Abby and the Cute One (Backstage Pass) by Erin Butler Page A

set list again?”
    She pointed to the table behind him and Nathan reached back, his shirt pulling taut over his waist, a strip of bare skin showing. Abby averted her eyes to tune her guitar even though she’d already tuned it that morning.
    Nathan frowned as he scanned the set list. “Start with your ‘Time After Time’ cover, then go to your ‘Shake it Off’ cover. You’ll win them over with your beautiful voice and then they’ll be on your side for the more dance type song. They’ll be clapping right along with the music but if you start out with that, they might think you’re a Taylor Swift wannabe.”
    That made sense. She loved Taylor Swift, but she wasn’t a clone. She had a different sound all her own. “All right.”
    Nathan pointed at her. “Let’s hear your Cyndi Lauper.”
    For the first half of the song, Nathan sat there motionless, his expression blank. By the second half, he shouted orders over her singing. “Remember, move around. Lean over the crowd. Let them touch you. Have fun.”
    When she finished the first song, she stopped and looked at him. He’d stood when she ended, but now he sat again, still clapping but gazing at her expectantly. Then he dropped his hands to his sides. “Why did you stop?”
    “Because I finished the song.”
    “Is that what you plan on doing on stage?” He smirked. “Talk. Interact. Ask them how it’s going, if they’re excited for hottie Nathan to come up on stage in a little while…have fun.”
    Abby laughed. “I can do that, but it’s not like I can tear off my shirt like you did last night.”
    Nathan’s gaze dropped to her chest and he swallowed.
    Abby’s cheeks warmed. Stupid. Why had she said that? They’d been doing so well pretending they were just work buddies or friends.
    He stared back into her eyes. “Not that you wouldn’t get a reaction out of that, too, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
    “Right. How about this?” She let her guitar drop to her side as she put her hands around her mouth. “Hello, Jersey!”
    “Exactly. Just make sure when you say a city we’re actually in that city. When we first started we were doing a show in Boston and Will said, ‘How ‘bout those Yankees?’ He thought we were still in New York.”
    “He didn’t.”
    “It was awful. We got booed.”
    Hands still pressed to her lips, Abby said, “He was probably mortified.”
    Nathan’s mouth opened, but he shut it quickly and jumped from his chair. “Sorry. Phone’s ringing. Hey,” he answered. “Yeah. Be right there.” He ran his hand over his hair as he hung up with his other one. “Gotta go, Abby. I forgot about our writing session. Here.” He walked up and handed her the set list. “I made some adjustments.”
    He waved then jogged away.
    “Nathan!” she shouted after him.
    He turned just before he pushed the door wide open.
    “Good luck,” she said quietly.
    He smiled and then walked out, the door slamming shut behind him.
    She peered down at his neat scrawl. He’d adjusted the order of some of her songs but at the bottom, he’d written, “You have a beautiful voice, Abby. I’m glad you’re here.”
    She giggled and threw her hand over her mouth before jumping up and down.
    Nathan Strong said she had a beautiful voice and was glad she was here. She’d finally gotten the compliment she wanted.

Chapter Thirteen
    Nathan
    L J hadn’t been kidding when he said it wouldn’t take Abby long to pull her own weight. She was nearly there already, she just needed a few pointers, but her singing was tremendous. He was almost a little jealous of how effortless it seemed to her.
    Luckily enough, he ran into LJ before heading into the writing session. Unluckily, his manager wasn’t too pleased with him for forgetting about said writing session.
    “I need you at your best, Nathan. What’s wrong with you?”
    Nathan rubbed the back of his neck. This wasn’t exactly how he wanted to start the conversation about Abby. “Sorry, LJ. Lost