EPILOGUE
As the stage lights went dark, Drew Morrison took a few seconds to ground himself before stepping away from the mic. He’d started recording and doing shows so that he could play the music that had always been in his head...and it had quickly turned into something bigger than he ever could have expected.
Press. Parties. Groupies.
He could have anything he wanted, but every night as he stood onstage after a show, he thought about what his mom had written in her final letter to him: “When nothing else makes the pain go away, all I have to do is put on one of your songs and it works every time. Every single time.”
Music. That was why he was here.
“Great show tonight, man.”
The crowds had gotten so big—and hungry for a piece of Drew—during the past several months that the label had hired a security team to keep away the crazies. James was well over six feet and nearly three hundred pounds. He was also one hell of a nice guy.
“Thanks, James.”
Drew and his backup players had been working out the kinks on a couple of new songs and tonight everything had finally gelled. He was planning to lock himself into the portable studio he’d set up in the back of the tour bus tonight and get it all down while it was still fresh.
“They ready for me in the meet-and-greet room?”
James nodded. “I’ll take you back.”
It didn’t matter how drained Drew felt after a show. He always took the time to meet with his fans, especially the ones who needed the music like his mother had. Sick kids and adults got priority over everyone else for the VIP post-show tickets, and they didn’t have to pay for them, either.
An hour later, he’d signed dozens of autographs and taken even more selfies with his fans, big and small, young and old. He was just about to head back to his tour bus when a woman stepped out of the shadows in the corner.
She should have just blended into the background in her conservative dark pants and top, with no makeup on and her hair pulled back from her face.
And yet, she was still the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen in his life. By miles.
How the hell could he have missed seeing her backstage until now?
“Your show tonight was really great.”
“Thanks.” He grinned to try to put her at ease. “I’m glad you came. What’s your name?”
“Ashley Emmit.” Something jogged in his brain, but he couldn’t quite nail it down before she added, “I know you’ve got to be exhausted after your show, but I just wanted to tell you that I really appreciate the opportunity you’re giving me to go on the road with you for my research.”
Finally putting two-and-two together, Drew asked, “You’re Professor Emmit’s daughter?”
She nodded. “He told me you were expecting my call about setting up all the details, but I thought it would be better to meet in person the first time we spoke.”
“But…” Drew still couldn’t get his brain to work right. “The picture he had of you on his desk—”
“Is really old.” She wrinkled her nose. “I think he likes pretending I’m still his little girl.”
In the picture she’d been wearing huge glasses, so big and thick that Drew had barely been able to make out any of her features. All he’d known was that he was going to be totally safe taking her out on the road with him since he could never touch his professor’s daughter in a million years.
“Drew?”
Oh man, she wasn’t only drop-dead gorgeous, her voice had that husky edge to it that he always loved to hear after he’d made a girl come apart beneath him over and over again.
How the hell was he going to keep his hands off her while they traveled the country together in his tour bus? Especially when he was already this tempted by her…
~ THE END ~
For news on upcoming books,
Watch for Drew Morrison and Ashley Emmit’s story, TEMPT ME LIKE THIS, coming soon!
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And don’t miss Bella's New York Times & USA Today bestselling series about The Sullivans! Please also enjoy the following excerpt from THE LOOK OF LOVE (The Sullivans, Book 1)
Chloe Peterson is having a bad night. A really bad night. The large bruise on her cheek can attest to that. And when her car skids off the side of a wet country road straight into a ditch, she’s convinced even the gorgeous guy who rescues her in the middle of the rain storm must be too good to be true. Or is he?
As a successful photographer who frequently travels around the world, Chase Sullivan has his pick of beautiful women, and whenever he’s home in San Francisco, one of his seven siblings is usually up for causing a little fun trouble. Chase thinks his life is great just as it is—until the night he finds Chloe and her totaled car on the side of the road in Napa Valley. Not only has Chase never met anyone so lovely, both inside and out, but he quickly realizes Chloe has much bigger problems than her damaged car. Soon, Chase is willing to move mountains to love—and protect—her, but will Chloe let him?
