Controlled By The Billionaire

“There you are.” Tristan, his icy eyes hiding an emotion he would never let anyone see; not even her.

Mel sighed, he just couldn’t let her walk away. A thought dawned on her but she let it fade to the back of her head and die out like a candle next to a breezy window. The emotion in his eyes, maybe she wasn’t imagining it. Maybe there was something left…

“Tristan,” She said with as little feeling as possible. Tristan raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t say anything.

“We were looking for you.” He fell into step beside her and despite everything it wasn’t awkward.

“They were, or you were?” Mel asked boldly, not caring that he broke her heart. She just had a feeling, after thinking about everything while she was having lunch that he wasn’t quite done with her yet.

“They were,” he snapped, walking ahead of her, his mood suddenly bitter.

Mel smiled to herself. If he didn’t care would he get defensive? Maybe she was wrong to give up on him so easily.

*****

Tristan’s jaw ticked as he clenched it together, so hard he thought he’d break a tooth. What was she doing? It was bad enough she showed up in that tight skirt and skimpy top and all he could think about the whole morning was peeling it off of her, but now she was getting coy with him?

Running a hand through his hair he pushed the door to the studio opened. Why was he even here? He knew why. Part of it had to do with wanting to see Mel, even though he knew it was a bad idea. He couldn’t get involved with her, not again. It would be messy, it would end badly. The other part was that he wanted to make sure they did her album justice. Mel’s music was good, really good, and she deserved to receive everything she could as a result of it; Billboard Top 100, Grammy’s, you name it, she should have it all. That wasn’t just his lust for her talking, Mel was the most talented person they’d signed in a long time.

Tristan sat down in the corner and watched Mel float into the room. Her long dark hair lay against her back in waves and her caramel colored skin shone with youth and health. How could he not want her? Every man in the damn room wanted her and that thought alone made Tristan grit his teeth harder.

For the next two hours they went over her tracks, song by song, making sure they were in the proper order, making sure the sound was appropriate and they didn’t have to re-record it. Tristan interrupted a few times to make sure everything was going the way he expected.

After a while it became evident that he wasn’t needed, but he couldn’t peel himself away from the room. He had work piling up all day and his secretary was out for blood but Tristan couldn’t leave the room. The reason why disturbed him more than it should. Would this be the last time he saw Mel and spoke to her? He broke it off with her to stop these feelings from growing but no matter what he did he couldn’t get Mel off of his mind.

*****

The next few weeks flew by and Mel saw Tristan very little in that time. She was so busy with the rest of the work for her album and at the bar she barely noticed, but if she was being honest, she noticed.

Every night she went to bed alone and woke up in her tiny studio apartment, she remembered waking up next to Tristan and it hurt. She wanted him back, and she could tell by the way he looked at her and the way he acted around her that she wasn’t wrong about him that day in the studio. Something was there, he wasn’t as cold and heartless as he seemed.

Smiling, Mel finished brushing her teeth, the planning for her release party, which was in two days, was that day and she had to meet with the PR people at the bar where it was going to be held. If she wanted to get Tristan back, to get him to admit that he felt about her the way she felt about him, she would have to be smart. But that was alright, Mel was formulating a plan.