“You better continue what you started,” she says with a wicked smile that makes me laugh. “Text me when you get to the studio, so I know you got there okay.”
“Will do, baby,” I agree as she backs up a step.
“See you soon.”
“You bet you will,” I reply before she blows me a kiss and turns on her heel, disappearing into the crowd.
Once I can’t see her anymore, I take a shaky breath and go to my car. I sit in the parking lot of the Exit/In and reflect on what just happened between us and can only hope she’s not too good to be true.
Chapter Eight
ALY
I SPEED LIKE a maniac into the parking lot of my office, my tires squealing as I hastily pull into the first open spot I find. I put the car into park and pull down my visor to check my appearance in the mirror.
“Shit,” I groan out loud as I take in the disheveled hair, swollen lips, and dilated eyes. Not to mention the purple bags that no foundation can cover up. I look and feel like a hot mess, and it’s all because of a certain green-eyed devil I’ve become hypnotized by.
Gavin was still at the studio last night when I got home, so it wasn’t until midnight when he called to say goodnight and we stayed up for another hour talking. Before hanging up, I agreed to meet him for breakfast this morning, since Shane usually lets his employees come into work late when we have work events the night before. We met at a tiny, hole-in-the-wall restaurant he knew about on the east side of downtown Nashville. The place wasn’t very crowded, and it was nice not having our photo taken by strangers. We had the chance to get to know a little more about each other, and during our conversation, Gavin told me all about his upcoming trip to Los Angeles, where he’s scheduled to perform on a couple of late-night talk shows.
Once we were done eating, he paid for our bill and walked me to my car. What was supposed to just be a quick kiss on the lips turned into a full-blown make-out session in his truck, which was conveniently parked right next to my car. I start to get heated all over again just thinking about where I let his lips and hands roam. If it wasn’t for the incoming call from Willow, I probably would have had an orgasm in his truck from the deliciously naughty things he was doing to my body.
I don’t even remember how his hands got underneath my dress—then again, one small touch of his lips and I’m a goner. I fall a little further down the rabbit hole for Gavin McNeer each time we’re together, and I know there’s going to come a point when I won’t be able to get back out of it. We were being reckless, as anyone could’ve seen us despite his windows being heavily tinted. But worrying about what we were doing was the last thing on either of our minds.
Good Lord, that man has cast a spell over me! I shake my head at myself and the wanton behavior that comes out every time he touches me. I grab my makeup bag out of my purse and add some powder and blush then apply some lipstick and try to run a brush through the tangles his hands created in my hair. I take a deep breath, satisfied with my handiwork, and exit the car. My phone starts ringing while walking toward the building, and I pull it out of my purse to see Willow is calling me again. She’s relentless when she doesn’t hear from me, and if I ignore her call one more time, she’ll show up at my office unannounced.
“Hey pretty lady, what’s up?” I chirp in an overly bright tone as I pull open the front door to my office building and head in.
“What’s up? Seriously? My so-called best friend has been sucking face with the hottest country singer in town and doesn’t even tell me! I have to read it on the Internet.” Guilt washes over me as I hear the anger in her voice. “You have a lot of explaining to do, Dawson, and I don’t care that you’re at work right now. Wait, are you even at work right now?”
“Yes, I’m at work,” I confirm, but purposely leave out that I just walked through the doors.
“Great! Start talking.”
“Willow, I’m sorry, but you know my office is a cubicle and anyone can hear me.” I lower my voice as I pass by my co-workers, not wanting them to hear my conversation. “I promise I’ll call you back later.”
“Nope, not happening. I’ll see you on your lunch break and you can tell me then.”
I reach my desk and plop myself down in my chair. “I have a lot of work to do today and am not sure I can leave. I promise I’ll call you when I get out of here this evening.”
“I’ll bring food and we can eat there. Text me where you want me to pick up food from.”
