Page 104 of Songs for Libby

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

The last four weeks had felt endless. Not only because I was so well-rounded and uncomfortable, but because now that I really knew how I felt about him—and how he felt about me—having Sean away from me was torture. We had tried to talk several times a week, but his schedule really was insane. Finding time to call me when there weren’t people surrounding him was quite a feat. Besides, talking on the phone and texting simply wasn’t the same as having him in the same room with me.

Originally I’d planned to wait for him to get back to the duplex, but when the day arrived, I couldn’t sit still. Nick and I arranged with Sean’s security team that I would go with them to pick him up at the airport as a surprise. Debbie had kindly offered to stay behind, likely knowing that I wanted him to myself for a while.

As we pulled to a stop at the curb where Sean had agreed to meet the car, Tucker looked at me through the rearview mirror. “Whatever you do, do not get out of this car.”

I snorted a little. Tucker had been Sean’s driver since the beginning. He should know me well enough to know I wouldn’t be that stupid. “Yeah, I don’t think that temptation will be a problem.” I craned to look out at the dim sidewalk in front of the airport but didn’t see Sean.

“It’s going to be a few minutes,” Tucker reminded me, and I swear he was holding back a laugh.

“I know,” I said, sitting up taller as I pushed down on baby girl’s foot, which was poking me in the ribs.

Tucker didn’t say anything else. I think he wanted to but was too professional, which was probably for the best. The last thing I needed was to start blubbering to some poor security guy about how much I had missed Sean.

I got so caught up in thoughts of missing him that it was Tucker who alerted me to Sean’s presence.

“Here they come,” he said. “Remember, stay on your side of the car with your face turned away until he gets in and we have the door closed.”

I looked out and caught sight of the small mob heading in our direction. Sean and several security guys were surrounded by about ten photographers, cameras flashing madly, but they stayed back enough that his forward progress wasn’t impeded. It had to be annoying though. The non-stop flashing, the barrage of questions.

When he got closer, I pulled the bill of my hat low and turned away, the giant bag at my side hiding most of my body from anyone who might get a glimpse inside the SUV.

The door opened and the cacophony of “Sean! What’s next for you?” “Sean! Are you going to marry your girlfriend before your baby is born?” “Sean! When can we expect another tour?” filled the interior of the car before the door shut, muffling the voices. The SUV started moving right away and the din of questions fell behind us.

I let myself turn to Sean and found him slumped back against his seat, his eyes closed, his guard down. Either he hadn’t seen me, or he was so used to being surrounded by people that he didn’t notice one extra person in his car.

As I turned my body to face him, the bag beside me crinkled loudly, startling him. “Geez!” he hollered as he sat up and looked at me. “Libby?” He quickly scooted toward me and threw the bag to the ground.

I eagerly reached out as he enveloped me in his arms.

“You scared me,” he chuckled close to my ear. “You were going to wait at home for me. Oh, you smell good,” he practically moaned. “I hate the smell of airplanes.”

“You could always get a private jet,” I joked as he burrowed his nose into the space between my neck and my shoulder.

“Too pretentious.” He pulled back to look at me, his eyes tired but full of love. He placed his hand on my abdomen and rubbed his thumb back and forth. “How’s my little girl?”

“Giving me heartburn.”

He let out a genuine laugh. “I love you,” he said, almost on a sigh before pressing his lips to mine.

When he tried to pull back, I wouldn’t let him. I was pregnant and lonely and I wanted to kiss Sean. I mean really kiss him.

He let out a hum of surprise but dove in willingly, quickly working up to the kind of passionate kiss I’d imagined he was capable of. I got out of breath very quickly, which I would love to blame on the baby, but I was fairly certain it was all Sean. Loving him this much after I’d been shoving down all of these feelings for so long was a new kind of euphoria.

He backed off a little, his fingers trailing down my neck, skimming along the chain of my mother’s necklace.

“So,” he said in between kisses. “As much as I would like to keep kissing you”—he kissed me again—“I feel the need to point out that we’re not alone in this car.”

A large part of me wanted to say So what, but I forced my brain to plug in and placed a hand on his chest so I could pull back. “Right.” I cleared my throat. “That’s probably good to remember.”

Sean grinned. “He’d probably appreciate it,” he said with a nod toward Tucker, who was studiously facing forward, his expression blank.

I gave a mock sigh. “Fine.” I adjusted in my seat, uncomfortable. “That’s probably best since pregnant bodies were not meant to make out in the backs of cars.” I arched my back, trying to stretch it out.

He reached behind me and rubbed at the knots in my mid-back. I relaxed, letting my head hang forward. “You don’t need to give me more reasons to let you stick around. I wasn’t planning on letting you go anytime soon.”

“Good.” I could hear the grin in his voice.