Rocking a SECRET (3 page)

“These clothes aren’t you.”

“You’re just going to come in here and
declare that without even knowing him? Your mother picked those
clothes,” Marv says to her with a sneer on his face.

“I picked those months ago. Stella’s right.
They don’t fit him anymore.”

“I’m not authorizing a big shopping
spree.”

“I’ll pay for whatever Stella wants me to
have. We can do something with these.”

“Donate them.”

I see Kace’s eyes soften, but then he looks
resigned. “Yeah, some lame ass kid will probably be happy with
them.”

“Sometimes I think you might actually have a
heart…and then, you prove me wrong. Go take off that suit while I
see what I can do for the photo shoot.”

He salutes me before undressing right there
in the middle of the room. I shake my head and start looking for
something that will work. If he’s got to play the part, I’ll make
sure he looks it, too.

“Put these on,” I tell him, throwing a pair
of jeans at him. “Settle them on your hips, with a little bit of
your briefs sticking out.”

He does as I ask, but it’s not quite right.
Fuck. I’m going to have to touch him again. I walk over and adjust
the jeans just how I want them. I can’t resist tracing the shark
tattoo that’s peeking out above his boxer briefs with my fingers.
He sucks in a breath, and places his hand over mine.

“Where’s my shirt?”

“No shirt. You do need something,
though.”

I think for a minute and then realize the
bracelet I threw on today will work. It’s a guy’s chunky chain
bracelet. It’s one of my favorite pieces of jewelry, but I know
Kace needs it more than I do. I go to take it off, only then
realizing that we’re still basically holding hands. I tug my hand
from under his and take the bracelet off. I slide it onto his wrist
and smile.

“That’s all you need.”

He leans over to whisper in my ear, “I think
you just want to look at my killer abs.”

“Killer is pushing it, but I will agree that
the little girls are going to go crazy when they see you like
this.” I’m totally lying. His body is amazing and I want to lick
every inch of it.

“I don’t care about them. I want the women
in front of me to go crazy.”

“Act like a decent human being, and we’ll
see.”

“You promised to give me a chance.”

“That I did. Now go play nice with your
friends.”

“I can’t.”

“Can’t or won’t?”

He looks conflicted, but then answers me
honestly. “I can’t, Stella.”

I watch him walk over and act like a jerk.
Seeing it makes me want to find his blackmailer even more. He’s a
good guy, but if he has to keep acting like this, he’ll only have
his mother left on his side. And me. Because like it or not, I’m on
Team Kace, and not just in a work capacity.

The photo shoot goes really well, despite
Kace trying out for the Asshole of the Year award. His new look
sets him apart from the other guys, but not enough to cause
problems. Once my mom finds stylists for Chad and Wayne, she can
concentrate solely on Brett. While they were taking the pictures,
we talked about an overall vision for the band. It’s great to be
working with her again. I just wish it was under different
circumstances.

Everything’s packed up, and I’m just about
to leave when I feel a hand on my arm. I look up to see the object
of my attraction—I mean, irritation—looking down at me with a
smile. “Everyone’s pretty much gone.”

“Yeah, they are.”

“I need to apologize to you for last night.
I shouldn’t have done that to you. I’m really sorry that I did.
Well, I’m not sorry about the kiss. That was epic. So are your
tits. But I shouldn’t have done it like that. I would’ve preferred
to have you be a willing participant when we kissed, and when I-I
touched you.”

He’s sincere. I can see it in his eyes. And
what he said was really sweet. Except for the part about my tits.
That wasn’t sweet. And I really need to get out of here now.

“It’s not okay, but we’re fine. I accept
your apology. I’ll see you tomorrow, Kace.”

“Great. See you tomorrow, honey.”

“No.”

We’re both laughing as I get in the
elevator. This is bad. Really bad. Or…really, really good. I’m
still not sure.

* * *

Kace

Stella’s even cooler than I thought the
night we met. And hotter. I didn’t think that was possible. But
every day she walks into the loft our hotel set up for us to use as
our headquarters, I melt a little more. That sounds so fucking
girly, but I don’t know how else to say it. Everything I feel for
her has increased over the past week. I’m falling for her, and I
need to show her that. But I can’t.