I roll my eyes at her persistence and wish she would just trust me to call her later. It’s not like I have a track record for not calling her back. She’s usually the one who doesn’t call me back right away. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“But am I though?”
“Yes, you are.”
“Who ya talking to?” a voice behind me asks, startling me to the point that my phone goes crashing to the floor. I turn around to see Shane perched at the edge of my desk, arms crossed over his chest with an evil smile on his face.
“I was talking to Willow, Shane. Jesus, you scared me!”
“Hello? Aly? You better not have hung up on me!” we hear Willow threaten through the phone as I pick it up off the ground.
“Hi, Willow!” Shane says loud enough for her to hear. “Aly, bring the phone conversation into my office so we can all talk on speaker.”
“But this isn’t a work-related phone call,” I reply, not liking the sparkle of mischief I see in his eyes. There’s no way I want to give both of them the opportunity to hound me about Gavin at the same time.
“Was your phone conversation going to be about Gavin?” Before I can tell him no, Willow screams yes so loudly into the phone that I have to hold it away from my ear. Shane hears her response and smiles. “Gavin’s a musician and we’re in the music business, so —” Shane winks. “—it’s a work-related call.”
“That’s complete garbage and you know it! He’s not even signed to our label,” I argue against his ridiculous logic. All Shane wants to do is find out how far I’ve gone with Gavin, and I prefer not to talk about that with my boss, no matter how close we are.
“In my office now, Alyson!” he commands with a serious look on his face before turning on his heel and marching inside his office. I wish he could feel the daggers I’m shooting at his back with my eyes.
“I love that man,” Willow says, and I can’t help but snort at her comment. Willow says she loves anyone who’s willing to be her partner in crime when it pertains to ganging up on me.
“Hold on,” I grumble out to her while I reluctantly walk to his office and shut the door. I take a seat in front of his desk, place my phone down in between us, and turn the speakerphone on.
“There, now you two can gossip with each other in front of me,” I say sarcastically and lean back into the chair, silently praying for some patience in dealing with these two today.
“Okay, Willow, what was she updating you on with Gavin? Because I haven’t gotten an update on the situation since yesterday morning.”
I groan and Shane sticks out his tongue at me while he waits for Willow to respond. I love how my dating life is now called “the situation.”
“I haven’t gotten any updates at all! She never even told me about meeting him.” Shane looks at me in surprise, his mouth open so wide that wasps could use that big hole to make a nest.
“Sounds to me like someone is being a horrible best friend,” Shane tells her while eyeing me in mock disgust. “I’ll fill you in on how they met, since I happened to be there.” He clears his throat and moves closer to the phone in order for her to hear him better.
I lean forward to chime in, so she doesn’t believe all the nonsense I know he’s going to spew. “Let me just warn you, Willow, that this will be a full-blown exaggeration and nothing like the reality of what happened.”
“You hush. I’m telling the story!” Shane waves me off as if I’m some little gnat annoying him. “Now, where do I begin?” He rubs his hands together. “It was indu
stry night at The Bluebird Cafe and Gavin was there performing on behalf of his record label. As soon as he sat down and took one look at our beautiful Miss Aly, he was smitten.” He bats his eyelashes at me.
“Here we go.” I sigh. I seriously think he gets high off of meddling in other people’s lives.
“It’s my story to tell,” he says, and Willow laughs, making him smile even broader. “So as soon as he saw our girl, the air in the room got heated under the intensity of his gaze while he stared at her. Our little Aly apparently felt the same way about him, because for the next ten minutes, they just stared at each other as if they were telepathically having sex.”
I shake my head at him, my lips twitching at hearing Willow’s laughter again. “This is so ridiculous,” I say to myself, since I know neither of them are listening to me.
“When Gavin’s set ends, he hands Aly his card and tells her to call him—in front of everyone! Valerie was with us too, and being the boring, older sister she is, she naturally told Aly not to call him.”
