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Six years ago, she would have squealed like the little girl she was to think about this moment. Three days ago, she wouldn’t have imagined it. Now she shifted her weight back and forth on the thick cream carpet, trying to summon the courage to knock. It was just a strategy session. He was just a client.
And he was also her celebrity no-way-it’s-ever-happening crush turned real-live-guy-who-might-break-my-heart. Staci had sent her a text earlier, basically warning her about this very thing.
Staci: Gird your heart tonight!
Reese: Isn’t the verse “guard your heart?”
Staci: Probably. But people are always saying you should gird your loins, so it seems like that might also apply.
Staci: Wait. Stop thinking about your loins!
Reese: I wasn’t. Til you brought them up.
Staci: Gird your heart and guard your loins! I’m pretty sure that’s Biblical.
Reese had laughed for a good few minutes about that last text. She missed Staci, even though being on tour was exciting. Maybe too exciting. She should definitely be taking that advice to heart, even if it was a little bit off.
The door swung open and she jumped back. Sterling smirked and leaned against the doorway. “Are you going to stand out there all night, or are you coming in?”
Reese hesitated, distracted by the way his muscles bunched under his thin, gray T-shirt. His hair looked like it was still wet from a shower. The scent of his cologne or body wash or whatever product he had on was giving her brain fog. “Um.”
“I’ve got candy, little girl …” His eyes crinkled with his teasing smile.
She giggled. “If by candy, you mean pizza, then yes, I’m coming in. Actually, I’d come in for candy too.”
Sterling moved out of the way, ushering her inside the suite. The spicy fresh scent filled her nose as she moved past him and she fought the urge to lean closer to him. Reese remembered suddenly how there was a rumor going around middle school that the cologne all the guys wore had some kind of pheromones in it to attract women. All men’s colognes seemed to have that. Save a few that were really stinky, Reese felt like all their scents were intoxicating. She should probably keep at least a table between them so she wouldn’t find herself climbing up into his lap or something. Especially now that he had lowered the drawbridge and opened the gates to let her in.
“I got us a bottle of wine. I know how much you like it,” Sterling said.
Never mind. Reese froze and turned her eyes to him slowly.
He couldn’t hold it together and bent over at the waist, laughing. “Your face! Priceless.”
“You don’t have wine?”
“No wine,” he said. “I don’t drink on tour. Not off tour either. And I would never supply you with alcohol after seeing what one glass of wine did to you. I swear, you were like a different person.”
“Yeah. Good thing I never drank in college. Who knows what would have happened to me?”
Reese had hardly looked around the room, distracted by Sterling’s bad idea of a joke. She whistled, looking around the spacious room. He had said it was like an apartment and it was. Bigger than the apartment she currently lived in with Staci. With a clean, modern feel and high-end finishes in the open space. Dark wood, plush carpets, and sleek, modern accessories made it look like money.
Through an open doorway Reese saw a bedroom with a king-sized bed and a few clothes rumpled on the floor. There was a kitchenette, a bar, and a living area with an enormous flat-screen TV. A few pizzas sat on a long dining room table with wood and upholstered legs. Across the room, double glass doors led out to a balcony.
“What did you do with that picture you made me sign, by the way?”
Reese set down her laptop bag on the table, trying not to meet his eyes. “Oh, I’m sure I have it somewhere.”
“Reese, look at me.” Humor colored his voice.
“Hm?” She glanced over and he held her gaze, a half-smile creeping up his face.
“You know exactly where the picture is. Bedside table? Fireplace mantel?”
“You’re impossible. I’ll have you know that it’s in my closet.”
He looked offended. “You put a picture of me in your closet?”
“Yep. Along with all the other pictures of guys I’m stalking. Is this pizza for show or can I eat?”
