by LuAnn McLane
Belinda had people fawn all over her back in her pop diva days, and it always made her a little bit uncomfortable. But this? Uh, yeah, she could get used to this. She watched Oliver walk into the kitchen, admiring the wide set of his shoulders and a butt you could bounce quarters off. He’d certainly filled out into one fine man.
Oliver picked up her coffee mug from the counter and raised it in the air. “Hey, do you want a top off?”
“Yes, thanks.”
“More cream and sugar?”
“Both.”
“A lot, like me?”
“Mmmm, yeah, strong, hot, and sweet,” she said.
Oliver looked at her and gave her a lopsided grin.
“Oh stop, I mean the coffee,” she scoffed, and he laughed. She watched him open the fridge. He whistled lightly while he did this and that. How could watching him putter around in the kitchen be so entertaining? A few minutes later he walked over and handed her the mug. “Thanks.” She took a sip.
“How is it?”
“Perfect.”
“Like me?”
“Right . . .” Belinda rolled her eyes, but secretly thought, Yeah, like you.
“I’ll be back with the ice pack.”
Belinda took another swallow of coffee, wondering how in the hell she wasn’t going to fall hard and fast for Oliver Heart. This was already way more complicated than she expected, and she had basically just arrived.
“Sorry, I know you don’t like this,” Oliver said as he put the ice pack on her foot. He looked up at her but then frowned. “Belinda?”
“Yeah?”
“You okay?” He straightened up and then sat down in a chair near the sofa. “Talk to me.”
She shrugged. “I mean, I’ll admit that I’m a little scared to get back into the music industry. The first time around wasn’t all that much fun.”
“Are you sure you want to do it?”
“Are you?” she asked, avoiding the question.
Oliver leaned back in the chair. “I have to admit that I enjoyed the rush when Heartbeat reunited. I pushed hard for a tour but it was a definite no-go. I get it. I’m not crazy about all the trappings that go with the music.”
“Then why do it?” She sure as hell wouldn’t. “Sounds like you have options.”
“I don’t know.” Raising his eyebrows, he inhaled deeply. “I guess I equate music with happiness. There’s just something so uplifting about looking out at an audience and feeling the energy. Life is so fucking hard sometimes and music is an escape. I want to give that to people, you know?”
“Hell yeah. I mean, for kids growing up in a rural community, music was our entertainment, our escape, and our salvation. I think that’s what made me so unhappy with my pop career. It was . . . I don’t know, artificial, I guess is the best way to put it.” She patted her chest and felt emotion well up in her throat. “That girl wasn’t me,” she added, but then stopped, realizing she was giving away too much of her personal story.
“Then who is Belinda Beal?” Oliver asked gently.
“Ahhh . . .” Belinda felt her smile tremble at the corners. “Bluegrass. Classic country.” She raised one shoulder. “Gospel.”
“Then why go back to pop and not your country roots? Reinvent yourself.”
“You know this industry.” Belinda swallowed hard. “It’s just something I’ve got to do.” She glanced away but then forced a smile.
“It’s your choice,” Oliver said firmly
Belinda closed her eyes.
“Are you gonna explain?”
“Maybe I just want to prove to those assholes who took me down that they can’t keep me down,” she said with a jagged edge to her tone. In that moment, she knew that was partially the case. “And maybe I want to be able to buy all the frivolous stuff I can think of.”
Oliver shook his head. “I can see the first part, but not the latter. But hey, I don’t mean to pry. You can tell me to mind my own damned business.”
“Mind your own damned business,” she said, but the husky timbre gave her away. Belinda shifted, nearly dislodging the ice pack.
“Okay, but remember, you can talk to me about anything.” He pointed to the floor. “And it stays here.” He moved his finger in a circle.
Belinda nodded.
“Okay then.” Oliver pointed to the empty skillets on the burners. “Have you had breakfast, or . . .”
“Brunch?”
