Page 34 of Red Hot Harmony

“I can come over.”

Silence.

I swallowed. “If you want me to.”

“I do.” Then a rustle of paper and a gentle groan. “But Ally’s back home.”

I cursed in my mind.

“Speaking of my daughter,” Camille started. “What did you tell her?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t lie to me, Dante.”

“I’m not...I...” My tongue tripped and wobbled. “We just talked about...stuff.”

“Stuff, huh?”

“Yeah. Stuff.”

“Okay.”

A pause.

“Hey, listen.” I felt the need to return to the topic of beds. “I didn’t mean to push you into it. The sex part. I don’t want it to be...rushed... Our first time.”

“Me neither.”

My blood buzzed in my veins. I’d forgotten the high that the chase used to bring me; the chase after a woman. The only difference was that they usually fell under my charm much faster. This slow, step-by-step process where I got to know the person first was new to me.

And I fucking loved it.

Despite the chronic case of blue balls.

“Hey, sorry,” Camille said. “Harper needs me. I’ll try calling you later if we’re done at a reasonable time.”

“Any time is reasonable.”

“Okay, bye.”

I sat for a full minute with my phone still pressed to my ear after she hung up, imagining how it would be between us, imagining the slide of our bodies against each other, the twining of our arms and legs, the sounds we’d make.

Then I remembered that in all the sexual euphoria, I’d forgotten about the most important. The press fallout. We needed to talk about it before Ally got dragged into this shitstorm.

I dialed Eden.

“Dante?” She sounded surprised.

“There’s a couple of things,” I said without beating around the bush. “I’d rather not do one of them over the phone. Can we meet up tomorrow?”

“Absolutely. What’s the other thing?”

“Can you find out how to get a hold of Shanice Dixon?”

“I’m sure I can.”

“Thanks.”

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