Next Song I Sing (NEXT TIME AROUND)

by McDonald, Donna

  Jasper laughed and pulled Chloe the rest of the way into his arms.

  “Chloe, it’s only been two weeks since I met you,” Jasper said in protest.

  “Yes, I know. But I don’t think there’s a dating time limit on waiting to do what we just did,” she said, smiling at Jasper’s very masculine gratitude. “I really like the way you say my name in that tortured tone. There’s hardly any snootiness left by the time you’re calling out in the middle of a climax like that one.”

  Jasper laughed, a belly laugh that surprised him with its genuine humor. Chloe was more fun than any woman he’d ever known. Her hair was messed from his hands, and her breasts were squashed against his side. She leaned on one elbow and looked at him like he was the only man on earth. He desperately wanted the rest his life to be exactly like this moment.

  “Marry me, Chloe,” Jasper said, not sure if it was a statement or a request. It was just necessary. He was a little miffed when she laughed without even acting surprised.

  “Jasper—never propose to a woman after sex because she might say yes,” Chloe advised. “Ask me again three months from now when you’re more used to me, after you’ve seen me at my worst. Don’t ask me after a BJ when you’re feeling uber grateful. For now, just tell me I’m the most wonderful woman in the world and that you adore me.”

  “I do adore you. Can’t say as I’ve ever heard a woman openly call it a BJ either,” Jasper said flatly, then flushed over his naïveté when a snorting Chloe tilted her head, disbelief and amusement dancing in her eyes.

  “Would you prefer I call it oral sex? A bit more refined, but just doesn’t seem as friendly to me,” Chloe said on a laugh.

  Jasper pulled her mouth to his for a hard kiss, partially assuaging his masculine guilt at just how much he liked her in bed. To him, Chloe was a sex goddess, just like he told Sam and Max, but he was also falling in love with her. He never wanted her to feel used.

  “Call it whatever you prefer. I like that you’re comfortable with teasing me about what we just did,” Jasper said sincerely.

  “I guess I am teasing you a little, but I meant what I said about asking me to marry you again in a few months,” Chloe said. “I like you, Jasper. I may even be falling in love with you. Right now, I’m just hoping like hell this isn’t a rebound relationship.”

  “It’s not,” Jasper said. “I can tell.”

  “Really?” Chloe said, giggling and drawing circles on his firm stomach with a red-tipped fingernail. “How can you tell?”

  “Because I fell in love with you the first time I saw you, and hearing you laugh makes my day. Everything else is just a really great perk of being with the most incredible woman I have ever met. I want to marry you because I don’t want you to get away,” Jasper said. “Say yes now to my proposal, and I’ll call my parents before you have time to dress. Move in here, and I’ll try to let you have a long enough engagement to get used to me.”

  Chloe laughed, sighed, and stretched over Jasper for a kiss that backed up his compliment just as perfectly as possible. She could taste his sincerity. He was just that kind of man.

  “Jasper, stop thinking about how good sex is between us and be rational. We barely know each other. What if this is just really good sex and not much else?” Chloe asked.

  “Does our relationship not feel like love to you?” Jasper asked, suddenly wondering what love felt like to Chloe.

  “I’m still too stunned to think about whether or not what we have is love,” Chloe said, laying her head on his chest and letting him stroke her hair. “We’re moving really fast for me. My divorce is still fresh. And I don’t even have a real job yet. I have a lot of things to work out in my life. How can I really be in love with you when my life is so crazy?”

  “Let me make all of this really simple,” Jasper whispered. “I’ll finger paint the explanation on you with chocolate mousse tonight and lick it off while you consider my offer. You can paint your answer on me and…do whatever you like to remove it.”

  Chloe laughed, hearing the hope for a replay of what they just did in Jasper’s hesitant words. She couldn’t remember ever liking a lover so much before. Maybe it was love. She’d have to think about it some more.

  “Ask me again in a few months, and I might have the answer you want,” Chloe whispered, rolling her face to kiss Jasper’s chest. “I can’t answer you now when my mind is too clouded by being dazzled.”

