Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND) (26 page)

“Would that be Chloe Zanders?” Lily asked, even though she knew full well it was the same person.

“Oh…uh, yes,” the young woman said softly, sniffing and rubbing her stomach as she bit her lip, feeling marginally better just knowing the woman wasn’t listed under Kells.

“Chloe didn’t leave any notice about guests stopping by today. I’ll just need to ring her room and check. Who should I say is visiting?” Lily asked.

The woman started crying uncontrollably again at the question, weeping even harder this time. “I’m her…I’m her…sis…sis… sister. I’m her sister. I’m sorry. I just don’t seem to be able to control myself.”

It was a bald lie, and they both knew it, but being a lie detector wasn’t in Lily’s job description anymore than being Chloe’s protector was. Maybe the woman would shock the man claiming to be Chloe’s husband into leaving before Chloe and Mr. Wade got done with their mid-afternoon date. That might simplify things, Lily decided. Or not.

Putting the weeping pregnant woman in the room too would at least keep the yelling and screaming out of the lobby. That had to be a good thing, Lily thought.

“You seem so distressed. Give me a moment and let me see what I can do,” Lily said sweetly, swearing silently as she picked up the house phone again. “Eddie, Chloe has another guest that needs an escort. Yes—
another one
. Yes—right away—as soon as your legs can get you here.”

Lily hung up the house phone with a decisive click and turned a falsely confident smile on the woman.

“Just one moment and someone will take you to her room,” Lily said, smiling again and passing the weeping woman the rest. “Keep the box. I have more, and you might need extras later.”

Chapter 21

Chloe unlocked her room and walked in humming. On the bed was a giant bouquet of flowers and a jewelry box. Giggling, she picked up the flowers, took a giant sniff, and then laid them back down. Then she picked up the jewelry box and shook it, grinning like an idiot. There was no time to tear into it now. It would have to wait, but boy, Jasper really was good at the dazzling stuff.

Humming, she moved to the closet and pulled out the teal dress that she’d worn the first night she’d spent with Jasper. Stripping down to only her panties she stepped into her tallest heels and then the dress, reaching around the back of it to zip it up.

“Hey, Babe. Let me get that zipper for you,” Aaron said casually, coming out of the bathroom and stepping up to stroke Chloe’s naked back.

Chloe screamed at the touch of his hands and jumped, running across the room to get away. Her heart was pounding as she put a fist to the center of her chest, and then she realized it was all that was holding the dress up across the top of her breasts. She pulled the dress over her shoulders.

“Aaron—where the hell did you come from? Why are you in my room? Damn you for scaring me,” she said.

Chloe frowned and paced back to him, mad now that the initial fear was gone.

Aaron shrugged and walked over to sit on her bed.

“Mom sent you this,” he said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out an envelope to hand over to her. “I think your paycheck is in there. They want you back, Chloe. So do I. Come home and let’s work this out.”

Chloe took the envelope from him with one hand while still holding her dress up on one shoulder with the other. She tossed the envelope onto her dresser.

“No, I’m not going back with you. We’re divorced, Aaron. You’ve delivered what you came to deliver—now leave,” she ordered.

“Didn’t you hear what I said? I want you back, Chloe. I’m ready to start a family now. I know you think you’re a little old to have children, but really you’re not. Women have babies at your age all the time,” Aaron said.

“You’ve got to be kidding. You talked your way into my room to deliver that weak line?” Chloe said with a snort. “Definitely not interested. Not anymore—haven’t cared about children since the first woman you cheated with. Now go away.”

“Chloe—I’m really sorry for the other women, and all the shit I gave you over how you looked. I’ve missed you. Come back and you can wear whatever you want, except maybe that dress. That’s a little bit too formal for everyday business wear at the company. Looks great on you though,” Aaron said, lowering his eyelids to study her flushed face. “I heard you humming, and I saw you smiling when you saw the flowers and jewelry box. You had to know I was around someplace, Babe.”

Chloe gave him a frigid look that said “Die,” but there was no way she was telling him about Jasper. She didn’t want anything from her old life to mess up her new one. She adjusted the dress as best she could and tried to look dignified while she threw him out.

“Get out of my room now, or I’ll call security and have you thrown out,” Chloe stated as firmly as she could, marching to the door and yanking it open only to find Eddie about to knock. It was a hard call about which of them was more shocked.

“Hello,” Chloe said, not sure what else to say.

Then she noticed he wasn’t alone. Beside Eddie stood a tiny pregnant woman who took one look at Chloe’s dress falling off her naked shoulders and started bawling.

Chloe pulled the dress up again and turned her back to Eddie. “Zip me up, will you, Eddie? I know it’s embarrassing, but please just do it. I’m sorry I have to ask, but I can’t handle this crisis with my clothes falling off.”

Used to obeying orders and not questioning much, Eddie wrestled the zipper up Chloe’s bare back until it closed at the top. In her heels, he almost had to stand on his toes to reach the top of her.

Knowing there was no graceful way to get the bulk of her breasts into the dress properly, Chloe did what she had to in order to just to get it done. She turned her back to the people at the door, bent forward, and adjusted her cleavage into place. Then she straightened and turned back to peer at the now softly weeping woman still holding a box of tissues.

“Now that I’m no longer naked and can deal with this better, let me see if I can guess what’s going on here,” Chloe said, making her melodious tone as soft as possible even though she wanted to scream. “You’re looking for Aaron.”

Still weeping into a fistful of tissues, the younger woman nodded and pulled another handful of tissues from the box in her hand. Eddie automatically reached out a hand to take the wet, mostly disintegrated ones.

“Thank you,” the young woman said gratefully, weeping into the fresh set as she handed the wet, mangled wad over.

“How old are you?” Chloe asked gently.

