“Hence why I didn’t ask,” he says.
I tighten my jaw. I hate being predictable. “It’s Mia. Mia Sawyer.”
He puts out a hand. I want to deprive him of mine—for some reason, I want to deprive him ofeverythinghe wants. But the way he’s looking at me tells me he expects me to choose the petulant way, so I shake his hand.
“Nice to meet you, Mia Sawyer,” he says with a friendly smile. “Would you like to come on tour with me? To Europe?”
I shift, pulling my towel tighter around me.Europe. I’ve never been to Europe. Definitely haven’t eversungin Europe.
His dark eyes watch me carefully. “Czechia, Germany, Italy, France, England… You’d get paid well too.”
Dang him. It’s like he knows me and how broke I am.
Scratch that. Any person with a brain would be tempted by what he’s offering. And he knows it.
My brain is conjuring images of singing my music in front of the Eiffel Tower or the Vatican. Okay, maybe not the Vatican. Trevy Fountain, then.
But even assuming he’s legitimately offering me a place on his tour, which I’m not at all convinced of, it’s as a backup vocalist. Which means I’d be singinghislyrics tohissongs. And that’s not something I can do. I don’t sing other people’s music, and I definitely don’t do it when their biggest hits have lines likeshe’s a tough one with that attitude, but deep inside, she’s in the mood.
“Thanks,” I say. “But I’m good.” I head for the locker room, but he catches my arm.
“Wait.”
I look at him expectantly. What too-good-to-be-true offer will he pull out of the hat this time?
“You should take some time to think about it, Mia.”
“I took as much time asyoudid before offering it, Austin.”
He laughs. “Touché.” He looks at me for a second, then grabs my phone.
“Hey!” I try to get it back, but he turns away from me. I reach over him and around him, and my towel falls to the floor. I hurry to pick it up, then renew my attempts. It’s useless, though. He’s too broad. Too strong. And enjoying this too much.
“What are you doing?” But I already know. He’s putting his number in my phone. I slip my hand in the space under his arm to take him by surprise.
He snatches his arm toward his body, trapping my hand between his bicep and his side.
“Saving you a future of regret,” he says. “There.” He turns the screen off, releases my arm, and hands the phone to me.
I yank it away, and he meets my gaze, his own serious for the first time. “It’s a real offer, Mia. Your voice is exactly what I’m looking for. It’ll be the opportunity of a lifetime, and I think you should take a day or two to consider it.”
“Sure thing,” I say, wrapping my towel around myself again and vowing to delete his number the second I’m far enough away, he can’t steal my phone back. “Bye.” I take a few steps toward the locker room.
“Hey, Mia.”
I let out an annoyed sigh. He’s got that smile on his face that saysI’m a danger to females everywhere. “Try to focus on the offer itself and not on this aspect.” He looks at his body and flexes his abs. His gaze meets mine again. “I wouldn’t want you to have… expectations.” His brow cocks, and his eyes twinkle.
I smile and retrace my steps, trying to decide what I’ll do once I’m in front of him. One thing I know, and it’s that he’s enjoying this.
I lean back and look him over. Channeling the thoroughness of someone evaluating a racehorse, I check him out from the wavy, wet brown hair that’s falling over his forehead, to the broad shoulders, past the peaks and valleys of his abs, over the towel wrapped around his waist, and all the way to the puddle of water he stands in.
Austin doesn’t flinch. In fact, he almost seems to be reveling in my uncomfortably slow perusal of his body, like he dares me to find something to critique.
And I come up short. Dang him.
I wrinkle my nose. “Eh. I could take it or leave it.”
“Yeah?” He steps toward me so we’re just inches apart. My stomach clenches, and my pulse is on high-alert. It’s a normal reaction to being so close to someone I hardly know, no matter how attractive he is. So is the fact that, in my peripheral vision, I’m aware of every last droplet of water above his waist.