  “Dazzled? God, woman, I haven’t bought you a single piece of jewelry, a car, or even paid for stitch of clothing. What on earth could I have done to dazzle you? I can do that quite well you know. I have a lot of experience at dazzling women. We just haven’t gotten around to it yet,” Jasper said, frowning.

  Chloe lifted her head and looked at Jasper, really looked at him. There was so much she didn’t know about the man she was lying across, but she felt his good intentions towards her. That desire Jasper seem to have to pamper her was more than she’d had in the last years of her marriage—more really than she’d found with any man before him.

  “You dazzled me the first night when you told me I was beautiful and kissed me in your office. That was more sincere flattery than I’d had in a very long time,” she said. “I don’t need anything more to want to be here with you, Jasper.”

  Jasper sighed and rolled to his side to gather Chloe into his arms. He held her as tightly as he could, wondering how he’d managed to find a deeply good relationship after years and years of nothing but shallow ones.

  “You have to get dressed for the first show soon, don’t you?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Chloe said. “Marla and Vanessa will be calling the room looking for me shortly if I don’t get down there for warm-ups.”

  Jasper sighed and pushed away from her, brushing back her hair. “I guess this means we have to go be responsible adults for a while.”

  “Afraid so,” Chloe said, closing her eyes at Jasper’s gently stroking fingers over her face. “My boss is a slave driver. And unfortunately the man knows I work for chocolate mousse and fringe benefits. I better go before it’s too late.”

  Jasper snickered at her teasing. “Maybe you need a better boss.”

  Chloe smiled. “No way. I’m addicted to the perks. The man is an animal in bed.”

  “Animal? Oh yes—that’s definitely me—animal in bed. I swear you make me laugh every day. I’m definitely in love with you,” Jasper said, letting go of her and rolling off his side. “Can you at least try to believe that a little bit?”

  Chloe sat up and pulled on her top, leaving her bra on a nearby chair where Jasper had flung it. She hadn’t let him undress her completely, which simplified things now.

  “I believe it’s possible. How’s that? Now kiss me goodbye—I have to go,” Chloe said. “Are you going to catch the first set? You’ve missed the shows lately and need to hear the backup singers you let Max hire. They’re really good.”

  “Glad to know it since that was the goal of hiring them,” Jasper said, kissing her once more before watching Chloe head to the door smiling. “Barring any crises this evening, I will definitely see you in the lounge.”

  “Okay—see you there,” Chloe said softly, smiling as she left and headed to her own room.

  ***

  A young but obviously advanced pregnant woman with tear-streaked eyes walked to the front desk, and Lily almost dropped the papers in her hand when she saw her distress.

  “I’m looking for a Chloe Kells,” she said tearfully.

  Without missing a beat, Lily passed her a tissue.

  “Thanks,” the woman said. “I can’t seem to stop crying lately. Baby hormones. Is Chloe Kells staying here?”

  Lily stared at the woman, unable to stop her eyebrows from going all the way up into her hairline as she studied the woman’s protruding belly. It explained a lot about Chloe not traveling with her husband.

  “Would that be Chloe Zanders?” Lily asked, even though she knew full well it was the same person.

  “Oh�
�uh, yes,” the young woman said softly, sniffing and rubbing her stomach as she bit her lip, feeling marginally better just knowing the woman wasn’t listed under Kells.

  “Chloe didn’t leave any notice about guests stopping by today. I’ll just need to ring her room and check. Who should I say is visiting?” Lily asked.

  The woman started crying uncontrollably again at the question, weeping even harder this time. “I’m her…I’m her…sis…sis… sister. I’m her sister. I’m sorry. I just don’t seem to be able to control myself.”

  It was a bald lie, and they both knew it, but being a lie detector wasn’t in Lily’s job description anymore than being Chloe’s protector was. Maybe the woman would shock the man claiming to be Chloe’s husband into leaving before Chloe and Mr. Wade got done with their mid-afternoon date. That might simplify things, Lily decided. Or not.

