21. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
T here was nothing better than a real bed. Nothing . Oakley took a few gulps from the bottle of water he’d had sent up with room service, a more expensive brand he enjoyed now and then. Might just be water, but it was smoother somehow. Had a pure crispness to it regular bottled water lacked.
Being the tour manager, he got the same per diem as the band members, but he hadn’t spent much of it. He’d added to the groceries on the bus using his own savings, proud that he’d managed to stretch them so far, and ate when he had the stomach for it after long days on the road.
Tonight, he’d ordered some of his favorite comfort foods. Mandu—a meat dumpling his mother always tried to make, but never managed as well as Aunt Reese—with a side of kimchi and short grain sticky rice. He’d read several reviews on the hotel and almost all of them said the Korean food was excellent. Only a four star hotel, but the chef apparently made up for whatever else was lacking. He’d called in his order earlier that evening and made arrangements for the 2 AM delivery. His mouth watered as he checked the time.
A knock at the door had him shooting to his feet and crossing the room in a few long strides. He yanked it open.
Not room service.
But he wasn’t disappointed.
“I’m sorry for bothering you so late. Balthazar had to shuffle the schedule to get someone to cover me watching the halls where the band is.” Her lips thinned. “I didn’t realize you’d accepted a room on a different floor. Why is that?”
“No one’s after me and I asked for an upgrade.” His cheeks heated at her disapproving look. “You’re not bothering me. Come in?”
“Not sure I care if I’m bothering you anymore.” She slipped into the room and looked around, brow furrowed. “This room isn’t any bigger than the others. What did you upgrade?”
He hooked his thumbs to the pockets of his vest and shrugged. “There were two queens in the first room I’d been given. I asked for a king. It cost a bit extra, but I covered it myself.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, Vanessa put her hand on his shoulder and drew him across the room to the small sofa in the sitting area. She sat beside him, facing him with her knees pressed against his. “You’re not required to share with anyone because of your contract. If the hotel fucks up and gives you the wrong room it’s not an upgrade. It’s making them fix their mistake.”
“I didn’t want to cause problems. We were lucky to find a hotel with such short notice.”
“Or they had a celebrity complain on twitter about some ignorant policies and there were a bunch of cancelations. They’re lucky to have us . And they wouldn’t if I hadn’t seen they fired several people and made a public statement about their changes. That’s why I suggested this hotel, Oakley. Not so they could fuck you over because you don’t like conflict.” She put her hand on his knee and gave him a small smile. “Next time, let me do the peopling. I’m about to owe you.”
A knock at the door stopped him from asking why. Before he could move, Vanessa held up her hand, gave him a firm look, then crossed the room and opened the door.
Whoever was there must have been startled and handed over the food without a word, because she was back in seconds, setting the covered tray on the coffee table before returning her focus to him. “Is this why you hardly ate anything today?”
Oakley rubbed his hand over his lips. “It was a busy day.”
“Uh huh.” Vanessa shook her head. “We’re going to be eating a lot more meals together. You’re not getting sick on my watch, mister.”
As much as he hated worrying Vanessa, he didn’t mind her looking out for him as much as he would with anyone else. Not so much that he’d tell her he might need a week—or five—before eating while the bus was in motion didn’t make him nauseous, but he’d try harder if it made her happy.
He reached out to take the top off the tray, then paused. Eating in front of her would be rude.
She seemed to read his mind as she motioned for him to go ahead. “It’s gonna be a long night. You’ll need your energy.”
Unsure what to make of that, he uncovered his food. “There’s plenty for too if you’d like some. If not, please tell me what you need me to do. I’m all yours.”
Vanessa blinked at him. Then smirked. “Really? Not sure you’re ready for that, but I’ll keep it in mind.”
His skin had to be blazing red from how hot it felt. Inhaling roughly, he grabbed his bottle of water and gulped down the rest. There was no mistaking that Vanessa was flirting with him, but…did it mean anything?
