“I understand. Go get ready. I’m going to track down Anders. If I don’t see you tonight, we’ll catch up in the morning.”
“Sounds perfect.”
During the drive to the studio, Chloe tried to prepare for the hour she would spend alone with Reid. She reminded herself that, aside from his fame and insanely good looks, he was just like everyone else. Once she got to know him, she was fairly certain he would be like every other artist she’d met.
Clutching the handle of her violin case, she walked inside the studio. The girl at the desk gave Chloe a fleeting glance before instructing her to go to control room number two. Chloe took a deep breath and headed in that direction. Through the glass, she saw Reid seated behind one of the mixing consoles, wearing a pair of headphones. When she entered the room, she dropped her case by the door and moved as quietly as possible to the chair next to him and sat down.
“Shit,” Reid gasped. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
Chloe smiled and pointed to the headphones still covering his ears. “I suppose those have something to do with that.”
Reid chuckled and removed the headphones. “Nope. I didn’t have anything playing.”
Chloe shrugged. “Then it’s from years of sneaking past my friend’s overprotective brother when we were in high school. Once a ninja, always a ninja, I suppose.”
“You’ll have to show me your tricks when the tour starts. Sneaking past fans gets harder every show.”
“Show you my stealth moves, I will,” Chloe said, her expression devoid of emotion for only a moment before she covered her face and laughed. “Oh my God. I can’t believe I just said that.”
“Did you just use Yoda-speak on me?”
Chloe nodded, her face still hidden.
Reid chuckled, pulling her hands away from her face. “Being a Jedi Master is nothing to be embarrassed about. Hell, maybe I should put you on security detail too. With a ninja slash Jedi Master on my team, I won’t have anything to worry about.”
Embarrassment heated her skin, but Chloe decided to suck it up and make the most out of the situation. She wanted to get to know him, and there was no better way of doing so than having a completely random conversation about ridiculous things. “I hate to break it to you, but I’m afraid my combat training consists of a very short career in roller derby and four wrestling matches before my mother pulled me from the team.”
Reid stared at her with a blank expression. “You’re shitting me.”
“Nope. She always ruined my fun.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Reid said, shaking his head. “How were you on a wrestling team? Unless it was a midget wrestling team, then of course it makes perfect sense.”
Chloe’s mouth fell open in shock. “My dad was a midget.”
Reid opened and closed his mouth several times, his eyes wide. “Shit. I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to offend you. It’s just that—”
The sound of Chloe’s laughter cut off Reid’s apology. He stared at her with narrowed eyes before the side of his mouth lifted into a smile. “Okay, I walked right into that one.”
“You did,” Chloe agreed. “But to answer your question, yes, I was on the wrestling team. I never said I was any good—same with roller derby—but I did it because it pissed off my mother. She hated anything that could injure my hands. It was more an act of defiance than anything else.”
“I can’t say I entirely blame her for wanting to protect your hands. You’re very talented. It would have been a shame for you to be injured doing things you didn’t even enjoy.”
“Oh, I love wrestling. My dad watched it almost every night when I was a kid. It didn’t matter if he’d seen the match or not. It was kind of our thing.” Chloe looked at her hands, not interested in having a conversation with a virtual stranger about her dad.
“A fan of wrestling and Star Wars. What are you, an alien?”
Chloe peeked up at Reid and grinned. “Only on my mother’s side.”
Reid grabbed an extra set of headphones and passed them to Chloe. “Here, let’s listen to some of the music we recorded yesterday before I start believing you.”
A rush of excitement caused Chloe’s leg to bounce and her thoughts to shift. “Okay. I’d hoped to listen to the recordings this morning. I know I pulled a few notes yesterday. I just need to know how much so I can taper back.”
Chloe sat with her headphones in place and her attention focused on the mixing console. When the music didn’t start, she looked at Reid in confusion. “You okay?”
Reid blinked. “You noticed? I only caught it this morning when I listened to the tapes. How would you even know the notes were too long?”
Chloe shrugged. “It’s my job to know. It didn’t feel right. The sound. I can’t explain it. I learned to play by ear before I ever read a note of music.”
“Wow. That’s impressive.”