She was out of the elevator in a flash, and James was clearly concerned as he took in her flushed cheeks. "Ashley, do you need anything? A drink of water? Or maybe just to look out a window for a few seconds?"
"No, thanks, I'm fine."
But anyone could tell that she wasn't. And Drew knew it was entirely his fault.
He wasn't the kind of guy to play mind games with a woman. What's more, Ashley was the very last person he'd ever want to mess around with. Especially considering how great she'd been to talk to about his mom and his music.
The problem was, he'd never felt about anyone the way he felt about her. When she was in his arms, he wanted to hold her forever and never let her go. And every word she spoke played straight to his soul, affecting him more strongly than any song ever had.
James didn't ask Drew how he was doing after being stuck in the elevator. On the contrary, his bodyguard scowled at him. Don't hurt her, was the clear message in the other man's eyes, right before they stepped into the TV studio.
Drew worked like hell to concentrate on his job and give his fans the best interview he could, but with Ashley only a few feet away behind the cameras, he knew he wasn't coming anywhere close to pulling it off. Because even though he'd vowed that Ashley would leave his tour as pure as she'd come, he still couldn't stop hoping that her answer to his question about whether she dreamed of him was yes.
Chapter Thirteen
Ashley was standing in front of the table on the bus, quickly reading through her email before heading into the venue to watch Drew's show, when she suddenly felt him move behind her.
"Close the computer and turn around, Ash." When she didn't obey his command fast enough, he put his hands over hers and bent his mouth to her ear. "I promise you'll be glad you did."
Together, they closed her laptop, and then he moved his hands to her waist to turn her around to face him.
"I thought you were about to start your show," she said, her voice sounding far huskier than it normally did.
"The opening band went on late." His eyes were dark as midnight. "Which gives me time to make up for what happened in the elevator."
"You don't have to--" Her words fell away as he stroked his hands up her back from her waist to her shoulders.
"I do." He brushed her hair over one shoulder, then bent his head to press a kiss to the skin he'd exposed at the side of her neck. "You taste so good. Your mouth. Your neck." He licked out against her, and she shuddered at the pleasure of it. "I need to taste more of you. I don't care what anyone else thinks about the two of us. Just you." He took her earlobe between his teeth, and she couldn't hold back a moan of pleasure as he lightly scraped over her sensitive flesh. "Do you still want me the way you said you did?"
She couldn't stop herself from saying, "Yes," and the next thing she knew, he was lifting her up onto the tabletop and moving to stand between her legs. It was pure instinct to throw all caution to the wind and wrap her arms and legs around him as his mouth crashed down on hers.
While their first kiss out on the beach had been gentle, this kiss was ferocious, as if both of them were desperately trying to get their fill before they were yanked apart again. She threaded her fingers into his hair to bring his mouth even closer, and when his tongue swept out against hers, she gasped at the pleasure of it.
"The sounds you make when I'm kissing you, touching you," he said in a raw voice against her jaw as he nipped at her. She arched back to give him better access, and he nuzzled in against her neck, his stubble grazing her skin in the sexiest possible way. "There's nothing sexier, Ash. Not one goddamned thing."
It was warm on the bus, so she'd worn a tank top with her jeans today. Drew clearly appreciated the bare skin as he first ran his big, warm hands over her shoulders, and then bent his head to follow up that caress with a trail of kisses.
"Your skin is so pretty, so soft. I can't wait to see all of it. All of you."
She shivered at the thought of being completely naked in front of Drew. Not only was she a virgin, but the truth was that she hadn't actually gone all that far with any of the guys she'd dated. Clothes had been unbuttoned and unzipped, but her panties and bra had always stayed on...and no one else had ever made her come. Not because she was a prude--she figured she had the same sexual urges as anyone else. But because none of those guys she'd dated had turned her on that much.
Not like this. Not the way just one look, one touch, one kiss from Drew did. Heck, she was nearly all the way there, and she still had all her clothes on.
"Do you want that, Ash? Do you want me to strip you bare? Do you want me to kiss every beautiful inch of your body?"
His eyes were intense as he asked her his sexy questions in a voice made raw with need. The same desire that had been eating her up day by day, hour by hour, second by second, ever since the moment they'd met.
She tried to remember why this was a bad idea, but her brain and body felt fuzzy and thick with wanting. Need that obliterated every rational thought. "Yes," she told him, "I want that. I want all of that. Now."
"Thank God," he said as he put his hands on either side of her face and leaned in for a kiss that she felt in all the places he hadn't yet stripped bare, hadn't yet touched. "Because I can't wait any longer, Ash. I need you bad. So damned bad I'm going crazy from being with you but not being able to touch or kiss you."
His callused fingers were wonderfully rough on her jaw, and his chest was rock hard where her breasts pressed into him. Slowly, too slowly for the fever pitch he'd roused her to, he slid his hands down from her face and back over her shoulders and arms, until he reached her waist. Her breasts ached for his touch, under her cotton top and bra. But he was teasing her, teasing them both, by coming so close without actually touching her where she needed it most.
Finally, he gripped the hem of her tank and began to pull it up, his fingertips grazing the sensitive skin of her stomach. "Mine," he whispered against her lips as he drew the fabric higher and higher until it was just below the bottom edge of her bra. "I can't wait until you're mine."
"Yours."
