The Bass (12 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

“Good morning passengers, this is your captain speaking. We are twenty
minutes out from our arrival at Auckland International. Now is the time to
bring your seat backs into an upright position, tuck away those trays, and
ensure you have passed off any trash to the flight attendant coming around now.
The temperature on the ground at this early hour is a mere fifty-two degrees
with a high predicted to be around sixty-eight. We have a gentle breeze from
the east coming in at two miles with gusts up to five miles an hour, absolutely
nothing to worry about on that front. The crew and I would like to take this
opportunity to thank you for choosing to fly with us today, and hope you have
enjoyed the trip. Should you have any questions about connections, the nearest
restroom, or anything else that might come to mind, please feel free to ask
anyone in the cabin crew.”

Rubbing a hand over her face, Cateline groaned. Her body was sorely
confused by the many time zones she’d gone through during the flight into New
Zealand. Hell, she didn’t have a clue to what time it might be, let alone what day
it was. Not exactly the biggest concern she had to deal with currently.

After getting her seat upright again, she stretched the best she could
manage. Economy might be a marginally smaller ding on the wallet but it didn’t
give one much for elbow room. Leaning forward, she attempted to work out the
kink in her lower back. Good God she needed a massage.

Sensible footwear appeared on her left, and had Cat flopping back in her
seat. “Anything you need to toss out?” the flight attendant asked with a
cheerful smile.

“Uh, no, thank you,” she said. People should not be allowed to be that
perky after a flight like theirs. And all while still looking perfectly coiffed.
Cat knew her own hair likely had its rat nest thing going on. Hopefully she
didn’t terrify the customs people too badly. Although in their job they’d
likely seen much worse than any do she was currently sporting.

With that cheerful thought in mind, Cat dug out a face towelette to get
rid of any drool residue, and maybe perk herself up a smidge. Then after a
quick finger comb through her tresses, she twisted it up off her neck. Figuring
she’d done the best she could, Cat settled back to wait for their landing. She
only hoped Shade was at the airport to greet her. Christine would blow a
gasket, but if there was a way to make it happen, her man would do it.

****

Slugging her way through an unfamiliar airport at an hour Cat could
barely comprehend with her uncooperative luggage had not been how she’d
pictured seeing Shade again. On the other hand, she couldn’t find him either,
or anyone who might be meeting her. She was tired, cranky, and felt icky after
her flight. This was
not
how shit was supposed to go down.

“Hello kitten,” a familiar, rough voice said behind her.

Without a second’s hesitation, Cat let her luggage go, dropped her
purse, and spun to jump into his waiting arms. Wrapping her own around his neck,
she accepted the hard kiss Shade laid on her.

When she pulled back to rest her forehead against his, Cat felt a lot
better. “Hi, babe.”

“Damn, I missed you, Cat.”

“The feeling is completely mutual, Shade.” Giving him kisses, she
wiggled from his arms to grab up her stuff again. “I didn’t think you’d be able
to come meet me,” she said.

“I was not planning on missing out on that welcome.” Shade took the luggage
handle from her, and hooked his free arm around her waist. “How was the
flight?”

“Long but uneventful. I couldn’t sleep worth a damn, though. Some guy a
couple rows behind me was on his phone off and on the entire trip. By the time
I started to doze off when he gave it a break, he’d end up back on it. I was
pretty close to not caring if they hauled me off the plane in handcuffs by hour
four because I was more than ready to stuff that phone somewhere he’d need help
to retrieve it.”

“You do get a little testy without your sleep. That is okay. I have us a
suite all to ourselves, and you have the entire day to sleep. And the added
bonus is there is no concert tonight. Now there is a rugby game the others have
tickets to go see. If you’re interested, there are tickets for us as well.”

Cat thought about it while they threaded through the other sleep-deprived
passengers, either arriving to catch a flight, or recently having stepped off
one. “I know next to nothing about rugby except for a few random terms I’ve
heard over the years.”

“Doesn’t matter, I know dick all about it, too. Chase and Mark like to
catch a game whenever we’re here, and we usually go along to help cheer for
whomever they are cheering for. They’ve tried to instruct us on the basics, but
it’s usually at an hour where we’re not all clicking up in the old brains. It’s
never stuck in other words.”

