Will smiled broadly and said in a low voice. “I wouldn’t want to disappoint the ladies, now would I?” Then he winked at them, which nearly sent Gillian’s momma into a fit of giggles.
Gillian’s face flushed, but she let herself enjoy the show, especially when Will wound a hand around her waist and the other along the back of her neck, dipping her low, and kissing her in a way that was romantic enough to prompt oohs and ahhs, and a few gasps, from the ladies.
Gillian believed he left them just a little bit, delightfully, scandalized.
Chapter Sixteen
Will had talked Gillian into leaving the next morning, but tonight he didn’t want to think about work. It had been a discouraging week. To his dismay, the record executives had insisted several times to meet with Gillian, and each time, he’d had to tell them she was out of town. After several attempts to schedule a meeting, one of the executives had asked Will if she was fully committed to a career in music.
“We have a hundred girls like her lined up at the door,” he’d said.
“No you don’t,” Will said. “You know Gillian Heart is one of a kind, and she’s got it in her blood.”
The man had been silent for a moment. “All right, I’ll give you that, but it doesn’t matter how talented she is if she disappears on us.”
“She didn’t disappear,” he told them. “She’s visiting her mom.”
“She going to see her dad while she’s taking this little break?” The executive sounded hopeful.
“Maybe,” Will said, knowing it wasn’t really the truth, but it could happen.
“Monday afternoon,” the executive said. “If she’s serious.”
“She’ll be there.” And he knew she would, even if he had to get her himself. That was the real reason he was there, to keep her new record contract from being cancelled, but for tonight, he’d decided, he just wanted to enjoy being with his girlfriend.
~~~~
“Dang. I’ve missed you,” he said.
They’d driven to the back of her momma’s field next to the river and spread a blanket in the bed of his truck. He couldn’t think of anywhere he’d rather be right then. Besides, they were in Gold Creek Gap. There was nothing else to do, except play Bingo, which is where Louise had gone off to.
Gillian, a younger, even more beautiful version of her mother, sat beside him on the tailgate, her legs bare in a pair of cut-off jeans and a loose, lightweight flannel shirt over a white tank top. She looked content in the light of the moon, her legs dangling over the edge, softly singing some tune her momma had taught her when she was a little girl. Seeing her like that made him feel young again. How many times had he and his friends driven to the back of some pasture like this one and partied the summer night away? Of course, all the fun he’d had back in those days was a little bit good clean fun and a whole lot of his being a bad boy and corrupting good girls.
“This where you hung out as a teenager?” He found his mind going to the same place it had back then, and he grinned in the moonlight.
“Yes,” she said. “But it wasn’t anything like what you’re thinking about right now.” She reached down and took off her flip-flops, tossing them back to the corner of the truck bed.
“How do you know what I’m thinking?”
“Because I remember what boys like you wanted back then.”
“Back then?” he teased. “Boys don’t change that much when they become men.”
She playfully punched him.
“Ouch.” He rubbed his shoulder. “I bet they didn’t get far with your right hook, did they?”
She laughed, the sound carrying across the river and echoing back to them. “I used to come here a lot, to think and play my guitar. Wrote a few songs out here too.”
He watched her readjust the barrette that held her hair back, and the way the moonlight cast a glow around her face made him catch his breath. Without asking, he reached over and tugged gently at the hair bauble. She grew still, letting her hair cascade around her like a halo. Leaning over, he framed her face in his hands, kissed her softly, and then hungrily, the way he’d wanted to kiss her since the chaste kiss that morning in the church.
Not that he’d minded spending the afternoon with her and Louise, but he’d been wanting to get Gillian alone all day long. Now that he had her out in the back of the field, and in the back of his truck, his mind was running rampant with all kinds of things that might’ve shocked her momma and made Gillian forget her worries about her record deal.
Gillian kissed him back, meeting his desire with equal intensity. Her hand against his chest folded into a fist, balling up his T-shirt, and yanked him closer. Desire shot through him. Pulling his mouth away from hers, he left her gasping, kissed her jaw, and trailed his lips down to taste the soft skin of her neck. She smelled like some kind of flower, and he delighted in how she arched her back with a shudder of desire.
Her response made him ache with wanting to be with her, but reining in his hunger, he took his time. This was the boldest she’d ever been with him, and he wanted to enjoy it. Sliding his hand to her shoulder, he pushed back her flannel shirt and kissed her bare shoulder. It was so soft against his lips. Sliding his hand around the back of her neck, he tentatively trailed a line of kisses along one collarbone, tasting, teasing to see if she was all right with what he was doing. In answer, she tried to scoot closer, but they were already pressed up against each other, so she climbed over and straddled him. His heart hammered in his chest, and he gasped, grabbing her hips and settling her close.
“You don’t know what that does to a man, darlin’.”
“I think I do.” Her words were a whisper on the breeze. She might have said she was afraid to give herself to him before, afraid she might get hurt again, but her eyes glittered with passion for him tonight. His skin burned as her tender lips tasted his neck, sending his mind spinning out of control. She pulled back to gaze at him, her chest rising and falling to the beat of his own heart. He slid her flannel shirt down to her elbows and drank in the soft glow of her skin against the thankfully thin tank top. He lightly circled his hands around to her back, and sure enough, no clasp. Holy smokes.
