In less than forty-eight hours, Keira had gone from ‘How the hell am I going to pay my rent?’ to sitting in a record label office, beside Eric Newcastle with some record executive in a hoodie flipping through her portfolio. After the phone call about the tour, her cramped, dark and lonely apartment couldn’t hold a candle to hanging out with Eric in his hotel suite for the day. After the call, she flipped through some of her huge prints of her work from the gallery show she’d backed out of looking for ones that put her best foot forward. Deciding against using any of those, she pulled together a bunch of portraits she’d done recently and put them in a portfolio. After swapping out about twenty different ones, she found the ones that showed off her technical skill as well as captured something special about the subjects.

Going to sleep the previous night had been a nightmare. Her roommates had been in and out at odd hours during the night, the door slamming after them as they stomped through the apartment. Tossing and turning, she laid awake for most of the night unsure of how the following day would go. Would they hate her? Pick someone else? After hearing how much they were willing to pay her, Keira was willing to take pictures standing on her head if need be. Finally, as the sun came up, the stress of the day ebbed away and she closed her eyes, only to be shocked awake by a knock at her door.

Grabbing her phone, she saw that she was late. Jumping up, she opened the door, ushered Eric in and scrambled to get showered and dressed for their meeting. Thankfully, she’d put together the portfolio the night before, or it would have been even more of a mad dash. Getting things ready, she made a quick cup of instant coffee, and then they were out the door.

Everything was in a fog. Going on tour with a band, that’s something you fantasize about. Following them around the country, listening to all their performances. Since she didn’t play an instrument, it had been a fleeting and silly dream. But now it was a possibility, as long as the label thought her work was good enough. Half the time, she didn’t think anyone would want to see her work and the other half she knew they wouldn’t. This opportunity was daunting and exhilarating all at once.

Eric took the bag from her at her door and brought it down to the car for her, pulling Keira along. That zap of electricity between them and clenching feeling in her stomach was back. Whenever she was around him, it was like a live wire ran through her. Heart pounding, sweaty palms, and naughty thoughts often followed.

“Pretty swanky, huh?” she said, climbing into the car as Eric held the door open for her.

In the back of the town car her leg tapped against her bag. She’d packed a small suitcase to bring along to the meeting, at his instruction. If she got the gig, they’d be flying out that night and she didn’t want to have to come back to her apartment. She’d left a note asking for her roommates to stash her pictures until she came back. They’d been cool with her needing to leave the apartment, which she was grateful for, not that she couldn’t have paid them once her first paycheck came in—if she got the job.

“Now that I’m getting my own tour, it seems they are trying their best to woo me and keep me happy. Before it was broken down cars and the bus. Can’t say that I don’t mind a little spoiling.” He scooted in beside her and they were on their way. The minute they pulled up to the label’s building her palms started sweating. She was afraid her portfolio would slip out of her hands they felt so wet.

But here she was, in this office where the record label guy in a navy-blue hoodie, jeans and Converse sat behind the large desk glancing up at her every so often. Eric gave her little pats of reassurance on her arm whenever a frown would mar the man behind the desk’s face.

“So, you teach art?” he said, not looking up from the pad.

“Yes, I’ve been an art instructor at the community art classes at the local university for the past couple of years. I mainly focus on still life.”

“Has your work ever shown anywhere?”

“No, not really. I haven’t really had time for that. I would like to show some of my art in the future though,” she said, feeling like her shot was getting further and further away. He went back to flipping.

“How long would it take you to get enough shots to fill a book for the whole tour?” he said, still flipping.

“A few hours, depending on how many locations you wanted me to highlight,” she said, sitting up straighter in her chair.

“A tour is very busy, we don’t always have lots of time for you.”

“I’m more than happy to make whatever time she needs to get the right shots,” Eric said, trying to save her ass.

“Yes, but you’ll be doing press. Meet and greets, sound checks. We can’t have you tied up in this for that long,” he said, closing her portfolio and her chances of being able to make some serious money and go on the tour. She could catch a bus to visit Izzy for the summer. Regroup from there. Maybe start over in a new city.

“Do you think you’d be able to create a unique photo book taking the fans on a journey, touring with Eric Newcastle,” he asked, folding his hands on top of her pictures, staring directly at her.

“Absolutely!” She sat up straighter in her chair. “I promise you that I can. Give me a chance to get it done and you can be the judge.”

The navy-blue hoodie looked her up and down. His eyes focused in on where Eric’s hand was still on top of hers.

