“Find your own woman’s hand to hold,” Micah Hudson growled from the doorway.
Pop looked up and scowled. “It’s about time you decided to show up. What is this, come to work late day?”
Micah ignored Pop. All his attention was on the curvy Latina woman heavily pregnant with his child. It amused Connor to no end to see Micah so gobsmacked over a woman. Not that he didn’t love women as a rule, but there was nothing casual or flirty about Micah’s relationship with Angelina. The poor boy was whipped and it was pretty pathetic to watch.
“How sure is Julie that a pregnancy massage is good for the baby?” Micah asked.
Angelina paused and turned with one hand on her hip. “I think the point is that it’s good for the mother.”
“But will it hurt the baby?”
Angelina smiled. “You worry too much, Micah. Go do some work so Faith and I can go have some girly time. We’re going to be late, and Damon expects Serena to be home by noon.”
“Or what?” Connor murmured. He always wondered what the hell went on in Damon and Serena’s marriage. Of all the people who worked for Pop, Connor was the furthest out of the loop when it came to Damon Roche. From what he’d gleaned the man was a control freak and he kept Serena under his thumb.
Faith grinned, and he should have known by the devilish glint in her eye that she was going to say something outlandish.
“I’m pretty sure if she’s late, she gets a crop to her ass.”
“Something Gray needs to think about for you,” Connor said pointedly.
“Who says he doesn’t?” she teased as she grasped Angelina’s arm and the two headed for the door.
Was the whole damn world crazy around him? He’d heard enough to know that his sex life had to be the only normal one in his group of friends. He didn’t even want to know what kind of shit Micah put Angelina through. It would probably only piss him off. And Faith. God. His sister, for Pete’s sake.
He shook his head. No, he didn’t want to know the depravities that his friends indulged in. He was perfectly happy to be the boring vanilla one in the bunch.
He turned to eyeball Micah after the girls had gone. “Any luck getting her to the altar?”
Micah snorted. “I’m trying. Believe me. I’m a persistent man. It’ll happen soon.”
Pop grunted. “The problem with men today is they’re too busy being politically correct. You ought to just snatch her up and haul her to a priest. Or to Vegas like Gray did with Faith. If you wait around for a woman to make up her mind, you’ll be old and impotent by the time your wedding night gets here.”
Connor cracked up. “This might explain why you’ve now embraced bachelorhood indefinitely.”
Pop shook his finger at Connor and Micah. “Mark my words. I’m right. Look at what happened when Nathan stopped pu**yfooting around Julie. He went over to where she was and hauled her out over his shoulder. Then he told her how it was going to be and voilà. Now they’re married. He’s happy. She’s happy. End of story. Not like Micah over here who mopes around like a friggin’ kicked puppy because he can’t convince the woman he loves that he really loves her and really wants to marry her. Jesus has to be crying up there somewhere. Or laughing hysterically. I can’t figure out which one.”
Micah’s lips curled into a snarl. “Enough already, Pop. You know I f**ked up with her. I can’t just run over her and make her do what I want.”
“No, but you could damn well put your foot down and make her believe how you feel.”
“I’ve tried!”
“Then try harder,” Pop grumbled. “It’s getting to be like some couples’ retreat around here. It’s damn nauseating.”
Connor knew when a good time to escape was. Right now, when Pop was busy bitching about something else. Maybe by the time he remembered what he wanted Connor to do, the record company would have given up and hired someone else.
He was almost to the door. One more step and he would have made it home free.
“Your airline ticket is on your desk,” Pop called. “You fly out tomorrow morning. Now go home and pack a suitcase.”
Fuck a goddamn duck.
CHAPTER 2
The arena reverberated with frantic music and a rainbow of cascading lights. Connor stood at the top of the stands, staring over the railing at the stage below. His ears were going to explode at any second, and he felt so dizzy from the rapid staccato of flashing lasers that he gripped the cool metal bar in front of him to steady himself.
With his free hand, he reached back and massaged a kink out of his neck. He’d been tense ever since this circus had started. How in the hell could anyone stand this cacophony on a regular basis? This wasn’t his type of music. How could it be anyone’s? How the hell did anyone even understand the screeching, if they could even hear it over the band? He’d much rather throw down with some Montgomery Gentry or Jason Aldean if he was going to subject himself to a concert.
Finally, the screeching stopped. There was a god.
Connor glanced back at the stage to see Lyric Jones saunter back out after her last hasty departure. Costume change, though why she bothered with this one, he wasn’t sure. He didn’t even have to be close to the stage to know she was barely wearing anything at all.
He glanced to the side where the record executives from Cosmic Records were taking in the show with him. They’d met his plane and drove him out to the arena in a limo. The whole thing was ridiculous, and he was still cursing the fact that he’d gotten saddled with flying out to talk to the parties involved.
As the music assaulted his ears again, he turned his attention back to the stage, just in time to see another scantily clad woman stroll toward Lyric. Best he could make out, the words to the song sounded something like “Girl Love.” He snorted.
The two women faced each other as Lyric sang. They were a study in contrast, probably well coordinated. Lyric was small and blackhaired, if you didn’t count the god-awful pink streak in it. The other woman was tall, luscious and blond, with a set of tits that had to be bought and paid for. He didn’t need binoculars to see that.
Then they moved closer, undulating their bodies in a suggestive manner. The crowd went nuts as the women pressed against each other. Lyric held the mic to her chest as she swayed in the other woman’s arms. As the song continued, Lyric turned and nestled her ass right into the blond woman’s crotch. The two continued their little bump and grind as the crowd roared their approval.