Oliver laughed. “Uh, yeah. Looks like your progress was halted.”
“I was heading in that direction when you showed up on my doorstep,” she said a bit defensively. “Or, you know, your doorstep.”
“And I showed up with cookies,” Oliver reminded her.
“Bring me cookies and I’ll follow you anywhere,” she said lightly, but she was a bit shaken by how much she wanted to confide in him, get closer to him.
“Ah, I’ll remember that.”
“So, I’m guessing you’re going to tell me you got up at like seven, went for a run, showered, headed into town, shopped . . .”
“Pretty much.”
“I want to throw something at you.”
Oliver laughed. “Something tells me you wouldn’t hit your mark.”
“Really?” Belinda nodded slowly. “Ah, think so, huh? Wanna find out?” Lacing her fingers together, she flexed her arms over her head and then remembered her lack of bra and quickly lowered her arms—only to realize that her jerky movement caused major jiggles.
“Uh, I’m good.”
“Just remember that I grew up on a farm at the base of the Smoky Mountains. Our playground was the outdoors We jumped into piles of hay in old, dusty barns, and swam in creeks. Trust me, I have a strong arm and a good aim.”
Oliver paused, looked at her, and smiled slowly.
“Now what?” She tried for a tart tone to mask how his smile made her feel as if her insides were made of warm pudding.
“Just thinking how interesting you are,” Oliver said, and then added ice to a zippered bag. “But I thought so back in the day too. I just never would have guessed your background. Pretty damned cool.”
“I never thought of my homegrown roots as being cool. Probably the opposite. Of course, now country music has made dirt roads and small towns popular. Even cool, I guess.”
“So then, since the country music genre has widened over the past decade, getting so much crossover on Top 40 stations, why can’t you do that instead of pure pop?”
“I suppose I could, eventually. If I can manage to pull off a comeback.”
“I would think after all this time any bad blood or rumors of you being difficult would be long forgotten. Or am I missing something?” He propped his feet up on the coffee table and waited. Belinda hadn’t expected Oliver to be so interested, or concerned, even.
“And why are you looking at me as if I have two heads?” he said.
“Honestly? You’re so different from what I expected. I mean, we knew each other, but not really. And you were cute back then, but, I just thought . . .”
“Oh no, don’t tell me you expected me to be some sort of egotistical asshat.”
“Okay, I won’t tell you that.”
Instead of being offended, Oliver laughed. “Belinda, damn, contrary to popular belief, we’re just people. You know that. And though Sea Breeze might be a popular tourist destination, I’m still a small-town guy with a small-town mentality.”
Belinda sucked her bottom lip, remembering how out of place she’d felt in LA. “Hey, I’m well aware that a lot of people tend to think celebrities aren’t”—she shrugged—“real, like we’re, I don’t know, fictional or something, without family, feelings, or a normal existence. Does that make sense?”
“Perfect sense, Belinda. So why feel that way about me when you know better?” he asked, but without judgment
. He put his feet on the floor and leaned forward.
“I think it was because I personally always felt so phony. I never really thought of myself as a celebrity even though I knew I was. Who knows? I think I’m just a walking contradiction.” She shook her head. “And I guess because I had to change my appearance, I’d see pictures of myself on magazines and feel . . . well, really odd. It was as if I was playing a part. Am I sounding psycho?”
“No, I get it.”
Belinda smiled, feeling a sense of comfort and ease that she hadn’t felt in a long time, and certainly not with a guy. “No one has really understood. Thanks for listening.”
“I could listen to that cute accent all day long,” Oliver said, and Belinda felt a blush heat her cheeks. “Want more coffee or anything?”
“Are you going to join me?”
“I had breakfast a long time ago.”
“Oh, I forgot, you’re one of those smug early risers,” Belinda said, and then had an erotic image that had her hiding her blush behind the giant coffee mug. She shifted and the ice pack dropped to the floor.
