by Unknown
“Marcus, this is awesome that you thought to order food for us!” Lori clapped her hands. “These are the best burgers and fries in the world, Nico. You can stay to eat something, can’t you?”
Nicola looked at Lori in alarm. What was Marcus doing? Had he forgotten that he’d turned her down flat this morning? Couldn’t he feel how awkward this was for her?
“I’d love to, but I think I’d better just call it a night. Besides, you two probably have some catching up to do, so thanks, but—”
“Stay for dinner. Please.”
Marcus’s low words pulled at Nicola, so hard that she could almost feel herself leaning toward him. It hadn’t been a request, not quite a command either. But whatever it was, it had turned her brain to mush. Just as his one kiss had stolen her control that morning.
A few moments later she found herself sitting with them at the small table by the window, unwrapping a burger she couldn’t possibly eat. Not with Marcus so close that her belly kept clenching.
“So what did you think, Marcus? Isn’t Nico amazing?”
Nicola felt like she was blushing with her whole body. During rehearsal, she’d tried to keep eye contact to a minimum, because every time she accidentally looked at him she lost her footing. As they’d gone over and over the song, she hadn’t been able to read his expression, couldn’t tell if he was impressed with her...or if he thought her song—and dancing—were total crap. She told herself she didn’t care if he liked it. Thirty-six-year-old men weren’t necessarily her core audience, after all.
“Did you write that song?”
“I did.”
His mouth moved up into a small smile. “You’re very talented."
Nicola let out the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding just as Lori’s phone started bouncing around on the tabletop. Whoever was calling had her jumping up and saying, “Sorry, guys, this will just take a sec."
Nicola could see from the look on Marcus’s face that he wasn’t happy with the name and face he’d seen flash across his sister’s phone. True to her word, Lori was back after barely saying two words to the caller, but she was flushed and clearly flustered.
“I’m really sorry, but I completely forgot about something I promised I’d take care of tonight. Will you be all right without me until tomorrow, Nico?”
Nicola could tell something was wrong and she didn’t want to add any extra pressure to Lori’s life. “Of course I will. Don’t worry about it for another second.”
Looking relieved, Lori turned to her brother and said, “Marcus, could you make sure Nicola gets back to her hotel okay?”
“Of course,” he replied at the exact moment that Nicola said, “I’ll just get a cab.”
But Lori didn’t seem to hear either of them as she gave Nicola a quick hug goodbye and apologized again for needing to leave so suddenly. Nicola picked up her burger and dropped it into the trash as Marcus followed his sister to the door.
She didn’t mean to eavesdrop on their conversation, but they weren’t exactly doing a great job of keeping their voices down, so she couldn’t help but overhear.
“I thought you weren’t seeing him anymore. Didn’t we agree that he isn’t good for you and that you can do better?”
“I’m not seeing him anymore...and it’s complicated.”
“At least call me when you get back home tonight so I know you’re okay.”
“I’m a big girl, Marcus. I don’t have a curfew anymore.”
He was the perfect, protective older brother. Nicola could feel herself melting more with every word out of his mouth. Because even though she should be making sure her guard was all the way up, seeing how concerned he was about his sister got to her in a serious way.
When he came back over, running his hand through his hair, she had to ask, “Is everything okay?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. She says I worry too much about her, but I can’t help it.”
Certain that she was bound to do something really stupid if she hung around him any longer, Nicola said, “I’m not hungry, so I’ll just catch a cab back to my hotel.”
But before she could turn and leave, he asked her, “Why didn’t you tell me who you were?” The hunger in his eyes was still there, but so was a hint of anger that she couldn’t possibly miss.
Hating how off-kilter she felt around him, she knew she sounded defensive as she replied, “I didn’t lie to you. My name is Nicola.”
“You should have told me you were also Nico. Why didn’t you?”
“You wouldn’t understand."
“Try me.”
She didn’t want to explain herself to him, but she also knew she was being stubborn and unreasonable. He had a point that it hadn’t been fair of her to keep her fame a secret from him, especially if the pictures taken of the two of them in the club had been good enough to print. And for some reason she wanted him to understand.
“For one night it seemed exciting just to be normal.” To be myself again. “I almost never meet someone who doesn’t know who I am.”
“Nico.”
She didn’t like the way he said her stage name, didn’t like the idea of Marcus treating her like everyone else did.
“My name is Nicola. And I really need to go now.”
The last thing she expected him to say as she turned and headed for the door was, “I was wrong, Nicola.”
A smart woman wouldn’t have stopped. A smart woman would have just kept walking through the door and caught a cab outside to take her back to her big, lonely penthouse suite.
So then, Nicola thought helplessly, what was it about Marcus that always had her doing the foolish thing, instead? Shouldn’t she know better than to turn back to him and say, “What were you wrong about?”
Despite the fact that he hadn’t moved any closer to her, the way he looked at her, with none of the reserve from this morning, had her feeling like he’d just pulled her into his arms.
