American Diva (31 page)

The hard part would be telling Lucas, of course, but she had to do it as soon as she could.

They touched down around two, already late for rehearsal. On the tarmac, parked near the hangar, was a limo that Audrey was certain had been sent for her.

As Jack powered the plane down, he smiled at her, but his eyes reflected the growing trepidation she felt inside her.

“I’m just going to get my things,” Audrey said, gesturing to the back of the plane.

He nodded, then ran his hand along her thigh and squeezed her knee. “I’ll be right there.”

Audrey crawled out of the cockpit and walked to the back of the plane, where they had carelessly thrown their things in their haste to be on their way. As she tried to sort out their things—an impossible task, given how her mind was racing—Jack surprised her by stepping up behind her, slipping his hands around her waist, and drawing her into his chest as he kissed her neck.

“I wish we didn’t have to get off this plane,” he murmured as his hands slid up to cup her breasts. “I wish I could fly you to the moon.”

“What would we do on the moon?”

“These seats fold down into beds.”

Audrey smiled and turned in his embrace, slipping her arms around his neck. “The moon is going to have to wait, unfortunately. I have a show to do. A dozen of them, actually.”

“Ten,” he corrected her. “Just ten.” And he cupped her jaw, kissing her.

She returned his ardor tenfold until Jack at last lifted his head. He pushed her hair back from her face. “Audrey . . .” He smiled and gripped her hand. “I need to say this. I am crazy about you, sweet cheeks. I . . . I adore you. What happened between us was real.”

She blushed. “
I’ll
say,” she said low, and kissed his chin. “I adore you, too, Jack.” And oh, she did, she truly adored him, everything about him, and the way he touched her and looked at her and spoke to her like she mattered to him.

He smoothed his hand over her hair, his eyes moving over her face. “I think I’m falling in love with you,” he said quietly.

“Really? I’ve already fallen.”

He smiled, almost gratefully, she thought. “Then I guess the burning question is, where do we go from here?”

“To the moon and beyond?”

He smiled at her optimism. “I’m afraid we’ve got some complications with lift-off.”

“Yeah,” she said, sighing. “I have to figure out how to end it,” she made herself say, finding it surprisingly difficult to say aloud.

“Today?” he asked hopefully.

It was enough that she had to end it—to say when seemed impossible at the moment. Did she tell him the moment she saw him? Wait until after the show and then walk onto the bus to tell him with dozens of people outside the door of the tiny bedroom? And what would she say? “
Great show, Lucas, and by the way, I am leaving you for Jack
.”

It was too overwhelming to think of, and she shook her head. “I don’t know.”

His smiled faded. “Well . . .
soon
, I hope.”

“As soon as I can. But Lucas and I have had a long relationship. I can’t just walk in and announce it’s over.”

“Is there an easier way?” Jack asked.

“No . . .” Her hands fell away from him. “But I have rehearsal and a show to do, and I have been with Lucas a very long time and he’s been good to me. It deserves more than a
see-you-later
.”

Jack turned away from her. His expression had changed; he looked doubtful.

“But I
am
going to do it,” she said, trying to reassure him.

He looked at her. “I hope so, because I want to be with you, Audrey,” he said earnestly. “I can’t be near you and not be with you.”

“Jack . . . I want to be with you, too.”

“Are you absolutely sure?” he asked, his voice gone quietly rough. “If there is the slightest doubt, please tell me now.”

She touched her fingers to his hand and looked in his eyes. “I’m
sure
.” He gazed at her a long moment. Audrey could feel her entire being churn with fear and dread and an overwhelming sense of love for Jack. It was a lethal mix, turning to acid in her gut.

Jack’s jaw was clenched shut, as if he struggled to keep from speaking. “All right,” he said at last. “I understand. But I have to see you.”

“I’ll do my best—”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I have to see you.” He sighed, ran his hands through his hair, and turned a full circle. “Jesus, but I never meant for this to happen. I never believed myself to be the kind of guy to hook up with another man’s girlfriend.” He looked up, his gaze piercing her. “But neither can I deny that there is something about you, girl, something that slipped under my skin from the first time we met. I can’t walk away from what we’ve shared and pretend it didn’t happen. I can’t hear you tell me you want to be with me, too, and then wait for some magical moment.”

“I know, but this is really hard, Jack.”

“Yeah. It is,” he said, nodding, and put his hands on his hips. “I know I am pushing you, I know I am demanding something I probably have no right to demand. Honest to God, I don’t mean to be a prick about it—I really do understand this is a big complicated mess, but . . .” He paused, glanced at the ground a moment, then lifted his gaze to her. His blue eyes were swimming with longing. She knew—she felt it, too. “But Audrey, I look at you, and I see everything I have ever wanted. I look at you and I realize that an empty place in me is filling up,” he said, touching his fist to his chest. “I realize that you really can’t just fly to the moon with me, but if you love me . . . I
have
to see you.”

“Okay,” she said, moved by his speech. “Okay.” But uncertainty filled her.

Jack grabbed her up and wrapped his big arms around her, holding her tightly as he kissed her deeply, almost as if he was afraid it would be the last time. Audrey’s body responded to the urgency in his kiss, curving into him, her breasts hardening against his chest. But her conscience had grown to a roar, and she slipped a hand between their bodies, pushing lightly against his chest as she moved her head away. “Jack . . .”

He nipped at her lip, kissed her cheek, and stepped back. He shoved his hand through his hair, then touched her jaw. “I love you,” he said restlessly. “I understand how hard this is for you, but I don’t know how patient I can be.”

She sucked in her breath and held it.

“Audrey?”

“Okay,” she said.