“I’m not smug.” Getting up he gently placed the ice pack on her foot.
“Cold . . . cold, cold.”
Oliver straightened up and looked at her with concern. “Sorry. Hey, seriously, want me to bring you something to eat? Eggs?”
Don’t say bacon or she’ll cave. “No, look, really, you don’t have to make breakfast . . . or whatever meal it should be right now. I kinda just eat when I’m hungry anyway. I’m rarely on a schedule, but I tend to be more of a night owl.”
“No worries.” Oliver shrugged, making his pecs dance. “This is pretty much laid-back island time here, and like Dev said, we just need to get to know each other and create a game plan to make the public think we’re madly in love.”
Belinda nodded, but felt an odd sense of disappointment that this was all business. She remembered being fond of him back in their teen years, but she hadn’t been prepared to like him so much right off the bat. “Yeah, much to the surprise of the public, we don’t really know each other all that well. I mean, I know this is for show, but I will be more comfortable—”
“Knowing more about me personally?”
“Yes,” Belinda said with a shyness she often felt but rarely showed. “And I’ve been doing all the talking. Your turn.”
Oliver raised his palms upward. “Ask me anything.”
“Hmmm, let’s see . . .” Oh, Belinda had about a million questions on the tip of her tongue. She really wanted to know if he had dated much lately, or if he’d been in love or close to marriage. She’d learned from Julie that he was currently single. Doing even a pretend fling was off-limits if he was in a real relationship. He stood there with his arms crossed, waiting. Belinda tapped her cheek, then finally asked, “Why do you get up so doggone early?”
“Good question. I honestly wish I was more of a night owl. I know that Jimmy does lots of his songwriting after the sun goes down. Says the quiet cloak of darkness helps him create.”
“Makes sense. I knew that Jimmy wrote lots of Heartbeat’s early material, but I didn’t know he’d written some hits for other artists until recently.”
“So you did some research about us?”
“Well sure.” Belinda nodded. “Other than your recent Heartbeat reunion, I think we both sort of fell into that where-are-they-now category. Of course, once I looked myself up, I went down a rabbit hole of reading about childhood actors and singers. Not an easy gig.”
“We have that in common.”
“How about your other brothers? Early risers like you?”
“Well, let’s see.” Oliver grinned. “Jesse is a big-time morning hater. Grady and I are the only morning people. And the thing was that Grady and I would still get up early even when we had late concerts. Drove Jesse and Jimmy nuts.” He laughed and she loved the sound. And oh for the love of God, he had a slight dimple in his left cheek. “I just always thought that if I was sleeping I was missing out on something.”
“Uh, yeah. It’s called rest.” Closing her eyes, she placed her cheek on folded hands and did some fake snoring.
“Guess I don’t need that much sleep.”
“Oh, that’s because you’ve never felt the wonders of snuggling up beneath fluffy covers, sleeping in.” She did a little shoulder shimmy.
“Hmm . . .” Oliver tilted his head. “I think I could be persuaded to give snuggling in bed a go.”
“Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.” Belinda sucked in her bottom lip, thinking that she’d like to spend a lazy morning in his arms. Why couldn’t she be wearing something cute and have her makeup on? She shifted in her seat, making the ice slide to the floor yet again.
“Good point.” Oliver hurried over and put the ice pack back in place. Having him fussing over her was just too much to handle. She inhaled a shaky breath, thinking that his wide shoulders would be a great place to rest her head.
“Hey, am I imposing?” Oliver asked.
“Why do you ask?”
“You’re frowning. Like, seriously frowning.”
“This is your house, silly boy. I’m imposing, not you.”
Oliver wagged his index finger at her. “No, you’re not. Look, I was just surprised when you showed up. And I didn’t handle it well.”
Belinda had to laugh. “I thought you handled yourself pretty well under the circumstances.”
“I don’t usually greet guests in the nude.”
“Usually?”
“As in never.”
