The Rock Star and the Girl From the Coffee Shop 2: Under Pressure (7 page)

“Yeah.”

“And I was led to believe the guys were going to be there as well, signing the new contract.”

“That bitch!” She didn’t need to hear more to know where this conversation was

headed. Rage filled her. She was going to… Dammit! She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she was going to do something about that bitch… “What did she do?”

Brushing her cheek with the back of his hand, he pulled her tighter to him. “Calm down a second, let me finish.”

“Fine,” Hanna grumbled, melting into him, laying her head on his shoulder, allowing the strength of his arms around her and the deep, spicy scent of his cologne to relax her.

“Go on.”

“Well, I got there and it seems I was the only one invited.”

Hanna gritted her teeth, but said nothing.

“And she answered the door with barely anything on. A little teddy I guess you could call it.”

“Go on…” She looked up at him, her eyes locking with his.

“I told her I wasn’t interested. Not now, not ever. I was about to leave and she followed me into the hall. She tried to kiss me and that’s when they took a picture.”

Hanna jolted upright in his arms, eyes wide. “Picture!”

“It seems a tabloid photographer snuck into the hotel. He saw it as a juicy picture I suppose and snapped one… a few maybe, I don’t know, and took off. He was out of the hotel before security could nab him.”

“A picture of you and her.”

“We didn’t kiss, Hanna.”

“But did it look like you were?” Hanna could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.

She knew how these things worked. Within the next couple of days the tabloids would have the picture of Bo kissing his half-naked manager plastered all over America. Hell, all over the world.

“I’m so sorry Hanna, but from the angle, I think so.”

Hanna chewed at her lower lip, trying to keep her emotions in check, trying to keep from getting hysterical. It wasn’t his fault. “So in a few days it’ll look like you’re cheating on me with my doppelganger who happens to be your manager. But of course, they’ll say stuff like you’re trading up. Dumping the chunky chick for the type of girl you
should
be with.”

The tears began to flow, and she let them. Why couldn’t those assholes just leave her and Bo alone? Sure, most people would argue that it came with being famous, but at the same time, did being famous mean they had to give up every single pinch of privacy? It was like they were fish in an aquarium.

“Oh baby, I’m sorry. I never meant for this. I’m really sorry.” He wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumbs and kissed her softly. “I’ll make this right. I promise.”

She wished she could believe him, but he wasn’t a miracle worker. The press loved scandal and in this case, a scandal just fell into their laps.

“I can get a copy of the security camera recordings. We let the press air them, it’ll show nothing happened.”

“But it’ll show your manager making advances on you?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it’s no better. It’ll plant the seed in the public’s heads about you – about us.

You’ll still be on camera with your slut of a manager nearly naked and groping all over you.”

“Well… I wouldn’t go so far as to say
groping
.”

She cocked her head to the side and raised a brow at him. “You wouldn’t, huh?”

He gave her a light squeeze and grinned. “Hey, maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll blackmail us instead of publishing the photo.”

“That was supposed to be funny?” Despite attempting to keep a stern expression, a smile crept onto her features.

Bo shrugged, his grin widening. “Not even a little funny?”

“Nope.”

“Are you sure? Not even a little?” He poked her in the side, just below her breast, causing her to jerk back in his arms and giggle.

“Stop it!” She batted his hands away from her sides, as he prepared a full-on assault.

“You know I hate that! I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you!”

He feigned innocence. “Stop what?” He poked her again, and she slid from his lap onto the sofa in an attempt to get away.

“That!” She batted his hands away a second time, but he went in for the kill this time, a full-on assault of her sides with his torturous fingers. “Get away!” Laughing, she wiggled away from him, lost her balance and fell onto the floor. A soft "ooomph"

sounded from her as her nearly bare bottom came in contact with the cool marble floor.

“Bo! I’m serious!” She scrambled to her feet as he stood.

He wiggled his fingers at her, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. “Your laughing tells me different, sweet cheeks.”

“Sweet cheeks?” Laughing harder, she grabbed an ivory throw pillow from the sofa and tossed it at him. It hit him square on the chest and bounced off, landing on the floor at his feet.

