"I'm glad you said you'd go with me tonight," Marcus said.

We just pulled into a parking lot of some family resort in Vegas.

"It will be fun," I say smiling at him. "Shouldn't we get out?" I ask…we are just sitting in the back seat of this SUV.

"I'm waiting for Frank to open the door," he said.

"Oh. Sorry, I'm not used to having bodyguards around."

"Really?" he asked as the door opened and he stepped out.

I took his outstretched hand and climb out.

"Not recently, at least. They were always there when my parent's were on tour but we've needed less over the years."

"Well, I'm thinking that's going to change soon for you."

I look up at him as we wait for security to make sure that the coast is clear.

"Yeah, like next week. I guess I'll be getting my own personal bodyguard."

He smiles. "Good, you'll probably need it. Especially since people are finding out who your parents are."

"Okay, they know we're coming," Frank said as he stood behind us.

As we started walking toward the entrance a car drove through the parking lot and a couple of girls screamed, "Hey Marcus."

They stuck their heads out and waved…and even honked the horn.

He smiled and waved back.

When we get into the building I look around.

"Wow," I say.

"I know…it's huge, isn't it?"

I look over on the left and I see the casino and then I look over to the right and I see another whole area of arcade machines and the miniature golf.

"Don't you wish you were twenty-one?" I ask, staring at the slot machines on my left.

He walks up to the counter to pay for our game.

He laughs. "Nah, we'll be twenty-one soon enough."

I take my golf club and a yellow ball and he picks out the green one.

"Yeah but you'll be there before me."

"When is your birthday anyway?" he asks.

"December thirty-first."

"Ohhh a New Year's Eve baby."

I nod.

We approach the first hole.

"Ladies first," he says.

"I'm just warning you…I'm not very good at this game," I say as I put the ball on the tee.

"I love golf," he says.

"So does my dad, but he's only taught me the follow-through swing…not the putting swing," I laugh.

"So you play?"

I shrug. "I've played a few games…when he has no one else to go with."

I hit the ball and it goes down to the other end of the green.

"Not bad," he said putting his ball down. "So did anyone freak out about you going out with me tonight?"

"Why would anyone freak?" I ask watching the way he looked as he concentrated on where he wanted the ball to end up.

"I don't know…I thought maybe your boyfriend or something." He took a swing.

"Don't have one of those," I say, watching the ball end up close to mine.

"Good…no competition."

He rested the club against his shoulder and walked down to the end of the green as I stared at him.

"Your turn," he said.

After a few more holes, he ran over and got us Coke floats from the concession stand.

"Mmmm, I love these things," I say as I take a bite of the ice cream.

"Me too. My turn?"

I nod as I take a sip.

"My daddy used to make these for us and we'd all pile together in the family room and watch some stupid TV show on Sunday nights…"

"That's a nice memory," he said after he took his turn.

We walk toward our balls.

"I'm sorry, I keep going on and on about my family."

"It's interesting, actually."

"Why is that?"

I putt and put the ball in the hole.

"Woohoo, two."

He chuckles. "Because it's cool to see what a normal family you guys ended up being. You'd think being in the spotlight that much that your family would be different."

I shrug. "It's all I've ever known."

He's bent over so he can putt and he turns his head and looks at me. "You're lucky."

He putts and misses it. He lets the ball settle and takes another shot and makes it in.

"What about your family…you've let me ramble on about mine."

We walk toward the next hole.

"Not much to tell. My parents got divorced when I was ten. I'm still pretty close to my mom, but not my dad. He got remarried right away and has a few kids with his wife," he shrugs.

I take a swing and then look at him.

"So you have more brothers and sisters?"

He nods.

"I guess. I've only seen them once. His wife doesn't want to have anything to do with me or my sister."

"That's sad," I say, touching his arm.

He smiles softly and says, "It's all I've ever known."

After we finish our game we get back to the SUV.

"I can't believe those girls waited outside like that the whole time," I say as I scoot down the seat to make room for him.

He climbs in behind me. "They were sweet," he said. "It's the psycho ones I worry about."

"Me too," Frank says as he climbs in the driver's seat.

We both laugh.

"Where to now?" he asks us.

Marcus looks over at me and I shrug.

"Drive down Fifteen for a little bit…away from the city."

"Okay," he says as he starts the car.

I look at him inquisitively and he smiles.

"You'll see."

"So, when did you know you wanted to perform?" I ask. "And not the generic MTV answer."

He laughs and leans back in the chair a little bit. He stretches his arm out so it's resting on the top of the seat…behind my head.

"Well, it sort of found me. A friend of mine asked me to do a talent show with him. We were in eighth grade. So I was like okay whatever. I was into football and stuff like that, I didn't think about singing. So he picked out the song and he played the guitar and we sang. We actually won, but what got me was the girls screaming."

He laughed and the sound of it made me join him.

