Page 42 of A Suite Temptation

“Have you been crying? Why?”

Chloe shook her head. “No. Yes. Oh, it’s all so horrible. The album is finished, but it’s not the best work I’ve ever done. I don’t know how the fans are going to receive it. No one loves it, and …” She sighed. “I’m just so damn tired.”

He sensed there was more. He knew deep down there had to be something gnawing at her soul. “What else? What have Marta and the others been saying?”

“Nothing.”

They might not have seen one another in person for some time, but Jordan had learned enough of Chloe’s tells via Zoom and messenger video calls to sense that she was worried about more than just the album. “Please, sweetheart, tell me what has you in tears?”

“My people keep saying that you are ashamed of me, and that’s the real reason why we haven’t gone public with our relationship.”

Bloody Marta, Gabriela, and Foster. They had been working on Chloe’s insecurities making her feel that she was less.

I want the world to know about us, but I just don’t think I have the capacity to handle all the attention from the press right now, not with the resort launch getting so close.But how do I tell her that without her thinking I’m rejecting her?

Jordan brushed a kiss over her lips, fighting the growing hunger for her body. This conversation was important, even more important than getting naked and heavy with one another. “I want us to go public.”

Chloe’s eyes lit with happiness. “That’s great! We can do it on the red carpet at the All American Music Awards on the fourth of July. That would be the perfect time for us to make our relationship official. Oh, Jordan, thank you.”

Damn. That’s not what I was going to say.

Jordan steeled his nerves. He could just imagine his father’s reaction when he discovered that instead of his son focusing all his attention on the launch of the billion-dollar resort, he’d been busy seducing a pop star. It might not be the truth, but it would surely be how Edward Royal saw things.

“Um, look.”Shit. Double shit.“Maybe lets hold off on the red carpet appearance. Let’s not rush things. We haven’t seen one another in weeks, so maybe now is the time to slow it all down. Then when we feel we are ready, we can talk about our future.”

He hated himself for being the one to wipe the joy from her face.

“You don’t want to tell the world about us?”

* * *

This was not the homecoming she’d been hoping for—Jordan was unsure of them. Instead of being happy about her suggestion for them to debut their relationship at the awards show, he’d put the brakes firmly on.Talk about our future.She hated how that sounded.

Had their time apart changed the way he felt about her? She’d worked her guts out in London, put long hours in at the studio, in order to get the album finished and be able to come home to him. And now this, the all too horribly familiar feeling of someone preparing to take themselves out of her life.

He’s pulling away. Oh god, were Marta and Foster right all along?

“It’s not that I don’t want to tell everyone about us. It’s just that I have so much on my plate at present. The resort is … well, it’s a much bigger job than I ever thought it would be, I barely have a moment to myself. From the time I wake to the time I go to sleep I’m ticking things off lists. People are constantly in my face wanting decisions. I just don’t think I can take on the extra wrinkle of us going public. Or of having to defend our relationship to my family.”

Wrinkle? Is that how he sees us? As a problem, something to solve or smooth out.

“Ok, so if you can’t come to the awards, will you come to the album launch?”

He’d said for them to slow things down. She wasn’t stupid, every woman knew that was man code for ‘let’s take a break.’ And what the hell diddefend their relationshipmean?

“I’m in an impossible situation here, Chloe. I want to come to the launch—you have no idea how badly I want to be there to support you and acknowledge the incredible work you’ve put into this album— but it would have to be in the capacity of a guest. And if work commitments stop me from making it on the night, I hope you’ll find a way to understand. I’m not doing this to hurt you.”

A guest. Not a friend. Not a lover. Nothing official.

Chloe wiped away a tear. This was not how she had imagined their reunion would play out. Foster and Marta had done their usual number on her pride earlier today, and she’d been hoping, praying, that Jordan would bring her back. And yet here he was, stonewalling her. Confirming what her people had told her. That the Royal family would never see her as good enough.

“Are we breaking up?” She had to know. Was this the end? If it was, she hadn’t seen it coming.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

She didn’t have time to protest before his arm came round her waist, and he pulled her hard against him. “Goddamn it, we are not breaking up, Chloe.”

His lips came crashing down on hers in a fiery demanding kiss. Chloe clung to Jordan as he deepened the embrace, his tongue stroking masterfully over hers. In between breaths, he murmured, “You are mine. No one else. I won’t let them tear us apart.”

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