THIRTEEN
Caroline
I don’t know how Ten does it. I’ve been “famous” for all of two hours and already I can’t stand it.
I don’t like that we were followed all the way to my house, or that news vans are clogging up my street. I don’t like the reporters and photographers clamoring around our SUV like we’re a bucket of chum thrown into a tank full of sharks. And I really don’t like being accosted by the media at the foot of my own fucking driveway.
Tyler’s old Chevy is taking up half the small driveway and my mom’s Buick is taking up the rest. Ten says they can’t follow us onto personal property, but the street, where we’re forced to park, is fair game.
Cameras and microphones are shoved in my face as I climb out of the car. People shout questions at me—personal questions that they have no right to ask—as Ten’s security team leads us through the mob.
He holds my hand again as we try to get inside, and for that I’m thankful. This level of notoriety is scary, and I realize I was wrong before.
This isn’t a circus; it’s a zoo.
And I’m the one on display.
We finally get past the worst of it and onto the lawn. I’m almost surprised they don’t try and follow us with how aggressive they were being, but Ten’s right. It’s trespassing and they know it.
I pull out my keys, unsure if the door’s locked or not, when I see my mom pull back the curtains in the dining room. A second later the door swings open and she ushers us inside.
“I thought that might be you with all the ruckus they were making,” she says around the cigarette dangling between her lips.
Scowling, I yank it out of her mouth. “Mom, you know you’re not supposed to smoke.”
“I smoke when I’m stressed, young lady.” She gives me a pointed look as she crosses her arms and my scowl deepens.
Yes, I know. I fucked up.
“You’re always stressed,” I mutter, picking up the peacock ashtray from the living room end table and stamping it out. If it’s not money she’s worried about, it’s how Tyler’s doing all the way in California by himself, or that she can’t help out more.
Being a dancer for twenty years is no joke. She’s got arthritis in both her knees and a bad hip. Just going to the store is a chore, so getting out of the house every day to go to a job is out of the question.
And now she’s got high blood pressure in addition to high cholesterol. She knows this, and yet she smokes anyway.
It’s infuriating.
Sighing, I set the ashtray down and watch Ten as he checks out my house. I wonder what he’s thinking.
I know it’s not anywhere close to how nice his place probably is, or how large, but my mom does what she can about keeping it tidy. The décor, however…
Well, let’s just say anyone who comes in here wouldn’t be surprised to learn that my mom’s a former showgirl. It’s very…glitzy.
Very old-school Vegas.
But then again, my mom is very old-school Vegas. She looks like an older Ann Margaret with just as much sex appeal.
It was kind of embarrassing when I was younger. Everyone else’s mom looked like…well, a mom. My mom looked every bit the ex-showgirl.
All my friends’ dads loved her. Their moms, not so much.
But now I give her props. It couldn’t have been easy to raise two kids by herself while holding down a job and still manage to look picture perfect every day.
Shoot, I don’t have kids and I can’t even bother to put on makeup before going to the store. It’s too much work.
Clearing my throat, I awkwardly glance between my mom and Ten. What’s the proper etiquette for introducing your mother to your new husband when you don’t even know him yourself? “Mom, this is—”
“We know who he is, Caroline. The whole fucking world knows who he is.”
When I turn around, my brother’s leaning against the entryway to the living room, his face twisted into a scowl.
“Tyler,” my mom chides. She smiles at Ten, gesturing to the couch. “Please. Come in. Sit down. Would you like something to drink?”
“Seriously? You’re gonna ignore the elephant in the room and play hostess instead?” Tyler pushes away from the wall and stalks toward me. “What the fuck were you thinking, Caroline?”
Ten steps in front of me. “She was thinking that it’s none of your goddamn business. Caroline’s an adult who can make her own decisions. She doesn’t have to answer to you.”
“She does when it involves taking her clothes off for money.” He looks past Ten and levels his glare on me. “If you were that hard up for cash you should’ve told me.”
My lip trembles. “If I told you the house was facing foreclosure, you would’ve dropped out of school to move back home and get a job.”
My mom gasps beside me. This is news even to her.
