Page 69 of Final Serenade

His confession confused me even more. I wasn’t sure how to react. “Is that what this is? A relationship?”

“Yes.” His hand skimmed over my stomach, soft fingertips caressing my skin.

I took a deep breath. My heart pounded and my pulse raced. “You’re telling me all these things about you no one else knows. Things about your health and your ex-wife. What makes you think I won’t go and sell it when we’re over? Or write a book? Why did you pick me?” Those were all the questions I’d asked him before, but the answers he’d given me weren’t exactly honest. Or maybe not what I’d expected.

“You have my permission to write a book when I’m gone, Cassy.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean,when you’re gone?” I spun to face him. Our noses and knees brushed. Shimmering streaks of moonlight fell over the side of Frank’s face, and I saw worry in his eyes. I could see that the stress had been eating away at him slowly but surely.

“One day I’ll be gone. We’ll all be gone, doll. It’s the way life works.”

“Why are you being so depressing?”

“It’s called being realistic, not depressing. A bunch of metal plates are keeping my corpse together and sometimes I feel like one wrong move and this house of cards is going to fall apart.”

“Oh my God, Frank. Yourcorpse?” I palmed his cheek. “Don’t say stuff like that.”

He smiled. “I’m only human.”

“I’m sorry I overreacted earlier. It really wasn’t my place to tell you what you should have done or should be doing. I’m just a bystander and have no idea what’s at stake when you’re running a million-dollar empire.”

“You’re not a bystander, doll.” He paused for a second. “Everyone who stuck around while I was recovering is in it because of money or the benefits the reunion promises. I don’t have any real people left in my life except for Billy and Janet…and you. Don’t change a thing. Don’t bend for me.”

“I have to be honest. I might be with you because of your money too, Frank. I don’t date men who can’t afford to take me to Aspen.”

He laughed and his hand cupped my head. “Darn it. I guess I’m a really bad judge of character. I figured a girl who couldn’t interrupt her yoga session to flirt with the biggest rock star on the planet was the right girl for me.”

I giggled. “There might be one more thing, though.” My fingers slipped under the waistband of his boxers. “It’s a tie between your cock and your millions.”

He brought his lips to mine and captured my mouth. I felt him getting hard under my palm, and his muscles tensed. In a matter of seconds, we turned into a panting mess—sucking, biting, and licking. It was dirty and wonderful.

“Do you mind being on top, doll?” Frank asked between kisses. His breath caught in his throat.

“Not at all.” Frenzied, I straddled him. My sex slid against his length, back and forth, taunting him.

Then we fucked hard and raw until we passed out.

It was the anxiety in Frank’s whisper that woke me hours later. He stood in front of the window, his silhouette lit by the morning son, with his phone against his ear, jaw set, hair a mess.

I watched him silently, waiting. Sudden tightness held my chest hostage. I knew something had happened, because he’d broken his own no electronic devices rule; he’d taken this call. His panic in the air was palpable.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as he finished the conversation.

“The album has been leaked.”

“What?” I rose and rubbed my eyes. “The new Hall Affinity album?”

“Yes.”

“But how?”

“I don’t know. They were all demos. Unfinished.” Frank paced the room, his face devoid of emotion.

“What are you going to do?”

“Try to take down whatever we can. Trace the source of the leak. Must have been someone on our team. Very few people had access to those demos. We recorded most of it at my home studio.”

I got up from the bed and approached him carefully. He was a wall of stress. His color was starting to leave him.

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