CHAPTER 15

JARED

Fuck me sideways. She actually showed up. I was wondering if she was going to, or if she was going to cancel on me at the last minute. I hadn’t been stood up in years, but as Alicia constantly proved, she was different and not incapable of surprising me.

I was also half expecting that if she did show up, it would be in her work clothes to prove that she wasn’t trying to impress me or something. But that dress was definitely not something I’d seen her in at work.

My tongue darted out between my lips when I spotted her. If I thought she was hot at work, she was fucking mesmerizing after hours. She hadn’t seen me yet, and she was paused in the doorway of the restaurant, giving me a great opportunity to check her out without the drawback of her getting annoyed with me about it.

The restaurant that I’d chosen for our date was a fancy, but understated place that hardly ever had any of the members of the paparazzi hanging around. I thought I should get points for having chosen a place like this since I doubted that she wanted to be photographed with me.

The lighting was dim, with low-hanging crystal chandeliers and candles on the tables. Alicia was momentarily silhouetted by the street lamp outside before the door of the restaurant swung closed behind her, making her seem like an absolute vision. Her black dress hugged her curves in a way that made me jealous of fabric for the first time in my life, and her honey blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and was shiny and smooth.

And those heels.

Fuck.

Me.

The hostess was escorting Alicia toward me by the time that I managed to stop staring at her. Both women were smiling on their approach, but Alicia’s smile seemed a bit fake. I wondered why.

I found myself wondering what was going on in her pretty little head—way more often than I was used to—but I decided not to overthink it and rose from my seat when they drew near.

Alicia’s brow furrowed as if she were confused, then smoothed, and the smile became more genuine. What the hell was that about?

“Hey,” I said when they were close enough. “You came. Wasn’t sure you were going to.”

“Me either,” she mumbled, flushed the most appealing shade of pink, and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “But now that I am, how are you?”

When I went to pull out a chair for her, she looked puzzled again, and this time, I was too curious to let it go. “What?”

“Nothing,” she said quickly, then turned to face the hostess who was still standing there, apparently staring at me. I’d been too busy doing the same with Alicia to notice that she was still there.

Turning my attention to the hostess, I flashed her a grin and asked her to send over our server. Understanding my dismissal, she nodded and scurried away, finally leaving me alone with my ravishing date.

“I know enough about women to know that even if they say it’s nothing, it’s never really nothing. So, what’s up?”

Alicia smiled shyly, averting her eyes from mine as she stared down at the starched white tablecloth that covered our table. “It’s really nothing interesting. I was just surprised by you acting all gentlemanly.”

“What do you think I am, a caveman? I wasn’t born under a rock, you know? My mama raised her boys with manners. We just forget to use them sometimes.” I had no idea where the sudden bout of honesty had come from, or why I’d mentioned my mother for that matter. I never talked about her with anyone.

As if Alicia knew not to ask, she didn’t and smirked at me instead. “Don’t insult cavemen. You’re way worse than them most of the time.”

With her quip, quick smile, and slightly teasing expression, Alicia pulled the string on the knot of unease and consequent confusion about why I said what I had. I relaxed almost instantly and took my seat across from her. “I’m worse than cavemen? Is that really what you think?”

Her eyes softened as she took me in, and in that moment, it was like she could see straight through all the bullshit I spewed and was really looking at me. I didn’t know how I felt about that. “No, that’s not what I really think. Not most of the time, anyway.”

“I see.” We were interrupted by the server approaching our table and taking our drink order. White wine for Alicia and another tumbler of Scotch for me.

“Where were we?” I asked her once the penguin-suited man left.

“Nowhere too interesting. The record will reflect that you are, in fact, not worse than a caveman. Speaking of the record, how did it go in the studio today?”

It wasn’t often that I got asked that with genuine interest. Mostly people just asked because they wanted inside information, wanted to know if they could lay down a track with us, or as a formality. It didn’t feel like that with Alicia, but that might also only have been because it was part of her job to care.

“It’s going really well, actually. We had a tough couple of days for a while back there, but we’re really gaining momentum now. I think this just might be the best record that we’ve ever done. I can’t wait to see what the fans think.”

“I’m sure they’re going to love it. The hype campaign is going fantastically well so far. People seem really eager for you to drop this one. There’s a general consensus that your stuff has only been getting better, so the fans are stoked to see what you’ve come up with. The campaign is going so much better than I expected.”

“Yeah? That’s great. You’ve been doing a really good job.” The server delivered our drinks and took our food order, then disappeared again.

“Thanks,” she said, a bright smile lighting up her features. “Same to you. I know how hard you guys are working.”

“We are, although most people think that we do nothing but sleep all day, party all night, and then maybe sing some songs somewhere in between.”

Alicia laughed and sipped her wine, drawing my attention to her lips, and I wondered if they tasted as good as they looked. She had a pale pink gloss on them that made me think inexplicably that they tasted like some kind of berry.

“I know there’s a lot more to it than that,” she said, interrupting my fantasy of leaning across the table and finding out the answers to my questions.

“It’s kind of cool that I know that you really do.” What was it with this honesty thing tonight? I finished my drink and promptly ordered another. I needed to stop thinking so much. “So, you already know a lot of the first date kind of stuff about me, but I don’t know much about you, other than what you do for a living. Tell me more.”

“You want the basics?”

I nodded and motioned for her with my hand that the floor was hers. It was alluring to see that she actually put some thought into her answer and wasn’t just trying to deny that she knew the basics about me. Or trying to get more from me without offering anything about herself.

