*Trisha*

With one final bow, one more wave to the crowd, Nate turns and walks off the stage with the band. I've never felt so happy in my entire life. The second he is down the stairs I throw my arms around him.

"You killed it, playboy!" I exclaim, pulling his head down to my shoulder, hiding his face so know one can see his watery eyes. They are happy tears but I know Nate, he doesn't want anyone to see him emotional. It's overwhelming. It's beautiful. It's Nate. 

"That was incredible. Every single minute." I whisper in his. "It's like you never left. Never stopped performing, ya know? What a comeback."

Everyone is in party mode now, ready to celebrate. The rec room is transformed in the matter of seconds. Once just a space with mismatched couches and dim lighting, now a pulsing rave of a scene. Everywhere we turn there's temptation. If I don't reel it in right away, Nate will slip.

"Hey!" I yell over the music, snatch a full bottle of Vodka from Bruce, the soundcheck guy and glare at him. "No hard alcohol near Nate Hollan! He's a recovering addict you stupid fuck!" I  push the bottle back into the man's chest. "Go somewhere else with that shit."

Evan suppresses a smirk as he listens to me. Without caring I'm in a mini skirt and high heels, I climb up on to a chair and whistle as loud as I can to get everyone's attention. Leslie kills the music and all eyes are on me.

"No hard alcohol near Nate or you're all fired! You hear me? Beer and wine only, that doesn't affect him, but if you come near Nate with whiskey or any other of the hard shit I'm cutting your testicles off. So Go outside!"

Everyone nods without even the slightest groan and a few clusters of people go outside with their drinks. Evan takes my hand and helps me off the chair. 

"I think your team forgot you are in recovery." I say to Nate who rolls his eyes and heads to the catering table.

 "That's ok. I'm going to mingle for a few minutes then take my food to the dressing room and shower. They know no booze in my dressing room, though, right?"

"I already cleared out the room." 

Leslie makes her way behind Nate and pats his shoulder.

"You did well out there, Mr. Hollan. I know the timing isn't the greatest but you put on quite the show."

"Thanks." Nate answers. I furrow my brows when I hear how raspy his voice is. He gave his fans all of him back there. Maybe too much. 

Noah approaches Nate, shakes his hand and congratulates him on a job well done. I'm glad Nate gave Noah a free ticket to tonight's show, for more than one reason. We walk away together, leaving Nate to eat and hang out with Jonah and Casey. 

I take Noah's hand and guide him to a quieter corner of the room that isn't surrounded by so many people. He looks nervous again.

"Are you ok?" I gaze up at the tall man and rest my hand on his solid chest.

"Yeah, um... I'm just." His eyes dart around the room a little. "I'm in recovery. I'm not sure if I mentioned that."

Shit. I DO remember him saying that when we all first met him. I notice his eyes dart around from the beer to the weed to Leslie fucking snorting a line with whoever the hell that person is in the far corner.

"Hey, look at me." I place both hands on his chiseled jaw. "It's just you and me, ok? Don't pay attention to what anyone else is doing."

Noah nods, his focus now down on me. I lean up on my toes and kiss his lips, not caring about anyone around us. I feel him drop his hands to my waist and pull me against him. It's perfect. We don't break until we hear a little commotion. Mila Giovanni has entered the room with her entourage and bodyguards.

"So it's really true. Hollan is with that model." Noah keeps his hands on my waist but turns his head to Nate and Mila. I look over and roll my eyes. 

"I can't answer that, 'Reporter Noah," I smirk.

Mila is a model for a reason and tonight she is making sure everyone knows. She looks amazing. But I don't see any lust in Noah's eyes. As a matter of fact, the opposite.

"I feel bad for that girl Julia. I know she and Nate-"

"Yeah, she'll be fine." I snap. Ok, this is not the first time the mention of Julia has come up. I'm not an idiot. Did Noah have a thing for Julia when we first met him? I can't remember and really don't feel like thinking about her right now. The thought disappears when the back door of the garage opens slightly and Elijah, one of our maintenance guys for the tour busses, scans the room.

"Fuck. This can't be good." I back away from Noah and walk over to the heavy Portuguese man, hoping I can understand him with that thick accent of his.

"Eli. Who are you looking for??" I yell over the music.

"Temos um problema." Elijah has a worried look to his face and I know problema means problem.

"With Nate's tour bus??"

"Sim senhora."

