Rock Steady (31 page)

Brenton put on his game face, the one he used when he was trying to remind them all of the merits of professionalism.

“I’ll meet you in Detroit,” Ramsey said as he started out of the room.

“Now wait just a moment.” Brenton stepped into his path.

“Clear out of my way, Brenton,” Ramsey warned him. “I am going after her, and when I get back, someone better have some answers from Sammy.”

“Got your answers right here. It was bullshit,” Sammy said from the doorway. The music producer folded his sunglasses and slipped them into the pocket on the breast of his shirt. “Although, in my defense, if you’d filled me in on Tia, I wouldn’t have let her twist my balls last night while I had a couple of drinks in me. Caught the little bitch cackling about her victory this morning. Don’t leave my ass flapping in the breeze like that.”

Ramsey grunted. “She was your groupie.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got to tighten up the guest list,” Sammy agreed.

“The vultures made good use of the opportunity your girl Jewel offered them this morning when she left with her mom.”

Ramsey pulled out his phone and checked it. The headlines were vicious.

Romance Over for Tattoo Princess Jewel!

Leaving in Mom’s Car, Jewel Is History!

Toxsin Fans Rejoice, Ramsey Is a Free Man!

“I’ll catch up with you in Detroit,” Ramsey repeated. Something prickled along his nape, and he realized it was fear. Stone-cold dread that he might have just fucked up worse than he ever had before.

“The plane will be waiting for you,” Sammy said.

Ramsey flashed him a look.

“Don’t be so surprised,” Sammy said. “I might enjoy having a good party, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know a keeper when I see one.” He turned and grabbed something from the assistant hovering behind him. “Give her this, and tell her I’m open to negotiation.” He handed over a thick folder. “I sure as shit can’t stand by and let Quinn scoop her up without a fight. That bastard would never let me live it down.”

Ramsey tucked the contract under his arm and headed out.

It was action time.

* * *

“Mom?”

Jewel was still rubbing her wet hair with a towel when she caught a glimpse of her mom hurrying from the front room to the kitchen.

“Is something wrong?” Jewel dropped the towel when she realized her mom had grabbed a rolling pin from the kitchen and come back across the hallway, holding it like a club on her way toward the front door, with an expression that said she was going to war.

“Nothing at all.” Her mom was clearly distracted by what was happening in the front yard. She was looking through the spy hole in the door.

“I can’t remember the combination for the gun safe,” her father said as he came back into the living room.

“What is going on?” Jewel asked again, but both her parents turned bright smiles toward her.

“Nothing to worry about.”

“Everything is fine.”

Which sent Jewel’s heart racing. She marched across the room and grabbed the curtain pulled across the window. She’d moved it only a few inches when the flashes started. Jewel recoiled instantly, releasing the fabric. It swished back into place, earning a muffled cry of dismay from the paparazzi camped outside.

Oh…shit…

Of course the hyenas were there to feast on the carcass of her crashed and burned relationship with Ramsey.

“I remember,” her father announced before he headed back into the bedroom and the gun safe.

“Oh God,” Jewel moaned, “I shouldn’t have come here.”

“Nonsense.” Her father was back with his service pistol from the seventies. “This is your home. No better place for you.” He held the gun up and checked it before pushing the loaded clip into it. “It’s those squatters who need to clear out. Don’t you worry none, Daddy’s got this.”

Her father started toward the door with a determined look on his face. Jewel slid between him and the door. “Dad, you can’t just go out there and start waving a gun around.”

“Watch me,” he declared firmly. “I didn’t break my back earning the money for this plot of land to see anyone trespassing on it or threatening my daughter in the house where I raised her.”

There was a rise of noise from outside. Jewel looked at the curtain, suspecting it had shifted. It hadn’t. The window was still covered, but there was a definite commotion taking place outside.

“Better dial the emergency services, Patti,” her father warned. “Sounds like things are heating up.”

“Dad.” Jewel flattened herself against the door. Her father had the gun tucked into his belt as he leveled a firm look at her.

Someone pounded on the door before her father got the chance to argue with her.

“They’re bold,” her mother said.

