Page 76 of Reckless
What was it about a man in a band that made women go crazy?
“I’m back,” I sang as I enter my hotel room, breakfast not having suffered too badly. “Sorry it took so long…”
Kelly was curled up on the couch with her phone. She’d gone pale, looked like the world had fallen out from beneath her.
“What’s wrong?” I dropped the containers on the coffee table. “Are you okay?”
“I just…I went to check my email, and an alert popped up.” She frowned at the screen, still not looking at me. “And there was…was…” Fire flashed in her eyes. “You, kissing another woman.”
“What? I haven’t—” Surely the photo taken downstairs couldn’t have traveled the gamut this fast.
“Look.” She held up the phone, a photo of the woman downstairs lip-locked with me, a stupid, happy grin on my face that was the remnants of my wakeup, not the crazy fan kissing me. But the way I was smiling and standing with her in front of the elevator suggested that we were about to take the takeout packages back to a hotel room. Dammit.
“You’re in the same clothes you’re wearing right now, and the caption of the picture has the hotel’s name in it. She…she’s pegged herself as ‘new love interest.’”
I groaned. “God, that just happened. That woman jumped me and kissed me. I couldn’t shake her off because she was so persistent and I had our breakfast in my hands. It’s hard in these situations because Ron and the boys are counting on me to hold up our reputation—”
“Reputation? Of being a man whore?”
My head snapped back. Man whore? I laughed, but it came out sounding sardonic. “I’m not aman whore. I have to be polite to make up for all the things the media got churning while I was hiding awaywith youin New Hope.”
“That looks more than polite,” she sneered. “You look like you’re really into it. And I remember what got churned up in New Hope. Me being with you when you’re supposed to be the world’s biggest bachelor.”
“Well, I can assure you that I wasn’tinto it. I was trying to peel her off me without creating a scene. There’s no way I’d sleep with you, then kiss someone else while downstairs getting us breakfast. You know me better than that, Kelly. Please tell me you don’t believe that of me.”
She folded her arms defensively across her chest. “I don’t…I don’t know what to think…We don’t really know each other anymore.” She slumped back onto the couch and rubbed her forehead. “I don’t think you are that sort of person, I…”
“It’s hard, I know.” I sighed and joined her on the couch. “Some fans think they own the famous people they follow. What’s published in the media makes them think they know the person, gives them an unrealistic attachment.”
She didn’t answer, just stared down at her phone as she turned it off.
The feeling that had been with me lately more often than not weighed heavy, that this lifestyle, with all the perks, just wasn’t worth it anymore.
I gripped her upper arms, pulled her to me, holding her tight even when she protested. “I want to spend time with you, Kelly.Only you.” I tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear. “I want us to get to know each other again. The adult you and me.”
“I don’t know…”
“After the concert, we can head out of town. A friend of mine has a private home in Montauk. You won’t have to put up with the media or fans surrounding me all the time. It’s different in New York anyway, with so many people I can usually get by with a disguise because no one cares about anyone’s business there. Plus, I’ll be more careful.”
Uncertainty danced behind her eyes as she wrestled with the decision, so I broke out the only thing I had left in my arsenal, a song. The one that came to mind was “Please Come To Boston,” like it had that night onstage. I changed the word Boston to New York and springtime to fall, because it was now into October. I wasn’t a praying man, but as I gave her my heart in the only way that I could right now, I threw a silent plea.Please let her say yes.
Her tense muscles relaxed, her uncertainty softened and melted away. “Yeah. I’ll come to New York.”
The breath I didn’t know I’d been holding escaped from my lungs. I was going to show her the high life, take her on amazing dates, prove to her how awesome our life could be together.
I hoped it’d be enough to sway her. I wanted nothing more than to finally be with Kelly in a proper adult relationship at last.
