One Night With A Billionaire(12)

But seeing Kylie, he remembered their connection at the coffee shop. “I should have guessed you worked for Daphne when you ordered that coffee monstrosity,” he told her, walking up. He wanted to lean in and whisper it, but that might have made her skittish. “Hello again.”

Kylie turned around and her mouth opened in surprise, forming a perfect red O that made him think all kinds of inappropriate things. She recovered in the next moment, juggling the tubes of lipstick in her grip and sticking a hand out for him to shake. “Hi again! Oh my goodness. I didn’t expect to see you here!”

He took her hand and clasped it in his own, liking that her grip was warm and firm. Her nails were a delicate, girly pink and perfectly manicured. “Pleasure’s all mine.”

A hint of a blush touched her cheeks and she beamed at him. “What are you doing backstage?”

“I’m here to see someone,” he told her, releasing her hand reluctantly and stuffing his hands back into the pockets of his jacket, a habit of his he should really break at some point. He ended up trashing a lot of his jackets that way.

The look on her face turned to one of intense pleasure, and her eyes sparkled. “You’re kidding. Really?”

“Remember? The car?”

The sparkle in her eyes died, and a bright red color streaked up her cheeks. “Right!” she said and turned and began putting down the cosmetics in her hands. “Is she on tour with Daphne?”

“She is Daphne,” he said, still grinning. “Think she’ll like the car?”

Her mouth formed that little O again, and she blinked at him. For a moment, she looked unhappy, but she hid it with a smile. “I should have guessed it was Daph. Men are crazy about her.”

Men? Cade kept the smile on his face, though it was growing difficult. He wanted to ask Kylie if Daphne had a lot of men she was seeing, but that would be pointless to ask, wouldn’t it? He hadn’t seen her in months. If she was dating someone, so be it. Whatever it was between Daphne and Cade, it wasn’t easily categorized. It wasn’t a relationship. It wasn’t exactly just friendship, either. It was . . . well, it was a mess. A big, uncategorizable mess.

Usually he was fine with not giving it a label. But he supposed that had changed after that screwed up night in the cabin. Everything had pretty much changed between them.

“Daphne’s going to be so happy to see you,” Kylie continued, staring down at the makeup she was arranging in the case in front of her.

“I certainly hope so,” Cade said, trying to keep his tone light and carefree. “So what do you do here? Are you on tour with Daph? One of her backup singers?”

Kylie shook her head. “I can’t sing as much as I croak,” she told him with a funny little smile. “I’m her makeup artist.” She gestured at the boxes and boxes of makeup, more than any sane person could wear in a lifetime. “She usually needs refreshing after getting off stage, and tonight she’s going to want to look extra-special for the press, so I’m trying to get ready in advance.” She gave him a nervous smile. “It gives me something to do, at least.”

She smoothed her hands down her dark capris, and he realized she was, in fact, nervous. “Want a drink? I can get you one from the bar,” he asked.

Kylie tilted her head at him and then gave a small shake of her blond mane with the little flecks of color. “I’m on the job, so I shouldn’t drink. But you can have one on my behalf.”

“Fair enough,” Cade said, and downed the rest of his bourbon. He wasn’t much of a drinker himself, but tonight felt . . . off and he wanted the liquid courage. “How long until the show’s over, do you think?”

She tilted her head, and he was struck again by how pretty she was. “Let’s see, she’s singing ‘Hopeless’ right now, so she has about three more songs until she’s done, then there’s the encore, and then she’ll pop back here so I can fix her up, and then she has press. Then meet and greets. After that, she should be free.”

He glanced at his watch. It was already past ten thirty at night. Not that he was going to go to bed early or anything, but it sounded as if Daphne was pretty much busy up until midnight. Why had she asked to see him?

But at least she had said she’d see him. Cade shook his head and took another drink of his bourbon. For the last eight months, she’d been giving him the runaround. If he got answers from her at three in the morning, he’d take them.

Kylie fiddled with the latch on one of her cases and then glanced over at him through thick lashes. “Can I ask you a question?”