Page 104 of Serving the Maestro

My heart cracked open a little more, the pain in her body language so clear. I wanted to shake Avery, yell at her, ask her what the fuck was wrong with her, causing Jazz pain like this.

But I couldn’t do that here, and right now, I needed to focus on fixing things with Jazz.

“Jazz.”

She jerked in surprise, hair flying as she whipped her head around to gape at me. “What...you! How?” She glared at me through red-rimmed eyes.

Knowing she’d been crying, hurting throughout the night hit hard, like a fist in the gut. I shouldn’t have left her alone—fuck thinking it would be better if she had a chance to rest and cool down. I’d left her alone to hurt and cry. I was an ass.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“Chasing the woman I’m in love with.”

Her lips parted on a gasp.

Seeing the shock in her red-rimmed eyes, I pushed on. “Avery lied to you, Jazz. I don’t know all she told you, but things between me and her have been over for years—and I was never romantically involved with her—ever. We had a...mutually beneficial relationship, but that’s it, and it’s been over for years.”

Jazz looked away. I resisted the urge to tug her chin back around and get her to look at me.

“Jazz?”

Her shoulders were so rigid I couldn’t fight the urge to touch her. Taking her hand, I brought it to my lips. “Please tell me this isn’t the end of things...not because of lies she told.”

“How do you even know?” Jazz asked, her voice husky, almost inaudible over the loud noise of the plane.

“She called me and told me,” I admitted.

For the second time in under two minutes, she swung her head around to gape at me. “She...as in Avery? The gorgeous chick who said we were supposed to have some sort of threesome? She called you and told you? When? And...why?”

“To hurt me?” I shrugged, having little interest in Avery’s rationale in the face of the obvious pain my former lover—and friend—had inflicted on the woman I loved. Why didn’t matter as much as making sure it never happened again. “To piss me off. To pay me back for rejecting her in New York and again when she came by the studio yesterday. All those things.”

Blue-violet eyes falling away, Jazz said, “She came by the studio?”

“You know she did.” This time I did reach out, touching my fingers to her chin. Nudging until she lifted her gaze to mine, I said, “She came by, wearing a fur coat, naked under it, and tried to give me a lap dance. I turned her down.”

Jazz closed her hand around my wrist. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know.” Twisting out of her hold, I caught her hand and brought it to my mouth, pressing a kiss to the back. “I don’t know the rules here, Jazz. I don’t do relationships, and I don’t know what I’m doing. I guess I figured it would hurt you, and I didn’t want to do that.”

Her mouth twisted in a scowl.

“If I’d known a woman, I thought was a friend would pull the shit she pulled last night, I would have told you. I’m sorry, Jazz.”

Her gaze came back to mine. “You said you loved me. This was supposed to be a short-term thing.”

“Yeah...well.” With a half-hearted shrug, I said, “I already mentioned I don’t do relationships, and all the rules are unknown to me. It’s not like I planned on falling for you...I just...did.”

“I didn’t plan on falling for you, either.”

Relief crashed into me. “Does that mean you’ll give this a chance?”

A slow, nervous smile spread across her lips, and I leaned in, desperate to kiss her. But she stopped me.

“Wait.” Licking her lips, she pressed against my shoulders. “There’s something you should know before this goes any further. You might change your mind.”

“Nothing can change how I feel about you,” I told her. “Nothing.”

“Don’t say that until you hear what I have to say.” She bit her lip, then, with a hard exhalation, she said, “I’m pregnant.”

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