Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Before she even opened her eyes, she was aware of a bitter taste in her mouth, the cottony feeling like she’d had too much to drink.
She cracked one eye open, squinting against the bright sunlight spilling through the window, and warily glanced around.
Her eyes swept over the familiar walls of her bedroom. Thank God. She was home.
She was also… She peeked under the blanket. Yep. She was bare naked. What had happened last night?
She scrunched up her nose and tried to swallow down the taste clinging to her tongue.
Her eyes felt tired, her body sluggish, and she rolled to her back, stretching her arms wide as she did so.
Her hand collided with something hard and warm, and she whipped her head toward the right side of the bed.
A huge body occupied the normally empty space next to her, and from a quick glance at the man’s face and the dark artwork decorating his skin, she recognized Roman.
His torso was bare, his arms tucked beneath the pillow.
She waited a moment to see if he was awake, but he didn’t stir.
She used that to her advantage and unabashedly allowed her gaze to rove over his muscular body.
She knew from their initial introduction that his full name was Roman Incardona, but most everyone called him Ink.
Even so, she’d always thought of him as just Roman.
Looking at him, though, she had to admit that the nickname was incredibly apt.
Tattoos decorated nearly every inch of skin from his wrists up to his shoulders, then down his back.
Her fingers itched to pull the sheet down and see if he was just as naked as she was.
Did they have sex last night? God, wouldn’t that be just her luck—to finally sleep with him and then have no memory of it?
“What time is it?” She jumped at the sound of Roman’s raspy morning voice.
“Um…”
He cracked one eye open to look at her, then pulled his hand from under the pillow and checked his watch. “We’ve got about another hour. Go back to sleep.”
She stared at him. He seriously expected her to go back to sleep when they were both naked in her bed? At least, she was naked, and she needed answers. “Did we have sex last night?”
This time, both eyes popped open, hitting her with a hard stare. “Negative.”
“What does that mean? Then why am I naked?”
“Because I wasn’t gonna dig around in your stuff to try to find something for you to wear.”
“What was wrong with the clothes I had on?”
With a huff, he rolled over and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. As he changed positions, she saw that he was wearing a pair of tight-fitting black boxers. Shame.
“Because yours were soaked.”
What was soaked? Besides… She ripped her mind out of the gutter and tried to focus. Oh, right. Her clothes. She stared at his back, the intricate artwork dancing over his muscles as he stretched. “So we didn’t have sex last night?”
He threw a look over his shoulder at her. “No.”
He said the word like it was practically three syllables, and it pissed her off. “So what happened?”
“You got drunk, and I brought you home.”
“Then why are you in my bed?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said with no small amount of sarcasm. “Maybe so I could make sure you didn’t choke on your own puke.”
She winced internally, then mentally batted the thought away. “I don’t get sick when I drink.”
He let out a mirthless laugh. “Really? Because my clothes say otherwise.”
Oh, God. Every inch of her body went hot, and she felt heat climbing into her cheeks. “I threw up on you?”
He turned and met her eyes, studying her for several long seconds. “Do you not remember anything?”
She tried desperately to draw back on the events of the last twelve hours or so.
There was the show, then they hit up Louie’s to celebrate the end of the tour.
She had a couple drinks, a couple shots.
She remembered riding the bull and Roman telling her it was time to leave. After that… It was like a blank void.
“No…” She drew the word out long and slow, and he let out a little sigh.
He cleared his throat. “Never mind, just forget about it.”
“No, no.” She tried to scramble from the bed then remembered that she was naked, and she grabbed up the sheet to cover herself. “Tell me.”
Now she needed to know. She’d never gotten so drunk before that she didn’t remember what she was doing, and the way Roman looked at her worried her immensely.
God, why was she always making a fool of herself in front of this man?
She hated the way he made her feel sometimes.
It wasn’t his fault—it was just his personality that made him seem more worldly and mature than she would ever be.
She’d been absolutely infatuated with him from the moment he stepped foot into her living room—and, really, what woman wouldn’t be?
Roman was huge, standing over six feet tall and built like a brick wall, all muscles and dark tattoos.
Icy blue eyes stood out from darkly tanned skin, his strong, square jaw lightly stubbled.
