And maybe if she hadn’t been looking so carefully, she wouldn’t have noticed that although Drew continued to give one hundred percent of himself, he looked a little worn out, too. Although, she thought with a frown, worn out wasn’t really the right word for it. No, the expression on his face was the same one he’d had when he thought there had been some problems with his show the night before. Everything she’d heard him play had been flawless. But obviously, he wasn’t entirely happy with it.
Was it simply that he was getting tired of playing the same hit songs over and over? Or was there something else going on with him and his music?
Of course, not only did she not know him well enough to ask such prying questions, but for the next three hours there wasn’t so much as one private moment between them. Not when she was pretty sure he’d visited every radio station in Nevada.
“Is it always like this? So busy?”
“If it’s going well, it is.” But he was frowning as he looked at her. “If you’re feeling tired...”
“I’m great.” And she was, because she could listen to Drew’s songs a million times and never get tired of them. In fact, the more she heard them, the deeper they went. So deep that she felt more exposed and raw than she ever had before, from nothing more than being in the same room with Drew and his band while they played some of the most amazing songs she’d ever heard. But she didn’t want to sound like a drooling, crazy fangirl, so she simply said, “I’m sure I’ll get used to sleeping on the bus soon. Besides, all I’m doing is taking notes.”
He looked down at her notebook and iPad. “Any chance you’re going to let me see them?”
Instinctively, she clutched her tablet and notebook to her chest. Most of her notes were either details of the interviews and radio stations, or brainstorming about how things could be improved for Drew and his band. But a few notes had slipped in along the way about how sexy he was as he sang, and how he drove his fans wild by joking with them over the phone lines when they called in. All in the name of science, of course, but she knew he might not see it that way. Instead, he might think she had a crush on him...and then things would get even weirder on the bus than she’d already managed to make them.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to let me see anything.” His hand on her arm froze her in place. “I wouldn’t let anyone look through my unfinished lyrics either.”
Just then, her phone buzzed with the ring tone she’d given her father. “It’s my dad.”
“Why don’t you take it while we get set up for our last radio spot? James will stay out here with you.”
“I’ll be okay in the hall by myself.”
But James simply said, “I’ll just be down at the end of the hall so you can talk in private,” then moved to a spot where she could have privacy but still be in his line of sight.
Drew nodded a silent thanks to his bodyguard, then turned back to her. “Say hi to the professor for me.”
It wasn’t until Drew disappeared behind the radio station’s door that she realized she hadn’t taken a full breath all morning. Not since the moment she’d gone flying into Drew’s chest...and then immediately dropped her towel. Finally, there was some space between them. A thicker wall than the paper-thin one on the bus.
Her father’s call had gone to voice mail, so she quickly redialed him.
“Ashley, how are you, honey?”
“I’m great.” She had left her father a message the previous night to let him know she’d gotten to the venue okay, but she’d known he wouldn’t feel any calmer about her being gone until he actually spoke to her.
“How’s Drew?”
“Really busy doing radio interviews right now. I had no idea his job was this hard.”
“Hard?” Her father laughed. “How can partying with groupies be hard?”
“Maybe it’s like that for some people,” she said carefully, even though there had been plenty of out-of-control groupies yesterday, “but Drew is a consummate professional. And he’s really nice, too.”
“How nice?”
“Dad.” She knew how much he loved her, but he could be a little overprotective sometimes. “He’s a perfect gentleman, as you already know firsthand.”
“Actually, as I recall, he seemed to have plenty of girls hanging off his arms when he was taking my classes.”
She was sure her father was telling the truth. And yet, since she would never be one of Drew’s girls, it didn’t matter, did it?
“I know you think I’m worrying too much about you,” her father continued, “but I just can’t stand the thought of anything bad happening to you while you’re on tour with Drew.”