Daniel and Eric talked for the next fifteen minutes while I read the first chapter of the book. I was a little bit preoccupied with thoughts of Daniel, but the book was enjoyable, which thankfully helped me ignore him while they had their conversation.
"Bye Court," Eric said once they had finished. "It was great meeting you."
"You too!" I said, waving at him.
I watched as he walked through the door, disappearing behind the mirrored glass. I glanced at Daniel who was now standing a few feet away, looking down at me.
"I like your sunglasses," I said.
"Thanks."
"Did you get Ivy off to Memphis?"
He nodded and glanced at this watch. "She should actually be home soon. It's only like a two-and-a-half hour flight."
"Thank you for staying," I said.
"Seems like you were getting along just fine with Eric."
Daniel was a true professional, but he was slightly annoyed, which delighted me way more than it should have.
"We got along great," I said, pushing his buttons. "We had a really fun day."
"Are you trying to tell me you wish he was staying?"
"No."
"Because I can make that happen if that's what you want."
"I just said I didn't."
"Then stop telling me how much fun you two had. I already had to hear enough of that from Eric just now. He didn't even want to go back to his other job."
I smirked at him for making such a statement, but I was secretly elated.
"Is this what you wore to the beach?" he asked gesturing at me.
My heart was beating a thousand miles an hour as he looked me over.
"Yes, but I had a dress over it."
"Good."
"Why? Don't you like it? I thought it was really Miami-ish. Jake specifically told me to wear this one."
"Why would you want a man picking out your clothes? He's just going to give you stuff like this that barely covers anything."
"I think it covers plenty," I said glancing down at myself. "You should've seen some of those girls at the beach today. I felt like a nun leaving my dress on."
"Great," he said seriously. "You should always feel like a nun. Nuns are the best. You should think of becoming a nun."
I wanted so badly to get a rise out of him that my chest began buzzing at the thought that this conversation was causing his temper to flare. I reached out and took hold the lounge chair that was next to me, pulling it closer and patting it as if indicating he should sit down.
"Tell me something," I said, stashing my phone next to me on the table.
"Like what?"
"Talk to me about your family. You said you have other siblings besides Ivy. Tell me about them. Tell me about your parents. Tell me what you like to eat for a midnight snack."
"I don't eat midnight snacks," he said as he sat down.
"Then tell me about your family."
"I'm the oldest," he said.
"I've got two younger brothers—Owen and Wesley—we call him Wes. Ivy's the youngest."
"Is everyone in Memphis?"
"All but Wes. He's in college in London."
"England?"
He nodded. "He's always wanted to go over there ever since we were kids. He likes the accent."
"What about your parents?"
"My mom and dad both work for the family business. My mom's name is Rose. She does advertising and accounting and stuff, and my dad, Jesse, runs the whole operation with my grandpa. They're not just behind a desk, though. They both still build bikes. I don't think they'll ever get out of the garage, no matter how big the business gets."
"That's cool," I said. "I've always wanted to learn how to drive a motorcycle."
"Yeah, they're fun," he said. "What about your family? You said you're an only child."
"Yep, it's just me. I started singing when I was really young. My mom moved us to California when I was eight so that I could audition for stuff. I did a few commercials and some work as an extra on Nickelodeon and Disney before I got a record deal. Mom traveled around with me for a while when I first started touring, but she's happier staying home with my stepdad. It's better for both of us. We get along, but we don't talk everyday or anything. She's kind of a hippie-artist type—lost in her own head."
"Does she still live in California?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Is that where you're gonna settle eventually?"
"I guess. I have a house there and friends. That's where I stay when I'm not touring. It's the only real home I know."
I wanted him to take the hint and invite me to Memphis, but he just smiled at me thoughtfully.
"How's your stomach?" he asked.
"Better. I wasn't quite up for the fish tacos, but I did get down a few bites. They were pretty good."
"A few bites doesn't sound like enough," he said.
"Believe me, I'm used to it," I said, patting my midsection.
"I bought you some peppermint oil while I was out," he said. "You can't ingest just any of them, but while I was out, I tracked down a place that had a good brand, and got a bottle of it for you. Denise has it in your room. You just put a drop of it in your bottled water."
He was sitting on the edge of the lounge chair with his hands on his knees, and I reached out and put my hand on his. "Thank you so much," I said. "That was really thoughtful."
I felt him finch, and I thought he might take his hand out from under mine, but he left it there. "You're welcome," he said. "I hope it helps."
Chapter 7
Vick decided at the last minute to hop a flight from Miami to New Orleans, so Denise, Daniel, my driver, Anthony, and I were the only ones on the tour bus during our trip. We headed out at 8pm with plans to arrive in New Orleans before noon the following morning. Anthony was used to driving at night and had already caught up on his sleep before we left.
There was a little living room area in the front of the bus, and Denise sat in there, talking with Daniel and me for the first part of our trip. He was still a little guarded, but the more time we spent together, the more open he was. And the more I learned about him, the more smitten I was.
