Under His Skin. Nicola Marsh

he met in those circles weren’t like Hope. Those women looked at him as if he was a curiosity, as if he was a wild pet they needed to tame. Hope hadn’t looked at him like that. When she’d dropped her frosty exterior and thawed, Hope had looked at him as though she’d wanted to devour him whole.

      ‘She owns a piece of prime real estate on the outskirts of inner-city Melbourne, so she’s loaded. Didn’t baulk at my asking price either.’

      ‘I’m not interested in her bank balance, doofus.’ Rick rolled his eyes. ‘What’s she like?’

      Logan searched for the right word to describe Hope, coming up with a lame ‘Interesting.’

      ‘You’re pathetic.’ Rick took another sip of his drink and mock-barfed. ‘I can’t drink this shit, it’s too sweet. I’m going home to have a beer.’

      ‘Hey, you can’t—’

      ‘Take a chill pill, dude. I’m messing with you.’ Rick stood slowly, unkinked his back and winced. ‘But I am heading home. I’m just as keen to get back to work as you are to have me there, so it’s exercise time for me. Keep me posted on the McWilliams job, okay?’

      ‘Sure. I’ll email you updates—’

      ‘And for fuck’s sake, don’t screw the crew.’ Rick made a gun with his thumb and forefinger and shot him.

      ‘She doesn’t work for me.’

      ‘But she’s a client so close enough.’ Rick slapped him on the back. ‘I’m serious, bro. Tread carefully, okay?’

      ‘Yes, Mum,’ Logan muttered, knowing he had no intention of adhering to his friend’s advice.

      As Rick shuffled towards the door, the screen of Logan’s phone lit up with a text from Hope.

      Need 2 C U 2nite 2 discuss quote. Please.

      ‘That’s weird,’ Logan muttered, staring at the message. It looked as though she’d added ‘please’ as an afterthought, as if she doubted he’d want to see her.

      He knew what he should do. Make an excuse. Blow her off. Because seeing her tonight, hot on the heels of their unexpected make-out session earlier, could be playing with fire.

      Then again, since when had he backed away from a challenge?

      I’m at Golden Treble, Nth Melb. Can U come now?

      As his thumb hit the send button he realised how that last sentence read. He hadn’t meant it as an innuendo but, considering how they’d bantered earlier, she might mistake it for such.

      Her response pinged.

      I’m coming.

      And she really would be, in the not too distant future, if he had any say in it.

       CHAPTER SIX

      HOPE LOVED THE vibe of inner Melbourne and its surrounding suburbs: Carlton, with its lush parks and Little Italy on Lygon Street; Albert Park, with its lake and accompanying restaurants; and Brunswick, the bohemian capital of the city jam-packed with alternative boutiques, bars and comedy clubs. But she rarely ventured into North Melbourne and discovered she’d been missing out. Trendy eateries lined Curzon Street but as she followed the instructions of her trusty satnav she found herself in the back streets where a small, grungy pub sat on a corner.

      It figured Logan would ask her to meet him here.

      He had a thing for throwing her off-guard. Maybe he wanted her to feel out of place. Maybe he’d already labelled her as some rich bitch wanting to slum it. Neither could be further from the truth because as she found a parking spot not far from the front door and entered the pub an immediate sense of coming home enveloped her.

      This place reminded her exactly of the small pubs Harry used to play in.

      Dark wood panelling adorned the walls roughly three quarters of the way up, with a deep crimson paint finishing the walls to the roof. A small elevated stage was tucked into one corner, a cluster of tiny tables in another, with the mahogany bar dominating the back wall. A few tall tables and bar stools were tucked away behind the stage and that was where she spotted Logan nursing a beer and fending off a buxom bar girl. Not that she blamed the woman. If she had DDs like that she’d be deliberately resting them on Logan’s arm as she cleared the table too.

      Unfortunately, her average Bs would barely make a dent in his biceps so she’d have to settle for wowing him with her scintillating wit.

      That, and the fact he already knew she didn’t wear underwear.

      A tingling swept up the back of her neck at the memory of his hands on her, the slight rasp of his fingers against her bare ass... She’d been so turned on it wouldn’t have taken much more rubbing against his crotch for her to come. It was why she’d had to take the edge off in the studio’s bathroom. But it hadn’t been enough, not nearly enough, and she’d asked to meet him for the simple fact she wanted to have sex tonight.

      She’d never done this before, so brazenly approach a guy with the sole intention of screwing him. She didn’t care that he was a direct adjunct to achieving her dream. She didn’t care it might muddy their semi-working relationship. All she cared about was getting off with him tonight.

      As she wound her way towards him, her soles stuck to the navy carpeted floor. Yeah, pubs like this were the same the world over. Despite regular cleaning, the spillage of many pints of beer over the years took its toll. She inhaled, savouring the smell of bar snacks predominantly featuring fried onions, and the yeasty aroma of beer.

      Harry had been a stout man. She’d tried the stuff once and almost vomited. She’d stuck to her G and Ts after that. He’d never baulked at her under-age drinking; not that she’d had more than one drink and only after she’d turned seventeen. He hadn’t lectured. He’d supported her, nurtured her talent and had been the father she’d never had.

      Until he too had betrayed her trust.

      He’d died during her final year at the music college in the middle of her exams. She would’ve attended his funeral if he hadn’t shattered their relationship a year earlier.

      She’d never forget the day she had discovered the one person she’d thought she could trust was just as duplicitous as the rest of the people in her life.

      Harry had been her go-to person when her first love had gone pear-shaped. She’d cried buckets over Willem, had poured her heart out to Harry, confiding in him in a way she’d never felt comfortable doing with her emotionally repressed parents. Yet a scant month later he’d crapped all over her regardless. He’d stolen more than her songs from her. He’d taken her ability to trust and turned her into a hardened cynic.

      Everybody lied. It was a fact of life, a human frailty. She should’ve been immune to it, growing up with parents who stretched the truth whenever it suited them; with so-called friends at boarding school who only told her what she wanted to hear in order to suck up; with her only serious boyfriend, Willem.

      But she’d expected better of Harry. He’d been her idol, her friend, her confidante and he’d screwed her over regardless.

      Hope blinked several times to dispel the moisture from her eyes and continued traversing the pub. A few old men sat at the bar, locals probably, from the way they bantered with the barman. Logan caught sight of her and stood. He didn’t wave. He didn’t smile. He just stared at her, jaw set, gaze steady, and she felt that damn jolt again arrowing between her legs.

      She’d made the right decision in coming here.

      She needed one night.

      One night of fast and furious sex to dispel this weird fascination for him.

      Then she could return to furthering her goal in setting up the best indie record label this city had ever heard.

      She