Live For Me (Blurred Lines #2)(18)
Author: Erin McCarthy

“I’m not bitchy,” I agreed. “I’m honest. Fair. Loyal.”

“I wish there were more people in the world like you then. You know, I never tell anyone about Kadence and Ricky,” Devin mused as we walked down the driveway towards the coast, Amelia running ahead of us. “Something about your face makes me confessional.”

Then maybe he could tell me why he was back at Richfield. And if it had anything at all, even one tiny little bit, to do with me. “I won’t tell anyone, obviously. You can trust me.”

“I’m sure people know about her infidelity.”

“TMZ doesn’t.”

He glanced over at me, surprised. “You’ve Googled me? Not that I’m surprised, I guess, but why?”

Heat bloomed in my cheeks and I watched where I was walking, rather than look at him. “I thought you’d be older when I took this job, so when I saw you that first night, I was curious how you got to be so successful so young.”

Half-truth, but good enough.

He sounded amused. “Ironic, given that I thought you’d be older too. But Laura, my assistant, assures me you were an honors student in high school with no criminal record.”

That tone was one that automatically put my back up. “Yes, I was an honors student. Don’t make fun of me.”

“What?” He held his hands out. “I’m not making fun of you. There is a difference between teasing and mocking, you know.”

“I don’t know you well enough,” I told him flatly. The only people who could tease me were my friends, and those were Cat and Heath. Maybe my old English teacher, Mrs. Hutton, who had recommended me for this job.

“Then I guess we’ll have to fix that.”

Except there was a Lamborghini in the driveway that we were walking past. His car. I knew how much they cost. I’d looked it up. On the Internet.

Devin pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Excuse me, it’s Laura calling.”

The assistant.

“Hello?” he said into his phone. “It’s cold. No. No. I’m not available. Then he can suck my dick.”

Another minute and he was off the phone. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“Swearing in front of you.”

Was he for real? Like I was five? Like he was the first one? “I can handle it. I’m not an infant.”

But the look he gave me was dismissive. “Yes, you are. I can still smell the Similac on your breath.”

I stopped walking. Just stopped moving, while he and Amelia kept going.

Finally he realized and paused, turning. “What? It was a joke.”

“No, it wasn’t. It was meant to put me in my place. I already know my place. You don’t need to remind me of it.” My whole life had been about people making sure I knew that I wasn’t good enough, that I was inferior. Defective. “Don’t patronize me,” I said, my voice shaking just a little with anger.

I started to turn and go back to the house but Devin’s voice arrested me. “Wait. Tiffany.” His hand came out to grab my arm and halt my progress but he stopped himself, like he’d remembered my earlier reaction to being grabbed.

His contrition made me pause.

“How old are you?” he asked roughly. “According to my assistant you’re eighteen.”

“Yeah, I’m eighteen. But I’ve been taking care of my grandmother since fourteen, myself since five. I’m not your average eighteen year old.”

“I know you’re not. And I’m not patronizing you. I’m protecting you.”

That look…

My heart started to race and I forgot about the sting of the wind, the numbness in my toes. “Protect me from what?”

“From me.”

A shiver rushed over me. “What do you mean? I thought you said I shouldn’t be afraid of you.”

But he shook his head and gave me a rueful smile. “Never mind. I’m just being moody and sulking. You don’t have to be afraid of me. I did mean that.”

Had he meant something more? That he was attracted to me? It was wrong to hope that, yet I was. I definitely wanted that, ridiculous and presumptuous and stupid though it was.

When he started walking, I fell in step beside him again. “Why are you sulking? Bad news?” It was still there. That tension between us. I didn’t fully understand the dynamic, but I was starting to suspect it was sexual. Like he was attracted to me, but didn’t want to be. Like my age was holding him back.

Or maybe it was nothing. Maybe I was imagining it because I wanted him to be attracted to me.

“I came here to escape the bullshit in New York, the whole scene. Fake people, users, cheats. Cristal and bottle service, award shows, crappy music that sells like gangbusters. I just need a breather.”

I couldn’t even imagine that life. “I would think the very things that drew you to the business could get tedious.” I would despise those types of events. In theory, it would be fun to put on a cocktail dress and hit the town, and it would, one on one. But the whole small talk thing? I would suck at it. No experience.

“They do. I know no one who is broke would ever feel sorry for me and I don’t expect them to. This is the life I wanted. I fought hard for my success because I do love the music industry. Taking raw talent and nurturing it… I love that. But I’m just tired.” He gave me a smile. “I think I’m old.”

“Maybe you just need to step back from the business end of things for a minute.”

“That’s why I’m here. To get the creative juices flowing again. I’m staying until right before New Year’s Eve.”

That was three weeks away. My pulse jumped and my ni**les hardened. Just like that. Bam. The thought of seeing him every day for three weeks had me walking faster, excited. “I’m sure that will be relaxing for you and whatever.” I wasn’t sure why I added the whatever, but I regretted it. It sounded too young. Too high school.

“Don’t say anything about you moving out while I’m here,” he said. “There is no reason for you to do that. If you don’t want to be around me, you can hide. You’re not obligated to spend time with me.”

“I want the company,” I said. His company.

“Good. Me too.”

We walked around his property in companionable silence, Amelia going for the stick Devin threw over and over again. It was hard to reconcile this man with G Daddy, the brusque and bored producer, traveling around the world on a whim and dropping thousands of dollars on dinner, jeans, his girlfriend.