The Man You Need (Love on Tour #4) (11 page)

“It’ll be just like playing in your living room. Piece of cake.”

“I seriously doubt that.”

“Please, Jack, you’re my only hope.”

Jack ran his hand through his hair. “Okay, I guess.”

“Great. Let’s go practice. We don’t have much time.”

I watched them both leave. Then I sat there for a good ten minutes, staring at the little white apple on the back of Jack’s computer. Part of me wanted to go find where they’d holed up to practice and listen in. Another part of me wanted to save the surprise for the stage.

Eventually, I decided. I got up and walked back stage. It was dark and the crowd was noisy. Hank, Alonso, Greg, and Tommy were still standing backstage near where Baby and Bell were sitting on some sort of huge equipment case. I sat down next to Baby and watched them.

“Mike called. They’re taking him into surgery. The goddamn thing didn’t burst yet, so he should be okay,” Hank was saying.

Alonso ran a hand over his face. “Can Jack pull this off?”

Hank shrugged. “He’s good with an acoustic guitar. That’s all I know.”

“I can hang out and be ready to step in,” Alonso suggested. The look on his face was more serious than I’d ever seen. And I realized that Alonso was not just a slutty rocker, he was a musician, a man who took his craft as seriously as Sean and Hank did. It made me think about how Jack had accused me of being willing to jeopardize his career. I could be an asshole sometimes.

12

I felt completely undone. I was on edge, wired. I’d been pacing in my room for the last fifteen minutes, trying to calm down. I’d changed my clothes, exchanged my sandals for bright pink fluffy socks, and combed my hair. I tried to lie down on the bed, but just ended up pacing again, the fluffy socks making a soft rubbing sound against the hard hotel carpet. Nothing was working.

I needed to talk this out. And the person I wanted to talk to the most was my friend, Jack. He was a person I could say anything to, hadn’t he already proven that? And he always knew the exact right thing to say back. He was also the absolute stupidest person to discuss this problem with.

Baby was a much better choice, but I’d have to get her away from Sean to do that, and that would require at least a certain amount of explanation. I couldn’t handle that at the moment. Bell was an option, and it wouldn’t require the awkward conversation with Sean. Mike, too, would be an excellent choice. But… I didn’t turn to any of them. I walked down the hall straight to Jack’s room.

He looked as keyed up as I felt when he answered the door. He was wearing the same jeans and T-shirt he’d worn on stage. He was still sweaty and rumpled-looking. And I loved it.

“Hey, what’s up?” He opened the door wide and stepped aside so I could come in.

I walked to the bed and sat on the edge. “You did great tonight.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I was nervous as shit. And I totally froze at the beginning of the second song. Thank God Alonso was standing backstage with his bass to save my ass.”

“You did amazing,” I told him.

“Thanks, I hope Raif gets better soon. I do not want to have to do that again.”

“It sounds like you’re stuck with it for a little while, at least. He’s doing well, but he had surgery tonight, he needs time to recover.”

“Yeah, fuck.” Jack looked at me, perched on the edge of his bed. “What’s up? You look… I don’t know, weird.”

My legs were bouncing up and down and my hands were twisting together in my lap. “I have a problem.”

“Oh, yeah?” He sat down next to me on the bed. Which did not help my problem at all.

“Yeah, and I was hoping I could talk to you about it.”

Jack took one of my hands and held it on his knee. “Stacey, you can talk to me about anything. I hope you’ve figured that out by now.”

“It’s about… me being really, really turned on right now.”

“Huh.” He took a deep breath. “Okay. Who are you into?”

“You.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah, see watching you play… It was… It was really hot. And it made me want… Well, it made me want you.”

He had looked amazing up on stage. All of his glorious tall body was bathed in harsh light. The bass was strapped across his torso and he played it with his long fingers like it was a lover. Just thinking about it made me warm in all the right places.

“I see.”

“And that’s a real problem because you’re my friend. So, that’s bad, right?” I peeked up at him.

“You want to have sex with me?”

“No! No way!” I took my hand back from him. “That
cannot
happen.”

“Okay,” he said slowly. “So…”

“Well, I think we proved that friends can give each other orgasms.”