She let that turn over in her head until they made it to the car.
Looking at him after he finished stashing her bag, Cat put a hand on his chest.
“I think I’d prefer to stay in tonight, Shade. If you want to go with them, be
my guest. I swear I don’t mind, babe. But I don’t think what sleep I did manage
to get on the plane is going to be enough to make me ready for socializing.”

Covering her hand with his, Shade rested the other against the car, and
leaned in closer to her. “I am more than fine with staying in with my girl.
I’ve fucking missed you, kitten. Let the gang go yell at sweaty men in little
shorts bodily throwing themselves around. We will stay in, and find our own
entertainment.”

Cat decided to have a little fun with him. “They wear little shorts?”
she asked innocently.

Shade slowly nodded, his entire body language suggesting he might be
expecting a trap. One she was all too willing to set off.

“Hmm, maybe I need to reconsider this,” she said. “I’m sure they
occasionally pull a shirt off too.”

“No, hell no,” Shade said. Then he pinned her with a hard look. “You
little minx. You are messing with me.”

“Me? I would never dare to mess with you, sweetheart.”

“Get in the car, woman. I cannot believe this,” he muttered. She could
see his lips still moving when he rounded the car’s hood. Sliding in next to
her, he shot her a dirty look. “What the hell am I going to do with you,
woman?”

“Well, if I have to help you there, babe, we may have bigger issues to
deal with.”

A horn honking behind them saved her from whatever he might have said.
For nearly the entire ride, Cateline had her nose pressed to the window. Over
and over she’d exclaim at the scenery, or something she spotted that was unlike
back home. Reaching the hotel, she felt like her second wind had kicked in. Not
all bad since she knew from Shade’s one comment that the band was waiting for
them to join them before starting breakfast. She was actually quite excited to
see them all. While she still didn’t know them all on a deep personal level yet,
they were Shade’s closest friends, and maybe one day hers, too.

Cat followed him into the elevator, and took the key card he handed to
her. She knew the band booked off a full floor or presidential suite in each
hotel. And only stayed in hotels where a floor could be blocked completely from
public access. Thus the key card. She would need it to get up to the floor
should she need to run out for any reason.

A security guard was waiting outside the elevator doors on their floor.
Shade introduced her to him, and the guy took her picture with the intention to
pass it around to the others on the security team. While she had a key card for
the elevator, it didn’t mean she wouldn’t get stopped by security until they
started to know who she was on sight.

“Couldn’t he have waited until I didn’t look like I crawled from the
wheel well of the airplane for God’s sake?”

“You look perfect,” Shade said.

Snorting at that, Cat glared in his direction while he opened the door
to their suite. “You are fucking biased.”

He gave her a smug look and waved her inside. “No, I am being honest.”

Cat decided ignoring him was the best thing to do. She could hear voices
from somewhere in the room, and leaving her purse and coat in the entryway, she
followed them to what turned out to be a sunny corner room.

Chase and Mark were facing her when she came in. Both glanced at her,
then shared a look, and then proceeded to let out frightened yelps. “It’s
alive!” Mark said pointing a shaking finger her way.

“Oh hell no, put it back, put it back,” Chase chimed in.

Cat threw a look over her shoulder. “I thought you said it wasn’t that
bad.”

“Fucking assholes,” Shade said at her back. “It’s not, they are being
jerks. They likely were eavesdropping near the door, and decided to put in
their two cents. For which I will kill them later.”

“Wait until after the tour,” Jeremy said. He was sitting at the table
flipping through a paper. “That way we’ll have time to find replacements.”

“Where is the love, bro?” Chase asked him. He tried admirably to portray
a wounded look, but failed miserably given the mirth he couldn’t quite tamp
down. Coming around the table, he gave her a smothering hug. “We were only
yanking your chain, pipsqueak. You look remarkably perky given that long-ass
flight you were on. But I’m betting you could do with some coffee about now. Am
I right? Huh, am I?”

“Make it strong, and creamy. I might forgive you if it’s in a big enough
cup,” she told him. Shoving him away, she turned a look on Mark who had the
grace to look mildly sheepish. He walked to her and gave her a gentle hug.
“Sorry,” he muttered next to her ear. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Cat patted his back, and let out a sigh when he stepped back. “I’m
pretty sure I know exactly whose brilliant plan it was.” Everyone pointed a
finger at Chase who stood there looking stunned. “Yeah, I figured. You are
forgiven.”