  Putting the weeping pregnant woman in the room too would at least keep the yelling and screaming out of the lobby. That had to be a good thing, Lily thought.

  “You seem so distressed. Give me a moment and let me see what I can do,” Lily said sweetly, swearing silently as she picked up the house phone again. “Eddie, Chloe has another guest that needs an escort. Yes—another one. Yes—right away—as soon as your legs can get you here.”

  Lily hung up the house phone with a decisive click and turned a falsely confident smile on the woman.

  “Just one moment and someone will take you to her room,” Lily said, smiling again and passing the weeping woman the rest. “Keep the box. I have more, and you might need extras later.”

  Chapter 21

  Chloe unlocked her room and walked in humming. On the bed was a giant bouquet of flowers and a jewelry box. Giggling, she picked up the flowers, took a giant sniff, and then laid them back down. Then she picked up the jewelry box and shook it, grinning like an idiot. There was no time to tear into it now. It would have to wait, but boy, Jasper really was good at the dazzling stuff.

  Humming, she moved to the closet and pulled out the teal dress that she’d worn the first night she’d spent with Jasper. Stripping down to only her panties she stepped into her tallest heels and then the dress, reaching around the back of it to zip it up.

  “Hey, Babe. Let me get that zipper for you,” Aaron said casually, coming out of the bathroom and stepping up to stroke Chloe’s naked back.

  Chloe screamed at the touch of his hands and jumped, running across the room to get away. Her heart was pounding as she put a fist to the center of her chest, and then she realized it was all that was holding the dress up across the top of her breasts. She pulled the dress over her shoulders.

  “Aaron—where the hell did you come from? Why are you in my room? Damn you for scaring me,” she said.

  Chloe frowned and paced back to him, mad now that the initial fear was gone.

  Aaron shrugged and walked over to sit on her bed.

  “Mom sent you this,” he said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out an envelope to hand over to her. “I think your paycheck is in there. They want you back, Chloe. So do I. Come home and let’s work this out.”

  Chloe took the envelope from him with one hand while still holding her dress up on one shoulder with the other. She tossed the envelope onto her dresser.

  “No, I’m not going back with you. We’re divorced, Aaron. You’ve delivered what you came to deliver—now leave,” she ordered.

  “Didn’t you hear what I said? I want you back, Chloe. I’m ready to start a family now. I know you think you’re a little old to have children, but really you’re not. Women have babies at your age all the time,” Aaron said.

  “You’ve got to be kidding. You talked your way into my room to deliver that weak line?” Chloe said with a snort. “Definitely not interested. Not anymore—haven’t cared about children since the first woman you cheated with. Now go away.”

  “Chloe—I’m really sorry for the other women, and all the shit I gave you over how you looked. I’ve missed you. Come back and you can wear whatever you want, except maybe that dress. That’s a little bit too formal for everyday business wear at the company. Looks great on you though,” Aaron said, lowering his eyelids to study her flushed face. “I heard you humming, and I saw you smiling when you saw the flowers and jewelry box. You had to know I was around someplace, Babe.”

  Chloe gave him a frigid look that said “Die,” but there was no way she was telling him about Jasper. She didn’t want anything from her old life to mess up her new one. She adjusted the dress as best she could and tried to look dignified while she threw him out.

  “Get out of my room now, or I’ll call security and have you thrown out,” Chloe stated as firmly as she could, marching to the door and yanking it open only to find Eddie about to knock. It was a hard call about which of them was more shocked.

  “Hello,” Chloe said, not sure what else to say.

  Then she noticed he wasn’t alone. Beside Eddie stood a tiny pregnant woman who took one look at Chloe’s dress falling off her naked shoulders and started bawling.

  Chloe pulled the dress up again and turned her back to Eddie. “Zip me up, will you, Eddie? I know it’s embarrassing, but please just do it. I’m sorry I have to ask, but I can’t handle this crisis with my clothes falling off.”

