by Mandy Baggot
His face, coated in that thin layer of brown stubble that so suited him, moved nearer to her, until she could feel the heat of his breath. She didn’t want this to be a repeat of their moment in his home studio. This time she wanted there to be no question, no doubt, no chance of misunderstanding.
‘Honor.’ The way he rolled her name around his tongue, coating it with that strong Southern accent made her skin prickle with anticipation.
‘I want you to put your hands on me.’
She knew that’s what she had to say to make this happen. Somewhere, behind this redneck boy was an old-fashioned guy who wouldn’t act inappropriately when it came to matters of the heart.
He closed his eyes the second the words were out of her mouth. She knew. She got him. Just like that. His values, the way he lived, the person he wanted to be. Was he ready for this? There was no doubt if he let go now, with Honor, it wouldn’t just be a thing. It would be everything.
‘Jared … I want you to put your hands on me,’ she repeated. There was an edge of determination to her voice. Her hair had fallen over her face and she was looking at him, her mouth slightly open, her breathing fast.
In one quick move he turned his cap back to front, then placed his palms on the wall either side of her.
She took in a sharp breath as the edges of his leather jacket touched her body through the thin material of her blouse. She gazed up at him, his gray eyes, no longer shrouded by the cap, were wide and full of heat. She shivered, the moisture of the wall seeping through her clothes. She needed to feel his hands on her skin.
He raised a hand and she closed her eyes on instinct. She waited, expected to feel his fingers in her hair. When he touched her she snapped her eyes open and let out a gasp. His index finger was tracing a slow, tender path from the side of her face and along her scar. No one had touched her scar before except her surgeon. No one had wanted to and why should they? It was horrible. It was ugly. It was a disfigurement.
As if reading her mind, he spoke. ‘You’re beautiful, Honor.’
Her whole body melted at that moment and she took hold of his jacket with one hand and forcefully tugged him to her. His body fell against hers and she wound her hands around his neck as his hands lowered onto her shoulders caressing the skin with a heated touch.
She put her hands to his face and held it close to hers, searching with her eyes, looking for the desire she was feeling mirrored in him. She leaned forward, placing a chaste kiss on his lips. It was a start, a test of the waters. His lips were warm, moist, full and smooth, with that stubble over his top lip to roughen things up a little.
She waited, paused, wetting her lips with her tongue, her stomach convulsing and adrenaline pulsing through her veins.
And then he moved. He put one hand in her hair and drew her face towards him. Their mouths met and the longing she felt for him multiplied on contact. It wasn’t anything like she had expected. It was so much more. His free hand found hers and lifted it high, planting her knuckles against the wall. His tongue collided with hers but it wasn’t rough or frenzied, it was sensual, erotic. It was a kiss like no other and she didn’t want it to end.
He pulled away, parting their lips until she reached for him again, pulling him back, moving her mouth back onto his. He lifted her up the wall and she pressed into him, shifting her weight and moving her legs up with the momentum, wrapping them around his body. She drew him closer and could feel how turned on he was. She took his crucifix necklace in her hand and toyed with the chain.
She smelt like summer air after a fresh rainfall, tasted like the purest water with a dash of a sweet something he couldn’t even begin to describe. That’s what Honor Blackwood was to him. Indescribable. Her fingers were working their way down his t-shirt and with every centimeter she covered he got another bolt of arousal. This girl was special. She could break his heart and he could hurt her, but right now they needed each other.
‘Honor,’ he started as her fingers slid up under the fabric and began tracing a pattern upwards and over his abs.
She ignored him, caught his mouth up in another kiss, teasing his tongue with hers. This time she moved her hands downwards, settling on his studded leather belt. As soon as her fingers found the buckle they both stopped. She withdrew her hand, their mouths unlinked. His rapid breath visible in the air he looked at her. Her eyes were glistening, her skin ruddy, her lips swollen and plump. He’d done that to her. There was that shot of lust again. He swallowed, bringing a hand up to her hair and she nestled her head against his hand. The damp darkness of the alleyway suddenly seemed to matter and he took a step back, catching her hand in his.
