“As serious as a heart attack. Come on, don’t keep me hangin’.”
“You have to prove to her you’re the exact opposite of what she thinks you are,” she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Meaning?”
“She thinks you’re a player. Prove to her you’re not.”
“How?”
“For starters, stop seeing other women.”
Drake barked out a harsh laugh, masking it with a cough when Cassidy turned her head, glaring at him. “Sorry, sweetie, but that’s kind of like asking you to stop meddling. Not gonna happen.”
“I’ll deal with you later,” she muttered. “So, do you think you can do it, D.J.?”
“Sure, but…” D.J.’s publicist had set him up with some model for a premier party the following night and he couldn’t think of a way to get out of it without setting her off. He had enough problems right now, he didn’t need another woman out to get him.
“I knew you weren’t serious,” Cassidy said, kissing Drake on the cheek. “I’ll see you later at home.”
“Cass, wait.” D.J. knew Cassidy may be his last hope. “I have no problem goin’ along with your plan, but my publicist’s hooked me up with some girl tomorrow night. Apparently she thinks it’ll be good publicity.”
“You know if Josie catches wind of that, it’ll just reinforce her low opinion of you, don’t you?”
Weighing his options, D.J. decided he would rather piss off his publicist than blow his shot with Josie. “You’re right. I’ll blow this thing off.”
Drake clapped his hand against his ear. “Wait a minute? Did I hear you right? Did you just say you’re gonna blow off some model?”
“Yeah. I meant what I said. I really like Josie. I think we could have something special if she would just give me a chance.”
Cassidy’s eyes lit up as she bounded out of Drake’s arms. “I knew it. I just knew you two would be perfect for each other!”
“Aren’t you forgetting one little thing, hon?” Drake asked. “Josie doesn’t want anything to do with our boy here.”
Circling the room as she tapped her index finger against her lower lip, Cassidy said, “She’s protesting because she doesn’t want to get hurt again, not because she’s not into him.”
Drake crossed his arms, giving D.J. a pointed look. “You know I love you like a brother, that’s why I feel I can say this to you.”
D.J. knew with a lead in like that, it couldn’t be good.
“I wasn’t crazy about this idea from the start, man. Josie’s a great girl—”
“Too good for me? Is that what you’re sayin’?” D.J. knew his friend’s concerns were warranted, but it didn’t make it sting any less. He didn’t have a great track record with relationships, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t capable of change.
“I’m saying I don’t want to see her get hurt,” Drake said. “I know you wouldn’t hurt her intentionally, but if she were my sister, I sure as hell wouldn’t trust you with her heart.”
D.J. wanted to defend himself, but he couldn’t. If he had a sister, he wouldn’t want her to go out with him, either. He didn’t like what that said about the man he’d become.
When D.J. couldn’t respond, Drake said, “Don’t think I’m judging you, man. I’m not. I’ve been where you are. When success finally finds you after years of bustin’ your ass, there’s no better feeling. Of course beautiful women are going to be drawn to you, and it’s easy to get sucked in.”
Cassidy slapped her husband’s arm. “Should I leave the room for this?”
Drake grinned at her. “You know you’re the love of my life. You also know I wasn’t a saint when we met.”
“True,” Cassidy said, rolling her eyes. “It took a long time before I could trust you weren’t gonna dump me for the next hot young thing who turned your head.”
“How’d you learn to trust him?” D.J. asked, suddenly feeling like a student who was eager to soak up as much knowledge as possible.
“One day at a time.” Cassidy smiled, making reference to her recovery from a drug addiction. “It wasn’t easy. I flew into jealous rages a lot in the beginning.”
Drake laughed. “I’m pretty sure she wiped out every breakable in my house during the first year of our relationship.”
D.J. smirked. He could imagine Josie getting mad enough to throw something at him. At the moment, he wouldn’t even mind as long as she was talking to him while she did it.
“That may be true,” Cassidy said, shrugging. “It was my way of dealing with all the frustration and confusion. I had to get it out somehow. Josie’s different. She retreats when she feels threatened.”
“Because of what her ex did to her?” D.J. asked.
Looking surprised, Cassidy asked, “She confided in you about Bryan?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“She told me she never talks about him with the guys she dates.”
“Huh.” D.J. hoped that meant she trusted him more than most. “What about the other dude? The more recent boyfriend?”
“Connor?” Cassidy smiled. “He treated her like a queen. Turns out she wanted to be treated like a person instead.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” D.J. asked. He realized he really was out of touch with what women wanted in relationships if Cassidy was telling him Josie’s ex treated her too well.
“You know how women say a guy is too nice?” She laughed. “That was Connor. He did whatever Josie wanted, never had a contradictory opinion or argued with her.”
“So that’s the real reason she dumped him?” D.J. asked. “Because he was too nice to her?”
“There was no spark.” Cassidy smiled. “Sometimes you need to fight to know your relationship is worth fighting for.”
D.J. grinned. “Are you saying this fight we had was a good thing?”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far, but it helped clarify how you feel about her, right?”
