All Mixed Up (paperback)

Nikki has a lot going on at the moment.

She’s the best sound engineer and mixer at XY Records, she’s working on a super-secret project with a pop megastar, and holding the busier-than-usual studio together.

The last thing she wants or needs is her ex-fiancé to start working in the studio over the summer. She’s over it—him. Obviously. Being ghosted has that effect. But working near someone she used to love has made her life that much more complicated.

Andre has it all figured out. Two and half years ago he had no idea what he was doing when he walked away from the love of his life. But time has given him perspective, and he’s grown up. Which is why the paleontology professor is working part-time at his ex’s recording studio. Because he wants to make amends. And maybe win her back.

Will Nikki give him the chance he thinks he’s ready for? Or will it be her turn to walk away from him?

'All Mixed Up' is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #8 in the Common Threads series, Seduction in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

PROLOGUE

CelebX

BREAKING NEWS
The indie rock band Winking Pete has canceled the rest of their tour.
Ticket refunds began showing up in emails late last night before the band had officially announced the cancelation.
Fans had been watching the ongoing antics of the band’s lead singer with some trepidation. What started as showing up late to venues culminated in an “allegedly” drunken tirade in the middle of the third song at the Electric Ballroom.
Shelby Mallory mumbled through the first two songs of the set before being pulled aside by her brother and bass player, Asa Young.
The band began the third song, only to have Mallory shove her guitarist, Nikki Harry, and then launch into an incoherent speech that seemed to touch on everything from the government to her parents’ divorce a decade earlier.
Winking Pete has seen nominal success over the past year with their breakout hits, “Bread Crumbs” and “I Hope You Lose Me.”
Labeled as “the ones to watch” earlier this year by industry insiders, it now seems that the band’s short career has come to a dramatic close.
We have not been able to reach the band’s publicist for comment.


