“Come with me.”
Mouth hanging open and eyes wide, I couldn’t have been more stunned if I tried. “W-what?”
“Come with me,” he repeated. “It’s a paid job. My hair needs you.”
I snorted.
“You always wanted to travel. Here’s your chance.”
“I can’t just—”
“You can. Think about it. An all-expenses-paid trip that’ll help develop you professionally in a new area too.” He grinned. “C’mon, this is a great idea, stop making excuses.”
“Stop trying to push me,” I said. “I’m not sure I want to just up and leave everything on your say-so.”
“It’ll all be waiting for you when you come back.”
I took a deep breath. “Adam, I know you’re lonely, but this is a big deal for me. I have a job and an apartment and a life here. What if you change your mind and decide that having me around isn’t the constant party you seem to think it’ll be?”
“You still hate your manager?”
I lifted one shoulder. “Sort of.”
“They still overworking and underpaying you?”
“Y-e-a-h.”
“That won’t happen with me. Martha will find out what a good wage is for this sort of gig and all of your expenses will be taken care of.”
My mouth hung open. He was serious. Deadly so.
“You never did like the neighborhood the apartment is in either. I’ll pay out the lease, or you can with that check. Get a place you like better once we get back.”
I frowned. He had a point about the neighborhood.
“Thing is, this industry is all about the ups and downs. I may not always be in a position to offer you this.”
“Your fans love you.”
“No, they love the latest rock star, that’s all. They love Adam Dillon, whose songs are on everybody’s lips. They love what happened to me. What I did and what I turned into. But that’s not me. And it’s not forever.”
“I don’t know.”
“And this isn’t about me being lonely,” he tacked on.
“Are you sure about that?”
“If anything, being on tour will mean having more people around. It’ll be tiring and busy as all hell, schlepping our asses all over the countryside. But it won’t be lonely.”
“Then what is it about?”
“It’s about making our dreams come true. Me playing my music and you getting to travel. Both of us seeing new places and experiencing new things. This is a fucking great idea.”
“And we’re doing this together?”
“Yes. Together. Would that really be so bad?”
Head buzzing, I faced him. “I honestly don’t know.”
“We can just do it as friends if you want. Or as employer and employee. Whatever you like.”
“Holy shit,” I mumbled, eyes wide. “Are you actually subtly suggesting, in a roundabout manner, that you want to get back together?”
The man just shrugged. “We don’t have to rush into anything. But it’s not a totally bad idea. I mean, we had some good times. We worked well together for a while. Would getting back together honestly be so bad?”
“Holy shit.”
“You already said that.”
“Yeah, well it bears repeating.” I rubbed at my temples. “My brain is overloaded. I’m surprised gory mush isn’t leaking out of my ears. Before today, we hadn’t even talked for almost a year. And now this.”
He waved a hand in an oh-well fashion.
“I think you’re thinking the sex was deep and emotional and imbued with meaning when it wasn’t necessarily any of that.”
“Baby, it was a quick fuck against the fridge.”
“Exactly.”
“I’ll make up for that later if you’ll let me. In the meantime, we were discussing something else that I find to be both deep and emotional.”
“You’ve lost your mind.” I massaged my throbbing temples some more. “The fame has gone to your head. You can’t honestly think us getting back together is a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Where to start…”
“Jill, tell me honestly, has a single day gone by when you haven’t thought of me?” He reached out, cupping my cheek in his big warm hand. “Because I know I never stopped thinking about you. That’s the truth of it.”
Nothing from me.
“I know you like having shit under control, but let’s just roll the dice for once and see what happens. Give me a chance to make everything up to you.”
For a long moment, I just stared. “Oh, boy. I don’t know what to say.”
“That’s alright. Really.” He nodded slowly, studying my face with his serious eyes. “Tell you what, let’s say we sleep on it. Just sleep. No more sex. The sex seems to be freaking you out a little.”
“It’s a lot more than sex with you freaking me out.”
“Tomorrow’s Sunday so you’re not working or anything, right?” he asked.
“Right.”
“No big plans?”
I shook my head.
“Why don’t we spend the day together and see how things go? Make a decision about all of this later when we know we’re not going to immediately drive each other crazy.”
“Maybe I should go home, give us both some space.”
“No,” he said, adamant. “Do that and we’ll lose our momentum. We’re getting somewhere here, don’t you think?”
I frowned.
“Plus, it’s late and we’re both tired. Let’s just crash and see where we are in the morning. You like it here, right?” He smiled and it was so hopeful it broke my heart. “I have a new toothbrush for you and everything. That’s how much of an organized adult I am these days.”
“Impressive.”
“Well, to be honest, Martha actually organized the buying, delivering, and possibly even the putting-away of the toothbrush. But it was totally me who thought to ask her to get it done.” He grinned. “So…what do you say, Jill?”
The plan had merit, I could admit that much. And I was tired and in need of some quiet time so I could catch up with everything. So I could overthink and dissect it all. “Okay. That sounds good.”
I lay on my designated side of Adam’s monster of a bed—linen bedding because…fancy—staring at the faint shadows on the ceiling. Beside me, Adam’s breathing was deep and
