Andre Tempt Me Like This (The Morrisons 2)

1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-1-938127-60-1
Verlag: Oak Press, LLC
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 400 Seiten

Reihe: The Morrisons

'Angst, sexy, sweet and addicting are all things I have come to expect in a Bella Andre book. She delivers that and more.' - Abbi Glines, #1 New York Times bestselling author 'Pure Bella Andre magic-sweet, sexy and enrapturing. Don't miss this one!' - Jasinda Wilder, NYT bestselling author 'Addictions come in all shapes and sizes, but nothing feels as indulgent and irresistible to me as a new Bella Andre book.' - Natasha Is A Book Junkie Reviews BOOK DESCRIPTION: From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Bella Andre comes the second book in a new contemporary romance series about The Morrisons! More than 5 million books sold so far! As one of the biggest rock stars in the business, Drew Morrison can have anything-and anyone-he wants. Only Ashley Emmit, who has joined his tour to work on a college research project, is completely off-limits. Drew promised her father that, once the tour was over, he would send her home pure and untouched by the rock 'n' roll world. But he has never been so tempted by anyone in his entire life. How is he going to make it through this tour without giving in to the urge to drag her into his arms and kiss her breathless? Ashley has always lived by the rules. But from the moment she meets Drew, none of those rules make sense anymore. Not only does Drew's music affect her deeply...but she's never wanted to kiss anyone so badly. Not that a magnetic star like Drew would ever feel the same way about a brainiac like her, of course. And even if he did, she knows from painful experience that two people as different as they are simply don't belong together. But when the attraction between Drew and Ashley burns hotter every moment they're together on the tour bus-and they begin to share their deeply hidden and emotional secrets-will either of them be able to resist temptation? Or could giving in to their feelings lead them straight toward a love they never saw coming... THE MORRISONS: Kiss Me Like This Tempt Me Like This Love Me Like This THE SULLIVANS:  The Look of Love  From This Moment On  Can't Help Falling In Love  I Only Have Eyes For You  If You Were Mine  Let Me Be The One  Come A Little Bit Closer  Always On My Mind  Kissing Under The Mistletoe  One Perfect Night The Way You Look Tonight It Must Be Your Love Just To Be With You  I Love How You Love Me  All I Ever Need Is You Every Time We Fall In Love Now That I've Found You Since I Fell For You Sweeter Than Ever The Best is Yet To Come Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You You Do Something To Me Every Time We Fall In Love THE MAVERICK BILLIONAIRES: Breathless In Love Reckless In Love Fearless In Love Irresistible In Love Wild In Love REVIEWS: 'If you haven't read Bella Andre yet, you are seriously missing out! Her books will shock you, make you laugh, turn you on with her incredibly seductive heroes, and of course, make you fall in love! An auto-buy author!' - Under the Covers Reviews 'Bella Andre writes warm, sexy contemporary romance that always gives me a much needed pick me up. Reading one of her books is truly a pleasure.' Maya Banks, NYT Bestselling Author 'The perfect combination of sexy heat and tender heart.' Barbara Freethy, #1 NYT Bestselling Author

Bella Andre's New York Times and USA Today bestselling novels have been #1 bestsellers around the world and she has sold more than 7 million books so far! Known for 'sensual, empowered stories enveloped in heady romance' (Publishers Weekly), her books have been Cosmopolitan Magazine 'Red Hot Reads' twice and have been translated into ten languages. She also writes 'sweet' contemporary romances as Lucy Kevin. There are more than 50,000 5 star reviews for Bella Andre's books on Goodreads!

Autoren/Hrsg.

Andre, Bella

Leseproben

CHAPTER ONE

San Diego, California

Drew Morrison was a rock god.

During the hour and a half that Ashley Emmit had been standing in the middle of the very crowded concert venue in downtown San Diego, she’d heard dozens of people say those exact words. Normally, she would have chalked it up to hyperbole or to collective excitement. But in that moment, there didn’t seem to be even a hint of exaggeration in the crowd’s claims. Not only were Drew Morrison’s songs incredible, but from the moment he’d stepped out onto the stage, Ashley hadn’t been able to keep her body from moving…or her heart from racing.

She was a numbers girl. She studied facts and figures. Her teachers had always said she was the very definition of a left-brained person. Sure, she’d always been drawn to music—not playing it, but listening to it. But even when she was on the verge of being swept away by a certain song, her enjoyment had always been tempered by her practical nature. She’d analyze the song’s structure, the chord progression, the rhyming patterns. She’d read dozens of articles about how the brain was hardwired to process music, as well. She didn’t just want to enjoy something—she wanted to understand why she enjoyed it.

That was why she was at this show. She had one last chance to get into Stanford Business School—and it all rested on figuring out every last detail of the way the music business worked. The graduate program had spawned a truly stunning amount of corporate innovation and had been her dream school since she was a teenager. It still hurt to remember the rejection letter they’d sent her: Our pool of applicants was truly phenomenal this year, most with exceptional real-world experience in their field of choice. We regret to inform you that we do not have a space for you and wish you all the best in the future.

She’d known it wouldn’t be easy to get in, but where other girls had pretty smiles and knockout figures, the one thing Ashley had always been able to count on was her brain. Somehow, though, her brain had let her down. Big-time. But since it was all she had, after wallowing in a freezerful of ice cream, she’d forced herself to brush off the devastating rejection and refocus.

Ashley had read every book written about the music business. She’d listened to every talk given by the experts. She’d pored over financial spreadsheets from both major and indie labels. But she didn’t have an ounce of practical experience. How could she truly understand how to innovate in the music industry when she’d never spent any time with a musician?

