“And who are you?” he asked, part agent and part boyfriend.
“I’m a small town girl, Will. I can’t leave my roots behind.”
“I don’t want you to.”
“And I’m Cooper Heart’s daughter, whether I like it or not. He’s part of my roots, and they do run deep. I’ve figured that much out.”
He was quiet for a long time, his breath heavy. He was thinking about what she’d said about not leaving her roots behind.
“I came here to take you home,” he said. “But if this is where your roots are, then—” He chuckled, but the sound held no happiness. “You can stay in Gold Creek Gap, and I’d understand.”
She turned on her side to face him, and he was struck by the milky white along the curve of her cheek in the moonlight.
“Where do you think I belong, Will?”
“In Nashville, with me.” He propped himself on one elbow, meeting her gaze.
“Then that’s where I’m going, not only because I have a record deal to save, but because that’s where you’re at.”
Warmth filled his chest, and he couldn’t stop the smile that spread across his face. He knew he was no good for her, but if she kept insisting he was, then maybe there was a chance.
“So isn’t this the part where you kiss me, again?” she asked.
“This is the part.” His lips met hers with renewed passion, and he rolled her over on her back, gently pinning her wrists above her head.
She gave him a beguiling grin. “I thought you said we had to wait.”
“We do,” he said, kissing her shoulder.
“Then what are you doing?”
“Torturing myself some more,” he said, before gently sucking at her bottom lip. He moved slightly over her, enjoying the warmth of her against him, wishing it was skin on skin.
“You mean torturing me,” she said, her breath raspy. “Since you’ve already said you won’t make love to me tonight.”
“Mmm,” he said. “I did say that. And I meant it.” His mouth met hers in a deep, wet kiss that made her squirm. “So be perfectly still now, so that I don’t lose control.”
He set to kissing every exposed inch of her again, which was delightfully quite a lot in that sexy tank top and cut-off shorts. A low growl escaped his lips. He wanted to be able to do this to her every night. What he was going to do to get her to move in with him was going to make Dorothy and everyone he knew do a double take. He smiled to himself. His dad might end up being the most surprised of all, and that gave him a good feeling.
He was kissing her down one leg and nibbling at an ankle when he suddenly pulled back from her and smacked his lips. “The insect repellent is a nice touch.”
She laughed, letting him smooth her hair back from her eyes. “The ankles are targets for chigger bites around here, but I bought the kind that smells good.”
“It does,” he admitted. “But it doesn’t taste that good.”
She giggled. He rolled back to look at the stars. “It’s peaceful here. I think I could get used to this life, minus the chiggers.”
“I’m planning to visit a lot more often,” she said. “You could come here with me. It’s a good place to think.”
“Apparently it’s a good place to write songs too.”
“It is that. Hey, when are you going to write a new song yourself, cowboy?”
He pulled her over on top of him.
“How about right now?”
Chapter Seventeen
“Gillian Heart!” June rushed up to Gillian and Will as they entered The Sweetest Tea Café. “Welcome back. Where have you been?”
Gillian hugged June. “Back home to see my momma.”
“Now that’s a good thing.” June ushered them back to the VIP room. “Tasha will be by in a minute.”
It always gave Gillian a bit of a rush to sit in the back room with Will and the other movers and shakers of Nashville. How strange that she used to be one of the waitresses.
“Honey, you can’t run out on me like that.” Tasha poured them each a cup of coffee. “I can’t be expected to feed Loretta forever, you know.”
“Oh, thank you.” Gillian had missed her goldfish, even though she’d known Loretta was in good hands.
Will pointed to a black and white photo hanging next to their booth. “One of these days,
June is going to be putting a picture of you and me on this wall.”
“If I didn’t mess anything up. And besides, you’re already on this wall with Audrey.”
“Yeah, but I’m just the guy in the background. I might as well be carrying her purse.”
“Ha! Don’t you ever dare do that.”
“Well, if she keeps making me money, I’ll carry her purse all she wants me to. I’ll be carrying yours too, someday soon.” He grinned.
“You’re crazy,” Gillian said. “But you’re my kinda crazy.”
“There she is,” someone called. Gillian turned to see two of the record executives from when she’d signed her contract.
Scooting out of the booth, she smiled and stuck out her hand for both of them to shake.
Once they all were seated, she cleared her throat and waited for one of them to speak. They seemed to be mute.
Will broke the silence. “Let’s start by expressing how much Gillian wants this deal.”
One of the men held up a finger to stop Will, and Gillian’s heart twisted. This was the moment, she just knew, when it would all be over. Next they’d be pulling out the contract and ripping it up—or whatever they did to cancel one.
“We appreciate where you’re coming from, Will, but we’d like to hear from Ms. Heart.”
Gillian’s stomach clenched. Maybe she still had a chance. She took a breath, tried to think about what her momma would tell her to say, what Will had coached her to say. In the end though, all she could do was show them her heart.
