The kisses he was running down over her neck and shoulders and then the swell of her breasts didn’t help her brain work any faster. For several long moments, all she was capable of was soaking up the dual sensations of his mouth and hands on her.

He slid one hand down over her stomach and between her legs, then groaned as he slipped and slid over her aroused skin. The sound was low and raw and breathtakingly sexy in the small space.

“How long have you been this ready for me?”

Her response came before she could even think to edit it. “I always am.”

He crushed his mouth to hers, and his unleashed desire matched hers perfectly. Even if she’d wanted to hold something back, there was no way that she could. Not today. Not when his mouth tasted like heaven, and his hard, rippling muscles against her naked skin were as close to nirvana as anyone could possibly get.

Well, almost as close. Because she knew that having all of him would be even better...

She tore her mouth from his as inspiration hit. “I’ve figured it out.” She was too lost to desire to second-guess herself. Besides, while she didn’t have anywhere near the sexual experience that he did, she had always been a fast learner.

As she began to turn around, the warm water—and the unfettered need coursing through her veins—made her movements slower than they would otherwise have been. Finally, when she was facing the shower wall, she placed her hands palm-down against the wall next to her head and looked over her shoulder at Drew.

“Like this. Take me like this.”

He didn’t move right away, simply stared at her with eyes so dark and intense that she shivered again even as hot water sprayed over her. Finally, he ripped open the condom wrapper and slid it on.

“I always want to be gentle with you,” he said as he slowly ran his large hands from her shoulders, over her back, then placed them at her hips. She felt his fingertips grip down on her wet, naked skin as he shifted her hips up slightly so that her back arched and she could feel his hard length pressing between her legs. “I swear I’ll try harder not to lose control this time.”

“I love it when you lose control.” She rolled her hips so that he was poised at her entrance. “Take me. Please, I need you so badly.”

“I need you, too.”

Between the span of one heartbeat and the next, he drove into her. So hard, and so deep, that she cried out. Not in pain, but with perfect, ecstatic pleasure. Her nails were scraping down the tiled wall in an effort to hold on to something, and her cheek was pressed against the tile as she whispered, “More.”

Her name became a rhythmic chant from his lips—AshAshAshAsh—as he gripped her hips even tighter and thrust into her again and again with absolutely no control.

There was nothing gentle about the way he took her, but she wouldn’t have wanted there to be. Not when every moment, and every experience, was so precious. All her life, she’d remember these amazing moments with him on tour. Moments when nothing mattered but each other—not their pasts, not their futures. Only how happy they made each other right now.

As her climax began to slowly shudder through her, Drew slid his hands from her hips to play with her breasts. A split second later, she was shattering so completely, so helplessly, that her hands began to slide down the tile wall. With one arm around her waist to hold her up and his hand splayed out over her pelvis, he thrust once, twice, three more times...and then he buried his face in the exposed crook of her neck and groaned her name one last time.

When the water began to turn a little bit colder, she felt a bar of soap slide over her skin, but she was too loose from their incredible lovemaking to do anything but let him wash her skin and hair clean. After everything they’d already done, it was surprisingly intimate. And oh so lovely to be taken care of like this.

A short while later, he turned off the tap and reached for a warm, fluffy towel. And as he wrapped it around her, he stared into her eyes and said, “It’s already the best birthday ever. But best doesn’t even come close anymore.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Drew was aware of the necklace beneath his T-shirt all day long...and all day long he’d wanted to grab Ashley in front of his crew and kiss her breathless. He was beyond touched that she’d had it made for him, a perfect little replica of the guitar his mother had given him.

Yet again, he thought about how much his mom would have loved Ashley. Just as much as he knew his siblings and his father were going to love her.

As if he’d conjured them into being, when he stepped out of his last interview for the day, his youngest sister, Maddie, came running toward him.

“Drew!”

He opened his arms and caught her. “What did you do with my baby sister?” Maddie was one of his favorite people on the planet, but he wasn’t sure he liked the short length of her skirt or the makeup she was wearing.

She rolled her eyes. “I’m going to look like a nun tonight compared to the rest of your fans.”

He wasn’t sure about that, but scowling at her when he hadn’t seen her for way too long was out of the question. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Mads. You excited about starting college soon?”

She nodded, but the light he’d hoped to see in her eyes wasn’t completely there. “I’ve been emailing with my new roommate, and she seems really nice.”

“That’s great,” he said in a gentle voice, “but you could have applied to one of the cooking schools you really wanted to go to. You don’t have to go to Stanford, you know.”