His dark hair was slightly longer on top than on the sides, and it stood up slightly where it’d been pressed against the pillow.
Instead of appearing bedraggled and unkempt, the dishevelment made him look dangerous and capable of anything. Coupled with the sex appeal he oozed, she wanted to throw herself into his strong, tattooed arms.
She’d smiled and teased him a bit during their first couple of days together, testing the waters, but he’d taken one look down his nose at her—the one that looked like it’d been broken once or twice, and strangely only added to his handsomeness—and immediately dismissed her as if she were no more interesting than some annoying insect flying by.
She didn’t know why his rejection bothered her so much.
Maybe because it wasn’t a rejection so much as a dismissal.
He obviously didn’t find her attractive, so she’d built up the walls around her heart, cursing her terrible taste in men once more.
She always went for the men she couldn’t have, the ones who were emotionally unavailable or had no desire to settle down.
Unfortunately, it looked like she would have to cross gorgeous, tattooed bodyguards off her list, too.
Roman scrubbed one hand through his hair, making it stick up even more. “Just saying, maybe you shouldn’t have had that last shot of whiskey.”
“Apparently.” Her cheeks burned with humiliation just thinking about it. She couldn’t believe she’d thrown up all over him. That was definitely a first for her. It had probably gotten all over her too, which explained why she was naked. He probably just stripped them both and put her to bed.
“Thank you,” she said softly. “I’ll grab your clothes and put them in the laundry.”
“Already taken care of,” he replied. “Your clothes are in the sink. They were soaked, and I didn’t want to carry them through the house.”
She gave a little nod, confused. “Did you wash them in there?”
“Um… no,” he said, his shoulders tightening with tension. “You decided to climb in the shower when we got home, so I just tossed your clothes in the sink to drain.”
Lord, take her now. This just kept getting worse. He literally had to undress her like a toddler. “Did I… do anything else?”
She swore she saw a hint of red creep over his face before he turned away. “No.”
He looked uncomfortable, and she had a terrible feeling she knew what that meant.
She’d been drunk and naked, and she’d probably thrown herself at him.
She couldn’t bear to torture either of them with any more questions, so she clutched the sheet more tightly around her and strode into her closet.
Five minutes later, dressed in leggings and a tank top, she headed to the bathroom.
She almost groaned out loud as she caught her reflection in the mirror. Her hair had obviously been soaked when she fell into bed, and now it was matted on one side and sticking up on the other, a rat’s nest of crazy, pale gold waves. She wouldn’t have had sex with her either. She was a hot mess.
Shoving down her humiliation, she pulled her hair up in a messy bun, then quickly washed her face. She needed to get into the studio that morning, but she didn’t really care whether she looked like a troll or not.
Roman intercepted her as she came out of the bathroom, halting her in her tracks.
Her brain shorted out, and she froze like a deer in the headlights.
He was still dressed in only the tight-fitting black boxers he’d worn to bed, and her gaze automatically strayed lower, eagerly drinking in the sculpted muscles and thick bulge in the front. “Uh…”
He cleared his throat, but she could barely hear him over the blood pulsing in her ears. Somehow, she managed to drag her eyes back to his, heat sweeping up her neck and into her cheeks.
He looked as uncomfortable as she felt as he shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Change of plans. Aster and Louis are on their way over.”
Inwardly, she groaned, and the lust clouding her brain dissipated as reality slammed into her.
It wasn’t abnormal at all for her assistant, Aster, to stop by.
But Louis was probably here to do damage control, which meant that last night must have been worse than she thought.
She stared at Roman. “Did I make a complete fool of myself at the bar?”
One corner of his mouth tipped up in an almost-smile. “No, you waited till we got to the truck for that.”
She closed her eyes. She was going to feel terrible if she puked all over the inside of his truck. She opened her eyes and met Roman’s gaze again. “Please tell me I didn’t…”
He seemed to know where she was headed with the question, because he shook his head. “You threw up in the parking lot, then passed out for the ride home.”
Well, thank God for small favors. “I need caffeine.”
Pushing past him, she headed down the hallway into the kitchen. She’d never been a coffee person, and she’d just finished steeping her tea when the doorbell sounded. She took a step toward the hallway, but Roman was already there. “I got it.”
