“How about we ask Jurnie.” Bonham’s voice was so low and it was reaching for me.
“Twelve,” I answered before they could ask again but Bonham would know it’s because he and I met on the twelfth.
“Be caller twelve to win a pair of tickets to tomorrow night’s Courting Chaos concert with Pushing Daisies.”
Then it was back to commercial.
“Did you keep me here because you knew he was calling in?” I asked.
“Maybe,” Brian told me. “It was worth it, though. You should see yourself. I think we need a fan in here.”
“I can still hear you,” Bonham said and I could tell he was trying not to laugh.
“You can all shut up.” But I too had to keep my humor at bay.
Once they went to commercial break again, I had to return to the dungeon, as I’d come to call it. The accounting department wasn’t bad and the people were all nice to me, but I was just no longer wanting to make an effort on the work. I would because I’d agreed to it, but things had changed.
A few hours later, it was finally time for me to leave. Today had been longer than normal due to an internal audit that accounting was conducting. They did it at regular intervals, I was told. Nothing to worry about, but that meant a lot of data collection for the lowly intern.
None of that mattered when I was walking down the hall toward the front reception. I’d assumed Bonham and I would meet out in the parking lot, but when I turned the corner, he was standing two feet in front of the receptionist desk and they were talking.
Bonham had his hands stuffed into his jean pockets, his hair was brushed into a perfect chaotic mess, and his muscles were straining the black T-shirt.
Video calls did not do the man justice.
I’d packed a small suitcase on wheels that I was dragging behind me as I made it down that hall. When I was almost to him, he finally looked my way.
A slow smile spread across his face, which basically forced me to do the same. Soon, I found my feet moving faster and I let go of the handle on my suitcase. When I got to him, I catapulted myself at his chest. Hadn’t even meant to do it but couldn’t help myself. I launched.
Bonham caught me and lifted, his hands sliding up my thighs until they almost rested on my ass. Then my lips crashed into his. He shifted one arm under me so the other could move up my back and grab on my neck.
This wasn’t appropriate behavior at work. The only thing I could be thankful for was that almost no one was around. Only the receptionist.
Still, I pulled back, my arms still around his neck.
“I missed you,” I whispered.
“Fuck, baby, you have no idea.”
Wiggling my way out of his grasp was a lot easier than it usually was. I assumed he understood that I couldn’t be doing that at work.
“You ready to go?” he asked as he grabbed my suitcase and picked it up.
“Ready.”
“See you Monday,” Penny called out as we left. Though her cheeky grin said she knew exactly what my plans were.
I was tucked into one side of him and my bag was in the other.
We had twenty-four hours to be together and I just knew it was going to go by way too fast.
24
Bonham
Seeing Jurnie running for me was like having a hand squeeze my heart. It was a good feeling while at the same time I knew this was going to make being away from her all that much harder. I’d missed her like hell the last week and a half and I was going to miss her like hell tomorrow night when we pulled out of Detroit again.
Maybe if we’d been together longer, it wouldn’t be so hard. Maybe if this wasn’t the first time I’d had to deal with a long-distance relationship, I’d be better at it. Other guys did it. Fuck, most of Courting Chaos did it. Maintaining a relationship while on the road was totally doable. But there was a reason a lot of musicians had multiple wives throughout their careers.
Fuck. I wanted this to work because the idea of being without her killed me.
“So what are we doing today?” she asked once we were in my car. She had no idea how thankful I was that she only worked until eleven. Special circumstances she’d told me.
It was weird to only drive this thing once in a while now, but I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to do it when I could. I’d have to drop it back off before the show tomorrow night.
“What would you like to do? I already checked into the hotel, so we’re set there. We can do whatever you want.”
“I thought check-in wasn’t until later.”
“Baby… early check-in, plus, Mack can talk anyone into anything, I think.”
“Ah.”
I slid my hand over her thigh. Her skin felt like silk and I couldn’t wait to get her naked, but I’d let her set the pace. I was just glad to have her here with me.
“How about we go drop your bag off and decide what we’re going to do?” I asked her.
She was silent for a few seconds before saying, “Yeah. That sounds good. Or, hey, what if we go drop my bag off, get naked, and not leave the hotel until tomorrow?”
“Fuck yes.” She didn’t have to ask me twice. I pressed my foot harder against the gas pedal. The sooner I got us to the hotel, the sooner my girl was naked and the sooner I could get my mouth on her. “How’s it going at the radio station?”
“Fine.” She sighed. “I’ll be glad when the internship is over, though. I’m not loving the work and it’s boring as hell.”
“Can’t you just quit?”
“I
