Page 65 of One More Bad Boy

I pushed a flat laugh out of my chest, as if it didn’t bother me that he’d figured that out. “Story of my life. It goes like this: I start to fall for you, and then you sleep with someone behind my back.”

“I’d never—”

I held up my hand and kept talking. “If it’s not cheating, then it’s you hurting me. Or maybe you get arrested and guilt me into bailing you out. Hell, it could be some combo of all three!”

“I’mnothinglike your exes, Amina.”

“Of course, you are. You’re the same smug, tatted up bad boy as the rest. It’s why I like you in the first place. I have a fucking type. But that ends now.” I tried to walk around him. The booth was tight, it was a simple shift of his body and he was blocking me in. “Bach, move.”

“Those messages meant nothing,” he assured me. He pulled out his phone, flipping through. When I tried to push it away, he put the screen in my face. “One of them was an old fling, I won’t deny that, but we haven’t seen each other in years. The others are media personalities looking for a tasty scoop.”

“Great. They want to get you alone for an ‘interview’”

“Not me,” he hissed. “You. They want to get to knowyou.”

Some of my bravado faded. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

He clasped my shoulders, his phone digging into my skin, reminding me of all those messages. “Look at me.” Bach was wide-eyed, searching my face for a sign he was getting through. “Amina, I’m not one of the men who betrayed you. Just hearing about someone hurting you pisses me off.”

The exit beckoned me over his shoulder. It would be so easy to walk away from him. “Even if those messages were harmless, what about the auditions? All those women trying to squirm their way into your favor, so you’ll make them famous?”

His face fell. Then he began to laugh.

“Hey!” I snapped, pushing him off of me. “This isn’t funny!”

Bach hid his phone away. His shoulders shook from lingering chuckles. “You’re worried about the other singers? You’re jealous?”

“It’s not jealousy, it’s me protecting myself.”

His eyes twinkled with wicked humor. “I like this possessive side of you.” Heat burned up my throat, but he wasn’t done with me. “You don’t have to worry, Amina. I turned them all down.”

“I... I don’t understand.”

“I said no to them.” Moving forward, he backed me against the wall. “All of them. Every single one.” His hand hit the wall next to my ear, thudding so loud I gasped. “You thought they could compare to you? Silly girl. They didn’t stand a chance.”

I swallowed around my heavy tongue. “You mean you didn’t sign any of them?”

“Not a one. Rejection after rejection after...” He stroked a fingertip over the edge of my left ear. “Rejection.” My belly tightened as his smell suffocated me. He was close enough to kiss again, his lips were all I could see. “Maybe I am abad boy,if that’s the label you like. But I'm nothing like the assholes who came before me.”

“How?” I managed to whisper. “Tell me how you’re different.”

Eagerness made his smirk glow. “Did any of them give you a car?”

“Of course not. They made me pay for everything.”

Bach chuckled, bracing himself on the wall so only his shadow was touching me. I wanted his hands, his mouth, and he gave me nothing but air. “I’d never use you the way they did. I want to take care of you, Amina. I want to provide everything and anything you need. But I’m more than a bank account. I’m a protective man, the kind that would never,everlay a finger on you. I want you to scream because of pleasure, not pain.”

A tremor worked through my legs. Every breath was a shudder. “Keep going.”

“Always so eager, even now,” he murmured. His eyes flicked to my mouth, then held my gaze. “I’ll never cheat because there’s no one that could tempt me. I’ll never betray you because that would betray me as well. I’m a better man than all of those monsters, and still, I’ll work every day at beingmore.”

The memory of his song rolling on my tongue made my pulse skip. I reached for him, ready to feel his mouth. It was Bach’s turn to stop me. “What’s wrong?” I asked, struggling as he held me at a distance.

“I need to know you believe me.”

I went still. “Oh, Bach.”

“I’m not joking. I don’t want to do this if you think I’m playing with you.”

---