The door flies open. Carter shoves me behind him so fast, I don’t realize I’ve moved until I find myself staring at his bare back.
“D, what the Fuck?” he growls, handing my pants to me behind his back. I take them, my hands shaking as I step into them and step around Carter and see that voice belongs to Dane West, the enigmatic drummer of his band. His gaze flicks over me, narrow eyed, but otherwise, unreadable.
He looks at Carter, and smirks approvingly. “Sorry to bust up your loud ass fucking, but we’ve gotta get out of here. There’s a mob outside. We didn’t give anyone a heads up and now, there aren’t enough cops on duty close by to do this kind of crowd control.”
“Oh, shit,” Carter grabs his shirt off the floor and I stand there too stunned to speak.
“What do you mean, a mob?” My boss is going to kill me if anything disrupts the prep for the event tonight.
“I need to go anyway. My boss must be looking for me.”
He stops me mid turn with a hand wrapped around my arm.
“No. Not yet. You stay here until we leave. If they see you come out of here before me, you’ll need a police escort to take you home. Alright?”
“Sure.” I ignore his bandmate’s blatantly nosy stare and press up on my toes to cup his face and bring his mouth back to mine for another kiss.
He wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me off my feet. His lips move over mine, hungry like he hadn’t just finished ravaging them.
“That’s fucking nice and shit. But, dude, we gotta go,” Dane drawls.
Carter presses one last hard kiss to my lips before he pulls back.
“Have a good show,” I tell him.
He cocks his head at me in amusement, a smirk pulls up the corners of his mouth. “You’re not coming?”
I shake my head. “Those tickets sold out in less than two minutes, months ago.”
He bites his full bottom lip and gives me a slightly quizzical look and reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a white envelope. My heart leaps in my throat.
“What is it?” I ask, and take it with trembling hands.
“There are four tickets in there. I was hoping you’d want to come. It’s our opening night. Everyone will be there. It’s going to be the best night of the tour.”
I peek inside, but only so he can’t see my eyes.
I don’t understand the acute rush of disappointment I feel, so I shake it off. My lips are stinging and raw from the fierce kisses we just shared. My body is bruised and aching in the best ways from the desperate need we just tried to satiate.
Tomorrow, when he leaves for his next tour stop, I’ll still feel all of that. It’ll be enough to hold me over until he’s back. I silently chastise myself for being so greedy and plaster a wide smile on my face before I look back up at him. “Thank you. Porsha is going to die of happiness.”
He lowers his head and swipes his lips across mine. My eyes flutter closed on their own accord at the touch. It is the gentlest of kisses, just his lips caressing mine, but it sets off a riot of butterflies inside of me.
“Open your eyes Beth,” he murmurs against my mouth.
I do … and find myself staring into his gorgeous green eyes and in them, I see his heart and its devotion to me.
Just like that, I know that if this moment is all I ever have – it’s everything I could ever need.
Prince Charming Sends a Carriage
BETH
“These seats are right on the side of the stage. This is fucking amazing,” Porsha crows and twirls in the center of my bedroom. Her indecently sheer skirt billows around her endless, shapely legs like a cotton candy colored breeze. She looks ridiculously sexy and not for the first time, I envy her naturally flawless, glowing skin.
“Watch your language tonight. I invited one of the girls I teach and she’s bringing her ten-year-old sister.”
Porsha’s lip curls in disgust. “A ten-year-old who hasn’t heard the word fuck before? I don’t want to hang out with people like that,” she quips and puts down the curling iron she’s been using.
“I’m nervous enough as it is, P, so please behave,” I plead and then glare at the smear of crimson on my chin. “This is the third time I’ve had to re-apply my lipstick,” I complain while I soak another cotton pad with make-up remover, and wipe it all off.
I’m a bundle of excitement and nerves and my hands have been unsteady all night. I just want tonight to be amazing. For the first time since I left Winsome, I was tempted to cover my birthmark. Lisa’s words from the other night, stung. I know she was an asshole, but she wasn’t wrong. I’m very aware of Carter’s stardom and the scrutiny that the women who date men like him face. If we were to take things where he wants, the nasty comments like hers, would be an occupational hazard. I could handle it, but could he? Was he nervous about it, too? It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have…it would suck to know that my less than conventional looks could be an “issue”.
“Why are you nervous? You’re going to end the night getting fucked by your hot, famous boyfriend after he spends the night serenading you in front of thirty thousand people.”
My hand slips again and draws another red line down my chin. I toss the tube down on my vanity. It’s clearly not meant to be, I wipe it off and put on some Chapstick.
“Please stop exaggerating. He just gave me tickets to the show. I don’t have any expectations.”
“What’s the point of living if you don’t expect anything from life, Beth?”
I slip on the stack of bracelets I only take off to shower and for work. “ I’m just managing my expectations. I’m hopeful, but he’s leaving for his tour tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I get that … but we can’t help it, can we? You and me. We’re romantics - expectations are in our blood.”
I sit down on the bed with her and can’t repress my smile. “So…is that what you call what you’re doing with Jack? Romantic?”
She scowls. “No, I hate him. But he’s so hot, and I can’t keep my hands off him. But…no, he’s a pain in my ass.”
“Yeah, well, that means he’s probably your soul mate. Easy love only exists in fairytales. That’s where Prince Charming lives, too.”
“Uh-uh. Your Prince jumped out of the pages of your fairy tale, and he’s riding in on a white horse, and holding out a hand to you. You should take it.”
“Oh my God, you’re so dramatic. I’m just taking it as it comes.”
“Like you took his dick against that door today,” she waggles her eyebrows and I laugh even though I know I shouldn’t.
“Porhsaaaaa…Everyone heard!” I moan and flop back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling as I recall my walk of shame out of there. She lays down next to me.
“My boss wouldn’t look me in the eye when she fired me. And I’m not even upset. I think I was using that job as crutch. Maybe the reckless sex was self-sabotage, you know so that I’d be forced to at least try to focus on painting full time.”
Porsha hums like she’s considering my very deep thought. “Or….what’s more likely is that you’re just an exhibitionist who’s finally found someone to live her fantasy out with. Oooh, maybe our wedding can be a voyeur wedding. You two shag instead of kiss after you exchange vows.”