Let Me Be the One Read Online Free PDF

her?”
    “What do you mean?” Brian wondered if there was a way out of this. Jason had been riding him at dinner about his inability to talk to her. Did he need to listen to Marc, too?
    “You didn’t. You went all tongue-tied and shy.” Marc clucked. “It’s so cute.”
    “Fuck off.” Cute. That’s what Greg had said over dinner when they were whispering to each other. He’d kissed her cheek and told her she was “so cute.” She’d grinned at him and transformed from this untouchable goddess into a delectable woman. Then she’d ruined it by turning to him and giving him a smile straight from lofty Olympus.
    “I was trying not to piss off my wife.”
    “Right. Should I call Jason so he can tell me the truth now?”
    “Fuck off.”
    Marc laughed and hung up. Brian put the phone down and turned on his e-reader. He’d only read everything she’d ever published seven or eight times. What was one more?
    And what was he going to do when she arrived at the studio in a few weeks? Stay tongue-tied and shy, or learn how to speak English? He hadn’t been this nervous about talking to someone since he met Mick Jagger.
    The phone rang again and Brian grabbed it. “Hello?”
    “She propositioned me.” Jason laughed. Cassie was laughing in the background.
    “What?”
    “She propositioned me. Remember when we were talking about her books before dinner and she said she hoped they kept me up? Get it? Kept me up?” The phone clattered on the floor. Jason must have dropped it.
    Brian chewed his thumbnail. I hope they kept you up ?
    “She went scarlet as soon as she said it,” Jason said. “I thought she was having a heart attack. Logan froze, too. Like he knew what she’d meant instead of what she’d said. Cassie figured it out right away. That’s why she went to the kitchen. She had to go out back so we wouldn’t hear her laughing.”
    I hope they kept you up . A bubble came up Brian’s throat. It took him a second to recognize it as laughter. He lolled his head on the back of the couch and let it roll through him. She’d propositioned Jason right there on the couch in front of his wife and her boyfriend, by accident.
    “You think she’s shy?” Jason asked.
    “How could a woman who writes what she writes be shy?” Brian recalled a couple of scenes from her books and enjoyed a pleasant flush of heat. He’d never read a writer who could be so sexy and terrifying at the same time.
    “She doesn’t do it in front of an audience. Did you hear her when she refilled our drinks before dinner? She was so soft spoken.”
    She had gone around to everyone in the room first. Only the light touch of her fingers when she’d rested her hand on his shoulder to catch his attention let him know that she’d finally come to him. Her voice had been soft, but he’d assumed it was because she didn’t want to interrupt the conversation.
    “And she wasn’t exactly dressed to be the center of attention, either.”
    “I thought she looked nice.”
    “She did look nice. She just didn’t look like she was for sale.”
    Brian pursed his lips. No, not for sale. Not even available.
    “You know what I mean. I was afraid she was going to show up dressed like the other girl and ruin all the ideas I’d had about her.”
    “You had ideas about her?” Jason was supposed to be blissfully married, not fantasizing about the little writer. Then again, he wasn’t supposed to be having fantasies about the little writer, either, and what was he going to be doing as soon as he got off the phone?
    “Like you didn’t.”
    “You’re a happily married man.”
    “A happily married man with a wife and a child who are going through some sleep problems, not a dead man. Just remember this is all your fault.” Through the line Brian heard Cassie swat him.
    “I didn’t get Cassie pregnant.”
    “No, but you talked me into this recording gig. I don’t need to be producing other bands.”
    “But think about how much fun it’ll be.”