She smiled. “Working for both of you? I wonder if this is a good idea …”
He laughed. “Ask your pocketbook.”
Ethan looked up and saw Mia walking their way. “Okay, no more shop talk. Your boss is coming this way.”
“You mean your boss.”
“You are too wise, Allie.”
“Talk to you later, I’m sure.”
“Safe travels.”
She smiled and headed onto the bus, tapping the package against her other hand.
Mia stopped in front of him. “Time for me to leave,” she said with a frown. He sighed heavily and took her hands, drawing her to him.
“Quick and painless or long and drawn out?” he asked as he wrapped her in his arms one final time.
“Long and drawn out. I’m a glutton for punishment,” she replied with her head against his chest. She held on tight, but after a few moments, he felt her grip loosen.
“Maybe quick and painless is better because as I stand here in your arms, I am finding it harder and harder to leave you.”
Mia then captured his lips in a tender but heartbreaking kiss. “I love you,” she said before breaking the embrace and walking away.
Did she think he would let her leave like that? Ethan grasped her arm and pulled her back to him and kissed her passionately.
Feel it, Mia, know that I will miss you, know that I am hurting, too.
He released her mouth but still held her face. “I love you,” he spoke quietly, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. She studied his face before lifting a hand to his cheek. Her face crumpled as her fingers caressed his face.
He had to stop the tears. He couldn’t let her get on the bus like this. His mind raced as he thought of a way to stop her tears. Ethan meant it as a surprise but he knew telling her that he’d be at her shows next week would be better served now.
“I’ll see you next week,” he blurted out and her face instantly brightened.
“You will?”
“Yeah. I’ll even drag your best friend along with me.”
She smiled happily. “When were you going to tell me you were coming that weekend?”
“I was going to surprise you.”
“It’s still a surprise. I can make it a week. Still sucks to leave you though.”
“Yeah, I know the feeling.”
“Bye, Ethan,” she said with one last kiss and turned to head back to the bus.
“Bye, suga,” he called after her. She graced him with her beautiful smile and then jogged on to the bus. Simply put, he was going to miss the hell out of that woman. Not fifteen minutes ago, he was telling her she could do this. Now, he wondered if he could.
Mia
Indianapolis, October 2007
Mia flew out the day after her last Las Vegas show and arrived at Ethan’s home around ten that evening. She got her bags from the limo and walked up to the front door. She punched in the code and entered the house.
“Ethan!” she yelled as she shut the door. She frowned when there was no answer. Leaving her luggage in the foyer, she started searching the house.
She had expected him to be waiting at the door for her. Maybe she expected too much. It had been a month since she last saw him and she missed him.
The tour itself was great. Singing to sold-out crowds night after night was beyond her wildest dreams. The band was playing so well together. Better than ever. But it was the times when she was alone with her thoughts that made her miserable.
Now she was home and he wasn’t even there. This was all the time they had until Christmas. After that it got crazy. She would be in South America, New Zealand, and Australia and wouldn’t be back stateside until the end of January.
They would then have to play it by ear to see if he would have fewer practices and could come to visit. The way his season was going now, more practices seemed highly likely. The Flash had lost their last four games and it looked like she would have to wait until the beginning of March to see him.
Ugh, she did not want to think about that now. Heading down to the basement, she frowned. He was not there. She trekked up the stairs to the master bedroom. Not there either. Where the hell was he? Then her eyes locked on his bed.
“Fuck it,” Mia said, kicking off her shoes. She hopped on the bed and burrowed her head into his pillow, his wonderful, calming scent enveloping her. She had missed that.
A big yawn surprised her. She was beyond exhausted. Her crazy travel schedule plus now that she was home, the exhaustion hit her like a brick. Mia tried to stay awake, she really did, but within moments, she had drifted off to sleep.
Ethan
“Pick up your phone, Mia,” Ethan muttered as he sped home. He was so late. His dinner meeting with his coach and the team’s defensive captain took longer than he had expected. The entire time, he’d just wanted to leave so he could be there when Mia arrived home. Six weeks since she’d been home. Not a day went by when he didn’t miss her. Thoughts of her crowded his mind, pushing other things out. That’s pretty much why he had met with his coach tonight—his complete lack of focus on the game.
Ethan pulled into the driveway and immediately noticed the lights on in the house. Shit, he thought, she’s going to be pissed.
He walked in and spotted her luggage in the middle of the foyer. That’s his girl. She was a force of nature, leaving carnage in her wake. In this case, her luggage, backpack, and jacket. He grabbed her jacket and brought it to his nose, smelling her vanilla and honey scent on it. Another thing he so desperately missed.
Draping the jacket over his arm, Ethan then picked up the bags and walked up the stairs to their bedroom. When he entered the room, he stopped in surprise seeing her asleep on his side of the bed. He placed her bags near the entrance to the closet and then removed his jacket, tossing it on her luggage, and toed off his shoes. He crossed the room to the bed that cradled his beautiful fiancée.
He studied her sleeping face. Yeah, he saw it on Skype, but nothing like having it right there before him. Here he saw the exhaustion etched on her face. He didn’t see that on Skype. He only saw her smiling face.