Picking up one of the dumplings, he popped it in his mouth and let out a soft moan. Not quite as good as Aunt Reese’s, but food like this after a week on the road? Pure heaven.
“You have to try this.” Without thinking, he picked up another dumpling between his fingers and brought it to Vanessa’s lips. At her surprised look, he realized he probably should’ve used the chopsticks. “Sorry, I—”
Before he could retract his hand, Vanessa caught his wrist and leaned forward, holding his gaze as she closed her lips around the dumpling. The slight brush against his fingers made his pulse pick up a notch and he shifted as his dick began to swell.
Cool it, Oakley.
Vanessa was cool and sophisticated and always in control. Showing he was everything but would erase what little interest she’d shown in him. And he wanted to hold her interest. He wanted her to keep looking at him the way she was now, as though he was having the same effect on her as she was on him.
“This is delicious.” Still holding his wrist, Vanessa licked the tips of his fingers, lips curving when he shuddered. “Do I make you nervous?”
“A little.”
I give up.
“Only when I do things like this?” She licked his fingers again. Then moved closer, until her lips hovered a few inches away from his. “I’ll stop if you want.”
Stop? That was the last thing he wanted. He spoke quickly, hoping he could find the right words to explain why he was so fucking bad at this. “I’ve never really… The only time I’ve kissed anyone was a boy back in seventh grade, then a girl at homecoming. A lot happened after that and my experience is…seriously lacking.”
“That doesn’t bother me, Oakley.” Tiny creases formed between her brows. “But I sometimes wonder if I’ve misread what’s happening between us. I enjoy being close to you, no matter what. If that’s all you’re comfortable with, it’s more than enough.”
The uncertainty in her tone was surreal. He’d been looking at her as a person who had it all together, but she was still human. And she always put his comfort first, regardless of her own feelings. Supported and watched out for him as a friend.
She thought that was all he wanted from her and was willing to accept that.
It was past time he show her he wanted more.
Cupping her cheek in his hand, he closed the distance between them, his lips touching hers with the slightest bit of pressure. Then more as his instincts took over. He’d been worried he’d be horrible at this, but taking her lead as she slanted her mouth on his, deepening the kiss and caressing his tongue with hers, felt amazing. The taste of citrus and spice teased the tip of his tongue and his heart stuttered as she smiled against his lips.
This woman was incredible.
She touched her forehead to his, inhaling slowly as though to regain her composure. “This isn’t why I’m here, but it’s what I’ve been waiting for.”
“Really?” He stared up at her as she ran her thumb over his bottom lip, then shifted away. “All those hot rock stars you’re around all day, and you were waiting for me?”
The edge of her lips quirked. “I told you, I like the vests.”
He grinned at that, offering her another dumpling, then taking one himself. “So if this isn’t why you’re here, what is? Is everything okay with security? Wait, I don’t imagine you’d be kissing me before telling me if it wasn’t. Forget I said that.”
She shook her head. “Stop it. You’re adorable and I don’t know when I started finding that irresistible, but I do. Yes, it’s about security, but I don’t want you freaking out. I have a theory, but it could take some time to figure out if I’m right.”
“I’ll help however I can.”
“Good, because you’ll be doing the bulk of the work.” Vanessa sat back, refusing to continue until he’d finished eating and leaned back beside her. Then her expression became serious. “There was another message left with a dead animal and a bloody mess. It happened while the bands were preparing to get up on stage, so Balthazar and I decided to deal with it without them knowing. We’re hoping to have some good news when we do tell them.”
Oakley nodded, hesitating for a moment, then putting his hand on Vanessa’s thigh and stroking it soothingly as she relaxed a little.
“This time the message was left for Shiori, not Annette. We’ve also learned that Danica’s gotten some threatening messages and morbid packages, but she hasn’t been told.”
His hand stilled. “Shit.”
