Chapter 10

Outside the pub Richie stood at the corner, if he was right Leah would come out soon and head back to the hotel. If he was wrong then he just let the other guy win by leaving but he was sure she would be out of there soon. Looking at the time, Richie heard a door swing open and right on cue Leah emerged from the pub alone. With a big grin on his face Richie stepped back enabling himself to hide behind the side of the building. Waiting until she had just walked past him, he stepped out and swung his arms around her lifting her off the ground, “Guess who?” Leah screamed at being taken off the ground and then began to laugh when she heard Richie’s voice. “I thought you had gone to bed?” She asked as she turned to look at him. “Well I was going to but I wanted to know if I was right,” he said smiling at her. “Right about what?” Leah asked. “I knew you were leading that guy on just to get my attention. It was obvious,” he replied beaming at her. “Don’t flatter yourself, and who said I was trying to get your attention? I was innocently learning how to play some music. Isn’t that allowed?” she turned and started walking towards the hotel with Richie following. “Now I could have believed that if you didn’t play the guitar better than he did,” pulling on her arm gently, they both stopped “Walk with me?” Had it been an order Leah would have never went with him, but she liked the way he asked and looking into his eyes she couldn’t resist.


They spent a long time walking in circles around the area the hotel was in, discussing everything from the leaves in the trees to the names of their first ever pets. Leah avoided the questions she didn’t want to answer by throwing them back at Richie who sensed there was something she wasn’t comfortable with talking about and didn’t push the issue. They had a lot in common and spent a lot of the time laughing and playing off the other. Making their way back towards the hotel Richie had an idea to break into Tico’s room and show her the artwork she had heard so much about. She had been told he was very good but every time she asked about it he would refuse to let her see his work, dismissing it as nothing more than a hobby. As they reached Tico’s room, Leah kept watch while Richie attempted to get the lock open. After what felt like hours the door swung open allowing them both to enter. They had been looking for less than five minutes when Leah heard someone at the door. Grabbing Richie by the hand she pulled him out onto the balcony and they both jumped onto the next balcony that was Richie’s room. They fell in a heap on the floor scrambling to get out of sight. Richie pulled Leah close to him so Tico wouldn’t see her from the next balcony where he was standing looking rather puzzled as to why his doors were open.


Fumbling with his own key Richie eventually managed to get his door open after making sure Tico had gone inside. Silently they got in and closed the doors before bursting into laughter. “Well so much for getting to see his artwork,” Leah managed to say while laughing. Richie had collapsed onto a chair still unable to speak through his hysterical laughter. “Did you see his face out on that balcony? That was priceless!” he finally managed to say. “I don’t know about you but I’m thirsty, want a drink?” Richie asked moving to the small fridge in the room. Leah followed him over to see what was there, both bending down to look at the same time they bumped heads and burst out laughing once again. They stood for a moment just looking into one another’s eyes as if in a trance before Richie swooped in meeting Leah’s lips with his own. To his surprise she accepted him hungrily, tasting each other he pulled her closer wanting more. Lost in sweet intoxication Leah and Richie kissed passionately until they were interrupted by a ringing phone. Breaking away Leah smiled at him, “You better get that it could be important at this time of night.” Richie looked at her then at the phone before saying, “What if I don’t want to answer it? Maybe I would prefer to do this instead,” he touched his lips to hers again kissing her deeply. “I’ll just tell whoever it is your busy then,” Leah said as she seductively moved towards the phone picking it up and using her sexiest voice, “This is Mr Sambora’s room he is currently…” Leah stopped talking when she heard a woman on the other side crying and quickly passed it to Richie. She recognised the name he used immediately as being his ex wife and decided to take her leave whispering goodnight before slipping out the door.


The next morning Leah woke up confused. She had enjoyed last night a little too much for her own liking and even found herself wishing it had gone further. As much as she liked Richie she had to force herself to stay away, she had been through enough in her life without adding to it, how could a relationship with a rock star work? She even found herself laughing at the fact she had even considered that he would want a relationship with her, he was used to having a different woman every night wasn’t he? Why should she be any different? Then she found herself thinking about the ways that he didn’t strike her as being a rock star, which made her want him more. He had been so real last night that she had forgotten he was famous at all. Finally tired at the thought of fighting with herself over it for the rest of the day, she decided it would be best all round if she just avoided him for a while.