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“How’d she take it?”
“She was shocked. But not mad.”
“Okay. Good. Guess that means I need to have a conversation with her, too.” He laughs softly, then focuses those gorgeous eyes of his on me again. “So does all of this mean that we can be together now, Rose?”
My heart stutters. “It does.”
“Thank fuck.” He shakes his head. “If you said no, it would’ve broken my heart.”
It feels like time stops as he leans forward, closing the space between us. Before he can kiss me, though, there’s a knock on the door. As Evan and I pull apart, I see a skinny guy with thick-framed glasses and a clipboard sticking his head in the door.
“Five minutes, Evan,” he says, then glances at me and smiles. “Hey, you must be Rose. Nice to meet you.”
A little thrill runs through me, knowing that Evan has been talking to other people about me.
“Thanks, Tim,” says Evan. After Tim leaves, Evan explains, “He’s our assistant road manager.”
Evan’s eyes flit to my lips and for a second it looks like he’s going to pick up where he left off, but then he shakes his head a little and just slips his hand through mine. I think we both know that if we start kissing right now, we aren’t going to be able to stop.
“Come on, I’ll find you a good spot to watch the show from,” he says.
He leads me out of the dressing room door and down the hallway. The rest of the band joins us as we walk toward the stage. He doesn’t let go of my hand as we make our way to the backstage wings.
It’s dark back here, and the noise from the crowd is loud. I peek through a slit in the curtains and look out at the club. It’s packed—people are lining the large room from one side to the other—and it’s obvious everyone is keyed up in anticipation of seeing the band play.
“You can stand here,” Evan says. “It’ll be the best view.”
“Are you sure it’s okay?”
“Absolutely.” He gives me a grin, drops a kiss onto my forehead, and rejoins his band.
I watch as Evan and his bandmates do some sort of pre-show, hands-in-the-center, woo-hoo thing together. Afterward, he glances over his shoulder and gives me another one of his gorgeous smiles.
Then the lights in the club go down. The band brushes past me on their way to the stage, excitement pouring off them. The crowd is going crazy, screaming and yelling so much I can hardly hear Evan as he begins to sing.
Halfway through the first song, the crowd finally starts to settle down—although, of course, as soon as the song comes to an end, they go crazy all over again with more cheering and applause.
You better bet I’m cheering too.
The set that follows is amazing. Maybe it’s because it’s Evan, or maybe it’s because I’m getting to witness it from the wings, but I swear it’s the best concert I’ve ever seen. Evan is pacing the stage, jumping around, putting his heart and soul into every single song.
Even after nearly two full hours have passed, Evan is still going strong.
“You guys are awesome,” Evan says into the mic. The crowd cheers back, and he laughs and runs a hand through his hair. “Our time’s almost up tonight, but before we go, I want to play one last song. It’s a new one, one I wrote just a couple weeks ago. You guys don’t mind if I debut it here tonight, do you?”
The crowd cheers even louder.
Evan’s bandmates drift offstage. A couple of roadies run out and bring Evan a chair and an acoustic guitar. He settles into the chair and all the stage lights go out except for a single blue-toned spotlight aimed at Evan.
He strums a couple of chords, clears his throat, and says, “This song is calledOne Night in Hawaii.”
My heart starts to beat harder as the wordHawaiileaves his lips, and it keeps beating hard as he begins to play. It’s the same song I heard him strumming when I walked into his dressing room. It’s soft and heartbreakingly beautiful…and it’s aboutus.
The crowd is hushed as Evan plays, his hair flopping forward as his fingers pluck at the guitar strings and his voice weaves between the chords. He sings about our night together; he sings about a love he didn’t even know he wanted.
He sings about a woman he’ll love until the end of time.
The crowd erupts as the song finishes, but he doesn’t pay attention to them. He just drops his guitar and heads straight for me. Before I can tell him how much I loved the song, his hands are in my hair and his lips are on mine.