“It sure did.” For the first time, he cared whether the woman in his life walked away. “I want a chance to prove to her that I…” He glanced at Drake, knowing it would be easier to say this if he and Cassidy were alone. “I can be the guy she needs. That doesn’t mean I’m gonna ask how high when she says jump. I’ll never be that guy. I will challenge her. I’ll call her out when I need to and I know she’ll do the same.”
Cassidy snapped her fingers, looking immensely pleased. “And that, my friend, is why you’re the perfect guy for her.”
At least he was back in Cassidy’s good graces. Too bad he couldn’t say the same for Josie. “Okay, oh wise one, tell me how the hell to get out of this mess I’ve gotten myself into with your BFF.”
Cassidy giggled. “Like I said, she thinks you’re a player. You’re going to prove to her you can be a one-woman man. Assuming that’s what you want?”
A one-woman man? He just wanted to know how to convince her to talk to him again. He didn’t want to propose.
“Look, if you’re having any reservations,” Cassidy said. “I’d suggest you just forget you ever met her. She’s not into playing games, and like I told you, I refuse to stand by and watch you hurt her.”
“Okay,” D.J. said, feeling his back was against the wall. “What do you think I should do?”
“Romance her.”
D.J.’s eyes drifted to Drake’s. He could have throttled his friend for looking so amused. “Romance her? What the hell does that mean? Flowers, candy—?”
“That’s so predictable,” Cassidy said, faking a yawn. “You’re a creative guy. You write about love for a living for crying out loud. Don’t tell me you couldn’t figure out how to express your affection for a woman you claim you can’t stop thinking about.”
She had a point there. Maybe it was time to kick his campaign into high gear. “Okay, I’ll give it some thought.”
Cassidy patted him on the head on her way out of the room. “You’re a smart boy. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”
Drake laughed at the exasperated look on his friend’s face when his wife closed the door. “Condescending little witch, isn’t she?”
D.J. chuckled. “Yeah, how do you put up with that?” As if he didn’t know Drake would be useless without his other half.
“The alternative isn’t worth thinking about, man.” Drake pushed off his desk as he pocketed his car keys. “I have a feeling you’re gonna be singing the same tune soon enough.”
D.J. didn’t know if that was a premonition or a friendly warning. Either way, he was as scared as he was excited.
***
D.J. rang Josie’s doorbell two hours later, gripping a guitar case in his clenched hand. He knew coming to her house uninvited was a risk, but he felt like he had nothing left to lose. She wasn’t speaking to him. How much worse could it get?
Josie opened the door, her eyebrow raised in silent question when she spotted the guitar case. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m offering a private concert.”
She was trying hard not to smile when she said, “And what makes you think I’d want that?”
“Every woman thinks a guy who knows how to strum a guitar is hot.” He winked. “Baby, you just wait and see what I can do to this guitar. If it doesn’t make you—”
“Spare me,” she said, holding her hand up. “I don’t need you to paint me a picture.”
“Does that mean you’re gonna let me in?”
Leaning on the half-open door, she said, “I haven’t decided yet. Part of me thinks I should just tell you to hit the road. I’m still mad at you, you know.”
“Maybe this will help,” he said, pulling a folded sheet of paper out of his pocket.
He’d always been better at writing his feelings than speaking them aloud, which he assumed was one of the reasons he was one of Nashville’s most sought-after song writers. He had more than twenty hit songs to his credit, many of which had been recorded by some of his idols.
“What’s this?” she asked, taking the paper from him.
“Just a little note I wrote you.”
She smiled. “You wrote me a note? I feel like we’re back in grade school, but I have to admit it’s kind of cute… and unexpected.”
“There are plenty of things you don’t know about me, that’ll you’ll never know if you shut me down now.”
Looking vaguely interested, she said, “Name three things that might impress me.”
“I volunteer for children’s charities, lend my friend’s money when they’re down on their luck, and still have my first car because me and my old man spent every weekend re-building it and I can’t bear to part with it.”
“Hmmm. I wouldn’t have pegged you for the soft and sentimental type.”
“So is it enough to get me in the door?”
“I suppose so,” she said, sighing heavily as she opened the door wider. “But if I’m not impressed, you’re outta here, cowboy.”
He was relieved the playful banter was back. It gave him hope that the day might end a lot better than it started. “Understood.”
“Can I get you something to drink?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“The offer. Is it coffee, tea, or me?”
“That’s really cheesy.”
“But you’re smiling.” Which gave him hope.
He followed her toward the living room, pausing in the doorway. It was so feminine he was almost afraid to sit down. There were white sofas facing each other with a hot pink shag rug and bright pink and orange throw cushions partially covering a soft pink throw. Even the windows were framed in hot pink. What the hell?
“You have a problem with my décor?” she asked, pulling her feet under her as she settled into the oversized sofa.
“It’s, uh, bright.” Not really. The white walls and sofas offset the bold colors, but something about the room stated very clearly men weren’t expected to stay long.
“It’s everything my last house wasn’t,” she said, sounding smug.
