Eric stepped out of the bedroom, and grabbed Keira’s bag from the living area. Steve, their driver, introduced himself. He’d been on the road crew with Uncharted before, so Eric had met him a few times.

“When are we heading out?” he asked, as Steve plopped down in the driver’s chair.

“About twenty minutes, so if you’re going to send her on her way, you’ll need to make it a quickie,” he grumbled, pulling up a map on his navigation console.

“It’s not like that, man. She’s not a groupie. That’s Keira. She’ll be on tour with us until my solo tour starts.” Steve glanced up at him, eyebrow raised and gave him a single nod.

“Okay, then. We head out in twenty, make sure you go over the bus rules with her and we’ll be good to go.”

“Thanks. Night, Steve,” he said, walking back to the bedroom. He knocked once and handed her bag over when she popped her head out of the door.

“Thanks! Is everything okay?”

“Yes, we’re leaving in twenty minutes, so if you’re not used to going to the bathroom on a moving bus, you might want to take care of that now.”

“Good idea,” she said, before scampering off to the bathroom. He went to his duffle, using the sniff test to figure out which clothes were clean and which were dirty. Damn, he needed to do laundry. Keira came back into the bedroom, face freshly washed and still looking as beautiful as before.

“Bathroom is all yours,” she said, gesturing to the hall and putting her things on top of the dresser.

Shaking his head, he grabbed his duffle and headed into the bathroom.

* * *

Keira sat on the bed, pulled out her pajamas and sent a quick text to her sister.

Keira: Officially on tour!

Izzy: With the circus? Always knew you were a secret juggler :D

Keira: Nope, I am the official artist accompanying Eric Newcastle on his tour.

The delivered notification barely had time to register before her phone vibrated in her hand.

“You’re the what? For who?” her sister screeched. She couldn’t hold back the laugh at her sister’s response. Keira wasn’t exactly known as the daredevil of the family.

“I’m a touring artist with a new singer, Eric Newcastle.”

“But..but,” Izzy stammered.

“I told you I’d take care of the summer classes thing. This job will pay more than enough to weather my rent situation and any other expenses that come up. It might even give me enough to take some time off and work on my photography in the fall.” Her sister exhaled a deep breath.

“You did say you would take care of it.”

“Yes, I did. See, I wasn’t lying when I said I could handle myself.”

“I’m glad, Keira. I wouldn’t have thought you would go for something like that. I’m proud of you, Keke.” Her chest puffed out at her sister’s compliment. Izzy loved her, but she didn’t exactly hand out praise easily. She was like the Simon Cowell of life. For her to say it, meant a lot to her.

“So, tell me all about it. How’s it been so far?”

“We only just arrived on tour a little bit ago. But we flew here on a private jet,” she said, taking her clothes off to get changed.

“A what?!” Izzy screeched. Keira pulled the phone away from her ear.

“Are you trying to blow out my ear drums?” she chuckled.

“You flew on a private jet?”

“I know, right. I had to pinch myself to make sure it was real.”

“Talk about landing on your feet,” Izzy grumbled. The door on the other end of the line slammed open and her sister’s muffled voice came through on the other line.

“Hello?”

“Hey, it’s cool. My new neighbor heard me scream and thought something was wrong.”

“New neighbor, huh?”

“Yup.”

“Is it a guy?”

“Yes,” her sister said, drawing it out.

“Is he single?” Please let him be single.

“As far as I can tell,” Izzy said, pretending to be nonchalant. She could hear the interest in her voice.

“Is he hot?” she said, leaning in, even though her sister was a thousand miles away. Oh this was getting good. Her sister hadn’t been interested in anyone in a long time.

“Ridiculously,” her sister said, almost annoyed that she had a hot, single new neighbor.

“Is he still there, right now?” She said, laughing. Izzy had a great poker face, she was sure this poor guy had no idea what was going on. But she hoped Izzy went for it with the hottie neighbor. She needed a little hot, sexy loving and soon.

“Uh huh.”

“Well, I’ll let you get back to that situation.”

“No situation. But call me later, I want to hear all about how you ended up scoring this gig.”

“Will do. Tell Amy I said I love her and I’ll talk to you both later.” And she did. She missed them both so much. Maybe she’d be able to swing a trip to visit soon.

“Night, Keke.”

“Night, Izzy.”

Quickly changing into her tank top and pajama shorts, Keira crawled under the covers. The excitement of the day finally closing in on her, she settled herself against the headboard, waiting for Eric. She tried to stay up to talk to him and set some ground rules for them on tour, but the soft pillows against her back demanded a snuggle. She sunk down in the bed and wrapped her arms around them yawning.

