Page 27 of Gabriel's Album

I shrug as casually as I can manage before I say, “You could always come with me.”

“Come with you?” Ariana looks completely stunned.

“Yeah, Harrison’s bringing Heather with him; I don’t see why I couldn’t bring you.”

It’s out there now. I all but called her my girlfriend, and I’m on the edge of my seat as I wait for her response.

“We’ve only known each other for a month, though. I have to stay here and get a job, and…” she trails off.

“We could get to know each other better on the road than we could by being ‘long-distance friends’”—I use air quotations around the phrase—“and you can get a job when you get back. Heck, you could even use your time on the road to do some writing; maybe you could write a novel. Who knows? The world is your oyster, sweetheart. You just have to pick the pearl you want.”

“How did we go from paparazzi attacking us to the idea of me coming on tour with you?” she asks me.

“Easily. They’re intertwined. You don’t need to worry about the paparazzi on tour, and everyone’s told us that it’s far more low-key. We’re traveling on buses, and there are so many people who are coming with us on the tour that they’re not going to pick you out as being with me as long as we don’t have too much contact in public.”

“I’m not sure about this.”

She has a worried look on her face, and I’m concerned that she’s going to shoot me down, here and now, without really considering it as a possibility.

“You don’t have to answer right now; just think about it. You spent time thinking about splitting up with me, now spend some time thinking about staying together.” I give her my best puppy dog smile.

“Okay.”

I put my arm around her, relieved that she didn’t just say ‘no.’ She relaxes into me. Her eyes close, and she looks tired. I’m amazed at how good it feels to hold her in my arms, how right. Now that I’ve offered up the idea of her coming on tour, I realize how badly I want her to do it.

Sure, it’ll probably be a weird lifestyle, and an odd way to get to know each other, but Ariana overthinks so much that maybe taking her away from an ordinary life and cocooning her on a tour bus with me will help her to really get to know me… Or she’ll think of me as more of a rock star than ever, I suppose.

We arrive at her apartment and share a passionate kiss. I explore her mouth with my tongue and try to put all of my desire and longing into this kiss, to hopefully show her what we could have if she comes on tour with me.

“Please, Ari,” I plead. “Just think about it.”

“Come upstairs with me?” she asks me. “We can talk about it some more.”

Holy fuck, yes. I was definitely not ready for our date to end, but I didn’t think she would offer this. This night has been a fucking rollercoaster, that’s for certain.

“Sure.”

I lower the partition, thanking the driver and handing him a tip before telling him that I’ll call for another car if I need one. I follow Ariana out of the limousine and up the stairs to her apartment. She unlocks the door and lets us inside.

“Do you want something to drink?” she asks me.

“Not really.”

Ariana looks enchanting, standing in front of me in the gold dress. So beautiful and fragile and wonderful. I ache to have her in a bed, now that we’re here.

“We should talk,” she murmurs.

“Yes, we should,” I reply as I walk over to her.

I rest my hand on the side of her face and rub her bottom lip softly with my thumb. Her lips are full and red. She’s so beautiful, and she’s staring at me, wide-eyed, seemingly unable to say anything.

“What did you want to talk about, Ari?”

I lean down and kiss her neck softly before pulling back to look her in the eyes again as I put my hands on her shoulders and begin to stroke softly up and down her arms.

“Come with me.”

That’s all she says as she takes my hand and leads me to her bedroom.

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