“What do you mean?” He asked, though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“My ex was into oversized leather furniture. He liked dark colors, especially brown and green.” She made a face. “By the time we split, I was ready to color all over the walls in crayon just to add some life to that place. I hated it.”
His eyes drifted to the bright, fresh-cut flowers on the end table before ending on the tufted pink ottoman. He could never live in a house like this without it seriously compromising his masculinity, and the way she described the house she had shared with her ex made it sound a lot like his.
“I’m getting the feeling you’re really not into this space.” She laughed. “It’s okay. If you hate it, I’ve done my job.”
“Come again?”
“I decorated this place to be as pretty and feminine as possible. I wanted it to be bold and fun and flirty. If a guy like you hates it, I’ve definitely hit the mark.”
He knew she shouldn’t be amused, but she looked so cute, revelling in her accomplishment, that he couldn’t help but give her credit for going after what she wanted. A woman after his own heart. “I didn’t say I hate it.” He looked around, taking in the bright, floral oil paintings. “It just… unnerves me.”
“Buck up, cowboy. If you wanna stick around, get comfy. Otherwise you can—”
“I don’t need to hear the alternative,” he said, cutting her off. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
“Suit yourself.” She unfolded the note, looking up at him curiously as he got comfortable on the sofa across from her.
He would have preferred to get close to her, but since he knew that’s what she was expecting him to do, he opted to keep his distance instead. “Read it aloud. It’ll give me another chance to bask in my brilliance.”
“You’re so full of yourself.”
He wasn’t at all, and he suspected she knew that, but he liked making her smile. “By the time I leave here tonight, you’ll think I have reason to be.”
She lifted her head slowly, fixing him with an unreadable stare. “Is that so?”
He realized she could easily have misconstrued his meaning. He hadn’t come here tonight to proposition her. He knew it would take a lot more than a note and a few songs to get her into bed but he found the prospect of working hard to win her over thrilling instead of daunting.
“I know you think I’m an arrogant S.O.B…” He smirked when she didn’t correct him. “And I may come off that way sometimes, but those who know me best will tell you I’m as down to earth as the next guy, Jos. I don’t expect people to treat me differently just ’cause I do what I do. In fact, I have the most respect for people who just treat me like a regular guy.”
“I have no problem with that,” she said, positioning the throw on her lap.
“I know you don’t. Why do you think I’m here?”
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. We both know you don’t have to work hard to get a woman into bed. Hell, they’re probably lining up. So why are you wasting your time on a long shot like me?”
He found it interesting she characterized herself that way, because he was beginning to think of them as a sure thing. “Maybe I like women who make me work for it.” He set his guitar case on the floor before taking it out and propping it on his bent leg. Strumming the strings, he grinned, “The more you fight it, the more I want you.”
“So it’s all about the thrill of the chase, huh? That’s what I figured.” She bit her lip. “Guys like you don’t stick around for the long haul.”
“Which should suit you just fine,” he said, testing her. He knew if he kept on the slow and steady course, she would be more likely to open up to him. “You said you’re not into serious relationships and my career makes it tough to be a decent boyfriend, so how about we just agree to have a little fun?”
“Fun? By that you mean—”
“I’m not talkin’ about sex. Unless of course you’ve chan
ged your mind about that?”
She reached for a cushion, aiming it at his head.
“Okay, okay,” he said, chuckling. “I get the message. Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t hang out as friends.” He knew that’s the last thing she expected him to say, but he was being sincere. He liked hanging out with her, not only because she was beautiful, but because she was sharp and funny and wasn’t afraid to call him out when he was stepping out of line.
“You want to be my friend?”
“Why is that so surprising?”
“When you’re a celebrity, everybody wants to be your friend, right? The last thing you need is another person in the ‘friend’ camp.” She made air quotes around the word, as though she was having a hard time taking his suggestion seriously.
He regarded her carefully, wondering what or who had made her so cynical. He knew her ex had been a dirtbag, but he’d had enough experiences with opportunists to know it didn’t color his opinion about women or relationships. He knew there were a lot of good girls out there, and when the time was right, he’d find one to settle down with.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, licking her dry lips.
“I was just thinkin’ it’s a shame.” He knew he was taking a risk, speaking his mind while she was still upset with him, but if they were going to try being friends they’d have to be honest with each other.
“What is?”
“That you let him win.”
“Who?”
“Your ex.” He took his eyes off her, playing the first few chords of a song he’d been working on.
“What the hell are you talking about?” she asked, crinkling the paper in her hand. “You don’t know anything about—”
“I don’t have to know the details to know it really did a number on you. You think every guy is like him, that he’ll hurt you if you let your guard down.”
“That’s not true,” she said, shaking her head vehemently. “My relationship with Connor proved to me not all guys are like Bryan.”
“I think you put guys in two camps. There are the safe ones like Connor, who make you feel nothing. And there are the dangerous ones like me and Bryan, who make you feel things that scare you.” He didn’t like comparing himself to her ex-husband, but he knew that’s what she was doing.
Jaded (Music City Moguls Book 5) Page 5