Chapter Four — Remy

I snagged my drink off the bar, threw down some bills, and headed across the room. If my eyes were capable of shooting flames, everyone who stepped in my path would have been reduced to cinders. I had no game plan, no lines— just pure, unfiltered desire and a throbbing cock when I stepped to the side of the table and immediately brought a halt to the conversation.

“Remy?” Livvie looked up at me like there were stars in her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to clear up our misunderstanding from the other night,” I said.

The three guys at the table seemed to sense that I was in charge and they all immediately silenced.

Livvie’s face changed from surprise to irritation with the blink of her gorgeous, blue eyes. “I’m in the middle of a business meeting right now, so this chat you want to have will need to be put on ice.”

“Who are these guys?” I asked. I hated to acknowledge their presence, but I needed to figure out who they were so I could best figure out how to get rid of them. The things I wanted to say…and do…to Livvie were not fit for an audience.

At least, not tonight.

Livvie hesitated, her eyes darting between me and the three faces across from her. “This is Chad, Kyle, and Axis. They are members of Klang, a band that my company is very interested in working with.” She added the last part as an aside to the three guys. “So, as I said, whatever you came down here to say will have to wait.”

I stared at her for a moment. I didn’t know her well enough to know how she’d react, but considering how much I’d paid to track her down, I wasn’t about to leave.

She turned her attention away from me and I took the opportunity to slide into the seat, next to her. Her eyes shot to mine at the intrusion as she tried to scoot away from me as quickly as possible. However, the booth was already tight and she couldn’t put more than a few centimeters between us. I could feel the heat radiating from her body and desperately wanted to put my hand under the table to feel what she was wearing, hoping it was something that exposed some of her skin. I hadn’t nearly seen enough of her yet.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she hissed.

This time, I ignored her and extended my hand across the table. “My name is Remington Maddox. You can call me Remy. I’m actually an investor with Miss Sanders. I want to assure you that I have the financial means and industry connections to launch you from playing for this shit to packing out stadiums, within two years.”

I glanced over to Livvie and she was stunned. Her face was completely slack and I could tell she didn’t know whether to hit me or kiss me. It was an amazing combination on her. One I had a feeling I’d be seeing on a regular basis if this thing between us was to continue.

“Wow, you’re Remington Maddox?” one of them asked—I had already forgotten their names.

Livvie arched a brow and I turned back to the gents. “That’s right.”

I lifted one of Livvie’s business cards off the table and studied it for a quick second before passing it to the guy in the middle. “So, you’ll give Miss Sanders a call, then?”

“Absolutely!”

With that, they shook hands with both of us and then scampered off towards the bar, likely to get plastered and celebrate their impending riches.

“What the fuck was that?” Livvie fired off as soon as they had been swallowed up by the crowd.

“Let’s go, it’s too fucking loud in here.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her up from her seat as I slid out of the end of the booth.

As she stood, I sucked in a breath, finally getting to see her entire body. Fuck. A tinge of jealousy swept over me as I thought about other men looking at her the way I did. The low cut black top she wore had some sort of sheen that made it look like wet leather, and the dark jeans looked as though they had been stitched to fit her every line and curve, molding to her perfect legs and…I spun her around…her ass.

“You’re gorgeous,” I said, spinning her right around again.

She pulled her hand away from mine and crossed her arms. “I already told you, I’m not available for hire.”

“I know. That’s why I came here tonight. I don’t want to hire you. I want to take you out. You know, on a date.”

The offer sounded foreign on my lips. I hadn’t asked a girl out on a date in God knows how long. Most of the time, the women I hooked up with were well aware of my intentions before we left the bar, club, coffee shop, gym, party or high-end shop. There was no need for a date. It was a cut to the chase, one and done—sometimes two and done, depending on the girl—and everyone went home happy.

This…Livvie…was flipping the script without even knowing it.

Truthfully, I wasn’t even sure when it had happened. But, I’d already gone to lengths unheard of before, at least for me, so I figured I’d let myself fall completely down the rabbit hole and see where I landed.

“A date?” she repeated.

I nodded to confirm. “Yep.”

“When?”

“I’m free now,” I offered, holding out my hand to her again.

“Well, I’m not. Remy, I have three other bands lined up to talk to tonight.”

“Aha. Well, let me help you, and then we can go get a drink afterward to celebrate your new clients.”

She stared at me, her arms still crossed, as if she was still trying to figure out if I was for real. She had already seen how powerful my name alone could be for her business, and I knew that had to sweeten the deal for her. When we’d met, one of the first—and only—things she told me about herself was in regards to her business. That alone told me everything I needed to know about it. This business of hers was one of the—if not the—most important things in her life. And if I wanted to find a way in, this was going to be it.

I got tired of waiting for her answer. “So, where do we find the next ones?”

