Page 89 of Solo

“I can think of a few other things I’d like to put in your hot little hand,” I mutter and am rewarded with the thwap! of a pillow to the head. I give her a sheepish grin. “Can’t blame a guy for trying.”

I’m relieved to see her like this, decompressing instead of deconstructing. I was afraid her run-in with that creep journalist—not that he even deserves that title—would leave her a mess. And maybe she is a little shaken, but she seems to feel safe here with me. And I like that. A lot.

She sits down on the edge of the bed and surveys her surroundings.

“This is a really nice room.”

“Thanks. It doesn’t get used very often.”

“I was surprised Danny Gillies wouldn’t be using it tonight. Didn’t you invite him to stay when you asked him to come and watch me conduct?” she asks pointedly.

Oh. So, I guess we’re doing this now.

“I did offer. But you heard him, he has breakfast plans in the morning.”

“Why did you ask him to come, Drew?”

The question isn’t an accusation, so much as a curiosity and I’m relieved by that. I’ve been afraid she’d be angry that I took the liberty of asking my friend to come without consulting her first.

“You know why,” I say quietly, holding her icy-blue gaze with my own. When she doesn’t reply, I sit next to her on the mattress.

“He’s a nice guy,” she says at last.

“He is. And he was very taken with you.”

“You mean because we’re…together,” she deduces. Incorrectly.

“No. Not because ‘we’re together.’ Not because we’re anything. You blew him away with your conducting. Hell, Katherine, you blew me away with your conducting.”

She looks at me out of the corner of her eye.

“Really? You swear?”

I wrap an arm around her and pull her to me, resting my chin atop her silky dark hair. It smells like lilacs today.

“I swear it. And I’m sorry, I should have asked you first. Honestly, I wasn’t even going to tell you he was there. But you were struggling. I wasn’t sure if knowing he was there would make things better or worse, but I rolled the dice. And it seems to have paid off.”

She nods underneath my head and then, with absolutely no warning, Katherine hurls herself at me, knocking me flat on my back on the bed.

“Hey, what’s up with that?” I laugh.

She climbs on top of my waist and straddles me, looking down with those enormous blue eyes and perfect porcelain skin. Her lashes must be more than an inch long.

She reaches down and puts a hand to my cheek.

“Thank you for tonight—for Danny. And thank you for coming to get me, Drew. I was really scared.”

“I know. And you don’t have to thank me. I’m just so relieved that the bastard didn’t hurt you.”

I feel my heart rate quicken with the thought of him touching her.

“I think he might have, if he’d had the chance,” she admits quietly and I see now how scared she was.

“Katherine, why didn’t you report him the first time, when he locked you in his car?”

Her turn to shrug.

“Because usually the threat of police is enough to scare them off. But this guy, he’s more aggressive than most. The less-reputable guys often are, and they can get a little pushy. Physically, I mean. But I’ve never had any of them actually assault me physically like that before.”