Enjoy the following excerpt from THE LOOK OF LOVE...
Chase almost missed the flickering light off on the right side of the two-lane country road. In the past thirty minutes, he hadn’t passed a single car, because on a night like this, most sane Californians—who didn’t know the first thing about driving safely in inclement weather—stayed home.
Knowing better than to slam on the brakes—he wouldn’t be able to help whomever was stranded on the side of the road if he ended up stuck in the muddy ditch right next to them—Chase slowed down enough to see that there was definitely a vehicle stuck in the ditch.
He turned his brights on to see better in the pouring rain and realized there was a person walking along the edge of the road about a hundred yards up ahead. Obviously hearing his car approach, she turned to face him and he could see her long wet hair whipping around her shoulders in his headlights.
Wondering why she wasn’t just sitting in her car, dry and warm, calling Triple A and waiting for them to come save her, he pulled over to the edge of his lane and got out to try and help her. She was shivering as she watched him approach.
"Are you hurt?"
She covered her cheek with one hand, but shook her head. "No."
He had to move closer to hear her over the sound of the water hitting the pavement in what were rapidly becoming hailstones. Even though he’d turned his headlights off, as his eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, he was able to get a better look at her face.
Something inside of Chase’s chest clenched tight.
Despite the long, dark hair plastered to her head and chest, regardless of the fact that looking like a drowned rat wasn’t too far off the descriptive mark, her beauty stunned him.
In an instant, his photographer’s eye cataloged her features. Her mouth was a little too big, her eyes a little too wide-set on her face. She wasn’t even close to model thin, but given the way her T-shirt and jeans stuck to her skin, he could see that she wore her lush curves well. In the dark he couldn’t judge the exact color of her hair, but it looked like silk, perfectly smooth and straight where it lay over her breasts.
It wasn’t until Chase heard her say, "My car is definitely hurt, though," that he realized he had completely lost the thread of what he’d come out here to do.
Knowing he’d been drinking her in like he was dying of thirst, he worked to recover his balance. He could already see he’d been right about her car. It didn’t take a mechanic like his brother, Zach, who owned an auto shop—more like forty, but Chase had stopped counting years ago—to see that her shitty hatchback was borderline totaled. Even if the front bumper wasn’t half smashed to pieces by the white farm fence she’d slid into, her bald tires weren’t going to get any traction on the mud. Not tonight, anyway.
If her car had been in a less precarious situation, he probably would have sent her to hang out in her car while he took care of getting it unstuck. But one of her back tires was hanging precariously over the edge of the ditch.
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Get in my car. We can wait there for a tow truck." He was vaguely aware of his words coming out like an order, but the hail was starting to sting, damn it. Both of them needed to get out of the rain before they froze.
But the woman didn’t move. Instead, she gave him a look that said he was a complete and utter nut-job.
"I’m not getting into your car."
Realizing just how frightening it must be for a lone woman to end up stuck and alone in the middle of a dark road, Chase took a step back from her. He had to speak loudly enough for her to hear him over the hail.
"I’m not going to attack you. I swear I won’t do anything to hurt you."
She all but flinched at the word attack and Chase’s radar started buzzing. He’d never been a magnet for troubled women, wasn’t the kind of guy who thrived on fixing wounded birds. But living with two sisters for so many years meant he could always tell when something was up.
And something was definitely up with this woman, beyond the fact that her car was half-stuck in a muddy ditch.
Wanting to make her feel safe, he held his hands up. "I swear on my father’s grave, I’m not going to hurt you. It’s okay to get into my car." When she didn’t immediately say no again, he pressed his advantage with, "I just want to help you." And he did. More than it made sense to want to help a stranger. "Please," he said. "Let me help you."
She stared at him for a long moment, hail hammering between them, around them, onto them. Chase found himself holding his breath, waiting for her decision. It shouldn’t matter to him what she decided.
But, for some strange reason, it did.
...Sample chapter from THE LOOK OF LOVE by Bella Andre © 2013
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