She’d just close her eyes for a little bit. Resting them until Eric was finished. Or maybe tomorrow. Yeah, she vowed to set things on the right track with Eric in the morning when she had her head on straight. Tomorrow. They could sort everything out tomorrow. The clouds masquerading as pillows had Keira’s eyes shut in record time and she didn’t even remember falling asleep.

* * *

He threw his duffle on one of the bunks outside the bedroom, next to his prized guitar, Vicki. It was one of the last things he’d had from his dad before he split. He should have wanted to bash that thing to pieces and never see it again, but he used it to remember the good times. The times they’d had before his dad ran out on the family.

Digging through his bag, he knew there were some clean boxers in there somewhere. Giving a few pairs the sniff test, nearly knocking himself out with one particularly ripe pair. It must have been from a show night. He found a clean one and wrenched open the bathroom door. Sleeping next to Keira was sure to wreak havoc on him, but he’d suffer through it.

It was pure dumb luck that he’d get to sleep next to her again tonight. The memo must not have gotten around that he’d be bringing a photographer on tour and, apparently they hadn’t thought they would need to put sheets on the bunks. Whoever had made that screw up would be getting a bottle of whiskey as a reward in the morning. After getting changed, he popped out his contacts and debated whether or not to wear his glasses. He never wore his glasses out in public, not since high school and even then, he did it only in extreme emergencies. They definitely didn’t lay the ground work for the seduction he’d hoped for. He’d go along with Keira’s plan of professionalism, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t wear her down.

Knowing that he would literally be wandering around the room with his hands out in front of him, searching for the Keira sized blob if he didn’t wear them, he grimaced and grabbed them out of the glasses case. Sliding those coke bottle frames onto his face, the familiar weight of them meant he could see where he was going. Gathering his clothes and shoving them into one of the bunks, he knocked on the bedroom door. No response, he listened for movement.

“Keira? Are you decent?” Still no response. He cracked open the door, ready for a shoe to the face for walking in on her again. Instead, he found her under the covers, fast asleep in the bed, her chest rising and falling steadily, a gentle snore coming from her mouth.

He smiled and took his glasses off, putting them beside him on the nightstand. He had to stop ending up in bed with her when she was already knocked out. Her light brown curls were fanned out all over the bed, spread out like a delicious wet dream waiting to be completed. His mouth went dry and his shaft thickened taking in her uninhibited beauty. Wishing he had her artistic ability to capture what she saw in front of her, he settled for what he knew and picked up his notepad, perching on the edge of the bed, so as not to disturb her.

The lyrics and rhythm flowed through him as he sat there and observed her, so fast he couldn’t grab them to get them down on the paper. So, sweet and bright, her sunniness was one of the things he’d been drawn to. Previously, he’d thought that the temperamental woman who exuded angst fit the type of passion he needed to create his music. The conflict and angst feeding into the creative energy, that’s how he’d ended up with Talia. But Keira, she was so open, so joyful, not afraid to show just how excited and happy she was about something. It was refreshing and made him appreciate things he took for granted. She put him at ease and made it easier to create around her. He wasn’t afraid of her judgement and it already unlocked something in him that he’d been afraid to let out and she’d been around for less than two days.

Watching her sleep, he scribbled down thoughts and as they raced through his head. The melody and beat hadn’t come to him yet, but the words flowed from the end of his pen and filled two pages in record time. Not wanting her to wake up with him staring at her and scribbling frantically, he set the notebook on the bedside table and pulled the covers up over her shoulders.

Turning off the light, the bed dipped as he climbed in beside her. Keira grumbled in her sleep and rolled toward him. He froze, his breath catching as her hair brushed against his arm. Her previous declaration that they would keep things strictly business hadn’t deterred him. He couldn’t imagine what was going through her head, but he was sure she didn’t want to jeopardize her work. He’d just have to convince her that it wouldn’t be an issue. They could keep things professional and still enjoy each other’s company. She sighed beside him and flung her arm over her head, nearly whacking him in the face. He grinned and moved her arm back down. He squeezed the pillow behind his head and settled in, closing his eyes.

His eyes snapped open at the gentle caress of her fingers on his chest. She snuggled in deeper next to him, murmured, and rested her head on his chest. She let out another sleepy sigh and rubbed her cheek against his chest. His skin heated up and another part of his anatomy swelled as the weight of her head shifted on his chest, her hair tickling him. Craning his neck, he breathed in her scent. She smelled like lilacs and other deliciousness. She sighed and he leaned his head back against the pillow and wrapped his arm around her. Maybe she wasn’t as wary of getting close to him as she said when she was awake. He’d take what he could get at this point and make her see how good they could be together.