Noelle walked into the hotel restaurant ten minutes later. As usual, AJ was there waiting for her. He didn’t even have anything to drink yet, so Noelle figured that he probably hadn’t been there long.

AJ waved his sister over when he saw her enter the restaurant. Something was different about her. She was glowing. Her cheeks were rosy. He guessed that the tour had revitalized her after all. There was life back in her.

“Hey,” AJ said as Noelle took the seat across from him. “You look good.”

“Thanks, brother,” Noelle replied. “I got a good night’s sleep last night away from all of you snoring boys.”

AJ laughed softly. “That will do it, I guess. We have the day off today. Are there any sights that you want to see?”

“Yeah,” Noelle replied, quickly. “I want to see everything.”

AJ grinned. He was really enjoying having Noelle there with him. It was always nice to be able to share everything that he got to experience with his family. “Okay, then. We’ll see everything.”

Noelle smiled across the table at her brother. Out of the window behind him that looked into the lobby, she could see Brian approaching the restaurant. She quickly looked down at her menu. She wanted AJ to be the one to see Brian and invite him over. “There’s also a pretty hot dance club in this hotel that I want to check out. I mean, if you’re cool with that whole scene.”

AJ nodded. He stretched and leaned back against his chair.

“Yeah, that’s good with me. It sounds like fun.” He wondered why Noelle was looking at her menu so intently when she couldn’t read a word of what was on it. He figured that she was looking for something familiar. When he looked back up, he noticed Brian entering the restaurant alone and thought that it was a shame that Leighanne hadn’t wanted to meet him on tour this time around. “Brian just walked in. You don’t mind if I ask him to join us, do you? I think he’s been kind of lonely lately.”

Noelle shook her head and tried to conceal her growing smile. “Not at all.”

AJ narrowed his eyes at her in confusion, but ignored her reaction. He raised his hand to wave Brian over before the hostess could seat him.

AJ had meant to talk to Noelle about her growing crush on Brian, but it had started to seem like he was imagining things. They would talk and hang out like anyone else, but they didn’t seem to spend an exorbitant amount of time together. AJ wasn’t stupid, though. He would recognize that look on Noelle’s face anywhere.

Brian walked over and took a seat next to AJ.

“Hey guys,” he greeted, causally. “Did you order already?”

AJ shook his head. “Not yet. The waiter hasn’t even been here.”

“Good.” Brian turned to Noelle. “Good morning, Noelle.”

Noelle smiled and peeked up from her menu. “Morning.”

AJ could feel a growing resentment toward Brian. Sure, any guy wants a cute 20-something-year-old crushing on him, but Brian was married and Noelle was his sister. This was different.

Brian turned back to AJ. He could feel the tension grow between them and he hated that. He should have just told AJ about him and Leighanne months ago. Then, maybe this thing AJ suspected between Brian and Noelle wouldn’t have caused any weird feelings.

“Do you have any plans today?” AJ asked, breaking the silence.

“Um,” Brian replied, then sighed. “Yeah. I’m going to be in the studio for a good part of the morning.”

“You’re working of your day off?” Noelle prodded, though secretly she was glad that Alex wouldn’t be able to snake him into their plans. She sensed that he was already picking up on this undefined thing between her and Brian.

Brian nodded. “Yeah, I’m the first one they’re bringing in to lay down vocals for the new album.”

“You didn’t have to do that today,” AJ replied.

“Yeah, I know,” Brian responded. “But if I get some stuff done early, that’s just less work for all of us later.”

“Okay,” AJ replied as he slowly nodded. “You’ve been doing a lot of extra work the past couple of months. Are you avoiding anything in particular?”

 “Nope, nothing. I’ve told you that a thousand times. I’ve got a new album to write too, you know. It’s not just all Backstreet all the time.” Brian chuckled tensely, trying to keep the mood up. He was afraid that AJ would mention Leighanne and he knew that this would be the worst possible time and place for Noelle to find out about his wife.