“Oh, now it’s on like Donkey Kong, baby!” He lunged for her, but she managed to avoid him.

She rushed around the sofa, exited the living room and headed for the stairwell.

“Gotta catch me first,” she called over her shoulder, not daring to look back for fear he’d catch up to her, not that that would be such a bad thing. Not at all.

Bo caught her a third of the way up the staircase and scooped her up and into his arms. “Got ya.”

Panting softly, she fingered his strong, square jaw with her index finger. Hanna’s eyes locked with his and as if by some force of magic the thought of the doppelganger, the paparazzi and her urges for a glass of wine evaporated. They’d gotten through a lot over the past month, this was only another roadblock, one they would worry about tomorrow; tonight would only be about them.

“Where’s she going?” Hanna asked Bo as he turned away from the realtor who was

getting into her car preparing to leave, and made his way over to her.

“Oh, I convinced her that since we only have a few more houses to look at here in Staten Island, and all of them are vacant, she might as well leave the keys with me and we’d see them at our leisure and return the keys to her when we’re done later this afternoon.”

Planting a hand on her hip, Hanna gave her head a shake, her loose red curls swaying behind her. “And she agreed to that?”

A wide grin spread across his face, causing Hanna to roll her eyes at him.

“Of course she did.”

“Well, I had to guarantee her a sale, and slip her a few hundred, but…”

“Like every woman on earth, she gave in to the Bo Savage charm.”

Taking her hands into his, he pushed her backwards until her back was firmly against the wooden door. “Oh, not every woman falls victim to my
charms
, as you say.”

She grinned. “Oh please, you get everything you want.”

“Not everything.” He pressed his body into hers, his groin sporting a growing erection pressing against her stomach. He lowered his head, his lips skirting along the side of her neck.

Hanna gasped. “Name one thing you haven’t gotten that you wanted recently.” Her voice was beginning to waver, her body trembling softly against his.

“Like this morning, I woke up with a rock hard cock and you turned me down.”

“We were going to be late!” she protested, laughing softly. “And it was your idea to go house hunting. Not mine. I’m opposed to the idea – remember?”

“All I remember is suffering from a serious case of blue balls because my girlfriend denied me.” Releasing one of her hands, he shoved his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out the keys to the house. Shoving it into the lock he opened the door, while holding onto Hanna with his free hand so she wouldn’t fall backwards into the open doorway.

“I think you’re being a little melodramatic.” Pulling out of his arms, she walked into the first room, which was the living room. Her eyes scanned the room as he closed the door behind them and locked it – just in case.

Hearing the click of the lock, Hanna spun around, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “And what, Mr. Savage, do you think is going to happen that we need to be locking the door?”

Walking up to her, he pulled her into his arms, bringing her tight to him. The smell of lavender drifted to him. Damn, he loved lavender, not that he’d admit it to anyone but her. Hooking his index finger under her chin he tilted her face upward, while lowering his lips to hers.

She sighed softly as her lips parted in invitation for him. Her lips were so soft, and her tongue as it touched his was so sweet. His semi-erect shaft jerked and thickened as she pressed herself tighter to him.

Quickly and without warning she pulled away from him. “Come on, let’s see the rest of the house."

He groaned inwardly as she took his hand and led him through the rooms; the house was the last thing on his mind. His primary focus was on how amazing her ass looked under the red spandex fabric of the skirt covering it. The tight mid-thigh-length dress fit her perfectly, accenting her soft curves to perfection.

“This kitchen is incredible!”

Her exclamation pulled him from his thoughts and brought his focus back to her. His eyes surveyed the kitchen and he nodded his approval. It was indeed a nice little kitchen.

Quaint, the soft yellow and mint green walls giving it a country feel, but also sporting modern stainless steel appliances. The breakfast bar featured seating for four and there was plenty of room for a small four-person table in the corner. It was on the corner of the house, allowing for windows on two sides, and there was a door leading to the backyard.

“Very nice.”

