Caged Songbird

by Avery Gale

  The space behind her turned dark and stormy with lightning flashing all around. The thunder turned to applause and for the first time, the sound wasn’t the warm welcome it had always been. Her fear spiked, and Colt began to fade from view as she was tugged into the noisy darkness pressing at her back. Fighting to reach forward, Josie finally found her voice and shouted for Colt. She cried his name out again and again, but he continued receding further and further into the distance until she wondered if he’d even been real. Had she just dreamt him? Had the safety and security she’d felt in his arms been nothing but an illusion? Would anyone ever love the woman beneath the singing sensation people couldn’t seem to get enough of? Could anyone see the vulnerable girl who’d started singing because it was the only thing she’d been able to do to make those around her happy?

  An agonized cry echoed all around her, shocking her when she realized the sorrowful sound had come from her. Somewhere deep in her soul, Josie realized her last chance at happiness had just slipped away and the despair that followed brought with it gut wrenching sadness as she stepped onto the stage and forced herself to smile. The music started, but she couldn’t remember any of the words to the song. Every time she opened her mouth Colt’s name was the only sound she could make.

  Colt stepped out of the shower his ears prickling at an unfamiliar sound. A whimper? The next sound was an agonized cry he knew had to have come from the woman sleeping in his bed. Fuck, when he’d checked on her before stepping into the shower, she’d been sleeping peacefully. Drying off quickly, he stepped into the bedroom in time to hear her sobbing his name and begging him to not leave her. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary what is she dreaming about?

  Grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her into his arms trying to sooth her, but he didn’t think his words were making it though the barrier of sleep. She was breaking his heart. “Baby, come on, wake up for me. Josie, come back to me. I’m right here.” He gave her a little shake and was relieved to see her eyes finally open. The pretty blue orbs were darker than usual and unfocused, but he could see she was trying to pull herself back from whatever nightmare she’d been lost in.

  “Colt?” She blinked several times, her eyes focused on his face as a fresh stream of tears tracked down her pale cheeks. Everything about her pulled at his soul in a way he didn’t fully understand.

  “Yeah, I’m right here, sweetheart.” Pulling her back into his arms, he pressed her against his chest and kissed the top of her head letting the sweet scent of her citrus shampoo fill his senses. He was pleased when she wiggled higher so she could wrap her arms around his neck and press her face against the side of his neck. Her heart was still racing, and the tension was almost crackling around her like static electricity. Shifting so he could speak close to her ear, he asked, “Want to talk about it?”

  She didn’t respond for several seconds but finally shook her head. Her whisper soft breath wafting against his neck sent a surge of desire straight to his cock. Fucking hell, I’m going to have to take another cold shower.

  “Not yet. I’m not sure I can even put it all into words. The images scattered when you woke me…thank you for that by the way. I…I don’t know how long I’d have been stuck in that horrible dream if you hadn’t been here.”

  She sounded so vulnerable and lost, Colt wanted nothing more than to roll her to her back and chase the last vestiges of fear from her eyes. But he also wanted to know what she’d been dreaming about. What had caused this confident, talented, and beautiful woman to feel so lost? Whatever it was, he wanted to make sure it didn’t have the power to hurt her again. The wave of possessiveness sweeping over him was startling. Hell, he’d known he was attracted to her—likely he was falling in love with her. But what he felt now went way beyond anything he’d ever experienced before. Shifting those thoughts to the side, Colt brought his attention back to the little bundle of trembling nerves in his arms.

  “It’s easy. Start with the first thing you remember and then recount everything that followed piece by piece, step by step. You don’t have to make sense of it—just replay it in mind. A nightmare loses its power to hurt you when it’s shared.” His words were what his mom had always told her sons when they’d been younger, and he hoped like hell it was true. The last thing he wanted to do was cause her any unnecessary pain. Fuck it, the only pain he wanted her to experience at his hand was sensually overwhelming. The erotic pain would lead her into a place where nothing existed but the ecstasy of pleasure so intense you believed it might be stealing your sanity.