He stared at me for a long minute, and my leg started to bounce even harder. Then he laughed. I watched him, anxious.

“I suppose that’s true.”

“It is, right? We can totally do that.”

“I guess.”

“See, we just have to have some ground rules to keep our friendship intact.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“I think we should leave all necessary clothing on.”

He grinned. “Alright.”

“And, um, no penetration.”

He held up two fingers and raised an eyebrow.

“That’s not what I mean.”

“I know what you mean.”

“And, um, we have to stay friends the rest of the time. Just like we are now. So, no discussing it… When we’re not doing it, anyway.”

He leaned close to me. “What about kissing?”

“That is a requirement.” I loved the way Jack kissed. There was no way I was taking that out of the equation.

“Deal,” Jack whispered. Then he leaned closer and kissed me.

I put a hand behind his head and pulled him to me, opening my mouth and slanting my head so I could get a good deep kiss. Jack tried to lean me back on the bed, but I pushed on his chest and pulled away.

“No way, you first this time.” I slipped off the bed and knelt on the floor in front of him. “Stand up, Jack.”

He obeyed. If I was a girl of ordinary height, as I’d always wished I’d been, he would have been too tall for this. But with him standing and me on my knees, I was right where I wanted to be. I unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them down, revealing a pair of blue cotton boxers that hugged him tightly. I stared at the bulge for a second before pulling down the boxers and crumpling them at his ankles along with his jeans.

Jack was happy, to say the least, and huge. Before I could get intimidated, I grabbed ahold of him with one hand and gently licked with my tongue. He moaned. I loved it. I started to stroke him with my hand while I rubbed his tip gently over my lips. He groaned louder. That’s when I plunged ahead, putting him as far in my mouth as I could manage.

I was having so much fun doing this. Jack was making all kinds of noises. I had no idea he was even capable of being so demonstrative. I imaged that he would be the quiet, still type. He was anything but. His hands fisted in my hair, he moaned, groaned, and said my name in soft whispers.

“Jesus, Stacey. Good God. That feels amazing.”

I moved faster, anxious to make him feel everything intensely, anxious to make him say more.

“Oh, shit! Oh, Stac, stop. I’m going to–”

But I didn’t stop. I stayed with him until he came in my mouth. Then I looked up at him and swallowed.

“Holy shit,” he said softly.

I stayed there on my knees for a minute, just looking up at him. He sat on the bed and pulled me to him. “Come here, Princess.”

Jack laid me down on the bed and crawled over me. He kissed me for a long time, his hands skimming over my breasts, on top of my shirt. He moved to kissing my neck and breathed into my ear, “Your turn.”

I moved my hands over his back, which was still covered with a T-shirt, and down to his bare ass, which was exquisite, by the way. Then he unbuttoned my jeans and pulled them down to my ankles. He left my panties on. He pulled my legs up and moved my knees apart, then settled his broad shoulders between my thighs.

“As many clothes as possible,” he said softly, pushing my panties to one side.

He started with his fingers, sliding them up and down like he had on the night before my birthday. I moaned and pushed my hips off the mattress. My eyes were pinched closed and I didn’t realize he was making the transition from fingers to tongue until I felt it.

“Oh fuck, Jack!” I yelled out as I felt him licking and sucking me.

My orgasm came quickly, maybe a little too quickly. I couldn’t stop it. I had no control. It was as if, now that my body knew what to do, it was anxious to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. If I was a guy, I would have been embarrassed.

Jack tucked my panties back in place, pulled up my jeans and settled them on my hips. Then he yanked up his own pants and crawled up in the bed so that we were lying side-by-side.

“I think your problem is definitely fixed,” he said, kissing my cheek.

“Don’t get cocky about it.” I stood up at the side of the bed and refastened my jeans.

“Still friends, right?”

“Absolutely,” I said. “And I’m still setting you up with Sharyl.”

He rolled onto his back and groaned. “Okay, fine.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’ll ask her out. But not for a few days, okay? If I’m going to have to do more shows, I’m gonna to be busy practicing. Plus, I still have my real job. Between all that and keeping you satisfied, I’m not going to have time for a date.”

