The Complete Groupie Trilogy (25 page)

She giggled at her own joke and I couldn’t
help but feel excited for her.

I was still smiling when I went to the bar to get a refill on my drink. I found myself standing next to the fan that had become a concern for me, and so I leaned against the bar and greeted her casually. “Some shindig, huh?”

She glanced over at me, then up and down to size up the other female encroaching on her territory. “Not bad,” she finally said. “Not as much fun as the one in Vegas, but then again few things ever really are.”

“So you’ve been to more than one?” I asked as if I didn’t know.

Her eyes wandered over to possessively land on Vanni. “You could say that.”

I had hoped she’d be more forthcoming with her information but she was too focused on Vanni.
“He’s something,” I mentioned.

She just sent me a knowing look. “You have no idea,” she purred as she slid away from the bar before I cou
ld pounce all over that remark.

I stood watching her go, thinking she wasn’t an unattractive woman: average height and weight, with dirty blond hair and a pleasant face. But there was something about her that put me off, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

She certainly didn’t see me as any kind of threat. She dismissed me easily with a simple up-and-down glance I was used to from high school.

I turned around and faced the crowd again, and that was when I caught Vanni’s eye. He smiled wide when the recognition hit his face and he immediately headed my direction.

My heart still skipped a beat watching him approach.

“Wow,” he said once he got close enough to hear. “Look at you.”

I smiled and shrugged, but inside I was beaming. Mission accomplished. “I thought it was time to try something new. I get bored with the same old thing,” I added, wondering to myself if he did too.

He bent toward me. “Well I like it. Give me a twenty minute head start and I’ll show you how much I like it when we get home.”

I laughed but my heart pounced all over the familiarity of his words. “Home,” he had said. “You got it,” I said and then moved away from the bar so he could finish mingling with his fans.

Later that night when I let myself into his apartment I found a trail of petals from the front door. I followed them to the living room, which was aglow with candlelight. There Vanni sat on his sofa with just a throw blanket draped across his naked body. He had two glasses of champagne poured, with the rest of the bubbly sitting in an ice bucket. The remainder of my strawberries sat in a bowl on th
e coffee table in front of him.

“Here are the rules,” he said in a low, sexy voice. “Each step you make into the room you have to discard one piece of clothing.”

I laughed. I was up for that challenge. I bent down to remove one shoe and then took one step into the room. He leaned back and rested his head on the back of the leather sofa as I did likewise with the other shoe.

Discarded next was the corset, then the skirt, and finally my underwear. I came to stand in front of him in only my lace stockings. He reached out a hand and pulled me onto his lap, wh
ich I straddled as I faced him.

He traced his fingertips along my skin, over my shoulders, across my breastbone, down between, under and around my full breasts. I had been so sexually frustrated since our unsatisfying quickie the night before I thought I was going to split in two just from the touch of his hands
.

Then his hands slid up around my neck and into my hair, which fell in a burgundy curtain of curls down my back. “I love the long hair,” he whispered softly. His hand cupped the back of my head and he grabbed a handful of hair as he pulled me closer to him. “Gives me something to hold onto,” he whispered before he kissed me on the mouth.

I tried not to think about Kat and her long hair, and wonder if he had said those things to her, in this very room, under these same circumstances.

I shook my head to rid my head of such thoughts.

“Is something wrong?” he murmured as he nuzzled against my neck.

“I just missed you,” I whispered back.

“I’m here now,” he assured softly against my skin.

I thought back to our time in Nashville, and the song he wrote for me. “
No one can promise forever, it’s not our give to give. If only for this moment, I know this much is true. If only for this moment girl, I’m so in love with you
.” That was the extent of his promise.

If a moment was all I had, then I supposed I should take advantage of it. I grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled him up for a scorching kiss that had him shudder against me with growing need.

I tortured him gleefully as I touched, kissed and teased him without ever letting him touch me back. My teeth nipped his sweet smelling skin as I would use my hands to bring him to the edge, only to back away. My mouth soon followed suit and he was incoherent with desire when I finally mounted him again, this time taking him into my body where he begged to be.

He was wild with desire as he clutched me to him and by this time so was I. When his mouth found my breast I shuddered all around him with a loud cry. That was all it took, and Vanni cried out himself as he buried himself as far into me as he could go.

That night was like a honeymoon. We barely slept in between the champagne, the strawberries, and his carrying me to the bedroom without ever breaking our embrace. By the time dawn peeked into his window that next morning I was completely satisfied.

So what if I had said, “I love you,” first this time? He needed to hear it, and I wanted to be the one to tell it to him.

I ran my fingers through his mussed hair as he slept peacefully curled up against my breast. It was Saturday and the boys didn’t have anything planned until the concert that night. He was all mine until about 6:00 p.m.

I planned to make the most of it.

I dozed briefly myself, only to be awakened by his mouth and his fingers as they liberally explored my body. He tasted and tickled until I was a quivering mess underneath him, then leisurely made love to me until I had climaxed at least twice more. And just like old times we didn’t even make it out of the bedroom until close to lunchtime.

It was his idea to head to his favorite pizza place, which was in walking distance from his apartment. The minute we walked out the door he stepped away from me and I could feel the bars come down. The prison of public scrutiny was a lonely one indeed.

We even sat on opposite sides of the booth.

