I tightened my grip on him as our mouths worked in unison. If I hadn’t already quit, this unprofessional bit of hallway PDA would certainly get me fired. Regaining my wits, I placed my hand on his chest andsteppedback.
“Behave,” I reprimanded him, but in all honesty, I needed a scolding too. The fact that we couldn’t keep our hands off each other was proof enough that I’d made the right decision to join him on tour. “Let’s go. And, Jake, it goes without saying that you’ll be on top of your game tonight. Remember, we’re goingfor‘Wow.’”
And that’s justwhat he did. When it came to wowing, Jake was a natural. He didn’t have to do much more than open those luscious eyes of his to get the approval of the females, and a little chat about classic 80’s pop bands did the trick for the males. He’d even stolen a math joke off the Internet for the occasion: ‘Dear Math, I’m not a therapist, solve your own problems’ - which really slayed the crowd. We were a room full of accountants,afterall.
By the time the party had wound down, Jake and I were arguably the most popular peanut butter and jelly sandwich this side of the San Andreas Fault. We were also the gauge by which the party ended. I’d noticed the phenomenon before at parties. No one ever left before Jake. It must have been a fame thing, like people were afraid of missing something cool. So as we moved toward the exit, so dideveryoneelse.
Waiting for the elevator with Sandra and Nat and her husband, I embraced my friends and shared with them my news. It hadn’t come as a huge shock to them, since we’d talked about the possibility many times, but there were still sad faces tocontendwith.
“It’s all right, Casey. I get it. I’d do the same thing,” Nat said,encouragingly.
That was followed by Sandra’s stamp of approval. “Hell, I don’t know what took yousolong.”
Then Darrell, the office asshole, pushed passed me and smugly tossed in his two cents. “You’ll never work in this townagain.”
11
Casey: HeavyHeart
Istood on the sidelines,content to just be in the midst of the controlled chaos. A steady stream of people bustled around, each with a specific job to do. Occasionally a greeting or two was thrown my way, but typically I wasn’t paid more attention than any other person on Jake’s team. They’d long ago accepted me as one of them, and that’s what I loved about this blendedfamily.
It had been a couple of months since I’d quit my job and joined Jake on the road, and truly it had been the right decision for me. Although the plan had been to work part-time doing freelance work for small companies, the jobs just kept coming in, and I found myself working nearly as many hours as I had been before. But at least now I wasn’t stealing and castrating small animals to satisfy myloneliness.
Being on the road with Jake and his crew felt like home, and it was just where I wantedtobe.
Conrad, one of the equipment guys, passed by me, formed a pistol with his hand, and crudely pointed itatme.
“Two more days and you’re toast,” he said,smirking.
Oh, hell no. If he wanted to trash talk, I was prepared to fling it right back in his face. “That’s it, cupcake. You’regoingdown.”
“Ooh, big talker. I’ve seen you play video games, Casey. I’m notworried.”
“Right, but you forget I have your boss to hidebehind.”
Conrad shook his head, good-naturedly dismissing me as he went on with the taskathand.
I might not have had an official job on the team, but I still served a purpose. On Jake’s Outlast World Tour, I was the self-ordained Fun Time Leader. And as such, I made it a point to find fun and exciting things along the way to engage the band and crew. Next up –Lasertag!
Turning my attention back toward the stage, I was surprised to see Jake strolling in my direction. Dang, he was a hunk. He was covered in a slick sheen, and I watched him swipe a towel off one of the speakers and mop his face with it. I nodded my approval, mesmerized, as always, by his glow. Catching me ogling him, Jake smiled his most seductive smile before beckoning me forward. Yeah, he was sexy, I’d give him that, but it wasn’t enough to persuade me to step foot out on that stage with him in front of thousands of his fans. I shook my head. Jake nodded his. Oh, lord, he was comingmyway.
Um, hello, dude! You have a concert going on, with paying customers, I wanted to say, but Jake didn’t seem the least bit concerned that while he was seducing me, an unattended and unruly mob might break free from the barriers at any moment and storm the stage. No, his translucent eyes were fixed on one thing only: me. He sauntered over to me, playing up the sexy singer fantasy. It was an act that had starred in every woman’s dirty dreams since Elvis first stormed the stage all thoseyearsago.
And when he arrived at me in all his glory and planted a wet, slippery kiss on my lips, I knew I would follow him anywhere… and Jake was taking me for a ride. His hands cradling my face and lips still locked on mine, he walked the two of us backward onto the stage and in clear view of the roaring crowd. I should have been mortified by this very public display of affection, but that would have required full control over my highly aroused body and soul, and such control was not possible while Jake was tempting me with his wildlysexyself.
In fact, I’d nearly forgotten we had an audience until every red-blooded woman in the crowd screamed her approval as I wrapped my legs around Jake’s waist in response to him lifting me off the ground. I dipped my head forward onto his shoulder as his lips caressed the prickled skin of my neck. We needed to stop this before being slapped with a misdemeanor charge for lewd conduct in public. As it was, our impromptu make-out session was probably already trending onTwitter.
Jake seemed to come to his senses at the exact time I did, and he carried me back to the side of the stage, keeping his mouth on me the entire way. How he kept from tripping on all the ground wiring was a testament to his exceptional skills of seduction. Arriving back into the shadows, Jake set me down on my shaking legs. We stared feverishly at one another, soaking in the raw chemistry we produced by just being in the vicinity of each other. Neither of us had any excuse for our sizzling sideshow other than that we were newlyweds and couldn’t keep our hands off each other. I had no doubt if Jake weren’t in the middle of working he would have carried me off like a caveman and ravished me in some rocky grotto… or in this case, his high-end luxury bus. Sameprinciple.
“You’re crazy.” I laughed, immensely enjoying the absurdity of him interrupting his entire set just to make out with me. It was moments like this that I applauded my decision to join my very sexy husband ontour. “Go!”
Thankfully, Jake was a seasoned professional and managed to jump right back into his set with ease. I was still a bit of an amateur myself, so it took a little hand fanning to cool my jets. Of course, I was counting on getting some action later tonight, so I didn’t want the flames to go outentirely.
A few songs later, Malik, one of Jake’s crew, nudged me. His lips moved, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Holding up my finger, I removed the special earplugs that canceled out some of the harshest sounds onstage.
“You need to call your brother,”hesaid.
“My brother?” I repeated, not understanding how he wouldknowthis.