“Good,” her father replied. “I prefer a straight fight any day.”

He gripped her shoulder and pushed her away from the door. She could have dug in, but respect for her father made her give way. She mentally cringed as she watched her father turn the dead bolt, fairly certain her nest egg from signing over rights to the dragon was about to become jail-bond money.

Her dad pulled open the door, and the paparazzi surged to life. But her tongue was frozen to the roof of her mouth as the open door revealed Ramsey. He stood there on her parents’ front porch, looking like a Ferrari parked outside of a fast-food restaurant. The reporters behind him filled the air with flashes from their cameras, making him look like he was sparkling. Pain knifed through her, but so did a protective urge. The paparazzi were pushing forward, acting like a hungry pack of vultures.

“Are you here for Jewel?”

“Did you run away, Jewel?”

“Why were you crying last night, Jewel?”

“Did Ramsey cheat on you?”

“Ah…come in.” Jewel reached for him and pulled him through the open door. There was a cry of outrage from the crowd on the lawn and a grunt from her father as Jewel closed the door, sealing Ramsey inside with them.

“This is Ramsey,” Jewel began lamely.

Her mother lifted the rolling pin and hit her palm in an unmistakable warning. “Mm-hmm.”

“We need to talk,” Ramsey started, his eyes glittering. He pulled himself up and looked at her father. “May I come in?”

Her dad grunted. “Seems my daughter thinks so. Don’t think I won’t throw you to that pack out there if you make her cry.”

“Dad,” Jewel groaned, writhing against a wave of embarrassment.

“Yes, sir.” Ramsey hooked her by her bicep. There was a warning sound from her mother that made him turn and look back at her. Her mom slapped her palm with the rolling pin with clear intention.

Ramsey released her arm and offered her his hand instead. Jewel hesitated, scared to death that touching him would be her undoing. Just seeing him was almost too much to bear.

“I’ll stand right here and discuss this with you, Jewel,” he said firmly.

“There is nothing to discuss.” She moved away from the door. He reached out and caught her wrist.

“There sure as sh…is.” He bit back the word of profanity. “You were the one who realized we needed time to cool off.”

“Actually”—she pulled her wrist out of his grip, not caring too much for the fact that he let her go—“you needed time to—”

“See what a dick I was being.” He looked at her mother and shrugged.

“Acceptable in this case,” her mom replied before she turned and headed toward the kitchen. “Just call out if you need me, Jewel.”

Her father made a sound in the back of his throat before he followed her mother through a doorway and into the kitchen.

“I was being a dick, and then I got drunk, which was stupid,” Ramsey stated. He was full of all the confidence she’d felt radiating from him the first time she’d set eyes upon him.

She loved it.

Loved him.

But tears filled her eyes without a care for the way she tried to control them. Ramsey cursed and wrapped her in his embrace, gathering her close when she tried to squirm away.

“You have to forgive me,” he muttered against her temple. “I love you. I want to be everything you’ve always thought I could be, but I can’t do it without you to anchor me.”

She gasped and pushed against his chest. He finally released her with a snort of frustration.

“It’s not about forgiving.” She suddenly felt drained. She knew she had to let him go, and it was going to suck everything wonderful out of her.

“The hell it isn’t,” Ramsey argued. “Sammy came by this morning to apologize in person. I should have ratted Tia out to him. Should have made sure she couldn’t take another shot at you. Even Sammy told me I was a dick for leaving him open to her attack.”

Jewel snorted. “He should clear out that pack he has brownnosing him.”

“He plans to.”

“Good.” That was what really mattered. “But that’s not the real problem.”

Ramsey went still as he read her emotions off her face. He’d been tense before, but something shifted between them as he went rigid.

“Then what is it about, Jewel?” His tone had gone deadly. “Why did you leave me?”

She had to tell him, had to be straight. He deserved that.

“Because I have to be my own person too.” She was shaking, and wrapped her arms around herself. “You have to see… I can’t be less devoted to my own career than you are to yours. It would be a mismatch. You’d realize it…in time…and I’d know I was a sellout.”

Understanding dawned on him. It was a horrible sight to see, because it confirmed everything she’d known to be true, even if some part of her heart had been holding out hope. It was all over now.

