Love, Chloe(71)

A crowd of women suddenly gathered toward the entrance. The guard could be heard saying, “Back. Back! Let him by!”

It was then that I saw Justin break through the swarm of people. He passed through the chain-link fence and was looking around frantically before his gaze locked in on me.

The commotion around us seemed to dissipate as he walked toward me and enveloped me in his arms. I practically melted into him. He smelled like a mixture of cologne, smoke and beer. It was intoxicating and made me want to bathe in it. I wanted him all over me.

“You’re cold as ice,” he whispered into my ear.

“Just hold me. Keep me warm.”

“I really need to do more than hold you right now.” He pulled back to take me in, giving my outfit a once over. “Fuck,” he growled. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why do you look like a whore?”

“I was dressing for the occasion. Too much?”

“Hell no. This is just what I needed. It just pisses me off that you were waiting around for me in public dressed like that. The f*cking guys around here are worse than the girls. Anyone mess with you?”

“No.” Looking down at myself, I said, “I’m sorry if it’s too much. I just figured I had to compete with all those groupies.”

“Don’t apologize. But you don’t have to compete with anyone, Amelia. You never did.” He put his forehead on mine, and time seemed to stand still. “When I was performing tonight, all I could think about was how badly I wished you were here. I was at the bar drowning my sorrows when you texted. I still can’t believe you made it.” He took in a deep breath of the skin on my neck. “I’m hard as a rock just smelling you right now. We need to go somewhere to be alone. We don’t have a lot of time before the buses leave.”

“Where can we go?”

He placed his hands on my cheeks. “Fuck. I just want to take you with me on the bus, spend the night with you until the sun rises over the next city.”

“I would love that so much. I’m sorry I can’t be the kind of girl that can just go on tour with you.”

“You have bigger things to be taking care of. By the way, you sure this friend watching Bea is someone you can trust?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

He rubbed my shoulders. “Stay right here. Let me just go check what time we’re leaving Massachusetts.”

I waited as Justin ran to the other tour bus. When he returned, he looked anxious. “We have exactly two hours before the buses take off for Philly. I would introduce you to the band, but they’ll talk your ear off, and I really don’t want to waste this time.”

“What are we gonna do?”

“They just told me there’s a small hotel down the road. We can go there to be alone if you want. If you prefer, we can stay here, but then we’d have to socialize.”

“Being alone sounds good to me.”

Justin brushed his thumb along my cheek. “Good choice.”

He took the keys from me and drove us to the hotel in my car. During the ride, he held my hand tightly and didn’t let go. At one point, he flashed me a sexy side glance. “God, you look good.”

I joked, “Even though I look like a cheap groupie?”

“Especially because you look like a cheap groupie.” He winked. His gaze returned to the road for a bit before his voice lowered. “I wasn’t prepared for how lonely this tour was going to be. Seeing you makes me realize it even more.”

We pulled into the hotel, and Justin checked us in and got us a key card. We had exactly one hour and forty-five minutes before he had to report back to the bus.

The room was dark, but neither of us turned on the light. Unsure of what was supposed to be taking place here, I waited for him to take the lead after the door clicked shut behind us.

He slowly prowled toward me then pressed his chest against mine. “Jesus. Your heart is pounding. Are you nervous to be alone with me or something?” Nuzzling my neck, he added, “The way I’m feeling right now, maybe you should be.”

Scared to admit what was really eating away at me and also not wanting to ruin the mood, I remained silent, just staring at him before my gaze dropped to the floor.

He took my chin in his hand. “Look at me.” When our eyes met, he said, “I haven’t been with anyone else, Amelia…in case there was any question in your mind. I don’t want anyone else. I hope you don’t, either.”

“How did you know what I’d been thinking just now?”

“I guess I’m just in tune to you like that. I had a feeling you needed that reassurance. I don’t want you wondering anymore about that.” He kissed me on the forehead. “Now that we got that out of the way, I do need to be honest with you about something.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Okay.”

“I somehow thought I could handle five months with no sex, but the reality is…I’m feeling more like an animal in heat than a celibate monk.”

I laughed. “Oh really.” My tone turned serious. “Maybe I can help. Tell me what you need.”

“Confession,” he said over my lips. “I didn’t exactly take you here so we could talk.”

I kissed him. “Confession. I didn’t exactly dress like a dirty groupie so you could sing to me.”