Page 72

JETT

The drive from the studio back to the hotel is only a few short miles, but it could’ve been next door and still it wouldn’t feel like enough time with Fia. Even after what just happened—I don’t know what to label it as, a lap dance, some sort of sacred ritual between our souls… I don’t fucking know, but it wasn’t enough.

It’s like even after getting so much of her, I can’t help but want all of her.

“Who could you be talking to at two in the morning?” My question comes out like a growl, something jealous circulating deep inside me. Paying me no mind, Fia types away on her dim screen until her eyes finally cut to me with an agitated glare.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but one of my co-workers from home. The girls I coach have their first competition tomorrow.”

My stomach settles, and the jitters I always get from her attitude swirl around in my chest.

“You miss them?” I soften my tone.

“Every day.”

Sadness creeps into her voice, and I hate that I can’t do something to remove it.

“Why do the tour if you already had a job you love?”

I’m pushing my luck by pressing her, but I think both of us are too exhausted to fight. Really, the comfort of just getting to know her deeper feels like exactly what we need right now.

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“Some of us have to work our way to the top.”

Ahh, there she is. Even tired, that spunk never simmers with me.

“I’ve worked very hard to be where I am.”

I spare her the pushback, craving to know about her dreams, not change the subject to myself.

“I’m sure,” she snickers under her breath, shifting her attention back to her phone.

A group of small girls dance together in a studio that’s almost identical to the one we just came from, and even from the spare glances I give between driving, the shine in her eyes is different while watching them.

“So you dance on a tour like this, and then what?”

“With this choreography opportunity, this could be my big break. I could do this for other celebrities, even be hired on to do entire tours if it’s good enough.”

I have no doubt it will be.

“And what about them?”

Glancing my way, her lips pull down in a frown before looking back down at her lap.

“I don’t know. I haven’t figured everything out yet,” she says, defeated.

I nod in understanding and let silence fill the car, feeling like she needs it.

Back at the hotel, there isn’t much left to say, yet my body still pulls close to hers as we walk toward the elevators. It’s like I’m afraid if I step even a foot away, I’ll miss a moment that could change the pattern of my heartbeat.

Miss the way she pushes me to dig deeper. Or the way, even through angry approval, she allows herself to be vulnerable with me. Or the sweet smell of her body. A smell I’ve tried so many times to replicate, yet nothing quite compares to the real thing.

Seeing her off the elevator, I ride the rest of the way up to the presidential suite. Inside, the lavish carpet is plush beneath my feet the moment I slip off my shoes. My muscles weaken at the sight of the cloud-like bed in front of me.

I’m a night owl by default, but flying through the night and staying up with a woman like Fia take two very different kinds of effort.