“I am deeply sorry,” she said. “And very embarrassed. I have childhood issues with my dad that I’ve never gotten over. Your mentioning a collaboration with him shocked me. And honestly, even though I knew it was coming, just the offer of a contract was a shock.”
She gave them a questioning look, hoping one of them would give her some insight into what they were thinking, but they both sat quietly, their faces passive.
She cleared her throat. “You see, I learned while I was back in Gold Creek Gap, that’s my hometown, that I belong in a small town. That’s where I learned to sing, where I went to church, and while my house was tiny and my mom was almost poor, I was happy there. I may be back in Nashville, but a part of me has to stay there, always.”
“Are you saying you want to live in Gold Creek Gap?” one of them asked.
“No,” she said. “Well, maybe sometimes. But what I mean is it has to be a part of me, in my songs, in whatever you have planned for me. My dad, I realize, will somehow be part of that too, because he’s had a big influence on me, but maybe not in the way you’re hoping.”
They were nodding, and she hoped it was a good sign. “What I’m saying is that you signed me to this deal, and if you’re hoping my dad will magically appear and be part of that? Well, it’s never going to happen, but you can keep hoping right along with me if you want. In the meantime, you’ve got me all by myself, if you still want me.”
Will reached out and squeezed her hand, not bothering to hide it from the men sitting across from them.
“We’ll be right back.” They excused themselves and walked out through the curtain.
“I’m so proud of you,” Will said. “I had no idea you were going to say that, about your dad.”
“Me neither,” she said. “But I realized it’s true.”
“Good for you.”
“But what if they don’t want me any more? What if I said the wrong thing?”
He smiled. “I’ll be here for you, darlin’, whether they cancel or not. Someone’s going to want you. I just know it.”
“But what if they don’t?” The little bit of coff
ee she’d had threatened to find its way back out.
“Don’t worry. I’ll always want you.” He squeezed her hand again, and she thought that maybe, just maybe, that would be enough.
“Oh,” she said. “Here they come.” She sat up a little straighter, and so did Will.
One of them smiled. “We’re all good, Gillian. We are still looking forward to working with you.”
She felt Will relax beside her, while her stomach did flip-flops.
“Oh, my gosh,” she said. “Thank you. Thank you so much.”
After they were gone, Tasha hurried over to the booth.
“All is well,” Gillian said, a grin pasted on her face. Tasha squealed, and Gillian was reminded that besides her mom, and now Will, Tasha was her best friend. She hoped with all her heart that Tasha would get her own dream someday.
“We have to celebrate,” she said.
“We will,” Gillian promised.
Chapter Eighteen
“Would you like to see my house in Brentwood?”
Her heart gave a little flutter. Last time he’d asked her to see his house, it was to move in, and she’d made it perfectly clear she didn’t want to live casually with a man. Since then, she might not have changed her mind about the living together part, but she wouldn’t turn down a visit.
“I want you to see it,” he added.
“Today?”
“Right now.” If Will was willing to skip out on work for the day, she knew he was serious. And truth be told, she was dying to see his house.
“Let’s do it,” Gillian said. “Besides, if we are all the way over in Brentwood, it’s easier to ignore the world, right?”
“Right, because you’re about to see my world, sweetheart.”
“Do you realize how conceited that sounds?”
He shrugged. “You don’t want to see my world?”
“I do,” she said with a smile. “I really, really do.”
~~~~
She tried not to gasp as they drove up the long drive through a yard as big as her momma’s back pasture. It rambled and wound all the way up to a beautiful antebellum-style home with majestic columns, a huge front porch, and more windows than she could count. Around the house stood the most magnificent magnolia trees she’d ever seen, with huge gorgeous blossoms. Her favorites.
“You live here?”
“When I’m not sleeping at my office, yes.”
“You sleep at your office when you could be sleeping here?”
He laughed. “Not every night. It’s beautiful here, but there’s never anyone around. It’s kind of lonely sometimes.”
It made Gillian sad to think of Will living there all by himself.
“This is stunning.” She was amazed he’d been so humble about his house. All this time she’d thought he was only joking when he said it was mansion-like. It actually was a mansion.
“Why would you buy a big house like this for one person?”
He led her up the front steps, across the painted white porch, and to the big yellow door. “I guess I always thought that by now I’d have a wife and kids to share it with.”
She couldn’t help the little flip-flop in her stomach. She’d never been a gold digger, but she couldn’t help it if the man she was falling deeper in love with had a house like this. Was this why he was showing it to her? Was he trying to tell her something?
“You want kids?”
“I used to,” he said. “That’s what I thought a long time ago, but the right girl never came along.” He turned away to unlock the door.
Her heart dropped a little. Of course. It was silly of her to think she was the right girl or that he was bringing her here to tell her something. Will wouldn’t be thinking about marrying a little ol’ small town girl like her. She would never fit in a big house like this anyway.
“Do you want to go inside?”
“Yes.” Despite what he’d said about the right girl not coming along to share it, she felt giddy about seeing the inside. Was it silly of her to pretend? She supposed so, but she couldn’t help it. She was only human, after all.