 
CHAPTER 1

Resolve

ANDRÉ


He glanced at the map on the screen of his phone even though he knew exactly where he was going.
In more ways than one.
He’d never been inside XY Records, but he’d driven past it more times than was healthy.
It wasn’t in the part of town where he lived. He didn’t work anywhere nearby. He had almost no reason to be in Avondale.
Except for those times when he’d find himself driving that direction, going past the unmarked brick building, past the row houses, taking a right, going down the short street filled with bungalows and single-family homes, looking for lights on in the upstairs bedroom of a very specific home that he had once spent more time at than his own apartment…
Yeah. He had no reason to be on this side of town.
No reason to turn down the alleyway behind the recording studio where his ex-fiancée worked every single day.
Except today. Today he had the best reason he could have hoped for.
The rush of hope and terror swept through him for the tenth time since he’d answered the phone call from Johnny Enamorado Torres, the owner/operator of XY Records.
Johnny needed someone to renovate a few spaces in the studio. He’d been given André’s number by a contractor that André had worked with a few times over the years. They had discussed Johnny’s needs and set up a time to meet in person.
Which was now.
André had no reason not to think he’d be able to get the job. He had excellent references and his work spoke for itself. Even if it was a little unconventional to hire an archeology professor to do carpentry work.
His emotions had nothing to do with the job itself.
They were all about the woman he’d never gotten out of his heart and mind.
He clenched the steering wheel.
He’d screwed everything up two and a half years ago. And up until last Christmas he’d been convinced that what was over was over forever. Then he’d seen how his sister and her now husband had navigated the rocky waters of their relationship and he’d begun to think something different. That maybe it wasn’t as over as he’d thought.
Maybe he could try again.
What followed that night was unknown to all but himself and whoever had answered the phone.
He’d gotten wine drunk and had called her.
Yes, he’d drunk dialed his ex on Christmas Eve like the complete numpty he was.
He didn’t have a very clear memory of what he’d said.
She’d answered. He remembered that.
And his phone said the call lasted twelve minutes.
What had he said to her in twelve minutes?
Oh, he could think of a lot of things.
The problem was, he wasn’t sure which things he’d said and which things he’d managed to keep inside his big mouth.
It could have been anything ranging from “I still love you,” to “I miss your tits.”
He groaned audibly as he made the left turn.
God, he hoped he hadn’t told her he missed her tits.
He did miss her tits. They were glorious. Best tits in the world.
But he hadn’t spoken to her in two years and that’s not what he’d wanted to say to her the next time they spoke.
What he’d wanted to tell her was he was sorry.
He was so damn sorry some days it was all he could focus on.
Hopefully he’d at least managed to apologize. It would make the next part of what he was about to do that much easier.
He turned the car into the alley entrance.
The studio was sandwiched in between a row of walk-up townhouses and an apartment building. It looked like nothing. No signage; no obvious indicators of what happened inside the brick walls.
Most of the people who worked there and the bigger artists used the back entrance because the parking off the alley allowed more privacy.
At least, that’s what he’d been told once upon a time.
And Nicole used the front door because her house was across and down the street.
It was late enough in the day that she should already be gone. He wanted to secure the job before seeing her.
His mind swam with vivid potential scenarios of how they’d meet again. He’d impress her with his growth, and they’d laugh about what an idiot he used to be.
“Your destination is on the right,” his GPS told him.
This was going to work. He could feel it in his bones.
It had taken him two years to apologize, and another seven months after that for him to have a reckoning in his own soul that came in the middle of the night in the Badlands of South Dakota.
But when Johnny Torres had called him and offered an open door, he knew it as surely as he knew the Jurassic Period was his favorite to teach.
He had a chance.
An opportunity.
Just a small one, but it was there, and he wasn’t going to run away from it.
Not this time.
Never again.
He turned the car into the parking lot, excitement buzzing in his veins.
Every decision in his life had brought him to this moment and he felt good about it.
He was finally ready to embrace life and stop being afraid to be happy.
It was going to be good from here on out—great even.
He hit the brakes as a flash of color and limbs hit his windshield with a loud thud. The car came to a hard stop and the colors rolled off the hood of the car and hit the ground.
“Oh God.” He slammed the car into park and undid his seat belt.
How had that happened?
“Please don’t be a person. Please don’t be a person.” His stomach turned and his hands shook as he shoved the door open.
The hot, sticky July heat engulfed him immediately as he ran around the front of his car.
It was a person.
He dropped to his knees, hands trembling.
He’d hit a person!
With his car!
“Are you okay?” he asked, not sure where to put his hands.
It was a woman in a bright dress. The fabric tangled around her legs, both of her shoes had come off, her arms were tucked under her body at an odd angle.
And the hair…her hair was blonde.
And she was utterly still.
He reached for her, knowing it was Nicole and still hoping it wasn’t.
Footsteps came racing toward him, but he didn’t glance up.
“Call an ambulance,” he said to whoever had joined them and he felt her neck for a pulse.
A flutter under his fingertips let him know she was alive.
Of course, she was alive. The car had barely been moving. It couldn’t possibly be that bad.
Please don’t be that bad.
He pressed his face to the ground to get level with hers and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She was unconscious. Or at least, she appeared to be unconscious. He didn’t want to move her, but he also wanted to be sure she could breathe.
He looked up to see that they were surrounded by some people he knew and some he didn’t.
A dark-haired man in a light blue Henley was on the phone with emergency services.
Sabine joined him on the ground.
Sabine?
He did a double take on his younger sister. Why was she there?
“What happened?” she asked.
“She got hit by a car.”
Sabine’s head jerked around as she looked from André to his car and back again.
Nicole made a noise and they both looked down to her before Sabine could state the obvious.
“Ow,” Nicole whimpered. She tried to move and cried out.
“Don’t move. Where does it hurt?” André placed a hand gently between her shoulder blades and lifted it again.
Nicole ignored his instruction to not move and rolled onto her back. She cradled her right elbow with her left hand, face contorted in pain. Water started leaking from her eyes.
“I’m okay,” she lied through her tears.
André skimmed his fingers along her hairline, brushing away flecks of dirt and gravel. He scanned the scrapes and marks on her face and arms and legs. His stomach twisted with guilt and fear.
“Please stop moving,” he whispered.
If he’d injured her to a point—
No.
He couldn’t go there. She was fine.
Her blue eyes flashed as they raked over his face. Like she was just now realizing who he was.
“What…?” she started to ask and struggled to sit up.
