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“No, I’m fine with heights on a normal scale. This is just… beyond.”
“All right, all right, I won’t tease you about it,” he says, sneaking a kiss that makes my knees weak. I’ll admit, it’s hard to be annoyed with him when he’s so damn charming.
Once we’re back on the blessed ground—noisy and smelly as it might be—I feel more relaxed and Ian turns to me.
“Okay, Miss Tourist, where to next?”
“Food?” I ask, hearing my stomach rumble even over the roar of traffic.
“I know the perfect pizza place.”
He’s not wrong; the pizza is amazing, but it’s nothing compared to the company. And when it’s time to head back to the hotel, we end up in the same room and I get that eel roll he promised me.
Chapter 15
Ian
We’re getting ready to head out to the venue for the first night of our tour and I’m not nearly as nervous as I expected I would be. That probably has something to do with Chelsea being here. With how good things are between us right now. She’s putting on mascara, doing vocal warmups in front of the mirror, and it’s such a simple thing, but it’s the best. I don’t even think she realizes I’m watching her. But being like this, both of us in my hotel room gearing up for a show, comfortable with each other and in our own skin, it’s amazing. It’s better than anything I thought I could ever have. It’s natural and domestic and easy. Nothing in my life has ever really been easy, but being with Chelsea is. There’s no drama or fighting. Just us being ourselves and enjoying each other.
“I don’t know why you’re putting on makeup when you know they’re going to re-do it backstage,” I say, leaning against the door frame.
She shrugs. “Never know who’s going to be taking pictures between here and there.”
She goes back to her warmups, but her voice cracks and I grin at her in the mirror.
“What?” she asks, her eyes snapping to meet my reflection, looking annoyed in that adorable way she does. It’s so hard to take her seriously when she’s so freaking cute.
“Your voice is sounding a little scratchy there, Chelsea. I wonder why that could be,” I say, waggling my eyebrows at her. Her face flushes faintly, but then she rolls her eyes. “Something with your throat?”
“Don’t say things like that in front of other people, okay? I’ve got a reputation to maintain.”
I laugh. “Honey, I’m pretty sure announcing we’re together has tarnished that reputation beyond repair. Do you want a lozenge?”
She makes a face, her nose crinkling. “No thanks. Those things always taste terrible. I’ll deal with the scratchiness.”
“Mine aren’t. I promise,” I say, rifling through my suitcase. “Here, wild cherry. None of that chamomile, lemon, eucalyptus bullshit.”
She looks at it suspiciously, but finally pops it in her mouth, rolling it around thoughtfully. “Okay, that’s pretty good,” she says.
“Told you,” I say triumphantly. She just rolls her eyes at me again and I kiss the top of her head and wander back to the other room of the suite to wait for her.
She comes back out pouting. “Can I have another lozenge?”
“Sure.” I head back to my suitcase and show her where I keep them. “Help yourself whenever.”
She takes one from the box and unwraps it, crumpling the wrapper and tossing it in the trashcan across the room as she pops the lozenge in her mouth. Then she looks at me uncertainly before taking another lozenge out of the box and surreptitiously stuffing it in her pocket like she’s being sneaky. I laugh and lean down to kiss her, her lips sweet and cherry-flavored.
“What’s mine is yours, I mean it.”
She grins and kisses me, but my kiss was sweet and innocent. Hers is anything but. She’s breathless and panting b
y the time I finally manage to pull away from her, my jeans already unbuttoned by her nimble fingers.
“Later,” I promise. “Right now, we have a show to get to.”
“You’re no fun,” she pouts, slipping her hand under my fly, making me suck in a breath.
I grab her wrist to still her hand. “I’m plenty of fun, sweetheart, and you already know that, but right now we have an audience of adoring fans getting ready for us.”
