Tempt Me Like This

And then there was Drew’s father, Michael. Throughout the concert, she’d noticed him lowering his head to wipe his eyes. He was clearly so proud of Drew, and Ashley kept choking up herself as she watched him marvel over his talented son.

She hadn’t meant to listen in on any of their conversations, but since it was necessary to yell to be heard over the noise of the crowd between songs, she’d ended up catching snippets for the past couple of hours.

Sean to Justin: “How do you think Dad’s doing?”

Grant to their father: “Drew is even better now than he used to be, isn’t he? I’m pretty sure I know why.”

And Maddie to Olivia: “Wouldn’t it be great if Justin and Taylor started kissing out of the blue?”

That one had made Ashley laugh.

They were all so welcoming to Ashley, too, each of them going out of their way to include her in their conversations. It was so lovely to feel like a part of such a close family, even if it was just for a little while. With the way her parents had fought her whole life, the three of them had never been a particularly tight unit. Tonight gave her the tiniest taste of what Drew’s childhood must have been like. Yes, it was noisy. Sure, it was a little chaotic. But what fun he must have had with his brothers and sisters. The kind of fun Ashley had only ever wished for. Her mother, she knew, had wanted more kids. But that had never happened for her parents. If it had, would that have changed anything? Or would her parents have fought even more?

“Everything okay?”

Ashley surfaced from her thoughts as Olivia put a hand on her arm and looked at her with concern.

More than a dozen times throughout dinner with Drew’s family, Ashley had begun to reach for him, or to lean into his broad chest, or say something to him that only two lovers could possibly understand. All night it had been really, really hard to be in the same room with him without wanting to leap into his arms and kiss him. But each time she’d caught herself just in time.

And each time, she’d had to ask herself yet again why she was so darn scared to go public with their relationship. Sure, he was a huge star and she’d be subject to millions of people on the Internet asking one another how on earth he could have picked her. But Ashley had never much cared what other people thought of her, and even though she suspected it would hurt the first few thousand times a stranger commented online that Drew was way out of her league, she could figure out how to deal with that.

The answer she kept circling back to was the same one that had been there from the start—that she and Drew were too different to make it work. At least, beyond the bedroom, where they clearly worked in the most amazing way possible.

Only...were they really too different to see eye to eye in the long run?

Or was it just that watching her parents fight so long and hard all those years had colored her view of any relationship she might have been a part of and made her scared to risk her heart?

“I’m so glad you could come here tonight for Drew’s birthday,” she said in lieu of directly answering Olivia’s question. “He was so excited about seeing you, and I know how much he loves all of you.”

“We love him, too,” Olivia said. “It’s a big deal that he’s writing new songs again. Do you have any idea what the big change was that helped him finally break through his block?”

Drew’s sister had been perfectly nice, but was more aloof than the other Morrisons. Ashley understood aloof, having been called that more than once, but it was less that Olivia was shy...and more that she seemed to want to make absolutely sure Ashley didn’t take advantage of her brother in any way.

“I’m sure he’ll sit down with you soon to tell you all about his reasons,” Ashley said carefully.

Was Olivia looking at her approvingly for not giving away any of Drew’s secrets? Again, Ashley wasn’t sure quite what his sister was thinking as Olivia said, “But you know the reasons, don’t you?”

Ashley felt like a deer caught in headlights. Yes, she knew what Drew had told her—that she’d helped him see that it was okay to risk pursuing a new musical direction rather than continuing to tread the same hugely successful paths he had before. But she still wasn’t sure she believed that she could possibly have had such a big impact on him.

“I’ve always been a fan of his music, and it’s been really nice getting to know him better as a person. We’ve had a lot of time to talk on the bus.”

“You’ve been staying on his bus? Just the two of you?”

Too late, Ashley realized this was news to his sister. She knew what Olivia must be assuming—that they were sleeping together. The problem was, his sister was spot-on. And Ashley had never been any good at lying. “My father was really worried about me joining Drew’s tour. Your brother promised him that nothing would happen to me. That’s why Drew wanted me to be on his bus.”