Mark smiled down at her, and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“But do it again and you’d better damn well sleep with one eye open,”
she warned him.

When he looked dutifully terrified, Cat collected her mug from Chase.
“That goes double for you, bub.” Poking him in the chest, she went over to join
the others at the table. Since she could, and because she needed to feel his
arms around her, Cat settled into Shade’s lap. It wouldn’t be conducive to
eating, but she’d worry about that after she had enough caffeine in her system
to stay awake long enough to eat.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Shade smelled the coffee before the curtains parted to show a sleep-tousled
Cat wrapped in fuzzy hotel bathrobe. Resting his hand over the strings on his
acoustic guitar, he watched her curl up in the spare chair on the protected
balcony. “I didn’t wake you, did I?”

She gave a wide yawn before smiling at him. “No,” she said softly. “It
was nice to wake up hearing you playing. I didn’t recognize it, is it new?”

“Yup. Something I’ve been mucking around with for a few weeks now. I
needed something to do when boredom struck while on tour without you.” Not that
he hadn’t gone out with the guys from time to time, he had. But it wasn’t the
same when a guy had a girl to call his own. Shade had never been one to go full
on unruly while on tour, but he also couldn’t claim that he hadn’t had a wild
time or three either. Since connecting with Cateline again it had practically
died right down.

“I like it. Can’t wait to hear it finished.” Sipping at her coffee, she
tipped her face up to the early morning sun filtering through the potted trees
near the railing. “This is nice, if a little weird. My body is fucking confused
as what time it actually is, and yet I feel like I should be getting ready to
head into the office.”

“You’ll get used to it in time. We tend to plan the tours to work
through time zones in a manner that lets our bodies have time to catch up, and
sync up. It’s the biggest reason we get a head start at the beginning with days
off immediately upon landing. It will be the same thing when we fly home. A few
days off before we’re back in the studio working on the next album, and
preparing for the new tour.”

“You were working on the album before leaving for the tour, right?”

Shade gave her a nod. “We’re about halfway done. With the time allotted
before we head out again, we’ll have enough time to finish it, fine tune it,
and still get in some extra days purely for rest and relaxation. That all
includes the tour prep, too, in case you were wondering.” Setting the guitar
aside he held out a hand to her. “Come here, kitten.”

Cat quickly curled up in his lap, and pressed a kiss to his jaw. It made
him smile. One hand on her hip, he put the other on her bare thigh through the
gap in the robe. Squeezing the warm, soft flesh, he pressed his nose to her
hair. “Cateline, can we have a serious discussion?”

“Absolutely. What’s on your mind, Shade?”

He had been thinking about how to phrase the question for a while now.
But he still had no fucking clue. “This may not make much sense at first,
kitten. But I’m hoping you’ll understand, will you bear with me?”

“Always,” she told him. She set her cup aside, and then faced him fully
with her arms around his neck. “Talk to me, Shade.”

Hearing the words he often used with her turned back on him tickled his
funny bone. “Cute, kitten. Seriously though I know something has been bothering
you for a while now. Frankly I’m shocked you haven’t said anything before this
about whatever it might be. You know you can tell me anything, that we can talk
about anything at all. What’s been eating at you, Cat?”

She didn’t answer him immediately, not exactly a shocker. He could tell
she was thinking. The little furrow between her eyebrows a dead giveaway.
Stroking his thumb over her inner thigh, Shade stared out at the view
surrounding the hotel.

“It’s stupid,” she finally said.

“It is obviously important to you, therefore it’s not stupid. Give it to
me, kitten.”

He loved when she wrinkled her nose up like she was now doing. Shade
found it unreasonably adorable. Lifting his hand from her thigh he stroked his
finger to her nose. Then, when she finally looked at him again, all he did was
lift an eyebrow.

Spreading her hand on his bare chest over his heart she broke eye
contact to lower her gaze. “Do you remember what I said after the Christmas Eve
concert before you went to sign autographs?” she asked quietly.

Shade had to dig back through his memories to figure out what she was
talking about. “You told me not to let the fans grope me too much.”

“Yeah, that. I know it’s silly, but it drives me to homicidal thoughts
to see some woman cozied up to you or draped over you. I also know that you
have to put up with it to some degree, but these women seem to have some
serious boundary issues.”