Getting more comfortable, he took off his belt and untucked his dress shirt, then crawled in bed behind her, her back to his chest, and wrapped his arms around her. He sighed heavily, happy to have her with him again.
Ethan placed his lips right below her ear and felt her stir. So he kissed her again and felt joy as a smile spread across her face.
“Welcome home, suga,” he said.
Mia turned around to face him, her hands enveloping his face, studying it. “God, I missed you so much,” she said and then kissed him.
“You tired?” he asked after he broke the kiss, studying her chocolate eyes, seeing the exhaustion.
“Yes!” she exclaimed, her head falling back on the pillow, but her eyes still locked on his. “This bed called to me the moment I entered the house. I didn’t stand a chance.”
“What time did you get home?”
“A little after ten. Where were you?”
“Stuck at dinner with my coach and the other team captain.”
“Sounds delightful.”
The dinner was more like a job performance intervention, with his coach telling him flat out that he was playing like shit.
So far his season was one he’d like to forget. They had lost five out of their nine games. His number of interceptions was ridiculously high—almost tying his career high and they weren’t even halfway through the season.
“Anything but. It’s no fun when two people you look up to and trust basically tell you that you have lost your focus. That you’re distracted.”
“Are you?” she asked, her eyes holding his, not letting him skirt the issue.
“I am,” Ethan admitted. He couldn’t get Mia out of his mind. How much he missed her, needed her.
“What are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know yet.” And he didn’t. He had never been faced with this before. How would he
regain his focus and rid himself of what had been distracting him?
She regarded him somberly. “Am I your issue?”
“No,” he lied.
“Really?” she questioned, not believing him.
“It’s not you. It’s the way I’m handling this entire situation. It’s me.”
“I’m sorry, sweetie. Let me help you,” she offered, running her fingers through his hair.
“You are right now. You’re here,” he said, drinking from her lips. He would make the most of his time with her. He pulled back and gazed into her eyes, while he unfastened his pants. “I’m going to make love to you now.”
“Oh, you are?” she countered huskily, her eyes instantly darkening with arousal.
“Mmhmm,” he answered, placing his lips on her exposed neck while his fingers deftly undid her pants and pushed them over her slender hips.
“I’m so happy to be home,” she said, pushing at his pants and touching him for the first time in weeks. He groaned against her face as she moved her hand along his cock.
“Me too, suga. So very happy.”
Mia
On Wednesday, Ethan and Mia were both needing air. They had pretty much spent the past four days up in the bedroom, making love. When they weren’t doing that, the two talked, laughed, or just held the other.
As wonderful as that time was, she really needed to see Luke. She missed her best friend. Though she did talk to him a few times while on tour, she needed to see that cocky smile of his.
So Mia invited him over for dinner to celebrate Ethan’s birthday later that night. The rest of her afternoon was spent preparing for their evening. She went to the grocery store and purchased beer and all the fixings to make s’mores outside by the fire. They could judge away. She didn’t care. S’mores were awesome.
She cooked a big batch of chili. It was a lot but she knew that Ethan would probably like having the leftovers safely tucked away in the freezer so he could enjoy her cooking while she was gone.
Dinner was all about catching up, eating, and teasing Mia. Whenever she was with these two men, they always ganged up on her. Unfortunately, they both knew her weak spots.
After dinner was over, she dragged the guys outside and begged Ethan to start a fire in the outdoor fireplace. She brought them each a beer and set up everything to make the s’mores on the table nearest the fire.
She found herself alone with Luke after Ethan excused himself to use the bathroom.
“You’re such a kid sometimes,” Luke chided her while chowing down a s’more.
“I know,” Mia giggled as she put together her s’more, not caring that she was making a gooey mess. She was so happy to be home. Just being with Ethan had made her feel one hundred percent better, knowing that he was beside her in bed. She fed off his strength, the indescribable way he made her feel safe.
He was her home.
She hadn’t been this happy in months and, to top it off, now she had her best friend sitting beside her, making her laugh. All the ingredients for a happy break.
“Missed you, sweets,” he said, hitting her knee with his own. She leaned over and kissed his rough cheek.
“I’ve missed you too,” she replied, a touch of the sadness she felt reaching her voice.
“Are you okay? You look tired.”
“I am tired. I’ve not been sleeping that well,” she conceded, placing her uneaten s’more on a plate.
“Why? Too much partying?”
She laughed. “No partying. I am a lame rock star. My days are pretty much non-stop from morning until well after the show is over. The shows are bigger. More songs, more moving around. I’m also trying to plan my wedding during the day. So much press to do as well as trying to find the time to talk to my fiancé. Some days it just doesn’t happen … ” Mia stopped, rubbing her forehead in frustration. She was exhausted. She was being pulled in all these different directions and didn’t have the energy to do it all.
Sleep would probably help, but doing that on the tour bus was so hard for her. More often than not, Mia fell asleep against someone, sitting around the table or on one of the sofas. Marty had a comfortable lap. Todd’s shoulders and her head fit like two puzzle pieces and Clark had a habit of cradling her head like a baby then laying her out on the cushions, covering her with a blanket. They all knew of her struggles with sleep. They all took care of her.