She straightened her blouse with her free hand, not taking her eyes from him. She didn’t know what happened next. She knew what she wanted to happen but was she really ready for that? The belt buckle had a lot to answer for. As soon as her fingers found it, it was like someone had rung the bell for the end of a boxing round.
‘Listen, I don’t go much on party food and I haven’t really eaten so d’you wanna go get something?’ he suggested.
Her stomach straightaway reminded her of how little she’d consumed and she found herself nodding.
‘I know a great place just down the block from the Sheraton. It’s got a jukebox full of Vince Gill.’
Chapter Nineteen
Betty’s Diner was like a step back in time. Booths with tables sporting Formica tops, plastic ketchup and mustard bottles, black and white tiles on the floor and a Wurlitzer jukebox playing George Strait and Alan Jackson.
She’d spent the last hour smiling so much her mouth hurt. And her stomach had some kind of vendetta going on too. It was aching from laughing at Jared’s jokes and from consuming the loaded burger he’d ordered for her.
‘Honor, you’re not gonna be wastin’ that food are ya?’ he remarked, eyeing up her plate.
‘Did you see the size of the darn thing? Is that the sort of portion they have in the Deep South, or wherever it is you’re from?’
‘Alabama,’ he informed. ‘I’m from Wetumpka, Alabama.’
She smiled. ‘You’re so proud of that aren’t you?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ He smiled back.
‘It’s nice. I wish I had that. Roots. A family, a place I’m attached to, people I’m tied to.’
He reached across the table and took her hand in his.
‘I’ll take you there. If you want to. But I can’t promise you won’t be beggin’ to come back after an hour with my mom, my little sister and brother. Not to mention my cousins and my boys from the farm.’
‘You’re making it sound like The Waltons.’
‘You could be Mary-Ellen.’
‘Stop it!’
He smothered another laugh as he picked up his coffee cup. He looked at her over the rim as he drank.
‘Jared, I don’t know … ’ she started.
‘Don’t say anything.’ He paused, his eyes on her. ‘Because I don’t know either.’
She smiled at him. This, despite being unusual, felt like the most natural situation in the world.
He watched her put the straw in her soda to her mouth and suck some up. She was just jaw-dropping beautiful and he couldn’t believe she was here with him.
He didn’t care what Buzz said. He didn’t care what anyone thought. Honor wasn’t a distraction, she was an inspiration.
‘Whatcha gonna do about Dan Steele?’
He’d tried not to but he couldn’t stop his teeth gritting and forming a snarl around the words. His heart was already thudding a rhythm that usually signaled trouble.
He saw her shoulders sag a little and for a second he regretted asking.
‘I don’t know. I haven’t had a chance to process it. I mean in one night so much has happened I … ’ She pushed her soda cup away.
‘But you had no idea, right? And he turned up at your big moment and … ’
‘I haven’t thanked you for rescuing me when I was like a moose caught in the headlights.’
<
br /> ‘That wasn’t what I was angling for.’ He pushed his coffee cup away and sat back against the booth, raising his arms and putting his hands to the back of his head.
‘I don’t know what to do. Larry touched on it earlier and it hit a nerve. A raw nerve. And it shouldn’t be raw. He’s in the past, I just … ’
‘He’s a troublemaker,’ Jared interrupted gruffly.
‘People tell me that about you.’ She smiled.
‘And they’d be right. But not like him,’ he stated.
‘I know and him signing with Micro … I don’t think for a minute it’s about me. He just saw an opportunity and he took it. The same with them. He’s a popular new face, so Mia says. It’s just circumstance.’
‘It’s bullshit.’
‘Yeah, that too,’ she responded, sighing.
‘I still want you on my tour.’
