In any case, it was just as well that she hadn’t brought anything special to wear since so many of the girls and women who had been freaking out over Drew yesterday were beautiful. Stunningly so, in some cases. He could have his pick of any of them, so there wasn’t even the slightest chance that he’d want her.
Besides, whether or not Drew would ever be attracted to her was utterly irrelevant. She was here to do research for her business school application. Period.
Speaking of putting her clothes on straight, however, as Ashley went to get dressed, she was dismayed to realize she’d brought in her jeans and T-shirt, but had forgotten her bra and panties. It looked like she was actually going to have to walk out of the bathroom naked. Nearly naked, anyway, with only one of the towels hanging on the rack wrapped around her. It was still well before five a.m., though, so she figured if she was quick, odds were pretty much nil that Drew would catch her making a mad dash over the handful of feet between the bathroom and where she’d stashed her bags in the little closet behind her bunk.
The mirror over the sink wasn’t quite long enough for her to make sure the towel actually covered her breasts and hips, but she was pretty certain it did. She opened the door a crack and peered out, confirming the coast was clear. A moment later, she flung the door open, went racing across the bus to her suitcase...
...and ran straight into Drew.
His chest was so hard it was like running into a brick wall. The air whooshed from her lungs as she started to ricochet back from him.
“Whoa.” He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “I’ve got you.”
But by then she was also working to steady herself by putting her hands on his chest. Which meant that she wasn’t holding on to her towel any longer. A towel that had fallen.
All the way to the ground.
Oh God. I’m naked in Drew Morrison’s arms.
She froze, unable to remember how to breathe or think or do anything but stare up at him in shock.
“Are you okay, Ashley?”Do you want me to kiss you, Ashley?
Wait, no, that wasn’t what he’d just said. She scrunched her eyes shut and willed her synapses to start firing again. “I didn’t mean to nearly knock you over,” she said when her brain, and her lips, finally came unstuck. “I forgot something in my bag, so I thought I’d make a run for it from the bathroom. I didn’t think you’d be up yet.”
“I couldn’t sleep.” His deep voice made shivers run up her spine. Or maybe it was the fact that she was still slightly damp...and naked in the middle of his tour bus. Drew’s fingers tensed ever so slightly on her shoulders as he added, “Your towel fell. I should let you put it back on.” It sounded like he was having trouble catching his breath, even though she was the one who’d been rushing. “I should probably let you put your clothes on, too, shouldn’t I?”
She finally chanced a look up at his face and swallowed hard at what she saw in his eyes. Something that looked like desire. Which, she quickly told herself, would have likely been any guy’s reaction to being barreled into by a naked woman first thing in the morning, wouldn’t it?
“That—” Her throat felt hot and scratchy, and she stopped to clear it. The one small movement made her naked curves brush against his muscles...and so much heat exploded inside her body that she nearly forgot what she had been about to say. “That would be great.” God, it was so hard to breathe right now. Almost as hard as Drew’s chest, where her hands were still splayed. “If you could just close your eyes for a few seconds...”
“Good idea. I’ll close my eyes so that you can cover up.” But for a few moments he simply continued to stare down into her eyes. Finally, on what sounded like a groan of pain, he closed his eyes and stepped back. “I won’t look again until you tell me it’s okay.”
“Thanks.” She picked up the towel first, and after she’d wrapped it much more firmly around herself, she hurried over to her bag and pulled out the first bra and panty set she could find. To get back to the bathroom, however, she needed to scoot past Drew. Only, he was still standing right in the middle of the bus, and there was no way she’d be able to get by without rubbing herself against him. And even though she knew exactly how good that would feel...
“Could you move just a few inches to your right, please?”
She sounded both hesitant and uptight. Which was funny, considering she’d just been standing butt naked in a rock star’s arms a few seconds ago. At least, it would have been funny if she wasn’t presently the most mortified she’d ever been.
A muscle jumped in Drew’s jaw as he nodded and shifted slightly to the right. She held her breath as she moved past him. Once she was safely locked in the little bathroom, she called out, “It’s safe to open your eyes now.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t at all easy to get dressed inside the teeny tiny little bathroom stall. She banged her elbows and head and knees on pretty much every hard surface possible before she was done, probably sounding like she was playing Ping-Pong inside the bathroom. She’d never known humiliation could run so hot or so deep. Not until this morning.
When she finally came out, she knew her cheeks had to be blazing red from the hot and steamy bathroom. And her T-shirt, she realized a few seconds too late, seemed to be sticking to her skin.
She had no idea what to say to Drew at this point. Nothing beyond, “Can we both just forget that ever happened?”