Page 8

"Tell me about your former manager," I blurt, my fingers crushing the edge of the pizza box in a last-ditch effort to keep my damn hands to myself. I never should have touched her earlier. Now, I know what her curves feel like against me. I know how soft she is, and how sweet she smells. I know how perfect she feels beneath my hands.

Goddamn. I'm a desperate man.

"Um, what do you want to know?" she asks, peeking up at me as we step out of the studio and she locks up.

"Who is he? What happened? Why don't you think he'll be a problem?"

"His name is Cody Swanson," she says softly, her shoulders drooping a little. So do mine when I hear his name. I'm familiar with him. His father, Alexander Swanson, owns a chain of farm supply companies. Cody has been to the ranch dropping shit off more than a few times. He's a selfish prick, but he's not dangerous. "He is…was…my best friend. When I started making good money with my music about a year and a half ago, I hired him as my manager because he's always been better at the business side of things than I have. But I guess the old saying about not mixing business and pleasure is true." She sighs. "My dad figured out he was taking more than his share."

"How much more?"

"Fifty thousand dollars in the last year."

"Jesus, songbird." Why the fuck does he need her money when he has his own? His family makes bank. Last I heard, they were expanding operations.

"Yeah." Her shoulders bounce like she's uncomfortable. "Anyway, I fired him. He was mad about it, but I don't think he'd do anything stupid. He's a thief, not…" She laughs abruptly, but there's no humor in the sound. "Well, what do I know? I didn't even know he was stealing from me. Clearly, everyone who told me that I trust too easily and always believe the best in people was right."

"Hey." I drop her bag and the pizza box onto the trunk of her car before reaching for her hand. She stares at the ground until I curve my free hand around her jaw, tipping her head back. Her watery eyes meet mine. "You aren't to blame because you trusted your friend to be your friend."

"I feel stupid," she whispers. "Like you said, you can't trust everyone."

"Yeah, well, you're supposed to be able to trust your friends. The fact that you couldn't trust this one isn't on you. That's on him. He's the one who abused your trust. Let him carry the guilt of that," I murmur.

She stares at me for a long moment and then nods slowly. "I miss him," she says, her gaze darting from mine, like she's confessing to some fatal flaw. "I know that's probably stupid considering everything, but—"

"He was your friend."

"Yeah, since we were in the third grade." Her bottom lip quivers. "It sucks."

"I'm sorry, songbird."

"Me, too."

I brush my thumb across her bottom lip, unable to resist. "You deserved better from him."

"I know."

"Were you two dating?"

"God, no." She cringes as if the mere thought is awful, which is fucking great. Maybe I'm an asshole, but I don't want her thinking about some other prick, wishing he was the one here with her right now. I want her thinking about me.

Dammit all, I want her aching for me.

"You dating anyone?"

"No, I…"

"That'll be changing."

Her gaze flies to mine again, her eyes wide and startled. Her lips part, then close. "Bishop, I…"

"You should get home, songbird," I say before she can start listing reasons why I'm not her type, or why we can't happen, or whatever else she's spent the last few hours trying to convince herself of. I know that's what she did during rehearsal, because I did it, too.

I went through the entire fucking laundry list of reasons why this will never work. And you know what? I'm still crawling out of my skin to kiss her right now.

Maybe my pops wasn't as big an idiot as I've always thought. Maybe he just knew some shit I didn't. I don't know. I don't think it matters anymore, if it ever did at all. What matters is that I'm not him…and Callie isn't my mom. After just a few hours with her, that's patently obvious.

I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do about it. But I want her. And I think maybe she feels the same way.