Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 86706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86706 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
A whiff of his amazing scent floated in the air toward me. I wanted to spend time with him. That was the problem. What had started as general curiosity about this man had turned into nothing short of an obsession I could never admit to. It was far more than a crush at this point. I’d stolen a music magazine someone had on the bus so I could look, up close and personal, at the photo of Tristan’s shirtless chest. I wanted to memorize all of his body art.
So, yeah, I definitely needed to leave. But instead, I asked, “What do you have to eat?”
“It’s not as good as Abdul’s, but Stephen went out and got me Middle Eastern tonight.”
“Is there falafel?”
“Maybe.” He winked.
I walked into the penthouse suite, marveling at the way the city lights illuminated the room. I stopped in front of the window and noticed his powerful stance behind me in the reflection on the glass. Now my body had gone from tingling to on fire. The hairs on my arms stiffened as he spoke softly behind me.
“Let’s eat.”
Tristan arranged the food on the counter. We each made a plateful and took it over to the living area, where we ate casually, sitting across from each other on two different couches. My nerves started to calm.
The peace was short-lived, though. In the middle of our meal, the elevator doors opened and in walked a beautiful woman with legs for miles and long, bright blue hair. Her slender arms were covered in tattoos, and her fake breasts spilled out of a black leather corset.
What the hell? I put my plate down and sat up a bit, feeling my throat about to close.
Tristan’s brows drew in as he stood. “Can I help you?”
“Atticus said you sent for me.”
“I’m sorry. He lied. I didn’t send for anyone…”
“Oh.” She looked down at her feet. “Sorry.”
“No worries. Have a good night.”
She turned around and got right back into the elevator.
An awkward silence hung in the air as Tristan sat back down.
“Figures that would happen when you were here.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’ve been trying to convince you I’m not with a woman every damn night, yet somehow they keep magically appearing.”
“I guess you weren’t lying when you told me he sends you girls.”
“Yeah. I told him to stop, but he doesn’t listen.”
“Why stop?” I asked scornfully before taking a long sip of water to squelch my unfounded jealousy.
“Because I don’t like those kinds of surprises anymore.”
My cheeks burned. “If I wasn’t here, would you have invited her to stay?” I braced for his answer.
“Not tonight. But I think the real question is…” He tilted his head. “How different would it be for me if you weren’t on this tour? Your presence has been a good distraction. So I think it’s safe to say my headspace might be entirely different if I didn’t have you to look forward to. The person I am without you on tour might have been more likely to let her in, yeah—out of sheer boredom.”
“Are you implying that your lack of interest in groupies is because of me?”
“I look forward to seeing you. My focus has therefore shifted. It’s not even a sexual thing, but—”
“Oh, right. I’m no Megan Fox,” I interrupted.
“I never said that.”
“What you did say was that you don’t have friends who are women, yet you insist you’re not interested in me sexually. That’s a direct contradiction. So needless to say, I’m a little confused as to what the deal is here.”
His eyes seared into mine. “You’re the realest human I’ve met since I got caught up in fame. And since that night you trusted me enough to confess what happened with your mother’s boyfriend, I’ve wanted to know more about you. But I haven’t wanted to overwhelm you with questions. I’m trying to get my fix in subtle installments. And, yeah, maybe you’re my first female friend.” He winked.
“Is it, like, morbid curiosity you have about me?”
“Not morbid. But curiosity? Yes. Absolutely.”
I was supposed to be the curious one in this equation. How had this turned into a two-way street? I didn’t know, except to say that no one made me feel the way Tristan did when he looked at me—like I always had every ounce of his attention. He’d made it clear with his actions that he was interested in me. Besides, he could have any woman he wanted sexually, so it couldn’t have been only about attraction. I wasn’t used to this kind of attention. And, I had to say, as much as I wanted to resist, it felt good.
“What else do you want to know, Tristan?”
He made himself more comfortable on the couch. “Start from the beginning. Tell me about your childhood.”
“There’s not much to tell except that my parents broke up when I was three. My brother Max is a few years older than me and lives with his girlfriend in Oklahoma now. So I don’t see him much. Anyway, my parents were never married. But my dad left us when I was so young that I don’t even remember him.”