Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Ashley had been dreaming about him.
For the past twenty-four hours, that was the only thing Drew had been able to think about. Along with the fact that when he’d seen her in her pajamas for the first time—all of her curves on incredible display—he’d nearly lost it right then and there in the middle of his bus at seven in the morning.
And the glasses she’d been wearing?
They’d only made her hotter. Especially because he knew just how big the brains were behind those glasses. And how big the heart behind her gorgeous curves.
He’d had to leave the bus for an interview before she got out of the shower yesterday, and after that she’d done her best to stick with his crew.
By the time he made it back to the bus after the meet and greet that night, she’d already been back in her bunk with the curtains drawn.
And then, by the time he’d come out of his room this morning, she’d been outside talking with Max.
Making absolutely sure that the two of them were never alone.
Today, Drew had arranged his tour promotion schedule so that they could drop by the house Smith Sullivan and Valentina Landon were renting while they filmed their new movie in Oklahoma City.
It had been a dream come true when they’d asked him to work on this film with them—and the rushes he’d seen had been incredible.
If only he could write something for the soundtrack that was worth a damn.
As it stood right now, not only was he going to have to bow out of the opportunity of a lifetime, he was also going to leave them hanging.
If only he could push past his songwriting block, damn it!
In the backyard, Ashley’s voice floated over to him from several feet away.
Just like always, the sound was much-needed music to Drew’s soul.
He had wanted to keep Ashley by his side until he was sure that she wouldn’t be overwhelmed by meeting Hollywood royalty, but Valentina and Ashley had immediately hit it off when Smith’s fiancée found out that Ashley was working on her application to business school.
Smith had scored big-time with Valentina, and from the smile on the guy’s face every time he looked at her, it was clear that he knew it.
Drew hated to bring Smith and Valentina down today, but he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t come clean about his inability to write a decent song for the soundtrack.
He was heading over to them when he noticed one of the party guests who looked like he’d had a little too much to drink was gesturing in a crazy way as he spoke.
If he wasn’t careful, the guy was going to knock Ashley into the pool.
A couple of people tried to stop him to chat, but Drew was focused on getting to her before disaster could strike. But before he could, the guy with the wild arms knocked Ashley in the shoulder so hard that she started to topple over toward the water.
Drew leapt the final few feet over the cement patio that surrounded the pool and got close enough to catch one of her hands. But there was already too much momentum to her fall, and instead of keeping her out of the pool, they both plunged in with a huge splash.
Not sure if she could swim, he put his arms around her to pull her to the surface. As they came out of the water, her arms naturally moved around his neck.
“Do you know how to swim? Are you okay?”
“I do and I am.” She wiped water out of her eyes before she opened them, her hair slicked back from her beautiful face. “Thanks for trying to keep me from falling in. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Of course I did.” Everyone was staring at them, and he figured it wouldn’t be long before people started taking pictures with their phones, if they hadn’t already.
In that moment, however, he couldn’t focus on anything but how good it felt to have her in his arms again.
Still, even though he couldn’t keep holding her forever in the pool, he really hated having to say, “Ready to get out?”
She made a little face. “Actually, I’m pretty sure my dress has gone completely see-through.”
Drew fought like hell to keep his arousal under control. But it was already difficult enough when she was wet and soft and so damned perfect in his arms. Knowing her cute white dress was now translucent? There wasn’t enough self-control in the world to fight what that vision did to him.
“Only I could do something like this at a fancy Hollywood party.” She closed her eyes in mortification. “And now I can’t even get out because it will be like everyone is seeing me naked.”
He was about to tell her he’d get out first and grab her a towel to cover up with, when he looked up and realized Valentina was already on it.
“Valentina’s waiting by the shallow-end steps with a towel.
I’ll come out of the water behind you so that between the towel and me, no one will see anything they shouldn’t. ”
Ashley nodded, but she didn’t let go of him or start swimming. As if she didn’t want to let go of him any more than he wanted to let her go. Finally, however, she said, “I guess we should swim over there, shouldn’t we?”
