekend. And it was Monday. If she could just keep everyone off the topic of Brett, it might be okay.