CHAPTER 38

JARED

"Thank you." Alicia smiled at the waitress who delivered our champagne and poured us each a glass. She held her flute up to mine, the two crystal glasses clinking. "Cheers to a successful interview."

"Cheers."

The restaurant Alicia chose for the celebratory dinner was a fancy ass place near the hotel. Starched white tablecloths covered small round tables decorated with red roses and candles.

"You know if the others had come to this dinner, it would have been a disaster in a place like this, right?"

Several other people sat at tables near us, but the place felt private enough since we were seated against a wall, and the other diners were conversing in low tones, everyone focused on their own companions.

Alicia's eyes sparkled in the candlelight, amusement and joy shining from them. "You survived the interview. I figured I would push my luck and see if this nice restaurant could survive you. Apparently, they have the best steak in town."

"You had me at steak." Joking around like this, Alicia felt natural, good. I’d considered skipping this dinner after the interview this afternoon, almost opting to hit the town with the others.

I’d backed out on them at the last minute, feeling an inexplicable draw to go out with Alicia instead of hunting for a nameless, faceless hookup and getting trashed. It wasn't like me, but I was powerless to resist it.

"If only I'd known that earlier, I wouldn't have wasted hours in interview practice with you," she teased. "I would have ordered takeout from here and dangled it on a stick in front of you."

"All you would have gotten then would have been a brawl between us for the best piece of meat."

Alicia laughed and tilted her head to the side. "You mean similar to the brawl for those poor girls the others are out seducing?"

"Touché." A low chuckle rumbled from my chest unexpectedly. Somehow, this girl managed to do what few others in the world could. She stripped away my bullshit layers and drew out the guy buried deep inside. "Although, you should know we don't have the same taste in women. It's almost never come down to a brawl."

"Almost?"

"There was this one pop star when we first started out. She was hot and friendly, and I'm pretty sure Caleb used to have a poster of her on his wall as a teenager. It was right after …" I caught myself before airing Caleb's dirty laundry. That wasn't my story to tell. "Anyway, if memory serves, Nick and Caleb nearly got into it over her."

"Tell me more." Alicia put her elbows on the table, her fingers wrapped delicately around her champagne flute as she listened. When other people requested I tell them our stories, it always felt like they were fishing. It was different with Alicia, more like she was interested just because they were my stories.

"Caleb went through a bad patch after he broke up with his long-term girlfriend.” She’d actually been his fiancée, but that part wasn’t public knowledge. The breakup of his relationship was. “Nick was on a mission to get him laid, but Caleb wasn’t interested. Until they met this pop star.”

Alicia was roaring with laughter by the time I finished telling her about the one time the band clashed over a girl, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. Women were hardly ever as carefree and relaxed around me. I grudgingly admitted to myself that I liked that she was. I liked spending time with her like this, making her laugh.

An alien feeling, this urge to keep talking to her, laughing with her. Fucking weird, but there it was.

The waitress came around to take our order, and we both ordered their Chef Special, the steak Alicia had heard about. She refilled our glasses and left again.

I sat back in my seat, eyes on Alicia as she sipped her champagne and took in our surroundings. Her hair was loose and wavy, framing her face with soft tendrils I wanted to reach out and touch if only to feel the silky strands between my fingers. It shone gold in the flickering candlelight, forming a halo around her head.

Soft jazz music played in the background, and her shoulders swayed ever so slightly to the beat. A white wrap dress with little ankle boots completed her look. Between the golden halo, the white dress, and the way her eyes seemed bright and soft at the same time in the low light, she looked like a damn angel.

And she was our angel, in a way. What she’d achieved with that interview this afternoon was no small feat with us. Plus, the press was actually liking us for a change, and the media and fans alike were eating up her hype campaign.

Also, where the fuck was all this coming from?

Poetic praise and thoughts weren’t my standard operating procedure. Fine. All my thoughts about her were true, but since when did that matter?

“What about you?” Alicia folded her arms on the table in front of her, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Were you ever enamored with a pop star?”

“Enamored?” I lifted my eyebrows. I’d fucked a few, been friends with more, but I’d never dated one. “No. You?”

“Me?” Alicia threw her head back and laughed, pointing at her chest. “No. From afar, sure. But I’ve never gotten to meet many pop stars in real life.”

“Rock stars more your thing, huh?”

She shrugged, humor lighting her eyes and making her seem relaxed and lazy. “What can I say? I can promote the kind of music I like better than any other.”

“Makes sense.” I signaled to the waitress for more champagne when I noticed Alicia’s glass was just about empty.

“Have you ever gotten into any fights with the others about girls?” The waitress refilled her glass and Alicia thanked her, taking a long sip of the bubbly liquid as she waited for my answer.

“Nah.” I hadn’t opened up to a woman like this in a long time, but like with most other things, Alicia was the exception to the rule. “This is probably the closest I’ve gotten to a real date since high school.”

She coughed in disbelief, bringing her hand to her throat. “What?”

“You heard me. The last real date I had was in my senior year of high school. Pretty sure something has to qualify as a date before its worth getting into a fight over.”

“You haven’t been on a date in almost a decade?” Her eyes widened, growing to sparkly orbs I could keep looking at for hours.

Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, I nodded. “It sounds horrible when you say it like that, but yeah. I guess it’s true.”

“Why?”

