Page 65 of In This Together

It scared her and she was having to fight her instinct to run but somehow, the instinct to stay was winning out for the first time in her life. Her plan, currently, was to try not to think about what would happen if things went pear-shaped.

‘Good morning,’ she said, approaching him and slipping her arms around his waist, pressing her lips to his shoulder blades. ‘Domestication looks good on you.’

He turned, tugging her tighter against him as he leaned back on the kitchen counter. He stroked her hair with a touch so tender she closed her eyes and leaned into his hand.

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

‘The same. Like this could be a terrible idea and it could backfire massively… but like it’s the right thing to do. I just want to get this over with and come back here to see you.’

His lips curved slightly at one side, then he kissed her brow. ‘How about I take you out tonight?’

‘Like, out in public?’

‘Like, out to dinner in a place where the policy is discretion and no Press.’

Rumours about Andrea’s personal life had been rife ever since she got the position of CEO at Stellar. Was it worse to have people say that she slept her way to the top by screwing the exec or that she was keeping the post by banging one of XM Music Group’s biggest stars?

As she asked herself this question, she also knew that there was a part of her – though small – that knew the outcome of today could swing some of those rumours around. Getting ahead at work wasnother motivation today, but she could admit that the right outcome could be the move she needed to make on the chess board of the Stellar label exec.

Was today just about freeing her sister? Or was it also self-serving?

‘Hey, did you hear me?’ Tommy asked, still holding her.

She nodded. ‘Okay.’

‘Justokay?’

She kissed his brow. ‘Okay.’ Then she took the takeout tea she assumed he had poured for her, knowing she was still enduring a fallout with her beloved coffee, from the counter and made to leave.

‘Would you look at that woman’s ass?’ Tommy called out.

She put extra swagger into her hips as she and her form-fitting cream pants left the apartment.

As she drove the I-495 out of the city, Andrea’s head spun with a thousand questions. How had she and Tommy seemed to slip into something extremely close to resembling the early stages of a relationship? Where were things going between them and where would they end up? Was she ready for this? Was she over the whole mess with Hunter? What if they did decide to be together? What happened when he inevitably got bored of domesticity and went on tour? The groupies. The wild nights. Andrea stuck in Williamsburg wondering what in the hell he was getting up to.

She drained the last of her tea and physically shook the thoughts from her mind, then pushed the button on the dash to turn on the radio.

‘Here it is, this week’s most requested track, “Moving On” by hot new country artist, Seth Young.’

Andrea turned up the radio, rolled down the windows of Tommy’s Range Rover, and hummed along to Seth’s hit.

Damnhe was good. So good, she expected he would become the most successful act to come out of Sanfia Records since Tommy and his band had been picked up by XM Music Group with a contract that kept Sanfia afloat for years after. Now was a good time for Sanfia Records – or the good times were on the horizon, at least.

And that thought brought her full circle to the reason she was driving out to the Hamptons to pay an unexpected visit to her brother-in-law (andonlyin-law as far as she was concerned), in rehab.

As the roadside turned from concrete jungle to long stretches of sand dunes and beach shores, Andrea inhaled the fresh air deeply. Then was struck with the overwhelming need to throw up.

Checking her mirrors, she swung off to the side of the road, slammed on her brakes and barely managed to open the door before she vomited on the ground.

Wiping her mouth, she leaned back in the driver’s seat and closed her eyes. Heartburn. Sore breasts. Off coffee. Now, nausea.

Holy fuck.Was she pregnant?

No, surely not.

Maybe.

It was possible.

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