The Rock Star and the Girl From the Coffee Shop 2: Under Pressure (9 page)

“Yeah. Shit!”

Hanna didn’t even want to think about what the headlines would read tomorrow, her naked body exposed for the world to see… She shuddered at the thought.

“Well, at least it’s not in any of the papers or online yet.”

Bo sat back on the sofa and sighed. He looked over at Hanna, who was sitting next to him, her laptop sitting in her lap, and scouring articles looking for either of the two soon-to-be-infamous photos. She’d found nothing. She was taking it all surprisingly well.

Maybe she was just getting used to it, or maybe holding it in. He didn’t know which.

“But don’t get your hopes up. Chances are he’s taking bids from the papers, looking to sell it to the highest bidder. If he was the one that took the pictures of me with both you and Nadine he’ll be able to fetch a pretty penny for them if he holds off a few days.”

The press was going to have a field day with those pictures. He had no doubt about that. Two days ago a picture of him getting too cosy with Nadine and then yesterday him and Hanna fucking in a pool. Oh yeah, the headlines would be priceless and he really didn’t want Hanna around when the story broke.

“Hey, why don’t we take a little trip to Paris? We'll leave in the morning.”

Hanna’s brow furrowed. “Paris? Tomorrow?”

Bo laughed at her perplexed expression.

“Yes. Tomorrow. Why is that such a shocking idea?”

A grin spread across her face, and her eyes began to sparkle with excitement. “Well.

It’s… it’s fast. It’s not shocking, I suppose, but unexpected.”

“Well, we did decide on a house last night. So that’s taken care of and I still have a week before we head to the studio. So why not? Didn’t you mention a while back you’d love to explore Europe, and you’d especially love to see Paris and the Eiffel Tower?”

“But what about the pictures?”

Bo shrugged. “Nothing we can do about them either way. Might as well not let it ruin our week together.”

Hanna ran a hand through her long auburn curls and nodded, her smile widening, as she closed the laptop and placed it onto the coffee table in front of them. “You’re right. I ummm…”

A knock at the door cut her off and Bo immediately got up to answer it. “Hold that thought.” Making his way to the door, he opened it to reveal Tyson standing on the other side.

“Hey Bo. Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Stepping back, Bo waved him in and led him into the living room where Hanna was waiting for them.

“So I’ve hired three new men like you requested,” Tyson informed him as he sat

down in the overstuffed leather armchair across from Hanna. “There is going to be a guard at your door at all times and we’ll have an additional man with you both whenever you’re in public. Also, the security cameras at the hotel are good, but none of them were able to get a good enough image of the reporter who took the pictures to be able to identify him.”

Bo nodded. It wasn’t news to him. He’d figured as much.

“Guess we’ll know soon enough.”

Tyson shrugged. “Yeah. Suppose we will.”

“Als, I need you to get a hold of someone to do a little investigative work for me. I think someone is tipping this guy off. There’s no other way he’d have known I was going to be at the hotel and then again at the house. There must be a leak in our system somewhere and the faster we find it the faster we can end this craziness.”

Well, not end, but slow down
, he mused. He knew it wouldn’t end until he stepped out of the public eye and people forgot about him. But that wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon.

Tyson raised a brow at him as he leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “You really think there’s a snitch?”

“Not sure how else to explain it.”

Tyson remained silent as he leaned back into his chair, though Bo could see from his expression that he was mulling over the idea. “I’ll get someone on that tomorrow.”

“You need to deal with it tonight.”

“Why’s that, Sir?” He gave his head a shake. “I apologize. Of course as soon as I get back to my apartment, I’ll get it taken care of.”

“All right. In that case I guess there is nothing left to do here other than tell you to go get packed, Hanna and I are going to Paris and we’re going to need you and a couple of guys to accompany us.”

Bo glanced over at Hanna and hated seeing her smile fade slightly. “I’m sorry

sweetie, but you know we can’t go without them. It’s better safe than sorry.”

“Yeah, I know.” She forced a smile that didn’t carry up to her eyes.

Glancing back over at Tyson, his head of security seemed distraught over the idea.