Though I kept up the veneer of our “friendship” I felt the walls of this fishbowl closing in as fans would recognize him and stop by the table to say hello. He’d scoot out from the booth to give hugs, take photos, and sign his autograph on greasy pizza boxes.

None of it bothered him the way it was starting to bother me.

Girls would give him their phone number right in front of me, as if I ceased to exist. They would ask for a kiss, which he’d always deliver on the cheek, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. Girl Rule #15: If a man is sitting with a woman, regardless if you know if it is a date or not, you shouldn’t come onto him.

It really wasn’t that far different from high school, when the snotty girls would dismiss you just to get closer to the guy in your study group.

They probably felt they could easily take him away from me if they wanted, and therefore I was no real threat.

I wondered briefly what they would do if it were Kat sitting there instead of me. With a sinking feeling I realized they’d probably ask for her autograph too.

If he noticed my sullen change in mood after they left he didn’t say s
o. He dove back into his pizza.

I ate silently and tried not to stew. Then his phone buzzed with an incoming text message. He glanced down at it, smiled, and then pocketed it.

“Who was that?” I asked, even though I suspected I didn’t want to know.

“Work related,” he brushed off. “I may have to leave early.”

I sat back in the booth. After our magical night together he was still willing to run off elsewhere?

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“No,” I lied. I wanted to ask him a dozen questions but none seemed appropriate. We weren’t exclusive, and it was probably best not to torture myself with questions about his other exploits.

He put down his slice of pizza and wiped his hands. “Seriously, Andy. What is it?”

“Nothing,” I lied again. “I just thought we’d spend more time together, that’s all.”

He just smiled. “Quality over quantity, babe. That’s the name of this game. You know that.”

I tried to smile. Of course I knew. I just didn’t like my time being wedged thin by someone who gets to be with him all the time. Was that really so unreasonable?

He gave me that smirk as he tossed his napkin on top of the half-eaten pizza. “How about this? Let’s go back to the apartment and make the most of our time until then?”

I nodded, but my heart wasn’t in it.

All I could think about as we made that short trek back to his apartment was how happy he looked with Kat – in public. I couldn’t even reach for his hand, and suddenly he felt as far away from me as the moon.

The minute the door closed behind us he was another man. He swung me up into his arms and carried me to the bedroom. He kissed me, murmured loving words, and touched me with gentleness and desire.

But all I could think about was who else he tr
eated like this.

It made me think about that fan again, who had obviously followed him from city to city. I knew what it was like to get Vanni in my blood. Had they had one night together when he was as attentive and affectionate as he was with me, and she had decided to follow him to the ends of the world because of it?

He brushed aside her public displays of affection but he would likely do the same to me if I tried.

Exactly how many women were in the running for Vanni’s heart?

He sensed my souring mood as we lay there on the bed, side by side. He gently smoothed the long hair down my back. “What’s wrong, Andy? Is it something I did?”

“I don’t know,” I finally answered, more honestly than I intended. “Is it?”

He grew really quiet then, and I wondered if he knew he’d been busted.

“I know you don’t have to go meet the band,” I told him. I already knew their schedule. It was unlikely to change. “You’re going to meet someone else.”

His hand fell still. He hadn’t said anything and I couldn’t help but forge on. “I saw you with Kat in Central Park yesterday. When you said you were swamped with work and couldn’t come home for lunch.”

“Andy,” he started but I pulled away as I sat up.

“I’m not asking for excuses,” I told him. “What you do when I’m not around is none of my business.” I didn’t know who I was trying to convince. Vanni or myself.

“I’m just…” I searched for any words that would justify this jealous word vomit erupting from my mouth. “I’m worried. If you sleep with the wrong person it could be dangerous for you.”

He was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“That fan who has been chasing you all over the country. She’s not abiding your rules.” After a moment he started to laugh, which made me angrier. “What’s so funny?”

“You think Talia is a stalker?”

He knew her name. I turned away.

“Baby,” he said as he reached for me. “Come here.”

“No!” I exploded, but he pulled me back anyway.

I was powerless, really, to resist. I wanted him to pull me into his arms and tell me I was nuts and imagining things. That he really did still love me, and wanted me more than anyone.

“Talia is a fan. She’s even married, I think. She gets a little excited here and there but she’s harmless overall. I spent some time talking with her when the tour stopped in Vegas and she’s really just going through a tough time. It’s all part of the illusion.”

“And Kat?” I asked, though I knew I was pressing my luck. “Is she part of the illusion too?”

He pushed me back onto the bed and covered my body with his own. “Why are we spending time talking about everyone else when we could be making love?” He kissed my mouth as I opened to protest, and played with my lips under his own.

“I’m with you because I want to be,” he assured as his hands danced down along my body. Within minutes I had forgotten about anything but the feelings surging through my body.

This time our union had a rougher edge to it. It was almost as though maybe he were punishing me for bringing up those uncomfortable topics, or at the very least showing me how much he wanted me so I would have no lingering doubt. I responded to the more primal lovemaking by digging my nails into his back, an
d he branded me with his teeth.

He pulled me to the shower for another quickie, and I tried not to think that I might be preparing him to go to another woman. He took me from behind, with my body pressed up against the glass, and his teeth clamped down on my shoulder.

I lay only in a towel on the bed as I watched him dress. I wanted to say so many things, but I knew it was pointless. I had made my choices in this relationship a long time ago. I knew I had to share him.