by Andria Large
She gasps in mock outrage and gives me a shove. I laugh. I stare down into her chocolaty eyes and my heart starts fluttering. Which never happened to me before. Damn it, I really like her. A lot. I reach up with one hand and tuck her hair behind her ear, both of our smiles fading as we gaze at each other. Oh, fuck it. I lean down and capture her lips with my own. She immediately melts into me, her hands clutching the front of my T-shirt. Her lips are soft and warm and I think I can kiss her for forever. I'm just about to deepen the kiss when three loud knocks sound on the door. We jump apart. Shit, that wasn't supposed to happen. I did not intend to kiss her again. Nicole sits there looking stunned as I hop to my feet.
"I...uh...that's probably Alex...I better go," I fumble.
She nods jerkily and rakes her fingers through her hair. "Yeah, okay. See you tomorrow," she says quietly, once again avoiding my eyes.
"Right, see you tomorrow," I agree and start for the door.
I put my hand on the knob and turn back one more time. Nicole is rubbing her face roughly with her hands. I sigh as I open the door and step out into the hall. Alex is there looking pissed as shit. The guy is an ex-FBI special agent and looks like a complete hard ass, which is exactly what he is. His dark hair is cropped close to his head and his hazel eyes are stern and shrewd. He's a couple of inches taller than I am, and built like a brick shithouse. When he's not playing bodyguard for me, he's in the gym. Sometimes, he even guards me at the gym while we both work out. He's ten years older than I am, at 36, but he's definitely in better shape.
"I'm tired of this shit, man," he grunts as soon as I shut the door.
"Got it. Can we get outta here so I can smoke?" I grumble.
He mumbles something under his breath as he hands me a baseball cap and a pair of black sunglasses. I slip both of them on as we start down the hall toward the elevator. We get out to Alex's tinted out Hummer without incident. As soon as I get in, I pull out my pack of cigarettes from my jacket pocket and stick one between my lips. Alex climbs in the driver's side and starts the beast. I crack the window then light up.
"Yo, did I say you could smoke in my truck?" Alex snaps.
"Shut up and drive," I mutter around the cig.
"You really need to quit."
"Noted." I sigh.
He glances over at me. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
I shake my head. "Nothing, why?"
"You're acting weird. Did that chick you fucked slip you something? See, this is why you shouldn't take off without me. How the hell am I supposed to do my job when you fucking leave without me?" he rants, flailing his arms around.
I pinch the bridge of my nose and shake my head. "Dude, relax, she didn't slip me anything," I grunt before taking another drag off my cigarette.
"Then what the fuck is going on with you?"
"I just...I don't know what to do about her. I really like her." I sigh, blowing out the smoke from my previous drag.
I catch the look that Alex gives me. He thinks I'm friggin' bonkers. "The dancer chick you've only known for like a week?"
"Her name is Nicole."
"Not relevant. I don't see how you can really like her when you know nothing about her. You don't know her favorite color, food, or music. You don't know anything about her family or her beliefs..."
"I know that she's funny and smart..."
"...can't be too smart is she fucked you last night..." he mutters.
"...watch it, asshole!" I bark and punch him in the shoulder.
Alex sends me a dry look. "What if she's crazy?"
"She's not crazy."
"You don't know that. She could have a mental disorder for all you know about her. I mean, look at Hillary, she thinks you're her boyfriend or some shit," he says, giving me a pointed look.
"I should have never slept with her. That was a big mistake."
"And how do you know this Nicole chick isn't also a mistake?"
"I just do. Now can you please shut the hell up?" I grunt, taking another long drag off my cancer stick.
"You get ashes in my ride, I’ma shove that motherfucking thing up your ass," he grumbles.
Chapter Four
~Nicole~
It's been a few days since the whole sex incident with Ace. It is now Tuesday and we are working really hard on perfecting some of the dances. The only person giving me a hard time about what happened at the club is Hillary, who is forever giving me dirty looks and making snarky comments. I swear I feel like I'm back in high school with this chick. Everyone else basically acts like nothing even happened, which I'm grateful for.
It's not until four o'clock that we are able to take a break. I check my phone and see that I have a text from Raelynn asking me to call her when I get a minute. I head out to the terrace for some privacy so I can call her back and make sure that everything is okay.
"Hey, Nikki!" Raelynn answers after a couple rings.
"Hey, Rae, what's up?" I reply.
"Okay, so I was in the grocery store today and you know how I like to glance at the tabloid mags while I'm in the checkout line, right?" she asks.
"Yeeaaahh?" I drawl, not sure where she's going with this conversation.
"Well, the first time I saw this story, it caught my eye, so I read it really fast. When I glanced at all of the other magazines, they each have the same story, some making it a bigger headline then others, but still, it's in all of them..."
