Kissing her, coaxing her to a feverish pitch again, he entered her. Unlike the first time, he rocked slowly into her, letting them both build to an explosion of bliss.
He turned, pulling her on top, and held her. As their breathing slowed, he stroked her back for a long time. Neither of them spoke. He was afraid of breaking whatever spell they were under.
Michaela was the first to move. She shifted off him to sit next to him on the edge of the hay bales. “I need to go inside to make sure Mrs. Hernandez has everything ready for Momma for while we’re away.”
She found her clothes and started getting dressed.
He sighed and sat up, then reached for his own clothes. The magic moment was over. “Okay.”
As she stepped onto the ladder, she looked back at him. “Just so you know. I’m not sure we should do this again. Sex. I mean. I don’t want something to happen.”
Her words stabbed his heart as hard as if she’d used a pitchfork. What was she so afraid of happening? “Yeah,” he said, despite his question, and swallowed the lump in his throat. “You’re probably right.”
As Michaela hurried down the ladder, he prayed he hadn’t made the biggest mistake of his life by making love to his wife.
Chapter 12
Micki avoided Gabe until they had to leave for the airport. The events in the barn still rattled her. She’d needed the hot, wild sex the first time to release the pent-up desire and frustration. Their second coming together had been anything but raw and stirred too many emotions. Gabe’s gaze and the gentle way he’d touched her had reminded her of when they’d first fallen in love.
The unthinkable had happened; she wanted this marriage to be real. Was she being foolish for entertaining such an idea? She believed Gabe had loved her before, but he’d abandoned her as soon as he was given a chance at Nashville.
“We’ll be at the airport in fifteen minutes,” Gabe said from her side.
Nodding, she watched the traffic zip by on the highway from the backseat. Jake, one of the cowboys hired on at the ranch, was driving the BMW to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
Gabe shifted on the seat beside her. “I hope we can avoid the paparazzi, but I wouldn’t bet on it.”
She looked at his profile. He was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt with a guitar logo on it. His unruly dark hair curled around his ears as he scribbled on a tablet. He scrunched up his face in concentration, reminding her of Jesse when he tried to figure out a math problem.
She was kidding herself. They were only in this for Jesse and to think otherwise would turn out disastrous to her heart.
As Jake parked the car next to the curb to drop them off, Micki spotted two men near the door with professional cameras, watching the parking cars.
She jumped when Gabe took her hand and squeezed it. “Looks like word got out that we were headed for our honeymoon.”
Jake looked over his shoulder from the driver’s seat. “You want me to drop you off somewhere else, boss?”
“No, this is good.” He held Micki’s gaze. “You ready?”
No! “Yeah.” She reached for the door, but he grabbed her hand.
Shaking his head, he let go and shoved his notebook into a leather bag. “Let me play the part of a gentleman, okay?”
She ignored him and opened the door. Grunting something that sounded like “Figures she wouldn’t listen,” he got out of the car and came around to her side. He challenged her with his smile and with the twinkle in his dark eyes as he held out his hand. Taking a deep breath, she put her hand in his and savored the buzz she got when he touched her.
Cliff, another ranch hand who rode shotgun, retrieved their bags from the trunk. Jake pulled away from the curb and headed for the parking lot where Cliff would meet him later for the three-hour trip back to Bluebonnet Creek.
As the taillights of the dark gray luxury sedan disappeared into the traffic, she wished she could go home with them.
Gabe wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her against his side. She wanted to move away, but his hot breath on her cheek stopped her.
“Smile. Like it or not, we’ll be on the cover of every tabloid out there, so get your lovey-dovey on.” His low, deep voice flowed through her ear like water, flooding her senses with memories from this morning in the barn.
She forced a smile. “Freakin’ wonderful. I should’ve bargained for hazard pay when I agreed to marry you.”
