the line of her jaw before she could move away. “But I’ll back off a little.” He showed her about an inch between his thumb and first finger. “But you gotta do something for me in return.”
“What?” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“Stay away from Jackson.”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” She put her hands on her hips.
“Maybe not. But I can attempt to coerce you.” He pulled back the collar of her shirt, lowered his head and pressed his lips against her soft fragrant skin, touched his tongue to the taut curve of her shoulder and started to make his way up the column of her neck.
“Ok.” Hands to his chest, she pushed him away. “You stop crowding me and I’ll keep my distance from Bryan. For now. For the day.” Her chest rose and fell with each rapid breath. “And only because that’s what I was planning to do anyway.”
“Holy crap.” Avery shut the door carefully and went into the tiny bathroom, staring at her flushed cheeks in the mirror before splashing cold water on her face. No doubt the man was a force to be reckoned with… intense and overwhelmingly sexy. Marcus in full pursuit mode was something she’d never dealt with before, and she had to admit it was turning her on.
She sighed, flopping down on the bed and throwing an arm over her eyes. She needed to try to get some rest before they landed in Chicago. She tossed around restlessly for over an hour, finally surrendering to sleep without being any further along in deciding what she was going to do.
“Avery.”
“Huh?” She opened her eyes to find Sam standing next to the bed.
“What time is it?”
“Five.”
“What?” Had she really slept five hours? She sat up quickly, also realizing she wasn’t on the plane anymore. “How’d I get here?”
“Ray carried you. You were out like a light. On the ride over from the airport, I even put my hand near your lips to make sure you were still breathing.” She studied Avery’s face. “What’s going on with you?”
“I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Not sleeping well?” Sam’s eyes narrowed. “Or not sleeping at all?”
“Pretty much the latter.”
“I’m sorry.” The petite woman wrapped her arms around Avery and squeezed tight. “You should have told me.”
“I didn’t want anybody to make a big deal about it. I’ll get over it…him…eventually.”
“You mean Marcus, right?” Sam gave her a searching look.
After being silent a moment, she nodded.
“So Bryan’s out?”
“Yeah. I’m not sure that he was ever really in,” Avery confessed. “I think he and I were just testing the chemistry between us. After kissing both of them last night, I gotta say there’s no comparison.”
“Both in the same night?” Sam interrupted raising her brows. “Gimme details.”
“It’s not as exciting as it sounds,” she admitted. “With Bryan, I just wasn’t feeling it. I mean all Marcus has to do is look at me and my pulse speeds up. Then there’s the way he kisses… so focused.” She blushed. “I still love him. I don’t agree with what he did, but in a strange way I get it. I understand him.” She knew desperation made you do things you normally wouldn’t. For instance, dressing up like a guy to get into a band. Marcus had forgiven her for that deception. How much different was what he had done? Shouldn’t she forgive his attempt to protect her, however misguided it had been? She twisted the comforter in her hands. “I’m just afraid to let him in again.”
“Yeah, I understand. I really do. You and I had a similar conversation a while back.” Sam’s brows drew together. “I think you need to get away from all the drama and clear your head. After the concert, we’ll have a girl’s night out. We can go to the Pier. We won’t talk about guys. We’ll get a Chicago dog, just be silly and have some fun, alright?”
“Sounds real good.” Avery sighed with relief, throwing back the heavy comforter. “How come no one woke me up for sound check? Marcus must have been pissed that I didn’t show.”
“No.” Sam tilted her head. “Actually it was his idea. He said to let you sleep.”
“He did, did he?” Hmm, that was interesting.
“So, I’ll meet you back here after the meet and greet?”
“Yeah,” Avery started toward the shower. “Wait a minute. Before I go get ready, I wanna get a closer look at that rock JR put on your finger!”
It was one a.m. when she and Sam finally returned to the hotel.