"What are you talking about?" I ask in confusion.
"Did you really have sex with Ace Vaughn in a club bathroom?" she asks in a rush.
I gasp loudly. I stumble over to the little bistro table and drop heavily down onto the chair. No! No, this can't be happening! I bring a shaky hand to my mouth.
"I'm going to take that as a yes. Dammit, Nicole! What were you thinking?" Raelynn scolds.
"What...what do the articles say?" I whisper.
"That you - an unidentified woman - and Ace were all over each other on the dance floor before disappearing into the men's bathroom, where club-goers confirmed that you two were having sex in one of the stalls," Raelynn says in disgust.
"How do you know it was me?" I ask.
My heart is pounding and I swear that I'm about to have a heart attack. This can't be happening to me!
"There were pictures of you two together. I saw one of you guys dancing together. There was another one of you two disappearing into the bathroom and then another of you sitting on his lap on a couch. They are all a bit grainy and dark, but I know you when I see you, Nicole."
"Oh my god," I breathe.
"Is there something going on between you two? Because if there is, that would make this situation so much better," she says.
"No, I was drunk and stupid. It was a one night stand," I whisper.
"Jesus," Raelynn bites out.
"Do you think my parents know?" I ask hoarsely.
"Not unless they saw the magazines or someone saw them and recognized you then told your parents."
I close my eyes. This is a nightmare. It would be one thing if Ace and I were dating, but now I just look like some slut he picked up in a club. And god forbid my parents find out. My Roman Catholic, straight off the boat, Italian parents. Nightmare, I tell you! They are going to disown me if they find out. They probably think I'm still a virgin! They've told me many times that they expected me to wait until I marry a nice Italian boy. Fuck me! I'm doomed.
"Alright, Rae, I gotta go, I'll talk to you later," I murmur.
"Okay," she says sadly. She knows exactly what I'm thinking.
We hang up and I sit there for a moment. I feel like I'm drowning. I am officially a whore. Wow. I never thought that would be a label attached to me. I am not a crier, but right now, I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes. Fucking Ace. I wish I’d never taken this job. I need to get out of here and think over this whole disastrous situation. I collect myself as best as I can so I can go tell Kara that I have to leave.
I walk back into the studio and head right to Kara
, who is actually talking with the one person I had hoped to avoid – Ace. I steel myself as I walk over to them.
"Excuse me, Kara, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" I ask, my voice shakier than I would have liked.
Ace immediately frowns at me. "Is everything okay? You look really pale," he says in concern.
I can't even look at him right now, so I just shake my head quickly. Kara is also now frowning. She takes my arm and leads me away. We step out into the hall and I tell Kara that I'm having some personal issues that I need to take care of right now. Thankfully, she's understanding and tells me to take off. I thank her and follow her back inside so I can grab my stuff. I quickly gather it up and head for the door. I make it to the hallway before I hear Ace's voice behind me.
"Nicole, hold up," he calls.
I shake my head. "I can't talk to you right now, Ace," I croak without turning around, continuing to walk as quickly as I can toward the stairs. If I wait for the elevators, I will get stuck talking to him.
Before I know it, he grabs my arm and whirls me around. "Tell me what's going on," he demands, his crystal blue eyes boring into mine.
"Go read a fucking tabloid, you'll figure it out soon enough," I snap, wrenching my arm out of his grasp and racing toward the stairwell.
I hear him bite out a vicious curse as I burst through the door and run as fast as I can down the steps. A breakdown is threatening to take over but I need to get to my hotel room before that happens. My life has never felt as out of control as it does right now and it's freaking me the hell out.
~Ace~
I hang my head as Nicole disappears through the stairwell door. Fuck. I can't imagine what kind of shit is in the tabloids that would make her this upset. She looked like she was about to cry and that is so not like her. I pull my phone out of my pocket and pull up the Internet, then Google my name and recent stories. What pops up has my heart sinking in my chest. I rake a hand down my face in frustration. Damn, no wonder she's upset. There are pictures of us at the club, sucking face on the dance floor, heading into the bathroom, and then us sitting on the couch with her on my lap afterward. And the title of "An unidentified woman" really breaks my heart. Like she's some hooker I just picked up off the street. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't really care, but this is Nicole. She's not just some "Unidentified woman." I never wanted this to happen to her, of all people. Fucking paparazzi.
I immediately call Lizette. I explain to her what's going on, and we come up with a plan to counter the story; all I need to do is get a thumb’s up from Nicole to go through with it. Then our publicist will put out a press release. I'm not going to let those assholes taint Nicole's name.
I tell Kara that I need to skip out early. She's not happy about it, but she really doesn't have much of a choice. I tell the guys that I'll talk to them later before I grab Alex, who is hanging in the lobby of the dance studio with the other bodyguards, and we head right over to Nicole's hotel.
