Page 55 of Next Time I Fall (Excess All Areas 2)

“Alex. Can you give me a sec? And keep this to yourself, for now.”

Alex sighed, then shrugged. “Sure. Swing by my room later.”

“Cerys. Why are you leaving?”

The look on her face was one that suggested the answer should be obvious, but he was coming up blank.

“It’s unprofessional. You. The band. Alex. You’re a client of the studio. I thought it was fairly obvious we’d need to be discrete about this.”

“About this?”

“Yes. You and me.”

A thought hit him hard. “Are you embarrassed about this? About being seen with me?” It would be a fucking first.

“No. Of course not. But you have to admit, the optics of this are ... I don’t know. Shady. Inappropriate. I think we should separate the two things.”

He could feel anger brewing inside. Could feel his heart rate escalate in preparation to ... what? Fight? Flight?

Fucking waves. He took a deep breath. Stood holding her hand even as she tried to tug her hand out of his.

“Hear me out for a minute, Cerys. You asked me in the car what I would want to tell my brother about this weekend if he and I had a great relationship. I’d want to tell him about you. I’d tell him how easy it was to create songs with you. I’d admit to being impulsive with women in the past, and how I want to be the opposite of that with you because I want us to build something. So, now I need to know, what would you tell your dad? If he wasn’t your boss or our producer. If you had a great relationship with him, what would you say?”

Cerys looked around the lobby of the hotel and sighed before returning her gaze to his. “I’d tell him that you turned out to be so different from who everyone thinks you are. That beneath the ink and swagger, there’s a sensitive guy with complex emotions who I already feel more for than is probably healthy after only two weeks.”

Jase cupped her cheek, his palm soft, as he lowered his forehead to hers. “Then, that’s what we need to remember, right? Yes, we might need to adapt some things to make it work, and yeah ... I think I’m about to say theCword.”

Confusion filled Cerys’s eyes. “TheCword?”

“Yeah. Compromise.”

Cerys smiled softly. “Compromise?”

“Are you just going to repeat everything I say, babe? Because this could take a while.”

“This could take a while?” she repeated, but from the grin on her face, he could tell she was messing with him.

“Compromise. I don’t see why we need to hide this, but you do, so I’ll compromise and keep it professional around the band and your dad. And I’ll speak to Alex, so he doesn’t go blabber mouthing to everyone else. But you need to work with me too. Figure out when you can let go of some of that reserve. Figure out when we can hang out, if it’s cool for me to come stay at your place, if you want to come stay here at the hotel with me now you have a key. We need to spend time together to build this. Right?”

“Who are you and what did you do with Jase Palmer?”

“Still right here, babe. I’m serious, Cerys. Now we’re back, I don’t want some kind of wall to go up between us. And I’m not going to let you build one, just so you know. I’m happy for boundaries. Which, holy fuck, I can’t believe I just said the word boundaries, either, given I’m not really known for them. But, if you need them, I’m happy to respect them. But I need to know it’s a two-way street when it comes to building this. Is it?”

“You know it is. But this. Walking through the hotel, holding hands and kissing, when you are so popular right now. It’s asking to appear on a gossip site. And I’d hate for this to be the way any of the band or the guys at the studio find out that we’re dating.”

Jase grinned at her words. “It’s pretty hot hearing you admit we’re dating. Say you’re my girlfriend too, and my day will be made.”

“As your girlfriend, I’m deciding to go home. You need to go talk to Alex. And I need to go do laundry. Call me tonight and we’ll do the C word.”

Girlfriendhad a pretty nice ring to it the way she said it. “Compromise?”

“No. The other one. We’ll communicate.”

He pretended to shudder. “Communication after dinner it is. But as your boyfriend, I’m walking you back to your car.”

“That sounds like a totally boyfriend thing to do. Unnecessary, but lovely.”

“I’d rather be having dinner with you,” he muttered.

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