And everything to do with needing to kiss him again more than she needed to take her next breath.
The security guard stationed outside Drew's dressing room knew her on sight and smiled. "Go on in. He's expecting you."
This world of backstage bodyguards that had once seemed so foreign to her was now practically normal. When she'd joined Drew's tour, she'd had no idea just how far and wide her education would go--on all fronts, both business and personal.
She'd barely opened the dressing room door when she was yanked inside. Her breath went as Drew simultaneously pulled her into his arms and locked the door behind her. His mouth crashed into hers a beat later, his kiss ravenous. Desperate.
Perfect.
His hands roving greedily over her body aroused her just as much as his lips did. God, she loved stroking her tongue across his. Loved, too, the rough, raw, seriously yummy sound of his groan as she kissed him back just as greedily.
"There were too many hours without you today, Ash." His hands gripped her hips tightly, holding her flush against him as if he didn't want any space there at all. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too." She wanted to kiss him again, but first she needed to know, "How was your recording session?"
"Really good. But it would have been better if you were there. Everything is better when you're there."
The next thing she knew, he was lifting her up, then placing her on the table in front of the mirror. He was so much bigger than she was, and so strong, that he was able to pick her up as if she weighed nothing at all. He slid off her jean jacket so that he could run hot kisses over every inch of the bare skin of her shoulders and arms that he'd just revealed.
She only had two dresses--the simple white one she'd been wearing when she fell into the pool and the fancier pink one Valentina had given her. When he began to run his hands slowly up from her bare calves, she was really glad she'd decided to wear the white dress tonight. There truly was nothing as good as Drew's hands on her skin. Only his mouth could trump it.
"You taste so good," he murmured against her lips as he slid his hands up to her thighs. "I need to taste more of you. Now."
There was nothing she wanted more than for Drew to do just that. But the good girl still hovering inside of her couldn't help but remind him, "You're on in five minutes."
"I know," he said as he knelt on the ground in front of her and slipped his fingers beneath the sides of her panties, "but I won't be able to make it through my show tonight if I don't get to at least taste you now."
She helped him lift her hips so that he could draw the fabric down her legs and off over her feet. Yes, the clock was ticking, but so was her body--a sensual bomb that was on the verge of detonation. Just as soon as Drew--
Oh God.
His mouth.
His tongue.
His hands.
Her head fell back against the mirror behind her as she tried to remember that there were people outside the dressing room who would hear her if she moaned too loudly. But as Drew's tongue and fingers played over her sex like the maestro that he was, it was nearly impossible to keep her pleasure to herself.
"Gorgeous." He whispered the word against her overheated skin. "Mine."
That final word--along with the perfect flick of his tongue--was all it took for her to start breaking apart. She threaded her hands into his hair and, through her lashes, stared in wonder at the beautiful man kneeling between her legs.
"Yours," she gasped as he drew her orgasm out with both his mouth and fingers.
After the last blissful aftershock had finally rumbled through her, Drew looked up at her with eyes so dark with heat and full of intense desire that she lost her breath all over again. She searched her pleasure-drenched brain for something to say that would let him know just how good he made her feel.
But just then, a loud knock sounded on the door. "It's James. They're ready for you out there, Drew."
Drew didn't rush to head to the stage. Instead, he threaded his hands into her hair and kissed her again. His kiss was still hungry, but alongside desire was so much emotion it overwhelmed her. Or maybe it was tasting herself on his lips, his tongue, that pushed her into overload territory.
All she knew was that, for a moment, she felt as though she were drowning. She simply didn't have enough experience with things like this to know what to think or how to feel about everything that was happening. Especially not when it was all happening so darn fast.
Drew helped her down from the table and gently smoothed her skirt over her bare skin. When she walked out of the dressing room, would people be able to guess what had happened just from looking at her? Or would she still look like the good girl she'd been up until approximately twenty-four hours ago?
"Do you have any idea how happy you make me, Ash?"
Louder knocks sounded. "Drew," James called, "you've got sixty seconds to get your ass out there before the audience starts to lose it."
He gave her one last kiss, and the last thing she saw was his huge grin before he headed out the door to go and be a rock star.
Without his arms around her, her legs felt wobbly. The truth was, her insides did, too. Not because Drew had made her feel anything other than special and precious...but exactly for that reason. He seemed to care about her so much on all fronts--not only when they were making love, but when they were talking about business or family, too. And she'd never felt this good, or this happy, before.
But she remembered hearing her mother saying to her father once how happy she was. That happiness had quickly spun toward hatred because her parents were so different.
Standing in the dressing room, Ashley knew she should be heeding those memories. She shouldn't be forgetting the hard-learned lessons of her childhood and giving herself so wholly, so completely to someone so very different from herself. But letting down her guard for a couple of days--or weeks--wouldn't destroy her, would it? Their connection was intense and wonderful, and of course she hoped they'd remain friends even after the tour was over. And at least she wasn't foolish enough to think that what was between them now would last forever.