Alex and I get to Nicole's hotel in about twenty minutes. A couple of people wanting autographs stop me in the lobby before we can make it to the elevator. Once we finally get up to her room, I knock on the door.
"Go away, Ace," Nicole calls through the door a few moments later.
"Nicole, we need to talk, please let me in," I reply.
I hear the lock disengage right before the door opens. My stomach drops at the sight of a disheveled, red-eyed, blotchy-faced Nicole that appears. She's obviously distraught over the whole thing. I never intended for this to happen.
"Shit, I'm so sorry, Nikki. Can I please come in? I think I have a way to fix this." I sigh.
She just nods and steps aside to let me in. Alex hangs out in the hallway while I go in and shut the door. Nicole crawls onto her bed and sits Indian style in the middle of it. Her dark hair is up in a messy ponytail and her eyes are bloodshot, a telltale sign that she’s been crying. I sit on the bed with her, but up by the headboard so that I can lean back against it.
"My best friend saw it and called me. I'm just dreading the phone call that I’m going to get from my parents," she says softly.
"Listen, I talked to Lizette about it, and we think the best thing to do is put out a press release letting everyone know that you are not just some "Unidentified woman." We're gonna tell everyone that you're my girlfriend and that we've been dating for a couple of weeks," I say, watching her to gauge her reaction.
Her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "But...I'm not your girlfriend," she replies slowly.
"Well, you're gonna have to pretend to be for a little while, just until this blows over. Then we can publicly break up, and we can make sure your name won't be tarnished," I say.
"What do you mean by ‘pretend’?" she asks, narrowing her eyes at me.
"We'll go on a few public dates, act like we really like each other, maybe even hold hands," I say wryly and shrug. "Give the paparazzi something positive before they go running with the negative."
Nicole studies me as she seems to think it over. Then she nods slowly. "Yeah, okay. That sounds like a good plan."
I smile. "Great."
"I just...I can't believe this even happened in the first place." She groans in aggravation.
"It's the joy of smart phones. Someone probably took those pictures with a cell phone and sold them to the vultures. I'm sorry that you got caught up in this," I murmur.
Nicole waves that away. "It's my own fault."
"Ouch." I grimace.
She gives me a dry look. "What do you want me to say? It's been a pleasure being your one night stand? Cause it hasn't. I should have never gone out with you that night."
"You act like you don't like me at all." I complain.
She rolls her eyes at me. "If I didn't like you at all then I would have never even come close to sleeping with you, Ace."
"Nice to know," I scoff.
I pull out my phone and send Lizette a text giving her the go-ahead. Better to get it out there sooner than later.
"Alright, I just let Lizette know that we're good to go. We'll get our story out there ASAP and get this taken care of," I say.
"Thanks," Nicole says gratefully.
Before I can reply, Nicole's cell phone starts ringing. She stiffens and glances over at the bedside table next to me, where her phone is sitting. I glance over at the scene and wince.
"It says, ‘Mom calling,’" I say apologetically.
"Motherffff....give it to me," she bites out, holding out her hand.
I hand her the phone. She answers it and places it to her ear. "Ciao, Mamma."
Oooh, she speaks Italian. Ace likey. I listen to her as she seemingly argues with her mother in Italian. She is doing a lot of starting and stopping, which probably means that her mother keeps cutting her off. She sighs heavily and drops her forehead into her hand.
She murmurs a few final words that sound totally dejected before saying, "Bye, mamma."
I wait patiently as Nicole takes a couple of deep breaths. She finally looks up at me. She looks completely defeated and distraught. I frown. I really don't like seeing her like this. She is such a strong woman.
"My parents are demanding to meet you. I told my mother that we are dating after she basically called me a slut and she said that they insist on meeting you as soon as possible," she says despondently.
I shrug. "Okay, I'll go meet your parents if it will help you," I say.
She gives me a hopeful look. "Really?"
"Yeah, sure."
"It's not going to be fun. My parents aren't going to like you," Nicole says grimly.
"What? How can they not like me? They don't even know me," I say, bewildered.
"You're not Italian. What are you, anyway?"
"I'm a mutt. What does my heritage have to do with them liking me?" I ask in confusion.
Nicole sighs heavily. "My parents, well more my dad than my mom, expect me to marry a ‘Nice Italian boy.’"
"We're not getting married," I say pointedly.
&nb
sp; "Yeah, that doesn't matter, they don't think that I should date anyone but Italian guys because if there is a potential to get married, that's who I need to be with." She says in irritation.
"Ooookay, that's a bit ridiculous," I drawl.
"Tell me about it. Have you ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding?" she asks.
"Yeah."
"Well, my family is like that just Italian instead of Greek."