"Not Dreams?"
He planted a row of kisses along the naked skin on the back of her shoulder.
"No. Mick said they're putting Silver Springs on the B-side, but that feels pointless when it's not even making the fucking album. Apparently they need something upbeat and Go Your Own Way is the best one. Oh, or Don't Stop in the UK. They said Chris singing will help."
He sank back in the tub, lost in his thoughts. Stevie leant back against him, the water swirling in front of her.
"You need someone better in charge of marketing."
"This is true. The guy we have now is terrible. Great in bed, though."
He chuckled and leaned down to kiss her smiling lips. Robin was at work and he'd called out sick, unable to spend another day without seeing Stevie again. They'd managed to make it to the bedroom this time, and he'd slid into her bath behind her afterwards.
"Seriously though, Dreams is the one on that record. It's head and shoulders above the rest."
"Chris said it was boring."
He scoffed.
"With respect to Chris, she needs to stay in her lane. She can't touch what you're doing."
She rounded on him, and he saw anger flashing in her eyes for the first time.
"Listen. She can't touch what I'm doing and I can't touch what she's doing. We're two very different people, ok?"
"Ok."
"We're not competing."
"Ok."
"I'm just saying."
He placed his hands on her stomach and kissed the side of her head.
"You're a very good friend. And you look incredible with your hair piled up on your head like that."
"You are changing the subject."
"I am. It's entirely deliberate."
She rolled over to face him, and he had to smile at the way her ass cheeks broke the surface of the water. He reached down to grasp them as he looked at her.
"Mick said Dreams will be the second single."
"Good. That song is going to change your life, you know."
She smiled and shook her head.
"We're a band, it's a shared thing."
"When I came to the album shoot, why do you think I had Mick look at you instead of the crystal ball?"
"Tell me."
"Because you said looking into that ball represented you looking at the future. He was doing the same thing."
"Stop it."
"I'm serious. The sooner you realize what Mick and the rest of them already know, that you're the star, the better."
"If I'm the star, why does everyone treat me like a child?"
"They're scared. If they allow you to realize your potential, to find your voice and become the force of nature you're supposed to be, then they know you will have the power to leave them in the dust."
"I...I wouldn't do that."
"No. Of course you wouldn't, beautiful girl." He kissed her nose. "But you could. And that's enough for them to clip your wings, darling."