He likely shouldn’t mention to her that her jealousy was cute. He did
want to get laid again sometime in the next century. Cupping her cheek, Shade
used his thumb to tip up her chin. “What would you like me to do to help with
this problem?” he asked gently.

“I don’t know if there is anything you can do, Shade. It’s not like you
can refuse a picture with a fan.”

“True, but I can make it clear there are limits to what I’ll tolerate. I
don’t want this upsetting you, kitten. For the most part the fans understand,
and will gladly settle for a quick hug for a picture. Those who think they can
get more will learn that it’s not going to happen.” There was something else
they could do, but Shade was worried about how she’d take the suggestion.

“Do you actually think that will work?”

“Maybe,” he said. Then he decided to go for it, and throw all the cards
on the table. “One thing that would definitely help get the memo out would be
to prove I’m in a relationship with the most amazing woman ever to be born.
Nothing ostentatious, but I’m sure we could come up with something that would
work if we put our heads together.”

“Okay.” She sounded a bit hesitant. “I’m guessing you already have a
plan, and are trying to ease me into the idea.”

“No need to look worried, kitten. You know I would never do anything to
embarrass you. I was thinking we could have Jeremy make a little announcement.
He can make it casual, off the cuff, and would put the word out.” Shade blew
out a breath. “I see one major problem with it unfortunately.”

“The media will swarm,” she muttered.

“Yeah.” They either said something or had the news outlets scrambling to
get something over everyone else. Or they said nothing and Cateline would have
to deal with groupies and fans who thought they could latch onto him. The other
problem was when they took the relationship to the next level, something else
he was currently working on, if there was no hint early on, God only knew what
would crop up on social media or in the papers.

Resting her head to his shoulder, she wiggled around until her one hand
was pressed against his bare back. “Well, it’ll happen whether we want it to or
not. You are semi-famous after all.”

Stunned, he didn’t know what to say for a time. Finally he managed to
blurt out, “What the hell is with this semi shit, woman?”

“It’s not like the media won’t clue in that we’re together all the time
at some point.”

“Seriously now, we are not semi-famous, we are famous.”

“Especially on tour with fans snapping pics whenever they can.”

“We have eleven platinum records, and don’t get me started on how many
golds we have.”

“Then there’s being back home where life will return to semi-normal.
We’ll be going out, doing everyday things, and eventually one will twig to the
fact we’re together more than only friends would be.”

“We’ve had numerous number one songs on the radio for months on end,
I’ll have you know.”

“Plus I’ll be living with you at your quaintly named compound, which we
need to discuss that particular name. Jen and I both agree it doesn’t inspire
the right vibe.”

“So there will be no more semi-famous shit. We
are
famous,
period.”

“Depending on what I end up doing I’ll be going in and out on a regular
basis. If we warn Christine, she can put out a formal announcement after Jeremy
does his impromptu one during the show. It makes sense when you get down to the
nitty gritty,” she said. Patting his chest Cat pressed a kiss to his chin. “And
yes, you are famous, babe. No semi about it.”

Shade gave a sniff. “Damn straight. I’ll talk to Jeremy today. It’ll
give him the time he needs to find the right spot to blurt out the announcement
to keep it natural feeling.”

“Good idea. Now then,” she said softly. Walking her fingers up his chest,
Cat stroked a finger to his lips. “What plans might you have for us today now
that I’m finally feeling rested?”

Chuckling at her words, Shade squeezed her close. “How do you feel about
going out? Nowhere in particular, but maybe take a drive. You, me, in a car to
take in the scenery. Right after I call Christine to give her a heads up on our
announcement. I’m sure she’ll have something to say about this, and I want that
over with. It will give you time to shower, dress, and grab a bite to eat.”

“Look at you being all smart and stuff. Will you put in an order for me?
Doesn’t need to be fancy either, Shade. Toast, more coffee, and maybe some
fruit, too.” Cupping his face, she kissed him softly, and then wiggled off his
lap.

After making the calls for her food, and what turned into a message to
Christine, Shade settled into his seat once more. Picking up the guitar, he
settled it over his lap, his fingers resting lightly on the strings. He had a
song whispering in his head. The same one that had teased him for weeks. But
now he had something he’d been missing before, Cateline. His lips curled up
when it started to finally click into place. It was still rough, but he definitely
had something to work with. Now all he had to do was figure out where the song
was leading him.