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“Only one way to find out...”

Before long, the two of them were led up to the second floor where they had a fantastic view of the stage from the balcony. Simon took the stage and the crowd below went wild. Sienna looked over at Mick and noticed he was intently studying the stage, but he wasn’t smiling or even moving a little bit to the music. It looked like he was completely in his own little world and she would love to know what was going through his mind.

Note to self: ask him about his process later.

Rather than obsessing about Mick and what he was thinking, Sienna forced herself to focus on the music. Simon’s voice reminded her a little of Ed Sheeran and every once in a while, she caught a hint of a growly little gruffness that told her he wanted to sing something edgier than this kind of music. Hopefully that was something Mick could help him with. She had a feeling he might lose part of his fanbase if he changed his image too much, but no doubt Mick’s team would know how to handle all of that.

A server came over and refreshed her drink and that’s when she noticed Mick hadn’t touched his. She figured he was too busy watching the show and didn’t want the alcohol to maybe cloud his thought process at all.

Hell, she was grasping at straws here. No matter how much she kept telling herself not to think about how Mick worked, she just couldn’t seem to help herself.

The next thing she knew, Simon was taking a bow and walking off the stage.

“That was it?” she asked when Mick turned and looked at her. “It’s over already?”

He chuckled softly. “Already? He was on stage for over an hour! He’ll come out and do an encore, but in the meantime, we’ll head down to his dressing room. Come on.”

Wow. She had really zoned out there for a while, but it was still a fun experience.

At least...she thought it was.

Down in Simon’s dressing room, she felt mildly disappointed.

“It’s never glamorous,” Mick told her, as if reading her mind. “And the smaller the venue, the less glamorous.”

“I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but...this wasn’t it,” she murmured.

The room was maybe ten-by-ten, had a small and somewhat dirty couch, a desk with a mirror over it, two folding chairs, a mini-fridge, a changing screen, and a small—and very dirty—attached bathroom. As much as she wanted to sit down, she didn’t dare touch anything. Beside her, Mick laughed softly before tucking her in close to his side.

“Don’t worry. I promise we won’t stay long and then we’ll head back to the hotel,” he said before kissing her cheek.

Her plan for that romantic bubble bath was now more of a necessity rather than part of a sexier scenario.

Simon walked in five minutes later and gave them both a nervous smile. Sienna would guess him to be in his mid-twenties and his blond hair was a bit sweaty and matted and he was a little scruffier than she realized, but it all looked good on him.

“Simon Bennett, I’m Mick Tyler. Dex asked me to come and see the show tonight,” Mick said as he shook his hand. “Great set!”

“Oh, um...thanks. We had some issues with our sound check earlier, so I wasn’t sure how it was all going to go.” He walked over to the mini-fridge and pulled out a bottle of water before looking at them. “Can I offer you guys something to drink? It’s not much, just water really, but...”

“Thanks, kid, we’d love that,” Mick told him before accepting a bottle for himself. “Simon, this is Sienna Ashley. Sienna, Simon Bennett.”

He didn’t introduce me as his friend or girlfriend or even a colleague...interesting.

Smiling, she accepted the water. “It’s nice to meet you, Simon. I really enjoyed the show.”

“Thanks.” He sat down on one of the folding chairs and firmly put his attention on Mick. “I’m sure Dex told you what’s been going on.”

With no other choice, she and Mick sat down on the sofa, and Sienna did her best not to cringe.

“He did, and I have to say that I’m intrigued. Why don’t you tell me what it is that you want,” Mick prompted. “Dex isn’t here, no one from the label is here, so you can speak freely.”

He looked a little hesitant and paused to take a long drink of water before responding. “I don’t want to be a pop star, Mr. Tyler,” he began. “I was relieved when I got eliminated from the show. I never thought I’d actually make it that far in the competition.”

“Why’d you audition?”

“I was hoping to get noticed long before I made it into the finals. As soon as I was eliminated, all kinds of music executives came out of the woodwork—including Dex—and they all had this image of what I was going to be, but no one bothered to ask if it was what I wanted. I figured I’d go along with it to get a deal and then have time to share my ideas.”

“And that never happened,” Mick stated.