A Little Night Music Read Online Free PDF Page B

demeanor. Throwing him onto the table and ripping open his shirt was not the image she was going for.
    “Funny you should mention that,” Sam said, the upwards quirk of one eyebrow showing he wasn’t oblivious to the undercurrents of the conversation. His porcelain chopsticks clattered faintly as he played with them, his fingers constantly moving. “I hope you’re comfortable with the idea of being on a tour bus with a bunch of male musicians.”
    “Isn’t that every woman’s fantasy?” Gina asked. Her raised eyebrows told Hannah that she was well aware of what Hannah had been fantasizing about. “Having a bunch of rock stars all to yourself…”
    “I’m sure it will be fine,” Hannah assured Sam. She was just not going to look at Gina again. Nope. “We’re all professionals.”
    “I’m not so sure it’s a good idea,” Nate said. She heard his reluctance, saw the look he shot Sam.
    “It’s part of the game,” Hannah said. She looked at him, her eyes lingering on the lean planes of his face. His mouth was sensually sculpted, the bottom lip just a little fuller. Yum. “I can put out a thousand press releases that tell the world you’re back on top, but they’re all just words—let’s show everyone. I can do that best by being right there, ready to put the spin on everything that happens.”
    “Everything?” he asked softly. His eyes glittered with a look that was just for her. Oh my, the man knew how to flirt.
    She found herself getting excited by the prospect of going on tour with the band, and not just by Nate’s proximity and those enticing leather pants. “Think of it as your opportunity to redesign your image. I’ll be there to guide the publicity in the direction you want it to go. Show how this tour’s not like the excesses of the past, how you’re no longer the type to get high and throw TVs through the window or have a string of groupies lined up outside your hotel room door.”
    “Are you sure about that?” he asked, a glint of amusement in his dark eyes.
    “Well, we’ll have to negotiate about the groupies.” Hannah’s stomach twisted uncomfortably. She didn’t want to think about the groupies. Fact was, they had little or nothing to do with Nate’s former drug habit. If he wanted to flaunt them, that was his decision.
    She just knew she couldn’t compete with the skinny, barely dressed types that followed rock stars around. Much less the gorgeous starlets and supermodels he’d been seen with in the past.
    “So, you tell me,” Hannah said. “What’s the image that you want to portray?”
     “What do you think?” he asked. His eyes challenged her to answer.
    Her head tipped to one side while she considered. “I think there’s a difference between how you want to be seen and what the public expects to see. If it’s a primarily male demographic, then the groupies and the parties lets the boys fantasize about the perks of being a rock star. A little T&A always boosts sales. But if we’re marketing more towards your female fans, that’s not what they want to see. They want the fantasy that they might be the one you pluck out of the crowd, the fan in the fourteenth row who gets noticed.”
     “So the possibility is that some fans get to…meet me…might fuel their fantasies,” Nate said.
     “Do you want to be someone’s fantasy?” she asked, realizing too late that he might see it as a come-on. She felt her cheeks flush.
     “Speaking as a woman as well as a visual artist, I’d say there’s a fine line,” Gina said, smoothly filling in what might have become an awkward silence. “Capitalizing on a female fan’s fantasies is good, but too much of a bad boy, the sense that they just wouldn’t be able to hold on to you, is too much. They’ll feel inadequate.”
    Hannah sent a mental note of relieved thanks in Gina’s direction for filling the void Hannah’s temporary panic had left.
    “Gina’s right,” she said. “The bottom line is that the music