For One Night Only (5 page)

By the time he arrived at the Penthouse suite, Byron was waiting in the open doorway. ‘Ruben, you need to get some sleep. We don’t have much time today.’

‘Ok, ok, I’m here now. By the way, can we spend another night here and fly on to
New York
tomorrow?’

‘Why?’

‘No particular reason. I just want to stay here tonight, that’s all.’ Ruben dropped his gaze and feigned interest in the newspapers lying on the table. He could never lie to Byron. Not convincingly anyway.

‘It should be no problem. As usual, I’ll arrange everything,’ he drawled. ‘Now will you please go to bed?’

Seeing the tiredness etched onto his friend’s features, Ruben felt guilty. ‘You need some rest, too.’ Smiling, Byron picked up his cell phone and switched it off, making it clear he was unavailable to all for the time being. Leaving the room, he told Ruben he would wake him in about 6 hours.

Stripping off his clothing as he walked, Ruben made his way into the bathroom, hoping a quick shower before bed would relax him. The warm water did nothing to calm his sensitized skin. Feeling himself begin to harden again as he thought of her near nakedness just a few floors down, he laughed and turned the cold tap on full. He would wait until he got what he wanted this time.

* * * *

Shutting the door on the bellhop without tipping him, The Fan dropped her bags on yet another bed in yet another hotel. She didn’t know how much longer she could go on like this
.

Unimpressed, she looked around the hastily booked room. She’d been lucky to get it at such short notice. Her money wouldn’t last long if she kept paying for expensive hotels, but after last night’s developments, she didn’t have a choice. She had to stay close to him, had to find out who the brunette was and what she meant to him.

Unable to sleep a wink since she had seen him, she had returned to her room only to pack her bags and head straight for the airport, hoping to book a flight that arrived about the same time as his. Damning her luck, she had been forced to spend fraught hours on standby, pacing the departure lounge as she waited to be called. In the end, she had arrived about four hours behind him.

Her cell phone rang, reminding her that the friend she had arranged to share with was in town, and probably trying to book into their hotel room in another part of LA. She answered, telling the woman impatiently that she should make her own way to the show and they would meet up later. Hanging up on her without saying goodbye, she resolved to think up a plausible excuse for her erratic behavior by the time they spoke again. Hopefully, that would get the woman off her back for now
.

Ignoring the exhaustion that threatened to overwhelm her, she plugged in the laptop she took everywhere. It was her lifeline—her connection to Ruben’s world—and the one place she could rely on getting the information she needed. Navigating quickly to the many fan sites she was a member of, she found nothing, no mention of any woman. Apparently, she had been the only one who had noticed.

Her brain hurt from hours of ruminating on who the brunette was and what she and Ruben were up to
. Was she here with him? Had they spent the night having sex?
Bile rose in her throat and she pushed the thought away, deciding there was no point in getting upset until she had proof.
Maybe the woman had been a reporter or someone from the record company? No need to panic yet.

The regular fans had been online in droves, posting every picture, no matter what the quality simply because they were of Ruben. Endless tales of ‘fan encounters’ filled the forums, rambling on breathlessly about seeing him leave a car, walk through a door or wave at them—all non-events as far as she was concerned, but the very stuff they seemed to live for.

She had nothing in common with these women, but often found herself grateful for their obsessive attention to detail. In the years when she had been trapped with her father, she had lived vicariously through them, eagerly absorbing every morsel of information she could glean from their messages and photos. Thanks to them, she knew where he lived, shopped, relaxed and worked. She knew his car, his staff, his family and his friends.

She’d actually come face to face with him at a CD signing when her journey had first began six months earlier. The devastation of realizing that he had no idea who she was had been hard to get over. Due to the fact they were not alone, her smile had barely slipped as he’d signed her CD without a glimpse of recognition before she was hustled away to make space for the next fan.

She also knew about the two very casual girlfriends he had been seen with since then. One of them had been a celebrity, the other had not.
The latter had been easy to find once she knew her name and paying the bitch a visit had been one of the first items on her agenda once she had been free.
Nobody had been home the night she turned up on the doorstep, but that hadn’t mattered.
Unable to punish the girlfriend for being with Ruben, she had satisfied herself with trashing the apartment and stealing the few items of jewelry that had caught her eye. A shiny new Mercedes outside on the drive hadn’t fared much better—she’d slashed the tires before throwing a brick through the windscreen. She still remembered the sound of the car alarm shrieking in protest as she ran off into the night.

In a way she was glad she hadn’t confronted the woman. If she had done her harm and gotten caught, any hopes of being reunited with Ruben would be gone forever.
He wasn’t hers yet, and she didn’t have the right, or the reason—she hoped—to be jealous.

Getting on top of the bed, she tried to fight the tiredness, but knew she would have to sleep soon, if only so she would have more energy for later. Knowing he was somewhere above her in the hotel didn’t excite her, it wasn’t as if she would be able to get near him.
Shit, she doubted Albert would let anyone onto the entire floor, assuming his boss had taken his usual penthouse suite.

Ruben hated having anyone around before a performance—including friends and family.
A thought panicked her. What about after? He often entertained or hit the clubs after a show, still pumped from the adrenaline of being on stage. Things could get complicated if the mystery woman was still hanging around like a bad smell while he was looking to release some of that excess energy. She was sure he would be resting for the time being, knowing from bittersweet personal experience that he wouldn’t let anything or anyone get in the way of a show.