“Next week, then,” I said, smiling at him. I really needed him to go out with Sharyl. But delaying it was a good idea. After all, our little arrangement would probably end quickly if they got serious. I was planning on having a few more orgasms first.

“Sure.” Jack scrutinized me. “So you’re good now? No need to find some rocker, jump into his bed and get me fired?”

I walked toward the door, paused before opening it, and said, “You’re safe. For now.”

13

Jack played the next three shows. And after each one I wandered to his hotel room and got myself taken care of. I took care of Jack, too. And I learned what he liked. He liked to have me go first. He liked to make me squirm and scream out. Then he’d let me work on him. We were both getting really good at satisfying each other. Last night, instead of leaving right after, I stayed. We watched some terrible movie on late night TV, then did it all over again on the couch.

We were taking a night off in Baltimore, and by the time they played the next show, Raif would be back. So Jack was finally feeling less pressured. As a result, he suggested that we spend the day in D.C. with Baby and Sean. They were going to hit a bunch of tourist sites and see the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I picked that over going to a music festival in Baltimore with Hank, Bell and Mike.

I had this memory of going to the museum with Baby and Sean in New York a couple years ago. And even though I’d griped about it beforehand, I’d ended up loving it, mostly because of the time with them. I was more than happy to share that cozy feeling with Jack, too.

The four of us loaded up in a rental car and rode into the city. Sean was driving, and it was hilarious to hear him grumble as he made his way through the horrendous traffic.

“See, this is why poor people like me take public transit,” Baby said from the back seat, where she and I were riding, leaving the front to the ridiculously tall men.

“You are not poor,” Sean said.

She rolled her eyes. “I was once.”

“Not anymore.”

They had this fight all the time. Baby was really weird about Sean’s money. And it annoyed the shit out of him.

I grinned. “This argument never ceases to bore me.”

“You’re not helping, Stac. Jesus, these people are maniacs!” Sean slammed on the breaks as a car cut in front of us in the parking garage.

“There’s a spot,” Jack said.

Sean pulled the giant SUV into a tiny, cramped space, and we all got out and walked to the Mall. It was a beautiful, sunny day in the city, and I breathed in the fresh air.

“Okay, museum first,” Sean said, pointing to the building. “Or walk around outside first?”

“Are you kidding? If I don’t get in that museum now, I’m going to explode,” Baby said.

I laughed at her. I liked culture, too, particularly plays and music. But those things moved, they had people in them. Museums were just objects, things in dusty cases. But Baby couldn’t get enough of them.

I walked through the museum behind Sean and Baby. They held hands through most of it. When Baby was off looking at something, Sean held my hand. He whispered to me about things, told me jokes. I felt like a very lucky little kid in a way.

Jack was totally into, too, almost as much as Baby. It was fun to watch him as he looked at something, his jaw dropping open, then his brow furrowing in concentration as he read the interpretive sign beside it. So Sean and I made as much fun of him as possible.

“Now, see, he could probably take that dinosaur,” Sean said as we watched Jack staring at a small raptor from the Jurassic period.

“Hmmm, you might be right about that.”

“Do you think he’s waiting for it to wake up?” Sean asked, watching Jack scrutinize a mummy closely for nearly ten minutes.

Jack ignored us, which only made it more entertaining.

We were three-quarters of the way through the museum before we were bothered. It was a miracle, really, to be in a crowded public place and be left alone for so long. People did look at Sean. Heads turned in every exhibit hall we entered. But no one approached us until we were looking at the Neanderthal skull. It all started with one guy. He walked over. And that’s all it took. It was like once one person did it, everyone else thought it was okay. A crowd slowly formed.

Sean was not good with fans. Mike or Hank always handled them. Baby was even worse. She usually escaped to some corner somewhere when they started to gather around him. I was a real bitch when it came to dealing with Sean’s fans, not diplomatic at all.

Fortunately, Jack was a master at this. He stepped up to the group, holding out his hands. Everyone stopped. Just like that. Then he began speaking authoritatively to them. They looked up at him in rapt attention. It was like he was holding court.

With their gazes trained on Jack, Sean, Baby and I escaped to the next hall. Jack caught up with us in the lobby and we headed to the Mall. We walked along the reflection pool in peace, discussing our favorite parts of the museum.