“Yeah, okay,” AJ replied, letting the conversation drop once again.

“Well, if you’re done by tonight, Alex and I are going to the club upstairs if you want to come,” Noelle offered, hoping to make a break in the strained conversation.

“That’s not really Brian’s thing,” AJ started, but Brian had already begun speaking.

“Yeah, sounds good.” Brian shot a look at AJ, who was looking back at him with another strange expression. “AJ’s right, it’s not really my thing, but I’ve been working hard. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to unwind a little. I should go though. I’m already running late.”

“You didn’t even eat,” Noelle replied, sad to see him leave.

“Duty calls,” Brian responded with a grin. “I’ll see you guys later though.”

Both Noelle and AJ nodded as Brian left.

“That was weird,” Noelle said softly. This time, she was the one that wasn’t privy to the odd behavior around her and it was kind of unsettling.

“Don’t worry about it,” AJ replied, softly. “I think Brian’s going through some stuff, or something. Speaking of, we should probably talk about him.”

“What for?” Noelle asked. “I don’t need to know Brian’s business. There’s kind of a cute guy over there that I want to go talk to.” Noelle quickly tried to change the subject. If Alex thought that she was scoping out other guys, he’d be less likely to think that she was attracted to Brian. “I heard him speaking English a little bit ago. I’ll be right back.”

AJ nodded and watched his sister walk away, confused. Once again, he wondered if he was making a big deal out of nothing. His sister could be a flirt and honestly, what harm would a little flirting do?

***

Throughout the rest of the day, Noelle and AJ took in all of the traditional Italian sight-seeing spots. They took pictures and hung out by themselves. A couple of times, AJ was recognized by fans, but Noelle was fine with that. She thought that it was incredibly cute the way that AJ and the other Boys could move so many people with their music—especially people that didn’t even understand the language.

Later that night, they went to the dance club in the hotel as planned. They had already been there for an hour and Brian still hadn’t shown up, though Nick, Howie and AJ were all there. Noelle could feel herself getting disappointed, but she shook it off. Brian didn’t owe her anything and besides, for all she knew he had gone upstairs and fallen asleep.

Just as Noelle began to resign herself to the fact that Brian wasn’t coming, he walked in. At first she didn’t see him, but he saw her. She was wearing a black and pink tunic mini-dress. Her dark hair was in a messy up-do with strands falling in her face. As Brian watched her dance with Nick in the center of the dance floor, he could feel the bitter head of jealousy poking through his being. He hated being jealous. At least Nick was really single. Well, openly single anyway.

As the song ended and blurred into another, Noelle looked up and saw Brian standing in the entryway balcony. He could swear that he saw her face light up at the sight of him, but then realized that was stupid and figured that his mind was playing tricks on him. He watched as she pointed him out to Nick. Nick waved him down, signaling for Brian to follow him to where the group’s table was hidden in the back corner or the bar.

Brian took the stairs down to the main floor quickly and followed the back of Nick’s blonde head to the table.

“Brian!” Howie slurred. “You’re here!”

“Yeah, D, I’m here,” Brian replied laughingly. “It looks like you started the party without me.”

“Howie D waits for no one,” Howie replied with a giggle. His wife, Leigh, looked on embarrassingly.

“Maybe I should bring him back downstairs?” Leigh wondered aloud.

“Nah,” Nick replied. “Let him have some fun. You guys just had a baby. You need to relax. Wait until he starts to really embarrass himself to get him out of here.”

“We’ve all been here for a couple of hours,” Noelle yelled to Brian over the booming bass of the music. “Were you working all this time?”

“No,” Brian admitted. “I laid down for a quick nap and didn’t wake up until 30 minutes or so ago.”

Noelle laughed. “You’re such an old man.”

Brian shrugged. “I wear my badge proudly. Where’s AJ?”

Noelle nodded toward the dance floor. “He’s dancing with some hot Italian chick. Naturally.”