“Yeah, I get it,” he said softly.

“Anyway…I’m glad you understand.” She was holding on to her composure by a thread. Ramsey reached out and stopped her when she tried to walk past him, the connection making her stiffen.

“I know what it’s like to have a passion burning in your gut.” He delivered his next words in a menacing tone. “So don’t ever call me dense about the need you have to be successful.”

She stepped back, trying to decide what he was driving at. “But you don’t want me signing with Morcant.”

“I don’t want you near that guy, because I’m fucking jealous of him,” Ramsey informed her. “I may like girls, but I’m not blind. The guy is smoking hot, and did I mention that I love you?” He opened up his hands in a “get real” gesture. “Knowing you are anywhere near him makes me jealous. Which is just another way of saying I love you, because I have never cared about another girl taking off. There were always plenty more to take her place. Not you.”

His admission made her smile, just a tiny curving of her lips. Oh, it wasn’t really the right thing to feel, but she couldn’t help it. He’d been jealous. It was one of the best compliments he’d ever given her.

“You smiled,” he said softly. “I win the point.”

She rolled her eyes as the memory of Portland flashed through her mind. “This is about more than one encounter. This is about…” Words suddenly failed her, because she didn’t want to let go of the fragile hope springing back up.

“I get it.” His tone had deepened. “You’re worried I can’t deal with you being more than mine.”

She nodded, once, and it felt like the motion tore her heart in two. She was laid bare, everything exposed.

“Honey, I sure as hell want to have you stuck to my side, but that’s only because I value every bit of you. The drive to be successful is part of that, and I never said I couldn’t deal with it.” He was furious, but drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I still don’t want you anywhere near Morcant…at least not without me there to remind you how much more you mean to me.”

“Ha,” Jewel said. “You mean so you can glare at him.”

“That’s what guys do.” Ramsey shrugged. “Some girls too. I saw the way you warned Tia off with a glance.”

Jewel defended herself. “She had it coming. She thought you were just some possession.”

“But I’m more?” he demanded, forcing her back to the topic at hand.

“Yes, much more,” she admitted.

He captured her, taking the opportunity to fold her into his embrace. It was her undoing; the connection between their flesh as jolting as the first time. She gripped the fabric of his T-shirt and drew in the scent of his skin, trembling as it raced through her senses.

“I love
you
…” he whispered in her hair. “All parts of you.”

“I’m going to sign that contract. It would be stupid of me not to.” She lifted her head and locked gazes with him. “So I am going to see Quinn again.”

He didn’t like her comment, but he nodded. “At least read the offer Sammy brought over this morning.”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. Ramsey’s lips lifted into that arrogant grin she adored so much. “He even left the private jet at our disposal. Want to become a member of the mile-high club?”

“Ramsey…” She squirmed as her cheeks caught fire. “My parents are listening.”

There was a smothered giggle from the kitchen before her father called out, “If you’re not going to take advantage of that offer, girl, how about letting me take your mother on a date in that jet?”

Ramsey wiggled his eyebrows at her. “I like your dad.” He pressed a hard kiss against her lips before he released her. “And I need to talk to him about you.”

“What?”

He kissed her again, cupping her chin. “I want to marry you, so I am going to go ask your dad.”

“Ah…he’s got his gun on him at the moment.”

Ramsey winked at her. “I noticed. Why do you think I was going to ask him to be the shotgun bearer?”

“That’s not funny,” Jewel said.

But her father started busting up in the kitchen, deflating her argument completely. Ramsey smirked before turning around and walking across her parents’ home like he belonged there.

And she realized…he did.

Life was suddenly so perfect. Impossibly perfect for how many hours she’d agonized over the reasons why it couldn’t be perfect.

Love didn’t make sense.

But it did feel absolutely epic.

* * *

“I just want a band.”

No one listened to her. Ramsey was still looking at a tray of loose diamonds, while her mother drooled over a tray of engagement ring settings. Her father sipped a rum and Coke, and tried not to look too nervous when her mother slipped one of the rings onto her own hand and smiled longingly.