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His eyes flicked between me and Levi, and he sighed. “Scarlett is going to be here any second to read the music. I thought you saw everything I sent over.”
Levi snarled, tugging his hands through his hair. “Fuck. My contract with Diana is confidential. Scarlett can’t see her here.”
The world didn’t know D. Johnson and Diana Winslow were one and the same. If Scarlett Daze saw me here, there’s no telling who’d she’d open her mouth to.
“I’m sorry, Levi. I didn’t know you missed the email, or that you and Ms. Winslow were working overtime,” Raymond said.
I rose from the couch and placed my hand on Levi’s back. “I can go upstairs until she leaves?”
He whirled on me, grabbing my shoulders. “No. I don’t want Scarlett here at all.”
The agitation and distress in his eyes bolted through me. I smoothed my hand over his chest, feeling his drumming heart within. “Levi, it’s okay. We can talk later,” I whispered.
“No,” his grip tightened near painfully on my upper arms, “if you were going to tell me what I think you were, then this can’t wait.” Frantic and wild, he released me and pivoted back to Raymond. “Tell Scarlett I’m not signing the contract with her. She’s not getting the part. I don’t want to sing with her.”
Stepping closer, I tangled my fingers in the back of his shirt. I felt the vibrating tension coursing through his entire body. At any second, Levi Stark might explode.
My lips parted to say something that would ease his churning annoyance. Anything I could think of to help him calm down and get through the moment without upheaval.
When Levi wanted something, he got it. And he’d known what I was about to tell him. Getting interrupted on the verge of getting something he’d craved since I walked into his life spun him into turmoil.
Before I had the chance to get any words off my tongue, the door creaked open once again. Brittle pressure blanketed the room as heels clicked sharply on the floor, breaking up the charged silence.
When the clicking halted, I peeked around Levi’s wide shoulder.
Luscious, long waves of crimson hair flowed around her shoulders. Dark red lipstick stained her plump lips. Striking blue eyes glanced around the control room with a familiarity that made my stomach contents churn violently.
Scarlett Daze stood tall and elegant, yet looking down her nose as if she were the most superior creature in the entire world. In her tight wine-red dress, she placed her hand over her ample chest.
A mockery of wounded pride flashed in her eyes when her gaze targeted Levi.
“What’s this about not wanting to sing with me, I hear?” Her voice was a vicious purr. “I don’t understand, Levi. You know we make such sweet music together.”
Her lustful gaze raking down his body and the intent in her voice told everyone in the room she wasn’t referring to music.
And my heart lurched to a stop mid-beat before plunging through the floor into the abyss beneath my feet.
Twenty-Nine
Levi’s fists curled at his sides, shaking and white-knuckled. The electric tension coursing through him could have powered a battery.
“The position’s been filled. Someone else is going to sing the part,” he gritted out each word through his clenched jaw.
A brief laugh vented through her lips.
“You can’t replace me, babe.” Her thin legs carried her across the floor, and she prodded one pointed red nail into Levi’s chest. “Or have you already forgotten how good we sing together? Do I need to remind you?”
All she’d done was use him the last time he worked with her. Levi told me Scarlett only wanted his body whenever they weren’t onstage. He hated the lack of emotion and the feeling of being nothing more than a toy for her.
Seeing Scarlett in person now, I understood what he meant. In the depths of her eyes, there wasn’t an ounce of genuine feeling. Everything on her face was a mask—she was giving a performance even now.
Jealousy, possession, and a new protective instinct reared to the front of my mind and seized control of me. Before I realized what had happened, I side-stepped Levi and inserted myself into his place.
Scarlett’s eyes rounded, and her perfectly arched brows jerked upward. Her gaze darted over me, taking me in as if she hadn’t realized I was in the room the entire time. Slowly, she dropped her hand, placing both palms on her hips.
“Like Levi said, the position’s been filled. You can’t sway yourself into the job,” I bit out.
Her nose scrunched up. “Excuse you. Do you even know who I am?”
