Even as his sweet words warmed her, she said, “And?”
“I mean it, you know. Seeing you makes everything a thousand times better. Even when I know I can’t touch you because all of your employees are watching us.” He grinned at her and she was already charmed despite herself as he admitted, “But since you mention it, there is something I’d really like you to help me with.”
“Is there a problem with the house?”
“Nope, the house is great. I was filming a promo at EMP this morning for the Seattle show this Saturday, and the manager was talking about all the kids who come through the music section of the museum and don’t really want to go home at the end of the day when they’re locking up.” Ford’s eyes shuttered. “I was one of those kids, and I know if I’d had a place like that to hang out in, all that music history, all that inspiration from the original Experience Music Project building, it would have helped.” When he looked back at her, his eyes were clear again. And full of excitement. “I want to open a place in Seattle for kids to come and play music with each other. A rock camp. We’ll bring in musicians, local ones and some of the big-time guys, too, who owe me some favors.”
“It sounds amazing, Ford.” His excitement was infectious.
“It will be, but I need you to help me find the perfect space.”
“I’m already two steps ahead of you.” As soon as he started telling her about his idea, she’d mentally flipped through a few of the available commercial spaces near the EMP Museum. She quickly pulled them up on her computer and printed out the two top contenders. “How do these look?”
He scanned the info and nodded. “How quickly can we get into them? Any chance you’re free now?”
She whistled through her teeth. “Wow, you’re serious about this, aren’t you?”
“I’d like to announce the project at Saturday’s show if I can.”
Of course she wasn’t free. But somehow Ford kept convincing her to bend all of her usual rules without even trying.
“Orlando,” she said when she’d buzzed her assistant, “is there any chance you could take over another couple of showings this afternoon?”
Orlando was clearly more than ready for the additional responsibility she kept giving him, and as he greeted Ford, then gleefully went off to find her clients great homes, she knew she’d need to start looking for a new assistant soon so that she could let Orlando join the ranks of her other full-time Realtors.
“I’m pretty sure rock stars like you should be spending all their time partying in bathtubs full of champagne and groupies, not creating a musical haven for kids,” she said right before they jumped into a cab outside her office. “You keep surprising me.”
“I was a stupid kid before.”
“We both were.” Still, though she knew both of them had grown up over the past five years, and she’d forgiven him for the way he’d left her, there were still some sore spots inside.
Sitting beside him in the backseat, she felt as if there were a magnet trying to pull their hands together. Stubbornness dictated that she keep her hand on her lap even though she knew how good it would feel to slide her fingers into his.
“One thing I should probably mention,” he said just she was about to open the cab door in front of the museum, which was a block from each of the properties in either direction, “there’s going to be a small film crew with us this afternoon.”
“A film crew? You told the press we’re going to be looking at these properties?”
“No.” He looked a little uncomfortable. “There’s a documentary being made about my music. Natasha was at the museum this morning filming when we came up with the idea for the camp.” By the time he finished explaining, he had already pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Forget I mentioned it. I’m going to tell her it’s a no go this afternoon.”
On a soft curse, she put her hand over his to stop him from calling off the film crew. “I’ve never known anyone who pushes as hard as you.” Mia sighed as she worked through her frustration at having cameras sprung on her. “But I’m sure she’s right and you should get this on film. You’re doing something big, something important.” But since she’d agreed to be his Realtor that also meant that she might also be forever caught on film with Ford, regardless of what happened between them in the future. “I can deal with the film crew.”
Her fingers were barely wrapped around the door handle again when he said, “There’s one other thing I should probably mention.”
Of course there was, she thought as she looked back over her shoulder at him. “What now?”
“Natasha already knows who you are.” Before she could ask how, he explained, “While she was going through old clips, she found a couple of us from the night we met. I hadn’t told her about you, hadn’t told her anything at all about my personal life. But she saw you and she knew.” The cab driver was clearly riveted by their conversation, but neither Mia nor Ford gave a damn right then. “She confronted me about how I could possibly have been stupid enough to let you go when you obviously meant everything to me.”
Mia’s head was spinning. “That’s why you came back.” Her words were barely above a whisper.
“She helped give me the final push, but I was the one who finally owned up to the fact that I’d wanted to come back every day for five years. I’m sorry it took me that long to let my pride go. More sorry than you’ll ever know.” He scowled. “Pride could have ruined everything if I’d let it.”
He was right about pride, about the way it could ruin lives. And she knew she needed to do some heavy thinking about her own pride where Ford was concerned. Because while it was one thing to be careful about not making the same mistake a second time, it was another entirely to be stubborn simply for the sake of winning. Especially if “winning” meant not being with him.
Unfortunately, by then the cab driver was starting to look really closely at Ford, and the last thing she wanted was her very personal conversation with one of the world’s biggest rock stars to end up on TMZ tonight. It would be too easy for the driver to grab his cell phone and record the rest of their conversation. Thinking back, she was pretty sure they hadn’t said each other’s names or what either of them did for a living. At this point, it would be pure speculation on the driver’s part that he’d had a rock star in the back of his car.