  Used to obeying orders and not questioning much, Eddie wrestled the zipper up Chloe’s bare back until it closed at the top. In her heels, he almost had to stand on his toes to reach the top of her.

  Knowing there was no graceful way to get the bulk of her breasts into the dress properly, Chloe did what she had to in order to just to get it done. She turned her back to the people at the door, bent forward, and adjusted her cleavage into place. Then she straightened and turned back to peer at the now softly weeping woman still holding a box of tissues.

  “Now that I’m no longer naked and can deal with this better, let me see if I can guess what’s going on here,” Chloe said, making her melodious tone as soft as possible even though she wanted to scream. “You’re looking for Aaron.”

  Still weeping into a fistful of tissues, the younger woman nodded and pulled another handful of tissues from the box in her hand. Eddie automatically reached out a hand to take the wet, mostly disintegrated ones.

  “Thank you,” the young woman said gratefully, weeping into the fresh set as she handed the wet, mangled wad over.

  “How old are you?” Chloe asked gently.

  “Twenty-three,” she whispered.

  “Twenty-three,” Chloe repeated. Since there was no further response in her other than a thousand swear words, Chloe looked at Eddie and sighed.

  “I think that’s all for now, Eddie. Thanks for zipping me up. Will you tell the front desk not to send any more people up here? I mean—like no one—not even hotel staff,” Chloe said, emphasizing. “We’ll sort this all out later.”

  Eddie nodded in agreement, not answering. What was there to say? But for some reason his feet wouldn’t move. He was reluctant to leave Chloe alone with the people he’d put in her room. His instincts were siding with her regardless of how some of it looked.

  “I’ll be okay—I promise. Just have to sort this all out,” she told him, smiling bravely to try to convince them both. She turned to the young pregnant woman. “You might as well come in. Aaron is inside.”

  Swallowing her anger and hurt, Chloe pushed the door to her room open further, ushering the weeping woman inside with a sweep of her hand. In heels, Chloe was so tall the woman didn’t have to even duck to walk under her arm as she held the door open.

  From the depths of the room, Eddie heard a masculine voice saying “Damn it, Megan. Why did you follow me here? You’re probably not supposed to fly in your condition.”

  Chloe shrugged at Eddie’s wide eyes. “It’s alright. This will be alright. It has to be alright. If you see anyone looking for me, just say I’ll be down for the first set in a few minutes. I really have to sort this out first.”

  Eddie nodded again and moved slowly away in s
hock. He watched Chloe close the door to her room, then headed back to report to Lily what had happened.

  ***

  Jasper took his time getting dressed again, reluctant to leave his room. He looked longingly at the bed one last time, thinking of the stolen hour or so he and Chloe had spent there earlier.

  She had surprised him, and not just by what she’d done sexually, though that had been nothing short of a fantasy come true. Rayonna hadn’t done anything that sexually raw with him since the first year they were married. He’d long ago given up thinking of women with that level of carnal desire.

  After being with Chloe, Jasper was bewildered about how any man could give up that much living. If Chloe hadn’t come along with her lush body and generous nature, he might never have known that kind of sexuality again. He might have eventually ended up with another Rayonna clone, which was a way too sobering and scary thought for his sexually sated mood to tolerate.

  Grinning at his good fortune, Jasper decided his only problem was going to be finding a way to convince the woman who had sexually sated him that marrying him was also a great idea. What would it take, Jasper wondered? Just time for Chloe to feel okay about it? Could he give her the three months she’d suggested? Sure he could.

  What was he so worried about then?

  “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not like Chloe is going anywhere,” Jasper said out loud, trying to banish whatever panic seemed to rule him that she would get tired of him and leave.

  Hell, he didn’t even know where those fears came from. He was a good catch. He was wealthy, connected, successful, well liked. Except Chloe didn’t seem to care about any of that, which Jasper supposed was exactly what worried him.

  All Chloe cared about was the fact that he found her beautiful and had the good sense to say so. She didn’t even care that he could get several record producers to come hear her sing. Most women with her talent would have been grateful just for that alone.