Chapter 7
MARCO
My suitcase was packed.
This was the stage I was normally antsy to go home, but not today. After my night with Selena, I was in no rush to cross the country. I couldn’t hold off on my return, though, not even if I wanted to more than anything.
I had a club opening in LA I needed to oversee. Being physically present was necessary. Otherwise, I might’ve tried to convince Selena to allow me to work from her swanky-ass living room for a week or two so I could have my fill of her.
But even that didn’t feel true. A week or two would have just left me even more bereft, not cured of this sudden, inexplicable ache in my chest.
I picked up my phone and checked the time. A text from my boy, Julien, was waiting for me.
Jules: You’re coming back tomorrow, right?
Me: Yeah, unfortunately.
Jules: Unfortunately? I thought you’d be chomping at the bit to get back here so you can oversee your kingdom.
Jules and I went as far back as Amir and I did.
For a long time, we’d been the three musketeers, then we graduated from college and the two of them turned into family men.
I didn’t begrudge them that.
They’d found something they had been looking for and treasured the hell out of it.
My family life had been just fine. Mom and Dad were still married, and I had a couple nephews from my older sister. I wasn’t pining or needing to fill the void. Not the same way they had been.
But I had this ache square in the center of my chest. It intensified when I thought of getting on a plane tomorrow. Never seeing Selena again.
Me: I met a girl. Selena.
An instant later, Jules called. I had to laugh at his speed.
“What’s up?”
I answered.
He exhaled. “Jesus, I was convinced your phone had been stolen. A girl, Marco?”
“I meet girls.”
“Oh, I know you’ve never had a shortage, but you’ve also never said those words to me. ‘I met a girl.’ As if she’s important. So, you’re going to need to explain Selena to me.”
Sinking into the leather chair near the floor-to-ceiling windows, I kicked my feet up on the desk.
“Selena Cruz. She’s a songwriter. Genius. Sexy as hell. The kind of pretty that stops you in your tracks, combined with the kind of sweetness that I see you and Amir getting from your wives, but I’ve never had directed at me.”
I groaned. “Lives in New York.”
He went quiet for a beat, but I could hear his gears turning. “You’ve met a woman you feel strongly enough to tell me about, and it sounds like you’re going to let geography stop you from pursuing her. Is that right?”
“We had one night together.”
“All right. Then why are you telling me about her?”
I rubbed my face, frustrated with him for seeing the truth even when we weren’t sharing the same space. This was what I got for keeping him around for so long. He knew me too well for me to get anything by him.
“Because it was special, and I feel like a prick for even saying those words, but it’s true.”
His whooshing breath vibrated my ear. “There’s nothing wrong with recognizing you had a connection with someone.”
“There is when she lives on the opposite coast from me.”
“Planes exist.”
I dropped my hand to the side. “Which I’m frequently on for business. You know this, Jules.”
He made a disgruntled sound. “I do know. I see ghosts more than I see you.”
“Right. So this thing with Selena, it’s going in the memory banks. If I try to do some kind of long-distance thing with her, I’ll end up breaking my heart or hers. Or, fuck, both.”
“Marco…”
he uttered. “You’re talking about your heart. That means something.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “I’m talking about it breaking, man.”
“You’ve never cared about that before.”
“That was—”
I couldn’t let myself say it.
“Before Selena.”
Count on Jules not to let me off the hook.
Fucking Julien.
My mind was still on my conversation with Jules when I knocked on Selena’s door. I only had a few more hours left to spend with her, and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck thinking about the end of everything.
She opened the door with a grin on her pretty face. “Marco Rider,”
she purred, leaning her head against the side of the door. “You’re here.”
I stepped into her, dipping down to brush my lips over hers, and it hurt. This was the first and last time I’d get to show up at her door and kiss her hello.
“You’re here too, looking like a dream, mama.”
Her hair was pulled back with a red bandanna, forties-style. Cuffed jeans hugged her thick thighs, and a white T-shirt snuggled up with her tits, exposing a slice of her golden abdomen.
Gorgeous.
I already knew for a fact I’d never find another woman more beautiful than Selena Cruz.
She took my hand, pulling me into her place. Regret weighed my feet down, but I followed her.
This was it.
A beginning and an end.
It wasn’t like me to get philosophical. Normally, I didn’t get caught up in my feelings, but this ache. This fucking ache.
Selena bounced on her toes, and it was adorable. But it killed me that she was happy-go-lucky while I was trying to hold my cracking chest together.
“Okay, here are our choices: my favorite hole-in-the-wall down the road, or we order in. I’m too trashed to cook, and I packed most of my pans anyway. What do you think?”
I blinked at her and then the boxes behind her. Her living room was now lined with cardboard boxes. Stacked high, they were clearly marked with the contents in big, bold letters.
“You packed?”
She laughed and looked back at the boxes behind her. “Yes. I could have let the moving company do it, but I can’t stand the idea of someone else having their hands all over my things, you know?”
I furrowed my brow. “Let’s back up a step. You’re moving? Why would you leave this pad? If I lived on this coast, I’d be all over it.”
Her hands went to her hips, and the furrow in her brow matched mine. “Well…wait, what do you mean?”
“Just that I like your place, and I find it hard to believe you’re going to find one better.”
“Oh, well.”
She crossed her bare feet. “My new place isn’t anything like this, but I’m looking forward to living in an actual house after a lifetime of apartments.”
“You’re leaving the city?”
“Marco.”
She brought her hand to my chest. “I know I told you I was moving…didn’t I?”
I shook my head slowly. “This is brand new to me.”
Snagging her around the waist, I tugged her against me. “Tell me about it, mama. Where are you going?”
The corners of her plush lips curved like she had a naughty secret. It pulled me in, wanting her lips next to my ear, sprinkling her stardust.
But what she said out loud, in plain, direct words, was more than magic.
“The thing about writing music is I can do it anywhere, but most musicians live in LA. I’ve been traveling back and forth the last few years, but I got tired of the long flights, plus I’m ready for some sunshine.”
My blood roared in my ears, and my arm tightened around her. “You’re moving to LA?”
“I really thought I told you.”
She tilted her head as she looked me over. “I didn’t tell you I’m moving next week?”
“Not at all. I think I’d remember you were moving to my city.”
I dropped my hand to her ass, squeezing her firmly. “Then I wouldn’t have been tearing myself up at the prospect of never seeing you again.”
“I’m sorry,”
she said softly. “But I kind of like that you were tearing yourself up over me. You like me, huh?”
I gave her a light smack. “I thought you were a sweet girl. Now I know you’re nothing more than a sadist.”
“I’m not, I promise. I’m just really into you, and now I’m thinking you’re really into me too.”
I pressed my lips to hers. “Yeah, I’m into you. But you need to work on your communication skills, mama. You definitely didn’t mention your move to LA. Where I live.”
“It isn’t possible you didn’t hear me?”
“No, Selena.”
I nipped at her bottom lip. “It’s not possible. Because if I’d heard you tell me you were about to move to my town, I would have been here helping you pack so you could get there sooner.”
She curled her arms around my neck. “I’m going to work on that since I really could have used some help today.”
I rocked my hips into her soft tummy. “I need to be inside you more than anything right now.”
“Yes, please.”
She led me to her bedroom, and it was even more incredible than it had been last night. We moved together, eyes locked, smiles on our kissing lips. She rose over me, showing me all of her. Curves and valleys I’d have time to explore because this was the beginning, not the end.
We kissed, and then she slid her lips next to my ear. “I can’t wait, Marco. I can’t wait to see you in the sunshine. I can’t wait for all of it.”
Words like stardust…