The Rock Star and the Girl From the Coffee Shop 2: Under Pressure (3 page)

To her surprise, Tyson placed an arm around her shoulders and hugged her to him.

Slipping an arm around his waist she hugged him back. "Thank you."

He leaned back and caught her gaze. "What for?"

Hanna gave him a sheepish grin. "For being my friend. I could really use one about now."

*****

"...Of course. I think we'll be a perfect fit. We can contact the lawyers and have a contract drawn up tomorrow." Nadine smiled down at Bo from her perch on the arm of his chair. Her green eyes told him that there was a double meaning to her words. He'd pointed out to her that there were a number of vacant chairs in the room, but she'd insisted that she was fine where she was.

She leaned back on the arm of the chair and into Bo, her silver skirt hiking up her thighs. Across the room Anthony and Trevor's eyes were glued to her legs, no doubt mentally willing the skirt to lift higher and if she was anything like she was a couple of years ago, she'd be minus underwear.

Bo shifted in the chair, attempting to put as much distance between himself and Nadine as possible, and forcing himself not to look in her direction. The last thing he wanted was to encourage her. It wasn't that she wasn't an attractive woman — she was.

She was the North American ideal of beauty: long, shapely legs, perfect breasts, slender frame, bright green eyes and long sleek red hair that fell past her shoulder blades. But she was as high maintenance as they came and superficial to the core. She'd grown up with a silver spoon in her mouth and would accept nothing less than the best. Her attitude and sense of entitlement drove him batshit crazy.

Bo sighed inwardly. But she was one of the best and the guys wanted her — in more ways than one. He was one voice out of five and as it was he was the reason they were looking for a new manager to begin with... So he'd endure.

"As much as I respected Victor as a manager and valued him as a friend, he was losing his edge. It was only a matter of time before he self-destructed anyhow." She glanced down at Bo, forcing him to catch her gaze. "So what's with this groupie he gave a smackin' to? I was planning on discussing this with you next week when we all met to go over some PR ideas I've had in mind. She's not the image you want to project, Bo." She flipped her hair over her shoulder as she waited for him to respond.

Bo's body tensed, jaw clenching. "
Hanna
is not open to discussion. Not now or ever.

And don't
ever
refer to her as a groupie again... Are we clear?"

Nadine flinched at the venom in his tone, opened her mouth to respond and snapped it shut. Giving him a smile that would turn most men to blabbering fools she shrugged.

"Touchy subject. All right."

A couple of the guys cringed, as all eyes fell on Bo, awaiting his response.

"It's an off-limits subject."

"Fine." A hint of angered fire flared in her emerald eyes and there was a noticeable sharpness to her tone, but it quickly died as she turned her attention to the other guys in the group. "In that case, Victor and I had something in the works with one of the television networks. It's a date the fans kinda promotional thing. I promised them Bo, but," she huffed and glanced over at him out of the corner of her eyes, "since he's
unavailable
I'm going to need a replacement." She shifted her gaze to Jeremy. "If we can't have one Savage then I know the women would be more than happy with the

available one.”

"Hey, what about me!" Anthony protested, standing to give her a view of the "goods."

"I can give a girl a good time."

Nadine rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you kept your nose out of the powder once in a while."

Oh fuck me, here we go,
Bo groaned inwardly, grabbing his beer and taking a long swig.

"Oh, please bitch, you gave me my first snort of blow," Anthony growled, flopping back on the sofa.

Nadine leaned forward, her eyes blazing. "There's a difference between recreational use and snorting so much that it's just a matter of time before you're ODing in an alley behind a dumpster with some groupie's lips on your cock!"

What have we got ourselves into?

Chapter 3

"You know Tyson, this has been one of the funnest days ever," Hanna commented as they rode up the elevator to Bo's floor. "I told Bo I wouldn't get recognized."

"Still, it's better safe than sorry."

Hanna nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. "And it was fun to actually get to know you. You're always so —"

He cocked a brow up at her waiting for her to finish.

"— serious."

"I don't think I'd have a job long if I wasn't."