“Fine. We’ll give you a shot. You can do the first five dates of Eric’s time with Uncharted and we’ll go from there.”

“Thank you!” she gushed, turning and giving Eric a hug. “I promise, you will not be disappointed!” She stood to shake his hand across his massive desk. He handed her the portfolio back and shook her hand.

“Welcome to the tour, Ms. Weston. Don’t make me regret it.”

“You won’t, I promise you won’t.” Turning to Eric, she smiled so hard she thought her cheeks ached. He gave her a thumbs up and stood to walk her out.

“Eric, just a second,” the hoodie called out as he held the door open for her.

“Yeah?”

“I need to speak with you about something. Ms. Weston, if you would wait outside for a second. There’s something I need to discuss with Eric.”

“No problem,” she said, shaking with excitement about the chance she’d been given. Closing the door, she paced in the waiting area, freaking out about what just happened. She was going on tour with Eric Newcastle! She needed to dig her camera out, she needed to pack, she needed to figure out how in the hell to not screw this up!

* * *

The door closed behind Keira and Eric turned back to navy-blue hoodie. It was Greg or Graham, something like that. He had trouble keeping them all straight.

“Have a seat,” he said, motioning to the chair he’d just stood from. “I like this idea. I think it could have possibilities, but I also think that there are some other benefits we could have with inviting Keira on tour.”

“Benefits like what?”

“Keira is cute and this will head off any bad press that might have come up after the hotel incident the day before yesterday. I’m getting a bohemian vibe off her and she matches well with your personality. Coming off what happened with Talia.” Eric attempted to speak up, but Greg or Graham held up his hand. “Whatever happened it’s in the past. I’m not worried about that. But I think we can use it to your advantage. You said you had a single about Talia on the album, if we can get it recorded in time, right?”

The heat coursed through him and the boiling creep of red made its way up his neck and across his face, inflaming his cheeks, as embarrassment and anger at what she’d done brought back those ugly thoughts. He had yet to record the single, but once he did, he hoped it would be like his other songs, he could wash those feelings away and never think about her again.

“Yes,” he grumbled.

“Okay, great. Well when the single comes out people are going to start talking. And if they think you’ve had your heart broken by Talia that makes for good optics for the album release. And if you’ve left her behind and are now with someone new. Someone more on your wavelength, we think it could be good for your image. Talia was a bit too rough for your image to fit in with your fans. You had a broken heart, but now you’ve found someone you can connect with. It will play very well in the media. They’ll eat that crap up. Someone bohemian, artistic, and cute.”

“And you want me to do this pretend thing with Keira?”

“Yes, Keira! I saw the way you held her hand. You pitched her for this photography thing. And it will make these prints fly off the shelves even quicker if they think these are intimate moments between the two of you that are being shared. It all works out. You get the girl, Keira gets her art out there and the fans get to feel like they are a part of your heartbreak and recovery.”

“I don’t know if Keira will go for something like that.”

“What’s not to go for? You’re a good looking guy, she’s a good looking girl. Things like this happen on tour. Play it up for some photo ops and we’re golden. Then when your tour starts the love affair continues.”

“I’m not going to use Keira just for my image.”

“You don’t think she’s using you for hers? She’s raising her profile in a big way.” He didn’t like the idea of pushing this on her, but he had a feeling if he balked they wouldn’t back her for the job. What was a little harmless flirtation, if it got them all what they wanted? A buzz came through the phone on his desk. “Your next meeting is here,” came the disembodied voice.

“Anything else, Eric?” he said, looking up at him from over his steepled hands. Not wanting to screw up his big break, he decided to go with it. He liked her before the suggestion, he wanted her on tour. This would work out. No worries.

Keira perched on the edge of one of the couches, biting her bottom lip, leg tapping away wildly. She got him going in a way he couldn’t describe, just from the little bit of time they’d spent together. He could have spent all night talking to her at the bar. She was easy going and while she liked his music, she didn’t fangirl all over him, but there was something about the way she looked at him. He was blown away by her talent, seeing how she could bring someone to life on the page took his breath away.

They could keep things casual, but he looked forward to spending time with her on tour. Close quarters, lots of time on their hands, it was only a matter of time before he was able to convince her just how good they could be together. He’d wanted to taste her from the minute he saw her lips wrapped around the straw of her drink. He wanted to feel her under him. He didn’t know the last time he’d wanted someone as much as he wanted Keira.