“I was nervous before that date,” I answered her honestly. Now that I was opening up to her, I wanted to keep doing it for some reason. “I didn’t like feeling nervous, so I just didn’t do it again.”

“So you just became a superstar instead? Doesn’t that make you more nervous?”

“Not really. Music feels … natural to me. I turned to it way back when, and that’s where I’ve been since.” Playing crowds of thousands didn’t make me feel as sick as that one date did.

The waitress returned with our orders, and we kept talking while we ate. Somehow it didn’t matter how long I spoke to her, we never ran out of things to say. After dinner, out plates were cleared, and Alicia smiled at me.

“Best steak ever?”

“I don’t know, but it was incredible.”

She sighed happily and patted her perfectly flat stomach. “Wasn’t it? I don’t know how I’ll ever eat another thing, but it was worth it.”

“Want to walk it off a bit?”

“What did you have in mind?” The restaurant was emptying out. It was late enough that I felt safe going for a walk. I doubted I would get recognized, especially since I wasn’t with the other guys. Blending in was easier when we were by ourselves.

“How about a walk through Times Square?” I suggested, feeling strangely nervous about her answer. I didn’t get nervous these days, hadn’t for years. Not in this way. More alien feelings. Maybe I was getting sick. At least that was a logical explanation for what was going on with me tonight and why I was feeling this way.

Alicia lit up, blue eyes bright. “I’ve never done that. I’d love to if you don’t have plans to meet up with the others.”

“No plans.” I was supposed to be meeting the guys later, but they’d have to party without me for now, though. I preferred the way I was celebrating the successful interview anyway.

Spending time with Alicia, and then hopefully making her come a few times later if the night kept going the way it was, was definitely ranked up there with the best celebrations I’d ever had.

Including the time we’d flown to Vegas when our first single went platinum.

This was her victory, too, after all. It should’ve occurred to me earlier, but that didn’t matter now. She and I were about to have our own party, and it was going to be so much more fun than going out drinking with those jackasses.

The waitress brought our check, and I paid it, despite Alicia’s objections that dinner was supposed to have been on her.

“My way of thanking you,” I told her. Pushing my chair out, I stood up and held a hand out to her. “Ready to go?”

Looking at my hand and then into my eyes and back again, she twined her fingers with mine and walked out the restaurant by my side. Having her there felt good. Her hand was small and warm, her grip tight.

Billboards bigger than seemed possible were above our heads when we reached the perpetually packed Times Square. Lights so bright it looked like daytime slammed my eyes, making me wince. Cameras were everywhere, with people posing for selfies all around us.

For once, none of the cameras were pointed in my direction, and I was thankful for it. Alicia clung to my hand, her jaw looking like it was about to become unhinged as she gaped at our surroundings.

“This is …” She trailed off.

I knew what she meant. I remembered my first time here, and the memory still took my breath away. “Unlike anything you’ve ever seen before?”

She nodded dazedly as we walked. “I’ve always wanted to see this for myself. Experience it.”

“I’m glad you got to see it.” I wasn’t lying. Seeing Alicia excited and happy was making me feel the same way. “Want a picture?”

“With you?” She frowned, chewing her lip. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

“It’s just for us, right?” Alicia deserved a keepsake of this place, this night. I’d much rather have taken a picture only of her, but I knew she’d never look at it again if I did. Her apartment had pictures of her with her family or friends in it, but none of her alone.

“Right,” she said, digging her phone out of her purse and extending her arm like so many others around us were doing.

We snapped a few photos, and then I took a few more of the square itself before we decided to head back to the hotel. Alicia was full of random facts about New York suddenly and was sharing them all with me.

As we walked into the hotel lobby, she asked, “Did you know approximately 360,000 people visit Times Square every day?”

“I didn’t.” But I could definitely see it as a true figure. “You tired yet, or do you feel like coming up to my room?”

“I’ll come up with you for one more drink,” she said, checking the time on her watch. We’d been holding hands all night, but I let hers go to fish my room key out once we reached the suite.

Opening the door, I walked in ahead of her to flip on the lights. “You want a beer or more champagne?”

I realized she wasn’t following me across the room when I heard the soft click of the door after I was already almost all the way to the bar on the other side of the room. She didn’t answer my question, and when I turned toward her, a drink was the last thing on my mind too.

“Fucking hell.”

Alicia was standing just inside my doorway, her dress in a pool around her feet. White lacy underwear showcased her creamy skin, begging to be torn away. I was back across the room in less than a heartbeat, her body so close to mine, I could feel the heat radiating from her.

“You’re so damn beautiful,” I murmured, lifting a hand to toy with her bra strap. She closed the last few inches of space between us by stepping forward, raising her mouth to offer me her full lips.

I took them. I would take anything and everything she had to offer. My thoughts about her were confusing me tonight. My feelings were a mess of things I couldn’t make sense of, but I could push all that away.

This, right here? Her lips moving beneath mine, her soft little gasps, and the way her body fit with mine? I understood this. More than understood it, I owned this. Wrapping my arms around her waist and pulling her close to me, I kissed her until every ounce of confusion I felt tonight was gone.

Swinging her up into my arms, I picked her up and carried her to the bed. Her hair sprawled out across the pillow. She spread her legs wide and wrapped them around me.

Fuck yeah, I definitely understood this.