  The night of Sage and Coral’s wedding, he’d figured out quickly how inexperienced she was, it had also been clear she hadn’t had sex in a long time. She certainly wasn’t living the pop star life the media led her fans to believe she lived. A part of him had been relieved, but another part wondered what filled her lonely hours on the road. His years of travel with the PBR had shown him how easy it was to fall headfirst into the decadent lifestyle. The hours of travel, the tedium of waiting to perform, and the loneliness all led to a slow, painful annihilation of the soul.

  After long, painful a year spent watching him slowly self-destruct, Colt’s family had shown up in force. His mom and dad left little doubt about their disappointment, but it had been Phoenix who’d offered a workable solution.

  Colt had thrown himself into the world of financial investments. He’d learned through trial and error, but there was no doubt he had a natural affinity for choosing the right combinations. Under Colt’s management, Phoenix’s enormous portfolio saw its bottom line grow exponentially. In a few years, Phoenix Morgan’s wealth would eclipse most of Forbes’s top earners. And the best part? The young game entrepreneur was flying under everyone’s radar.

  Colt spent every spare minute he could during his last years on the road either working out or focused on his laptop. And now he wondered how Josephine Alta filled her free time because it was obvious the media was only interested in showing the public what they expected to see. Their portrait certainly didn’t mesh with what he’d observed.

  How she’d managed to give everyone the slip to attend the wedding was another mystery, but elude them she had. The fact she now had trackers in her personal belongings showed how annoyed someone on her team must have been by her little disappearing act. If he truly believed they had her best interests at heart, Colt wouldn’t have a problem with their placement.

  What bothered him the most was how shocked Josie had been when confronted with the information. The fact she hadn’t known about the devices tracking her shifted his view of the situation from an attempt to ensure her safety, to a stalking problem.

  Leaning back, Josie looked up at him, and he could almost feel her infusing herself with resolve. Listening as she recounted the dream, he was shocked how much it mirrored her latest release. Hadn’t she made the connection? Nothing in what she’d said gave him any indication she’d connected the two. Colt was about as far from a psychologist as anyone would expect a cowboy to be, and even he could see the underlying meanings in her dream.

  Josie didn’t need his amateur psychoanalysis, she needed his compassion. And right now, that meant she needed someone willing to listen. His years of training as a Dom had helped him understand women immensely. But it had been a conversation he’d overheard between his parents when he’d been in his early teens that had taught him the power of simply listening. In typical Dean Morgan fashion, his dad had been offering his sweet wife all sorts of solutions to the problem she’d been trying to talk through with him.

  His mom’s response had been emotionally fueled, but the words still echoed in Colt’s mind. “Stop. Just stop. I didn’t ask you to fix it. I can do that myself. I just need you to listen. Is that too much to ask?” That small snippet of insight had changed the way he’d dealt with not only his mom but every woman he’d ever been friends with or dated from then on. He often asked questions he hoped would lead them in the direction he thought they should go, but he didn’t blatantly offer solutions unless they point
-blank asked.

  One night several years later, his dad watched quietly from the doorway of the kitchen as his mom poured out her concerns about a problem she was having with a local charity group she’d founded. The solution had been easy to see, but Colt managed to keep his observation to himself. Patsy hadn’t seen her husband standing nearby as she’d eventually talked herself into the answer. When she’d turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, Colt had felt like the most important person in the world as she’d whispered, “Thank you for helping me figure this out. You’re going to be a wonderful husband and father someday. I hope you find a woman who knows how lucky she is to have you.”

  After she’d gone outside, his dad slid onto the seat beside him and smiled. “Damn, boy, it took me years to learn what I just saw you do. Well done.” Those two simple compliments had carried him through a lot of the heartache when he’d known he’d disappointed the two people he admired most in the entire world.