*******

Noah is the one who had to translate what Elijah was trying to say and it wasn't good news. I ended up having to end the night with Noah and gather the core group to let them know about the problem. Feeling a headache coming on, I get to work. My job is neverending, even at eleven at night.

We all make our way back to Nate's dressing room, Evan, Jonah, Casey, Leslie and of course...Mila Giovanni.

"The motherfucker is STILL in the shower?" I huff as everyone finds a seat.

"Nate?" I knock on the bathroom door.

"Gimme a sec." I hear Nate answer and then swing open the door wearing nothing but a towel. I swear, Leslie and Mila look like it's mating season.

"Jesus, you could have warned me, angel." He looks around the room, red in the face.

"Now that's hot." Leslie whistles.

"Trish- my clothes." 

I quickly grab his clothes off the wardrobe rack. "Sorry, hotstuff. I didn't know you had just gotten out. We have a problem."

"Well, what is it??"

"The tour bus isn't starting. I called AAA and they can have someone tow it to a local shop but who knows how long it will take for someone to look at it. I'm gonna call around and see if someone can look at it first thing in the morning, here at the venue so we can get on the road as soon as possible. It could be something minor like the starter but it's late. No one is going to come right now and to be honest... There's a lot of 'illegal substances' in the other room from the afterparty going on. We can't really have-"

"I get it. Christ. So, now what?" He scratches his jaw as the stress of the moment sets in.

Leslie looks down at her binder and back up at Nate. "Well, I can bump your morning radio interview, that's no problem. It's less than a five hour drive so we can piggyback it with the meet and greet the following day. It will be a busy day but-"

"I really think Nate should slow his roll." Jonah chimes in and Casey nods in agreement. "He needs to ease back into this lifestyle and it will take some time to adjust."

"With all due respects, Mr...." Leslie starts but Jonah shuts her down right away. Brave, brave Jonah...

"Jonah." He answers. "Just Jonah and I am hired as Nate's private nurse which means my job...my only job... is to keep the man as healthy as possible. I don't care about anyone else's agendas. His blood pressure after tonight's concert was through the roof. Even before he went on stage he needed a nap in between events. His heart is trying to keep up but we don't want to over exert him."

My eyes practically bug out of my head.

"I see." Leslie begins crossing something off on her clipboard.

"Let's focus on tonight's problem." Nate crosses his arms over his bare chest. "Where the fuck are we sleeping tonight? We've already packed our bags and checked out of the Four seasons and-"

"Already on top of it. They held our rooms. Not like many people can afford to book the penthouse suite like you can," I chuckle. "So we will go back to the same rooms tonight with the same people and I will call around for a mechanic first thing in the morning. Ren is already in route back here from dropping off all our overnight bags to our rooms."

"Great." Nate pivots and heads back into the bathroom to get dressed.

****

By the time we get back to the hotel, everyone is exhausted. We all go our separate ways, Evan escorting me to "our" room. He's extra quiet tonight. Not because he's in bodyguard mode either. Something else is bothering him.

"Talk, Scofield." I demand once we are inside the room. I kick off my heels and patter over to my suitcase.

"I'm sorry?" He asks with confusion.

"Something's bothering you tonight. I don't know what, but you're acting strange." I sink onto the edge of the chair, reach up my leg, and start rolling down my thigh highs. Evan's eyes flick down quick, before snapping back up to my face.

"Relax. It's just a body." I roll my eyes, smirking. "Now be a pal and help me unzip this."

I turn, pointing to the zipper. I know I'm asking a lot from the guy, but surely he can handle unzipping something.

"You should get changed in the bathroom, Miss Banks." His voice is low, rougher than usual, as he fumbles with the zipper.

I spin back around, teasing, letting the fabric slide off my body. "Get used to it, hotstuff. I'm not shy about changing in front of people." I smirk, until I realize I might be standing a little too close.

Evan's gaze locks onto mine, steady, unwavering. He refuses to let his eyes drop to look at my body, but I don't miss the way his chest rises and falls, the controlled breath he takes.

I got to him.

With caution, I lift my hand and place it on Evan's chest, feeling the heavy pounding of his heart. He clenches his jaw but doesn't take a step back.

"You should get changed in the bathroom." His voice is softer now, but his eyes dark, saying something else entirely. And at his hairline, just the faintest trace of sweat. I gaze up him and my stomach ties in a tight knot.

 I've suddenly forgotten all about Fireman Noah.

*****