With a now that was this utterly, blissfully, mind-blowingly incredible, couldn't she let herself enjoy every second of it without letting her worries and concerns get the best of her? Especially since it had been only twenty-four hours since making love with Drew for the first time.
She heard the screams of the crowd amp up and knew he must have just taken the stage. Not wanting to miss a second of his show, she looked for her underwear so that she could put it back on and head out of the room. But she couldn't find them anywhere. Had Drew taken her panties with him when he left to go play his show?
Between knowing she was bare beneath her skirt as she headed toward the stage with the security guard silently accompanying her--and wondering if Drew actually was on stage with her panties in his pocket--her arousal immediately ramped back up.
Throughout the show, one that was so spellbinding she felt as if she were watching him perform for the very first time, Drew's gaze kept returning to her again and again, just the way it had during his interviews that morning. She blushed even more tonight than she had then. Blushed and fantasized about all the ways she wanted to give Drew pleasure, just as he'd given her so much pleasure again and again.
She'd known she was pretty darn innocent before she and Drew had made love, but every time they'd come together had only proven it more. Every delicious moment in Drew's arms was an epiphany.
"He's on fire tonight, isn't he?" James asked in the space between songs.
His question broke through her naughty thoughts, and her cheeks flamed at the way she was standing backstage mentally stripping off Drew's clothes. Just because she knew every other woman in the audience was doing the same thing didn't make her any less cool-headed about it.
"He really is." Drew's show tonight was truly spectacular, as if he had unearthed a new and even bigger well of creativity on stage in the same way that he seemed
to have found his writing mojo.
"Like I said before, you're good for him, Ashley. He hasn't been happy in a long time. Not until you showed up."
Ashley wasn't egotistical--or delusional--enough to think that Drew's huge breakthrough had come about entirely because of her. But she was beyond happy that she might have played at least a small part in helping him feel better about everything. "He deserves to be happy."
"So do you," James said as the next song started up.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Two hours later, she was about to head back toward the meet-and-greet rooms when James told her, "They're a little behind on setting up for the fans tonight. Can you let Drew know he's got fifteen minutes before he needs to head back?"
Drew's guitar was still slung around his neck when he walked over to Ashley, the hunger in his eyes barely banked. She wanted to reach for him, wanted to kiss him, but she couldn't do any of that and still keep what they were doing a secret.
"You have fifteen minutes before they'll be ready for you to meet your fans." She'd never been the aggressor before, but just as he'd said he'd never make it through the show if he didn't get at least a taste of her, she suddenly knew she'd never make it through the meet and greet if she didn't get a taste of him.
Thank God they seemed to be of one mind as they headed toward his dressing room. Ashley could barely keep herself from sprinting.
Before the show, as soon as she'd walked through his dressing room door, he'd pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Now it was her turn to pull his mouth down to hers. "Drew." His name fell from her lips again and again between passionate kisses. But even though she loved kissing him, it wasn't enough. Not tonight when fifteen minutes with him felt like such a huge gift.
The cautious good girl that she'd been up until last night would have been shocked by everything she'd already done with Drew tonight. And she would have been utterly astonished by everything she wanted to do with him now. But her desire for Drew was stronger than her worries and feelings of emotional overload, at least for one more night.
She put just enough space between them to reach for his guitar strap and lift it over his head. She couldn't resist pulling off his shirt while she was at it--nor could she stop herself from lowering her mouth to his sweat-dampened skin. He groaned as she licked his chest.
Though she'd never done anything like this before, it somehow seemed perfectly natural to drop to her knees on the cement floor in front of Drew.
"Ash..." He threaded his hands into her hair as she looked up at him. "You're so damned beautiful."
She pressed a kiss over his stomach, and his muscles rippled beneath her tongue as it snaked over to lick his salty skin. "So are you. I want to see more of you." She reached for his belt. "I need to see more of you."
But instead of letting her undo his buckle, he moved one hand from her hair to hold both of hers still. "You don't have to do this."
Everything she'd done with him beyond kissing had been new. New and wonderful. Just as she instinctively knew this would be.
"Before the show, you said you wouldn't make it through without getting a taste of me first. That's how I feel right now. If I don't get to taste you before the meet and greet, I'll combust."
She moved her hands back to his buckle, and this time he let her undo it. Last night on the bus she'd gotten to see his naked body for the first time, but not like this. Not up close, with the dressing room lights on to illuminate every hard inch of him. Ashley held her breath as she pulled his zipper down, breathless with anticipation instead of the nerves she'd always assumed she would feel if she ever got into this position with a guy. He helped her tug his jeans down and, finally, he was hard and hot and gorgeous, right where she wanted him.
She couldn't wait to wrap her fingers around his thick length, and his rough groan reverberated through the room as she immediately pressed her lips to him, too.
"Ash..."
She licked him from base to tip once, then twice, then again, and her excitement grew with every stroke of her tongue. She'd never before known the pleasures of being naughty. Never before imagined all the ways there were to feel good and to make a man feel good.
