He jerked away and cursed, yanking his phone out of his pocket and paling as he stared at the screen.
“Everything okay?”
He was quiet and then, “Yeah, I just… I need to take this soon, and then I need to punch something or get very, very drunk.”
I tensed up.
He smirked. “Kidding, I’m not going to spiral. Don’t worry. I just keep getting sidetracked and really need to change my number. And speaking of numbers, spiraling, and my job, wanna come to the studio tonight?”
My inner fangirl screamed. “The studio studio?”
With a sexy grin, he pulled me into his embrace and kissed my nose. “Think you can handle hanging out with a few washed-up rockstars while we record?”
On the outside, I was the epitome of cool.
On the inside, I was wearing my Drew Amhurst T-shirt, chugging Mountain Dew out of my Will Thermos and, painting an Adrenaline sign to hold while I screamed at the top of my lungs and sang every song by heart.
“Sure.” I managed a normal-looking — I hoped — shrug, though my voice sounded strained. “That could be… fun.”
Drew smirked and tilted my chin up toward him. “It’s so cute how hard you try…”
“Try?”
“…to stay calm,” he rasped, capturing my mouth in another rewarding kiss.
He had this way of kissing that I’d never experienced before. His lips slid from mine to my chin then my neck, and I was gripping the countertop with one hand, and his shoulder with the other as the pressure of his mouth nipped at my collarbone.
My head fell back.
And then both of his hands were on my hips, lifting my shirt just enough to expose some skin. “Is that a yes?”
What were we even talking about?
“Yes.” Was it even possible to say no to him? About anything?
“Mmm…” He abruptly pulled away.
I felt the loss in my fingertips. I craved his body heat almost as much as his kiss, craved his smell as much as the feel of his mouth on mine. I think the list would be a mile long of all the things Drew made me miss.
“Good, now I’m going to eat all the food so I can carb up for later, and before you say something like, ‘We’ll see’ or blush, know that we will be sleeping in the same bed later.” He paused. “I guess sleeping is probably the wrong word. Make sure you eat enough so that later tonight when it’s my time to have dessert, you’re not embarrassed by how loud your stomach’s growling while I have my tongue inside you reminding you of all the reasons you shouldn’t let me go.”
Stunned, I gulped and then nodded.
“Huh, so all I have to do is get bossy, and you agree with me?” He winked.
My daze lifted a bit as I snapped out of it. “Sometimes, it’s nice to have someone just make all the decisions for you. Besides, it’s exhausting trying to fight you.”
He barked out a laugh. “So, basically, I’m wearing you out already?”
“In the best way, though,” I teased, reaching for a plate.
He grabbed my wrist. “Sit. I can serve myself, and trust me, you’ll need all the energy for later.”
“You keep saying that like it’s a threat.”
“Oh, sweetheart…” He laughed. “…it really is.” And then he muttered, “Three years, three damn years, I’m surprised I haven’t just spontaneously combusted in the middle of the kitchen.”
“Fourteen years,” I countered.
His eyes heated. “Ask me.”
“Ask you wh-what?”
“Ask me to strip you naked next to the fridge.”
His eyes flashed, and then he was pressing me up against my own refrigerator. He pinned me against it then looked behind me with a grimace.
Slowly, he reached around my head, pulled a few of the photo magnets, and flipped them over onto the table. “We wouldn’t want to traumatize the kids.”
I giggled. “Yes, I’m sure that’s going to make Braden feel better. Don’t worry, champ. We flipped over the family magnets!”
“I don’t really care about Braden right now.” Drew pressed his body into mine. “Now let me kiss you until my food gets cold, let me drive you so insane with need that it’s all you can think about while we’re at the studio.”
I stared up into his blue eyes. “It’s all I can think about now.”
“It’s too bad I want to savor my first time with you. Otherwise, you’d be naked, panting my name.” His hard body slid against mine.
I let out a whimper.
“Over…” He rubbed. “…and over…” Again. “…and over.”
“Drew, Drew, Drew,” I panted and then grinned. “Sorry, just practicing.”
“Tease.” He nipped my lower lip. “I have a very addictive personality, you know…” His eyes searched mine.
His phone went off in his pocket. Again.
With a curse, he reached for it and then finally hung his head. “I gotta take this now. I’ll be right back.”
His expression was cold hard steel.
And everything in his body was tense.
There were two sides to Drew.
And he’d only shown me the one.
And that was what terrified me as I sat at the kitchen counter and tried to calm my racing heart.
Drew wanted to show me the happy.
And I wondered if he’d ever show me the jaded, the broken pieces that I knew existed beneath the surface.
Because as much as I was falling for this man, I wanted to fall for all of him, not just the parts he felt were safe enough for me to see.
He still wasn’t back, so I grabbed my phone and did the one thing I promised I would never do.
I googled Drew Amhurst.
And drugs.
I’d purposefully stayed away from social media since Braden started getting famous; besides, it was never fun reading rumors about your son’s sexcapades, even if they weren’t true.
I scrolled through with shaking hands and nearly dropped my phone when the first picture that popped up was one of Drew doing a line of coke with a famous supermodel.
Her top was blurred out because she was naked from the waist up.
The headline read, “Adrenaline Frontman Out of Control.”
The date was ten years ago.
I
