Free Facing the Music by Andrea Laurence Page A

hadn’t made any appearances on television or granted any interviews. His unnamed source who helped him keep tabs on Ivy said she hadn’t even used her credit cards. The girl was underground. He’d called her managing agency and they’d confirmed that Ivy wasn’t scheduled for another appearance until that Rosewood charity gig in two weeks.
    Nash couldn’t take the radio silence. Where the hell was this Rosewood , anyway? An Internet search brought up a map of Alabama. It took a few minutes, but he finally found the tiny pinpoint just northeast of Birmingham. It had slightly more than eight thousand residents. There was one high school and no Walmart for twenty miles.
    Nash frowned. Had Ivy really come from a town like this? It was pretty hard to believe. Maybe that was the angle he needed for a story. If Ivy had secrets to uncover, her hometown was the best place to start. He was planning on going to Rosewood to cover the concert anyway. Maybe he could go early and dig up a little about Ivy’s life before she became the media darling. This tiny town could be a treasure trove.
    Nash started searching for flights and rental cars in Birmingham. “Brace yourselves, Rosewood, ’cause here I come . . .”

    “I never meant to hurt you.” Blake’s blue eyes were pleading with her. Begging her to forgive him. “I know I did and I’m sorry. But I still love you.”
    He reached for her, his palm caressing her cheek. Ivy closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. She’d missed it so much. Blake gently stroked her skin, teasing at the soft line of her jaw and the sensitive hollow behind her ear. His touch was magical, stirring the desire for him that she’d long kept buried. The pad of his thumb brushed across her bottom lip, leaving it tingling and aching to be kissed.
    Ivy looked up at him. Pinning him with her gaze, she took his hand in hers and brought it to her mouth, pressing a kiss into his palm. She moved the hand down to her chest, placing it over her heart. The rapid beating vibrated against her rib cage. “I still love you, too.”
    Then she shifted his hand to cup her breast.
    A ragged breath escaped from Blake’s lips. “You don’t know how long . . .” His voice faded, his fingers gently stroking her sensitive flesh. “Ivy, I need you so badly.”
    “Then have me,” she whispered. And she meant it. She couldn’t hold back how she felt any longer.
    Blake lowered his lips to hers, but stopped just short of touching her. “I need to tell you something first.”
    Ivy frowned. “What is it?”
    Blake opened his mouth, but instead of words, an annoying, high-pitched melody came out. It was a rhythmic sound. And it grew louder with every second.
    Ivy opened her eyes and looked up at the cabin ceiling. Morning light was streaming through the windows, casting sunbeams across the bed. The bed she was very alone in. And yet the sound continued.
    Turning her head, she saw her cell phone on the bedside table. The alarm she’d set was going off.
    She brought her hands to her face, rubbing it in an attempt to scrub the heated dream from her brain. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
    She was dreaming about Blake now. First she’d caught herself ogling him, and now she was having sexy dreams about him. It was only Monday. It was only her third day back in Rosewood and she had completely lost touch.
    Time to get up. Today was the fund-raiser kickoff. Ivy was avoiding going into town and potentially running into Blake again. Dreading it, really. But she didn’t have a choice.
    A team of citizens had been planning and making arrangements for weeks, but today was the first time they were getting all the players together, going over the schedule and specifics, and Ivy would finally find out what Kevin had signed her up for.
    He’d been incredibly vague on the details. There was a concert, of course, but for all she knew, Kevin had signed her up to headline the dunk tank at the high school carnival. She was