Groupie/Rock Star Bundle (67 page)

He shook his head. “Not yet. But she will. When
it’s right.”

“How long have you been waiting?”

He sighed. “A lifetime,” he finally answered.
“But it’s been worth it. She’s worth it.”

Maggie nodded. “She’ll be real happy to hear
you took your first step.”

He smiled. “Let’s keep it our secret for a
while.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to do more than take one tiny,
incremental step. I want to walk towards her. It’s the only way
I’ll be able to offer her my world.”

“You want to marry her,” Maggie said
softly.

“I’m going to marry her,” he clarified.
“Everything I do is for her.”

Maggie weighed her words carefully. Finally she
said, “You have to do this for you, Graham. In the end you are all
that you’ve got.”

He understood that she learned that lesson the
hard way. He hated that life had dealt her that kind of blow,
especially given how truly remarkable she was as a human being.
“What are you always telling me? Thoughts become things. As long as
you believe, anything is possible.”

She gave him a reassuring smile as he scooted
over into his chair and rolled from the room. As she watched him
disappear down the hall she realized that was true in almost every
way, except for matters of the heart.

In the end no one can make anyone love them, no
matter how much they wish it into existence. And that night, for
some peculiar reason, the thought bothered her more than it should
have.

She turned off the lights and went to
bed.

Alone.

Again.

Chapter Sixteen

October 21, 2010. New York City.

Vanni

He couldn’t believe it as he lay there on that
big bed watching her sleep. He kept touching her to make sure she
was real and not another sadistic figment of his imagination. He
ran a finger along the delicate ivory curve of her back, which was
barely covered by the sheet. Slowly his fingers then traveled over
the covers to the ample swell of her hip, where his hand fanned out
to cup her possessively. His Andy. His beautiful Andy.

He wanted to wake her with tender kisses along
every square inch of her exposed skin, but it was such a sweet
moment just watching her dream. In that moment, in their tiny
cocoon, nothing could harm them. Nothing could rip them from their
romantic daydream and thrust them back into the ugly complications
that waited for them beyond a fancy New York City hotel.

He’d have been just as happy to stay in the
room for the rest of the trip. He wanted to make love to her and
memorize how her body molded against his own. He wanted to indulge
all his senses: to smell the hint of her perfume along her neck, to
taste her lips and touch her body… to hear her soft whispers as he
lost himself inside her eyes.

He wanted her more than he had ever wanted
anyone. Just once was never enough. He could have buried himself
inside her and never care to withdraw ever again. She was his home.
She was his heart. She was his love.

She murmured as she slowly awakened. Her eyes
filled with joy as they focused on his face. With a gentle smile
she reached up to caress his check. He turned toward her hand and
kissed the sensitive palm before he reached down to toy with those
full, tempting lips. She pushed aside the covers to pull him toward
her. They fit together, head to toe. He slid a knee between her
thighs. She parted open for him willingly.

As hard and ready as he was he took the time to
savor her body and prepare her for him. His hands were masterful
and they knew just where to touch. He was deliberate and playful as
he planted kisses along her neck and across her chest. He captured
one nipple in his mouth as he lifted one of her legs in the crook
of his elbow, opening her wider so he could finally bury himself
deep within her.

She cried out as he filled her, which made him
even harder for her. She fit around him in a tight sheath made
precisely for the rigid contours of his body, which made him murmur
promises and declarations of love he normally would never dare.
Within her arms he was as high as he could possibly be. And he
never wanted to be sober again.

He was a slave to her demands as she urged him
on. He flipped over onto his back, straddling her across his body,
buried deep inside her to the point her head tipped back in
unrestrained ecstasy. He loved to watch her writhe on top of him,
her body undulating with the pleasure he knew she could never find
but at his fingertips.

She looked like a goddess with full breasts
that swayed hypnotically above him. He grabbed her hips with hungry
hands as he guided her movements atop his body. It was so sexy that
he came first this time, just seconds before she quivered and lost
herself in spasms of pleasure.

She collapsed on top of him where she lay
catching her breath. He stroked her back as he kissed her hair.
“Happy birthday, beautiful,” he whispered.

She smiled at him. “Best birthday ever,” she
whispered before another slow, open-mouthed kiss.

He wrapped his arms around her waist. “And it’s
just starting,” he said with an evil grin. She could feel his body
jump within her.

They took their time as they rediscovered each
other. They were in no hurry to face the real world. Instead they
ordered room service, where Vanni got creative with the fruit tray
once it arrived. He trailed a juicy strawberry along the curves of
her body, following the trail with the strong tip of his tongue as
he turned her into a sexy sundae.

He wanted to order champagne for their
celebration but she told him no, then proceeded to use the
chocolate sauce and honey in ways that made him forget all about
the bubbly.

They cleaned up in a shared bubble bath, where
they frolicked until it grew tepid. They took turns drying each
other off but it ignited their passion once again and they ended up
tangled once more on the dampened sheets of the rumpled
bed.

They may have been content to stay there all
day but the persistent buzzing of his cell phone could no longer be
denied. He cuddled Andy in the crook of his arm as he answered.
“Yeah, Holly. What’s up?”

Andy toyed with the hairs smattered along his
muscular chest as she waited for the call to end. But from the way
he tensed she knew that something was wrong.

“No, I told you that was not necessary.
Everything is under control.”

Andy leaned back to look up into his face. He
gave her a roll of the eye and shook his head. “But you didn’t need
to come to New York,” he said. Andy sat up a bit as she waited.
“No, not today. Today I’m booked.” He paused. “You know, interviews
and what not. I have the interview with my dad tonight at six
o’clock.” Another pause. “No, I’m having dinner with some old
friends. I’d love to invite you, Holly, but it’s going to be kind
of intimate.”

