Holly nods with a brilliant smile on her face.“And my dear friend Boone mentioned that you were thinking about talking to some labels, so I had to rip him a new one because the only label you should be talking to ismine.I’d like to hear you for myself first, but I think it’s safe to say that Homegrown Records is very interested in you.”
Oh.My.God.Holly Wix’s label is interested in me.Holy.Crap.
“Did Boone put you up to this?”
Tana interrupts.“Oh, honey, no.I got to hear one side of that call, and Holly was dragging information out of that boy one piece at a time.She’s been talking about you nonstop for three days.I mean, you may have sealed the deal when you threw yourself over a fence to save him from a stampede, but this is as real as it gets.Boone doesn’t have a clue we’re here.”
“It was one bull.”
Tana waves me off.“Pfft, I won’t even go near a cow unless it’s grilled and on my plate, so you’re Xena: Warrior Princess in my book.”
Holly’s gaze turns shrewd as she studies me.“She’s right.Once I realized you were a badass bitchandhad a set of pipes, I knew we had to talk, and soon.”
“Hey, can I get a drink over here?”a man yells from a few feet away.
“Don’t you holler at her.She’s busy!”Tana’s thick drawl attracts more attention than she realizes.
“Holy crap, you look just like Tana Vines.”
“Impersonator, honey.If I didn’t, I’d be pretty shitty at my job.”
“What do you need, sir?”I ask the man.
“Four Buds.Bottles, not draft.”
I look to Holly and Tana.“I’ll be right back.”
I hurry to the cooler and pop the tops off the bottles and serve them up.
“What about me?”
With an apologetic glance at the two women, I serve four more customers.When I finally make my way back to Holly and Tana, it’s to find two men heading toward them, parting the crowd in the bar like the Red Sea.
“Oh shit,” Tana says.
Holly takes a sip of her Sprite.“Double shit.They both found us.”
The infamous billionaire Creighton Karas is just as forbidding in person as the media has made him out to be.His dark hair and expensive suit screamdon’t piss me off because I’ll bury you.His gaze is fixed on Holly, and I could swear the rest of the people in the bar don’t even exist to him.
“Tana, what the hell are you doing?”The voice belongs to another country legend—Mick Vines, Tana’s husband.In their day, they caused their own media firestorm.
Behind both men trail two more guys in suits.
“Hey, baby,” Tana drawls.“I’m almost ready.”
“Holly.”Karas’s tone is quiet but firm.
“Yes, my love?”
His hard features go soft for a moment.“Is there something I’m missing here, because your text said you had a late meeting that was urgent.”
“I did.We’re almost done.Crey, meet Ripley.She’s Homegrown’s hottest new prospect.”
His gaze shifts to me, and with the intensity of his stare, I wouldn’t be surprised if he has superpowers that enable him to see down to the depths of my soul.
Karas’s chin lifts.“The pleasure is all mine, Ms.Fischer.”
His statement doesn’t require a response, for which I’m thankful because I don’t know what the hell to say to this imposing man.Then it slaps into me.