Chapter 9
I race for the elevator. It’s been a long night and I’m done with the groping and selfies. I’ve loved having a day off and Vegas is my favorite place on Earth. Truth be told though, I would rather do a show every night and get home earlier. The guys all have their women and they fly in to spend these days off together. For me, these are the nights I don’t care about the women. Instead of sleeping the whole break, I decided it was better to get out, meet some fans and kick back with a few drinks.
As the elevator doors start to close, I reach for them and yell to hold the elevator. My bodyguard is right behind me, holding back the ones who haven’t gotten the hint that I’m not interested. These guards are really not paid enough. They have to put up with quite a bit of bullshit.
I step into the elevator and Katrina rolls her eyes when I call her princess. She’s been scarce since the night in my dressing room. I didn’t handle that well. I was just so shocked and I shoved her away. The only problem with that is I haven’t been able to get those few seconds out of my head. She’s not a groupie. Shit, she hates me. But her lips felt right and she’s avoided me ever since.
“How’s the hiding going?”
“Excuse me?” She gives me the eat shit look I’m so accustomed to.
“You’ve been hiding from me. No reason to deny it. Sadly, I’ve been seeking.” Her head snaps in my direction and I shrug. “Apparently I suck at it because I haven’t been able to find you.”
She’s unusually quiet. I don’t want her to feel awkward. It was bad enough when she was speaking to me. Ignoring me will be so much worse.
“Listen, I didn’t handle that day very well.”
She shakes her head and puts her hand up to stop me. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
I take a step forward and she steps back. I repeat it until she has nowhere left to go. “We need to talk about it because we have a few more weeks together on the road and I like to face shit head on. You have such a wall up and pushing you away made it worse.”
She huffs out a breath. “Fine. I’m sorry. I don’t have any idea what I was thinking. Clearly, I wasn’t. That ranks up there as one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done. What I should have done was realized the woman on the couch was Karen and not been such a bitch. No, what I should have done was just walked out once I gave you the article. There wasn’t a reason to stay.”
“What I should have done,” I pause. Turning to my bodyguard, I smile. “Can you turn around for a minute?”
“What the hell are you doing?” Katrina’s eyes widen.
“What I should have done is this.” I pull her to me and devour her mouth. My lips are hungry and she’s my prey. Her hands push against my chest but her mouth tells a completely different story. She opens for me and our tongues fight for dominance.
The kiss is brief but it’s enough for me to know I want to do it again. She touches her lips and looks at me. Her face is too hard to read. There are only two options here. Either she’ll punch me or she’ll come find me to do that again. I step back into my corner and my bodyguard chuckles.
When the elevator doors open, she freezes.
“Ciao Bella. Did you miss me?”
“Lorenzo,” she jumps into his arms and wraps her legs around his waist. “What are you doing here?”
“Holy shit. Lorenzo DeGatti.” It doesn’t happen often but even I get star struck. “Nice to meet you, man. I’m Chance.”
Katrina laughs at me. “Chance, Enzo. Enzo, this is one of the guys I’m writing about.”
“Pleasure, Chance. I missed my woman so I figured I would fly out to see her for the weekend. I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” He looks between me and Katrina.
She shakes her head and giggles. “Of course not. I’m so happy to see you.”
To say I’m shocked is an understatement. I just had the most intense kiss of my life with this woman thirty seconds ago and now she’s wrapped around the hottest Formula One driver on the planet. I’m not sure if I’m pissed or jealous. I’m Lennon Chancellor, damnit. I compete with no one.
He pats her ass and growls at her. “Room. Now.”
As the door closes with me inside and them on the outside, my bodyguard starts to laugh. “Ain’t that some shit, kid. What are the odds?”
I shove another piece of bacon into my mouth while Harley, Joshua and Max stare at me. “It was Lorenzo Mother Fucking DeGatti. I shit you not. He was just standing there looking like he just stepped off the pages of GQ or some shit. He called her his woman and practically mauled her in the hallway.”
Harley’s laugh echoes through the whole room. “I bet you about blew your load when you saw him. Shit, I wish I’d been on that elevator just to see your face.”
Joshua chokes on his juice. “What am I missing? Who is Lorenzo whoever?”
Max shakes his head. “Oh, here we go. Chance has had a crush on him for years.”
I punch his arm. “He’s a Formula One driver. His dad owns the DeGatti Tire empire. I won’t confirm or deny a crush on him. But I think you’re all missing the point. He was here to see Katrina. Remember her? The pain in the ass on tour with us?”
“Isn’t that perfect? You can get an intro. Maybe bond. Ask him to marry you.” This time, Max dodges my fist.
“I had my tongue down her throat ten seconds before the elevator doors opened.” That got their attention. Even Joshua stops what he’s doing and stares at me.
“Oh man, I need to get to the hospital. Something is wrong with my hearing. I swear I thought you said your tongue was down her throat.” Harley sticks his finger in his ear and wiggles it around.
“No.” Joshua’s voice is stern. “You fuck her, she fucks us. You understand me?”
“I didn’t fuck her. I kissed her.”
“For you, that’s the same thing. You stop this now. She’s off limits. The last thing we need is your one-night stand hurting her and her retaliating in the press.” Joshua put his dishes back on the room service tray. “This can’t happen, Chance. There’s no scenario where this can happen.”
“I have to agree.” Harley puts his hand on my shoulder. “She’s hot, I see the appeal. But she hates you, man. Don’t make this worse.”
I poke at my eggs before putting my fork down. They’re right. What the hell was I thinking? I can’t pursue her. I can’t bed her just to have a warm body next to me. Not her.
“But if you wanted to fuck Lorenzo, he’s not off limits. Imagine that plot twist in the press.” Joshua laughs as he steps out of the room.
“Did Seymour just have jokes?”