Chapter 32
Shane was sittingat the same table he and Avery had been at that first night. He’d given the server fifty bucks to let him have this particular table.
It had been encouraging that Avery had asked to meet her.
He looked up from his coffee when he heard the door and there she was.
Wearing jeans, a blue sweater, and her blue cowboy boots. She looked the same, yet so different than she had that first night. She’d changed in a few short months. Grown more confident in herself and her talent. Her worth.
It had been beautiful to watch that. Be a part of seeing her blossom and be accepted by her peers, recognized for her talent. Her star was only going to rise from here, especially once Nashville caught wind of the fact that she was Buck Rivers’ daughter.
“Hey,” he said, softly, when she reached the table.
She gave him a smile. “Hey. Thanks for coming.”
“Of course.” He’d do damn near anything she asked. “You want some coffee?”
She nodded. “Yes, thanks.”
He raised his hand to get the attention of their server and shook his head. “So ‘ole Buck is your father? I didn’t see that one coming, I have to say.”
“I wanted to tell you. But the few people my mother told back home thought she was lying and it became a town joke. I don’t know. I was just worried you’d think I was a liar, a user, just another songwriter trying to catch a break. But that was my shit, not yours, and I’m sorry. I do trust you.”
Shane poured out his sugar packet onto his napkin, licked his finger, and dipped it in the sugar. “I get it. I’ve spent my whole life keeping secrets. But if we’re going to do this, we both have to be honest with each other.”
“Are we going to do this?” she whispered.
He locked eyes with her. “I certainly want to. I promise to listen harder to what you need. I should have got you when Ben showed up today.”
She nodded. “I have to learn to handle my own mistakes.”
“He just pissed me off. I don’t like when people treat you poorly. People being rude to you makes me upset. But you’re a grown woman. You can handle it, you’re right.”
This was him, meeting her where she needed him to meet her.
The server came over. “What can I get ya, hon?”
“I’ll have coffee, thanks.”
Shane pushed the creamer over to her. He sucked the sugar off of his finger. Avery’s eyes went dark with desire as she watched him.
This was all looking promising.
Then she said, “I got fired from Rusted Truck.”
“What? That’s bullshit. Why?” He hadn’t expected that.
Avery just shrugged. “Pat thinks I’m causing tension with the other writers.”
“Well, Pat’s wrong. They’re letting go of their best talent.”
“Is she wrong? I don’t know. I was causing tension. Not on purpose, but it was happening.” She tucked her hair behind her ear. “But I’m going to be fine. I’ll find another job somewhere else. We’re recording the song with Jolene and Chance. Everything will work out. Or hell, maybe it’s not my time yet. I haven’t paid my dues.”
It seemed like she was trying to convince herself. But he knew the last thing she needed right now was an offer for him to intervene. She wanted, hell, needed, to do this on her own and he respected that.
They understood her better now. Hell, he understood himself better. They had been taking one step forward, two steps back, both falling in love, both trying to protect their hearts from hurt.
She turned away from him and pressed her fingers to her eyes, as if she didn’t want to cry.
“Look at me, please.”
She obeyed immediately.
He touched her chin with his thumb and forefinger. “God, Avery, I hope you understand I want everyone to know that I’m with you, the most amazing woman I’ve ever met. I don’t want to just take it day by day and play it by ear and not put labels on it and do it halfway. I want to stamp a giant-ass ‘WE’RE TOGETHER’ on us and strut around town proud as hell that you’re mine. I want to commit to you, and to us, and to a future figuring out every little thing about you because I’ve been falling in love with you since the minute you turned up on the street and pierced me with those eyes. But, I’ll meet you wherever you need me to meet you. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I want to be with you. Not casually. Not in secret. I’m done with secrets. I love you, Shane.”
He let go of the breath he’d been holding.
“And every day it gets bigger and deeper and I just want to you to hold me and never let go and…fuck casual. Because casual doesn’t work when you feel something like this.”
His eyes widened. Avery didn’t swear very often. He gave her a grin. “Damn, Red. I completely agree.”
“It’s love,”Avery said as she sat across from Shane, knowing the truth of that deep into her core. It was the longing she felt for him, the happiness that seemed to live and breathe when they were together. It was the intimacy of their worshipful touches, the way they focused wholly on each other. It was the most intense thing she’d ever felt, and she had spent the majority of the time she’d known him reminding herself she couldn’t have that, couldn’t believe in it, couldn’t feel it. But it had been unrelenting.
He smiled, a devastating, charming smile. “It’s definitely love. I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for you to fall out of a truck and into my heart.”
That made her stomach swoop. “And here I’m supposed to be the song writer.”
He laughed. “By the way, I went and saw my father today.”
“You did?” Avery touched his arm. “I know that must have been hard.” He’d given her the impression he hadn’t seen his father in years.
“I needed to lay some things to rest and I did.” His jaw worked. “I promise, Avery. I’ll be a better man.”
That softened her heart. “You are a good man. A decent one.”
He laughed under his breath. “Right.”
Shane looked so deliciously handsome she stood up and moved onto the bench of the booth beside him. She laid her head on his shoulder. “Thank you for being honest with me. I’m sorry again I didn’t tell you about Buck and my mom.”
His arm came around her. “Nah, that was something for you to tell me on your terms. You didn’t owe me the truth yet.” He squeezed her. “That’s some crazy news, but I can see the resemblance.”
Avery breathed deeply.
He kissed the side of her head. “Hey, Avery?”
“Yeah?” She slipped her finger out and rolled it over the sugar as she breathed in his familiar scent, absorbed the wonderful realization that she hadn’t lost him. That she hadn’t lost the man she had come to think of as her best friend. The one she turned to when things were good or bad.
“You’re my first love. And my last.”
Everything inside her melted, and the tears escaped, dropping down her cheeks. She had to admit, she liked this verse of her country song.
Shane strippedAvery naked in her little twin bed in her tiny bedroom. He raised his fingers to his lips, reminding her to be quiet since her roommate was on the other side of the wall watching TV. He could have taken her home to his place, but he hadn’t wanted to wait and her place was closer. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to make love to her.
She giggled a little in the dark room. The lamp on her nightstand gave off feeble light, but there was something extra intimate about the dark, the tiny space, the heightened sound of their aroused breathing. He ran the back of his hand over her cheek, her neck, her shoulder, the swell of her breast.
“I love the way you feel,” he murmured. “So soft.”
They were lying side by side, and she had her hand resting on his hip. She slipped those lithe fingers between them and stroked him. “I like the way you feel too.”
He had intended to take things slow, but the way she was staring at him so intently, he forgot his vow to draw out their pleasure. He just needed to join them, to be as close to her as possible. Kissing her softly, repeatedly, he teased his fingers between her thighs, finding her already moist for him.
“I love you,” he said, because he did. The words came easily, without fear. He trusted her implicitly and he looked at her and he saw his future. He saw nothing but this—pleasure and passion and love.
“I love you too.” She touched his bottom lip with her thumb and he was lost in the beauty of her eyes, filled with emotion for him. Him.
Shane rolled onto her, and pushed inside Avery without any thought or warning, just the burning need to complete himself with her.
She gave a soft cry of ecstasy before clamping her lips closed. The roommate. Shane had caused her enough embarrassment for one day. He moved deeply, but slowly, so he wouldn’t pound the bed into the wall. He held her close, he filled her, and kept his gaze locked on hers until her eyes widened with her orgasm.
This. It was everything. He could die a happy man. Not one who didn’t feel things, the way he had before. As one who felt everything with this woman.