He was waiting up at the castle for it and …
I should have just let Walker handle this.
Especially when the delivery guy passed over a large box with an item that shook around inside it. Jordan, one of our valets, hurried out of the castle to collect the package. I practically ran inside to get out of the cold after him and Walker and then halted at the sight of North hovering over the valet.
“Can we just unpack it here?” he asked Jordan. “Are you able to recycle the packaging for me?”
“Of course, Mr. Hunter,” Jordan replied.
North studiously avoided my eyes as Walker produced a Swiss Army knife they could use to open the large box. My cheeks felt hot as North continued to ignore me. Asshole.Despite his apology, maybe he hadn’t forgiven me for punching him in the junk.
To my shock, a leather guitar case came out of the box. While Jordan strode off to dispose of the packaging, North laid the carrying case down on the floor and kneeled to open it. His fingers stroked lovingly over the acoustic guitar inside.
“It’s a guitar,” I said inanely.
He pulled it out and plucked a few strings. “It’s not just a guitar. It’s a Builder’s Edition Taylor.”
“I didn’t know you played.” Walker echoed my thoughts.
The corner of North’s mouth curled. “Few people do.” With that, he patted the guitar and placed it gently back in the case.
Again, he didn’t look at me.
He hadn’t looked at me once.
Irritation warmed my blood as North stood with the case in hand, ready to depart for his room without a word. “I assume I don’t need to tell you to keep the noise down with that thing. Our members don’t pay for the privilege of listening to amateur music.”
I regretted the comment as soon as I said it.
North finally turned, but it was only to glare at me like I was a slug before he stalked off, taking the stairs two at a time.
I could feel Walker’s attention. Daring to glance at him, I almost winced at his penetrating stare. The man didn’t need to say a word to make me feel bad for my unnecessarily mean comment. I already felt bad without his judgy eyes on me.
As if he knew that, Walker’s expression flattened. “Still on for lunch Sunday?”
He referred to the lunch Sloane had invited me to at Walker’s house. While Sloane rented a cottage in the middle of the village for her and Callie, I knew they’d been spending a lot of time at Walker’s because it was bigger. I doubted it would be long before that man had his girls moved in with him. I was over the moonfor Sloane. No one deserved happiness more. She was one of the few people in this world I trusted.
“Of course. I’ll be there.”
Ola Q’smanager had a nasal, monotonous way of speaking that made it hard to concentrate. I waited for him to shut up about Ola Q’s significance to the world, and cut in as soon as he took a breath. “I understand all that, Mr. Paulson, and that’s exactly why we’d love to hire her to perform at our summer solstice party here at Ardnoch.”
Ola Q was a sexy Australian pop star who’d had a tremendous year of global number one hits two years ago, and while fervor for her had died down a little, she was still a big enough star to make my event special. We hosted a Christmas party and extravagant New Year’s Eve event at Ardnoch every year, and I felt like we were missing a trick during the summer. Summer was our busiest time, with most of Hollywood taking a break between June and September. As much as I hated parties, I felt we should host a special summer event for our members. Lachlan agreed, and I told him I’d take care of it.
“Ola has a gig in London that week.”
“I know. Which is why it’s perfect. We’ll fly her up here if you’d like.”
“I just don’t think this kind of thing is her thing, you know.”
He was lying. He wanted me to beg. To offer ludicrous amounts of money. Thankfully, when you had a business as successful as Ardnoch Members-Only Club, you could afford to pay people only what they were worth. “Oh, well, I understand. There are other performers who recognize what a singular opportunity it is to perform for the crème da le crème ofHollywood, so I’ll bother you no more. Thank you for your time, Mr. Paulson, I appreciate it—”
“Well, wait there,” he cut in flatly. “I should talk to Ola first.”
A knock sounded on my office door seconds before it opened and Wakefield appeared. I held up a hand with a small smile as I spoke into my phone. “Oh, excellent. If you could respond to our request by the end of this week, that would be wonderful.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay.”
“Goodbye.” I hung up before I had to listen to his toneless voice again. I noted Wakefield’s bemused expression. “Problem?”