"There was a rush from that. To have that many people watching you and to know that you're having an affect on their emotions at that point…whether it's good or bad…was amazing to me. So I went home that night and said to my mom…mom, I'm going to be a singer…what can you do to help me?"

"What did she say to that?" I ask.

"She looked at me like I was nuts. So I found out about it as much as I could. What I could do, where I could sing. I ended up doing karaoke one night and that's when my manager found me."

"Wow, that's an incredible story," I say shaking my head.

"Was your mom at your show in Dallas?"

He nods. "Yeah, she and my sister. I still don't think my mom realizes how big this whole thing has gotten," he said waving his arms around.

"I'm sure she's proud of you," I say.

"Let me know when you want me to stop," Frank says.

Marcus turns around and looks out the back window. "Go another five minutes and then pull into one of those rest stops."

"Will do," he said.

I give him a questioning look again.

He smiles. "Just hold on…you'll find out in a few minutes."

I feel his arm slide down and gently lay across my shoulders.

Suddenly the SUV seems small to me.

We talk a few more minutes and Frank pulls over and Marcus opens the door and steps out. He looks behind the SUV and smiles.

"Come on," he says, holding his hand out.

Frank looks at me through the rearview mirror and winks at me. I shrug and slide across the seat and take his hand.

As I step out I let him turn me around so I'm facing the city.

"Wow, this is beautiful," I say looking at the glow from the city lights.

He's standing behind me and his hands are on my shoulders. I can feel him near me. I can feel his breath on the back of my neck and suddenly, I get goosebumps.

"Ever see Vegas from this view?"

I shake my head. "I've been to Vegas many times with my parents but I've never seen it like this."

We stand there another couple of minutes and then he takes my hand and we walk a few more feet away from the SUV.

"Frank is too nosy sometimes," he says.

I laugh and he stares at me.

"What?" I ask, touching my face like there's something on it.

He shakes his head and touches my face where I just did.

"Nothing…you're just so beautiful."

My eyes shift down for a second. "Thank you. It's in the genes," I giggle.

He smiles and then chuckles. "Well, you do have good genes…but it's more than just looks. There's an inner beauty too. I can see it…I can feel it when I'm around you. I can't help but smile when I'm with you. I can honestly say that I've never felt that way around anyone else."

His thumb starts to stroke my cheek.

"Oh what you do to me Adriana Timberlake."

I swallow as I stare up into his blue-green eyes. He starts to lower his head and a car drives by, honking it's horn.

It startles me and I jump. I cover my scream with my hand and then laugh at how silly I reacted.

He rubs his forehead.

"I should really get back," I say.

He pinches the part of his nose between his eyes and then says, "You're probably right."

We get back into the SUV and Frank drives us back to the hotel.

"You don't have to walk me back to my room," I say as he steps off of the elevator with me.

"I started tonight this way and I'll end it this way…it's the proper thing to do," he says taking a bow.

I laugh and then stop when I see Brad at the end of the hall. He hears me laughing and turns around.

"Hi Brad," I say waving.

He looks at the two of us and waves back.

"Hi yourself. I wondered where you were tonight…I called," he says walking toward us.

"Oh…sorry. Have you two met?" I ask.

Brad shakes his head. "No, but of course I know who he is," he says, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Brad this is Marcus as you know and Marcus, this is one of my keyboardists…Brad."

"I thought you looked familiar," Marcus said, holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Brad slowly takes his right hand out of his pocket and shakes Marcus's hand.

"You too. It's a great show, we caught it the other night."

I smile and nod.

"Thanks. I caught your set the other night too…I was telling Ana how much I enjoyed it."

"Yeah, Ana's great. And the funny thing is is that she's just as amazing now as she was the first day of rehearsals."

I keep looking between the two of them…I have no idea what's going on.

"Well," Marcus says looking at his watch, "here you are. I had a wonderful time tonight. Thank you for joining me," he says as he leans down and kisses me on the cheek.

"Thank you…I had a lot of fun. Good night."

"Good night…both of you."

He turns around and heads back to the elevator. We watch him get on and I turn to my door as the elevator door closes.

"Have a nice date?" Brad asked, rocking back and forth on his heels.

I look over at him as I get my key card out.

"It wasn't a date."

"Well, whatever it was then?"

I nod and slide my card in the door. "Yes, I did. You want to come in for a minute?"

He looks almost stunned for a second.

"No, I am in the middle of a card game with the guys right now…I ran down the hall to get something."

I look at his empty hands.

"I think you forgot it."

"No, they were out."

"Oh…okay. Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Brad." I smile at him.

He stares at me for a second before he smiles back. "Good night."

He grabs my hand, squeezes it and then lets it go before he walks down the hall to his room.

I turn around and walk into my room and collapse on the bed. I think I just went through too many emotions just then when it comes to boys. Why couldn't I have been so lucky like mama and only had eyes for just one?