"The machine will be faster for the first one," I said.

"What the heck, I'm living dangerously now," she said. "Sure, thanks."

I got up and went to the washroom to get rid of the condom. Then I just pulled my shorts on before filling the little pot with water and turning on the coffee maker. Hotel coffee had vastly improved over the past four years, and I was incredibly grateful.

My phone beeped from the bedside table. "Hey, could you please tell me what the message was?" I asked.

I glanced to see her looking at me with wide eyes. "Most people are pretty private about their phones," she said.

"I want to share everything with you," I said. "I’ve got absolutely nothing to hide."

She shrugged, pulling on my t-shirt as she crawled across the bed. "It's an email from 72.7 Midwest Rock Radio," she said.

"Dammit. Thanks."

She came over and set the phone beside me as I handed her a full mug and began to brew another for myself. "I thought rockstars liked attention from radio stations?"

"They are supposed to email Dave, not me. But that particular station has already been told that I'm not giving them what they want."

"What are they after?" she asked. "An exclusive interview or something?"

"They're doing some collaboration – advertising on a romance movie station. They want to do an ad featuring me, if I find you."

She sunk into a chair, staring up at me as her teeth sunk into her bottom lip. Her voice was a squeak. "What did you tell them?"

Standing behind her, I rubbed her shoulders gently, kissing the top of her head. “Everyone who inquires is told the same thing. No, I haven't found you. And if I did, that would be private and never discussed publicly."

Her fingernails tapped on the edge of the coffee mug. I hated it when her hands began to shake, and wished that I could comfort her more.

"Relax, baby. The interest is already dying down. In another month they'll forget all about it and move on to something else."

"Do they offer you money?"

"Yes, but there's no amount of money that would change my mind.” I flashed her grin. "If it was something insane like a billion, I would ask for your opinion."

"Still, it would be hard to turn down a large amount, especially because it would also be great publicity for you," she said.

My back stiffened. Grabbing my phone, I called up an email from a few weeks ago and handed it to her. "That's how much money I turned down from a TV station in New York for a photo of the two of us and a brief interview. They wanted to put a private investigator on the case to find you. I don't need the money, and that’s crossing all kinds of lines. If I wanted to announce something, I would. Offering me money to change my mind is disgusting."

Her hands shook as she handed back the phone. "But they're still looking for me. Why didn't you tell me?"

I tasted my coffee, hoping that slowing down the conversation would mellow things out. “I didn’t want to upset you. They’re never going to find out. It will blow over.”

“You can’t control everything. Especially when someone else is involved.” Trisha sounded irritated, and I hated that she was upset because of me.

“Dave would like to meet you,” I said gently. “We could ask him what we should do. How about that?”

She nodded, tucking her hair behind her ears before taking another sip of coffee. “Okay.”

“If you think this is a problem, I’ll do everything I can to take care of it.”

“I know you will,” she said. But her eyes didn’t meet mine. Staring into her mug, her shoulders slumped.

The amazing physical high came crashing down around me. There was no way that I could let her down so soon.

Chapter Nineteen ~ Trisha

* Tied Up In Knots *

Tags: Haley Travis Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net