Saved by the Music (Saints & Sinners Book 2) by Kaithlin Shepherd

do something. He wondered what the list she had about him looked like; he would sure as hell love to turn all her cons into pros.
    If he didn’t take the choice away from her, she wouldn’t allow herself to take a break, so he took matters into his own hands. He closed her notebooks and just smiled when she looked at him. “Take ten minutes, Ashlee. The work isn’t going anywhere.”
    “I guess you’re right. You know, this whole bus thing isn’t at all what I was expecting.” His smile widened because he had a pretty good idea of what she’d expected—parties and women. Shit, he couldn’t even remember the last time they’d had a party on this bus, or had groupies inside.
    The music and being the best artists they could be were their only priorities, even if most people still thought they were living the high life. “What were you expecting?” he asked her, curious to see where this conversation was going.
    She stared at him as if she was trying to decide how to say something without offending him; she always took the time to consider his feelings. She took a few sips of coffee before looking at him intensely. “I don’t know actually. Something more rock and roll, I guess.” She bit her bottom lip, and he heard himself growl. It drove him crazy when she did that.
    He cleared his throat, trying to focus on his answer as she bit down on her lower lip again, like she was doing it on purpose to torture him. “Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had our fair share of parties and wild nights, but we’re not young and stupid anymore. The parties, the booze, the groupies… it’s not who we are. Hell, that lifestyle actually makes us feel old because I don’t think we could handle it like we used to.”
    She leaned in, her voice soft as she spoke to him, making him long to haul her over the table and hug her. “Do you ever get tired of it? The groupies, I mean. Women throwing themselves at you all the time.”
    There was that vulnerability again. He fucking loved that she cared enough about him to ask him about groupies and if it was something he still adhered to. “I won’t lie. It used to have its appeal, when we were young and dying to fuck everything that moved, but now, just the thought of it makes me wanna throw up. Look at where we are now. Jarrod’s married with a kid, Mike’s in love with a reporter but won’t admit it, Austin’s still healing a broken heart from his high school sweetheart, and Tyler thinks he’s so fucked up that he stays away from any connection with women. Groupies aren’t our thing anymore.”
    She played with the rings on her fingers, keeping her head down. “What about you? You mentioned everyone but you.”
    He leaned over the table and, with his fingers under her chin, tilted her head up so she could see his face as he answered. There was no way they were having this conversation without looking at each other; he needed her to see he wasn’t lying, to trust him. “Honey, the last thing on my mind is groupies when you’re all I can think about… all I can dream about.”
    “I shouldn’t have asked that. I’m sorry.”
    He kept his fingers under her chin even as she tried to push him away. He didn’t like her apologizing for asking something they both needed to clear up. He wanted her to feel comfortable and safe to ask him anything, and he needed her to know that he would always tell her the truth. “Ashlee, don’t ever be sorry for asking me something that obviously matters to you. You want to know if I’d ever fuck a groupie? The answer is no because the only person I want in my bed is sitting right in front of me. Whatever’s going on between us only stands a chance if we’re honest with each other.”
    She swallowed hard and he watched the pulse beating fast in her neck. He got to her all right, even if she didn’t want to admit it. “Nothing can happen between us, Sam.”
    “So you keep saying, honey, but see, there’s only one little problem with