“Anytime, babe.” He kissed me on the cheek.
If his bandmates were surprised by his impromptu performance, they didn’t show it. My friends took seats and eagerly watched.
He started with Sex on the Beach before breaking into a new one called Water Walks. It didn’t take long to realize that one was about me too. There was something so incredible about discovering you’ve influenced someone’s music. Still, I couldn’t get into the songs too much. I had no idea how he was going to react to my news.
After three songs, Chase put down his guitar. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to.”
Mallory laughed. “Yeah, I’m surprised you even made it this long.”
“Me too.” Chase took my arm and pulled me toward one set of doors. I took a deep breath as Chase closed and locked the doors behind us.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” He brushed my hair back from my face.
“I have something to tell you.”
“Huh? By your response to seeing me, I’m going to assume you aren’t interested in ending things…?”
“No, nothing that drastic. It’s just bad timing tonight.”
“Bad timing?” He wrinkled his brow until his whole face relaxed. “Oh. It’s that time of the month?”
“Yeah… it came a few days early.”
“Oh. That’s okay. Obviously, it’s a little disappointing, but you’re still here. We still have a night to hang out in person.” He took my hand and led me over to the bed. “And I still get to hold you all night.”
“Really? You’re that cool with it?” I sighed with relief. Sex during my period was not on my to-do list.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because we can’t have sex.”
“Yeah, but like I said, I still get to hold you.” He lay down and pulled me down next to him. “And that’s worth a lot to me.”
“You’re awesome.” I snuggled against him.
“You are too, so it all works out.” He played with a few strands of my hair. “Let’s play a game.”
“What?” I leaned up on one elbow.
“Usually when we’re together, we’re too busy doing other things.” He raised an eyebrow. “I figure this is the perfect time to learn even more about each other.”
“And we have to do that in a game?”
“Why not?” He shifted to look at me better. “I’ll go first. I’ll ask you a question. If you don’t answer you have to do a dare. Got it?”
I laughed. “Like truth or dare?”
“Maybe.” He smiled. “You ready?”
“Okay.” I tried not to get nervous. There weren’t any questions I was afraid to answer.
“What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”
“My favorite ice cream flavor? That’s my truth?”
“You can tell a lot about someone by the ice cream they prefer. Besides, I need to know for future reference.”
“Chocolate chip cookie dough.”
“Oh, you’re one of those girls?” He poked my side.
“There’s a type of girl who likes chocolate cookie dough ice cream?”
“Sure. I mean it is the best kind after all.”
“Wait, it’s your favorite too?”
He laughed. “Wow, you’re actually excited. See, I knew this game would be fun.”
“Surprisingly so. My turn.”
He put his hands behind his head. “Let me have it.”
“Fly or drive?”
“Drive if I have the time and company.”
I felt the same way. “Because you get to see more of the country that way. It’s more real. You really understand how a location fits into the greater picture.”
“And now I know you can read minds.”
I laughed. “Not quite, but we seem to have a lot of random things in common.”
“We both also like each other. That’s convenient too.”
“Just a little.”
We spent the entire night talking. It felt so good to curl up in his arms and actually feel his body next to mine.
“I’m so glad you came.” He kissed me lightly as we watched the sun rise the next morning.
“Me too. Hopefully we can time things better next time.”
“I’d like that—but I also liked this. It doesn’t always have to be about the sex.”
“Sometimes I wonder if you’re real.”
“Oh? Do I seem fake?” He ran a hand down my bare stomach. Our shirts hadn’t lasted long the night before. In fact, we’d ended up in just underwear fairly quickly. Neither of us wanted anything more than necessary separating us.
“More like too good to be true.” I traced my hand down his chest.
“Just so you know, you fall into that category too.”
“Only a few more weeks until I see you again.”
“I know.” He pulled me on top of him. “This was a very nice treat to hold me over though.”
“I like being a treat for you.”
He laughed. “You always are, babe. You always are.”
Chapter Seventeen
By the time we got back from the Tennessee trip, it was already time to start preparing for the next radio show. Since this was our first official Sleeping with the Band segment, we wanted it to be perfect. I was excited to do another show, but I knew my friends were relying on me to get everything spot on. Hopefully, I could get the same relaxed, natural feel the second time around. Pearberry promised to be an interesting guest, and I wasn’t worried about dealing with the girls, but Jimmy—AKA eyeliner guy— was pretty creepy. I wasn’t looking forward to talking girls with him.
Jade and Kyle were already set up by the time I arrived at the studio. Kyle handed me a latte before I even sat down. Clearly he knew me.
“Is everything ready?” I assumed they knew I wouldn’t be much help with the technical side of things yet.
“Pretty much. Just a few things to discuss.” Jade got all business-like all of a sudden.
“The band heard Maddox’s show, so they know what to expect. They specifically asked if it would follow the same format.”
“Great.” I sipped my latte. I wasn’t sure if the guests being prepared was good or not. On one hand, I didn’t have to worry about offending them, but maybe the first one went well because I caught Maddox off guard. I refused to stress out. It would just make things worse.