She felt his eyes on her as she worked, and it made her fingers stumble.Every click and scroll felt louder than it should.The memory of his mouth on hers made her pulse skip, and she hated how easily her body remembered him.
When the last file finished processing, she exhaled.“Got it.The upload originated from a Reed & Carr account.I’ll send the proof to Tony and the label.”
“Good.”
She closed the laptop and leaned back in her chair.“I’ll have to make a statement.The label will want something from both of us.”
He crossed the room and rested his hand lightly on the back of her chair.“Then we’ll do it together.”
She looked up, and for a heartbeat the air between them thickened again.He still smelled faintly of rain and coffee, and she wondered what would happen if she let herself lean back against him.
Instead, she nodded once.“Together.”
He smiled, slow and certain.“We’ll fix it.And when we do, they’ll wish they hadn’t started this.”
Carlene tried to smile, but her chest felt heavy.She had fixed plenty of PR nightmares before, but this one had her name and heart tangled right through the center.
When Jami walked back toward the door, she let her eyes follow him.She wasn’t sure what scared her more, the sabotage that could ruin everything she’d built, or the man who already had the power to undo her with a single kiss.
ChapterFourteen
Carlene spent most of the day fielding calls.
By early afternoon, her voice was hoarse, her coffee cold, and her patience nearly gone.The label wanted statements.The band wanted reassurance.The press wanted a scandal.And every time her phone buzzed, her heart jumped before she could stop it, half-hoping it was Jami and half-afraid it would be.
Tony’s voice cut through her earbuds as she scanned yet another thread of emails.“The label’s nervous, Carlene.They want an official press release by tomorrow morning.”
“I already wrote one,” she said.“It’s clean, factual, and doesn’t inflame anything.”
“They want emotion.”
“Then they can get it from the music,” she snapped, then immediately softened her tone.“Sorry.I’ll handle it.”
He sighed.“They’re not blaming you, but this is messy.Reed & Carr are denying everything.”
“Of course they are,” she said quietly.“They always do until someone proves otherwise.”
“You sure you’re up for this?It’s personal.”
She closed her eyes for a moment.“That’s exactly why I have to be.”
After the call ended, she sank back in her chair and rubbed her temples.Her reflection on the laptop screen looked tired, older somehow.The night before still hovered behind her eyes, the warmth of Jami’s hands, the way his voice had sounded when he told her she wasn’t alone.
She’d told herself she could separate work from feeling.She’d believed it too, until that kiss.
Her phone lit with a new message from Jami.
Checking in.You holding up?
She stared at it, typing and deleting a dozen replies before finally settling on:
I'm fine.Working through it.
He answered within seconds.
You don’t have to handle this alone.
The same words he’d said last night.