Slipping onto one of the stools, her already wide smile widened further. “I can see us eating breakfast here.”

Walking across the kitchen, he seated himself on the stool next to her and nodded. He could, too — although him living there without the tight security he had at the building he currently was living in was an impossibility. He could easily envision shitloads of fans camped out on the sidewalk hoping to see him exit the house. In a tightknit community like the one the particular house was situated in it wouldn’t take long for the world to know where he lived.

Maybe one day – when he retired.

“What’s the matter?” Hanna’s hand covered his as she attempted to gain his attention.

“I was thinking it would be really nice to live a normal life here – with you.” He turned his attention to her, his eyes capturing hers. Lacing his fingers with hers, he gave her hand a light squeeze. “One day life will be normal for us, Hanna. It wouldn’t be crazy forever.”

“Yeah, but if it’s not crazy then it means you’ve dropped from the spotlight. That your career is over. I know how much this means to you.”

“People change, Hanna. A part of me wants to get married and have children. A part of me wants that almost as badly as the life I’m leading now.”

“You’re still young. We’re still young.” Hanna shrugged, but there was a glimmer in her emerald-coloured eyes. Hope perhaps. Longing. He couldn’t tell for sure.

“Most musicians have an expiration date of some sort. Some try to hang on well past their prime; in many cases it’s almost sad. I don’t want to be one of those people. Even if our popularity holds strong there will be a point, well before either of us are too old to enjoy a normal life, where I’ll step out of the spotlight and be done.”

*~*~*~*~*~*

Hanna wasn’t sure what to think of his confession, or for that matter, what brought it on. She saw the way his whole body and spirit lit up when on stage. She knew how much heart and soul he put into each song he wrote and performed. It would be hard to give that up. She wasn’t sure if she could even picture him as a "normal" person.

In her mind’s eye she tried to envision him in a UPS uniform delivering packages or some other job of the sort and began giggling at the image. Bo Savage doing any job other than what he was doing right now seemed ludicrous.

Bo tilted his head to the side, eyeing her. “You planning on sharing what’s so funny?”

His curious expression and question only made her laugh harder. “I was thinking that you’d look amazingly sexy in a USP uniform. You have great knees for those brown shorts.”

He raised a brow at her, but a smile spread across his lips. “That so?”

She nodded, her laughter resuming.

“I was thinking more along the lines of becoming a manager or producer, something of the sort. Out of the limelight, but not necessarily working at the Burger King. Ya know, Burger King would carry too much prestige, I think.”

“Yeah. I see what you mean. Too high-profile.”

“Exactly, and how would I be able to fend off the ladies when they got a look at me in the BK visor? It would be madness.”

“Oh yes. For sure.”

Hanna chewed at her bottom lip as she looked down at their entwined hands. “So, were you really serious?”

“'Bout what?”

“The babies and marriage and all that.” She hadn’t really thought about it. It was so soon, why would she, but his comment started the wheels turning in her head. “I mean. I know you didn’t necessarily mean
with me
. I just…” She felt her face growing warm and she looked away, pretending to be preoccupied with glancing out the kitchen window.

Capturing her chin in his free hand he forced her to look at him. The soft sexy grin that made her melt each and every time he blessed her with it was present on his handsome features, causing her cheeks to turn an even deeper shade of crimson.

“You’re the only woman I’ve ever considered what it would be like to settle down with and have a family. Miss Ambrose, I think you may be domesticating me. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing, but I like the feeling.”

“I…”

He placed a finger on her lips, silencing her. “I’m not saying I want to get married and have kids tomorrow, or next month or anything in the very near future. But I see it in the future – with you.” He lowered his finger from her lips and leaned in, kissing her soundly, and she was his. All thought, insecurity, worry, everything was gone and all that mattered was him and that moment and how her body felt just being touched by him.

Hanna sighed as she placed her hands on his lean, muscular chest. Taking her sigh of satisfaction as an invitation, Bo deepened the kiss, his tongue slipping past her lips in search of hers. The feel of his tongue dancing with hers sent a shiver of anticipation and need through her.