Blurring the Lines by Mia Josephs Read Free Book Online Page B

door in one big tug and gasped when Christian Meyer stood there, shivering in a light jacket and t-shirt with a bag over his shoulder and a guitar case in his hand.
    “I…” She glanced over her shoulder, almost like she expected someone to be holding up a ‘just kidding’ sign. “Wha…?”
    “So.” Chris sighed as he rubbed his arms. “I get that this is weird. Can I come in and explain?”
    “Um.” She rubbed her forehead unsure of how to register this new information. “Yeah. Sure. Of course. I’m…um…about to do tea,” she stammered. “Do you want tea?”
    He did a few jerky movements before stepping around her and into the house. This was a nervous kind of Chris that she hadn’t seen before. And damn him for seeming vulnerable again. She pushed the door closed behind him, blocking the cold air but still feeling the chill in the small room.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “I… I don’t know.” That broken look again. He couldn’t do this to her. She was not going to fall for this again.
    She leaned against the door, as if stepping into her house fully would make his presence more real. “I thought you wanted to explain.”
    “Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck before shifting his duffel further up on his shoulder. “I was headed to Hawaii and then a flight was boarding to Seattle and I was flying commercial and I didn’t have a checked bag, so I… I ended up here instead.”
    “How did you know where I live?” Corinne asked. He was here. He’d followed her. He was supposed to forget about her within a week. That was the plan. This wasn’t part of the plan.
    “M iranda doesn’t have the same loyalty to you as Max does.” His head and shoulders fell a little. “I’m sorry. I didn’t… I don’t…”
    The confusion on his face and the uncertainty in his features was enough to soften her. “Put your bag down. Put the guitar down. Take a seat.”
    She stepped around the back of the old, leather couch, opened the wood stove and shoved a few more logs on the fire with weak arms. Her heart pounded and that wanting feeling settled into her stomach next to a frantic ball of nerves. Seeing Chris should not have affected her so much. He was just a guy. Someone she barely knew.
    “Thanks… You live way off the beaten path,” he commented.
    She faced him just briefly, and it was as if someone had ripped his best rock star self out of the pages of Rolling Stone and plopped him on the couch. Expertly worn leather jacket, a white t-shirt that probably cost more than her outfit, and jeans she was sure were more than her monthly car payment. Why was he here?
    “I like being off the beaten path. Keeps people away.” She tried to tease, but they both knew she was only half teasing so it fell a bit flat.
    They stared, both guarded in posture while Corinne watched him for any sign as to why he’d sought her out. Why now. Why to her home ?
    “I lost it. Right after you left.” He swallowed but kept eye contact. “I couldn’t write. Trying to stay sober… I’ve been walking right on this edge, and I…”
    She walked back around her couch and into the small kitchen that rested under the loft. “Oh.” But his words snaked into her because she’d been down this road with another rock star a few years Chris’ senior. Jonah’s father.
    “This isn’t fair to you.” He stood. “I shouldn’t have come.”
    No, you shouldn’t have , is what she wanted to say, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. “Sit or you’ll miss tea. Chai tea tonight, and I buy the good stuff.”
    His brows pulled together again. Perfect stubble patterned over his strong jaw. Why couldn’t he be one of the odd-looking musicians? There were lots of those. Why ?
    “Corinne, I really… I…”
    “Shhh.” She held her hand out between them, but instead of looking at him and letting her mind wander, she continued with her task of filling up the teapot and setting it on the stove, glad that the counter