“Hey, that’s not nice. My sister’s not boring!” I cut in, not letting even my boss talk badly about my sister.
“Oh c’mon now, you know I love Valerie, but she’s a CPA for Pete’s sake. They’re boring!” I wouldn’t call Valerie boring, but because she rarely ever comes out with us, Shane considers her an old fuddy-duddy. “Anyway, Aly listened to her intuition and called him that night. It has been thirty-six hours since then, and they’ve seen each other for breakfast and dinner.” Shane pauses and studies me intently, his eyes starting at the top of my head and going all the way down to my feet. “And judging with how she looks right now, he might have eaten her for breakfast this morning.”
My mouth drops open in shock, my cheeks reddening at the fact that Shane was able to tell I messed around with Gavin.
He throws back his head and laughs at my expression. “Oo-wee, Willow, you should see the permanent blush staining Aly’s cheeks right about now.”
I groan and throw my face into my hands, wanting to hide from the insanity that has suddenly become my life.
“Please tell me you haven’t had sex with him already?” Willow questions in concern.
“No, of course not!” I say then see Shane raise a brow, and I start to get annoyed and angry with the double standard the world has created with men being able to have sex on the first date, but it’s unacceptable for women to do the same. “And by the way, even if I had already slept with him, that would be no one’s business but my own.”
“Aly, you know I would never judge you even if you did sleep with him already, but this is no ordinary guy you’re dating. You’re dating someone who’s famous, a guy who just wrote a hit song about being used by his ex-girlfriend.”
“Not to mention, he’s scrumdiddlyumptious hot and has women throwing themselves at him all the time,” Shane chimes in, and I give him the death glare for having to remind me about Gavin’s popularity with the female population.
“Nice, Shane, real nice,” Willow says sarcastically before continuing on. “All I’m saying is to please be careful with this guy. What exactly are you looking for with him?”
“I don’t know. You know I wasn’t really looking to get into a relationship with anyone,” I reply, speaking to Willow like Shane isn’t even in the room. “Not that I was being closed-minded to dating, but I can’t do casual and I have no interest in spending time with people I don’t feel a connection with. Honestly, he’s the first guy I actually want to spend time with.” Talking about him gets my heart racing, and I imagine his handsome face. “He’s super intense and completely overwhelms me in a good way. He makes me feel wanted, and when he tells me how beautiful he thinks I am, I actually believe it.” I bring my gaze back to Shane, who sighs loudly with a dreamy look on his face while cupping his chin in his hands. “I don’t know; there’s something about him, and my heart is telling me to give him a chance.”
“Wow,” Willow says after a couple moments of silence. “Well, I think you need to listen to your intuition if you’re feeling that strongly about him. I’m happy that you’ve found someone you think might be worthy of you, because you’re pretty damn special, Alyson Dawson.”
“Amen, sister!” Shane yells with excitement and winks at me. “So far, Gavin’s reputation has been squeaky clean, and you know I’ll be keeping my ears open if I hear of anything otherwise.”
“I love you guys. Despite my annoyance with you both, I’m pretty damn lucky to call you my squad,” I say with a laugh.
“So… when do I get to meet him?” Willow asks, and I wonder the same thing, since Gavin’s schedule for the next week is pretty busy.
“He leaves for Los Angeles tomorrow and won’t be back for a couple days, which puts us into next week.” Even though I know this tiny break will be a good test for us, the thought of not seeing him makes me sad.
“You’re meeting him next Thursday, Willow,” Shane informs us, and I look at him in confusion, wondering if he knows something I don’t. “We have the suite for the Predators game next week. I’ll give you four tickets. Take Gavin and Willow and use the last one for whomever else you want to invite.”
“That’s really generous of you, Shane, but I don’t know his schedule for next week.” I know he will be back on Monday, but we haven’t discussed what the rest of his week looks like.
“Text him and ask,” Shane counters, nodding at the phone.
“I’ll text him about it later.”
