Read Taking Something for Free Online

love with me, even if she didn't know it.
    “Can you do that?” I whispered, nudging her nose with mine.
    “I think so.” She tilted her head up, practically begging me to touch my lips to hers.
    “I know you can,” I said, hesitating just enough to make her crazy before I stepped back and dropped my hands. “You got this. I can feel it. I'll cue it up and we can go again.” I went back to my side of the booth before she could change her mind.
    “Pretty smooth,” a voice said behind me. I jumped, nearly sending the roller chair I was trying to sit in across the room. She laughed as I reached out and pulled the chair back toward me. “Not so smooth.”
    I turned to find a pair of dark, almond-shaped eyes staring at me. They were the same shade of brown as her hair that, according to the pictures I'd seen online, usually hung down around her face. Today she had it piled in a mess on top of her head. Judging from the six large bags she'd tossed down in front of her and her rosy cheeks, she been on a wild-goose chase for her boss that morning.
    “You must be Gia,” I greeted her, grinning sheepishly from my near ass busting.
    “And you must be crazy if you think you're going to be able to talk her into singing more than one of those songs. I've been working on her for months and she's pretty much made up her mind that she is the next great singer-songwriter.”
    “Are we going again or what?” Sadie called out through the speaker. I looked at her, saw that she was quickly becoming irate and impatient, and nodded. Sadie hadn't even noticed that Gia was in the studio. She was too busy searching the internet on her cell phone for breaking news stories about herself. She'd already made me read one that had said she was the best dressed at some event she went to last week.
    I gave my head a slight shake. I’d let myself get distracted. I needed to focus my attention on Sadie. Not the mouthy brunette trying to contradict my persuasion techniques. But Jesus, if I didn't find myself intrigued by her. Her legs stretched out in front of her as she focused intently on her work. Her full heart-shaped lips pursed together firmly.
    “Yep.” I clicked the mic button so Sadie could hear my voice. “From the top.” I started the track and briefly turned my attention back to Gia.
    “I'm Nick by the way,” I informed her. “And did you ever think that maybe you just don't know how to talk to her?”
    “I know who you are,” she scoffed without looking up from her work. “And I've known that girl practically my whole life. Once she gets something in her head, it's damn near impossible to talk her out of it.”
    “Well lucky for us then, 'damn near impossible' is my specialty.”
    She glanced up with a small smile and I caught a glimpse of the cute little girl from the television show. “Well that's good then, because the way I see it, both of our jobs depend on her singing the songs they want her to sing. Neither of us can afford for her to tank her career.”
    As quickly as her smile had appeared, it faded. A little part of me wanted to try and make her smile again, but I thought better of it. I didn't have time to be making pretty girls smile. I needed to get a job done, and according to Gia, it was going to be a lot tougher than I’d expected.

    “Two songs,” I said as Gia was loading up her arms with the bags she'd brought in for Sadie. She dropped the one from the bakery into the trash. One bite was all Sadie had taken from the meal she’d insisted on her assistant picking up for her that morning.
    “What?” Her expression said she wasn’t following.
    I held up two fingers. “Two songs. That's how many songs I got her to sing from Hollace's track list.”
    Gia rolled her eyes and continued gathering up Sadie's belongings. Must be nice to have an assistant. Apparently, it was code for pack mule.
    “I know you're impressed,” I told her. “I mean, I'm kind of impressed with myself.”
    “Oh, I'm impressed