Page 18 of Places I've Never Been

Cooper took a sip from his own cup. “You sure you want to play ‘I Promise You’ for her? It’s still rough, man. Not our best work.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that song.” Adam checked his phone. Five minutes.

“Maybe we should just do a best hits album instead,” LT suggested. “That way we don’t have to write anything new.”

“No, we need to move forward, not back.” Adam set down his cup. “Coop, can you queue up the tracks, please?”

“Sure thing.” Cooper sat down at the computer on the control board.

The lobby door opened.

They all swiveled to look down the hall.

Mattie Bellamy stood just inside the door, framed by the morning sun. Her gold hair was in loose waves that played with her bare shoulders. She wore a simple, flowing blue sundress made of material so thin the light silhouetted the soft curve of her breasts, the sensuous contours of her waist and hips, and the lean lines of her legs all the way down to sandals that were so flat she might as well have been barefoot. It left him with the impression that she was gloriously naked.

She was a radiant sun goddess who had obviously gotten lost on her way to the beach. The girl from his poster had turned into a woman so stunning it took his breath away.

“I get the obsession now,” Cooper whispered.

LT whistled a single high-pitched note. “She sure grew up, didn’t she?”

“Shut it, both of you. Get Brandon and Flynn out here, and pretend you’re all actually adults,” Adam told them in a low voice before he rushed to greet their guest of honor.

“Mattie,” Adam called out, hoping like hell she couldn’t hear the whispered comments that continued behind his back. His long strides couldn’t get him down the hallway fast enough. “Glad you could make it.”

Mattie held onto the strap of an enormous blue shoulder bag like it was filled with priceless artifacts.

He hadn’t realized how nervous he was to meet her until this moment. It was strange to see his fantasy standing there in the lobby as if it were an everyday thing. He smiled, held outhis hand, and hoped like hell he sounded like the rock star he was supposed to be and not a breathless fan boy.

“I’m Adam. Brooks.” For crying out loud, he was stumbling over his own damn name. He took a deep breath. “Welcome to our studio.”

She shook his hand. Her grip was steel wrapped in sunshine, firm but warm. “Nice to meet you.”

He forced himself to let go of her hand and act cool. “Come on back, we’re about set up. I have coffee, tea, and I think muffins of some sort if you’re interested.”

“No, thanks.” She followed him down the short hallway into the control room. She stopped short when she saw the rest of the band huddled together casting furtive glances in their direction.

He wished he’d told them all to dress better. Cooper looked decent in a collared shirt and pressed jeans, but Flynn and Brandon wore board shorts, and LT might have just stepped out of a biker bar. All of them sported various tattoos and piercings. Flynn had full sleeves of ink. Hell, she probably thought they all looked like street thugs.

“Oh…everyone’s here,” Mattie said.

Adam caught a lot of Southern politeness in that short sentence. Mattie was poised and professional, and her face was carefully neutral while he made introductions. She might have just stepped into a board meeting instead of a creative session with musicians.

She was utterly at odds with the girl he’d imagined.

It unsettled him. It felt wrong, somehow. Like someone had caged a butterfly.

After the introductions, Mattie’s gaze lingered on the textured dark gray walls. “That’s cool. Very moody.”

She touched one of the tiles with a delicate hand, and her face went a little dreamy. For a second, he caught a glimpse ofthe girl he thought she could be. Then she lowered her hand. “Why don’t we skip all the small talk and jump right to it? Kat said you had a song you wanted me to hear?”

Small talk was exactly what he’d been hoping for, but Adam hid his disappointment behind commands. “Sure. Boys, let’s do this.”

Cooper handed a set of headphones to Mattie and pointed to the volume controls. She nodded and took a seat. Then they all filed into the studio, leaving Mattie watching them from behind the glass.

Adam stepped up to the microphone and waited for everyone to get into position.

Mattie’s gaze settled on him, and for a long moment it felt like they were the only two people in the building. He pictured her picking up a microphone and singing alongside him, flipping her hair the way she used to, that dazzling light in her eyes making her larger than life.

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