She sighed and uncrossed her arms. “They come to me. I told them I’d be at this table, waiting.”

I squinted at her, not understanding. “Waiting? What if they don’t show up?”

She shrugged. “It happens. I can’t control what other people do.”

Hmmm. That was an interesting concept. Other than my mother, I’d always found it fairly easy to control others. It was all about leverage and motivation. As soon as I could unlock that, the rest was cake.

“After you, then,” I said, waving to her previous place at the table.

She gave me one more intensely skeptical look before sliding back into place. I slid in besides her, pressing in as closely as she’d let me, and then turned my attention to polishing off my whiskey. As soon as I set the glass down, a server, also skimpily dressed, came over and set down a refill.

“You got those on tap, huh?” Livvie asked, sipping her glass of champagne.

“I could have turned it away,” I said with a shrug.

“Well, yeah, but they already poured it. If you sent it back, they would have to dump it out.”

“That’s not my problem. They made an assumption that I’d want more. If I didn’t, why would I drink another just to make sure they weren’t inconvenienced or put out?”

Livvie sighed and took another drink from her champagne glass.

I reached over and studied the bottle in the center of the table. “Jeez, what is this shit?”

“Hey!” She slapped my hand away from the bottle. “Leave it alone. I like it and it was the best I could do.”

I pulled my hand back, more than a little shocked by her boldness. “Hmmm.”

I flagged a server down and ordered a bottle of their finest. When I turned back, Livvie was visibly not impressed.

“Was that really necessary?” she asked.

“Yes. If my name is attached to your company, I can’t have you giving away this shit to the clients.”

Livvie laughed. “Your name is not attached to my company. This is my baby. Not yours.”

“I see. Well, then, what are you going to tell those guys,” I asked, pointing to the three guys who’d left not so long ago. As I’d imagined, they were already two drinks into their celebration and had found some lady friends to join their party. “Seems to me they’re pretty set on the plan I just laid out.”

Livvie bit her lip as she stared at them, her sparkling eyes clouded with worry. She flicked them back to me and the fire instantly returned. “Yes, but you did that without my permission.”

I shrugged again. “Just say it.”

“What?”

“You need me.”

Livvie flung her head back and laughed. “I need a lot of things, Remy. But I can assure you, a guy like you is not one of them.”

Her reaction stung, and yet at the same time, made me want to fuck her even more. She was a firework and I wanted to see the whole show.

“I’ll make you a deal. You let me take you out tonight, and I’ll invest in your business. I wasn’t lying before. I really do have connections to just about anyone you can think of in the music world. I can hook your clients up and have new ones knocking down your door, begging for your services. You’ll be able to charge obscene prices and roll in the money and perks of being a big-time boss in this town. Guaranteed.”

Her eyes narrowed at me as if trying to send me through her own, internal bullshit scanner. “Why are you trying to help me?”

It was a valid question. Less than a week ago, she was just some hot girl at an otherwise dull charity dinner. My initial plan had been simple—charm her right out of her sweet little panties. However, things had shifted and now she had me running in circles trying to chase her down. Which, for me, should have been a red flag. But all it did was make me hungrier for her.

“I like you. You’re different. You didn’t fall all over me,” I answered, not wanting to stall for too long and make her think I was lying or feeding her a line.

She continued to stare, her eyes wavering as she searched mine. “One date? No expectations?”

“One date.” I sure as hell had expectations, but I wasn’t about to let her in on those quite yet.

“Deal.”

She pushed back and held out her hand for me to shake.

Which I took, with pleasure. I flipped her wrist and brought the back of her hand up to my lips and pressed a soft, barely-there kiss to the ridges of her slender knuckles. Her eyes stayed locked on mine and I swear a jolt of static electricity shot between us at the point of contact.

Fuck, I needed to get her naked.

I released her hand and she took a sip of the first-class champagne the server had swapped out for us. I wanted to say something, to continue our conversation, but before I could get anything out, a grungy-looking group approached our table. I was about to tell them where the alley was—in case they needed fresh boxes to sleep in—when Livvie jumped up and pushed past me to greet them each as if they were long lost friends.

I watched the whole scene, stunned to silence, until she introduced them as the next band she had been eyeballing.

As everyone got seated and poured out some more champagne, I couldn’t help but think that it was going to be very hard to remain a silent partner—if this was the kind of riff-raff she wanted to work with. My money and connections could move mountains, but transforming this mangy crew into a successful band might be asking too much.

Livvie seemed enchanted, though, her whole face coming alive as she started to go over her business and all the plans she had cooked up. I chimed in at the correct moment to drop some names and the meeting ended with as much enthusiasm as the first one I’d crashed.

Over the next few hours, we spoke with other bands, and Livvie was glowing by the time I finally pulled her away from the club and got her into the back of my car.