She would take that small step for now. “We’ve lost a lot of studio time.” As much as she wanted to smile and thank him, she didn’t want to get sucked into his nice-guy routine until she knew his angle.
He hung his guitar strap on his shoulder. “Break time is over. Are you ready?”
Her mouth went dry. She clasped her hands together to hide her fear. “Let’s do this.”
The rest of the band bounded back to the room, excited and exuberant at three in the morning. They must have gotten a lot of sleep.
“Let’s rock ‘n roll.” Ervin retrieved his drumsticks from the floor and made his way behind his modest drum set.
“Guys, we’re doing ‘Reeling’ first. Let’s do a couple of practice runs before we lay the track.” Truman’s commanding nature had his band falling in line.
Shauna took that as her cue to go into the control room. To hear the music better, she turned off the loud fan as she sat with Hank at the boards.
“Let’s take it from the top, boys.” Truman nodded with each tap Ervin made on his drumsticks.
“Before you start, gentlemen, do you need anything in there?” Shauna hated to interrupt the flow, but she wanted to hear perfection. “Some artists like candles burning, pictures of loved ones, stuffed animals.” She loved burning blackberry-scented candles.
“Lady, we’re in a recording studio, not a slumber party.” Sully sneered at her through the glass separating them.
She gritted her teeth. Sully wouldn’t break her.
“You know, I’ve always wanted pictures of the kids in front of me when I played.” Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He set it up on a nearby easel and smiled as he stared at it.
Truman patted his pocket but didn’t retrieve anything. Maybe he had a picture of a girlfriend or wife he wanted to view but didn’t in front of Shauna. Now she couldn’t stop staring at his pants for a different reason.
“Fine. I don’t care if you want the whole family in the recording studio. We need to play.” Sully strummed an angry chord on his guitar.
“Then tell me about the song you’re about to sing.” She spread her hand over the lyrics.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Sully groaned and leaned his head back.
She could feel his frustration rising through the control booth glass. She had a job to do and she knew what worked.
“Tell me what ‘Reeling’ is about.” Shauna directed her attention to Truman.
“If it gets us recording faster.” Truman slung his guitar behind him.
Even angry Truman looked good. His brown eyes narrowed, his chest pumped up, and his lips looked tight. Not exactly kissable but definitely interesting. He started to get a morning stubble around his goatee. That made him even hotter.
“The song is about when you first meet that special person. It’s when you get the butterflies in your belly and loss of appetite. And when you finally get to kiss that person for the first time, you’re just in heaven. You’re reeling.”
Shauna hadn’t noticed her mouth had hung open as she listened to him until Hank coughed. “Is this song about someone in your life now?” She attempted to make the question sound as innocent but professional as possible, but below the layer of her query bubbled a hint of curiosity, maybe even jealousy.
Truman looked around at his band members. He faced forward and said, “No. Not anymore. It’s an older song but a fan favorite.”
She exhaled and smiled. “Ordinarily I would tell you to sing the song to that person. It helps gives soul to your lyrics.”
“Hell, Tru, just sing it to her so we can get on with this.” Sully pointed to Shauna.
She stared at Truman as he made his way to the microphone. As he sang she noticed he moved his head around a lot as though he sang on a stage.
Thank goodness they weren’t recording yet. The recording would have been worthless only because of his constant movement.
The man sang with so much heart; Shauna felt it from her seat. Chills covered her body until she felt like one big goose bump. She rubbed her hand up and down her arm as she looked over the lyrics as he sang. It didn’t help that the man oozed sex.
In his loose-fitting T-shirt and his worn jeans, Truman looked confident and strong, attractive qualities in any man.
She made some notes on the lyrics, some changes she thought would work better in the song. Then she thought about how she would present these changes to a very protective Truman. He’d nearly bitten her head off earlier when she’d tried altering his lyrics.
At the end of the song, Truman and his band talked among themselves. From their smiles, they must have liked the sound and arrangement. Now came the hard part.
She turned on the mic to talk to them in the booth.
“Good take, boys. Let’s can it.” Hank spoke before she could say a word.
She turned to the burly mess. “What did you just say to them?”
Hank snorted, not like he was being insolent but because he breathed that way normally. “It sounded good. Why have them play it over and over again?”
“For one thing, I’m producing. Point two, Truman said this was a rehearsal, and he wasn’t near the mic for half the song. It’ll sound amateurish.” Shauna knew Craig had to have been watching this whole display, but she wouldn’t back down. She would want someone to stand up and say something didn’t sound right if she had been in the booth recording. Actually, she did have that person in her life.
She glanced at Craig who winked at her, his way of letting her know he backed her decision. She set in her jaw and kept her gaze on Hank. The big man finally turned away from her and tinkered with the knobs and controls on the boards.
She turned on the microphone again. “Let’s hear that song one more time.”
She saw Sully and Charlie’s shoulders ease down. Ervin’s eyes lit up like she’d given them a million dollars. Truman looked confused.
“Was there something wrong in there? I know I said this would be a practice run, but it sounds like the engineer liked it.” Truman questioned her as though he’d failed her.
She bit the inside of her cheek and counted to ten before she spoke. “No. Everything’s fine. I want to get different takes. We can mesh the best takes together.”
Truman nodded but his confused expression contradicted his compliance.
“This time, Truman, I need for you to stand right at the microphone.” Shauna held her palm up to her face to mimic how Truman should stand. “I want to hear your voice clearly.”
Truman glanced at Hank who only shrugged.
She ignored their unspoken conversation and continued. “Also, what do you think about changing the line ‘You’re the right one for me’ to ‘You’re the one I need’?”
Sully groaned so loud Shauna would have been able to hear it with the microphones off.
“She’s doing it, Tru.” Sully pointed to Shauna. “I thought you said she wasn’t going to change our music.”
“She’s not.” Truman looked over the lyrics.
His icy stare momentarily stunned Shauna.
Instead of buckling, she pressed on. “The flow will go better if you make that change. Why not try it for the next take.” She tapped her fingers. Her nails