“Yes. But I think they fucked up this time. The message was worded differently, using ‘ we ’ instead of ‘ I’ like in all the other notes Annette’s gotten. The handwriting was the same, but I suspect this person is working with others and maybe got more help this time? It’s given them more confidence, which makes them more dangerous, but also careless.” Vanessa sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. “That won’t be enough to convince the band to cancel the tour and I’d rather they not have to. I’m being paid to protect them. But I need to find a way to at least reduce the risk.”
‘What do you need me to do?”
“Is there any way you could find out if there’s an online forum these people are using to combine their efforts? The way others have found the band made me wonder if the information is available somewhere and that’s the only thing I can think of.” She looked frustrated now. “I can do basic searches on the internet, but this is beyond my abilities. I don’t even know where to start.”
He nodded slowly, thinking over all the information she’d given him as he pushed off the sofa and went to grab his laptop from his overnight bag. Returning to sit on the floor and putting his laptop on the coffee table beside the empty tray, he connected to the hotel wi-fi.
“I’ll set up a few programs that will run automatic searches to look for a combination of what was in the notes over thousands of websites, private forums, and chats. Get me any pictures you have of the scenes and I’ll do the same. If this is a group effort there’s a chance that they bragged about what they accomplished after the fact.” He began building his own program from scratch, which would take a couple of hours, but would be more effective than anything already available. “If they’re careless we could also try matching faces in the crowds to avatars, but that’s less likely. People prefer being anonymous. I can check if there’s any hits on criminal records involving similar crimes from those we can identify from the last show.”
“Is that legal?”
He glanced over at her and arched a brow. “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“Yes.” She gave him a level look. “I imagine the cops have done some of this, but if they’re not finding these fuckers because of red tape, do what you have to. But you’re not going at this alone and taking the fall if shit goes sideways.”
“It won’t. I know what I’m doing.”
“You’d better. You wouldn’t do well in prison.” Sliding over to sit behind him, her legs by his arms, she reached out to hand him her phone, which contained dozens of pictures from every scene and file she had. Then she brought her hands to his shoulders, massaging them lightly as he sent himself all the information he’d need.
“If you’re tired, you can go back to your room while I work on this. Or…” He glanced back at her when her hands stopped moving. He didn’t want her to think he was kicking her out. “Or use my bed. This is not gonna be quick and you need your rest.”
She smiled at him and stroked her hand up the back of his neck. “I might crash in a bit, but I want to keep you company for now if you don’t mind.”
His eyes drifted shut and he moaned as her fingers found a knot at the base of his neck and worked it loose. “I don’t mind at all, but you’re very distracting.”
“I hear you.” She chuckled and leaned forward, kissing his cheek. “I’ll get you some coffee and see if there are any files Balthazar has that I don’t. If you’re serious about the offer though, I’d like to sleep here. There may be details I haven’t thought of and I want to be close if you have questions.”
Nodding, he opened another program and quickly typed in the new codes he’d created. “That would be perfect. I’ll try not to wake you, but it would be better not to freak out the rest of the security by wandering the halls at all hours of the night.”
“Exactly.”
“And…” He took a deep breath. “I like having you close. I feel stronger with you around. Like I can do so much more than I thought possible before. I…” He reached up and curved his hand around the side of her neck. “Thank you, Vanessa.”
She slid her lips over his, letting out a soft sound as she began to deepen the kiss, then reluctantly eased away from him. “Being around you feels right, Oakley. You make me want things I’d never considered before. Keep it up and I won’t let you go when this is over.”
“Once I figure out what I’m doing right? You’ve got it.”
With a light laugh, she rose and headed out of the room, returning about fifteen minutes later with a large carafe of coffee, a mug, and a stack of files. After kissing him again, she disappeared into his bedroom.
He tried not to think too much of her in there, on the bed he would be sleeping in, resting comfortably because she trusted him to handle this. He wanted to deserve her faith in him, but he wasn’t convinced he was there yet.
But he’d damn well do everything in his power to get there.