“Is there a problem with you going tomorrow, Tyson?”

“No Sir, it's fine.”

His reply came too quick. What was with those two? Well, Hanna he got. She hated being "babysat" as she commonly referred to it, but Tyson was a mystery. Normally Tyson loved travelling outside of the country, he’d joked in the past it was his way of seeing the world without having to pay for it.

“You sure? Is there somewhere you’d rather be?”

Tyson gave his head a quick shake. “Nah, Sir. We’ll be ready.”

~*~*~*~*~

“It sparkles! Look, look, look!” Hanna gave Bo’s hand a jerk, gaining his attention as they rounded a building and she caught sight of the Eiffel Tower shining brightly, filling the night sky with thousands of sparkling lights as they flashed and chased each other.

Not hearing an expected response, Hanna glanced up at Bo to see him smiling down at her.

“Well? Is that not the coolest thing
ever
!”

Bo chucked out loud this time. “It is pretty amazing.”

She groaned out loud, rolling her eyes at him. “But you’ve seen it before, haven’t you?” The tower stopped sparkling and went back to glowing a soft yellow.

Giving her a guilty smile he nodded. “Yeah, last year we toured through Europe. I saw most of the major tourist attractions.”

Hanna’s heart sank slightly, a part of her wishing it was something new they’d

experience together.

“But, there’s still tons I haven’t seen. Usually the best places are the ones fewer people know about.”

As they drew closer to the tower the crowd began to thicken and they found

themselves approached by countless street vendors peddling miniature sparkling Eiffel Tower statues, carrying the dozens of statues on large iron rings. Hanna found herself muttering a stream of no thank yous, which only encouraged the vendors to try harder.

“Just ignore them,” Bo advised as they brushed their way past the vendors. “We stop then someone might take notice of us.” He pulled the bill of his ballcap a little lower down his forehead.

Hanna frowned as she glanced over her shoulder to see Tyson and two of the new

guys following close behind, while trying to look inconspicuous. Luckily, the stature of the three bodyguards made them a point of interest, keeping eyes from Bo and Hanna.

As they approached the tower, she noticed four stations, one set up at each leg of the tower. Lines of a couple hundred people each patiently waited for a chance to climb the tower. Between the legs were an assortment of vendors selling tourist items.

“Wanna climb the tower?”

Hanna raised a brow at him and then craned her neck looking up at the tower. That was a lot of climbing. Did people actually climb to the top? It seemed insane.

“Do people climb all the way to the top?”

“To the third platform.”

That still seemed like a hell of a long way in her mind. She looked down at the boots she was wearing, with the four-inch heels, and then back up.

“We can purchase tickets to take the lift to the third storey.”

Hanna shook her head as she tugged him to the nearest leg to stand in line. “Nah, let’s do this proper and climb some stairs. Might as well get some exercise.” She looked over her shoulder at their three guards and saw the look of disappointment on their faces. They seemed about as impressed as she was over the idea of the climb, but dutifully followed behind the couple.

Bo slipped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her tight to him, kissing her on the top of her head. Wrapping her arms around his waist, she snuggled tight to him. It felt nice here. Maybe it was the change of location and aside from having Tyson and the other guys with them, it felt like they were two normal people on vacation.

As the line moved and they got closer to the front of the line, she noticed several people staring at her and Bo. People chattered around her in various languages, none of which she understood, so if people were indeed talking about her and Bo, she’d never know. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in and slowly released it. She was being paranoid, that was all. Opening her eyes, she looked around a second time and the few people who she thought had been staring seemed to have lost interest.

“What’s wrong?”

Chuckling at herself, Hanna shrugged. “I’m so used to being paranoid, I guess it’s hard to relax around people now.”

“Yeah. I know. Welcome to the world of show business, babe.”

“Ummm. Yeah.” With her cheeks burning, she glanced down at the polished toe of

her black boot. “I have to learn to relax.” She elbowed him in the side. “Maybe we can get hooked up with a couples’ massage when we get back to the hotel.” If a massage didn’t help, nothing would.

