Chapter 5
LIAM
Sabrina was hard to read.
Her arms were crossed and her lips were pulled into a permanent frown as we rode the elevator to the eighteenth floor.
I couldn’t tell if she was mad at me or mad at where we were.
My first inclination was to think that she was mad at the hotel.
After all, I’d been nothing but a gentleman to her ever since she called me last night, asking me to take her away.
But now it seemed like she was regretting her choice. Like she was regretting being here with me. And it was taking all my strength not to take offense to that.
The elevator doors slid open, revealing a very disgruntled Bonnie, so thoughts of Sabrina and how she felt about me were pushed to the back of my mind. I straightened and grinned at Bonnie, but she just narrowed her eyes even more.
“Glad you could finally join us,” she said.
I didn’t even blink at the sharpness to her tone.
“Glad to be here,” I said as I reached down and wrapped my hand around Samuel’s car seat handle.
I froze when my fingers brushed Sabrina’s.
It seemed she had the exact same thought I did.
Electricity shot up my arm from every point of contact as I lifted my gaze to meet hers.
For some reason, it frustrated me that she didn’t seem phased. Instead, she just curled her fingers around the handle and straightened before taking a step back. I frowned as I studied her. Had she really not felt anything?
“You missed rehearsals.” Bonnie adjusted the glasses on the bridge of her nose. As if she hadn’t noticed the shift in the energy that occupied the space around us.
Maybe I was the problem. Maybe I was the one imagining a connection between Sabrina and me. From everyone else’s lack of reaction, it seemed like I was the only one who could feel what was happening between us.
I cleared my throat and shifted my attention away from Sabrina and over to Bonnie. “Are we singing a new song?” I asked as I debarked the elevator. I was standing a few feet away from Bonnie now.
“No,” she sputtered.
“New dance I don’t know about?” I watched as Sabrina followed after me and then moved to stand near the wall next to the elevator, like she didn’t know where to go.
Bonnie sighed, and I glanced down at her. “No,” she admitted.
I shot her my knee-buckling smile before I gave her a wink. “Then I’ll be fine. I can do these sets in my sleep.”
Bonnie slitted her eyes, annoyance oozing from her countenance.
“Besides, I have a new assistant who is going to help me get to places on time.” I patted Bonnie’s arm as I motioned for Sabrina to join us.
Sabrina’s skin paled and her eyes widened as she lifted her eyebrows as if to ask, Me? I nodded and waved my hand to beckon her closer. “Bonnie, meet Sabrina.”
As if she’d suddenly noticed that there was a person with me, Bonnie glanced over at Sabrina.
“Oh,” she said, her lips rounded in an o shape as she slowly brought her gaze from Sabrina’s face down to Samuel, who must have been awoken by the jostling and was now currently cooing in his car seat with one hand wrapped around his foot.
“Sabrina?” she asked as she turned her attention back to me.
I knew what Bonnie was thinking. Her concerns were as plain as the nose on her face.
A baby didn’t belong in a rock star’s world, but I didn’t really care.
Samuel was a cool kid, and I liked the idea of helping Sabrina out.
If Bonnie had a problem with it, well…it didn’t matter if Bonnie liked it or not.
I did.
Sabrina joined me, setting Samuel’s car seat down on the floor before straightening. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to my side. I decided to ignore the way her muscles tensed under my hand and instead, enjoyed the warmth of having her next to me.
“That’s right.” I glanced from Bonnie back down to Sabrina. “She’s going to organize my schedule. Make sure I’m at rehearsals on time.” I shrugged as I dropped my arm. “Anything I need to do, you let her know.” I patted Sabrina’s back with the hopes that she would relax just a bit.
Bonnie glanced over at Sabrina once more and then back to me. “Okay, then,” she said as she stepped closer to Sabrina. “What scheduling system do you use? Google calendar? That’s what we use. What’s your handle on Master Tour? I can add you to Liam’s schedule.”
Sabrina’s entire body froze as she stared at Bonnie.
Her lips were slightly parted, and she slowly glanced over at me with her eyes wide and panicked.
That’s when I realized I needed to step in.
The last thing I wanted was for Sabrina to slink back into the elevator and demand to go back to Harmony.
I chuckled to ease the tension. “Geez, Bonnie. Let her settle in before you bombard her with all of this.” I wrapped my arm around Sabrina’s shoulders. After I picked up Samuel, I started to lead her down the hallway to the Peninsula Suite I’d stayed in last time I was here.
