Page 256 of The Nanny and the Heartthrob

He’d seen her angry, and he’d seen her sassy, but he’d never seen her like this. Bottled fury stood before him, and like the fireworks, his wife was on the cusp of exploding.

She swallowed the chocolate, dabbed at the corners of her mouth, then crossed her arms. “You don’t think I have what it takes to make it in the music industry. But I’m good enough to write songs with you. Is that where we stand?”

The ferocity and the snark factor were off the charts. But he hadn’t said those things to hurt her.

He came around the desk, and she snagged another bonbon.

He raised his hands defensively. “Let’s talk about this. I’m sorry you heard that.”

She scoffed. “You’re sorry I found out how you really feel? Maybe you didn’t mean for me to hear it, but you think it, Landon. Youbelieveit. You told a lawyer as much.”

He took a hesitant step toward her. “Harper, you’re misconstruing what I said.”

“Am I?” she quipped before plucking another bonbon from the box and popping it into her mouth.

At least she didn’t throw it at him.

“I have your best interests at heart,” he reasoned. “I’m thinking about us—about the three of us.”

She barked a mirthless laugh. “You’re thinking about us by signing a contract you haven’t even read. Wait—not haven’t read, you can’t read it because you won’t take the time to give your brain what it needs to do it.”

Jesus, they were back to this.

“I can’t let anyone know about that. How do you still not understand?” He didn’t mean to come off like an ass, but he’d been clear about his need to maintain his secret.

She shook her head. “How do you not understand that there’s nothing wrong with you—well, apart from being a self-serving douche nozzle. You’re a neurodivergent learner, Landon.”

“Can you not say that word?”

“It’s not a bad word,” she shot back. “Your niece is a neurodivergent learner. I’m a neurodivergent learner. We don’t have cooties. We process information differently.” She swiped the contract from the table and studied the document. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she whispered. The anger in her eyes glittered with disbelief.

“What?” he asked, staring at the mess of text.

She flipped the pages, trailing her hand line by line. “My name isn’t on here anywhere. It states that the new songs we wrote are solely yours. We never discussed attribution or copyrights, but I figured I could trust you.”

Heat colored his cheeks. Shame held him in its relentless clutches. It made him damn near sick to his stomach.

“It’s got to be a typo,” he rasped as humiliation seeped into every cell in his body. “And I haven’t signed it yet.”

She tossed the papers onto the desk. “What would have happened if I hadn’t come to your office?”

He didn’t answer.

“I’ll tell you. You would have signed the contract. You’d rather screw me over than reveal you need help.”

He concentrated on a spot on the wall, unable to look her in the eye. “That’s not true.”

“It’s one hundred percent true, and you know it. You’re no different from Vance.”

That accusation cut to the bone. “I’m not like Vance,” he growled, taking her hands. “I’ll make a call and ask them to amend the contract. This can be fixed.”

“No, it can’t be fixed,” she whispered as her bottom lip trembled and she slipped her hands out of his grip.

“Why not?”

“Because you think you love me, but you only love what I can do for you and what you can take from me. I’m a crutch, a substitution for your sister and Trey.”

“That’s not true,” he fired back.

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