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“You know,” she said in that overly cheerful voice that kept surfacing around Zach, “I think we should work in the big studio for the first few days. When I’m done with the song, I mean.”
“Aren’t you busy with Nessa?”
“Faith got them a two-weekend gig in L.A. They’re leaving Wednesday and won’t be back until the following week. So, perfect timing really.” Timing that might just save her butt. They would still be mostly alone in the big studio, no one else was due in this week, but the studio building was close to the Harper offices and Faith and Theo and the other Harper staff wandered in and out during the day to check out what was happening. Not to mention that the place was just bigger. Less intimate.
Zach looked unconvinced.
“The equipment there is better. You have to let me put my best foot forward here.”
He considered that a moment, then nodded. “Okay. That’s fair. So. That’s settled. I’ll send you the track and you’ll get back to me?”
She nodded. “Deal.” She tried not to let the grin spreading across her face get too wide. Fist pumps and happy dancing would have to wait until she was safely alone. She was going to produce Zach’s album. Or some of it. She needed to keep her cool around him.
“Deal,” Zach agreed. He held out his hand.
Did he seriously want to shake hands? That sounded like a bad idea. She didn’t need to be touching Zach. Not when she wanted to keep her head. But she could hardly refuse to take the man’s hand.
So she did. And tried to ignore the tingle of delight that passed through her when his skin met hers. She kept the handshake as brief as she could without being weird. Then stepped back. “Right. I should get out of your hair.”
“All right. But I have one more question.”
“Yes?”
He grinned at her and this time it was all kinds of wicked. As was the sudden glint in his eye. “Are you going to share your doughnuts with me?”
“Hell, no,” she retorted and beat a retreat with the striped box firmly in her grasp.
Chapter Seven
“What happened to you?” Faith asked at lunch the next day.
“Too many doughnuts,” Leah groaned. “Sugar is the devil’s work.” Though really it was excitement and terror at the thought of working with Zach that had kept her awake last night, not the sugar high. She’d listened to the track he’d sent her—a song called “Falling Through”—about one hundred times already. It was good. But she could make it great.
“Tasty though,” Faith said. She frowned as the breeze coming through the open French doors in her kitchen blew one of her long curls in her face and pushed it out of the way. Then her face brightened. “Who gave you the devil doughnuts? Was it Zach? Please say it was Zach.”
Leah nodded. “It was Zach.” She looked down at her plate, speared a piece of salmon out of the salad Faith had made them, so there’d be no chance Faith could read her expression when she said Zach’s name.
Faith clapped her hands like a toddler who’d just spotted all four Wiggles. “He asked you, didn’t he? To work with him? That’s awesome.”
“I though you were mad at him?”
“I am. Kind of. But that doesn’t mean I can’t approve when he does something non-jerkish.”
“I don’t think that’s even a word.”
Faith stuck out her tongue. “Sometimes big brothers require a whole new vocabulary to deal with. But he did ask you, right?”
“Yes. Sort of.”
“Sort of?” Faith said indignantly. “He should jump at the chance.”
“No, he shouldn’t,” Leah said. “Not sight unseen. He’s given me one of his songs and I’m doing a mix. A try-out, I guess.”
“Well you can’t do worse than Chen Li. That track was so very wrong.”
“He played that for you?”
Faith shuddered. “Yes.”