“Too hot for that,” she said.
“Too hot is right,” he said, taking her in. She tilted her head back with a beguiling smile, causing his breath to catch in his throat from the sight of her. His heart stirred with a different kind of passion, and he knew she had no idea how beautiful she was to him. He wanted to tell her about the plans he had for her, and how they included more than tonight.
“I love you,” he said, unable to hold the words back. He pulled her close, reveling in the feel of her body against his.
“I love you too,” she said. Her words sent a thrill through him, and he kissed her, wanting to drink in this night before they had to go back to the lights of Nashville. He was aching to touch her bare skin—the tank top was definitely in the way—but before he could do anything about it, she’d unsnapped and removed his shirt. The soft breeze raised goosebumps across his skin, and he trembled as her delicate hands traveled over his chest.
He cupped her cheek with one hand and placed his forehead against hers. “Darlin’, you have no idea how many times I’ve thought about this.”
“Me too,” she said.
“But remember what you told me?”
“About what,” she said, planting tiny kisses along his jaw.
“About this,” he said. “This isn’t you.”
“What’s not me?”
“You know, in the back of a truck without a ring on your finger.”
“I don’t care about a ring any more,” she said. “I only care about you.”
He sure hoped she was lying about the ring.
“You sure you don’t want a shiny rock on your finger?” He watched her face, noting the turmoil that passed over her features. Her smile faltered for a second, and he knew. She definitely still wanted a ring. The knowledge quickened his pulse.
“It doesn�
��t matter,” she said, but he heard the reticence creeping back into her voice. He knew it mattered.
“You want a ring, don’t you?” He wanted her to say yes, to know she’d say yes if he were to throw caution to the wind and ask her tonight. She took a deep, shuddering breath as he slid his hands slowly from her waist up her sides. He knew his hands were distracting her from answering, but he couldn’t stop himself from letting his thumbs graze her curves. She was silent, except for tiny bursts of breath coming from her lips.
“Holy smokes, woman. Your body is beautiful.”
He groaned, pulled her close, and kissed her hard enough to leave her lips puffy and red, then he made himself pull away. He had plans she didn’t know about yet, so as much as he wanted to strip her down right there under the stars, he pulled her flannel back up around her shoulders.
~~~~
Gillian, in the heat of the moment, vaguely remembered telling Will the promise she’d made about no longer giving herself to a man who didn’t want to put a ring on her finger, but the sensations throbbing through her body made her want to forget about that. Why had she even told him about her plan? But she knew why. The last time she’d done something like this, she’d moved in with a man and promptly had her heart broken in two. The memory of that pain, that rejection, set her on edge. And everything had been going so well up until this moment.
“I love you, Will. And you love me. That’s enough.”
“You sure?” He breathed in her ear, his voice husky. “You don’t need a ring, first?”
Her resolve floundered, her head getting in the way for more than a few beats. Did Will know he couldn’t give her forever? Just because he said he loved her didn’t mean he could give her what she really wanted. Hadn’t Robert told her he loved her too?
“Darlin’?”
She looked at Will, saw the desire in his moonlit eyes, felt it in his touch. Narrowing her eyes, she smiled.
“I’m trying to get you to make love to me, Will. Why are you making it so complicated?”
~~~~
Her words nearly undid the already loose rein he had on his control, but her next time had to be forever for her. She’d said so herself.
“I don’t want you to wake up and be mad at me in the morning.”
She giggled. “I don’t understand the gentlemanly act. It’s not like you.”
He laughed out loud. “You don’t think I’m a gentleman?”
“Not exactly, in some areas.”
“Darlin’,” he said, a wicked smile on his face. “Trust me. I am the most gentlemanly man you’ve ever known.”
“See?” She could barely speak without laughing. “You can’t even say that without exuding sexual prowess.”
Growling, he leaned her back on the blanket. He couldn’t resist one more taste of her tonight. Leaning over her body, he whispered how beautiful she was, and her giggling ceased as his tongue skimmed along the lacy seam of her tank top.
“I love you forever, darlin’.” He planted a kiss right below her belly button. “You’ll see.”
He’d felt the surety of his decision with a jolt in the church that morning. Blame it on a wave of old-fashioned resolve from his days growing up as a preacher’s kid, but in the back of a truck bed wasn’t how he wanted his first night with Gillian Heart to be, or at least it’s not how he wanted it to be for her. Truth was, he’d have her anywhere, any time, but if there was one thing he remembered his dad telling him, it was that girls deserved forever and a bed of roses. She suddenly gasped, momentarily distracting him from his plan.
Damn, but she tasted good. Something he did with his tongue made her gasp again, and he pulled back enough to study the glow of her skin and the shape of her gorgeous body in the moonlight. She reached her graceful arms up to wrap around his neck, her eyes filled with longing.
