Page 287 of The Nanny and the Heartthrob

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “No.”

She took a step back and looked him over. “You’re lucky you’re so good-looking. Get your guitar.”

“Where are we going?”

“Denver.”

“For what?” he pressed like a petulant child.

“A press engagement at a nonprofit.”

“A meet and greet?”

“Something like that,” she said, coming to her feet. “Luxe is announcing a partnership with a Denver organization and asked if you’d do a site visit and record a few promos.”

“Is this really something I need to do?” He caught his reflection in the window. “I’m a walking disaster, Mitz.”

“Yes, it is. You’re on thin ice. Mr. and Mrs. Luxe are a little bent out of shape since you haven’t gotten back to them regarding the contract—especially after they offered you a spot at Red Rocks Unplugged. It would be a good-faith gesture to do this for them.”

She was right. This was a business, and music was his job. He couldn’t afford to play the aloof celebrity.

She headed out the door. “I’ll be in the car. There’s something we need to talk about on the drive down.”

He secured the guitar in its case and followed a few steps behind. “I can’t talk about Harper. I don’t know how to fix what I’ve done. I don’t even know if she’d take me back. I don’t deserve her.”

He pictured the signs at his concerts.

Marry Me, Landon Paige.

And his canned, corny response:

I wouldn’t dare. You’re too good for me.

Little did he know how true those words would turn out to be.

“I don’t need to speak with you about Harper,” she replied and pressed a key fob to a beefy black SUV with tinted windows.

“Then what is it?” he asked as he set his guitar on the back seat.

Mitzi climbed into the driver’s seat but didn’t reply right away. She exhaled an audible breath and stared at the detached garage.

He joined her up front. “What, Mitzi?”

The woman was wrestling with something.

She pegged him with her steely gaze. “We need to talk about Trey and your sister.”

Jesus, Christ!

“Mitz, not now! I can’t stir up the past. Let me get my head in the game. Everything I’m doing is for them.”

“That’s why it has to be now,” she replied, starting the vehicle, and shifting into drive.

What the hell did that mean?

Trey and Leighton had been dead and buried for over two years. What more was there to say?

The gravel and dirt crunched under the weight of the wheels as they drove in silence.

---