“Get used to it, Mrs. McKenna.” He grinned and kissed her full on the lips, just as the paparazzi flashed their cameras. She shivered, not sure what frightened her more: the heat of his kiss as he pressed her into him, the husky way he said her name, or the thought of such an intimate act being splashed in the tabloids.
* * * *
The first-class flight to Nashville was uneventful, but Micki came off the airplane feeling like she’d been bounced around the entire hour and forty minutes. She’d never flown in first class before nor with a celebrity. Sure, she was known in the rodeo world, but even that notoriety was small compared to what she experienced as Gabe’s wife.
The flight attendants, after several moments of being starstruck by him, had catered to him--and by extension to her, which she found surprising. She’d been given a fluffy pillow before she asked for one. The women brought her snacks, and although alcohol flowed freely, they brought her a diet Coke when she’d asked, then continued to keep them coming. She’d been treated like a queen, and that she’d enjoyed the attention scared her as much as the gentle way Gabe had touched her. For a long time into the flight, he’d held her hand. Then, as they disembarked their plane, he rested his hand on her back.
She was in a daze as Gabe guided her through the airport. A tall, redheaded woman waved and rushed toward them. She was dressed in a stylish jade pantsuit and carried an iPad and a large designer handbag. As Micki stood by forcing a smile, Gabe greeted the woman with a quick hug, sending an unexpected jolt of jealousy surging through Micki.
The woman smiled and moved forward. Before Micki knew what happened, she was wrapped up in a hug.
“Glad someone finally married this guy,” she said and stepped back. Micki’s shock must have shown on her expression because the lady blushed and shook her head, sending red curls bouncing on her shoulders. “Sorry, I was so thrilled to hear about Gabe’s wedding. Maybe it will keep him out of trouble...” She glanced sideways at Gabe. “Making my job easier.”
Gabe folded his arm around Micki’s shoulder and chuckled. “Michaela, I’d like you to meet my assistant, Trish Russell.”
She recognized the name from their rushed invitations and smiled. Trish was married to the son of Gabe’s manager. “Nice to meet you, Trish. I don’t envy you. Keeping him out of trouble must be a fulltime job all in itself.”
“Hey!” Gabe narrowed his eyes at her but couldn’t mask his amusement. “Don’t worry, Trish is well paid for what she does.”
Laughing, Trish motioned for them to start moving. People were noticing them and staring. “That’s debatable.”
“How’s little Bella feeling?” Gabe took Micki’s hand as they walked toward the baggage claim. For her benefit, he added, “Bella is Trish’s two-year-old holy terror she calls a daughter. She’s the reason she couldn’t come to the wedding.”
Trish beamed. “She’s feeling better. Thanks for asking.” She looked at Micki. “I’m truly sorry I couldn’t come, but Bella is almost never sick and this is the first time she’s had strep throat. I just couldn’t leave her here with my mother while I went to Texas.”
“Of course not. We understand.” Micki didn’t know this woman, but she already liked her. “You were exactly where you should’ve been.”
Besides, the wedding wasn’t real anyway.
The sting to her heart at the reminder hurt more than it should have.
Forty minutes later, Trish turned the luxury SUV through a wrought iron gate that looked like it should have belonged to a plantation on a
wide tree-lined street. Micki had heard of gated communities, but she’d never seen one, except on TV. Although night had fallen, street lights lit up enough of the Georgian mansions peeping though hedgerows and behind other gates for her to get a feeling of wealth beyond what she was accustomed to. The only mansion she’d ever seen that could compare was her father’s rambling monstrosity.
Trish turned down another street bordering a lake. Silver light reflected off the ripples in a peaceful ballet. Across the water, lights lit up a large classical pillared building. The huge fountain in front glowed in an array of changing colorful lights dancing through the spray. By the faint moonlight and the overflow of street light, she got an impression of rolling knolls and trees beyond the expensive vehicles parked in neat rows behind the building.
“This place is beautiful. I can’t imagine what it looks like in the light of day.” Micki swallowed and rubbed her palms on her jeans.