“About tonight.”
All of the desires, the hopes, she’d been trying to shove down and away immediately popped up to the surface.
Trying one last time to save herself, she said, “What about all of your reasons from this morning? What about how young I am? What about the colossal mistake you’re so glad you didn’t make?”
“I’m sorry for what I said this morning,” he said first, and then, “I want one night with you, if you still want one with me.”
His words were a caress over her skin. He hadn’t answered her question, and she knew their age difference must still be an issue for him. But just as she wasn’t able to walk away from him, it seemed that he couldn’t walk away from her, either.
“You know I still want you.”
The words had barely left her lips when he captured her hand and dragged her body tightly up against his. “Thank God. Because I’ve been dying to kiss you again all day."
The next thing she knew, his mouth was pressing hard into hers, his tongue suddenly there in her mouth, tasting her, forcing her tongue to taste him too. No one had ever kissed her like this, like he wanted to possess her, body and soul. She forgot to be nervous, forgot that until Marcus, it had been six months since she’d kissed anyone, and even before that she’d hardly had much experience with kissing.
She didn’t need to worry about any of that with him, she realized now. He was entirely and completely in charge. All she needed to do was follow his lead.
If the way his kiss was making her feel was any indication of what his lovemaking would do to her, she was being led straight toward ecstasy.
Her nipples throbbed tight and hard beneath her sports bra and sweatshirt and although she pressed them against his hard chest, it didn’t soothe the ache. She wanted—needed—more.
Way more.
Fortunately, way more was just what it looked like she was going to get.
Chapter Eight
Hand in hand, they headed down the stairs to the large parking garage beneath the dance studio. Apart from th
e moment when she got into his car, he didn’t let go of her hand.
Utterly lost in the feel of his thumb rubbing sensuous circles on the inside of her palm, it wasn’t until they were almost at the hotel that Nicola remembered to say, “There’s a special entrance around the side that I usually use.” She reached into her bag for her key cards with her free hand and handed the extra one to Marcus. “Why don’t you drop me here and I’ll meet you at my room. I’m in the penthouse suite.”
His hand stiffened in hers and she realized, too late, that she’d probably just insulted him.
“It isn’t because I don’t want to be seen with you,” she explained softly, hating what she had to say to make him understand. “If people see us walk in together tonight, if someone takes a picture of you and me together, they might think we’re a—”
She paused before she used the word couple. Not because she couldn’t stand the thought of it. But because she suddenly longed to be a part of a couple with Marcus so badly that the force of that wanting stunned her. Even more than the strength of her desire for him already had.
Her voice was barely above a whisper as she finished with, “They might think you and I are going to be together for more than one night.”
Already, she knew one night wouldn’t be enough.
What was wrong with her?
She and Marcus had been totally clear with each other from the outset. Tonight was about sex, nothing but physical pleasure.
And yet, the reminders made no difference.
Because she’d already learned enough about him via his mother and sister—and the time she’d spent in his arms the night before—to know that her heart was a heck of a lot more involved than was going to be good for her.
“You had no problem walking out of that club with me last night.”
Wanting him to understand, she said, “You know how you were upset about something last night? Well, so was I and I acted without thinking. I shouldn’t have gone to the club like that. And I definitely shouldn’t have left with you.” It was finally time to come clean. “There were pictures taken of the two of us.”
She refused to look away from him, even though his reaction to that was exactly as she’d expected. He was pissed.
Before he could ask questions, she said, “My publicist called and told me. I knew people had to be snapping pictures on their phones, but fortunately the lighting was really bad inside the club and they’re too blurry for anyone to want to run.” She pulled out her phone and showed him the pictures she’d been emailed earlier that day as proof. “Here they are.”
Marcus was dangerously silent, silent enough that she forced herself to say, “I understand if you don’t want to do this anymore, if this is all too complicated for you.”
His eyes moved from the pictures on the phone back to her face. He didn’t look happy about the situation, but the hunger, the desire for her was still there. He wound his finger through a lock of her hair and pulled her toward him with it.
“It isn’t any more complicated than this.”
His mouth was so hot and sweet and perfect that with each slow slide of his tongue against hers, she almost forgot more and more of her hard-won caution. Even though this was the special VIP entrance, someone could walk by and look through the windshield to see them making out in the car.
When he finally pulled away and said, “I’ll meet you in your room,” her hand was shaking as she opened the door. Her legs were shaky, too, and she needed a moment to regain her bearings before walking inside the hotel.
* * *
Marcus had never understood how Smith put up with this kind of shit. Private entrances and calls from publicists about pictures that had leaked and entering and exiting buildings under cover just wasn’t normal.
He pulled around to the front entrance and as he gave his keys to the valet, he couldn’t quite believe that he was sneaking around to get it on with a beautiful pop star.
He didn’t like how not coming clean to Lori about already having met Nicola had felt like lying. And he didn’t like the way Nicola had handed him her hotel room key and told him to meet her in the penthouse suite.
