Page 27 of Places I've Never Been

Mattie narrowed her eyes at them. “You don’t usually do this, do you?”

“Yes, we do,” Adam said. “Once a year-ish.”

He stood just behind Mattie, so she couldn’t see his face, which allowed him to give his bandmates a challenging look. He mouthed,Go with it.

Brandon snickered. Adam flipped him off.

Mattie glanced up at him.

“I’m serious.” Adam smiled at her. “I need a change of pace, and it sounds like you could use one too.”

“Are you really submitting it for Song of the Year?”

Adam nodded. “Not me personally, but the label, yes. It’ll be in the contract, with you as lyrics and the rest of us as music.”

Mattie bit her lip. “A month.”

He could see the glint in her eyes when he mentioned the award. His band already had a Best Song award. Surely, The Bellamy Sisters did too. He made a mental note to look that up.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve won an award, so this means a lot to us. You don’t have to decide right this second.” Adam kept his tone casual and made sure to look around at everyone rather than pin his gaze on her.

He was just a guy, arranging a work session with colleagues.

No ulterior motives.

None at all.

“Maybe.” She glanced at the door. “Not sure we’ll be able to leave the studio, much less go away for a month.”

“Not a problem,” Adam replied. “I have a ride coming tosneak us out of here. We can drop you at your place, and if you leave me the keys, we’ll make sure your car makes it back to you by morning. That way the paparazzi will be off your trail. I’ll send you all the details on the trip and you can let me know if you’re in. Deal?”

She blinked up at him with hopeful, but guarded eyes. “I’ll think about it.”

They talked titles and music for another hour until Lucas finally showed up in the delivery van. Adam and Mattie were able to sneak out and take off with nobody noticing, thanks to the invisibility cloak of office supplies and the distraction of the rest of the band leaving out the front door.

Legendary LA traffic being what it was, it took over an hour for Lucas to drive them to Mattie’s house, which gave Adam plenty of quality time to talk. At one point, he thought he had convinced her to go on the impromptu writing retreat, but by the time they arrived at her townhouse, he thought she’d changed her mind.

If Adam ever got his hands on Devon the Deranged, he’d throttle him. Between the tweets and two new gossip columns detailing every bit of their love life, it was no wonder she didn’t want to take on a project with another man.

He walked her to the front door, racking his brain for something to say that might convince her.

“Look, I know you have a lot going on right now, but I also know the best way to stop being the flavor of the month is to get away from the people with nothing better to do than harass you. There’s no paparazzi at Syer Island, and Dismal Devon won’t be able to find you.”

“I love the names you come up with for him.” She smiled faintly. “I’ll think about it. Thanks for the ride home.”

He knew from the look in her eyes that she planned on saying no; she was just too polite to tell him to his face. Hetried not to let the disappointment show. “Sure. Go on in. I want to make sure nobody camps on your doorstep.”

She chuckled, and let herself in.

He waited until she’d locked the door and the lights went on inside before he got back in the van. He climbed into the front seat and shut the door.

Lucas lifted an eyebrow. “I think you made a great pitch. Seriously, well done. If I were her I’d jump on it in a heartbeat.”

“I want her.”

“Yeah, I got that.” Lucas put the car in drive, then paused. “So what’s the problem?”

“I don’t think she wantsme.” It felt odd to put that into words. Like he’d somehow failed a test he didn’t know he was taking. “I invited her to a writing retreat on an exclusive tropical island, and she told me she’d think about it. Pretty sure that’s girl code for no.”

---