AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Here, take your drink. For now, let’s get to know each other a little, then we will hold back while we get your contract signed, re-record all your songs and work on promoting you for tours and live shows. Once you have that steady flow of work coming in, we can see about turning the amp up a little bit again.”
“But aren’t we signing the contract now? Doesn’t that mean we’d have to slow down now too?”
Harper thought on this a moment and then looked down at the girl before her.
“We’ll sign now, take a couple of days and then we both learn the true meaning of restraint.”
Mia took a slow sip of her drink, maintaining eye contact. She seemed to understand that the Harper she was getting to know was not the Huntress who they whispered about in the boardroom meetings. She just had a reputation to keep intact. Still, wasn’t she allowed to have a little fun?
“Shall we do the deed?” Harper said playfully, leaning over to the coffee table and grabbing a shiny black fountain pen. The hem of her night dress lifted in a way that framed her soft thighs, and Mia felt a hunger pool in the pit of her stomach.
Back fully seated next to Mia, Harper fixed her with a smile and handed over the pen, swapping it for Mia’s glass and setting it against her lower lip. She watched Mia’s face intently, studying the lips whose words had enchanted her that first night they met. Prey in a web—that was how she had felt. That feeling had never left, only intensified.
“It really is an honor to be here with you,” Harper said. “To see this happen. This will be a big turning point for you and your career, I just know it.”
“Is that the champagne talking?” Mia joked, leaning over Harper to grab the contract. Harper took the opportunity to rest her hand on the nape of Mia’s neck.
“Maybe it is,” said Harper, crossing her legs as Mia straightened up.
“Wouldn’t you love to know what else it has to say?”
“Maybe I would...” Mia mused, leaning over to kiss her briefly. Harper’s perfume, rose, iris and oud, lingered in the air between them. Mia took a breath.
“I kinda wish Deborah was here to see this.”
Harper raised an eyebrow at that, gesturing to the two of them seated on the sofa.
“Okay, so maybe not this,” Mia conceded, gently sliding one hand against Harper’s thigh. “I do wish she could be here to celebrate signing the contract. She’s probably told you, but she’s the one who’s guided me through all of this. The Indigo Lounge is my home, and that’s all due to her and Esme.”
Harper nodded, understanding in her eyes. Suddenly her smile turned wide and she spoke.
“I should probably thank her too, then. I wouldn’t have met you unless I agreed to do her that favor, and then where would we be? You can call her tomorrow and thank her. For now...” She put the champagne glasses on the coffee table and leaned over to put her hand on Mia’s waist.
“...We can do a little celebrating of our own.”
Mia laughed, before biting her lip. Balancing the contract on Harper’s legs, Mia gave it a quick read before signing the dotted line at the very bottom. She exhaled.
“That’s it! Congratulations on your first big contract, sweetheart,” Harper said while moving off of the sofa to grab the bottle of champagne from the kitchen. She still managed to catch Mia’s blush at the pet name, smiling to herself as she refilled their glasses. In the light of the doorway, the gold in her hair sparkled.
“You have been incredibly generous with me, Harper, I don’t know how I’ll be able to thank you.”
“Thank me? Why would you need to thank me? You are the talent and the wonder. You deserve this!”
Harper hoped that she wasn’t the only one still thinking back to Mia burying herself in Harper in the back of that smoky jazz club. As she came back in with their newly refilled glasses, Harper settled herself, straddling Mia’s lap.
“Oh! Oh, you’re very eager,” Mia said, taking her glass from Harper as she made herself comfortable. With a sly smile, Harper placed her hand under Mia’s chin.
“You really have no idea, do you?”
Face hot, Mia shook her head, allowing herself to be taken in by Harper’s golden gaze.
“I have a very specific reputation. I’m the best of the best at what I do. I have been for nearly thirty years, and I can be one cut-throated bitch.”
“Don’t I know it,” Mia said dreamily, going to take a sip of her champagne. Harper gently moved her hand from Mia’s chin to her wrist, stopping her.
“In a room full of people who would do anything, and I do mean anything, to get my attention, you had me in the palm of your hand. Let me be clear.” Harper leaned in close to continue.
“I am still the one in charge. If I didn’t want you there, or if I didn’t want you here, I would have said so. You have a... power here. Not just here, but in your music. That version of you onstage?”
