Page 53 of Indescribable Love

She looked ready to flee, and he went over and wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t ever be sorry for speaking the truth. It’s one of the things I love most about you.”

They both froze at his words.

He hadn’t meant to word it like that, but as he took a moment to let it sink in, he realized it was true. He did love that about her.

Hell, he loved her.

And while that made his heart beat like mad and he wanted to lift her up and spin her around while he pretty much whooped with delight, he had a feeling Juliette might not feel the same way about him.

Definitely not yet.

Possibly not ever.

He had a feeling it would take a lot to make her open up her heart to someone, but he seriously hoped she’d be willing to do that for him. But he was also realistic enough to know that now was definitely not the time to push.

However, he could show her in a million different ways how he felt.

Starting right now.

With a quiet shushing sound, he placed a soft kiss on her temple. “It’s okay, Juliette. We’re good, okay?”

She shook her head. “That was a terrible thing to say, and even if it’s the truth or I was thinking it, there was a less hurtful way to say it than the way I did. I’m so sorry.”

Holding her tight, he kissed her again. “We’re good, my sweet Juliette. We’re good.” Taking a step back, he took her hand in his and led her over to the sofa so they could sit. “Let’s forget all about that whole…thing and tell me how you want to handle this meeting.”

Her eyes went wide again. “Who exactly is running the meeting? Isn’t Mick supposed to be here?”

“No, I never ask him to do that sort of thing. I never needed him to.”

“Okay, but with this particular set of circumstances…”

“He trusts you to take care of things where the film is concerned. Nikki handles everything where the tour is concerned. The tour is like a well-oiled machine, and we’ve got it down to a science. If you needed her help with anything, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that the two of you could take care of it.” Pausing, he gave her a reassuring smile. “You can be a total badass with anyone you need to.” He caressed the palm of her hand. “Just not with me.” Winking, he added, “You don’t need to treat me like a client. I just want you to treat me the way you have these last few weeks. That’s all I need.”

Her smile was slow and a little bashful. “I’ve treated you like a lover, Simon. I can’t do that in front of your team.”

Leaning in, he rested his forehead against hers. “Fine,” he said softly. “Then in front of everyone, just treat me fairly. But behind closed doors…”

She sighed and he knew she was already overthinking everything and not seeing things quite the same way he was.

“From the looks of your schedule, there isn’t going to be a lot of time behind closed doors,” she said gently. The smile she gave him was a little sad. “But I promise when we can have those moments, to be everything we’ve been these last few weeks.”

He supposed that was better than nothing.

“Deal.”

They talked, they planned, they laughed a little, but their time alone ended way too quickly. And after that, it seemed like a lifetime before he had her alone again. They’d met with his team to do the obligatory talk about what everyone expected for this leg of the tour. They had three shows here in Seattle, one night in Spokane, and then there was going to be a two-day break before the pair of nights in Portland.

The following week had them going west with shows in Boise, Bonner, and Bismark. And after that, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and then three nights in Chicago. Just the thought of it energized him. After getting the rundown on how all the shows were sold out and the local media he was going to have to do in each city, he finally felt better—lighter.

It was short-lived because that’s when the documentary team stepped up and let everyone know about how they fit into this entire tour and what to expect. Granted, these were the camera guys and sound guys and a director who Simon had never met or heard of before. From everything he said, it seemed like Nick Matthews was a decent guy who was focused on getting concert footage and some backstage interviews with the people involved in the tour. If he could get a guarantee that this was all he was going to do, Simon would be freaking ecstatic.

“So you’ll be the guy heading everything up then,” Simon clarified. “And you’ll be sending footage in daily? Weekly?”

“I’ll go over everything daily,” Nick replied. “And I’ll be sending it in to Max and Jacob, but this is all pretty standard stuff. Naturally, I’d like to find a time where we can do some candid conversations with you. I’ve got a list of questions we’ll cover…”

“I’ll need to see those first,” Juliette interjected. “I don’t think that you, Nick, would ambush Simon with some of that…you know, gotcha journalism mentality, but we have the right of refusal on anything that we feel doesn’t fit with the project.”

Simon was practically holding his breath waiting to see how this guy was going to respond, but he simply shrugged, pulled out his tablet, and pulled up a file before handing it over to Juliette. “I’m more than happy to email you a copy as well.”