“Do it now, Aly!” he demands.
“God, you’re bossy today! Willow, hold on a second please,” I say in exasperation as I pick up my phone and proceed to text Gavin.
Me: Are you free next Thursday to go to the Predators game with me and my best friend, Willow? You can bring along Sosie or whomever you want. I have one extra ticket for the suite we’ll be in. I completely understand if you can’t.
I hit Send and stick my tongue out at Shane. “There, you happy now?”
“No, let me see the proof that you actually asked him.” Before I can react, Shane grabs the phone out of my hands and looks at my text messages.
“Hey! That’s rude!” I stand up and try to grab it back from him, but Shane just moves to hold it above his head. With him being taller than me and his desk between us, I don’t stand a chance of retrieving it from him. I angrily stomp my foot and glare at him as I sit back down. “I’m over you, Adams!”
“Please don’t kill him yet, because I actually would like to go to a Predators game for free.” Willow laughs.
The wheels in my head start to turn, as next week will be the perfect time to introduce her to Brodie. “Even if Gavin can’t make it, we’ll still go,” I reassure her, silently plotting how to introduce those two that night. I’ll have to let Brodie know I’ll be there, and hopefully, he’ll be able to meet us after the game.
My scheming is interrupted when my phone buzzes with a text message notification. Shane doesn’t even bother handing my phone back to me and instead takes it upon himself to read the message first. His lips form a sly smile, and that I’m-up-to-no-good sparkle in his eye returns.
“According to Gavin’s text message, and I quote, ‘I’ll rearrange my schedule to be with you. Count me in,’ end quote.” Shane hands back my phone with a sigh and a satisfied grin on his face.
“Damn, that’s hot,” Willow remarks, and I nod in complete agreement.
I’ve been very impressed with Gavin and his efforts to make sure we see each other at least once a day since meeting. And even then, he’s constantly texting and calling me throughout the day.
“Great, it’s a date then! I look forward to meeting Mr. Sexy-as-Sin McNeer next week,” Willow says, and I know she’s smiling. I can’t help but smirk, knowing Gavin’s not the only good-looking guy she’s going to meet that night. I know Brodie will definitely like what he sees when he meets Willow, because she’s gorgeous. But will the feeling be mutual? I don’t have a very good track record with setting Willow up, sinc
e she has such high standards when it comes to men. I just have a feeling that if she gives Brodie a chance, my matchmaking skills will finally pay off.
Chapter Nine
GAVIN
I RUB MY eyes with the heels of my hands, tiredness seeping through my body as I leave the studio for the night. Today turned out to be longer than I expected, with getting ready for our television appearances in LA and coming back to the studio to write with seasoned country music star Patty Douglas. I probably should’ve declined her last-minute invite to join her and gone home to pack, but something told me to go and I’m glad I did.
We got the first draft of a song done within two hours, which is pretty damn impressive. I have a feeling the final production of this song is going to smoke the country music charts and possibly the Billboard charts as well. I believe in this song so much that I even promised her I would continue working on it while in LA. Some songs you know right away are going to be a hit and this is one of them.
When I get in my car and close the door, I smell that sweet scent that’s been plaguing me all day long. I inhale deeply, moaning out loud as remnants of Aly’s perfume tickle my senses. My fingers start twitching at the memory of being inside her warm, slick pussy. I had no intention of going as far as I did inside my truck in broad daylight this morning, but things escalated quickly when her soft, plump lips touched mine. Her kisses send me spiraling out of control, and I completely lose myself when I’m with her.
Do these intense feelings scare the crap out of me? Hell yeah, they do, but despite the craziness of feeling this way over someone I just met, it also has never felt more right. I start my engine and look at the clock on my dashboard to see it’s past eleven and she might be sleeping. An overwhelming need to see her one more time before my flight in the morning rocks me. I can’t stand the idea of not seeing her for three days. I grab my cell phone and call her.
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