The elevator dinged and the door slid open, revealing a hallway leading to a steel security door. Hanna pulled her key from her replica Louis Vuitton monogram purse that she'd bought from a street vendor on her first date with Bo. He'd wanted to purchase her a new genuine one, but she'd insisted on this — for now. He'd bought her too much already when he'd taken her clothes shopping just a few weeks prior. She was unemployed and had to make do. Which reminded her, she needed to find a way to make some money; mooching off of Bo wasn't something she wanted to do or was proud of.

The door beeped, signalling it was unlocking as she swiped the card and input her code. Opening the door, she and Tyson were greeted by the sound of heated arguing.

Frowning, she looked up at Tyson and he shrugged.

She made her way through the two-story penthouse toward the living room, stopping short at the entrance, out of sight of the group arguing in the other room. Tyson stopped behind her, not saying a word, but she could feel his massive frame at her back.

Her eyes widened as she leaned forward slightly and caught sight of a woman draped across the chair Bo was sitting on, looking very comfortable around him. Too

comfortable in her mind. What was even more shocking than the woman next to Bo was how much she looked like her, only slimmer and taller — hotter. A surge of jealousy rushed through her, darkening her mood.

"Who's the fucking doppelganger?" she whispered over her shoulder to Tyson.

"Nadine Vessy," Tyson whispered back, grabbing her arm and pulling her back and out of the line of view of those sitting within the room.

"Nadine Vessy..." She tossed the name around in her mind. She knew that name, Bo had mentioned her before.

"She's the promotions manager," Tyson offered.

The light bulb lit in her head. "Well, what is she doing here?"

Tyson shrugged. "You'd know better than me."

"And she looked just like me, only..."

Tyson gave her a stern look and shook his head. "Don't go there, Hanna."

How could she not? Bo had a fetish for redheads that was no secret. Nadine was a Hanna 2.0 — physically speaking anyhow. She had a queen bitch demeanour to her, a vibe that attracted men and repelled females. Hanna hadn't even met her and immediately developed a dislike for her.

"Did he sleep with her?" The question was out of her mouth before she could stop it.

Tyson sighed, and rubbed the back of his neck, avoiding her gaze. "I... I don't know, Hanna. I really don't. And you know I can't be talking about this, I need this job."

Closing her eyes, Hanna took a deep breath in and slowly released it, opening her eyes. "I'm sorry. It's just..." She ran a shaky hand through her long crimson curls.

Tyson looked around her and peered into the living room. The heated conversation was still going strong. Grabbing her arm he pulled her a few more feet away from the doorway, lowered his voice even further and leaned into her. "If he wanted her, he'd be with her. He's with you." A worried expression crossed his features as if he was deciding whether to tell her more. He sighed. "She gets around, Hanna. She's the best at what she does, but no one takes her seriously when it comes to..."

Hanna felt a little bit better, but noted that he never did really answer her question.

"Okay. I get it."

"Keep that to yourself, Hanna. All right?" A worried look crossed his eyes.

She gave him a reassuring smile. "I promise."

*****

Finally
, Bo sighed as the group finished up. Hours bickering among them with Nadine at the helm had been exhausting, but they finally had things worked out and settled. The contracts would be drawn up and signed in the morning. Nadine was to take over and everyone seemed happy with the arrangement.

Once the contracts were signed in the afternoon the next day, he could finally take some much needed fun and relaxation time with Hanna. He was actually looking forward to the house hunting trip he had arranged for her in Jersey in a couple of days. It would give them a chance to play the role of a normal couple — even if that wasn't the case.

"All right, boys. I'm outta here. See you in the morning." Nadine slid from the arm of Bo's chair and made her way toward the exit, her hips swaying suggestively with each step. The rest of the group also stood and made their way to the exit, muttering quick goodbyes.

Blowing out a loud puff of air, Bo stood and looked down at his watch. 8pm. Damn!

They'd run the meeting much later than he'd wanted, due mostly to the bickering.

Nadine's lecture of Anthony easily ate up a half an hour, but maybe if anyone could get through to him, it was her.

Just as he realized the time, it occurred to him that Hanna was due back two hours ago. Pulling his Smartphone from his jeans pocket he turned it on. No messages. He was about to begin worrying when he heard her voice, followed by Nadine's. The words being said were not loud enough for him to make out, but the tone in their voices was confrontational.

