“I was just wondering how long it would take if we stayed here before someone sent a search party to drag us back.”
I tightened my grip around his waist and sighed. “I don’t want to go back either.”
Jack turned to face me. “You don’t?”
I shook my head. Jack took my face into his hands and gently tilted my chin up to meet his eyes. His eyes searched mine for a long time before he closed them and leaned his forehead against mine. “Come on, before I change my mind and never let you go back to your tour.” Then he gently kissed my mouth and I watched as a devilish grin took over his perfect mouth. “Bottom drawer of the dresser, you have clothes to put on.”
It took a minute for what he said to register, but when my brain processed his words, my mouth hung open in disbelief. “You mean I’ve had clothes here all along and you didn’t tell me?”
Any other man would have looked sheepish at confessing that he had secretly kept me in little silk nighties for two days while clothes sat in the other room. But not Jack. He made no apology for taking what he wanted. “You didn’t need them till now.”
“I didn’t need them?” Jack ignored the stunned look on my face and my question dripping in sarcasm.
“Did you need them?”
“That’s not the point.”
Jack looked amused at our banter. “What is the point then?”
“The point is that you made me think I had no clothes to put on, even if I wanted to put on clothes.”
“Did you want to put on clothes?”
“Ughh… you are impossible, you know that?” I began to stomp toward the bedroom in search of my clothes, pretending to be annoyed when I really wasn’t.
Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him, holding me tightly to his chest.
“But you love me anyway.” He kissed me chastely on my lips and then released me back on my path to the bedroom, smacking my ass firmly as I was almost out of his reach.
I didn’t admit it, but he was right. I loved him anyway. Any way that I could have him, any way that he wanted me. Just any way.
***
As we drove back to Rome, I realized I was glad that I didn’t have to go right back to the tour bus. I needed time to slowly slip back into reality from the cocoon that Jack and I had built around us for two and a half days. We arrived at Jack’s hotel, parking the car in front of the main entrance. The bellman jumped to open my door, but Jack was already making his way around the car to offer his hand, dismissing the bellman with a flick of his wrist. There was something so incredibly sexy about how Jack always treated me like a lady, everywhere except the bedroom that is. It was like it was our little secret that he was the polar opposite of his polite mannerisms once the door to our private life swung shut.
Jack guided me to the front desk, his hand protectively on the small of my back as the manager smiled and spoke to him in Italian. Jack responded in what sounded to me like perfect Italian, although I really couldn’t be sure since I didn’t speak more than ten words. What I was sure of was that Jack sounded sexy as all hell as he spoke and I couldn’t help but stare at him as the words flowed from his mouth.
Jack caught my gaze and I watched as the corner of his mouth turned up, silently acknowledging that he was pleased with my ardor. Eventually the manager handed over a key to Jack and turned his attention to me. “Mrs. Cole, your friend, Ms. Sienna, she say she meet you at the lobby bar, yes?”
I was about to correct the manager, tell him that I wasn’t Mrs. Cole, but I saw the glimmer in Jack’s eye as I caught him watching me speak to the manager. Following Jack’s lead, I allowed a small grin to escape, silently acknowledging I was aware of his gaze as I responded to the manager. “Grazie, Mr. Benetio.”
Jack directed the bellman to deliver our luggage, then we began to make our way toward the lobby bar.
“I like the sound of that,” Jack whispered in my ear as he tightened his grip on my hip as we walked. I wasn’t sure if he meant my attempt at speaking Italian or the manager calling me Mrs. Cole, but something in the way he spoke made me think it had nothing to do with my Italian.
***
We met Sienna and Tyler for drinks in the lobby bar and Sienna told us all about the sightseeing they had already done. Tyler didn’t keep his hands permanently affixed on Sienna, as Jack did on me, but something about the way he touched her when he did told me they hadn’t been sleeping in separate rooms while we were gone.
“Syd, we went by Olympic Stadium and you are never going to believe what we saw.” Sienna’s face was as excited as a kid in a candy store.
Olympic Stadium was the venue we were scheduled to play in Rome the following evening. It was the first concert after our short break and before we moved on to eleven more cities in three weeks, starting in just two short days.
Obviously I didn’t respond to Sienna’s question fast enough, because she couldn’t wait any longer. “A huge billboard! There was a huge billboard on the front of Olympic Stadium!”
Sienna’s excitement was contagious and I found myself smiling, although I wasn’t even sure what I was excited about yet.
“Us, Syd. We are on the billboard with Double Strife!” Sienna clapped her hands together in excitement. “Remember those shots they took of us when we were recording?”
I nodded my head, vaguely remembering a few photos they’d taken of Sienna and I singing.
“Well, they look freakin’ awesome. They have full body shots of us up on the billboard and we look smokin’!” Sienna giggled at her own compliment. “I mean, I think they might have enhanced certain parts of you for the picture, but damn, Syd, you look ridiculously hot. Right, Tyler?”
Tyler looked to Jack and back to Sienna briefly before responding. “You both look hot. It’s pretty crazy to see you both about thirty feet tall above my head … especially when I have one hand holding Sienna’s little ass that fits in my palm so nicely.” Tyler laughed and Sienna elbowed him playfully.
“Come on, I want to show you. It’s less than a mile, we can walk over there now. I can’t wait to see your face when you see the cle**age you’re rockin’ in that pink baby-doll tank you love so much!”
I saw Jack’s jaw clench out of the corner of my eye and knew his protective streak was kicking in at the mention of any of my cle**age on display. I was sure Sienna was exaggerating, and thought that maybe it would put Jack’s mind at ease when he saw the picture, so I agreed to go. Plus, I was curious to see for myself.