Page 29 of Places I've Never Been

“Let me see what I can do.” She sounded a lot friendlier than she had at the beginning of the conversation.

“Thanks, Kat,” Lucas said. He ended the call. “Well you got her vote. Now we wait. I got to say, I’m impressed. I didn’t think you’d get Mattie Bellamy to come around.”

“I don’t think I did. I think the rest of her life might do that for me.” Adam looked at the gridlock in front of them. “I think it would be faster if I walked back to the studio.”

Adam texted Cooper while they crawled toward theirdestination.Set up Syer. April. Book the whole month. My account. Exclusive access.

“Trust me, if she goes along with this crazy idea it’ll be because of your sultry eyes and dazzling smile.”

Adam huffed a laugh. “I doubt she even noticed my eyes. She’ll go because she really wants to escape from her life. Can’t say I blame her. The last tweet from Devon said the love of his life stole his words. The dude is clingy as shit.”

An incoming text from Cooper chimed.You know how much that costs?

Don’t care, he sent back.

You do. It’s 1.5 mil.

Adam stared at the number.All inclusive?

Yes.

Adam nodded.Do it.

Deposit not refundable. What if she says no?

He thought about it for at least a half second.We’re going anyway.

This is messed up.

Adam huffed out a sigh.Book it.

“Yeah that photo of you two wasn’t a great shot. Maybe we should have a photographer on the island to get some candids for the media.” Lucas honked the horn. “Wake the fuck up, asshole! Think we got all day here?”

“No.” Adam turned toward Lucas so he could make sure the man heard his message. “No cameras. No photographers of any kind. Got me?”

Lucas shrugged. “Stupid to turn down publicity. You got a new album coming out, and you need hype to win awards. Not to mention the tour after that. We got to think about drumming up interest now.”

“No cameras. Got me?” Adam pictured what Mattie mightdo if she saw someone taking a picture of them on the island. She’d never speak to him again, that was for sure.

Lucas eyed him, then slowly nodded. “Got it.”

Adam sat back and stared out the window. He didn’t see the traffic. He saw a beach and a girl with honey hair and hazel eyes.

His phone chimed. Cooper had sent one word.Done.

Now all he had to do was wait for Mattie Bellamy to say yes.

Chapter Seven

Mattie stared down with delight at sparkling ocean waves from the kind of helicopter used by people who had no idea that money was anything other than a way to keep score. She was headed to a tropical island so remote she’d had trouble finding it on a map, with five men she didn’t know, to a place she’d never heard of, to live and breathe music and nature for an entire month. She’d never taken this kind of break before. They were supposed to be working, but there was a beach, and adult beverages, and songwriting had never felt like work. This might as well be a monthlong vacation from everything.

There was no way to drive to Syer Island. There were no bridges to connect it with any other island in Seychelles. It was the very definition of isolation.

She hadn’t received a call, text, or notice of a tweet the entire twelve hours they’d been in the air. It felt strange and a little unsettling to be so out of touch.

“There it is.” Adam pointed toward land in the distance. “See the cliff? The main house is up there. The villas are below.”

Adam’s thigh touched hers as he leaned closer to the window. She felt the warmth of him through the thin material of her skirt, which stirred all the nerve endings along that side of her body. She dragged her mind back from the blossoming images of her lying somewhere beachy with Adam and focused it instead on the job she’d been hired to do.

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