Front & Center (Book 2 of the Back-Up Series) (18 page)

“But I do.”

“You are detached to this child right now. You may change your mind once he’s born.”

“If it’s even mine.”

“We still need to proceed as if it is, unless we get proof otherwise. You have to assume you are going to have a son.”

“
Leila, all I feel is it was a mistake that never should have happened.” He stiffens and says. “I did something awful last night.”

“I know.” He looks down at me, his eyes moist with emotion. “Hunter told me. It’s why I’m here.”

“If I hadn’t lost it and he hadn’t told you, would you have come back to me?”

“Probably not…not yet.” His pained face causes my heart to ache. “Jack, I haven’t even scratched the surface on what I wanted to find out. It’s only been a day.”

“One day too long. Look how much damage I’ve done in one day.”

“Baby….”

“
Leila, I could have made another huge mistake last night.”

Trying to lighten the mood
, I point to the ground. “Well at least you were planning on using a condom.” He follows to where I’m pointing, his face now twisted from remorse, my plan backfiring. “Hey.” I say while stroking his cheek.

His eyes remain sad as he shakes his head. “
Lei, I don’t remember one damn detail, which is scary as hell.”

Now it’s ti
me for me to shake my head. “I don’t want to talk about it. Please promise me we won’t talk about it…ever.”

“I promise
.” He watches me closely. He suddenly grips me tightly against his body. “You promise me you’ll never leave me again?”

“
I do. I promise.”

Leaning in
, he kisses me deeply.

I reluctantly break the kiss. “Baby
, I have to go.”

“No.”

“I can’t be seen with you.”

“
No one will see you.”

“
Jack, we can’t be sure. I suspect someone on the tour is feeding her information.”

Jack looks directly into my eyes. “
Why?”

“She
said something that didn’t sit well with me.”

“What did she say?”

“She said I shouldn’t consider telling you the truth, because she had connections on this tour and she would know.”

“
This makes sense now. I wondered how she got backstage opening night. I could kill her with my bare hands.”

I move closer to kiss his cheek. “
I really need to go.”

“
Not yet. Did you mean any of the things you said about me holding you back and controlling you?”

“No
, I didn’t. I don’t feel that at all.”

“Leila, I would never hold you back, you know that
, right? Never.”

“I know. I had to make you believe this just wasn’t about Jessa. You wouldn’t have let me go if you thought it was.”

“You’re right. I wouldn’t. God, that day, you looked so cold…so distant. I did believe you.”

“I’
m sorry. It was necessary.”

He strokes my cheek with his thumb, then runs it along my bottom lip.
“It was necessary to actually break my heart? You didn’t trust I could fake it?”

“No.
I’m sorry.”

“No confidence in me?
”

“Baby
, you’re a rock star, not an actor.”

“So the drinking, the performing while plastered, the telling an arena full of people
that you dumped me…”

“Yea
h, that one was tough.” I interrupt.

“Sorry. All of that was perfect for the plan?’

“Yes.”

“What about the part I called Malcolm to tell him you wanted to
pursue a solo career?”

“He already called me
.”

“That cocksucker.”

“Jack…I’m sorry I...”

“Don’t apologize. I really
don’t want to hold you back...ever.”

“I know.
I won’t talk to him if you don’t want me…”

“No. I want you to. You need to hear him out.” He studies my face as if seeing me for the first time. “
You put me through hell.”

“
I’m sorry.”

Staring down at his chest, he holds my chin, lifting my head up to gaze into my eyes. “I forgive you.” He kisses me gently, moving his hand into my hair, holding my face to his.

When he breaks the kiss, I kiss him one more time on the corner of his mouth. “I love you.
I need to go.”

“No
, five more minutes. I’ll call Hunter and ask him to be the lookout.”

“This is why I needed you to believe I left you.
I lied. You do have complete control over me. I can’t resist you.” Caressing his face, I add, “Babe, you look awful.” I run my fingertips over the dark circles under his eyes, over his stubble, over his dry cracked lips.

“I feel awful. I don’t have a clue what I took last night.”

“You need to rest and I need to go.”

“
No. I’ve missed you so much.” He clings to me, refusing to rush through our reunion. He pulls me closer, crashing his lips to mine, as if he’s pulling his oxygen from my body, frantic and desperate.

He leaves me gasping for air and wanting him desperately.
“Ok. Five more minutes.”

“I might need eight.
” He kisses my ear, my neck, my chin, my lips.

“Ugh…y
ou need to shower. I can smell her on you.”

He gives me a horrified look,
before darting into the bathroom and into the shower. Calling from the bathroom, he shouts,  “My eight minutes haven’t started yet.”

Smiling to myself, his comment tells me m
y Jack is back. A few minutes later, a wet and naked Jack stretches beside me.

“Better?”

“You could have dried yourself.”

“Waste of time.”

Leaning in, I sniff him, then again and again. Smiling he says, “What are you doing?”

“You smell so good.” I smell him one more time for good measure. “But I still smell her perfume. It must be on the sheets.”

Jack jumps up, pulls me off the bed and strips it completely bare. Throwing the entire pile of sheets, blankets and pillows in the bathroom, he then loudly shuts the door.

“Ok?”

