The Heir Affair (Las Vegas Nights 5)
“Yes,” he drawled. “Let’s worry about what the neighbors think.”
She made a face at him. “The thing is, how long do I live like this? Fearing things that may or may not be real?”
Kyle considered. Her point was valid. He hated the idea that she would be looking over her shoulder until she moved back to LA. And he was assuming that was where they were going to end up. On the other hand, he wasn’t all that keen on her anonymous gift giver escalating to more personal contact.
“Let’s go...” He barely stopped himself from saying home. “Get some shopping done for the baby at those ridiculously expensive Rodeo Drive stores and hang out at the beach.”
When she immediately agreed, Kyle was a little surprised at her change of heart. Then, he decided it was less about her interest in buying baby stuff and more about getting away from a scary situation. But either way he thought, as he folded her into his arms, he’d take the win.
* * *
A couple days after Kyle spent the night in his car outside Trent’s house, Melody found herself the victim of some clever manipulations on the part of her brother, Nate and Kyle.
“I’m giving a concert at The Roxy?” She was sitting in Nate’s office at Ugly Trout Records. Her emotions whirled in a combination of excitement and trepidation. “When?”
“A little over a week.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” The band that had backed her up on the Free Fall tour had all gone off to new gigs. She had no idea what to sing. “I can’t be ready to perform that fast.”
“It’s all set. I’ve hired the musicians, and they already have the arrangements of your songs. I also leased the practice space. You just need to show up in LA and rehearse.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Seems like you’ve thought of everything. Whose idea was this?”
“Several people provided input.”
“This is your way of getting me out of Las Vegas and away from my supposed stalker.” Melody blew out a breath. “Nothing weird has happened since the basket arrived. We don’t even know that there is a stalker.”
“A performance at The Roxy is still a great idea.”
“You’re right. I’ve got a lot to do. When do Kyle and I leave for LA?”
“How’d you know Kyle was going with you?”
“Because he’s become my watchdog for the last three days.”
After he’d spent the night in Trent’s driveway, it became apparent that Kyle wasn’t going to be happy unless he could keep an eye on her so she’d agreed to move into his guest room. They still weren’t in a place where she was ready to go back to their former arrangement, but being compelled to spend more time together had sped up the relationship revitalization process.
“You leave the day after tomorrow. That’ll give you a week to rehearse.”
“It’s tight.” But she knew a lot more about getting ready for a performance after spending so many months on tour. “But doable.”
After leaving Nate’s office, Melody went in search of Mia and found the songwriter working beside Craig in studio C’s control booth. A few weeks earlier, Nate had brought Mia under his wing and was training her to produce music. The industry was dominated by men and Melody was delighted her friend was doing her part to change that.
When Mia looked over and spotted Melody entering, her eyes lit up. “So? Are you excited?”
“Very. And a little nervous. I’ve got a lot to do in a short period of time.”
“You’ll be great.”
Craig took his eyes off the studio musicians going to town on the other side of the glass and observed her with interest. “What’s up?”
“I’m going to be performing at The Roxy in a week.”
Now it was his turn to grin. “That’s great. You’ll be fantastic.”
“I hope so.” Melody soaked up her friends’ encouragement as she took a seat next to Mia. “It was really nice of Nate and Trent to organize this for me.”
“I think you can use a break from Las Vegas,” Mia said, her eyes saying more than her words.