“Oh wow! It’s them!” She heard a woman from behind them say.

Her heart sank and she began to panic.
Here we go.

She looked up at Bo frowning, but he didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by being discovered. “Can’t we have just one…”

“It is! It is!” Another woman’s voice answered, louder and with more excitement than the first.

“Look behind us, babes.”

She slowly turned to see a small crowd forming around a couple of women.

“Which TV show?” a male voice called out.

“You know, the reality one!” the first female answered.

Hanna felt pity for the two women, who undoubtedly wanted to spend an evening

touring Paris as much as she and Bo did, but at the same time the wave of relief that was settling over her as the swarm of people got larger around the women was almost orgasmic. As they reached the cashier, Bo quickly paid for passes for him, her and the guards and the group went through a security check before proceeding to the task of climbing hundreds of stairs.

“Wow. You got overlooked for a couple of reality TV actors; that has to sting,” she teased when they were out of earshot of anyone close to them.

Laughing, Bo stopped his ascent of the monstrous staircase to face her. “It only stings a little. I think I can get over it though.”

“Wonder which show…” Hanna peeped through the steel bars that formed part of the leg they were climbing to gaze down at the small crowd of people formed around the blonde women. Despite touring with Bo’s band, she really hadn’t met many famous people – yet.

“Would you like me get you an autograph or two?”

The idea of Bo Savage hounding the two women along with the dozens of other

people was laugh-out-loud funny to her. “You’d do that? For me?”

“Of course.”

Resting her hip on the cool steel of the tower leg and crossing her arms over her chest, she caught his gaze and raised a skeptical brow at him. “Really. You would?” Despite his joking manner, she suspected he’d actually do it.

“I wouldn’t hesitate…” He jerked his thumb at Tyson, who was waiting patiently for them to continue their climb. “… to send Tyson down there and get those autographs.”

Hanna glanced down at Tyson to see a look of horror flash in his dark eyes. Not being able to resist herself, she couldn’t help but play along. She turned back to Bo with a devilish gleam in her eyes. “Oh, could you send him? It would make me so happy.”

She glanced at Tyson out of the corner of her eye to see his normal blank expression turn to a frown. He opened his mouth to protest, appeared to think better of it and snapped it shut again.

“Of course, babes, anything for you.”

“Bo. Hanna. I don’t think…”

Both she and Bo watched as Tyson looked down at the small crowd and attempted to find an excuse not to go.

After watching him struggle to find a reason to not have to go through the

embarrassment of becoming an autograph seeker, Hanna laughed, her laughter followed by Bo’s.

Walking over to Tyson, she gave him a quick hug, which seemed to put him off kilter almost as much as the idea of going autograph seeking. “Don’t worry. We can pass on the autographs this time.”

Looking up at the next flight of stairs, she sighed and began to climb them. “So what is on the first floor anyhow?”

“A restaurant and bar.”

“Well, what about the second floor?”

“Same thing.”

“But I’m not hungry.”

Bo shrugged. “Then we don’t eat.”

“So why are we climbing this god-awful amount of stairs then?”

Chuckling, Bo shook his head. “To say we did. And there is a nice view of the Palace of Versailles from the second storey.” They continued to climb and eventually stopped on the first-floor platform. They walked over to the next set of stairs that would take them to the second storey. “Besides, we only have another… say… three hundred stairs to get to the second floor.”

Oh, dear God
. Her calves were already burning. Of course, she doubted her heels were helping the matter much. Taking a deep breath in, she slowly released it and trudged on.

“Well, let’s get at it.”

“This room is amazing! Had I known we could get this kind of view from the room I wouldn’t have asked we climb all those blasted stairs.”

Bo grinned as he turned on the water in the hot tub. “It was a nice view from the tower, though.” He had to admit, trudging up over 600 stairs to find out the third level was closed was rather disappointing. Apparently there had been a notice posted that the third storey was closed, but due to the ruckus caused by the reality television stars, none of the group had seen it.

“I really think the view from this room is comparable. Maybe even better.” She spun around to face him. “You know,” she motioned to the grand suite they were staying in,