Her gaze swept over his muscular backside, now clad in his freshly washed clothes. Unfortunately. She smirked. She could only imagine her assistant’s reaction had Roman opened the door still half-naked.
A moment later, Louis and Aster stepped inside wearing identical expressions of concern. Louis didn’t bother to greet her, just stomped into the living room and took a seat on the couch. She rolled her eyes before meeting Aster’s gaze. “What’s up his butt today?”
Aster bit her lip. “Do you—?”
“Rina!” Louis’s obnoxious voice cut over whatever Aster was about to say. “Come sit. We need to talk.”
She hated that he refused to use her real name.
She’d reminded him time and again to call her Irina, but she seriously doubted he listened or even cared.
She bit her lip to keep him from seeing her irritation, then made her way into the living room where she sank into the corner of the loveseat.
Aster gingerly sat next to her, and Roman hovered nearby, a silent but powerful visual.
Louis’s eyes darted to him before meeting hers. “We received another note.”
This time, she couldn’t help the outright eye roll. “So? This guy has been sending me stupid letters for months.”
Every actor, athlete, and singer had groupies and obsessive fans.
For whatever reason, this guy had latched on to her, sending strange love letters and poems to the studio in the hopes that she would receive them.
She’d read the first couple, but they hadn’t made a bit of sense.
The guy apparently had followed her journey since she’d moved to Florida.
He’d spoken of how her music affected him, and how much he’d love to see her perform in person.
She assumed from that tidbit that the guy had heard her on the radio, read about her in the tabloids, and had developed some kind of fascination with her.
She really wasn’t that interesting, and he appeared to be more infatuated than dangerous.
He was just an odd duck, probably some forty-year-old virgin living in his mother’s basement who wanted attention.
For the past month and a half, she’d been content to just let Louis deal with it.
“Regardless,” her agent continued, “we’ve decided to increase your security. Beginning now, Mr. Incardona will be with you 24/7.”
Hot tea splashed all over her lap as she jerked upright. Aster hopped up and ran to the kitchen for a towel, and her eyes jumped to Roman then back to Louis as she struggled for words. “That’s—but—this is ridiculous!”
She didn’t need the arrogant, overbearing bodyguard breathing down her neck every second of the day. Especially after last night. She opened her mouth to argue, but Louis held up a hand. “The label isn’t willing to jeopardize your safety.”
She sat back, disgruntled. What Louis meant but didn’t say was that Stargazer Records had too much money invested in her to risk her being hurt. God forbid should they lose their gold ticket.
Louis turned to Roman. “Mr. Castillo is aware of the situation, and he’ll be sending someone over temporarily so you can go get whatever you need.”
“Yes, sir,” Roman replied. “I’ve already spoken with him.”
She glared at Roman. The jerk had known but hadn’t said anything? “I don’t understand. Isn’t there some other way to—”
“This is nonnegotiable.” Louis pushed his wide girth to the edge of the couch, then stood. “I need to get going. I’ve got an appointment downtown at ten.”
The doorbell rang, and Roman nodded at Louis. “That’s my guy.”
Swiftly moving toward the front of the house, he checked the peephole, then held the door for the other man to enter. She glared at him from across the room, but he ignored her completely.
Louis’s words snapped her attention back to him. “The police are looking into the issue, so it hopefully won’t be too long.”
He tried for a smile, but it fell flat. Without another word, he turned to leave, exiting the house just as the other man from Vantage arrived.
Roman closed and locked the door behind Louis, then led the man toward her. “Ms. Sterling, this is Zane.”
She lifted her chin in greeting. “Hi.”
“Nice to meet you, miss.”
Roman turned to Zane. “I’ll be back in an hour or so. She’s not allowed to go anywhere.”
Zane nodded, and she jumped to her feet. “What do you mean, I’m not allowed to go anywhere? All Louis said was that someone had to be with me all the time.”
“Too bad,” Roman said, his expression hard. “My game, my rules.”
“Screw your rules, you both suck.” She stomped toward the bathroom, her anger growing when she saw the still-wet clothes lying in the sink. She picked them up and hurled them toward the shower where they landed with a wet thwack, then slid to the ground.
Seriously. Could this day get any worse?