My tormenter has ordered me to steer clear
of her outside of work. I want to say the hell with it all, and
just take her back to my place. If it was only me that would be
affected, I’d do it in a heartbeat. It’s not, though. I have to
keep reminding myself of that, especially when I catch her looking
at me with heat in those beautiful blue eyes of hers. I can only
give my all to one person, and unfortunately, she’s not the one I
choose. I have to remember that and stay strong.

Today’s going to be rough. Stella’s been
shopping all week and has what she thinks is the perfect wardrobe
for me. She’s insisting that I try everything on. I know that it’s
just normal procedure, but having her hands on me will be torture.
I’ve gotten used to it happening once or twice a day, but this will
be constant as she checks the fit of every garment. I send up a
prayer to the big guy, asking for strength I know I don’t have.

When Stella walks in, I nearly lose it.
She’s got on shredded jeans, a pink sweatshirt that’s falling off
one shoulder, and black cowboy boots. Her hair is up in a high
ponytail, and she’s wearing no makeup. Remember how I said she
keeps getting hotter and hotter? Well, the natural look on her is
the hottest yet.

“You ready to try on your clothes,
Kace?”

“Umm, yeah, Sure.”

“What’s wrong?” she asks, her face
scrunching up as she looks at me.

“You look beautiful.”

“Thanks. But you didn’t answer my
question.”

“Yes I did.”

“How is my looking beautiful a problem for
you?”

“Because I want to throw you up against the
wall and kiss you until you can’t think straight. Or match an
outfit.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“Work first. Then maybe kissing later.”

“I can’t kiss you.”

She looks conflicted for a moment. Like she
has something to say. I wait for it, wanting to know what’s going
through her mind. I shouldn’t have said that because now she has to
ask. But she doesn’t.

“Let’s get started on the clothes.”

For the next two hours, I play mannequin.
Stella fusses over me, moving clothes around. Tucking and pinning
them when she’s not happy with how something looks. I’m happy with
everything. She’s transforming me into something awesome, style
wise. It’s edgy, but with a little bit of softness to it. Like she
knows the real me is still here, underneath the asshole I’ve been
forced to become. This woman never fails to surprise me.

“Well, all the work’s done. My mom won’t be
here for another fifteen minutes with Brett. You wanna get to that
kissing? The wall over there looks perfect for being thrown
against.”

Yes. Hell yes. Fuck yes. Absolutely,
positively, yes. I want to kiss her. But I can’t. Or can I? No
one’s here. And like she said, it’s not Brett’s turn yet.

I grab her and move us both to that wall of
hers, pushing her gently against it before taking her mouth. Her
hands go to my hair, pulling and tugging as I sip from her
beautiful mouth. Like a dying man in the desert who’s just
discovered water, I lap at her lips. She tries to take over, but I
don’t let her. I want to worship her mouth, and not rush to involve
our tongues yet.

I lose track of time, which means that we’re
out of it faster than I would’ve thought possible. Just as I slip
my tongue into her mouth, the elevator dings. I jump back from her,
cursing myself for my stupidity. There’s no lipstick on her to mess
up, but her lips are swollen. I’m betting mine are, too. It’ll be
obvious what we were just doing to anyone who looks at us.

I don’t have time to dwell on my mistake as
Sheila and Brett step off the elevator. I keep my back turned as
they greet Stella. I should be next to her, talking to them. In a
perfect world, she’d still be in my arms, and I wouldn’t care who
saw us. But my world’s not perfect, so I have to act like nothing
happened. And that’s what I do, earning a glare as she hurries into
the elevator. I should run after her. I
want
to run after
her. But again, if I have to choose, it can’t be her. It just
can’t.

Stella

I head to the Foundation offices after
leaving the loft. I feel like I’m going to spontaneously combust,
and all we did was kiss. With no tongue. I underestimated Kace.
Maybe age really is just a number. I can’t about that now. I need
to see if Ainsley or Tegan have found out anything useful.

I say hi to Alex as I pass through the
lobby. When I walk into the conference room, I’m pleasantly
surprised to see my mentor, Mallory Daniels. I didn’t know she’d be
here.