“Will,” she whispered, and his lips were feather kisses across her skin, loving her and tasting her at the same time. She shuddered with desire, and he kissed her with more intention. A few moments later, he groaned like a bear who had lost his pot of honey, and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek. The rush of the river, the brightness of the stars, and the sycamore trees on the opposite bank reaching their leafy branches out in the moonlight would have been a good setting for what else he’d like to do to her.
“So you really love me?” he asked, taking a light-hearted tone but feeling the weight of her answer deep in his chest.
“Of course,” she said, tracing a finger along his jaw. “Is that so hard to believe?”
“Yes,” he said. “I can think of lots of reasons you shouldn’t love me. I’ve hurt other women, tons of other women, for starters. And my stupid decision to press the issue about your dad, after you asked me not to, might have wrecked your deal.”
“If my deal is wrecked, it’s my fault.”
“I’m good at wrecking things,” he said.
“So you’ve told me,” she said.
“And you’ve waited a long time for a man who won’t make you cry again. I’m not sure I’m that man, but I want to prove to you that I can be.”
She seemed to let that hang and then went back to the business side.
“OK, I admit I was naïve to ever tell you not to mention my dad in Nashville. I realize that now. Being back in Gold Creek Gap has given me a lot of time to think. Especially about what you said about my needing to grow up.”
He felt punched. “I’m sorry about that, Gillian. I didn’t mean it. I was frustrated that day.”
He gazed at her profile. She was staring up at the sky now, stars glistening in her eyes. She was a beautiful woman, and she didn’t need to grow up at all.
“No, I’m glad you said it,” she said. “It made me realize I did need to grow up a little. I’ve always been so dependent on Momma, even though she tells me to do things for myself. I’ve just always needed her, you know? Since I didn’t have my dad, she became my whole world, but I need to believe I can do some things myself too. I do need to grow up.”
“There’s nothing wrong with how close you are to Louise,” he said. “Heck, seeing how you treat her makes me a better man. I’ve called my own mom more since I met you than I have in the last year, because you make me realize how important my own parents are.”
“I do?” she asked.
“Of course you do. And as for growing up, you left Gold Creek Gap and went all the way to Nashville by yourself. That’s a pretty grown up thing to do. It’s what I did, you know. It’s what grew me up, at least a little.”
He felt her soft hand squeeze his. “That’s one of the things I love about you, Will. You know about where I come from, because you know about small towns.”
“I do know about them,” he said. “But remember. I’m the black sheep in my home town.”
“Still?”
He smiled up at the stars. He knew most people didn’t carry any grudges against him, not even his parents, for things he’d done as a teenager. His father had told him as much, but it was hard to forgive himself for those things.
“No, I’m not the black sheep any longer. I was just a kid back then, but I’ve still not been a very upstanding man when it comes to women. I’m afraid I have a reputation in Nashville too, in case you haven’t heard. I’m the one who’s needed to grow up.”
“I’ve heard,” she said ruefully. “Even you keep reminding me of how many women you’ve been with, Will, and I get it. You’re so experienced, and me, not so much. I know you like women, and I’m a flipping twenty-five-year-old chicken who stupidly decided not to have anything else to do with another man unless he puts a ring on my finger. Except tonight, I wanted to change that.”
“It’s not stupid. It’s mature and responsible. Standards are a good thing. I don’t know why I never thought about that before I met you.”
“Yeah,” she said. “But I made that decision before I met you. You make me want to let go and have a little fun.”
“And you make me want to slow down and do it r
ight.”
She stared at him, the corners of her mouth slowly turning up into a smile. “That is so sweet.” She touched his face, and he felt a wave of affection for her that made him want to take her back to that little church and marry her right then and there. He pulled her hand to his chest and pressed it to his heart.
“I’ve had a lot of fun in my life,” he said. “I never regretted any of it, either, until I met you. Now, I’d give all that up just so you’d never feel insecure about anything.”
She turned her face to him. “Really?” He detected a hint of doubt in her voice.
“Darlin’, I want you to know I haven’t been with any woman since the day I met you, but if you knew about my wily ways, you wouldn’t like it, sweetheart. Hell, I have one sister who isn’t married yet, and if she ever dates anyone like me, I’ll kick his ass.”
She smiled. “I don’t care about your past.”
“You say that now, but later it will bother you. Mark my words. I’ve seen it happen to others. Heck, it sounds like your own dad had a past, and look what it did to Louise.”
“That’s because my dad didn’t give up his past. And you’re not like him. You’re good.”
“God, I hope you’re right.”
“I am,” she said. “I know it.”
He’d never had a woman call him good before, and Gillian had more than once. He found himself wanting to be good to her forever. He kissed her fingertips and continued to hold her hand to his chest. They lay like that in the warm night under the stars, losing track of time, and he wished they never had to go back to the city.
“So, we’re leaving in the morning, right?” he asked, his voice breaking softly into the quiet night.
She was silent for a minute before saying, “Yeah.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m glad I came back,” she said. “Even though I’m sorry about the fiasco it caused. I could have handled it much better, but since it happened, I have to admit that being back here has definitely reminded me of who I am.”
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