Purchased Affection: A Joe Jonas Love Story

Chapter 4

CHARLIE’S POV

This was weird. I never thought I would be sitting in a club next to a celebrity. I looked over at Joe who was sitting across from me sipping his drink and looking bored. This was my first outing as his girlfriend. I had met him at this club to make our meeting look less planned. I’d never actually been in a club before.

“Do you want to dance?” Joe asked catching my eye. He fidgeted in his seat as if he was a nervous guy out on his first date with a girl he really liked.

“I’m not really much of a dancer,” I admitted. “But you can go dance if you want to.” I pointed over to the large group of scantily clad girls that had surged upon Joe when he had first come in. They were more than disappointed when Joe had grabbed my hand and pulled me to the bar for a drink instead.

“I’ll just stay here with you,” Joe said. “Want to know a secret?”

“Sure.”

“I don’t really like dancing either.”

“Really? All dancing?”

“Well I do like slow dancing with the right girl.” I smiled at his self-confident smirk. Okay, so Joe could be cute sometimes. I opened my mouth, but was cut off by a familiar male voice.

“Would you like to dance Charlie?” Nick asked walking up with a familiar looking young woman.

“What are you doing here Nick?” Joe asked angrily. “And why is Miley here?”

“I’m asking Charlie to dance,” Nick replied smugly. “And some of us get along with our exes.”

“You’re Billy Ray Cyrus’ daughter,” I said. “I knew I remembered you from somewhere. My family really loves country music.”

“Thanks,” Miley said as her gaze wandered to my right hand. “That ring is gorgeous. Where did you get it?”

“Um…it was a gift from my sister Della,” I said softly looking at the small silver ring with a heart shape cut out of the middle. I turned back to Joe with pleading eyes. I didn’t want to talk about Della right now.

“Want me to give you a ride home?” Joe asked. I nodded yes and let Joe take my hand. He didn’t know what was going on, but he was willing to give me an out. “Sorry Nicholas, I guess you’ll have to try for a dance another time.” Joe’s hand gripped my own tightly. It was reassuring to have him close like this. We didn’t talk as he led me out to his car. He frowned when I gave him my address because he most likely knew how poor that section of town was. The entire drive to my apartment was silent with Joe holding my hand the entire time.

“Well this is me,” I said pulling my hand free and jumping from the car. Before I could race to the front door of my apartment Joe was next to me.

“How can you live here?” he asked taking in the dirty exterior and bars on the windows. “It isn’t safe here.”

“Well some of us can’t afford pricier digs,” I said defensively. Although I was beginning to wonder why I was defending a place that still gave me the creeps.

“Move in with me,” Joe pleaded. “I know I was pushing last time, but it would help me rest at night to know that you were somewhere safe. Like my guest room.” My heart softened for a minute. Despite all the toughness I projected it was nice to have someone worrying about me like my family always did. They knew I could take care of myself, but they worried about me because they cared.

“Okay,” I said surprising myself.

“Great,” Joe said with a beautiful smile. “I’ll have someone come and pack it all up for you tomorrow. Tonight we can just grab the things you need. When we come back from dinner with my family tomorrow you can finish getting settled in.”

“Thanks,” I said realizing that we now stood close together. Was he going to kiss me? No part of our contract had mentioned physical contact. But if I was going to be his girlfriend we had to kiss at some point. He leaned in close and gently kissed my cheek before pulling away.

“I’m not going to kiss you until you’re ready for me to kiss you,” he said softly.

“I’ll go get my stuff,” I said opening the door to my apartment and closing it behind me. I leaned against the door and took a deep breath. I don’t know what scared me more. The fact that moving in with him felt so right or that I wanted him to kiss me so badly.

[AN: Joe’s not all trouble. I think.]