Page 10 of One More Song

I rub the back of my neck and lean back in my chair, not sure when my moral compass decided to kick into gear. It’s never been a fucking problem in the past. But then I’m pretty sure I’ve never met anyone quite like Ember.

“You didn’t tell me the name of your band,” she says, pulling one knee up to her chest and studying me.

I raise a brow at her. “You didn’t google me?” Thank fuck for that. Pretty sure she would have second thoughts about letting us stay here if she had. Especially if she’d seen the video.

She shakes her head. “Have you written anything I might know?”

I chuckle at that. We’ve had two albums hit Platinum, and more than a dozen songs hit number one on the Billboard charts. But there’s something nice about her not knowing that.

“I don’t know.” I lean forward. “You look more like a country music kinda girl.”

She snorts. “Nope. Not at all.”

“So what kind of music do you listen to?”

“I can’t say I’m really up to date on music lately, so whatever’s on the radio. Taylor Swift, P!nk, Maroon 5, Absinthe—”

I have to cough to hide the laugh that builds in my throat.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I can’t help the smirk that tugs at my lips.

Her eyes narrow. “You think my taste in music is funny?”

“Nah. I’m a big Taylor Swift fan myself.”

“Now you’re just mocking me,” she says like she’s offended, but her smile tells me otherwise. The tension from earlier is gone. Her shoulders relax and I swear some of her walls start to come down.

“So tell me something else about you,” I say.

She shrugs and chews on her bottom lip. “I’m not very interesting.”

“I doubt that.” I have a feeling there’s a hell of a lot of layers behind the tough exterior she puts up, and I want to peel them all back. “Tell me something that would surprise me about yourself.”

Her cheeks turn pink, but she doesn’t look away. “I doubt anything I’ve ever done would surprise someone like you.”

I raise a brow. “Someone like me, huh?”

“You know what I mean.”

I sling an arm over the back of the chair and grin at her. “Nope. Why don’t you enlighten me.”

She rolls her eyes. “It’s pretty obvious you’re not exactly a boy scout.”

I chuckle. “Never claimed to be.”

“So you admit you’re trouble.”

I lean closer, the heat between us tangible. “More than you know. But I have a feeling there’s a part of you that likes trouble.”

“There you go, thinking you know me again.” Her mouth tightens.

“I guess we’re both making assumptions.”

“Only mine are right.”

“So why don’t you tell me who you really are, Ember?” My words are a dare, pushing her past what I know she wants to give me.

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