Unfortunately, the longer they stayed wrapped around each other in the pool, the more people would talk.
And if pictures of the two of them holding each other ever got back to her father?
Well, Drew could only imagine how angry he would be, even though there was a reasonable explanation.
Especially when something told him Professor Emmit would quickly see through the “reasonable explanation” and straight to Drew’s unstoppable attraction to Ashley.
Fortunately, between Drew and Valentina, they were able to get Ashley out of the pool with only the two of them seeing the way the white dress clung to her gorgeous curves.
A true gentleman wouldn’t look, but Drew’s control was already hanging by such a thin thread that he didn’t have a prayer of not drinking her in.
If Valentina noticed the way he was clearly losing his mind over Ashley, she didn’t give anything away, but simply helped wrap Ashley up in the thick beach towel and took her into the house through a side door.
Smith came over with a towel for Drew a couple of seconds later, grinning as he said, “Valentina and I have been too busy to enjoy the pool. Glad someone is.”
“Thanks for the towel.” Drew ran it over his face and hair. “I was actually just heading your way to see if I could chat with you and Valentina for a few minutes.”
“Why don’t you change into something of mine while we stick your clothes in the dryer? Then we can talk.”
Five minutes later, Drew had on a pair of Smith Sullivan’s jeans and a Hawks Baseball T-shirt. Valentina and Ashley hadn’t yet emerged, so they were sitting in Smith and Valentina’s home office talking about how the team was doing this year.
“I caught your brother’s last no-hitter on the TV on the bus,” Drew said, “but it’s not like being there when Ryan throws a—”
His sentence fell away as Ashley walked into the room…and his jaw dropped. She was wearing another dress, pink instead of white. And sexy in a way that nothing else she’d ever worn had been.
“We were so lucky,” Valentina said as she beamed at Ashley. “Tatiana left this dress in the closet after her visit with Ian. It fits you perfectly.”
So perfectly, in fact, that the edge Drew was on wore so thin it nearly broke, almost exploding into a million pieces right then and there in front of Smith and Valentina.
Ashley felt just about as self-conscious in Tatiana Landon’s dress as she had in her see-through white dress in the pool.
Tatiana was a gorgeous movie star who probably wore outfits like this all the time, but Ashley wasn’t used to wearing anything quite so form-fitting.
One big breath was all it would take for her breasts to come spilling up and out of the bodice.
Plus, since her underwear was currently in the dryer, she wasn’t wearing any.
And from the way Drew was looking at her with so much heat even the air conditioning couldn’t keep her cool, she wondered if he’d developed X-ray vision and could tell that she was completely bare beneath the gorgeous dress.
She’d been nervous about coming to this party, considering Smith Sullivan was one of the biggest movie stars in the world.
But in her worst nightmares she couldn’t have come up with falling into the pool.
Only, the truth was that she couldn’t entirely regret what had happened, if only because of the way Drew had pulled her close in the water and held her as though he never wanted to let her go.
Just the way he had in the elevator yesterday. And on the beach. And in the desert in the Valley of Fire.
Every time she’d ever been in his arms was imprinted on her memory like a brand. When this tour was over, she’d be replaying each and every one of those delicious moments over and over in her fantasies.
Fantasies that she knew better than to be having right this second, so she worked to pull herself together as she smiled at Valentina. “Thanks again for finding me the dress. And”—she turned to include Smith—“I’m so sorry I made such a spectacle at your party.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Smith said as he reached out for Valentina’s hand so that he could draw her closer. “We should have fired that grip a week ago.”
“He should know better than to get drunk here,” Valentina agreed, looking utterly content in Smith’s arms.
They were such a beautiful couple. It clearly didn’t matter to them that Smith was famous and Valentina wasn’t. They were not only equals, they were also so clearly in love that they were always either holding hands or Smith’s arms were wrapped around Valentina’s waist.