It might be her house, but I pay all the bills. I’m the one who opened the notice that we were falling behind on our mortgage payments, not that it was any surprise. I was killing myself working multiple minimum-wage jobs and it barely made a dent in everything we owed.
So I started stripping. I made more in a month than I did in three months working those crappy jobs. I managed to dig us out of the hole without my mom or Tyler ever knowing we were even in trouble.
And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
I wipe away the tears spilling down my cheeks. “You worked so hard to get where you are, Tyler, and I refuse to let you give that up. So yeah, I did what I had to do.”
My mom pulls me in for a hug. “You should’ve told us. We would’ve figured something out.” Patting my back, she whispers in my ear, “I’m so glad you didn’t get drunk and marry Chase instead. I might’ve had to disown you for that.”
***
Tennessee has a new fan in my mom. I’m not surprised. I knew she’d love him. My brother, on the other hand, is still being a douche.
Again, I’m not surprised. He’s always been protective of me, even though he’s two years younger. For some reason he seems irritated that a guy’s finally come along who wants to take that protector role away from him.
Every time Ten touches me or asks me if I need anything, the little line between Tyler’s brows deepens. If I wasn’t so thrown off by how “husbandy” Ten’s acting, I’d think Tyler’s reaction is funny.
But right now, all I can concentrate on is how good it feels to be sitting next to Ten with his arm draped over the back of the couch as he laughs and jokes with my mom. Having him here, sitting next to him like this, it feels natural.
His open arm is like an invitation and as the minutes stretch into hours, I find myself leaning into him more and more, until my head’s resting comfortably on his shoulder.
When my mom excuses herself to go make lunch for everyone, his head rests atop mine.
“I think your mom likes me.”
She was surprisingly supportive when I told her Ten basically swept me off my feet and that even though we have a lot to learn about each other, we’re going to try and make it work. She thought our whirlwind romance was beautiful.
But when my brother discovered I’d drunkenly married a stranger, he didn’t have the same sentiment. Weird, I know. He left the room shortly after that and we haven’t seen him since.
I smile when his free hand reaches over and takes mine, his thumb absently rubbing my skin. “I knew she would.”
“How’d you know? Because you like me so much?”
I bite my lip when I hear the smile in his voice. “Something like that.”
“This is what I was talking about,” he says quietly. “This, right here, is why I couldn’t let you walk away.”
He lifts his head and places a soft kiss on the top of my hair.
My throat instantly knots as emotion floods me. I can’t speak at first, can’t breathe past the tightness. So I squeeze his hand tighter and just nod, thinking to myself, I’m so glad you didn’t.
I feel his nose brush my hair before he asks, “Are you gonna show me the rest of the house?”
There’s not much else. You can see the kitchen from here. Dining room, too. All that’s left are bedrooms.
Lifting my head, I frown. “What do you want to see?”
Ten leans in and kisses my temple. “You, naked. Riding my cock. But I’d settle for your room.”
I suddenly feel hotter. And a lot wetter.
I stand and clear my throat. “I’ll show you my room, but don’t get any ideas.”
Ten grins as he hauls himself up from the couch, placing his hand on my lower back to whisper in my ear, “All I’ve been able to think about is fucking you fifty ways to Sunday. Ideas are all I have.”
Chills break out along my skin, making my nipples hard as flashbacks of last night bombard me. I’m not sure if I’m ready to sleep with him again, but certainly not in my childhood bedroom where the walls are paper-thin.
He follows me as I lead him down the short hallway behind us, stopping at the first door.
My room is nothing spectacular. It’s small and sparsely decorated with mismatched furniture that was shabby chic long before it was cool. My bed isn’t even a queen, just a full, but I splurged on a new mattress and new plush bedding a few months ago.
Ten closes the door behind us. It seems so much smaller with him in it since I’m not used to having anyone in here.
I edge around the bed, careful not to sit on it. I don’t want to give him any ideas, despite what he said about already having them, because I’m not entirely sure I could stop this from going too far if we started.
For one, I wasn’t joking about the walls being thin. I can hear the living room TV from here and it’s not even loud. And two, I want to make sure this bond we have isn’t just sexual. I don’t think it is, but it’ll be really hard to tell if we don’t take it slow.