He swung the door open. She gingerly stepped over the threshold and into a wide space filled with plush sofas, crisp white curtains and heavy dark furniture. It was a nice home, dearly in need of some feminine attention. Sweeping her eyes over the stark furnishings, she imagined it being her feminine touch that could liven up the place. Floral curtains, colorful cushions and vases of fresh flowers would brighten it up, give it a homey feel.
Will caught her arm and whispered in her ear, as if the house was filled with people who might hear.
“So you like horses?”
“I love them. My dad and I used to ride before, well, you know.”
“Then let me show you the barn.”
He walked her through the house, past closed doors she wanted so badly to peek into, and through the kitchen that made her want to hang some lacy curtains and whip up a batch of her momma’s macaroni and cheese.
They walked out a back door and across a perfectly manicured yard filled with gardenias, lilacs and, holy cow, wisteria climbing across trellises.
“How do you take care of this?” she asked, curious about who had the green thumb.
“My mom designed it, and she planted a lot of it herself, but I have a service take care of it for me.”
What a waste, she thought. “If this were my yard, I’d want to be in it every day. I’d have coffee on the deck every single morning before going to work.”
“Would you?” he asked, without looking back.
“I would.”
The barn came into view, and her eyes widened. It was bright red and big enough to live in. The corrals were empty.
“I don’t see any horses,” she said, disappointed. “I thought you wanted to show me horses.”
“I said the barn. There’s nobody here to take care of horses,” he said. “I could hire someone, but horses need love and attention, don’t you think?”
She nodded. “Gotcha. I agree, they do.” But it was still sad.
“Too bad, though,” he said. “Big ol’ barn and big ol’ house going to waste. Big ol’ bedroom too.”
She punched him in the arm. “Men will do anything to get a woman to go to bed with them, won’t they?”
“That depends on what anything is, darlin’. I already asked you to move in with me.” He was leaning on the fence rail dressed casually in jeans, boots, an old T-shirt and baseball cap. She liked when he dressed like that. It was as if shedding his cowboy hat and western shirt somehow shed some of the clout that surrounded him as a music manager. This would be the Will Adams that a wife would see at home, out of the watchdog eyes of the industry.
Her voice rose over the breeze that swept through the corral and lifted her hair around her face. “I told you, living together isn’t for me.”
“Yes, you did,” he said.
She stood there, staring at him, her heart confused, wishing he’d say something to put her mind at ease. Something that would explain why he wanted to bring her to this house, and then act all nonchalant like they weren’t both burning to rip each other’s clothes off right there in the barn. Was he that upset that she’d declined his offer to move in?
~~~~
Will stared at her, framed by the house in the background and the lush landscape of flowers and greenery. She looked perfect standing there, like she was already a part of it, and she would look perfect in his bed, although maybe not the bed he currently slept in. Maybe one of the beds down the hall in the rooms his mom had decorated. The ones nobody ever slept in unless his family came to visit, and even then, many of them had never been slept in at all.
“I can’t believe you sleep in your office when you have this beautiful place,” she said.
“It gets lonesome.” He smiled, hoping she might take a hint that he was trying to introduce a bigger idea.
“Then bring someone with you.”
“I am,” he said. “I did.”
>
She smiled softly, and he wondered if maybe she knew what he meant. It gave him hope, and he thought maybe he wouldn’t wait to ask her what he wanted after all. Why not do it right now? He took off his cap and was trying to work up the courage to say it, his heart pounding like a steam engine, when she spun around and walked away. He stared after her with his mouth gaping.
She called back over her shoulder. “Anything to eat around here?”
He shook his head, placed his cap back on it, and followed her, his eyes on that cute little rear all the way back to the house. He felt like an idiot as he hurried to catch up.
Back in the kitchen, she swung open the oversized stainless steel fridge door, and he wondered if she liked it. His mom had told him women like that sort of thing, but Gillian didn’t comment on the fridge itself.
~~~~
“Oh, my gosh!” she exclaimed. The odor that assailed her nostrils was far worse than any of Tasha’s forgotten concoctions in their apartment’s refrigerator.
He reached over her, grabbed the offending container of unrecognizable food, and rushed outside. Through the window, she watched him jog over to a garbage can while holding his nose. She erupted into a giggling fit, which she was still doing when he came in. Watching her with narrowed eyes, he washed his hands and leaned back on the counter while she caught her breath.
“What’s so funny?” The corners of his mouth twitched.
“Oh heavens. You just looked so silly. Who knew anything could ruffle your feathers like that?”
He shrugged. “You found my weakness. Bad smells.”
“I’ll remember that.”
“So, the bad news is, no food. But believe it or not, they do deliver pizza out here. Asian, too. How about some sushi?” He picked up the phone, his face void of expression.
“Nice try,” she said.
He grinned. “You should try it.”
“I will try sushi someday, for you.”
“You will?”
“Yes, but I’m craving pepperoni tonight.”
Nashville by Heart: A Novel Page 14