Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
An hour later, Drew and Ashley were alone on the bus.
He would be playing in Miami again tomorrow night, and there was a hotel room they could have gone to for the night.
But both of them wanted to be here on the bus where they’d first made each other laugh.
Where they’d first fallen in love. And where they’d first slept in each other’s arms.
Her entire face was lit up with the biggest, brightest smile he’d ever seen as she took his hands in hers. “I love you. And I don’t want to hide our relationship from anyone anymore. I want the whole world to know that you’re mine.”
“I love you, too, Ash.” He’d never grow tired of hearing her say I love you to him, or saying it to her.
Just as he’d never get enough of kissing her gorgeous mouth the way he was right now.
“And I’m going to love telling everyone on the entire planet that you’re my girlfriend,” he whispered against her lips.
“I still might be a little nervous about it,” she admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it. It just means I’m still getting my feet wet with all of this. I’ve never been in love before.”
“I haven’t either, Ash.”
“Aren’t you even the slightest bit nervous?”
“Only with your father.”
She bit her lip, clearly worried as she asked, “How’d your talk go?”
He didn’t want to upset her, but he couldn’t lie to her. “It was pretty rough going there for a while. For most of our talk, actually. But I have a good feeling that he’s going to come around.” He smiled and added, “Eventually.”
He was really glad to hear her laugh out loud. “I think it’s all hard for him to take in. Both that I’m officially grown up now and that I won’t be right there at home all the time anymore.”
“Because you’ll be…”
“With you.”
“There’s nowhere I want you more. But my dreams aren’t the only ones that count. Yours do, too. So when Stanford Business School begs you to attend, you can’t turn them down to be on the road with me.”
“Honestly, I’ve finally accepted that getting into the best graduate program in the country is a pretty big if.
And if they do accept me next year, we can figure things out then.
But even if they don’t, I’m going to be okay with it—especially after the email Grant sent me while you were doing your meet and greet tonight. ”
“He wants you to come work for him, doesn’t he?”
“Kind of. He said he’d like to hire me as a consultant to do some research into the nuts and bolts of actually starting an artist-run indie label from the ground up.” She was glowing as she told Drew the great news. “Thank you for telling him about my idea.”
“This is all you, Ash. Your brains. Your ideas. Your enthusiasm. I can’t wait for everyone else to meet you and see what I see.” He brought her closer and leaned in to kiss her. “But you should know I’m going to keep all of your beauty, and your gorgeous sensuality, for myself.”
“They’re all yours.”
Her lips were soft and sweet, and so damned seductive beneath his that he lost the thread of everything but her for several heady moments. But he didn’t want to wait any longer to tell her his news either.
“There’s actually another reason that I’m glad you’re going to be working with Grant on figuring out how to put together a new record label. I’ve decided not to sign the second Chief Records contract.”
“Wow. That’s huge.” She studied his face for a few moments before smiling and saying, “You’re really happy about it, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t realize just how handcuffed I felt working for someone else.
Or maybe it was that I didn’t want to see it, because it was easier to follow the plans that have worked for their other artists.
At least at first.” He looked down at their linked hands and told her the rest of the truth he’d only begun to understand.
“At first, my songs couldn’t come because I was shutting down my feelings to block out my grief over losing my mom.
But then when I thought I needed to stop falling in love with you, that’s when everything broke completely apart.
Because I couldn’t stop falling, Ash, and it tore me up to even try.
Just destroyed me. Once I knew I loved you no matter what, and that I wasn’t going to let anything keep us apart—that was when everything finally started to make sense again.
You’re the person I’ve been looking for.
The woman I’ve been waiting for. The only one who can help me see the things I’ve been hiding from.
And the only one who can pull me from the darkness with nothing but a look, a touch, a smile, a kiss. ”
But instead of giving him one of those smiles, she whispered, “I’m so sorry.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“You once said I would never hurt anyone, but I hurt you when I wasn’t brave enough to tell you that I loved you, too.
I do, so much. I just thought we could never make things work because we’re so different.
And it was easier to tell myself I was holding back because of my dad and his relationship with my mom than it was to face the truth.
You’re the brightest light I’ve ever known—one of the brightest lights on the planet.
And I thought I wasn’t exciting enough or strong enough to be, well, enough for you. ”
“You aren’t just enough, you’re my heart. My soul. I love you, Ash. The brainy side of you. The wild side of you. I love all of you, exactly the way you are. And even though I’ll always miss my mom, every day of my life, it feels now like the wounds are finally starting to heal.”
Just as she’d held him in the desert, she simply pulled him close now and laid her cheek against his chest. He didn’t know how long they stood holding each other, just that music played inside of him the entire time. Music he needed her to hear.
“I know you just listened to me play for over two hours, but there’s a song I’d really like to play for you.”
Without saying a word, she slid her hands from around his back, picked up his acoustic guitar, and handed it to him. As soon as she was on the bed in front of him, sitting cross-legged so their knees were touching, he began to play and sing.
Drew had never looked so serious, or quite so shy, as he did just then. He should have been a world away from the larger-than-life star she watched perform on stage every night. And yet, with just his guitar and his voice, he was even more powerful.
Especially when she realized where his lyrics had come from.
You’re inside of me.
Every second of every day.
Every look.
Every touch.
Every kiss.
I was lost until you found me.
I was hurt until you healed me.
Until you took me all the way
Inside.
She’d said the words while they were making love—I want you inside of me every second of every day—and though it might have sounded like nothing more than desire, Drew had known the truth all along.
That she was saying she loved him the only way she could.
Tears streamed down her face as he played, but they were happy tears this time. Tears of wonder. No, she and Drew weren’t exactly the same, but where they didn’t overlap, they filled each other’s gaps and made each other whole.
When he was done playing, he put his guitar down, then took her face in his hands and kissed her.
So sweetly that her heart flipped over in her chest at the same time that her body ached for him to take the kiss deeper.
Neither of them spoke as he slowly, silently stripped away her clothes—every caress awestruck, every kiss he pressed to her soft skin reverent—and she did the same for him and then slid on protection.
And then there was no more patience for either of them as they fell onto the bed in each other’s arms. Their hungry mouths wrote the melody, their desperate hands played the rhythm, and their breathless gasps of pleasure sang the lyrics for the beautiful new song they were writing together.