“What about me?” I lean into his touch. I’m losing interest in our conversation. I’m losing interest in anything except getting back to our hotel room and celebrating without all these pesky clothes in the way.
“You’re a shrewd negotiator now.” His eyelids flutter closed. He presses his lips against mine. It’s a soft, sweet kiss, one that can only mean I love you. “Alessandra’s taught you well.”
“I couldn’t get you to come down twenty-five percent. Alessandra would be ashamed.”
He laughs. “I’m sure you can think of some way to convince me.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
He pulls back and gives me a long, slow once over. His eyes fix on my chest. “Hmm… no idea. But I’m not the brains of this operation.”
“Really? In this sweater?” It’s freezing. My sweater and skinny jeans outfit is about as far from seductive as I get these days. At least once you add in my huge coat. Even if it’s currently unbuttoned.
Joel nods. “You under-estimate the power of your tits.”
“Do I?”
“You could start wars with them.”
“I’m a pacifist.”
“Stop wars with them.” He takes my hand and leads me over the rest of the bridge. “Or you could torture me.”
Mmm. It’s a good idea. But I’m not sure I can manage it right now. I had all sorts of plans about teasing Joel enough to drive him out of his mind, but with every passing minute, I’m less and less interested in anything but fucking him immediately.
It’s been a long day.
And it was a long few weeks before that. He’s been on tour since October. This is only a short break. Our holiday break.
Luckily for us, we got married a few days before Christmas.
We get our anniversary to ourselves, every year.
Well, until we have our own family. If we have our own family. I haven’t thought that far. I’m too busy enjoying now.
This particular now is short. We have a few weeks together then he’s back on the road. Then more time together. Then he’s touring again. Repeat, repeat, repeat until he retires or I take a position that has me traveling with him.
I’m lucky. Working with Alessandra means I have a flexible schedule. My boss is Dangerous Noise’s tour manager and she’s incredibly accommodating about sending me to put out all in person fires. I think it’s because she secretly believes in true love, though she always claims it’s so I can learn how to do her job. She’s always promising she’s about to retire and spend her days screwing boy toys on a tropical island.
I love working with Alessandra. I didn’t think I’d love the music industry. I certainly didn’t think I’d love being someone’s assistant. But both things satisfy me in a way school never did. This job is so much more dynamic than my past jobs doing research. I deal with life. With people. I fix catastrophes. Well, they’re usually more like minor problems, but everything feels life or death when you’re about to step on stage to a few thousand screaming fans.
I could do Alessandra’s job. Not yet, but one day. Or I could make a lateral change. Become an actual manager. Become a talent booker. Open up my own venue and use what I know to take a bigger cut of ticket sales. Hell, I could get into promotions or sales or recording. There are so many places to go, just in the music industry. If I step outside that, there’s a whole wide world of careers.
“Where are you going?” Joel leans in to whisper. “If you’re thinking about me naked, I demand details.”
“I’m not.”
“Angel, you wound me.”
I slide my arm around his waist. “I doubt that.”
“Here I am, thinking about taking you back to our hotel suite, stripping you naked, pressing you against the window, and fucking you with everybody on The Strip watching.”
“Everyone who can see up to the thirty-something floor?”
“Oh?” His voice is equal parts teasing and seductive. “You’d rather we do it somewhere where we’ll know people can watch?”
I might. I’m not sure. There’s something incredibly hot about knowing people can see me and Joel together. I’d never want to invite a third into our bedroom, not to touch him or me. But to watch…