“Completely worth the wait.” The hunger in his eyes was intense, and my problem seemed even worse.
“You need to meet Colt. He put up with us nagging him for hours just to get me here.” I gestured to where Colt stood watching.
Chase turned, keeping an arm around me while he shook Colt’s hands. “Nice to meet you, man. I owe you.”
“Not a problem. Cara’s a cool girl and from what I understand, she’s been missing you.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been missing her too.” He pulled me into his side. “You guys must be exhausted.”
“More like ready to do anything but sit in a car.” Juliet slung her duffel over her shoulder. “I’m still bummed we missed you guys perform.”
“Yeah, I understand. It sucks that you hit so much traffic. It’s going to sound like a lame offer, but if you guys come up to the suite, I can play some stuff for you. Would that help?”
“Yes, it definitely would.” Jade smiled. “I’ve been hearing all about your new material, but I’ve only heard the ones you played in Charleston.”
“All right, then. Let’s head in.”
Chase refused to let Colt pay for two rooms. He talked to the clerk at the desk, and we all headed into the elevator.
Chase hadn’t even inserted the key into the door when it swung open.
“Jade, my girl!” Len pulled a surprised Jade into a hug. “I’ve missed you.”
She put a hand on her hip. “I know. You called me at three a.m. the other night.”
“Yeah… sorry about that. I just wanted to talk to someone normal.”
“I’m going to pretend that doesn’t imply that we’re not normal.” Jessa gave me a surprise of my own by hugging me. “Nice to see you again, Cara.”
“Yeah, same to you.”
We walked further into the suite. Set up with several couches and tables, it was far bigger than I expected. I glanced around at the doors located on each wall of the room. “Nice room.”
“It works for us.” Chase smiled and picked up his guitar. “Not to rush things, but if I’m performing anything, it’s gotta be right now. Afterwards, no one’s seeing me until tomorrow. Well, besides Cara, of course.” He winked and patted the space next to him on the couch.
“Thanks for that.”
“Anytime, babe.” He kissed me on the cheek.
If his bandmates were surprised by his impromptu performance, they didn’t show it. My friends took seats and eagerly watched.
He started with Sex on the Beach before breaking into a new one called Water Walks. It didn’t take long to realize that one was about me too. There was something so incredible about discovering you’ve influenced someone’s music. Still, I couldn’t get into the songs too much. I had no idea how he was going to react to my news.
After three songs, Chase put down his guitar. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to.”
Mallory laughed. “Yeah, I’m surprised you even made it this long.”
“Me too.” Chase took my arm and pulled me toward one set of doors. I took a deep breath as Chase closed and locked the doors behind us.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He brushed my hair back from my face.
“I have something to tell you.”
“Huh? By your response to seeing me, I’m going to assume you aren’t interested in ending things…?”
“No, nothing that drastic. It’s just bad timing tonight.”
“Bad timing?” He wrinkled his brow until his whole face relaxed. “Oh. It’s that time of the month?”
“Yeah… it came a few days early.”
“Oh. That’s okay. Obviously, it’s a little disappointing, but you’re still here. We still have a night to hang out in person.” He took my hand and led me over to the bed. “And I still get to hold you all night.”
“Really? You’re that cool with it?” I sighed with relief. Sex during my period was not on my to-do list.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because we can’t have sex.”
“Yeah, but like I said, I still get to hold you.” He lay down and pulled me down next to him. “And that’s worth a lot to me.”