My beautiful, smart, dominating man was afraid. Afraid I would leave him. The fact that he chose to share his vulnerability with me made me fall for him even more, if that was even possible. “You aren’t getting off that easy, Mr. Cole. I’m coming home the minute this tour is over. And I’m going to leave my underwear on your bathroom floor and spread my makeup and hair products all over your neat bathroom countertops. I’m going to take over more than half your closet and litter your kitchen with the unfathomable … a coffee pot. And I plan on snoring while you go for your ten mile runs and decorating your sleek mantel with goofy pictures of us that you won’t like.”

Jack lowered his face closer to mine and whispered. “Ours.”

I furrowed my brow, confused at his sole word.

“Our bathroom floor, our bathroom countertop, our kitchen, our mantel.”

I had no idea how to respond, so I didn’t. Instead I kissed him with everything I had. A kiss to tell him I wasn’t going anywhere.

Chapter 13

Our day of being tourists in Italy was fun, until we hit Trevi Fountation. Everything had been perfect up to that point. Jack and I tossed coins into the fountain and made wishes. Sienna asked Tyler to take a picture of me and her in front of the fountain, while Jack grabbed me an iced coffee at the nearby café. The fountain was a popular tourist spot and it seemed to be crowded with a young, rowdy crowd. Some of the tables were filled with guys drinking and making a bit of a spectacle of themselves.

As Sienna and I stood in front of the fountain smiling for our photo, a tall muscular guy approached, seemingly oblivious to Tyler, who was about to take the picture.

“Hey, aren’t you two the babes from the billboard on the coliseum?” At first he seemed harmless, and our response was pleasant, if not friendly.

Sienna replied. “Yep, are you coming to see the show?” She winked and did her infamous fan flirtation.

“Hey guys, look at this.” The large guy motioned to his friends to come over and I watched as the table of guys who had been drinking began making their way over to us.

I saw Tyler move in closer, his face changed from smiling to apprehensive.

“These are the two chicks from the billboard on the coliseum. You got great tits, baby.” The man took a step closer as he pointed in my direction.

I didn’t respond, thinking it best not to add flame to the alcohol which was already burning inside the drunk ass**le.

One of the guys that had walked over yelled, “Show us your tits. I got a hard on just looking at you bent over in that picture.” A few of the guys now huddling around us snickered at the comment.

The big muscular guy took a step closer to me and reached out his hand. “Come on, babe, take a picture with me.” Tyler caught the guy’s hand in mid air as he reached for me.

“You got a problem, ass**le?” The muscular guy squared his shoulders and puffed out his chest in Tyler’s direction.

Jack suddenly appeared and stood in front of me, ignoring the heated exchange taking place behind his back. “You okay?” he asked in a low, controlled voice.

“Yes, I’m fine. I just want to get out of here.”

Jack looked to Sienna. “I’m fine. Let’s just get out of here, Jack.” The look on Jack’s face was murderous and made me even more nervous than I had been a minute ago.

Jack turned to the ringleader and took a step in his direction. I watched as the man steadied himself in response to Jack’s aggressive posture.

“You got a problem, pretty boy?” The man stood toe to toe with Jack, neither backing down.

Jack spoke calmly, too calmly. “You owe the ladies an apology.”

“I don’t owe them shit.” The man’s face moved closer to Jack’s.

Thankfully, a police officer walked over and interrupted at just the right moment. “Do we have problem, gentlemen?” The officer’s words may have been spoken in broken English, but he pulled out his baton as he spoke making his point crystal clear.

The ringleader took a step back and held up his hands. “No sir, no problem here.”

The officer looked to Jack and I watched his jaw clench. “We were just leaving, officer.” Jack turned to me and took my hand without another word and the four of us walked away unscathed.

***

Four hours later we were still having the same argument.

“I’m getting you security.”

“I don’t need security.”

“You need damn security, Syd.” Jack’s tone grew more heated as he unloaded his pockets onto the desk in the living room of our suite.

“The rest of the tour we are going to be so busy we will barely even have time to go off on our own.”

“What about when you go to dinner before a show?”

“We are always with other people.”

“I don’t trust other people. I trust a trained security professional.”

“But—”

Jack turned to face me, his expression stopped me in my tracks. I had never seen him so angry before.

“I try hard to not get in your business, Syd. But I need to know you are safe running around half of Europe obliviously with your friend.”

“I’m not oblivious.”

Okay, so maybe I was oblivious at times, but it definitely wasn’t the time or the place to admit it.

A knock at the door broke our staring contest and I went to open the door, grateful for the interruption. My hand was already on the door handle when Jack barked.

“Ask who it is first, Syd.”

Damn it. I would normally ask who it was before I opened the door, wouldn’t I? My argument with Jack was just making me lose my wits.

“Who is it?” I asked with an attitude through the door.

“Housekeeping, Mrs. Cole. I have a garment bag that Ms. McAllister asked me to deliver to your room. She said you would know what it was.”

Damn it. I had forgotten all about the dress that I had planned to show Jack. I opened the door and apologized for my attitude, attempting to tip the kind-faced older woman, but she refused to accept a gratuity. I took the dress and walked toward the bedroom without saying a word to Jack.

Jack stood in the bedroom doorway, his body taking up most of the passage. He watched as I hung the garment bag.

Jack motioned to the dress bag. “Going somewhere?”

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. “Yes.”

Jack raised an eyebrow, surprised at my answer. “Where?”

“To an awards show. At least I was planning on going. But I haven’t been asked yet.”