Picture Perfect

voices in the world but that didn’t make him less of a gentleman. His parents had raised him with impeccable manners, and I appreciated it. He opened the passenger door for me and waited until I’d buckled my seatbelt before closing my door. As soon as the door clicked shut, I realized what the feeling that I was having was.
    It was the feeling of being safe and secure.
    It seemed so absurd to feel that way about someone I’d known for less than twenty-four hours, but that was how I felt. It occurred to me that while I liked the real life Flynn, I’d be meeting celebrity Flynn very soon. I knew that it was very unlikely that he’d maintain his gentlemanly behavior once the tour started and thousands of women were salivating and clamoring to do anything and everything to make him happy.
    I needed to maintain my walls in order not to get hurt when he inevitably turned out like every guy. He was a rock superstar for god sake, not a music teacher. I couldn’t judge him for that, because I couldn’t even imagine how that would warp a person’s perspective. Being able to have whatever you want, whenever you wanted it, would really give you unrealistic expectations about dating and women in general. I was nothing like the women he was used to, of that much I was sure. That thought was a real confidence killer.
    His car stereo was softly playing Pearl Jam, and I tried to relax and get into the music. Pearl Jam was one of my favorite bands, but I couldn’t turn my brain off. At the first red light, Flynn turned and looked at me. “What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?”
    I knew there was no way that I could say that I was thinking that he was very likely a man whore and that I’d never measure up to the wild women that he ran with. Instead I shook my head and gave him a smile. “I’m just enjoying your music selection. Corduroy is one of my favorite songs.”
    Turning to me, he frowned. “Be that as it may, you aren’t sitting there thinking about the song. What’s wrong sweetness? Am I making you uncomfortable or something?”
    I emphatically shook my head in the negative. “No! Ignore my Flynn. I’m just being an idiot. It’s been a crazy couple of months.” I seriously needed to get control of myself. What the hell was I going to say to him if he pushed? ‘Sorry, I was sitting here thinking that you’ve had entirely too much sexual experience and I know you’ll be woefully disappointed if anything happens between us?’ Yeah, I couldn’t say that without sounding psycho. We’d just met, and that meant it would be nuts to spout things off like that. If I said any of that he’d probably think I was as crazy as Glenn Close in ‘Fatal Attraction.’
    The look on his face indicated that my words weren’t making him feel much better, but when I smiled he had no choice but to let it go. We spent the rest of the drive to the restaurant talking about his family. I asked a million questions and he answered them all. By the time we pulled into the restaurant parking lot I felt like I had a good idea of the family dynamic.
    When Flynn parked, I moved to open my car door. Touching my shoulder, Flynn smiled down at me. “My grandmother would smack me silly if she thought I wasn’t opening doors for you. You don’t want me to be punished, do you?”
    He was so much different than I had expected. For all of his fame and wild lifestyle, he really was a gentleman. I smiled up into his handsome face when he opened my door and I shivered when he took my hand in his again. As we started to walk, I tried to pull my hand away. Stopping dead in his tracks, Flynn looked at me.
    “What the hell, babe? Why is it not okay to touch you? You seemed okay at the hotel, but you pulled away before the meeting today and now you’re pulling away again. Does touching me bother you?”
    He couldn’t have been more wrong about his touch bothering me. I actually found it comforting and soothing. I felt comfortable with Flynn in a way I never had with anyone else before.
    “It’s not that at all . I pulled away before we walked into the meeting today because I didn’t want the entire room to think I was throwing myself at you. I tried to pull my hand away now because I don’t want your family to think that, either.”
    Grabbing both of my hands, Flynn pulled me closer to him. “Babe, my family already knows about you. I was at my dad’s house at the ass crack of dawn this morning yapping about the amazing