“Twenty-three,” she whispered.

“Twenty-three,” Chloe repeated. Since there was no further response in her other than a thousand swear words, Chloe looked at Eddie and sighed.

“I think that’s all for now, Eddie. Thanks for zipping me up. Will you tell the front desk not to send any more people up here? I mean—like
no one
—not even hotel staff,” Chloe said, emphasizing. “We’ll sort this all out later.”

Eddie nodded in agreement, not answering. What was there to say? But for some reason his feet wouldn’t move. He was reluctant to leave Chloe alone with the people he’d put in her room. His instincts were siding with her regardless of how some of it looked.

“I’ll be okay—I promise. Just have to sort this all out,” she told him, smiling bravely to try to convince them both. She turned to the young pregnant woman. “You might as well come in. Aaron is inside.”

Swallowing her anger and hurt, Chloe pushed the door to her room open further, ushering the weeping woman inside with a sweep of her hand. In heels, Chloe was so tall the woman didn’t have to even duck to walk under her arm as she held the door open.

From the depths of the room, Eddie heard a masculine voice saying “Damn it, Megan. Why did you follow me here? You’re probably not supposed to fly in your condition.”

Chloe shrugged at Eddie’s wide eyes. “It’s alright. This will be alright. It has to be alright. If you see anyone looking for me, just say I’ll be down for the first set in a few minutes. I really have to sort this out first.”

Eddie nodded again and moved slowly away in shock. He watched Chloe close the door to her room, then headed back to report to Lily what had happened.

***

Jasper took his time getting dressed again, reluctant to leave his room. He looked longingly at the bed one last time, thinking of the stolen hour or so he and Chloe had spent there earlier.

She had surprised him, and not just by what she’d done sexually, though that had been nothing short of a fantasy come true. Rayonna hadn’t done anything that sexually raw with him since the first year they were married. He’d long ago given up thinking of women with that level of carnal desire.

After being with Chloe, Jasper was bewildered about how any man could give up that much living. If Chloe hadn’t come along with her lush body and generous nature, he might never have known that kind of sexuality again. He might have eventually ended up with another Rayonna clone, which was a way too sobering and scary thought for his sexually sated mood to tolerate.

Grinning at his good fortune, Jasper decided his only problem was going to be finding a way to convince the woman who had sexually sated him that marrying him was also a great idea. What would it take,
Jasper wondered?
Just time for Chloe to feel okay about it? Could he give her the three months she’d suggested? Sure he could.

What was he so worried about then?

“Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not like Chloe is going anywhere,” Jasper said out loud, trying to banish whatever panic seemed to rule him that she would get tired of him and leave.

Hell, he didn’t even know where those fears came from. He was a good catch. He was wealthy, connected, successful, well liked. Except Chloe didn’t seem to care about any of that, which Jasper supposed was exactly what worried him.

All Chloe cared about was the fact that he found her beautiful and had the good sense to say so. She didn’t even care that he could get several record producers to come hear her sing. Most women with her talent would have been grateful just for that alone.

Chloe didn’t seem to require caretaking in the way most women he knew did. Yet at the same time, his compliments had seemed to thrill her. Hell, he’d be happy to tell her she was beautiful every day for the rest of their lives, if that’s what she needed.

Straightening his red tie made him think of them wearing his red pajamas and of Chloe sliding off the bed to rub against him until he had wanted her again even more than he had the first time he’d been inside her.

Jasper dropped his hands and gripped his dresser. He’d never been in love or lust like this before. Chloe Zanders was everything he wanted and everything he needed. He didn’t just want to just give her things. He wanted to find out what she wanted most and give
that
to her. He wanted to make one hundred percent sure she stayed happy and with him forever.

And he wanted Chloe to need him back—to want him for the rest of his life.

Maybe their failed marriages made both of them leery of new love lasting, but if he ever imagined it was possible to find true happiness with a woman, Jasper would bet on him and Chloe living out the rest of their lives together.

Sighing at his chaotic emotions, Jasper assured himself his panicked need to get her to commit to him wasn’t just because of the outstanding “BJ” that afternoon, as Chloe so delicately put what she had done to destroy his sanity.

Snorting about her attempt to spare his sensibilities, Jasper walked to the elevator thinking that maybe their time together hadn’t been life changing to her, but it had certainly been enough to mess with his mind.

Jasper didn’t know how he was going to be able to wait a few months before he asked her to marry him again. He didn’t want to wait this time, didn’t want to be patient. Damn it, he didn’t want to let Chloe get away like he had all the good, fun women he’d known in college.

No more mistakes, Jasper thought.

He wanted to marry Chloe, claim her, know they belonged to each other. Shoving his hands into the pockets of his light wool slacks, Jasper thought about nothing else except how to do just that on his ride down to the lobby.

Chapter 22

“Girlfriend, no one’s supposed to be that color of white, not even you,” Marla teased, her short, black, sequined dress sparkling even in the dimly lit ball room she’d dragged the pale woman into. “What’s wrong? Is this stage fright? Look, just go throw up and get it over with. You’ll make it through the show better that way. It happens to all of us.”

Chloe laughed and walked to lean against a table. “It’s not that. I don’t get stage fright. I get a few butterflies when I first start to sing, but that’s all.”

“Did you have a fight with Jasper Wade? Don’t look at me like it was some big secret. Sam told me you two have a thing. I’m not sticking my nose in your business, but you can’t let a man get you all riled up this way. It’s bad for your performing mojo, and don’t get me started on what else it can do to your logical thinking,” Marla lectured, walking to stand next to Chloe again. “I know it’s frustrating, but you can’t go throwing things at the head of the man paying for your keep. You have to be reasonable.”

Chloe laughed roughly, shaking her head.