Not until Drew grabbed her hand--and her heart--and took her into this amazing new world.
She was smiling as she looked up at him. "How many times do you think this has happened in here? A hundred? A thousand?" Maybe the thought shouldn't have excited a good girl like her, but it did.
Probably because she wasn't quite so good anymore...
"Never like this." His words rasped from his throat. "Never with anyone as beautiful as you, Ash. Never with anyone as sweet." She licked another line of heat up his hard flesh a beat after he'd called her sweet. "Never with anyone as sexy." His hands threaded into her hair. "Never with anyone who makes me feel so good in every way."
And it was true...all she wanted was to make him feel good. As good as he'd made her feel right before the show. As good as he was making her feel right now while he stared down at her with dark, hungry, awe-filled eyes.
She opened her mouth to take him deep, as deep as she possibly could, but the next thing she knew, he was lifting her up from the floor. "I need to have you. All of you."
She felt the cold wooden door against her back a moment later, and then the deliciously hard weight of his body pressing into her as he kissed her as though it had been years since he'd last kissed her instead of mere minutes.
Even though they'd only first made love yesterday, wrapping her legs around his waist and moving her hips into his felt like the most natural, perfect thing in the world now. As natural as breathing. And when he tugged the skirt of her dress up around her waist with one hand, then positioned himself at her core--still bare without her panties--she lowered her mouth to scrape her teeth over the muscles flexing at his shoulder.
Oh God, it felt so good to have him slide his rock-hard length against her, and she was already mindless with pleasure even before he took her.
But then, he suddenly stopped with a rough curse. "I haven't been with anyone in months, Ash. I swear. Not since..."
"Shhh." She pressed her lips against his so he wouldn't have to go back to that dark place. Not tonight. "I believe you." And she really did. Because even though she knew he'd had plenty of sexual experience in his life, she could also feel just how special their connection was.
"Are you on birth control?"
"No. But I--"
Now he was the one saying, "Shhh," and kissing her. "I'll always protect you. Always."
It was their word, she realized. Always. A word that thrilled her just as much as it frightened her. Because while there was nothing she wanted more...it was also the one thing she had the hardest time believing in.
Could there really be an always for her and Drew?
But almost more frightening was that when she was with him, she got so wrapped up in her desire--and in the emotion that swamped her every time he looked into her eyes and told her how much she meant to him--that she forgot to be safe. Forgot all about condoms and birth control. Forgot that he was a hugely famous star. Forgot everything but how much she wanted him. How much she needed him.
But after he put on protection, he didn't just take her. Instead, he looked into her eyes and simply held both of them in place for several long moments in which her breath caught and her heart raced. Last night he'd asked her again and again if she was okay, if he was pushing her too fast or too hard, and it was obvious to her that he needed to know the same thing now. And while she couldn't predict the future, there was no question at all that this one precious moment with Drew was better than anything she could ever have imagined.
And she would never forgive herself if she didn't appreciate every single second of bliss.
Her mouth curved up at the exact moment that she shifted her hips and took him into her body in one glorious plunge. His eyes first widened, then closed as he moved his hands to her hips and dragged her even closer. Her head f
ell back against the door, and he pressed his lips to the open arch of her neck to run nipping kisses across her skin as they thrust into each other.
She could feel the beginnings of a climax so good, and so strong, that she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep holding on without his help. "Please," she begged as she rocked and rubbed against him, "I need--"
But it turned out he already knew. Because before she could even get the rest of her sentence out, he drove into her at just the perfect angle to send her rocketing into an explosive orgasm. He was barely a heartbeat behind her, holding her hips so tightly that there was no way she could possibly fall and groaning her name against her neck as he buried his face there and sucked on her sensitive skin, making her release feel as if it were going on forever.
She didn't know how long they held on to each other, both of them breathing hard. All she knew was that she never wanted to let go. Never wanted to come back to reality.
And definitely didn't want to hear the knock on the door that came just then. The knock that meant her way-too-brief idyll with Drew was over because he had a job to do. A job that meant everything to him. A job that made such a huge difference to all of his fans' lives.
"They must be waiting for you in the meet-and-greet rooms."
He didn't move for a few moments, just kept holding her. Finally, he pulled back and said, "You'll come with me?"
She nodded, but waited until they'd both put their clothes to rights and he was just about to open the door before saying, "I know we talked about keeping things private yesterday. We're still on the same page with that, right?"
God, she hated needing to confirm this right after they'd been so intimate--but the only time she could think straight was when he wasn't touching her, wasn't kissing her. She'd just been so caught up in him that she'd almost made love without protection. Just as she should have been more careful with her body, now she needed to make sure she was being vigilant with her heart.
He didn't answer right away, simply looked at her with an expression she couldn't quite read. Well, that wasn't exactly true. She knew he wasn't happy that she wanted to keep their relationship a secret from everyone. Yesterday he'd told her he'd do it if that's what she wanted. Had he changed his mind?