He told us about his great-grandfather—the man he was named after. He was a preacher before he retired, and Daniel's grandfather, Jacob, had taken over the church and was still the pastor there. He said his family got together for lunch every Sunday after church. He told me about his Nana's southern cooking and laughed about how she had to double and triple her recipes over the years as the family had grown. I hadn't been raised going to church or doing big family get-togethers, and the way Daniel talked about it made me feel like I might have missed out on something.
We spoke for about four hours—talking about our childhoods and growing up, but Daniel never mentioned the accident. Having no idea that I had completely fallen for Daniel, Denise stayed in the living room area with us, talking and sharing her own experiences. She seemed to be enjoying the conversation as much as I was.
It was almost midnight when Anthony stopped for one of his rare breaks. He pulled into a truck stop to gas up and use the restroom, and I glanced at my phone, realizing how late it was. "I'm tired," I said.
"Me too," Denise agreed. "I planned on going to bed early tonight, but we got to talking." She stood up to stretch, and I smiled at Daniel.
"Trevor's got a bunk in the back," I said.
He gave me a little shake of the head. "I was planning on staying up here with Anthony," he said. He patted the couch. "I'll probably just stretch out right here."
"Night," Denise said, heading to the back of the bus.
"Night," I called before focusing on Daniel again.
I felt nervous now that we were alone.
"It's kinda like camping," I said with a gesture to our surroundings. "Do you ever go camping?"
"Nana and Pa have a cabin up in Dyersburg. My parents and aunt and uncle helped them remodel it a few years ago, so it's not really roughing it, but it is out on a
lake, so you feel like you're camping."
"Will you take me sometime?" I asked. "Dyersburg sounds kinda dangerous, but I'd still like to go see your family's cabin."
He let out a little laugh. "Dyersburg isn't dangerous at all, and the cabin's really not in that town, anyway. It's just close to there."
"Is it in Tennessee?" I asked.
He nodded. "About an hour or two north of Memphis."
"Will you take me sometime?"
"Sure," he said.
"Sure as in you're just saying that to be nice, or sure like you'll actually take me?"
"Both, I guess," he said with a little smile and shrug. "I'm not really sure how many gigs you play in Memphis."
"I've played there before," I said. "But it's been a long time." I felt the uncontrollable urge to touch him, so I reached out and pinched his leg. "I don't have to be playing a gig in Memphis to go there, though."
He smiled at me. "I guess you're right."
"So, are you inviting me?" I asked. So what if I sounded desperate. I didn't even care. I was desperate.
"Definitely," he said.
"Can I come train at Alpha?"
During our conversation on the bus, Daniel had told us more about the day-to-day operations at Alpha Security. I was aware that it was a good company, otherwise I wouldn't have hired them to begin with, but the details he shared with me made me want to go there and see it for myself. Maybe I just wanted to go there to see Daniel. Either way, I wanted to go.
"You wouldn't be the only female training there," he said. "We have a woman working for us named Kara Harding. She's an Olympic silver medalist in Judo."
"Trevor told me about Judo," I said. "He demonstrated one of the moves on Jake," I added, laughing at the memory. "I think Jake was sore for a week. He does Jiu-Jitsu, too—like they do in cage fighting. I hear him talking about it."
"I know," Daniel said. "All of our guys do it."
"He said you make him go to the gym while we're on the road."
"We do," Daniel said. "Gray requires the guys to do six hours a week of training while they're in the field so they stay in shape."
I smiled. "That's what Trevor said. He gets all excited when we go to a city that has a big gym. Denise gives him a hard time about it. She says he just claims it's mandatory so that he has an excuse to get away from us."
"No, it is mandatory," Daniel said. "We make sure the guys stay active in their training."
"He's got a pull-up bar in the back of the bus," I said, gesturing with a thumb over my shoulder in that direction.
"Good man," Daniel said. "Has he taught you anything?"
I shook my head. "After I saw him do that move on Jake, I was like 'no, thank you'."
"I'm not talking about Judo. I'm talking about basic, self-defense stuff. Has he shown you any of that?"
I shook my head again. "That's what I have him for."
"Yeah, but he's not with you twenty-four hours a day." He gestured around us. "He's not with you right now. What if I was a bad guy and I were to try to overtake you right now. Would you know what to do?"
I smiled inwardly, wishing he would try to overtake me, but I didn't say that. "I could gouge your eyes out," I said.
"Yeah, that would hurt," Daniel said. "But you really should know a basic cross-choke, at least. That's something you can do from a vulnerable position like on your back."
"What's a cross-choke?" I asked.
"It's where you take a hold of your attacker's lapel or shirt collar and use it as leverage to choke them."
Daniel demonstrated by making an "X" with his arms in the air in front of him. He flexed his fists and pulled downward just slightly as if this little motion should explain everything. I stared at him like I was totally confused, and he let out a little laugh.
"Look," he said. "I'll let you try it on me."
We were both sitting on the couch that lined the wall in my bus. I was sitting cross-legged, and Daniel shifted and leaned over me so that we were face-to-face. He was only about a foot or two away. It was the, I'm about to kiss you position, and I felt completely overwhelmed. I took an unsteady breath, begging myself internally to remain calm.
