14. Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fourteen
Tyler
F rom everyone’s behavior, leaving the tour made me feel like we were fugitives fleeing the country instead of a pop star, her bodyguard, and whatever I was, running away from her mother while sitting on a private jet. As much as I wanted to spin our situation in a different direction, that was the reality. Mia wasn’t quitting the tour so much as quitting Laura for the next six months or so. Exactly how long Mia would stay after the baby was born hadn’t been concretely decided.
When her plane landed in New York, a single text from Rebecca had said, It’s done. You’ve got your time off. Mia had turned to me in triumph while Pasha steered our rental toward Little Falls.
Too easy.
Laura could show up unexpectedly and uninvited at any time. Not a single text or phone call had arrived to either me or Mia from Laura. Was silence really the best sign?
“She’ll be mad at me.” Mia stood beside the car outside my house and oversaw Pasha trying to unpack the suitcases.
She had three oversized bags, and one of those was filled with accessories and makeup. I didn’t have a problem with her excessive packing, but Pasha had grunted extra loud when he lifted that third bag into the trunk .
“But she’ll come around, and when she does, she’ll want to see me,” Mia warned.
“You’re sure you’re okay with staying here while the train station renos finish up?” I grabbed a couple of the suitcases and walked toward the front door of my modest brick bungalow.
“This place is cute.” Mia followed behind with her purse over her arm.
David instructed her not to lift anything heavy, not that she would have carried her own bags anyway. Her inability to do practical things for herself hadn’t worried me until we pulled into the driveway. Cooks and maids and bodyguards made her life easier at every turn. Did she even know how to make a sandwich?
“I’ll need to do some grocery shopping. There won’t be much food in the house,” he said.
Behind me, Mia’s step faltered. “Oh, right. I guess you have to do those things yourself.” Her heels clicked a little faster on the cement walkway. “Can I—would it be okay if I came with you? I haven’t been to a grocery store in a while.”
I opened the front door and slid the first bag across the entrance before pushing the second one behind it. “You’ll have to decide whether you’re okay with people knowing you’re here, possibly posting you’re here on social media. The grocery store is almost as popular as appearing in the town center.”
“When I start to show, I’ll hole up in your house or the train station or wherever I need to be. People will think I left town. But I don’t want to start like that when I still look like this.” She gestured down her body. “My boobs look amazing, and maybe I’ve put on a few pounds, but I don’t look…you know, yet. ”
Her excitement was palpable, and I couldn’t determine if it was because she’d escaped her mother, was enjoying the sense of normalcy, or was looking forward to playing a warped version of house. All of those things made me uneasy. Bringing her here had seemed like a great plan, but as she walked past me into the house and I caught a whiff of lemon and ginger, I wondered if I miscalculated.
Despite all of my long-term relationships, I’d only lived with one woman, and that hadn’t lasted long. From experience, Mia’s loss would sting so much more if I let her stay here when the train station was done. Getting her moved over there would be my best bet at surviving whatever was blossoming between us.
“Men don’t usually have good taste.” Her gaze zipped around the open concept living space decorated with a country chic vibe. The white décor with open beams and patches of brick were timeless. I’d missed this place.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I hoisted one bag and took it down the hall. “Pasha can have this spare room on the left. At the back here, there’s a master suite,” Tyler called. “Or there’s one in the basement.”
“Which one do you use?” Mia’s bare feet slapped against the wooden floor behind me.
I tossed Pasha’s light bag onto the queen bed and then passed Mia to get her first suitcase from the front hall. “I’ve been sleeping in the basement for the last few years.” Since Katie had moved out, actually, but there wasn’t much point in telling Mia that tidbit.
“Oh, well.” She bit her lip and twisted her hands in front of her.
“Puzzled?” I raised my eyebrows, and I lifted her bag. Would she admit already to some form of insecurity?
“Well, kinda, I guess.” A flush rose to her cheeks .
It was rare for her to be so genuinely unsettled. “What aren’t you sure about?”
She fluffed her hair and drew her mane around to rest on her shoulder. “If I’m up here and you’re down there, it makes it hard to do what I want to do.” She leaned toward me, glancing over my shoulder in Pasha’s direction.
“Oh?” A slow smile spread across my face. “What’s that?” I scanned the house in mock confusion. “There’s just you, me, and Pasha. We could probably do whatever you wanted.”
“You think Pasha is into a bodyguard with benefits scenario?” Mia perked up and tilted her head. “I didn’t take you for a threesome guy, but if that’s what you want—” She turned toward the door, where Pasha was still struggling with her last bag.
I chuckled, but I didn’t haul her back like I was tempted to do. I wanted to see how far she’d take this.
She took two steps in Pasha’s direction and spun around. “You’d really let me ask him?”
“Would you? I thought it might be funny to watch you try.”
“My suffering amuses you?” With a groan, she smacked me in the chest with her open hand.
“Aww, Mini.” I set down her suitcase and smoothed her hair, drawing her into my chest. “This isn’t suffering. Suffering will be when you figure out you have to cook and clean for yourself.”
“I still have money, Pretty Boy. I’ll be paying people to do those things.” Mia laughed into my chest.
“What?” I held her away, feigning surprise. “You’re telling me my fantasies of you in a maid outfit or wearing just an apron aren’t going to happen? ”
“They’ll only happen if you take out my bodyguard first. Are you up for it?” Her fingers slid into my hair, and she tugged me down so her lips grazed my ear.
“Where do I have to take him?” I nuzzled her neck and flicked my tongue along her earlobe.
The chuckle that escaped her was deep with amusement and desire. “I think you should show me the basement.”
“There’s a second bedroom down there,” I murmured before kissing her neck.
“There’s another bedroom down there?” She trembled in my arms, clearly distracted, and then she gasped, smacking me in the chest again.
“Yeah, two up, two down.” He winked. “You didn’t ask how many bedrooms there were, just where I slept.”
“You knew what I was asking.”
With a wicked grin, I picked up her suitcase easily just as Pasha finally staggered in the door. “How these fit in plane?” A thin sheen of sweat glistened on his brow.
“We took my jet, so I can do what I want. For commercial airlines, if you throw enough money at a company, they’ll let you do almost anything. I’m in the top tier of all the frequent flier programs, so that goes double for me.” She grinned. “They’re not too heavy for you, are they?”
I watched the exchange and couldn’t help but smile. There was a lightness to Mia today, as though a tremendous weight had disappeared. Did she feel the difference? Every time she said or did something, she glowed. Maybe I had made the right decision by asking her here, by convincing her to do this. On the tour, I wasn’t completely sure. She did love to entertain, or at least parts of the spectacle, and she was damn good at it.
Mia caught me staring at her. “What?”
“You look happy. It’s a good look on you.”
She grabbed her hair in a fist and seemed to consider my words before straightening to her full height. “I am happy.” A soft laugh of disbelief filled the entryway. “Imagine that.”
The best part was that I didn’t need to. She shone, shone in the same way she did when she was on stage and the fans were belting out her songs back to her. Somehow, at least for today, she was finding that level of energy inside herself instead of having to absorb it from a crowd.
“I’ll take your bags down,” I said as Pasha disappeared out the door to grab anything else from the car. “Then we’ll hit the grocery store. I don’t want you getting hangry.”
“I think I’m going to like it here.” She twirled a strand of her hair around her finger and nodded.