But then, he wasn’t exactly calling his sister to come clean or getting back in his car and leaving, was he?
Fuck no. He might have his pride, but he wasn’t completely stupid.
And only a total idiot would turn down a second chance to be with Nicola.
He was just heading out of the hotel’s large reception area when he saw a crowd of what looked like college football players surrounding someone. They were clearly drunk and even though he wanted to get up to Nicola as soon as possible, something told him to go check things out.
Veering off course, he was almost at the group when he heard her voice. Chills ran up his spine as she told them, “Give a girl some room to breathe, guys.”
He read right through the playful edge in Nicola’s voice and heard the terror that had crept in.
“All of you need to back off. Way off.”
A couple of guys looked over at him and made the mistake of dismissing him as some old guy in a suit. Several of them had their cameras out and they were putting their hands on Nicola to get her to pose for pictures with them.
“Hey Nico, take off that big sweatshirt, would you, so everyone can see how hot you are?”
Marcus pushed into the group so hard and fast a couple of the college kids knocked over like bowling pins. “Get your hands off her,” he growled. When they didn’t move fast enough, he grabbed them by the shoulders and shoved them away.
“What the hell are you, her bodyguard or something?”
Marcus’s hand was already in a fist when Nicola grabbed his arm. “Yes, he is. And I’m afraid I’m late for something. Nice to meet all of you!”
She dragged him away from the group. “Good timing,” she said under her breath as they made a beeline for the elevators. “They were getting a little annoying.”
Annoying? That’s all those buffoons were to her?
Forgetting that they were supposed to be going upstairs separately, he said, “They weren’t just annoying, they were outright dangerous.” He wanted to run his hands over her body, make sure nothing had happened to her. More than that, he wanted to take her someplace safe and make her stay there, out of harm’s way.
“They weren’t dangerous,” she said, dismissing his concerns. “They couldn’t have done anything really bad in the middle of the hotel lobby.”
But Marcus could think of a dozen different things they could have done to her, including ways they could have kept her from crying out for help.
“How could you have gone to that club alone last night? What if a bunch of drunks had cornered you on the street? Or by the bar?”
“Honestly, that kind of stuff doesn’t happen all that often. I usually remember to put on sunglasses and a hat so that people can’t recognize me that easily. Besides,” she added in a super-soft voice, “if I hadn’t gone to the club, I wouldn’t have met you.”
He wanted to make her promise to be more careful in the future, but before he could, a large family got out of the elevator and an earsplitting squeal sounded as soon as the children saw her.
“Oh my God, it’s Nico!”
* * *
The boy and his sister, who couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, threw themselves at her and she caught them as they impulsively hugged her. At the same time, their mother struggled to get a huge, heavy stroller out of the elevator.
Marcus moved quickly to help her before the door closed, and with her arms still around the children, Nicola watched him say something soothing to the harried mother that had her mouth curving up into a smile. That soft spot in Nicola’s chest grew even bigger for this beautiful man she was about to take upstairs to do very naughty things with.
“Mom! We need your camera to take a picture with Nico!”
Just then the baby in the stroller started crying. Considering their mother already looked like she
was at the end of a very frayed rope, it was clear that the last thing she needed was to look for her camera.
“I’ve got to deal with your sister,” she told them, already reaching in to unstrap the baby girl.
Nicola had always loved children and her secret hope she’d never shared with anyone was to have a big family of her own. She’d been a heck of a babysitter as a teenager. It was partly why she felt her music translated so well to children. She genuinely liked them, rather than just putting up with them.
She was about to reach out for the little girl when Marcus beat her to the punch. “Would you like me to hold her?” he offered to the mother.
Considering the boy and girl were whining now about how horrible it would be to not have their picture taken with Nico, after assessing Marcus in his professional suit and his obvious trustworthiness, the woman said, “Okay, if you wouldn’t mind, it will just be for a second or two. I’m pretty sure my camera is down under everything.”
Marcus took the tearful little girl, who stopped crying as soon as he lifted her up to his face. “Well, aren’t you a pretty little thing?”
The mother beamed. “I know, she’s gorgeous, isn’t she?”
He nodded, never once taking his eyes from the baby’s toothless grin. “What’s your name?” he asked the baby as if she could answer, and she happily replied with a gurgling mountain of spit bubbles.
Without missing a beat, he used her bib to wipe off the spit...and Nicola started falling.
She wasn’t sure how long she stood there staring openmouthed at how good Marcus was with the baby—he was now maneuvering her as if she was a mini diapered airplane, even making the noises to go along with it—until the kid’s mother said, “Found the camera.”
Nicola snapped to attention as if from out of a deep fog. The kids were now standing on either side of her, smiling for the camera.
Oh God. She couldn’t possibly be falling for him already. She hardly knew him, didn’t know what he did for a living, or what he did for fun.