“Well, let’s see if I can help.”
For the next hour, Chloe and Reid pored over his song catalog, listing pros and cons for each song. Truth be told, it was completely unnecessary. It wasn’t that Reid didn’t know which songs he wanted to play, because he did. The problem was the reason behind his song choices. Each song he chose was a song where he and Chloe played off one another and sent the crowd into a frenzy. No doubt it would make for one hell of a show, but this would be the first time they performed in front of cameras for live television. Reid worried that without the crazy lights, dry ice, and amateur recordings of fans, everyone would see what he so desperately tried to deny. That his chemistry with Chloe went far beyond the stage. The thought was terrifying.
“Mind if I use your bathroom?” Reid asked, needing a little distance.
Chloe looked around the table and laughed. “Go ahead, but make it fast. My bladder didn’t realize we’d gone through all of your beer until now.”
Reid used the facilities as quickly as possible, grinning when he found Chloe waiting outside the door. “It’s all yours.”
The door clicked behind him as he moved around the bed toward the table. He stumbled when the top of his boot hit something sticking out from under the edge of the bed. Without thinking, he stooped and retrieved what he realized was Chloe’s notebook. When he scanned the words on the page, his entire body locked. The words blurred as his vision drifted in and out of focus. The sound of his rapidly increasing heartbeat pounded in his ears as the read the words again and again. What did they mean? Were they about him? Were they about someone else? That scenario caused an entirely different set of emotions to emerge. He eased to the floor, so focused on deciphering the meaning of the lyrics that he didn’t notice Chloe had sat in front of him until she placed her hand on his arm.
“Are you okay?”
He looked at her, wide-eyed and nervous, his heart lodged in his throat. “Is this new?” he asked, his voice strained.
Chloe looked at the page, and instead of anger or embarrassment, her eyes fell shut in what seemed like resignation. “Yeah. I was just messing around earlier. You know how it is.”
“I used to,” he whispered.
Chloe pulled the notebook from his hands and placed it in her lap. She traced the curves of the letters with the tips of her fingers and sighed. “You know, it’s not a feeling you can forget—the motivation behind your words.”
Reid swallowed hard and wiped his palms against his jeans. “What’s your motivation?”
Chloe lifted one shoulder and tilted her head. “The same as anyone else, I guess. Life, and the shit it throws at you.”
“Life has thrown plenty of shit my way lately and I still can’t find the words. Is there something wrong with me?”
“Do you feel like there’s something wrong with you?”
“I feel like everything I’m feeling is wrong.”
Chloe’s brows dipped and a flash of pain crossed her features before she dropped her chin and hid behind a cascade of hair. “I know exactly how you feel.”
“Chloe,” Reid whispered, lifting his hand to tilt her chin upward. “When I was younger, the only songs I wrote were about my life. It’s what makes them so special.”
Chloe stared at him, her violet-blue eyes penetrating into every part of him. He was lost in her gaze. “If you were to write a song about me, what would you say?”
He dropped his hand and looked away. “You know I can’t write.”
“I’m not asking you to write a song. It doesn’t have to be like that. Just a sentence or two. If someone asked you to tell them about me, what would you say? That’s all it is. It’s only words, Reid.”
He took a deep breath and scrubbed his hand over his face. A memory of standing on an empty stage popped into his head. At the time, the words made no sense, but now . . . He couldn’t understand how he didn’t see it all along. “She’s steel and silk,” he murmured, his pulse thundering in his ears. “Soft strands floating in the wind, a canvas of color covering her skin. She wraps me in her embrace, bathes me in her grace. She’s wrecking my world, this perfect girl . . .” The words died in his throat as he stared into Chloe’s shimmering eyes.
“See?” she whispered. “You haven’t lost your words at all.”
A hush fell over the room. Chloe and Reid sat motionless, almost as if they feared the slightest disturbance would ruin the intensity of the moment. “What about you?” he asked. “If you were to write a song about me, what would you say?”