Page 26 of Some Kinda Romance

I sat down on my bed to put on some lotion. My phone chimed and I fetched it, scoffing when I saw the generic message from Dash. I might’ve responded if he’d said anything worth responding to, but he hadn’t, so I left it, tossing the phone back down and continuing with my routine.

Once I was done, I worked my way through the remainder of the messages and emails I’d received while I’d been soaking in the tub. There were some missed calls and voicemails, and after that question I’d gotten outside about Abram Fox’s new show, I wasn’t surprised to find a message waiting for me from the man himself.

Apparently, my divorce was “juicy drama” and they were desperately trying to cast me for the show because of it. The other message was from the producer I’d worked with before, another plea asking me to join the revival of my show.

I ignored both of those messages right along with Dash’s and climbed into bed. My head hadn’t even hit the pillow when I realized it would be a waste of time. There was no way I was going to be able to go straight to sleep after the day I’d had. Instead, I got up again and decided to check over everything I had for Diana’s wedding so far.

It was mostly her son keeping me awake, so I figured I should spend the time doing something productive for their family instead. As I headed downstairs, I thought about the biggest problem we’d run into so far.

The music.

She and Richard wanted a band, but finding a good one was proving to be more difficult than I’d expected because of the short timeframe we were working with. Singers and bands were a dime a dozen in this city, yet there were few worth the money they charged for a high-profile wedding.

Sighing, I sat down in front of my laptop in my home office and checked my emails, thinking that at least I had one possibility lined up. But I didn’t have an email yet confirming my booking.

My heart started pounding as I navigated to their website, waiting for their calendar to load with my breath trapped in my lungs. When it finally did and all I saw were red blocks, indicating they were booked through the next couple months, I let the oxygen out in a long whoosh.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuckity, fuck, fuck.

They already had a show that night, and I’d only realized it now. The last few days, I’d been waiting for them to confirm, but nope. I’d made a rookie mistake by not checking their calendar right from the start. Now, I was in trouble.

I couldn’t believe it. It had been such a stupid mistake, but I’d made it, and then I’d missed it. My heart slammed against my ribs, my breathing suddenly coming in sharp pants as I wondered how on earth I was going to break the news to Diana.

She was going to think I was a complete flake, and she wouldn’t be wrong. Heart going wild, I blindly reached for my phone and called Julie. She had a guy for everything, after all. Maybe she had a guy for this. Maybe she had a great band she could call in a favor with.

“Serenity?” she said when she picked up. “Are you okay? It’s pretty late.”

“I know, but no, I’m not okay. They’re booked, Jules. Another Dimension is already booked for the day of the St. Clair wedding and I only found out about it right now. What do I do? How do I fix it? What⁠—”

“First, you’re going to stop hyperventilating and breathe,” she said calmly. “Just breathe for me, babe. You’ll find another band and Diana will be okay with it because she’s great. Besides, if you only found out now, it was an honest mistake. It’ll be fine.”

“Not if I can’t find another band. I mean, they were only a possibility. They hadn’t confirmed yet, obviously, but I pitched them to her as the best option and I was sure they were going to say yes. I can’t believe I did this. How did I do this?”

“You’ve been so busy, you’ve barely had time to pee. Give yourself a break, my friend. This really isn’t the end of the world. It’s a band. There are thousands of them out there. It’s going to be just fine. Breathe, Serenity. I know you’re freaking out, but it’s really not the end of the world. Try to look at it objectively.”

After a few minutes of coaching me on exactly how I was supposed to breathe, Julie finally managed to calm me down, convincing me that we’d figure this out together. Tomorrow. We spoke for a long time though, meticulously going over every other detail so that I could be sure I hadn’t missed anything else. By the time we finally hung up, I was more than ready to go to bed.

My brain was done for the day and so was I. Getting up, I closed my laptop and switched off all the lights on my way to my bedroom. Then I brushed my teeth and went back to my bed.

Once I lay down though, the thoughts of that kiss slammed back into me. It was all I could think about as I lay there in the dark, his passionate kisses and the way his hands had felt on my skin. I tried to shut it off, but it didn’t work.

I was obsessing about it like some teenager who had kissed her first crush, but that was ridiculous. I didn’t like Mr. Grumpy. It had just been a kiss, right? A kiss, a sex dream, and a constant stream of thoughts about the rudest guy, who was turning out not to be so rude after all.

Shoving a pillow over my face, I groaned into it and shook my head. No. I don’t like him. It’s just a little crush. At most. Hopefully, it’s not even that. It’s just lust, right?

Right, now go to sleep, Serenity. Now.