He turned around again and started along the length of the house, and Joey held very, very still.
“I did not violate any contracts,” he said. “I did not sign a contract, and as Mister Young has said, you’re free to hire someone else. I followed everything to the letter of the law, and I never signed an employment contract. In fact, Itold youeight days prior to the agreed-upon signing day that I wouldnotbe signing and that you would need to find someone else.”
Joey’s nose started to itch, and it felt like it might leak a trickle of blood at any moment. She lifted her hand as slowly as she could to press the tissue there.
Adam’s eyes zoomed to her. He froze, suddenly silent and unmoving, his phone stuck in his ear and his mouth partway open still. Then he barked, “I have to go. If you need to contact me again, please call my lawyer.” He lowered the phone and stabbed at the button. Then he marched toward her.
So maybe Delaney wasn’t his girlfriend.
She almost flinched away from the angry storm of emotions preceding him. Then he softened right before her eyes—the muscles in his face, the set of his shoulders, the way he swung his arms, the anger in his step—it all melted away until he sighed as he sank onto the ground next to her.
“Are you okay?” he asked in a voice one-hundred-and-eighty-degrees different than the one he just used with Delaney on the phone.
To her horror, Joey sniffled, and that only triggered anew floodgate of emotions to open. She managed to shake her head as tears flowed down her face once more.
CHAPTER
TWO
Adam Harmon just wanted to go home. The problem was, he didn’t have anywhere in Coral Canyon that truly felt like his. The rental he’d been living in since he’d moved here six months ago had been a blank canvas when he’d rented it, and it still held white walls, beige carpet, and zero personality.
Now that he’d be staying in Coral Canyon for the foreseeable future, he’d be buying something. But he hadn’t had time to look yet.
He hated the sight of Joelle Young crumbled against the side of the house, sobbing. And he’d be an astronomical fool and a total tool if he didn’t do something to comfort her. Therefore, he found himself doing the most natural thing in the world: he lifted his arm and pulled the weeping woman into his side.
He wasn’t sure what had happened. She held a tissue,but she didn’t seem to be bleeding anywhere. This could be emotional trauma from something someone had said, or physical pain from stubbing her toe against any number of piles of boxes in the house.
No matter what, the fiercely protective and possessive streak inside him reared up. He would do anything to protect her and make sure that she didn’t have to feel like this again. He hushed her and whispered, “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
And he stroked her soft, silky hair over her shoulder, his heart screaming at him that it had been far too long since he’d held a woman like this. Years since he’d had a girlfriend for any length of time.
Morris’s parents had just arrived at the house when Delaney Alabaster had called him, and he’d ducked out of the way. But Morris wanted to make the announcement that he would be retiring at the end of the year as Country Quad’s manager…and Adam would be taking over. They’d work together for the next couple of months as Morris brought him up to speed on everything Country Quad had been doing for the past dozen years. And then Adam would be on his own to field all the concert requests, the emails, the interview calls, and all social media.
The four Young brothers, still mega country music stars in their own right, needed a manager, and Morris wanted to be a father. Harry had decided to manage his own career, which was just as large as Country Quad, but Adam had never really done business things for Harry. He’d handled Harry’s personal affairs, and the young man simply didn’t needhim to run to the ATM, find him some reading glasses, or go pick up his take-out any longer.
All of the Country Quad brothers, plus Morris, knew of Adam’s new job, but no one else did.
He felt like he’d swallowed a freight train that was trying to chug its way up a hill. The taste of metal and grease and smoke seemed to constantly be in his mouth, no matter how much he drank or how he tried to swallow it away.
He couldn’t wait until this announcement was out, and he could find a house with a home office and get started in this new phase of his career. Band management wasn’t quite the same as personal assisting, though his meticulous eye for detail and his excellent networking skills would certainly come in handy. Plus, he knew a lot of people in the country music industry because of his work with Harry for the past year and a half.
He tipped his head back and looked up into the sliver of sky that he could see between the rooftop and the tree branches and whispered, “Dear Lord, help me.” Not only with his new job and the Young family, but specifically with Joey. He tilted his head down to look at her and she looked up at him.
Her pale blue eyes became the most beautiful thing Adam had seen in a long, long time. He’d had no idea that robin’s egg blue was his favorite color, but oh, it was. It so was.
She blinked, and he swore the blue in her eyes darkened. It mirrored that of a lake now, and Adam wanted todive into that crystalline-blue water. He’d even be okay if he drowned there.
His pulse bobbed in his neck, telling him that he wanted something with this woman. What, he wasn’t sure, but he could start with something simple like coffee. He licked his lips and reached out to wipe the tears away from her left cheek. “You okay?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Did someone say something?” Because he would seriously find them and lay into them untiltheywere the one crying out of sight on the side of the house.
She shook her head and wiped the other side of her face. “No, it was stupid. I just ran into a cupboard door.”
“You’re not stupid,” he whispered.
“I just….” She trailed off and didn’t continue. Adam didn’t know her at all, so he couldn’t presume to figure out why running into a cupboard had prompted her to hide from her family and sob into her knees.