“Mal, did you just fly in?” I ask, hugging
her tightly.

“Yes. I wanted to see how your mission is
going.”

“There’s not much for me to report. Kace is
still acting like an ass, and although I get a weird vibe from the
band’s manager, Marvin, I’m not sure if it’s just normal creepiness
or something else.”

“He’s come up clean in all of the checks
I’ve run on him,” Ainsley tells me.

“I wouldn’t say ‘clean’ is the word I’d use,
since I unearthed some reports that were swept under the rug. They
all had to do with sexual harassment and intimidation. Since Kace
was playing nice in the sandbox before the blackmailer got ahold of
him, I can’t see that person being Marvin. From what I can tell,
he’s not one to give up his golden cow so easily.”

“Golden cow, Teeg? Really?”

“Look, we all know that boy has some sexy
blonde hair going on. And he could be hung like a cow. You won’t
tell me, which is really messed up since we used to tell each other
everything. So I’m just using my imagination.”

“Hung like a cow? Don’t you mean like a
horse?”

“Cow, horse. It’s all the same.”

“You make a shitty cowgirl.”

“I like the music and the look. No animals
or any of that crap. Leave that to someone else.”

“As much as I’m enjoying this conversation,
we really need to get back to business.” I can tell Reina’s trying
to hide a smile as she gives us one of her stern schoolmarm
looks.

“Sorry, Rei. Did you get anything from his
phone?” I ask Ainsley. I’d cloned it for her on my first day of
work.

“No. The blackmailer hasn’t texted him, and
he doesn’t really get any calls. He seems to use it to keep in
touch with his mom, the other band members, and Marvin. He checks
social media and has snapped some pics of you, but that’s it.”

“Pics of me?”

“Yep. They’re actually really sweet. You
look beautiful, of course, but he picks times when you’re looking a
little less predatory.”

“I don’t know if you just gave me a
compliment, or insulted me.”

“I wouldn’t insult you.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

These nine girls I work with are my extended
family. We would do anything for each other. And we support each
other unconditionally. What we do would be so much harder if we
didn’t.

“Keep looking. Especially at this Marvin
guy. If he makes Stella feel weird, we need to keep an eye on him,”
Reina tells them.

“Is the boybander giving you trouble,
Stell?” Matt asks as he walks in the room. “I could beat his ass.
He deserves it after what he did at Gavin’s party.”

“No, he’s not giving me trouble.”

“And she liked what he did at the
party.”

“Teeg!”

“What? You did. Secrets can get us killed.
You know that.”

I do. I know that I need to tell them
everything. It’s more than a little embarrassing to admit that I’m
lusting after a twenty-one year old. Who’s in a boy band. What has
my world come to?

“You’re hitting that?” Matt asks me with a
laugh.

“No.”

“No? But you always take whatever guy you
want.”

“So I can have anyone?”

“Hell, yeah.”

“Let’s go back to my place, then.”

I hear Reina gasp, but I’m doing this for
her benefit. I know he won’t take me up on my offer. He may act
like he doesn’t love her, but we all know he does. He’ll protect
all of us girls to the death, but he’d never sleep with us. It
would be going too far, even for him.

“Umm…yeah, no. Sorry, but I can’t.”

He looks at Reina to get her reaction. She’s
not giving him what he wants, though. I think she might actually be
done with trying to convince him they’d be perfect together.

“Why are you looking at me, Matt? I’ve never
been a consideration in whether you’re keeping it in your pants or
not.”

Yes she has. Tegan and I know that. We’ve
seen him out. When Reina and Matt have a rough day, or she makes
him feel too much, he takes someone home. Since Reina started
dating Rick, Matt’s ignored every woman. Every night that we’ve
seen him out, we see him flirt, but that’s it. He’s taken no one
home in almost two months. We’re pretty sure he knows that he might
actually lose her this time, and it’s killing him.

I won’t spill his secret, and neither will
Teeg. The two of them are too important to all of us. And that
information might just send us into our own version of World War
III. The casualties would be too great, and I’m not sure we’d
recover. They have to find their way to each other on their
own.