Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Las Vegas, Nevada
Five a.m. came really early the next morning.
Ashley had always been a fairly early riser, but this was pushing it even for her.
Especially since she’d set her alarm for four so that she could shower in the tiny little bus shower stall and make sure her clothes were on straight and her hair was brushed.
She hadn’t had the best night’s sleep either.
How could she, when Drew Morrison was only one thin door away?
For a while there last night, she’d sworn she could hear him turning over in the bed, could practically hear him breathing.
And that was when it had finally occurred to her—could he hear her, too?
Just in case, she lay as still as possible in the bunk, but that only made it harder to fall asleep.
Finally, exhaustion had taken its toll, but she couldn’t have had more than a handful of hours of rest.
She hadn’t brought much with her, just a few pairs of jeans and T-shirts, a denim skirt, and one just-in-case summer dress.
Looking pretty had never mattered to her before—why would it, when she’d always had her nose buried in a book or computer?
But as she went to grab the clothes she’d brought into the shower with her from the counter above the sink, she suddenly found herself wishing she knew something about fashion.
Her mother had tried to get her interested in shopping plenty of times over the years, would even bring home clothes for her to try on, but Ashley always felt like an impostor in dresses and heels.
It was so much more comfortable to go into her father’s office on campus to help him with whatever research project he was working on than to try on the too-colorful clothes her mother favored or let her drag Ashley to a makeup counter.
In any case, it was just as well that she hadn’t brought anything special to wear since so many of the girls and women who had been freaking out over Drew yesterday were beautiful.
Stunningly so, in some cases. He could have his pick of any of them, so there wasn’t even the slightest chance that he’d want her.
Besides, whether or not Drew would ever be attracted to her was utterly irrelevant. She was here to do research for her business school application. Period.
Speaking of putting her clothes on straight, however, as Ashley went to get dressed, she was dismayed to realize she’d brought in her jeans and T-shirt, but had forgotten her bra and panties.
It looked like she was actually going to have to walk out of the bathroom naked.
Nearly naked, anyway, with only one of the towels hanging on the rack wrapped around her.
It was still well before five a.m., though, so she figured if she was quick, odds were pretty much nil that Drew would catch her making a mad dash over the handful of feet between the bathroom and where she’d stashed her bags in the little closet behind her bunk.
The mirror over the sink wasn’t quite long enough for her to make sure the towel actually covered her breasts and hips, but she was pretty certain it did.
She opened the door a crack and peered out, confirming the coast was clear.
A moment later, she flung the door open, went racing across the bus to her suitcase…
…and ran straight into Drew.
His chest was so hard it was like running into a brick wall. The air whooshed from her lungs as she started to ricochet back from him.
“Whoa.” He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “I’ve got you.”
But by then she was also working to steady herself by putting her hands on his chest. Which meant that she wasn’t holding on to her towel any longer. A towel that had fallen.
All the way to the ground.
Oh God. I’m naked in Drew Morrison’s arms.
She froze, unable to remember how to breathe or think or do anything but stare up at him in shock.
“Are you okay, Ashley?”
Do you want me to kiss you, Ashley?
Wait, no, that wasn’t what he’d just said.
She scrunched her eyes shut and willed her synapses to start firing again.
“I didn’t mean to nearly knock you over,” she said when her brain, and her lips, finally came unstuck.
“I forgot something in my bag, so I thought I’d make a run for it from the bathroom. I didn’t think you’d be up yet.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” His deep voice made shivers run up her spine.
Or maybe it was the fact that she was still slightly damp…
and naked in the middle of his tour bus.
Drew’s fingers tensed ever so slightly on her shoulders as he added, “Your towel fell. I should let you put it back on.” It sounded like he was having trouble catching his breath, even though she was the one who’d been rushing.
“I should probably let you put your clothes on, too, shouldn’t I? ”
She finally chanced a look up at his face and swallowed hard at what she saw in his eyes. Something that looked like desire. Which, she quickly told herself, would have likely been any guy’s reaction to being barreled into by a naked woman first thing in the morning, wouldn’t it?
“That—” Her throat felt hot and scratchy, and she stopped to clear it.
The one small movement made her naked curves brush against his muscles…
and so much heat exploded inside her body that she nearly forgot what she had been about to say.
“That would be great.” God, it was so hard to breathe right now.
Almost as hard as Drew’s chest, where her hands were still splayed.
“If you could just close your eyes for a few seconds…”
“Good idea. I’ll close my eyes so that you can cover up.” But for a few moments he simply continued to stare down into her eyes. Finally, on what sounded like a groan of pain, he closed his eyes and stepped back. “I won’t look again until you tell me it’s okay.”
“Thanks.” She picked up the towel first, and after she’d wrapped it much more firmly around herself, she hurried over to her bag and pulled out the first bra and panty set she could find.
To get back to the bathroom, however, she needed to scoot past Drew.
Only, he was still standing right in the middle of the bus, and there was no way she’d be able to get by without rubbing herself against him.
And even though she knew exactly how good that would feel…
“Could you move just a few inches to your right, please?”
She sounded both hesitant and uptight. Which was funny, considering she’d just been standing butt naked in a rock star’s arms a few seconds ago. At least, it would have been funny if she wasn’t presently the most mortified she’d ever been.