It was all she wanted, too. Everything she'd dreamed of for so long. His songs had helped get her through her awful teen years...and now Drew would be the one to take her all the way into adulthood. It felt right, so incredibly right, that he was going to be her first.
The knocking came loud and suddenly, jarring Drew so that he jumped away from her, his hands dropping, his face blurring.
Blurring?
Why was his face blurring?
The knocking came again, louder this time, and she closed her eyes and shook her head.
When she opened them, she wasn't sitting on the table in the bus--she was lying in her bunk with the tank top she'd gone to sleep in bunched up in her hand. That was when she heard footsteps on the other side of the thick, dark curtain that enclosed her bunk, and then the door being opened as male voices drifted into the bus.
Oh God. It had just been a dream.
*
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Five minutes later, though Ashley was fully awake, she remained lying in her bunk as still as a statue. She was utterly mortified at the thought that Drew--or anyone else who had come onto the bus with him--might have guessed at the sexy dream she'd been having.
Had she been talking in her sleep?
Or, worse still, had she actually moaned out loud?
She'd never had a dream like that before. Not one that felt so real...or that she so desperately wished were real.
But the truth was that embarrassment over talking or moaning in her sleep wasn't the only reason her body felt overheated. Normally, if she were at home in the small studio in her father's backyard in Palo Alto, she would have taken a few minutes to fantasize a little longer beneath the sheets in secret. But she couldn't touch herself on Drew's bus, could she?
For nearly a week now, she'd been riding the edge of desire, and her dream definitely hadn't helped. Not one bit. If anything, she was more fru
strated than ever. Especially since it had ended before she got to the really good part...
Unfortunately, she couldn't stay in her bunk forever. Especially since now that she'd looked at her watch, she knew Drew's workday was due to begin soon. She wasn't here to hide out in her bunk twenty-four seven, she was here to learn as much as she possibly could.
So even if she'd never been so confused, or so frustrated before, that didn't mean she could lose sight of her goals. She'd just have to make sure that she didn't spend too much one-on-one time with Drew. Because that's when things always got out of control. Like in the elevator yesterday, when it had been just the two of them in the small, pitch-black space, and all she'd wanted to do was--
No. She couldn't go there again. Couldn't let herself keep fantasizing about a man she couldn't have. She was far too pragmatic for that kind of behavior. At least, she'd always thought she was...
Sitting up carefully so that she didn't hit her head on the bunk above her, she put on her glasses, then did her best to smooth down her hair and clothes. She didn't sleep with a bra on, but since she was going to head straight to the bathroom for a shower and didn't hear voices anymore, she figured Drew must have gone into his back bedroom and the coast was clear.
Deciding it was safe to push back the curtains, she had just stepped out of the bunk when he emerged from behind a cabinet door where he'd been kneeling. "Morning, Ash." She jumped, her hand going to cover her thumping heart as he said, "I thought I'd make us eggs today, but I can't find the--"
When he finally turned all the way to face her, his words fell away. His hot gaze moved from her face to her light blue tank that didn't quite cover her hips, then to the soft leggings she slept in, and then back up to her face. He'd never seen her in glasses, and though it shouldn't matter if he thought she looked extra geeky in them, it did. Simply because everything about Drew mattered to her, whether she wanted it to or not.
But judging by the incredible hunger in his gaze--hunger she knew for a fact that she was echoing right back at him--her glasses didn't turn him off. And every single sexy moment of her dream came back to her as they stared at each other across the bus.
It was just a dream, Ashley. Snap out of it!
But even as she reminded herself that it hadn't been real, her body couldn't help but remember how amazing it had felt to be in his arms on the beach in Los Angeles. All he'd need to do to make the dream real was move toward her, lift her up onto the table, and kiss her. Not even a half-dozen movements, and then she could have everything she wanted.
For a moment, as he continued to stare hungrily at her, she thought he might do exactly that. But then a muscle jumped in his jaw, and he stayed right where he was as he asked, "Did I wake you?"
She opened her mouth to say something short and impersonal. But what came out was, "I was in the middle of a dream."
Oh no, where had those words come from?
As if he couldn't stay away another second, he finally moved closer. But she was stuck right where she was, one hand on the wooden base of her bunk, the other still between her breasts over her racing heart.
"What were you dreaming about?"
She shook her head and pressed her lips together. She couldn't tell him the truth, could she? Couldn't admit to him that he'd been starring in an X-rated dream.
"I dreamed about you again last night," he said in a low voice. "Were you dreaming about me, too?"
The heat in his voice swamped her, made her brain even slower than it already was. Her resolve to keep her ever-increasing feelings secret from him dissolved at the same moment the word, "Yes," slipped from her lips. God, how was she ever going to forget about her feelings for Drew if she kept blurting out things like, I was dreaming about you.
"Ash."
The air inside the bus started to crackle with such intense attraction she actually felt the fine hairs rise on her arms. Drew was moving even closer, reaching for her, when his cell phone rang.
"Damn it," he said when he heard the ring tone. "That's my sister Madison."
"You should get it."
Since Ashley couldn't figure out how to keep her mouth shut around him--who knew what she'd be telling him next, probably every single sexy detail of her dream--she made herself dash into the bathroom, turn on the shower, strip, and step in before it was even close to hot.
And as she stood and shivered beneath the icy-cold spray, she hoped it would freeze some sense back into her.
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 fiancee 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 ha
dn'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.