She shut her eyes, deciding to rest while she could. The night ahead promised to be a long one and, if the brunette knew what was good for her, Ruben would spend it alone.

Chapter 5

Bethany
breathed a ragged sigh of relief as the door closed behind him. Her earlier conviction that Ruben couldn’t possibly be interested had left her unprepared for what had happened. During the whole encounter, she had been unable to move, never mind stop him. It all seemed so unreal and her brain simply refused to accept what it had just seen. If she hadn’t been there herself, she wouldn’t believe it either!

Sure, it was flattering that he’d come on to her but what was the point of it all
? She never did this kind of thing and she seriously doubted that he was interested in anything other than quick, mindless sex. Not that she found the idea unappealing. He was an attractive man.
That body could take her mind off her troubles for a few hours
, she guessed.

Squirming at the throbbing between her thighs as she thought of his lips on hers moments before, she allowed herself the indulgence of imagining what could have happened if she hadn’t been ‘saved by the bell’. Throwing herself back onto the bed, she blew out a loud breath, trying to relax.

Why did she always have to be so serious? Maybe just this once, she could have fun, without fear or expectation?
Saying it was one thing, doing it was another. Her relationship with Simon had suppressed the natural inhibition she used to have. She smiled wryly, trying to chase away the tiredness that always invaded her spirit whenever she thought of her ex-fiancé.

The girl she used to be wouldn’t have hesitated for even a moment. Ruben wouldn’t know what had hit him. She laughed into the stillness of the room as she imagined him, lying stunned and naked on the floor, after she’d had her way with him. She sighed as she remembered she wasn’t that girl anymore.

She picked at her breakfast half-heartedly, the sleepless night beginning to catch up with her. With just enough energy left to arrange an alarm call, she fell asleep on top of the covers.

Many hours later,
Bethany led Donna and Tyla through the curtain and up to the door of his dressing room. After one more urgent whisper at her niece to calm down, she knocked, feeling no braver than the young girl, but determined to lead by example. Tyla had hyperventilated for almost an hour once she found out what her aunt had managed to arrange for her.

Her mother Donna,
Bethany’s younger sister, had been almost as excited, but more interested in hearing the juicy details. She appeared to have forgotten she was sulking at the moment, convinced that
Bethany simply wasn’t telling the truth about her time with Ruben.

Inside the room minutes later,
Bethany was almost sorry she had come. Tyla was sobbing uncontrollably, clinging to the front of Ruben’s shirt. Bethany and Donna were making soothing noises whilst trying to pry his clothing out of her fingers, talking over each other as they kept apologizing. Ruben impressed
Bethany with the way he tried to calm Tyla without being panicked by her actions. Finally, his soothing tones got through to the young girl, who went from loud wailing to quiet sniffling. Not long after that, they managed to coax her into a chair.

Bethany
dared a look at her sister. The surprise on her face wasn’t a revelation. Although happily married for many years, Donna still had the wildness in her that
Bethany had lost. Her eyes were asking how the hell
Bethany had kept her hands to herself while she was alone with this guy. Donna blatantly took in the view from her position behind him, smiling and winking up at him as he turned around and caught her doing it.
Bethany was relieved to see him laugh and wink back broadly. She just prayed that for once in her life, her sister wouldn’t blurt out what she was thinking.

Tyla looked up at him in silent awe, red-rimmed eyes wide as he turned his attention back to her and asked if she had enjoyed the show. Nodding mutely, she dropped her head, embarrassment starting to kick in. Sensing her discomfort,
Bethany decided to bring her ordeal to an end.

‘Thank you so much for seeing us Ruben. It’s getting late though and I think we’re all a little tired,’ she said with a kind look at her niece. The group moved slowly toward the door as Ruben signed pictures for all of them. About to follow her family out into the hallway,
Bethany was halted by the sound of her name.

‘When are you going home?’ Ruben asked

‘We’re flying back very early tomorrow morning.’

‘Will you join me for a late supper tonight, in my suite?’

Bethany
hesitated. Now that was a complication she didn’t need to think about at the moment. He obviously intended to pick up where they’d left off earlier. After the morning’s foreplay, they both knew if she accepted, she was consenting to more than just dinner. As usual, her brain went into overdrive in an attempt to stop her body from getting her into trouble. About to shake her head, if only just to play for time to think, she was interrupted.

‘Yes, she would love to,’ came her sister’s distant voice through the open doorway, followed instantly by the sound of her niece giggling uncontrollably. Ruben and Bethany grinned at each other.

‘Well? Will you join me, Bethany?’

The look in his eye told her he already knew what her answer would be. Nodding quickly, she tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach as she held his gaze. Kissing her cheek briefly, he let her go; his look promising that he would see her later.

Rejoining her sister in the hall, she was greeted by incredulous eyes. ‘I know you weren’t thinking of turning him down,’ her sister said, a laugh in her voice. Not wanting to spend the whole journey back to the hotel explaining in front of Tyla why she had almost refused,
Bethany simply shook her head and smiled.

* * * *

‘I’m not going.’

Ruben was furious, but trying hard not to take his anger out on Byron, who had just delivered the news that the record label needed some extra publicity shots. They wanted him in
New York
by early morning.

Byron persisted. ‘Why must we stay here tonight and why are you being so stubborn?’

Ruben kicked his shoes off. ‘I just want to, that’s all.’ Dragging his hands through his hair, he began to pace. ‘They can’t just call and change plans at the last minute. They own enough of my life without eating into the pathetic amount of free time I have left.’