Going on tour with Drew Morrison was the crucial piece to her new plan: total immersion so that she could finally understand what was happening on both the business and the artistic sides.

As luck would have it, her father had been one of Drew’s undergraduate professors at Stanford, so even though Dad would much prefer she chose a steady and safe profession that had nothing whatsoever to do with the music business, he’d been able to pull some strings to get her a spot on Drew’s tour.

Ashley was so nervous about traveling from city to city in tour buses with Drew and the group of strangers who were in his band and crew, that she’d done what she always did when she felt unsure about things—buried herself in books and research. Even though she knew it would do absolutely nothing to help her fit in with the rockers on Drew’s crew, it had made her feel a little better to fill up a couple of notebooks with notes and questions, at least.

She was a nerd in the normal world. She’d just have to accept that she’d be a nerd to the millionth degree in the rock and roll world.

Tonight, she’d come to the venue armed with her notebook and tablet, ready to take notes on any- and everything. Only, from the moment Drew strummed the first chord on his guitar and began to sing, instead of all of the mental lists she should have been making or the details she should have been noticing, everything had been lost to the music.

To Drew Morrison’s genius.

“Thanks for coming out tonight, everyone.” His speaking voice was just as sexy and mesmerizing as his singing voice. The screams from his fans nearly drowned him out as he said, “I wrote a new song a while back that I haven’t played for anyone yet.” More screams came, truly deafening ones. “But tonight…” He’d been smiling earlier, but suddenly he looked terribly serious. And so sad that Ashley wished she were close enough to wrap her arms around him. “Tonight I finally feel like I need to play it. It’s called ‘One More Time.’ ”

The rest of the band left the stage, leaving only Drew and his guitar in the spotlight. Watching him, she felt as if he was steeling himself before the first notes rang out from his guitar and he began to sing the most beautiful—and devastating—song Ashley had ever heard. About loss. About his heart breaking. About pain that ran so deep he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to recover from it.

She wasn’t absolutely sure what the song was really about, but her father had told her that Drew’s mother had passed away from cancer earlier this year. She knew what it was like to lose a mother, but hers hadn’t died—her mother had simply boarded a plane to Miami seven years ago after her parents had divorced.

The rest of the songs Drew had played tonight had been fast-driving and often upbeat. But this one held hints of sixties folk music. A little Dylan. A harmony reminiscent of Crosby, Stills and Nash. A lyric that she could easily have imagined Joni Mitchell singing. Ashley had never heard anyone combine their own new sound with the past in such an amazing way.

Drew’s song reached deep inside of her, deeper than any other had ever gone. Ashley ached for him, even as she found herself aching for her own losses. Losses she never liked to look at too closely because they hurt so bad.

Tears were streaming down the cheeks of the girl standing next to Ashley. More than one fan, actually, was losing the battle with her emotions. And as he sang, “I wish I could see you one more time,” and the final note rang out and the stage lights abruptly went dark, Ashley reached up and was shocked to feel dampness on her own cheekbones. She sucked in a breath, and then another when that first one didn’t quite make it all the way into her lungs, as she quickly wiped away the moisture.

She tried to center herself and steady everything that had just gone so topsy-turvy. She knew from reading all those science journals that a good song could trigger a cascade of involuntary physical and emotional responses. That had to be why she’d reacted so emotionally, right? Plus, she wasn’t used to being around so many people who had so few inhibitions.

From the first moment she’d set foot inside the venue, just as she’d thought, she stuck out. Her hair was too neat. Her clothes were too plain. Her shoes were too flat. And her makeup was too—well, nonexistent. The women in Drew’s audience were openly sexual, both in the way they dressed and in how they danced. And the truth was that at the same time as she felt out of place, Ashley envied them a little bit for the way they owned their sexuality. As if it were something not only perfectly natural, but also wonderful.

But when the girl next to her sniffled and said, “Isn’t he amazing? When I listen to his songs, I feel like I can do anything,” Ashley was surprised to realize she didn’t feel like a total outsider anymore. Drew’s music had brought all of them together. And even if the moment they stepped out onto the sidewalk they reverted back to their normal roles, at least for a couple of hours they’d all shared the exact same urge to dance and sing along and even cry.

The lights suddenly blazed back on in a kaleidoscope of colors that had everyone cheering just as Drew launched into “Wild,” his biggest hit to date. And even though she never danced in public, she couldn’t keep from wiggling her hips, lifting her arms to the beat, and clapping along with everyone else.

Suddenly, Ashley could see it all so clearly—this was Drew Morrison’s gift. Not only could he write one heck of a chorus, but he was also able to tap into the purest of emotions again and again with every song he wrote. Tears to laughter. Pain to joy. And everyone in the venue was more than happy to be taken on the roller-coaster ride with him. To let him take the wheel as he whirled them up and around, inside and out.

After his encore, however, Ashley forced herself to watch, to listen, to examine the reactions of the audience members, the managers of the venue, the employees running concessions, and to note her impressions in the tablet she took out of her bag. An impressive number of people had walked in wearing T-shirts with his face on them before the show, but pretty much everyone bought one on their way out and put it on. She could only imagine how gleeful Drew’s label must be at the way his fandom was growing.

A few minutes after he left the stage, the staff was quickly working to clean up, and she was one of the only people out on the floor. Having previously arranged over email with Drew to meet backstage after the show, she fished her VIP pass out of her purse and showed it to the large man guarding the door.

“Drew is just about done with pictures and autographs,” the man said as he gave her a surprisingly nice smile, “but if you hurry, I’m sure he won’t leave you hanging.”

“Thanks, but I’m not a fan.” The man’s eyes widened, and as she realized what she’d said, she fumbled to say, “I mean, of course I’m a fan. It’s just...