Those were the times she didn’t miss Ethan as much. Sleeping alone let those sad thoughts creep in. She frowned knowing that in only a few more days that’s what she was going back to and she was not happy about that at all.
“You miss him that much, huh?”
“I ache with how much I miss him. This tour … it’s killing me,” she admitted to Luke.
“Have you talked to Ethan about this?” he suggested.
“Talked to me about what?” Ethan asked, returning from inside.
Speak of the devil.
He stood next to the fireplace, regarding her with sympathetic curiosity in his eyes. It made her wonder how much he’d heard.
“Your fiancée is super stressed and tired.”
“Thanks, Luke,” she said sarcastically.
“Hey, no reason to not tell him,” he argued. “He’s right there.”
“He can’t help. Neither can you,” Mia said, her temper rising. She didn’t want to discuss this anymore. She wanted happy. Talking about her difficulties with touring and being away ruined the mood she worked so hard to maintain this break. Bolting up, Mia headed towards the porch door, but turned back to them. “Unless you can make it magically be March and then the tour will be over?”
She smiled sadly after they both remained silent. “See. No help.”
She walked inside and headed to the refrigerator. She opened it and grabbed a beer.
That’s it, Mia. Drown those sorrows.
With the bottle opener, she opened it and then took a long swig of the cold brew. Blah, she did not want this beer, but it was the only alcohol in the house. Placing it on the counter, Mia stared at it until her vision blurred.
She closed her eyes. A month and a half into the tour and she was already a mess. She couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t find joy in her performances. All because she missed Ethan like crazy.
Mia sighed when she felt his presence behind her. She always knew when he was close. “Ethan, I don’t want to talk about it,” she warned, still staring at the beer bottle.
“Good and bad, Mia. That’s what I signed up for. I can handle this.”
She turned on him, fire in her eyes. “You may be able to, but not me. So I am choosing to not deal with it,” she said with a loud sigh. “I want a happy time here. I don’t want to talk about depressing things. I need this time to get me through until Christmas. Can’t you see that?”
“Why won’t you talk to me?” he pushed some more. He leaned against the island, his eyes imploring her.
“Goddamn it! That’s all we’ve been doing for weeks!” she erupted, surprising herself. They had never raised their voices at each other before and she hated that she was the first to do so. Tears immediately came to her eyes and she nervously smoothed her hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry. I can’t believe I yelled.”
“Don’t be,” Ethan said, his face stunned. “I’m actually glad you did. I am glad to see that this is not easy on you.”
“What?” Mia said, not believing what she just heard.
“Yeah, that came out wrong,” he said, running his hand through his light brown hair. He sighed deeply and swallowed before continuing. “Whenever I see you on Skype, you are smiling and you seem so happy. Even this trip, you are all smiles and all I can think is ‘does this whole thing not suck to her?’”
“Of course it sucks!” she shouted. “Is that what you want to hear? I am miserable out there and I don’t want that here. I want to be all happy and full of smiles. I need it!”
“Does it even matter what I want?”
“What do you want?” she countered.
“I want honesty.”
“You want honesty? I’ll give you honesty,” she warned, her temper at a peak.
“Dude, not good,” Luke said to Ethan from outside, shaking his head in disbelief.
“Fuck you, Luke!” Mia shouted. She was annoyed that Luke was, one, listening to their conversation, and two, interrupting it. She was on a roll. She had things that were pent up, things that she wanted to say. But his interruption derailed her train of thought. She looked at the door and saw him smiling at her.
Goddamn him! That had been his intent all along. That ass. He just saved her from having a major fight with Ethan. She’d probably have to thank him for that save later.
“Damn it! All I wanted tonight were goddamn s’mores. How’s that for honesty? A simple, gooey, delicious s’more.”
“Why did you want a s’more so badly?” Ethan asked, trying not to laugh.
“They make me happy! The idea of being with you two around the fire,” she sighed, leaning back against the counter, “happy.”
“So you’re miserable and s’mores make you happy?”
“Pretty much,” she said with a light chuckle.
He held out his hand, his eyes twinkling at her. “Come on. Let’s go make s’mores then.”
“Really?” she asked, linking her hand with his.
“Yes. For now,” he vowed.
“Okay,” she said, closing the distance between them.
“I mean it, Mia. We will talk later and try to figure this out.”
She nodded and looked up at him. “I’m sorry for yelling.”
He kissed her forehead and let his lips linger, his breath light and wonderful against her scalp. “It’s quite all right. I’m glad I got to see angry Mia before we got married. She’s quite cute.”
“Cute?”
“Well, to be honest, she turned me on,” he spoke quietly.
She shook her head and laughed. “I love you, Ethan.”
“I love you, suga.”
Mia
Amsterdam, December 2007
Mia and Ethan never did talk about how she was handling the tour. She kept him very busy. She had a feeling that once the bye week was over he’d be focusing more on football which meant less time for her. Her hunch was proven right.
Bring Me You Page 21