It was show time in more ways than one.

 

 

Courtney was waiting for them in the limo, seated in the back with her legs crossed, Bruno on the seat next to her. Jack suspected she’d taken a little turn around Nashville before heading for the airport. She was like so many starlets he’d known—grabbing on to any vestige of fame that she could, unable to reach it on her own.

She smiled at him in a way that clearly suggested she would lie down in the backseat for him if he said the word when he climbed in behind Audrey. He ignored her.

“So!” Courtney said brightly, depositing Bruno like a bothersome child on Audrey’s lap. “Did you two kids have fun?”

Audrey very studiously avoided looking at him, Jack noticed, and said evenly, “It wasn’t exactly a party break, Courtney.”

“Oh, I know. I’m really sorry to hear about your brother, Audrey,” Courtney said with all the sincerity of a snake. “Just be glad you weren’t here yesterday,” she said with a roll of her eyes.

“Why?” Audrey asked.

“Adding those tour dates was a
bitch
. And Lucas . . .” She waved her hand and rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say he is not in a good mood. Rich says it’s ridiculous to add the dates, and unless you add ten, it’s just going to cost you money, not make you money, and that really pissed Lucas off. They got into it.”

“Great,” Audrey muttered, and pressed her cheek to Bruno’s body.

Courtney smiled at Jack.

Jack shifted his gaze to Audrey. He tried not to think of her in bed or the way she moved beneath him, her eyes closed as she gave in to ecstasy. He did not want to think of the way she slept, facedown, her limbs sprawled across him and the bed, her hair covering her face.

He wanted her. He needed her. He had felt more alive last night than he had in years, and he did not want to lose that feeling.

As Courtney asked about rehearsal this afternoon, Jack looked out the window and recalled the way Audrey had finally opened her eyes this morning, a catlike smile on her face as she enjoyed his attention to her.

How was it possible, Jack wondered, that in a matter of weeks, he had changed so much? He hadn’t thought of his flight school, hadn’t thought about TA. He hadn’t thought about anything but Audrey, about keeping his hands off her, keeping her at arm’s length just so this
could
not happen.

But with Audrey glancing at him now, her eyes full of the same sort of emotions he was feeling, he was certain that this was the woman he was supposed to be with, improbable though it seemed. He felt that as strongly as he’d felt the passion last night, as strongly as he felt the enormity of the wreckage they’d created.

He felt responsible, felt as if he must pull her up from that wreckage. That was all this story needed, the opening chapter—when he pulled her out of that wreckage.

Yet when they arrived at the coliseum, a feeling of foreboding grew in him, and the blissful feelings he’d been experiencing in the last twenty-four hours all but disappeared when he caught sight of Bonner standing out front with Rich, waiting for Audrey.

“There he is,” Courtney said with a sigh. “Your manager.”

Audrey, Jack noticed, avoided his gaze altogether now.

The driver hadn’t even come to a full stop before Lucas opened the door and poked his head inside. “Hey, baby,” he said as he reached for Audrey’s hand. She quickly pushed Bruno into his hand, but when she stepped out, he put his arms around her and kissed her.

The heat of angry frustration crept into Jack’s neck, and he shifted his gaze—unfortunately, landing inadvertently on Courtney, who was watching him closely.

She knew
.

He grabbed Audrey’s bag and stepped out of the car.

“How are you, okay?” Lucas was asking Audrey as Rich stood there, shuffling his feet uncomfortably and looking a little agitated, which Jack attributed to the dispute over added tour dates. “Everything okay at home?” Lucas asked.

“Yeah,” she said, looking everywhere but at Lucas as Bruno scampered around their feet.

“I worried something more might have happened—I called your dad this morning and he said you were at your mom’s.”

“Did he?” Audrey asked, and smiled nervously at Rich. “You know Dad—he thinks he knows how to handle things.” She shifted her gaze to Jack for only a split second, but it was enough that Jack saw her helplessness.

“Well, you’re back now, that’s all that matters,” Lucas said, and kissed her again. “I missed you, baby. God, I missed you.”

“Oh,” she said.

“Rich and I need to go over a few things with you before you get to rehearsal,” he said, letting her go save the arm he kept tightly around her shoulders. He glanced at Jack. “Get her bags, will you?” he said, and pulled Audrey along as they started walking to the coliseum, Rich walking alongside, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

Jack watched them go, consciously stretching his hand to keep from making a fist. He didn’t even notice Courtney watching him until she stepped up beside him and folded her arms.

“She
is
cute,” she said matter-of-factly. “I can see why you’re hot for her. But she can be a real diva.”

Jack slid his gaze to Courtney.

She smiled up at him and winked. “And besides that, she is obviously unavailable. But I’m not.” She put her hand on his ass.

Jack grabbed her wrist and jerked her hand away from him. “You need to go to work,” he said.

“Fine. It’s your turn to pick up Bruno’s shit,” she huffed, and walked on.

Jack slung Audrey’s bag over one shoulder, his bag over the other, whistled for Bruno to follow him. “Looks like it’s you and me again, little guy,” he said, and began walking, with Bruno hurrying to keep up.

 

 

After the meeting with Audrey and Lucas, where Rich explained the cost of the extra tour dates the idiot Bonner had added, Rich retreated to his hotel room, furious with Audrey. He closed the drapes, changed into his suit and cloak, then extinguished all lights but one at the desk. He swirled his cloak around him, dipped his pen in the special red ink he’d bought in D.C., and wrote a letter to Audrey, admonishing her for being such a whore. He’d had it with her—first Lucas, now that dumb jock from Texas. She was a slut and she needed to pay for it, which was precisely what he told her in his letter.