She watched as his face soured. “No, you don’t
need to worry about that. Trust me, I’m fine. No alcohol. No
prostitutes.” He smiled at Andy. “It’s actually been a great trip.
A real homecoming that was long overdue.”

She snuggled back into the crook of his arm and
waited for him to finish. “Yeah, I’ll see you soon. Maybe tomorrow.
Bye, Holly.”

He disconnected the call. “She’s in New York. I
told her that I was fine but I guess she’s worried.”

Andy opened her mouth to say something but then
her cell phone rang. It was Holly. It was Vanni’s turn to wait
while Andy made her way through the conversation. “I can appreciate
you’d be worried, Holly, but I’m sure he’s fine. Otherwise we’d
hear about it.” A pause. “At some point we just have to trust him.”
She ran a finger along his naked thigh. “He’s a big boy,” she added
with a teasing smile Vanni’s direction.

With yet another evil grin he eased her back
against the bed and kissed a path down across each breast and over
the swell of her belly. She tried not to gasp as his head
disappeared between her thighs. “I’d love to help you, Holly, but
I’m in Tennessee. I’m sure he’s fine.” Her eyes closed as he did
sweet things to her nether regions. “Trust him,” she finally said
as her free hand clutched a handful of his hair. “He knows what
he’s doing. I gotta go, Holly. Grandma’s calling me.”

She didn’t even wait for a goodbye before she
disconnected the call and threw her phone on the floor. “You’re
evil,” she breathed as her hips gyrated around his talented
tongue.

He crawled his way up her body. “But you love
me,” he said with that insufferable smirk that melted away all her
defenses.

“Forever,” she instantly assured. The strength
of her promise didn’t even surprise her. She’d love Giovanni
Carnevale until she drew her last breath. Of that, she had no
doubt. She pulled him down for another kiss.

Vanni had wanted to take her for a picnic in
the park to celebrate her birthday. He remembered how she had
always wanted to be on his arm in the open, and could think of no
greater gift.

However it was Andy who shied away from the
public scrutiny of being seen together. As much as she wanted to be
with him, fully and really with him, she knew that their
relationship was tenuous at best. There were still so many hurdles
in their way.

So Vanni did what any rock star of his
magnitude would do: he had the concierge buy them some disguises.
She got a long black wig and he got a baseball cap that barely
concealed his flowing locks. The hotel provided them a picnic
basket and they walked arm in arm through the park to the
boathouse.

She giggled as he rowed them out into the
middle of the lake. Under their coats and cheap costumes she felt
like they were playing a couple of parts in a movie. She called him
Fred and he called her Lucy, and they fed each other finger foods
like cheese and fruit under a gray sky.

He made her laugh even more as he pulled out a
ukulele and sang silly, old fashioned love songs. By the time they
rowed for shore Andy was pleased they took the chance to go out
into the world for what she knew would be the most unique birthday
celebrations in her lifetime.

She wanted to go with Vanni to the studio for
moral support, but Holly finally convinced him to allow her to come
along. He figured if she could see he was sober and everything was
fine then she’d leave him alone the rest of the trip – or possibly
go back to L.A. entirely.

So Andy waited at the hotel while Holly met
with Vanni in the lobby of the studio. Her ever present smile
widened when she saw him. She looked so relieved that he was not
only sober but looked happier than she remembered him being. “New
York is good for you,” she said as he lifted her up in a friendly
hug.

“It’s home,” he said with a smile.

“And things with your dad? Are they
okay?”

He shrugged. As hurt as he’d been the last two
days with Andy had done so much to heal his spirit. “We’re on our
way to okay,” he said, and for the first time he truly believed
it.

Now that he and Andy were together, he believed
there was nothing life could throw at him that he couldn’t
handle.

He even managed to hug Angelo for the cameras
and recite many of the things Andy had helped him realize about his
dad over the past day. He understood he had an illness, and he
truly felt at the time he was doing the right thing by removing
himself from their lives given the state he was in. They talked
about how he gone from being homeless and even in jail to being a
model employee for the market where he worked, as well as a
tireless volunteer for those with substance abuse.

By the time the interview wrapped even Vanni
believed the sunny happy feel good story they sold. Though he was
itching to get back to Andy, he allowed Holly to talk them all into
going out for a late dinner at a popular all night
diner.

He watched as Holly immediately bonded with
Angelo. He knew it had to be hard for her to see this relationship
turn out so well when her relationship with her father hadn’t.
Every time she looked up at Angelo she looked like an orphaned
puppy hoping to find her way home. Vanni felt that instant urge to
protect her, so he indulged the hour they spent chatting
together.

In the end he was glad to have had that time
with his dad, looking at him through her eyes.

He finally excused himself to make a call,
leaving Holly and Angelo together briefly. Angelo gave her a warm,
grateful smile. “I’m so happy that my Giovanni has got so many good
friends looking out for him. He’s a good man. I can see why so many
love him.”

She gave him a big smile in return. “Oh? Who
else have you met?”

“I’ve only met the one staying with him in his
suite. Andy, I believe her name was.”

Holly’s smile faded. “Are you sure that was her
name?” she asked.

He nodded. “It’s hard to forget a woman named
Andy,” he said with a chuckle. “Even for an old man like
me.”

She smiled again, only this time with much
greater effort.

Vanni approached the table. “Hey, listen. I
have to get going. I’ve got an early interview tomorrow morning.
I’ve taken care of the bill. You guys can stay as long as you
like.”