Ahhh shit
. Nadine hadn't even met Hanna and already formed an opinion on her. He had wanted to take a moment to warn Hanna about Nadine's attitude before they went head-to-head. He hurried out of the room and into the hallway where the two women had just started a conversation, the members of the band hanging within hearing range, while trying to pretend they weren't interested in the interaction.

"That's funny, I haven't heard a damned thing about you," Hanna's voice carried to Bo and he quickened his pace, intent on defusing the situation before it had a chance to get out of hand.

"Oh honey, you'll be seeing a lot of me from now on. I'm the boys' new manager."

Brushing past Nadine, Bo went to Hanna's side, putting a protective arm around her waist and pulling her tight to his side. "It's been a long day. How about we do some formal introductions later on?"

Nadine's eyes shifted from Hanna to Bo and back again. "All right. Good to finally meet you, Hanna."

Hanna murmured a "you too," but it was evident to everyone that she wasn't sincere.

Nadine's mouth opened, about to respond, but she caught Bo's cautioning eyes and snapped it shut again. "Bye guys." She brushed past Hanna and Bo, the rest of the group following behind.

"I'll be leaving as well, unless there is something else, Sir?"

Bo turned his attention to Tyson. "Where were you two? It's eight."

Hanna turned in his arms and caught his gaze. "We had so much fun today, Bo. It wasn't his fault. I refused to come back until I was tired of walking."

"I just get worried. That's all. Your face is all over the tabloids right now."

"No one recognized me. I told you they wouldn't."

Tyson shifted from one foot to the other, a frown creasing his forehead, clearly unsure of what to do or say next.

"You can go now, Tyson. We're staying in the rest of the evening."

"Okay. Thanks." A look of relief crossed over Tyson's face as he caught Hanna's eye briefly, spun around and hurried out of the penthouse, his pace quicker than normal.

Once he heard Tyson exit the front door and close it behind him, Bo turned to Hanna.

"Why didn't you send me a text or something?"

"You were busy anyhow. And I am a grown woman, Bo. I was fine, I didn't even need Tyson."

"Yeah, but you could have."

"And really all that would have happened is that they snap more photos." She shrugged. "There's already a shitload of them out there. When we were in the convenience store I was front page center on the
New York Scooper
."

Bo hesitated to ask what the headline was for that particular paper. He bit back the question. He'd check later. Whatever it was, if the story was in the
New York Scooper
then it was bad, but she seemed to be in rather good spirits despite whatever the headline read.

"And look." Hanna stepped back and waved her left wrist under his nose, a wide self-satisfied smile on her face. "Fifty bucks."

Cocking a brow at her, Bo took her wrist and examined the "Rolex." "You know that

—"

"—I could buy you the real thing if you want," she interrupted, mimicking him while finishing his thought, still beaming. "I know, but this is fine. I'm happy. Remember the clothing you bought me a few weeks ago?"

Bo shrugged in response.

Well, she's taking the whole Nadine thing pretty well
, he mused. He'd expected her to be shooting questions at him like mad, but that didn't seem to be the case. He'd count his blessings on that one.

Her smile faded and eyes narrowed. "What's with the doppelganger?"

"Nadine?"
Doppelganger?
Nadine didn't look
that
much like Hanna... Did she?

She huffed and gave him a look that said "Who else do you think I'm talking about?"

The anger hadn't flared up in her eyes — yet — but he knew it was coming. The one thing about her being angry that he loved was the fact that she was damned sexy when she was pissed. Her eyes would flare, her breathing would become rapid and her whole body would seem to vibrate. In many cases it didn't even matter that he was getting torn a new one because he knew as soon as it was over he was going to get some of the best sex of his life. He was guilty of urging her on in a few cases, just to get her riled up so he could indulge in the wild, crazy after-fight sex. His cock came alive in his jeans at the thought of being able to indulge in her.

"You're calling her the doppelganger?" He fought back the urge to laugh, though it was hard. Egging her on in this particular instance didn't seem a smart thing to do, considering the insecurities the media had planted into her mind.