Gabe leaned toward her as if to look out her window. “That’s the country club and golf course behind it. I like to watch the sun come up over the green.
Dear God, Gabe lived here?
On the other side of the street, the homes were a little less grand, but no less impressive as the mansions they’d passed.
Although keeping with the southern plantation theme with frontal columns, the modern design of the insides spilled out of the glowing large glass windows.
Trish slowed the car and pulled into the drive of the fifth house on the street.
* * * *
Gabe exhaled a breath he’d been holding in as Trish parked her SUV in the driveway. He didn’t see any prying eyes of tabloid scum anywhere in sight. One more benefit of paying the price for a gated community.
He glanced at Michaela and fought to keep the snicker off his face. With her very kissable lips shaped in an O, she stared out the window at his two-story home as if she’d never seen a house before. As she let out a low whistle, she turned wide glowing eyes to him. “Trying to compensate for your deficiencies much?”
He opened the door and chuckled. “You know better.”
“I know nothing. Except this place is freaking huge.” She pushed on her door and climbed out.
“You two sound like an old married couple.” Laughing, Trish stepped up beside Michaela and put her arm around her waist. “This place is big, but it’s not excessive.” She led Michaela toward the front door. “My sister-in-law manages a rock star who has a freaking bowling alley and an Olympic-sized pool inside his house. He also has twenty-five bedrooms and lives alone. Now, that’s excessive.”
Trish opened the door and headed in to turn on the lights. As if unsure she wanted to enter his house, Michaela hesitated a moment. When she glanced over her shoulder at him, he smiled.
She flicked her gaze over the darkened street behind him, then entered. Her sharp intake of air as she paused in the entry caused him to shake his head and chuckle. “Michaela, for Christ’s sake, stop that already.”
He sat their bags on the polished marble tile of the foyer, and she snapped narrowed eyes at him.
“I’m rich. Get over it.” Anger flashed in her gaze, and he couldn’t help himself. He caught her around the waist and pulled her to him. As her eyes grew wide with surprise, he captured her lips in a kiss meant to let her know he wasn’t going to let her get much sleep that night, despite whatever craziness he’d agreed to this morning in the barn. She fought him at first; then she fisted her fingers into his shirt. The low moan escaping her had him responding to her, and he held her closer.
Trish’s throat clearing reminded him they weren’t alone. “Hey, lovebirds, what do you say we discuss your schedule for the week, and then I’ll get out of here?”
When he pulled away, he couldn’t get enough air in his lungs and her scent filled every bit of breath he did manage. Michaela’s dilated pupils were unfocused and full of the same desire he’d seen in the barn this morning.
He swallowed down the need for her and forced his gaze to his assistant. “Good idea.”
Trish raised a coppery brow at the raspy response but didn’t say anything. As she tapped a finger on her iPad, he took Michaela’s hand and led her into the living room. They sat on the couch.
Without looking away from the tablet, Trish said, “Gabe, you are due in rehearsals at eight a.m. You’re scheduled as an opening act along with Seth Kendall, Nate O’Connell, and Logan Cartwright, and you all are to sing your collaboration. Seth said he and Nate talked to you at the wedding about the song.”
“Yeah, we talked about it. We’ve only sang the song twice live together so we decided to do something fun.” The song had been a number-one single earlier that year from Logan Cartwright’s second album. The rowdy anthem to pickup trucks, hot women, and beer had won the award for Best Musical Event in one of the early award presentations last week. The first award of many for him, he hoped. “We’ll work out the bugs during rehearsals.”
Micki looked up at him. “I’d love to meet Logan. He and I are second cousins, but I don’t know him. Momma moved away from Colton when she was eighteen, after her parents were killed in a car accident.”
Trish glanced up from her iPad. “It always amazes me how small the biggest state in the continental USA is. I swear everyone is related down there in Texas.”