Smiling wide, I nod. “Good.” He pulls my tank top off, then my pajama bottoms, raising an eyebrow because I’m completely bare beneath. “I’m sorry, I was in a rush.”

“No apologies needed.” He
positions me on the bare mattress, kissing my body inch by inch.

“Babe, you probably have a raging headache. We can do this later.” He ignores my comment
and continues his journey. My moans get louder and more frequent. It feels like an eternity before his lips are on my most sensitive part. He parts me with his fingers. He teases me with his lips. He focuses on bringing me dangerously closer with each calculated lick, stroke and lap of his tongue. It’s not long after he began his exploit when my orgasm takes over.

“
Oh God…Jack.” I bury my hands in his hair and writhe as my body spasms with total pleasure.

Once I relax, Jack moves over my body, slow
ly burying himself inside of me. I can feel the friction between us, his muscular hips rubbing up against my own. It’s accelerating my excitement. “Jack, please…”

“Baby, tell me what you want
.”

“Faster…go faster.”

Smiling, he flips us so I’m now controlling the situation. Moving over him in the most perfect way, I bring my second orgasm to the surface and then tremble from its intensity. Jack stares at me with his smoky grey eyes, causing it to linger longer than normal. Not breaking our eye contact, I return his gaze until his own orgasm takes over his body. His fingers digging into my hips are the only indication he isn’t done yet.

Once he releases his grip, he wraps his arm
s around my waist and pulls me down onto his chest. As I kiss his chest, he whispers, “Don’t ever leave me again. I don’t care what the reasons are. You talk to me.”

“I promise. I was caught off guard. I’m sorry.”

“She doesn’t have a clue what she’s dealing with.” His expression becomes somber. “Thanks for having my back.”

“Jack, it may not have been the best way to handle things, but I truly was doing it for you.”

“I know. I still don’t agree, but I understand. If you just talked to me, I could have helped you figure her out.”

“The dumber she thinks we are
, the better for us. Your reaction was exactly what she was waiting for. She pegged it.” Kissing him, I add, “It’s over now. Nothing can come between us anymore.”

“Does this mean we are still engaged?”

“We’re engaged?”

“You said yes…remember?”

“I remember. I’m teasing. Yes, I still want to marry you. I don’t know why you would want to marry me though?”

“You have
been a royal pain in the ass.” Holding my face with both his hands, he kisses my lips softly. “But you are
my
royal pain in the ass. Baby, there isn’t a thing you can do to make me not want to be with you. I adore you and I can’t live without you.”

“
I can’t live without you either.”

The relief he must
feel shows all over his face. He commences kissing me again as if wanting a round two.

Breaking away I pant, “Jack,
I do have to go.”

“
You’re still a buzz kill though…”

“
Ha, ha…” Unfolding his arms from my body, I move off the bed to put on my only two articles of clothing. My cell vibrates with a call. Jack and I look at each other, before I answer.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Leila. It’s Mr. Morrow.”

“Mr. Morrow? Thank you so much for calling me back.”

“You’re welcome. I was concerned with your message. Is everything ok?”

“
Unfortunately, my boyfriend is in a compromising situation with his ex-girlfriend. She’s pregnant and is claiming the baby is his. There is reason for us to believe she is lying. Would my boyfriend be able to order his own paternity test?”

“If he suspects the test is fraudulent, yes, he is able to court order a paternity test.”

“The problem is we don’t want to tip her off that we think it’s fraudulent, just yet.”

“Well, unfortunately there isn’t a reason for him to have his own test ordered then.”

“I need to look into this some more. I may need your help with this. Is that ok?”

“Absolutely dear. Just let me know how you want to proceed.”

“I will…thank you.” As I hang up the call, Jack moves closer to wrap his arms around me. He clenches me tightly to his body.

“Hey…what’s this?”

“You really do have my back.”

“I do…I’d do anything for you. Even temporarily break your heart to help you.” He looks down at me, not at all amused. “I hate leaving you right now.”

“I know. I’ll be good and let you go. But only because I need to go replace my phone so we can communicate, and so we can sext each other.”

“What happened to your phone?”

“You don’t want to know.”

I kiss him one last time and on my way to the door he calls out, “Wait.” He rummages throu
gh his bag and pulls out a postcard.

“What’s this?”

“I didn’t know if you had a chance to pick one up.”

I’m stunned. I literally ripped his heart out, fed it to him, and he worried I wouldn’t have a
chance to pick up my stupid postcard?

“Jack.”

I’m overwhelmed with emotion as I stare at the picture through watery eyes. He sees my struggle and pulls me into his arms.

“I know.” He says into my hair and I cling to him.




After leaving Jack, I checked out of the hotel and locked myself on the bus until rehearsals. First item on my agenda was to get Dylan up to speed regarding my reunion with Jack. He met me in my dressing room. The look on his face was one of complete shock as I detailed what Jack did last night.

“
Is he ok?” Dylan asks after my rundown.

“He is now.”

“How did he react to the whole Jessa thing?”

“He wants to kill her.”

“I can’t wrap my mind around her real motive. Yes, she says she wants Jack. But to go through such lengths to get him doesn’t make sense.”

“It must have to do with Danny. I think we need to take him mo
re seriously.”

He considers my words
. “Maybe I’ll embellish a bit with the label to get us a security guard. It will help us figure out who Jessa is communicating with.”