29
Emma bounced her knee and took a drag of her cigarette, “Thanks for letting us sit in smoking…”“No problem. I’m used to hanging out with smokers,” Nick said with a smile as he looked across the table at her. They’d found a 24-hour Steak n’ Shake close to the hotel to have dinner at after the concert and after most of the post-concert fans had long since gone home or back to their own hotels.
“Have you ever smoked?” she asked and tried to will her bouncing knee to stop. It didn’t work.
“Oh yeah… when I’m not touring I usually smoke a little. Most of my friends from back home smoke, so when I’m with them I tend to fall back into the habit. But I don’t really like what it does to my voice so if I’m working I try not to do it. It works for AJ cause he has that naturally graveled voice to start with. But with me, it just sort of makes me sound like shit.”
Emma laughed and nodded, “So does it bug you to be around me and AJ when we’re both smoking like crazy?”
“Nope…”
“You don’t ever just want to light up?”
“Sure… but I don’t.” He smiled and shrugged.
“You’re a stronger person than I am… Hell, you could mention cigarettes and I’d want one.”
“How long have you smoked?”
“Collectively about 5 years, no… probably six. I smoked all through high school and then quit when I got to college. But I started back up about two years ago.”
“So you’d stopped for how many years?”
“Four…” she said and nodded. “Horrible isn’t it? I didn’t even crave them anymore after four years.”
“So why’d you start back up then?”
“Long story…” she said with a slight smile that Nick returned.
“AJ told me you were a pretty private chick…”
“You could say that…” she said with a nod and put out the rest of her cigarette.
Nick chuckled and shook his head, “Don’t you know that when you’re secretive it just makes people want to know you even more?”
“Maybe that’s my whole plan…” she said in a mock whisper.
He laughed, “Nah… not you. I think it’s real with you, not some act. But it certainly has me intrigued.”
“I wouldn’t waste my time being intrigued if I were you… there’s nothing that’s so special about me.”
“I bet there is.”
“Yeah, I’m an undercover N’Sync fan who is doing research on your tour so that if they ever tour again they can steal all of your moves,” she said with a laugh and rolled her eyes.
Nick rolled his eyes as well, “Sure you are… I doubt you even know an N’Sync song, let alone one of ours.”
“I know plenty of yours… it’s all I hear at work every night.”
Nick laughed, “Oh yeah… But still. You don’t seem the kind of girl who likes pop music that much.”
She shrugged, “I like music in general, labels are stupid.”
“Yeah they are…” Their food came and after a few minutes of eating quietly Nick looked across to Emma, “So tell me something about you.”
“Nothing to tell…” she said and took a bite of her cheeseburger.
“Bullshit…” he laughed.
“Let me rephrase it then. Nothing I’ll be telling…”
“Ahh… Secret Tee Shirt Girl.”
“Yeah…” she said and flashed a quick smile.
“You’re going to let me buy you dinner and still not tell me anything about yourself?”
“Basically, yes.”
“So what do I get out of the deal?”
“Companionship.”
“I can get companionship anytime I need it… you saw all of those chicks who wanted me when we walked in.”
“Let alone the gaggle of them swarming the hotel…” Emma added.
“Exactly. So I think you owe me more than companionship in exchange for dinner,” he said with a teasing smirk.
“Like what?”
“Like… I don’t know. More than what you’re giving me, though.” He chuckled and she gave him a small smile.
“What do you get from other chicks when you buy them dinner?”
“Well I’d at least get to touch her without her warning me that if I grope her in the middle of the night she’ll wound me.”
They both laughed, “You did touch me last night and I didn’t wound you.”
“So technically this is back pay? Because you didn’t wound me I’m buying you dinner…”
“Something like that.”
“What if I buy you dessert? Do I get to touch you again?”
She held the gaze that he shot at her trying to be overtly sexy, “Maybe…” He choked on the drink of soda he’d taken and she laughed at him, “Strong stuff, huh?
He caught his breath and regained his cool, “I didn’t expect you to say that.”
“What did you expect me to say then?” she asked and continued to eat her food calmly.
“Something like, ‘Think again, Asshole.’”
She laughed, “That would have been a good one.”
“But still… I didn’t expect you to say maybe.”
“I’m full of surprises.”
“I guess so…” he nodded trying to figure out just where their conversation was heading. He looked at his fries for a minute and then cocked his head as he looked at her again, “What did you mean by maybe?”
“It just means maybe…”
“So let’s say I walk you back to your room tonight, and I try to give you a kiss. You’ll either let me kiss you, or you’ll punch me in the face.”
“Exactly…” she laughed.
“How am I supposed to know?”
“That’s the trouble with maybe… you don’t know. You either take the risk or you don’t.”
“Are you trying to play me?” he asked with a smile.
“Maybe.”
“You want me to kiss you don’t you?”
“Maybe,” she said with a straight face and kept eating.
“You’re trying to be all nonchalant about it and act like you don’t care, but really you want me to rip your clothes off and get freaky with you all night long…” he laughed.
“Maybe.”
“So is that all you’re going to say for the rest of the night?”
“Maybe.”
“Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
“Maybe.”
“Do you think it’s going to work?”
“Maybe.”
“And what if I decided to take that risk right here instead of waiting to do it at the hotel? Would you hit me then?”
“Maybe.”
He slid out of his side of the booth and into hers then pushed her plate away from her reach. She watched him as his eyes looked over her and into her before he reached out and gently traced his fingertips over her lips. She didn’t flinch and when she didn’t he almost lost his nerve and pulled back thinking that maybe she really would punch him in the face if he kissed her. He didn’t exactly know the girl, not at all. Before he could chicken out, however, he cupped her face in his hands and laid a kiss on her.
By the time he pulled his mouth from hers he’d memorized the taste and the feel of her tongue. He’d felt her hands as they’d held onto his waist pulling his tee shirt into her fists. He’d swallowed the sighing sound that had tried to escape her throat as he’d given her the best kiss he could dream up to sweep her off of her feet, so to speak at least. With one last nibble of her bottom lip between his teeth he pulled back just enough to look into her eyes and spoke in a whisper, “Do you want to get out of here?”
With her heart beating fast and the taste of his kiss still on her tongue she looked at him and nodded, “Yeah…”