“Naturally,” Brian repeated with a smile. He then moved in closer to her ear. “You look beautiful tonight.”

“That’s what I was going for,” she joked as a slight blush rose to her cheeks at Brian’s compliment.

She had to admit that he looked pretty amazing himself. He had on a dark jacket with dark jeans and a bright pink shirt. Not many men could pull it off, but Noelle was starting to believe that Brian would look good in anything.

“How about a drink?” Brian suggested.

Noelle nodded and then followed him to the bar. Both Brian and Noelle ordered a Long Island ice tea. Neither one of them were playing with the small stuff tonight. They both finished their drinks quickly and ordered another.

With each of their second Long Islands finished, Brian extended his hand to Noelle. “Do you want to dance?”

Noelle nodded and took his hand. Dancing the whole way, she led him to the floor. Instantly, they began to move in time with the music. Noelle turned her back so that she was dancing seductively against Brian’s front. Brian ran his hands down her sides. They were only dancing, but both of them were thinking about so much more. Part of Brian hoped that the others weren’t watching. Another part, however, didn’t care either way.

Throughout the night, the drinks kept flowing and Brian and Noelle stayed in their own little worlds on the dance floor. Every once in a while they made a trip back to the table so that the others wouldn’t get suspicious. A couple of times, Noelle even dragged Nick to the dance floor instead. As the night dragged on, Noelle and Brian wanted less and less to do with the others and more and more to do only with each other.

By 3 a.m., Howie and Leigh were long gone, followed shortly thereafter by Nick. AJ had found himself a female companion and was doing his best to seal the deal. As another song ended, Brian knew that he had never wanted anyone as badly as he wanted Noelle. They looked into each other’s eyes and knew that if either of them had any chance to walk away it had to be then.

Only a few feet behind them was a narrow hallway leading to the bathrooms. Noelle took a step away from Brian and pointed to that hallway. “I need to freshen up.”

Brian nodded and took a step back. “Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

Noelle turned quickly and walked toward the restrooms. If Brian was going to flee he had plenty of time to do it now. As Noelle entered the restroom, she leaned back against the door. There was a pulsing inside of her that was beating along with the bass of the music. She tilted her head back and willed the yearning to stop. There were so many reasons that Noelle could use to convince herself that running back to Brian was the wrong thing to do. He was Alex’s friend and co-worker. They would never see each other again after this tour was over. She had just gotten out of a relationship. Blah, blah, blah. There was one thing that kept pulling her back—the intense craving that her entire body felt to feel every inch of his body against hers. Noelle had decided, though. She was going back downstairs. She was going to go to bed and that would be it.

As she walked out of the bathroom it was like fate; Brian was distractedly walking out of the men’s room directly across from her. In that dark, abandoned hallway mere inches away from each other their eyes met and it was all over. Noelle pounced, sending Brian knocking back against the wooden hallway wall with a thump. Their lips met in an unmatched passionate kiss. Brian pushed off the wall with Noelle in his arms. He sent them flying into the adjacent wall. Noelle wrapped her legs around Brian’s waist. Brian caressed the soft skin on the back of her legs. Then, he let go. She dropped to the ground on one side of the hallway and he flew to the other.

“We can’t do this here,” Brian said shakily, as if his every nerve ending was piqued.

Noelle nodded. “Of course. You’re right.”

Brian took a step closer. “But I want to. More than you know.”

Without saying another word, Noelle tuned and exited that narrow hallway. She led Brian through the still thick crowd and up the stairs to the balcony exit. As quickly as it had started, they were gone.

From across the room, AJ watched as Brian and Noelle hurriedly left the club together. He knew that he didn’t have to worry, that nothing was going to happen between Brian and Noelle. Brian wasn’t a cheater. AJ had said that to himself a million times in the last month. Still, something inside wouldn’t let him believe it.

***

The next morning, Brian awoke with a smile on his face as the memories of his passionate night with Noelle the night before ran through his mind. He rolled over to reach out for her, but the bed next to him was empty. In Noelle’s place was a folded piece of hotel-room paper.