He didn’t know why he’d said that. He hadn’t been thinking about it until the words had come out of his mouth. He had Raintown but why should that matter? Who said you could only have one supporting artist? His tour was four months long and the thought of spending all that time away from Nashville; away from Honor … he didn’t like it.
‘You never give up, do you?’ She laughed a little and prodded her burger with the fork.
‘I said I wouldn’t.’
‘You also said no pressure.’
‘Did I? Did I really say that?’ He shook his head.
‘I’ll think about it. I need to talk to Larry. I need to sort out how I feel about the ‘Dan Steele situation’. Shit, that’s going to have its own hashtag soon.’
‘Not before Honor and Jed are trendin’ … not that I really know what trendin’ is. Apparently it’s a good thing.’
She laughed again and settled her eyes on him. When she smiled her eyes brightened and the scar on her face tightened until it all but disappeared. How had this night turned out like this? So right. So perfect. He reached his hands out across the table and turned the palms up, open. She placed her hands on his and he closed them up around hers.
‘I want you to know … I’ve had the best night,’ he stated.
‘Me too.’
‘So … are you comin’ on tour with me?’
‘Jared!’
‘Can’t blame a guy for tryin’.’
Chapter Twenty
When she’d woken up an hour ago she’d had a warm feeling the second she remembered what had happened between her and Jared. Despite having broken back into the music circuit, the thrill of the performance was very much settled down in second place. However, that cozy glow had cooled the second she’d read the text from Larry. Radley wanted a meeting that afternoon at the record company offices. The message was short and to the point. There was no “darlin’’’ or smiley face, just the words. It didn’t sound like good news.
The doorbell rang and she put her phone down. She wasn’t dressed. She tied the knot on her dressing gown a little tighter and smoothed a hand down her hair. If it was Jared she was screwed in the beauty stakes.
Checking the spy-hole she saw it was a delivery-man and in his arms was a bouquet of flowers. Her heart soared and she unchained the door to greet him. This was the romance she’d been missing.
‘Miss Blackwood?’ he queried.
‘Yes.’
‘These are for you. Just sign here,’ the delivery guy said, passing the bouquet to her then holding out his pen and clipboard.
She signed, then took a long sniff of the scented blooms. The heady smell of tulips, orchids and irises filled her nostrils.
‘Thank you, ma’am. Have a nice day.’
She closed the door and took the flowers into the kitchen where she laid them on the work surface. She searched for the card. They had to be from Jared. She’d had flowers from Micro before and they usually arrived needing two people to deliver them and a third person to erect the plinth and arrange them. This bouquet wasn’t their style.
She pulled out the card and read the words.
You looked beautiful out there last night
Her eyebrows creased into a frown. Jared wouldn’t have written that. They’d had dinner together after the show, discussed the performance. The words weren’t right. ‘Beautiful’ was intimate though, hinted at an attraction. There was only one person they could be from.
Now she was fired up.
‘Now, ladies and gentlemen, here in the studio with me today is none other than country bad boy, singer Jed Marshall.’
‘Hey, Patrick, thank y’all for havin’ me.’ Jared leaned into the microphone and touched his cap in acknowledgement.
‘You’re very welcome. As a precaution we’ve hidden all the sharp implements including the staple guns, so we’re all good.’
‘Whoa there, that’s a low shot but I’ll give it to you just this once, man.’
He felt calm, a lot calmer than he usually did when he was being interviewed. He knew that was down to last night and more specifically to Honor. Today he was bouncing, high on life, feeling that after such a long time in solitary things were finally fitting into place.
‘So, tell me, Jed, I know you’re working on new material for an album out in the Fall and you’re also about to embark on a countrywide tour. But what I’m sure our listeners want to know is … will Trapped by Love be appearing on that new album?’
He knew his face was glowing and he didn’t care. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt this happy.
‘Did y’all come down to Cody’s yesterday to see Honor Blackwood? Wasn’t she amazin’? I mean, just how good is it to have her back?’
‘She’s got an incredible voice. And the two of you seem to gel so well together. Is this the start of something we all should know about?’