“Where are you going?” Bonnie asked as she followed after me.
I glanced over my shoulder. “My room. I’m exhausted.” I forced a yawn just to emphasize my point.
“Sawyer’s in the Peninsula Suite.”
I stopped and then slowly turned around. “He’s what?”
Bonnie folded her arms across her chest. “I couldn’t just keep the room empty. You weren’t here, so Sawyer took it.”
It took all of the strength inside me not to fight her on this. I was the lead singer. I always got the biggest suite. But I knew no matter how hard I wanted to fight Bonnie on this, she wouldn’t give in. In her mind, she was teaching me a lesson.
I forced a smile. “Seems fair.” I surveyed the other wooden doors that lined the hallway. “Which one is mine?” Sabrina whipped her gaze up to me. “Er, I mean ours.” I gave her a wink to which she just sighed.
Bonnie glanced around the hallway. “George?”
Like magic, George appeared next to Bonnie. He nodded and then stepped up to the far door on the right. “You’re in here, Mr. Carmichael,” he said as pressed a charcoal grey key card against the black sensor panel near the door. A light flashed green followed by a soft click.
“I already had your luggage brought up,” he said as he held the door open so Sabrina and I could pass through.
The small foyer we were now standing in opened up into a modest living room where the city skyline could be seen through the floor-to-ceiling windows. To the left, the bedroom door was open, revealing a large king-size bed, overflowing with pillows and a plush down comforter.
“This is beautiful,” Sabrina whispered as she passed by me and made her way over to the window, where she stared outside. The sun had started to set behind the skyscrapers that filled the skyline.
“Let me know if there’s anything you need.” George handed me two key cards and then slowly backed out of the room.
I nodded in acknowledgement as George shut the door on Bonnie, who looked like she wanted to keep talking. I wasn’t really interested in hearing what she had to say.
Now alone, I turned my attention back to Sabrina, who had her arms wrapped around her waist and her focus on the world moving outside the window. Not sure what to do, I cleared my throat and took a few steps in her direction.
“Beautiful, huh?” I asked as I neared her. I remained a safe distance away so she wouldn’t feel overwhelmed.
Sabrina glanced over at me. Her eyes were wide and held a soft reverence as she slowly began to nod. “It is.”
A genuine smile tugged at my lips. Sabrina thought I was talking about the scenery outside of the room, but I had commented on the woman standing inside the room. The soft evening light accented her pale skin, dark brown hair, and perfectly formed lips.
Sabrina was beautiful, which was probably one of the reasons I was struggling to stay away from her.
She intrigued me in a way that no woman had in a very long time.
I liked having her around. I just wished she felt the same way about me.
But from the exasperated sigh and roll of her eyes that happened every time I smiled and winked at her, I feared I may have overstayed my welcome.
Needing something to do other than stand there and stare at her, I moved over to the soft leather-bound menu that sat on the side table next to the couch. “You hungry?” I asked as I glanced up at her. “We can eat here or go out.”
Sabrina looked startled by my question. But then her attention shifted down to Samuel, who was chilling in his car seat. “I should probably stay in.” She nodded toward me. “But don’t let that stop you.”
I chuckled as I flipped the hotel menu open.
I wanted to tell her that I was content to hang here with her, but then I remembered that I hadn’t posted a Drifter song in a few days.
Last time I logged into that account, my notifications were going crazy with people speculating what had happened to me.
Now that I was sharing a room, I was going to have to sneak off if I wanted to keep my identity unknown.
“I’ll probably do that,” I said as I flipped another page. “But I want to make sure that you get set up here before I leave.” I sighed, closed the menu, and then handed it over to Sabrina.
She took it from me and opened it, so I shifted my attention to Samuel.
“Come here, little man,” I said as I started unbuckling him. He responded by squirming and arching his back in anticipation.
A soft gasp proceeded the sound of the menu closing. “Actually, I’m really not that hungry,” Sabrina said as she leaned over to set the menu back down on the side table and took a few steps away from it.
I frowned as I hooked my arm around Samuel legs and stood so I could face her.
“I don’t believe that,” I said as I bounced Samuel a few times.
“I haven’t seen you eat anything since breakfast.” I quirked an eyebrow, waiting for her inevitable deflection.
It seemed like she was determined to reject my help.
Little did she know that I wasn’t so easily deterred.