He sucked in a breath and held his hands out, palms facing her. “Stay there.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and all those fantasies that he’d had about seeing her again crumbled into dust like the guy from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade who chose the grail that wasn’t so holy.
Sirens grew closer and relief began to prickle in the back of his mind. “It’s okay,” he said, trying to reassure her (and himself). “The paramedics are almost here.”
He couldn’t stop looking at her.
It had been years since he’d seen her, and somehow, she was even more beautiful than he remembered.
Her hair was longer than she used to keep it but not by much. Just past her shoulders. And still blonde. No pink or blue tips like when they’d first met. And she had bangs, which was new.
Her pale complexion was tanned from summer sun, and she smelled like coconut and vanilla.
His gaze landed on her narrowed eyes, and he felt an involuntary smile tug his lips.
Fucking hell, André! Now’s not the time!
“André?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”
“I like your hair,” he blurted and then shook his head. “I’m sorry. Does anything hurt?”
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “My arm hurts.”
She was still holding it against her chest. Hopefully it wouldn’t be anything serious. He would never forgive himself.
She was speaking clearly though, so hopefully that meant no concussion.
“I’m going to be late for my date,” she said.
André swallowed the tightness in his throat.
Date?
In all of his various fantasies of them reconnecting, her dating someone else hadn’t factored into it.
But it had been two and a half years.
Of course she’d be dating someone!
“I’ll let him know,” Sabine said.
André glanced at his sister who had retrieved Nicole’s shoes, purse, and phone.
What the hell was Sabine even doing here?
“Thanks.” Nicole opened her eyes and looked from André to Sabine and back again. “Did you hit me with your car? Did that really happen?”
“You have a date?”
He hadn’t meant to ask that out loud. He regretted it instantly. He regretted it a second time when Sabine swatted him in the arm with the back of her hand.
And regret piled on top of regret when Nicole rolled her eyes and then didn’t look at him again.
Like she was dismissing him from her thoughts entirely.
This was not how he’d wanted any of this to go.
The EMTs and police arrived and he was shuffled out of the way.
He watched from a distance as the first responders examined Nicole.
How had this happened?
She’d come out of nowhere.
That’s what he said to the officer who’d come over to take his statement. He answered all the questions put to him and provided his identification and insurance information all while trying to watch what was happening with Nicole.
When she climbed into the back of the ambulance with only a little assistance from the EMT, some of his worry drained away. She seemed to be moving fine on her own and she even laughed at something Sabine said right before they closed the doors and drove away with her.
After his adrenaline began to ease off, he remembered that Sabine sometimes worked out of the studio with one of her students. He wasn’t sure about the details. She was a tutor for celebrity children.
That was an oversimplification, but it covered the basics.
And now that he wasn’t freaking out anymore, her presence made sense.
She was definitely going to have questions about why he was there though.
Much the same way the police officer did.
The look the officer gave him when he said he was the victim’s ex-boyfriend was noteworthy.
Especially when he tried to explain that he wasn’t trying to see Nicole at all and, in fact, was using the alley entrance to avoid her entirely.
“Is she okay?” André asked for the tenth time.
The officer sighed and flipped his notebook closed.
Sabine, also finished answering questions, approached him. “Please tell me you didn’t hit her on purpose.”
André growled under his breath and forced a smile at the officer who’d narrowed his eyes. He grabbed Sabine by the elbow and turned her away.
“Thank you for that vote of confidence, dear sister,” he replied tightly.
Sabine rolled her eyes.
“Do you know where they’re taking her?”
Sabine started to answer and stopped. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why?”
“Oh my God. Sabine.” He leveled a look at her. “Do you honestly think I did that on purpose?”
Her expression relaxed a bit. “No. Obviously. But you haven’t had contact with her in so long…” Her eyes sharpened on him. “What are you doing here anyway?”
André raked his fingers through his hair and paced away. He returned and planted his hands on his hips. “I was here for a job.”
Not that he’d be getting that job now. He doubted very much that Johnny Torres would want to hire the person who maimed his number one producer.
Assuming of course that Nicole had pursued her lifelong dream and was indeed producing award-winning albums for the biggest names in the industry.
Fuck, this could not have gone any worse.
“A job?” Sabine’s chin jerked back. “Wait. Are you tutoring? Am I being fired?” She shook her head. “No. That’s ridiculous. Are you replacing me?”
“Not a teaching job.” André started to explain.
At that moment the man wearing the blue Henley and formidable frown approached them.
“Johnny,” Sabine greeted him. André closed his eyes and wished none of this was happening. “This is my brother, André.”
Johnny’s frown turned more perplexed and he let out a beleaguered sigh.
“André Debois?” Johnny guessed.
André nodded once, grinding his teeth together.
If the earth would open up and swallow him whole now, that would be great.
Johnny made a short humming sound as he glanced between André and Sabine. “I never put it together that you both have the same last name.”
“Well, why would you?” Sabine forced a weird laugh and then sobered instantly. “Is he replacing me?” she asked.
“No, Sabine,” André said before she could confuse Johnny any further. “I do carpentry work in the summers when I’m not doing field work. I was here to talk about doing some renovations.”
“Ohhh.” Sabine rocked back on her heels. “That makes more sense.”
André faced Johnny and prepared to be told his services were no longer needed. “I’m very sorry about what happened just now.”
Johnny’s eyebrows lifted and he let out a soft chuckle. “Yeah, that was scary. But Nikki seems to be okay. She agreed to go to the hospital just to make sure nothing major is wrong.” He nodded as he added, “And just to have it on record for insurance in case something comes up in the future.”
“That’s smart,” Sabine agreed.
André still couldn’t believe that he’d hit her with his own damn car. He’d never had a driving infraction in his life. What a way to make an entrance.
“If you’re up for it, we can still have that meeting,” Johnny offered. “But if you’d rather reschedule, we can do that too.”
Sabine eyed André and he could almost hear her thoughts.
Are you going to tell him about your past with Nikki? Are you sure this is a good idea? Maybe you should rethink this.
But he ignored her. “If I haven’t already ruined the opportunity, I’d still like to talk about what you need done.”
André glanced at Sabine who flattened her lips with disapproval.
He’d be hearing about this later.
Johnny headed back into the building. André went to follow but Sabine grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing?” she whispered.
“I need the job,” André mostly lied. He didn’t need the job for financial reasons. It would be too hard to explain to Sabine what else he’d been hoping to achieve. “Can you text me if you find out where they took her?” he asked.
Sabine growled and let him go.
Oh yeah. He was definitely going to hear about this later.