Page 13 of Hard Rock Tease

I shook myself mentally. I wasn't going to go there. It was going to be difficult enough to work with Noah if I felt overwhelmed because of the pressure to do the job right. It would be even harder if I had to wrestle with these burgeoning feelings.

Maybe I just needed to go out and get laid. Get all that sexual tension out. I was sure my best friends would agree.

"This right here is where I want the chorus to go."

Noah's words jolted me out of my reverie. I thought back to the last few minutes, trying to piece together what he had been saying.

"What if we made the bridge a few bars longer?" I said tentatively.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Never mind. It's nothing."

He tilted his head, eyeing me. "Tell me."

"I just thought if you had a few more seconds, you could try holding the note longer, leading into the first chorus. Maybe try blending and overlapping the first and last syllables."

"Hm. I usually save that kind of thing for the last chorus."

"I know." I'd listened to every single one of Noah's songs a million times. "That's why I suggested switching it up."

He stared at me for a moment before he shut his eyes and hummed a few bars, first the way he'd originally envisioned them, then the way I'd proposed. His mouth twisted into a grimace.

"Shit, I don't know." He growled and ran his hand through his hair. "August always makes this look so goddamn easy." He closed his fingers into a tight grip, tugging on the strands at the back of his neck.

"You're doing fine." Without thinking, I placed my hand over his clenched fist, prying his fingers loose. "Don't go pulling your hair out over this."

He shot me a look. I immediately scooted away on the piano seat. The chilly look in his eyes eased up. If they weren't exactly warm, at least they didn't threaten to freeze me from the inside out.

I remembered the first time he'd confronted me. When he'd backed me up against the wall, practically pressing himself against me. This man did things to my insides. Things that made me want to rip off my clothes right then and there.

I got up and stood a few feet behind him. I couldn't take being that close to him anymore. How did one man have the power to affect me this much? I quickly looked away, hoping my feelings weren't showing on my face again.

"You don't need to feel so frustrated." I tried to smooth over that awkward moment. "There's something special about the way you're composing the song. It sounds more like you than you know."

"And you know enough about me to say that?"

"Sometimes it feels like I do," I said without thinking.

"Because you listened to my music," he scoffed.

I wondered whether or not to say what I was thinking. "Yes. You put so much of yourself into your lyrics, into those songs, that I feel sometimes like I know the person you want to be more than you know yourself. Don't all artists put themselves into their work?"

"Maybe I should listen to more of your songs," he said sarcastically. "It's not fair that you get to root around in my brain but I can't root around in yours."

"You've heard my stuff?" I asked, surprised.

"The professor who recommended you sent me some samples from your end of year performances."

I shuddered inwardly, suddenly embarrassed. "My stuff isn't worth listening to." Not for someone like Noah Hart.

"I thought your professor called you a genius."

"She was exaggerating."

"So modest."

"No. I just know that I'm nothing special."