We weren’t disturbed again until we got to the Lincoln Memorial. But that time, Sean handled it himself. When three young women began their approach, Sean grabbed his wife and started making out with her, right there beneath honest Abe’s stern gaze. I watched in amusement as the women stopped in their tracks, stared for a long time, then turned away, giggling.

“That is creative, effective, and it looks like fun,” Jack said, throwing his arm around my shoulders.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I turned to look at him. “What did you say to that group at the museum, anyway?”

“Oh, you know, the usual.”

“No, Jack, I don’t know.”

He grinned at me. “I can be very charming, Princess.”

I rolled my eyes.

****

It was late. The show in Philadelphia had been a good one and it didn’t get out until nearly midnight. Afterward, I went out for a drink with Mike and Baby. By the time I got back to the hotel, the three Mai Tai’s I’d drunk had me feeling pretty good. So after saying goodnight to Baby and Mike, I headed straight to Jack’s room.

When he answered the door, I looked him up and down. He was wearing a tight-fitting tour T-shirt. It was too short for his long frame and the hem just barely grazed the top of his perfectly faded jeans. He was barefoot. I licked my lips.

“Hey, Stac.”

I put my hands on his chest and pushed gently. He backed up a few steps, and I closed the door behind me.

“Hi,” I breathed.

“Um, Stac…” Jack stepped to the side so I could see into the room.

There, on the couch in his suite, was Sharyl. She was wearing one of her suits. The jacket hung on the back of the couch. Her crisp white shirt was unbuttoned to nearly indecent. The straight skirt was hitched up on her crossed legs. Her heels sat beside the couch in a pile.

In front of her, on the coffee table, was a pile of papers, an open laptop, and two glasses of wine, both half empty. Oh shit.

“Hi, Sharyl,” I said, as casually as I could manage.

“Hi, Stacey. How are you?”

“Good. Um, I just, um…” I looked up at Jack as I ran a hand through my hair. I what? Came here to get an orgasm. Shit. “I wanted to find out what time the bus is rolling in the morning.”

“About eight, I guess.” Jack looked like he’d just been caught with his hands in the cookie jar. “Sharyl and I were just working.”

Did he think I was stupid? I had to remind myself that I was the one who insisted he ask Sharyl out. I was just pissed because I’d lost my fix. It was selfish and mean of me. It really was.

I turned to the door. “Thanks. Have a good night.”

I opened the door and walked through it. Jack followed me.

“Stacey, hold up.”

I kept walking. My room was at the end of the hall. I just had to make it there.

“Stacey.” I wasn’t hard for him to catch up with me. When he did, he put his hand around my upper arm and pulled me to a stop.

I turned to face him. “What?”

“We’re working.”

I smiled at him. “With wine. You are good, Jack.”

“I’m serious. It’s not what it looks like.”

“Did you ask her out? You said you would. Now is the perfect time to make your move.”

“I’m not making any moves. We’re working. We were supposed to meet a few days ago, but I got busy. She finally tracked me down tonight. She needs to make an order in the morning.”

“Well, if it’s just work, then you need to step up your game.” I grinned.

Jack sighed. “I’m not interested in asking Sharyl out right now.”

I cocked my head to the side and put on my absolute best acting face. I was really killing it, despite my half-drunk state. “What changed?”

“Nothing.” He let out a deep breath. “I ordered the wine for us. I figured you’d come by after the show. When Sharyl showed up, she just started drinking it.”

“Why are you explaining all this to me?”

“You came over for a reason, didn’t you?”

I had, of course. I’d come over looking to rip off my pants and shove Jack’s face between my legs.

I shrugged. “I had a few drinks, is all. It’s no big deal.”

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him. “I’ll get rid of her,” he said softly. “And we can go back to my room.”

Suddenly, it felt wrong. He wanted to get a piece. Yes, that was what I’d been after. But it didn’t matter to me at that moment. I saw in Jack’s eyes the same thing I saw in every other man’s eyes when they looked at me. And I hated it.

“Don’t bother.” I shoved him away from me, turned on my heel and walked to my room.