Besides, I think we’re moving fast enough as it is considering I didn’t even know him this time yesterday.
That wonderful reminder makes me feel even more awkward as I stand here in my room with Tennessee King, the rock star. Suddenly unsure of what to do or say, I gesture around the small space. “So this is my room…”
He’s not checking it out like I saw him do with the living room. In fact, his eyes never leave me.
“Can I try something?” he asks, slowly walking toward me.
“What?”
Closing the distance between us, he cups my face in his hands. My whole body freezes when he leans down like he’s going to kiss me.
“I keep thinking there’s no way I’m remembering your lips right. They can’t possibly be as soft as I’m imagining, or taste as fucking good.”
I swallow. “What did you want to try?”
“This.” His lips brush mine in a sinfully soft kiss that makes my knees go weak. When his tongue flicks mine playfully, I grab his shirt to keep from melting.
It’s that hot.
I break away from him, biting my lip as I close my eyes. My pulse is racing, my hormones urging me to keep kissing him. It doesn’t help that I can still feel him on my lips, my skin tingling with electricity.
“Ten…”
His breathing is ragged as he holds me close. “If you’re not ready to fuck me again, that’s fine. I’ll wait until you are. But you will sleep with me tonight. I can’t stand the thought of us being in separate beds.”
“You won’t try anything?”
He grins. “I’ll try everything to get between your legs, sweet Caroline. But if you say no, I won’t push it.”
I force myself to take a step back as I think it over. Being close to him is making me biased. “Would we sleep here, or…?”
Ten shrugs as he sits on my bed, pulling me between his legs. “That’s up to you. Just keep in mind that if I do succeed in getting between these thighs, I’m not gonna hold back just because there are other people here. And you’re a screamer.”
My face heats when he winks at me. “Fine. We’ll stay at the hotel. But that does not mean I’m fucking you.”
His grin never fades. “I’ll do all the fucking, don’t worry.”
I roll my eyes and start packing an overnight bag.
His arms wrap around my waist as I pull clothes out of my dresser, his chin resting on my shoulder. “We’ve got to leave in the morning to hit the next stop on our tour. I want you to come with me.”
I glance at his reflection in the mirror in front of us. “Where is it? My car’s at the hotel. I can probably meet you there.”
“I want you to come on the tour. There’s only four weeks left, but I want you to come.”
“You’ve made it abundantly clear that you want me to come.” I smirk as I stuff my clothes into a small duffle bag.
Ten smiles. “That, too. But I want to see you every day. If we’re gonna do this, then we need to be all in. Otherwise it’s not gonna work.”
Setting my bag on the dresser, I turn around to look at him. “I agree. But my mom… I can’t just leave her. She depends on my financial support and my brother can’t help out yet.”
He shrugs. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Take care of it?” What does that mean?
“Yeah. Paying off the house. Your bills. Whatever your family needs.”
I laugh, shocked. “You want to pay off my mom’s house?”
Ten frowns. “Why is that so crazy?”
“Because it’s like forty grand!”
He shrugs. “I can afford it.”
“That’s not the—” Shaking my head, I move around him and sit at the foot of my bed. “I can’t let you do that. We’re practically strangers as it is, and I just— I can’t take your money. I don’t want it. That’s not why I agreed to try and work things out.”
The bed dips as he sits next to me. “I know. That’s part of what I like about you. But you’re technically my wife, and as my wife, it’s my job to take care of you. I want to take care of you, otherwise I wouldn’t have married you,” he says, slipping his hand in mine.
It’s still too much.
I mean it’d be one thing if we dated for a while and then got engaged and then got married. Then I wouldn’t have a problem with my husband of less-than-twenty-four-hours offering something like this. But he doesn’t even know me.
Not yet, anyway.
“I can’t—”
“You can, and you will.” Ten smirks. “Wasn’t there something about obeying me in our vows?”
I squint, pretending to think back. “Doesn’t sound like something I’d agree to.”
“Well what’s mine is yours.” He licks his lips, a grin flirting with the edges of his mouth before saying, “Especially my dick. Seriously, any time you need it…”
He laughs when I roll my eyes, and pretty soon I’m laughing too.