  Neither of his parents had been happy he’d chosen the rodeo circuit over college, but they’d still flown all over the country to see him ride. Their love always blatantly unconditional and their pride in all he’d accomplished was easy to see.

  Both his mom and dad stayed by his side after his injury, and one of them had gone with him to every physical therapy session offering the same unconditional love and unfailing support. They hadn’t hesitated to throw in the occasional ass kicking when he’d wanted to quit attending the sessions he considered agonizing torture.

  Listening to Josie logically dissecting the details of her dream was a welcome peek inside the way her mind worked. She was obviously not only creative but analytical as well. He waited in silence as Josie put each piece of the puzzle together, and he wanted to laugh when he saw her expression change. Yeah, she just slid the last piece into place. “It’s my song, isn’t it?”

  This time, he didn’t hold back his smile. “For what it’s worth, I think you are right. It seems there is a very thin veil between your subconscious and your creativity. I’ll bet if you think back, you’ll be able to think of other instances where the line between the two has been blurred.” Her eyes dilated, and he knew she was thinking about their night together. They’d sung together on stage, voices blending perfectly—the harmony so perfect everyone in the room stopped what they were doing to listen.

  Coral had rushed the small stage as they’d wrapped up the song, gushing about how perfect they were for one another. Colt still smiled when he remembered how her enthusiasm had swept her tact right out the window.

  At the moment, he’d assumed his new sister-in-law was simply caught up in the emotion of the moment. Now? Well, now he wasn’t so sure she might not have seen something he hadn’t. After a few short hours making love to Josie he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind. Hell, he’d spent months learning everything he could about Josephine Alta.

  The soft strains of her voice brought his thoughts back to the moment, and the uncertainty he saw in her eyes made him regret his damned distracted thinking. “Colt? I’m sorry I’ve gotten your family involved in whatever is happening here. Damn it all to hell, I’m not even certain something is happening. But things have felt off with some of my management team since I came back from the wedding. They made me feel like I wasn’t allowed to have any time they couldn’t account for…I was starting to feel like a prisoner.”

  Colt didn’t say anything for a few seconds. He wanted her to know he was carefully considering what she’d said. “Always trust your instincts, Josie. I’m anxious to hear about anything and everything you’ve noticed, but it’s easy to see you are completely exhausted. Let’s get some sleep and face this in the morning.”

  When she nodded and started to lay back down, he shook his head. “No, beautiful. Lose the shirt. We sleep naked…always. I want to feel your bare skin beneath my fingertips. And I’ll always want access to you.” He’d deliberately lowered his voice letting the sexual Dominant inside rise to the surface. There were a few points she would soon learn Colt was never going to be willing to compromise, and this was definitely one.

  Josie blinked as she looked up at him, her pupils so large they were rimmed by a thin band of deep blue. God, she was stunning. The flush of arousal rising quickly from her chest—in seconds, it painted her cheeks the prettiest shade of rose he’d ever seen. He made a silent vow to buy every flower he could in that particular shade and fill the room with them. It would probably cost him a fucking fortune to have them flown in, but it would be worth it.

  “Since the shirt you’re wearing is mine, I won’t hesitate to shred it.” He didn’t even give her time to lift her hands, before fisting both hands in the front of his favorite white dress shirt. The sound of rending fabric echoed through the room as buttons pinged on the surfaces all around them and Josie’s face flamed even brighter. “Fucking hell. Seeing you like this—bare to my touch—takes my breath away.”

  “One minute I think Coral was right…you’re a Dom. And then the next minute, when you say sweet things like that…well, I’m not sure.”

  Tilting his head, he hadn’t wanted to have this discussion tonight, but he didn’t want her confused about who or what he was either. “I’m not sure what my sweet sister-in-law has told you. But, if you’re trying to figure out whether or not I’m a sexual Dominant, let me assure you, I am. While my brothers are all Doms, and we share some similar characteristics—we are also significantly different in a lot of ways. Our styles of dominance vary, but there are a few rules you’ll find are universal.”