Belinda covered her face with her hands and then looked at him. “I was sporting a little bit of extra sass,” she said, but then her smile faded. “I do that when I’m nervous.”
Oliver squatted down in front of her. “I don’t want you to ever feel nervous around me. I meant it when I said I would give you space and privacy. Consider this house yours while you stay here.”
“I appreciate that. Seriously.” Looking into his eyes, she felt her breath catch. Her heart did a funny little flip. If he leaned in and kissed her . . .
“We’re in this crazy situation together. We need to have each other’s backs. And we’re not kids anymore. We can handle this, okay?”
“Yeah.”
Oliver nodded, and for another crazy moment Belinda longed to confide in him about her parents and how much reviving her career meant. But then she wondered if Devin or Julie had already informed him of her dire straits. That she’d been singing for tips in honky-tonks. Was that why he was being so kind? He felt sorry for her? She lowered her gaze. Wow, she hoped that wasn’t the case. One of the few things she had left was her pride, and doing this publicity stunt was testing it more than a little bit.
Oliver put a light hand on her knee. “Hey, why don’t we just hang out by the pool? Probably better for your ankle than walking in the sand. Want me to make a sandwich for you before I go? Or eggs and bacon? I don’t mind.”
“I’ll just fix something a little later.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, but thanks.” Leaning around him, she picked up her cell phone from the coffee table. She grazed his arm with her shoulder and felt the slight sizzle all the way to her toes. “And I think since we are a couple we should exchange numbers.”
“Good idea.”
“Wow, soon we’ll be Facebook official,” she said with a laugh. “Honestly, I guess social media will be the first place to get things going. We might have to practice some selfies by the pool.” Belinda did the classic duck face with her hands beneath her chin. “How’s this?” She batted her eyelashes.
“No, don’t ever do that again,” he said, and then laughed. He hesitated as if he didn’t want to leave, and in truth she didn’t want him to go, but then she remembered she needed to do some serious primping if pictures were to be posted. And sitting by the pool would
have a few perks. Oliver would be shirtless, and of course lotion would have to be applied. Her mood had shifted, and she hadn’t even had her second mug of coffee. Then again, Oliver was quite the stimulant. “Okay, you can text me when you’re ready or just come out to the pool. I might run a few more errands. Need anything?”
“I think I’m okay. And how did you know I like Lucky Charms?”
“Lucky guess?”
Belinda laughed. “They are magically delicious.”
“We loved cereal when we were kids, and my favorite was Lucky Charms. We got turns getting to pick when we went to the grocery store. Jesse, damn him, used to eat all the marshmallows.”
Belinda tossed back her head and laughed because he still seemed pissed about it. “Well, one of the few perks of being an only child was having all the marshmallows to myself,” she said. In truth, she’d always longed for siblings. Her parents had tried but failed to have a bigger family. Belinda knew her mom wanted a grandchild, but going back to her singing career would mean putting thoughts of a family on the back burner.
“I’ve got plenty of sunscreen and I’ll open the big umbrella. And if you’d rather go to the beach I’ll carry you down so you don’t have to walk. The boardwalk is longer than it looks from here.”
Belinda liked the idea of her bare skin next to his, but him carrying her was out of the question. “The pool sounds really nice.”
“Okay, I’ll be out there soon, maybe swim a few laps. So take your time.”
“Sweet. A day poolside sounds amazing,” she said. When he reached the door, she added, “You will be wearing swim trunks, right?”
Oliver arched an eyebrow. “Swim attire is always optional. Especially after the sun goes down. But I can tell by the look on your face that won’t happen.”
“You’re right,” Belinda said, though she thought sliding her naked body against his in the warm water would be simply divine. “I don’t see that there will be a we in the skinny dipping.”
“You’re always welcome to join me. What was that you said? Oh yeah, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.”
When heat warmed her cheeks, Belinda could have bitten her tongue. “I’ll think about it, but no selfies . . .”