He looked up to the Perspex screen, saw Buzz’s hand slicing across this neck like he was about to have a heart attack. His afro hair was bouncing around like Don King’s and his eyes were bulging out of his forehead.
‘You know what, Patrick? We’re just good friends. We’ve been spendin’ some time together, writin’ a little and I’m hopin’ to persuade her to come along on the Sweet Home Alabama tour with me.’ He gave Buzz a wave that sent him tapping furiously on his iPad.
‘You heard it here first everybody. Honor Blackwood might just be on the Jed Marshall tour this year.’
‘I’m going to have to write you a script. You knew what you had to talk about today. The Marlon Festival, your collaboration with Vince Gill on the commercial and your deal with Pure Nectar!’ Buzz screamed.
‘I talked about all of those,’ Jared insisted. He grabbed up a Diet Coke from the table outside the radio station studio and opened the can.
‘Not as much as you talked about Honor Blackwood.’
‘Come on, man. He asked me about yesterday. What was I supposed to say?’ He downed some of the drink.
‘You weren’t supposed to say she might be joining you on your tour! Your tour is all set!’
‘Buzz, you need to calm yourself down. I got this.’
‘I don’t want you to have it! That’s what I’m trying to tell you!’
‘Listen, you’ve been workin’ way too hard for me. Why don’tcha have the rest of the day off?’ Jared offered.
‘What? No. I don’t need the day off. I need you to listen to what I say.’ Buzz was blazing, he could sense that. The guy was literally a walking advert for a seizure.
‘Go home. Take your wife out somewhere. I’ll be good. I’ll be seen in ten different Nashville hotspots with 20oz bottles of Pure Nectar. I won’t hit anyone or get arrested. I swear it.’
Buzz raised an eyebrow in suspicion.
‘Hell, man. What else can I promise? D’you need me electronically tagged?’
‘Now I know why I had to come round the back. What’s going on?’
Mia had met her at the rear entrance to Instrumadness. The parking lot out front was full to bursting with customers’ cars and trucks of press. It seemed the whole town had gone Hono
r Blackwood crazy.
‘Your Micro blog post went live and one of the bullet point slides informed the world where you worked. I don’t mind, although some warning might have been nice. I gave Stuart and Rocky a call and they’ve been helping me, but the press seem to kind of be waiting for you to turn up. Is there some publicity meet I should know about?’
Mia ushered her into the small kitchenette and flicked the switch on the kettle.
‘No. I’m really sorry, Mia. I had no idea.’ She sat on one of the two wobbly stools.
‘I guessed as much. So, are you here to tell me everything about last night?’ Mia poked her arm with her finger.
Immediately Honor blushed and mentally recalled the kiss. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘Damn it, doll, the way he was looking at you last night I don’t believe that for a minute. And you bailed on me!’
Honor let the smile take over her face. She wanted to share this feeling with someone and why shouldn’t she? It had been such a long time coming.
‘Hell! You hooked up didn’t you? You freaking hooked up with Jed freaking Marshall! Oh my Lord!’
‘We didn’t do what you would have done. It was just a kiss … and dinner at Betty’s Diner. Then we shared a cab.’
‘And then?’ Mia had clutched the edge of her stool with both hands, her knuckles turning white.
‘He kissed me again inside the cab outside my place and then he went home.’
‘But you’re together. Dating.’
‘You’re making me sound like a freshman. Yes, I guess so, I mean we didn’t quantify it but he invited me down to meet his family sometime.’
And that suggestion still made her heart swell with gladness. Just the thought of his normal family sitting around a table to eat, a happy home, laughter and caring, all the things the state should’ve given her but hadn’t. She swallowed back the lump in her throat.
‘Jeez, Honor! Dating Jed Marshall! You know he’s been a serial bachelor for about a hundred years!’
‘He’s only twenty seven.’
‘Whatever! You’re going to have made the female population of the US weep into their Confederate flags.’