  “Rules?” Her voice certainly hadn’t held the waver of a woman worried about the idea of rules. She couldn’t fool him—and he wouldn’t let her fool herself either. Damn, I really didn’t want to get into all this tonight.

  “I’ll tell you what. Let’s table this conversation until tomorrow. We’ll take a ride around the ranch, and I’ll answer all of your questions. But right now, all I want to see is that tattered shirt laying on the floor and your sweet, bare ass lying next to me in bed.” Her face went scarlet, but she quickly shed the remnants of his shirt and shimmied under the covers. He got in behind her and pulled her back until she was molded against his chest. Pressing a kiss against her hair, he smiled again at the fresh citrus scent. Hell, he’d probably get a hard on every time he ate an orange after tonight—and since Josie seemed to go through orange juice at an alarming rate, it could definitely be a problem.

  Colt felt her relax against him and knew she’d fallen asleep within seconds. The caveman inside him wanted to beat his chest in triumph that she trusted him enough to fall asleep so quickly. Tomorrow they needed to have a long conversation about what security issues she was having and her failure to level with Sage—that was going to be a major sticking point for big brother. He smiled thinking about how that conversation was going to play out—Josie was going to see a whole new side of Sage Morgan. He hoped her pal saw fit to prepare her for that particular confrontation.

  Chapter Five

  Josie looked out the window of the old pick up Colt was driving and tried desperately to commit the pictures flying past the thick glass to memory. Montana had to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. How did he ever get anything done with this delectable temptation spread out in front of him each and every day? She’d do nothing but sit outside looking around and writing music. They’d been touring the ranch since just after lunch and the time outside had gone a long way to soothing her nerves.

  Their little tête–à–tête this morning had been intense…and having his brothers present hadn’t helped her nerves either. She’d learned quickly the Morgan men were like dogs who’d caught the scent of blood if they got an answer they didn’t think was complete enough. As it was they’d proved to have remarkable instincts…damn it.

  Evidently there was some rule against not asking for help because they’d all three scowled at her every time she mentioned something that hadn’t felt right over the past few months. Good grief, had they re
ally expected her to call her friend’s new family just because she’d started noticing things missing or moved in her dressing room? Or maybe she should have requested a conference call because her people always wanted to know where she was every second? Perhaps she should have sounded the alarm because each time she mentioned taking a few months off everybody went bat shit crazy?

  Had she felt a connection to Colt she couldn’t really explain? Absolutely. But that didn’t mean she was going to phone him with her problems…especially after she’d bolted without even saying goodbye? Not flipping likely. It had taken everything she had to call Sage Morgan to ask for a place to “decompress.” And Colt’s forewarning about how unhappy Sage was with her only added to her apprehension about seeing him again.

  Sage and Coral weren’t supposed to be back for a couple of days, with any luck she’d have everything figured out and be gone before they arrived home. She wasn’t as worried about Sage as his brothers wanted her to be. Nope, it was Coral who scared her. Her best friend could be hell-on-wheels when someone she cared about was in danger. And not having a clear target for all that ass-kicking energy meant she’d focus on Josie using the excuse she hadn’t asked for help. Damn. Just fucking damn-it all to hell.

  There wasn’t any way this was going to end well. Even if she managed to dodge the Coral-Bullet now, it would become a heat-seeking missile. Coral would find her eventually and thinking about how that scenario would play out scared the hell out of her.

  Colt would have loved to know what Josie was thinking—he could practically hear the gears of her creative mind whirling as she took in the spectacular scenery. He’d shown her several of his favorite places around the ranch, but he’d certainly saved the best for last. Dusk was falling quickly as the sun slid slowly behind the Rockies. The last rays of sunlight danced over the top of the mountain lake he’d parked beside making the frigid water look like someone had sprinkled diamonds over its deep blue surface.