"I'm not going to hurt you," he said.
"I'm not scared," I said.
"Why are you struggling to catch your breath?"
He was right. His proximity left me totally overwhelmed. My chest was rising and falling rapid breaths, and there was nothing I could do to make myself calm down.
"I'm just nervous about learning something new," I said, lying.
"Don't be nervous," he said, staring at me sweetly. He took my right hand and put it into the left collar of his shirt where the backside of my hand was against his neck. "Take a hold of my collar," he said. "Don't be scared. You're not going to hurt anything. Reach your hand way back there and hold it tight."
I did what he told me to do, feeling crazy with anticipation as the back of my hand rubbed against his neck.
"Now do the same thing with the other hand," he said.
I put my left hand into the right side of his collar.
"Go deeper," he said. "You really have to get way back there so that you have enough leverage."
I inched my hands further back into his collar. "I'm gonna stretch out your shirt," I said.
"Don't worry about my shirt. If I was attacking you right now, you wouldn't care about my shirt."
I kept a hold of his collar with the backs of my hands resting on his neck and my arms in that crossed position he showed me.
"Now hold on tight to my collar and move your arms so that your elbows are moving outward."
I moved slowly, but I felt the shirt tightening around his neck, cinching up like a tourniquet. "Wow!" I said. "So, I'm choking you with your own shirt? Is that the idea?"
"Yes," he said. "Really, it's this bone right here that's supposed to be cutting off the circulation, but you use my shirt for leverage." He touched the spot on his neck where my wrist bone came into contact with his artery. He shifted my arm so that it was positioned a little differently. "The deeper you go when you grab my shirt, the better. It's gonna make your arm bone hit my neck in just the right spot and cut off circulation when you tighten it. Now, keep a hold of my collar and squeeze tightly with your elbows going out to the side… yesssss," he said in a breathless way that let me know I was succeeding at choking him.
I let go instantly and smiled at him with wide eyes feeling so proud of myself that I had learned something.
"Did I really just choke you?"
"Yes," he said.
"Did I hurt your shirt?"
"No, but it wouldn't matter if you did. If somebody's attacking you, you're not going to care about hurting their shirt."
He sat down next to me, and I felt disappointed that he had moved. "Can I try it again?" I asked. It wasn't only that I wanted him hovering over me (although that was a bonus). I actually enjoyed learning the move and thought it was pretty practical.
Daniel smiled and moved to hover over me again.
"Okay, so this hand goes in this side, and this one goes right here," I said, talking myself through it.
"Yep."
"The deeper the better," I added, shimmying my hand along the sides of his neck till it felt like my fingers could almost touch each other.
"Yep."
"And then I hold onto your shirt while I pull my arms down like…"
"Yep," he said in that same hoarse, choking tone that made me laugh.
I loosened the grip I had on his collar, but I couldn’t bear to let him go completely. He was so perfectly close to me that I dreaded the time when our lesson was over. I left my hands loosely in place as a confused look crossed my face.
"I guess it doesn't have to be a shirt," I said. "You could do it with a jacket or anything."
"Exactly," he said.
"What if the guy doesn't have a shirt on?"
"Well, I really hope that never happens, but if it does, I guess you could try you
r eye-gouging idea. Or a swift head-butt might work in a pinch."
"Or I could just have you with me to protect me."
"You could. I guess people who can hire me to be with them all the time don't really have to learn Jiu-Jitsu."
He pulled back just a little like he might leave his current position, but I tightened my grip on his collar.
"Daniel," I whispered. I watched in awe as he scanned my face. I could see that he began struggling to catch his breath just as I had been doing the whole time.
He smiled and shook his head, glancing away before looking at me again. "You're going to get me in all sorts of trouble, Courtney."
He shifted his head and then pulled back a little as if hinting that we should break contact, but I didn't let him go. He was still struggling to regulate his breathing as he glanced at the wall behind me.
"I think I should've never… I think I'm terrible at… I probably should have known better than to… That's why I shouldn't have come on this trip. It's just that you're a beautiful woman, and I, uh… I can't."
"You can't what?" I asked, gently tugging downward on his neck just a little to try to get him to look at me.
His eyes met mine. "I've never met anyone like you, Courtney. I'm afraid I'm having a little trouble maintaining professionalism here."
His words caused me to shiver. I loved the way his mouth moved when he spoke, and I loved the way he said my name. I wanted him to say it over and over.
He closed his eyes and let out a little sigh. "I shouldn't have put myself in this position. I'm actually relieved Trevor never showed you any Jiu-Jitsu. He didn't, did he?"
I smiled. "No, he didn't."
Daniel scanned my face again. I could tell he was having an internal battle as he regarded me, and I was so happy about it.
"Trevor and I never have trouble maintaining professionalism," I assured him.
"Thank God," he whispered.
"Even if he would've tried to show me this move, I would have just learned it and let him go. I wouldn't have held onto him like this."
So Happy Together (Bishop Family Book 4) Page 5