“Okay. Basics. Here goes. I have one sister, Kelly. She’s an entertainment reporter and blogger, and before you ask, no, I don’t tell her anything about my clients. Yes, she knows that we’re on a date tonight, but she won’t write about it.”

A low chuckle rumbled from my chest. “I don’t care if she writes about it, honestly. You’re hot, and I definitely don’t mind being seen with you. But I kind of figured that you wouldn’t like being seen out with me, so I’m guessing that’s why she’s not writing about this. It’s also why I chose this restaurant.”

Another look of surprise crossed Alicia’s features. “What do you mean, ‘that’s why you chose this restaurant’?”

“It’s not one of the haunts that the vultures crowd around. I thought you might enjoy not having your picture on every gossip blog tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she said. Her voice was so low that it was barely above a whisper, and I could see from the look in her eyes that she really appreciated my consideration, as well as that she hadn’t expected it. Strangely, her lack of expectations was endearing. It wasn’t something I often came across in women.

“That’s siblings covered, then,” she said. “I was raised by a single mom. She still lives in Wrightwood. It’s about an hour and a half from here if the weather’s good. That’s where I’m from, by the way. What else did you want to know?”

I plucked a random question from one of the less boring ones we got asked in interviews. “Which of Hogwarts house would you have belonged to if we were in Harry Potter?”

If she was surprised by my question, she didn’t show it. She just smiled and answered immediately. “Ravenclaw. You?”

Before I could answer, she held up a palm to stop me. “Let me guess. Slitherin?”

“You honestly don’t know the answer to that? We’ve been asked before.”

“I don’t sift through all of your old interviews with a fine-toothed comb. I read and watched some to get a feel for you guys, but it’s not like I can change the way that the guy who came before me did his job, so I haven’t spent too much time on that.”

She had a point about it being useless for her to revisit everything we’d ever done.

“Okay, I believe you. It’s not Slitherin, though. I did one of those quizzes on the Internet once while we were drunk on tour, though I usually leave the part about being drunk out in interviews, but mine is actually also Ravenclaw.”

Alicia tilted her head slightly, pursed her lips, and looked me over. “I wouldn’t have guessed that.”

“Trust me, there’s a lot of stuff about me that you wouldn’t guess. Why public relations?”

“Why not?” Then she sighed, and the left corner of her mouth twitched into a smile. “I know, I know. That’s a non-answer. The truth is that I’ve always loved music. I even used to do a little bit of singing back in school. Then I realized that while I loved it, I’m really not talented, so I decided to make a career out of helping those who were. Why rock star?”

For some reason, I didn’t want to give her my snarky, go-to answer about fast cars and faster women. I was starting to feel pleasantly buzzed from the Scotch the server kept delivering, and I chalked up my reluctance to give her my prepared answer to that. I also noticed that she’d hardly touched her wine. “Music makes me feel alive. So does making it. All I’ve ever wanted to do was to touch people with my music. There something wrong with the wine?”

“No,” she said, taking another small sip. “I just like being in control.”

“Why? Being out of control can be so much more fun. Take the band for instance. We lose control and stupid shit happens, but we’ve worked so damn hard to get here that we’ve earned the right to let loose and have fun now. I’m not going to feel guilty for enjoying the ride to the fullest while it lasts.”

Our food arrived, and we made small talk while we ate, getting to know each other a little better. My steak was soft and juicy, and Alicia let out a little whimper about her gnocchi that sent all my blood rushing south. My cock hardened when a vivid fantasy of hearing her make that sound for me played through my mind.

Down boy. I focused on her telling me anecdotes about how she ended up getting into friendly arguments with her sister because they were on complete opposite sides of the business, instead of focusing on my cock’s desires. Surprisingly, I found myself enjoying her company and telling her things that I didn’t usually tell people.

“Trust me. Being on opposite sides of the industry might be easier than being on the same side of it,” I told her, and she grew contemplative, clearly remembering my talk with Caleb a couple of days ago.

We talked all through dinner, and when our food was done, Alicia fixed me with a curious gaze, the candlelight reflecting in her clear blue eyes. “Can I ask you something?”

“I’m going to not be a douche and point out that you just did, so yes. Sure, fire away.”

“Why are you opening up to me tonight? I feel like I’ve gotten to see more of the real you in the last few hours than I have in the last six weeks since I met you. If you’ve actually been honest with me so far, that is.”

Why, indeed? “I don’t know why, but I have been honest.”

I tried to play it off with a shrug and that vague answer, but even as I said it, I knew that I wasn’t being completely honest with her. The truth was that I was more attracted to her than I’d been to a woman in a long time, and I had a feeling she would take better to Jared than she would to the Emperor.

That knowledge, combined with the fact that it seemed I was right, was a refreshing feeling, and I was surprised to find that I didn’t hate it.

There was also another thought taking hold in the back of my mind. I hadn’t slept with a groupie for a while. Was my attraction to Alicia the reason for that? I thought that it might be, and I had no idea what to make of that.

All I knew as our plates and glasses were cleared was that I wasn’t quite ready for the date to be over yet. “Are you tired, or would you like to come over to my place for a while?”

Alicia looked torn, but finally nodded, and I internally fist-pumped. “Did you drive over here?”

I nodded, and she added, “In that case, I’m driving us to your place, since you’re still tipsy.”

“I could call for a limo driver,” I offered.

“What? You don’t trust my driving abilities?”

I went for my signature smirk, but broke out in a big, unfamiliar smile. “Nah, but that’s okay. I’d actually prefer it if you just drove.”