Chris turned to scowl at his sister, but her eyes were pleading. He backed down. “Yeah. Artistic freedom is welcome. We need something groundbreaking and different. No rules that—”
“It could be really fun!” Daria piped in, looking a bit wild. He decided not to push it further.
There was a moment of tense silence, and then Minh nodded. “I appreciate that you’re trying to warn me off. But I’ll give it a shot.” And then, almost as though it hurt her to say it, she added, “Thanks.”
Shit. He’d been hoping her snooty artistic integrity would have been too strong to accept. For Daria’s sake, he tried to keep the chill from his voice. “Come by the studio on Monday morning, and I’ll show you what we’ve got so far. Then, if you want to put something together, the team can evaluate it and see if you’ll be a good fit.” Reluctantly, he held out his hand.
Those long, strong fingers slid into his. Damn, her hand felt good. Despite how weird and on edge she made him feel, her touch…fuck, it was so right. He felt himself gently massaging her hand in his. Her touch was going to haunt his fantasies for a while. And the focused, intense way she looked at him was almost a challenge, with those eyes so dark brown they were almost black…
“So! About the apartment—”
Daria’s voice jolted him out of his thoughts, and he yanked his hand from Minh’s in surprise. How long had they been standing like that, holding hands and staring at one another?
She was still staring at him.
Gali spoke across the small space of the kitchen. “Actually, that’s what we were talking about just now. We really like you and think it makes sense to just, uh, cancel the other appointments we had for today.”
Next to him, Daria squealed and came forward to hug Gali.
Shit. They’d already decided that she could have the room. He hadn’t had to make that offer, after all. Now he was going to have a stuck-up woman—an attractive, stuck-up woman—hanging around the studio, learning all kinds of secrets. Assuming she got the gig, that is.
Still. If there was one thing Kendra had taught him, it was that it was all too easy to be fooled by a pretty face. He’d have to make sure Minh signed an NDA that was ironclad.
Daria turned to him, beaming, and mouthed Thank you!
Minh grinned at Daria. “I’m looking forward to having you as a roommate. We’ll contact our landlord this afternoon, and he’ll probably call you to have you jump through all the lease hoops. You can move in any time, though.” She turned to Chris and her smile faded. A pang of disappointment shot through him at the sight of her sober expression, when just seconds before she had looked so alluringly happy. “And I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Monday. Cool.” He shrugged like it was no big deal, but something, deep down, made him think it was.
Chapter Four
Minh sat on her bed, hugging her knees to her chest, trying to quiet the doubt that had been plaguing her all day. After Chris and Daria had left this morning, Gali had gone off to see clients, and Minh was left alone. Usually, she loved the quiet solitude of Saturdays, but today she’d been left feeling raw and confused after what both Chris and Gali had said about her music.
Her life.
She sighed. For the past few hours, she’d been trying to relax and forget about it. She’d watched a movie and played her violin and did all the usual things she did on a Saturday, but she still felt unsettled. That strange desire that Chris sparked in her, to do something wild and out of the ordinary, simply wouldn’t go away. It was bad enough that he made her want to throw caution to the wind and kiss those gorgeous lips of his. But in addition to that, he made her want to make wild music and compose the kind of songs that had gotten her noticed by the wrong people. She couldn’t fall into that trap again, and yet merely being around him had inspired her to say yes to auditioning for this job.
There was just something about him.
Dangerous.
She needed someone to talk some sense into her before she did anything stupid.
She got up and grabbed her phone off the dresser, then dialed her parents’ number. She waited for Dad to answer on the second ring. He always answered on the second ring.
Minnie, you have to be consistent in your behavior. People feel more comfortable when they can depend on something to happen the same way every time. Stick to a routine if you want to get ahead.
“How’s my Skinny Minnie?” His voice sounded like he was smiling, and she felt slightly more comforted.
Minh smiled too. Her father was the only one who could get away with calling her that. That was part of their routine, and Dad was right—it made her feel safe and secure, like everything was going to be okay.
Her shoulders relaxed a little.
“Hi, Dad. How’s it going? How’s Mom?”
“Going well, going well. Mom is out in the garden. Is everything okay?”
Could he tell? Did she sound upset? She didn’t want to sound upset. Kieu already caused their parents more than enough worry, and whose fault was that, in the first place?
Minh’s.