A muscle jumped in Drew’s jaw as he nodded and shifted slightly to the right. She held her breath as she moved past him. Once she was safely locked in the little bathroom, she called out, “It’s safe to open your eyes now.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t at all easy to get dressed inside the teeny tiny little bathroom stall.
She banged her elbows and head and knees on pretty much every hard surface possible before she was done, probably sounding like she was playing Ping-Pong inside the bathroom.
She’d never known humiliation could run so hot or so deep. Not until this morning.
When she finally came out, she knew her cheeks had to be blazing red from the hot and steamy bathroom. And her T-shirt, she realized a few seconds too late, seemed to be sticking to her skin.
She had no idea what to say to Drew at this point. Nothing beyond, “Can we both just forget that ever happened?”
The tension still riding his expression seemed to ease a bit. “Do we have to? ’Cause I’m pretty sure that was straight out of an eighties rock-band video. Poison, maybe?”
His unexpected response had laughter bubbling out of her before she knew it was coming. “Actually, I think it might have been Whitesnake.”
He laughed, too, and suddenly her morning didn’t feel quite so horrible anymore. Not when his laughter was one of the nicest sounds she’d ever heard. Someday soon, hopefully, she’d be able to forget how embarrassing crashing naked into him had been.
Although she wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to forget how good it had felt to be that close, or to have his hands on her bare skin. Every part of her still felt hot and sensitive in the nicest possible way.
“Come and have some breakfast,” he said. “I’ve got coffee brewing, and there’s cereal and frozen waffles. Eggs in the fridge, too, but I’m pretty sure that involves pans and stoves.”
She laughed again, appreciating that he was clearly going out of his way to make her feel comfortable. “I actually know how to use a pan and a stove, so I can make us both eggs, if you’d like.”
He looked at her in awe. Truly, there was no other word for it. “I don’t want to embarrass you by getting down on my knees and begging, but one more bowl of Cheerios just might push me over the edge.”
Maybe she wouldn’t be totally in the way if she could at least make herself useful. Eggs for breakfast was a good start. “Fried? Over easy? Scrambled?”
“All of the above.”
She opened the fridge and found eggs, butter, and a bag of bread, and a pan in the cupboard. “How about over easy today with toast and then we can try something different tomorrow?”
“I owe you, Ashley.”
“Are you kidding? It’s the least I can do when you’re letting me join your tour.”
“Touring is great, but sometimes it feels like we’re just doing the same thing every day and every night on repeat. Having you here is already a change for the better.”
She nearly forgot to keep an eye on the eggs, she was so stunned by how nice his comments were, and how good they made her feel.
A change for the better. Last night when she’d walked into the venue, she’d felt she would never fit into this world, that she was kidding herself to think she could ever really be in the music business.
But between Drew’s amazing show and the lovely things he’d just said, maybe she wasn’t too far off base, after all.
She plated their eggs just as their toast dinged in the mini toaster oven attached to the counter.
“Thanks, this looks great,” he said as he picked up his fork. “I’ve never shared a bus with a woman before. Never thought about how you’d need to lock yourself in the bathroom to get dressed in the morning. Are you sure you won’t take the back bedroom?”
“Then I’d just be walking in on you naked out here.” The words came out before she realized it. Ugh. And just when she’d started to feel so comfortable with him. “What I’m trying to say is that I’m just fine sleeping out here and I’ll try to remember to bring my underwear in with me next time.”
I’ll try to remember to bring my underwear in with me next time? Double ugh.
He stopped with his fork halfway to his mouth. “You forgot your…”
She felt her face go hot again and shoveled some eggs into her mouth so that she would only have to nod.
“Well,” he said slowly, his voice sounding a little rougher all of a sudden, “I’ll try to make sure you’ve got on more than a towel before I come out.”
She took a sip of coffee to try to wash down her way-too-big bite of eggs. “Great! Thanks!” Every time she got nervous, she sounded like a chirpy bird. Which, she supposed, was better than talking about her underwear.
Drew finally began to eat, and before she knew it, he’d polished off his entire plate. Just as she always did with her father, she pushed her unfinished portion over to him, which he immediately shoveled up.
Finally, he pushed both plates away. “You’re a great cook, Ashley. I haven’t had eggs that good since—”
His words suddenly fell away, and she knew why, knew that he was thinking of his mother.
The night before, he’d gotten so choked up when he’d been talking about writing “One More Time” the day his mother passed away, and Ashley’s heart had broken for him.
She wanted to reach out to him, wanted to find a way—any way at all—to make him feel better.
But before she could say or do anything, there was a knock on the door.
“It’s Max.” Drew got up to let him in.
“Good morning, you two.” Max looked impossibly chipper for such an early hour. “Mmm, eggs. Smells good.”
“Sit and I’ll make you a plate,” Ashley said, already spooning what was left in the pan onto a clean plate.
Max’s eyes practically rolled back in his head as he ate. “You are quite a woman, Miss Ashley,” he said once he’d swallowed. “Isn’t she, Drew?”
“She definitely is.”
Ashley hopped up to wash the dishes, hoping neither of them would notice the way she was blushing. But before she could so much as rub a sponge over the first plate, Drew was taking it from her. “You cooked, I’ll clean.”
“But you have to get ready for—”
“Thank you for the best breakfast I’ve had in a year.” He smiled at her, and her breath caught in her throat at being so close to him again. “Now let go of the plate.”
She’d forgotten all about the plate, and that Max was right there watching her get all flustered and drooly over the rock star who was a million miles beyond her.