Brian unfolded the note and read it aloud to himself.

Brian,

I had an amazing night with you last night. I have a feeling AJ senses something between us, so I wanted to leave before he got curious. I’m sorry, but I didn’t have the heart to wake you.

I’ll see you at rehearsal later. Maybe we can meet up after the show?

XOXO,

Noelle

Brian smiled to himself and folded the note back over itself. He felt amazingly lifted. He finally remembered what it felt like to be happy and to feel something for someone else. He would have to come clean to Noelle about his entire life sometime soon, but selfishly, he wanted to bask in present time. There were no strings, no problems. Just two people who honestly felt something for each being together—the way that it was supposed to be.

In her room down the hall, Noelle’s thoughts were mirroring Brian’s. She couldn’t believe this amazing person had been right under her nose for years. He was a lover that was in sync with her every want and need. He was a friend that she could tell everything to. He was an all-around amazing guy.

She hadn’t wanted to get out of bed this morning. If it was up to her, they could have laid there undisturbed all day, but she knew that AJ was wondering. He had tried to talk to her about Brian yesterday, but she kept changing the subject. She didn’t want to hear all the reasons that she and Brian shouldn’t be together. She just wanted to be with him.

As she was getting dressed to accompany the Boys to their rehearsal, there was a light tapping on her hotel room door. Curiously, she walked to the entrance to her room and looked through the peephole. As she thought he would, Alex had come to check on her.

She opened the door and smiled. “Good morning, Alex.”

“Hey, Noelle,” AJ replied. “Can I come in?”

Noelle opened the door wider and allowed AJ to enter. She was going to let him speak his mind today. No matter what he had to say, Noelle was ready to stand up and tell him that it didn’t matter, because she cared about Brian and she thought that Brian cared about her too.

“What’s up?” Noelle asked, hoping that he’d just dive right in.

“Look,” AJ started slowly. He didn’t know the right way to say this without embarrassing his sister or seeming like he was getting into her business. “I saw you leave with Brian last night and before you say anything, I just—I know that Brian’s a good guy and if he’s leading you on he doesn’t mean to. I know that nothing has happened between the two of you, but I suspect that you want something to.”

“Alex, I--” Noelle started, but AJ cut her off.

“Noelle, you know that he’s married, don’t you?” AJ asked. “I mean, he told you that, didn’t he?”

Noelle tried to keep her face from visibly falling. She felt like the wind was sucked out of her. He was married and even after she told him her deepest, darkest secret, he still slept with her?

“Noelle?” AJ questioned. “Are you okay? Did you seriously not know that?”

Noelle shook her head to clear the thoughts for just long enough to get Alex to leave. “No, of course I knew. I know, duh, he’s married. He just doesn’t talk about it much and what I was going to say before is that I’m totally not into Brian. He’s just a--” Noelle choked on the rest of her sentence. “He’s just a cool guy.”

AJ nodded. “Okay, fine. As long as he told you and as long as you know that, I just don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t mean to—you know, pry or whatever.”

Noelle shook her head and swallowed back the lump that was rising in her throat.

“No, not at all,” she paused for a second and took in a deep breath. “Hey, I was planning on doing some shopping today instead of rehearsal. Is that okay?”

“Yeah,” AJ replied. “Whatever you want.”

“Good,” Noelle replied. “You should get going. You’re going to be late.”

AJ nodded and turned to leave the room. Once the door was shut securely behind him, Noelle broke down. She felt like she couldn't breathe. She leaned against the door to steady herself, but eventually her legs gave in and she slid down the down until she hit the floor. She couldn’t believe that she could be so dumb. She fell for another married man. He lied to her and manipulated her and let her tell him things. He had let her feel things for him and he never spoke a word about his wife.

Noelle stayed sitting on the floor and sobbed into her hands. She hated him. With everything inside of her, she hated Brian Littrell.