“Not everyone is related, but I know what you mean.” With a chuckle, he wrapped his arm around Michaela’s shoulders. She sat rigid beside him and tapped her foot as if she were getting ready to run. He had no intentions of letting her escape. When she turned a confused gaze at him, he smiled and pulled her close to him. She didn’t relax much, but the fidgeting stopped. “I’ll make sure you meet him.” Then he turned his attention back to Trish. “Where’s my solo performance happening in the show, and when’s that rehearsal scheduled?”
Trish consulted her iPad again. “You’ll go on after the Male Vocalist is announced. Gary said that’s a great spot.” She looked up and smiled. “Especially if you win the category. Your rehearsal is at four p.m. tomorrow and again Thursday at one p.m. You, Seth, Nate, and Logan also rehearse again at eight a.m. that morning.”
“Damn, can’t you or Gary get the CMAs to schedule the rehearsals closer together?”
“Sorry, Gabe, but that’s what we got. Gary also wanted me to tell you that he set up an interview with Robin Roberts for her CMA special, which will be taped Wednesday at ten a.m.” Trish glanced at Michaela. “She’d like to get the two of you on camera, but Gary was noncommittal, since he didn’t know how you’d react.”
When Michaela shifted in his arms, he glanced into her worried face. He didn’t have to read her mind to imagine what she was thinking. “You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to.”
She took a deep breath and shrugged before looking at Trish. “Sure. I’ll do it. But I think it prudent to have the questions beforehand.” She met his gaze again. “We don’t need any surprises in the interview. Also, our family, including his brother--my nephew--are off limits. We’ll talk about us and about his career. Hell, I’ll even answer questions about my time as a barrel racer. But everything else is personal and off limits.”
He smiled because he never worried about interviews. Usually, he evaded any questions he didn’t want to answer, but her way of thinking was much better and could work very well to their advantage. “Great idea.”
She shrugged against his side. “Great business sense. But I was hoping to see a little of Nashville while here. Guess that will have to wait until the next time.”
Next time? He stroked her cheek, not for the lie they were living, but because he wanted to feel her soft skin and watch her eyes dilate with desire. She didn’t disappoint him and even gave a little shiver in answer to his touch. “I’m sorry. I hoped to show you around town a bit before the show Sunday night.”
“You have to work. That’s okay.” She looked around the room but quickly turned her gaze to his again. “I’m sure I can find something to
do around here.” The sensation of her warm breast pressed against the side of his chest had him sucking in a breath.
“Don’t worry about Mrs. McKenna.” Both he and Michaela turned to Trish as she sat on the chair across from them and smiled. “I think I can find something that will keep her busy.”
Michaela looked from Trish to him then back again. “Actually, I was wondering…”
“Yes?”
She moved out of his embrace and crossed her arms. “Where will I be sitting?”
Trish consulted her iPad again. “Gary has you seated beside Seth and his wife on your left in the second row. You and Gabe are sitting on the end by the center aisle.”
He glanced at Michaela. She was getting that panicky look in her eyes again. “You met Abby at our wedding. She’s a nurse from north Texas.”
She closed her eyes for a second. “I remember. I liked her. Her daughter is a singer, too, right?”
Nodding, Trish glanced at her iPad. “Yes. She’s next to her dad. I put you next to Abby. I figured you girls have something in common. If nothing else you’re both from Texas and not in the business.” She smiled and pushed her red hair from her eyes. “She and Seth haven’t been married all that long either.”
Micki groaned and the panicky roundness of her eyes worsened. “Wait. I liked Abby, and Seth, too, but their crazy relationship is in the tabloids almost as much as Gabe is. If I’m sitting beside them, wouldn’t that make me a better target for the cameras?”
Trish nodded and her smile widened as if the situation was perfect. Gabe had to agree with Michaela. The other couple’s relationship had been a tabloid favorite when Seth announced he was the father of Abby’s teenage daughter a little over a year ago. The whole show would be a media orgy of juicy gossip and rumors. Unlike Michaela, he saw this as an advantage, but he couldn’t explain how to use it in front of Trish.
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