Chapter 19
Trust – an essential ingredient in a real relationship
Gibson
I hold my breath as I wait for Mercy’s response. I wouldn’t blame her if she walked away. Not after I ran away from the bed we were sharing. And, apparently, offering to bank roll her business was a mistake as well. Not sure why.
She blows out a breath. “Fine. Let’s do this.”
“Maybe we should go somewhere private.”
She throws out her arms and whirls around. “Pretty sure everyone in Winter Falls abandoned me here with you.”
“No, they didn’t.” I point to the door where Sage and Feather are peeking through the window watching us.
“This town is full of busybodies.”
“We prefer the term gossip gals,” Sage hollers.
“Yeah,” Feather adds. “We even have matching t-shirts. They’re hot pink.”
“Why did I decide to stay in Winter Falls again?” Mercy mutters.
I reach for her hand. “I’m glad you’re staying.”
She bats me away. “Why? So you can run away from me again? Or maybe you want to throw money at me again?”
“He can throw money at me any time,” Sage shouts.
A muscle ticks in Mercy’s jaw. She’s about to explode.
I grasp her hand. “Let’s go somewhere else.”
I wait for her to push me away again. To my relief, she doesn’t.
“Fine,” she grits out.
I lead her out of the room.
“You’re no fun, Gibson Lewis,” Sage complains when we pass her.
“What’s wrong?” Mercy taunts. “Can’t find any fun on your own?”
I hurry her out of the building before the gossip gals can answer her. We reach Main Street and I glance around. Where can we go in town where we won’t be overheard? There are people strolling up and down the street and when the door to the brewery opens, noise pours out.
There’s no other choice. My house it is.
“Where are we going?” Mercy asks when we turn away from Main Street where almost all the businesses in Winter Falls are located.
“My place.”
Her hand jerks in my hold. “Your place? I hope you don’t think we’re having a repeat of the other night.”
My cock twitches at the idea of having Mercy back in my bed. I usually don’t enjoy repeats with women I sleep with, but Mercy is the exception. I’m starting to think she’s the exception to every single rule I’ve ever written.
“We’re talking. Just talking,” I clarify.
“Fine,” she grumbles.
“Good evening,” Forest greets as we pass him.
Mercy stumbles and I rush to steady her before she lands face first on the sidewalk. “Are you okay?”
“I might be having hallucinations.”
“Hallucinations?” I narrow my eyes on her. “You aren’t on some type of hallucinogens, are you? Mushrooms are bad for you.”
“How do you know?”
“Ask me some time about Jett’s reaction to ingesting mushrooms. Long story short. Jett is no longer allowed to use hallucinogens and the driver on the tour bus now puts a paddle lock on his door.”
She giggles. “You guys do have some crazy stories.” She points behind her. “But I thought I was having hallucinations because I saw some guy walking squirrels.”
“I believe they’re chipmunks, not squirrels.”
Her eyes widen. “I wasn’t seeing things?”
“You’re lucky he was wearing pants tonight.”
Her mouth gapes open. “Does he not usually wear pants?”
“He says pants restrict his balls.”
Her nose wrinkles. “You know. I can kind of understand where he’s coming from. I hate wearing bras.”
My gaze dips to her chest. Unfortunately, she is wearing a bra now. I wouldn’t mind seeing her naked breasts again, those pretty pink nipples. I could suck on them until she goes crazy. My jeans tighten and my cock pushes against my zipper.
I inhale a deep breath and force sexy thoughts of Mercy away. I am not seducing her to get what I want. But if I get what I want, I will definitely be seducing her in the future. As often as I’m able.
“Shall we continue walking before your brain explodes from visions of me not wearing a bra?” Mercy teases.
“You weren’t supposed to notice.”
She nods toward my crotch. “Hard not to.”
I smirk. “Thanks.”
She rolls her eyes. “Typical man. The world could fall down around you but as long as someone complements your dick, you’re happy.”
I step closer to her. “If I recall correctly, my cock made you very happy the other day.”
She pushes me away. “And then you fled the bed because you’re a big fat chicken.”
“I had a moment of insanity.”
She snorts. “A moment? It’s been three days and not a peep from you until you announced in front of the whole town that you want to be my sugar daddy.”
“He can be my sugar daddy anytime!” Clove waves from her front porch.
“Aren’t you married?” Mercy hollers at Clove.
“We can be in one of those polyamorous relationships. We read a book about one in sexy book club.”
“Sorry, I’m a one woman man,” I declare.
Mercy bursts into laughter. “Good one.”
“I’m not joking.”
She waves away my words. “You kidder, you.”
I’m not kidding. I’m no longer interested in other women. Only Mercy.
I shackle her wrist and haul her toward my rental house. I’m done with people interrupting me. It’s hard enough trying to figure out what I need to say to Mercy without the entire town adding their two cents.
“Why did you offer to be my sugar daddy?” Mercy asks once we’re behind closed doors.
“I’m your boyfriend. I’m supposed to be supportive.”
“You’re my fake boyfriend.”
“I don’t want to be your fake boyfriend anymore.”
She sighs. “I figured this was coming. Do you want to stage a public breakup or tell everyone we’re done? And what reason are we going to give? The nosy Nellies in this town are going to want a reason.”
I stalk toward her until her back is up against the wall. “We’re not breaking up. We’re making this real.”
“What? Real? We agreed. This isn’t real.”
“Felt awful real to me the other night when I was buried deep inside you and you were shouting my name in ecstasy.”
She glares at me. “I did not shout your name.”
I smirk. “Yeah, you did.”
Her nostrils flare as she inhales a deep breath. “Nevertheless. We agreed this would be fake.”
“We also agreed we wouldn’t have sex. Things change.”
“I knew having sex with you was a mistake,” she mutters.
“No.” I slam my hands next to her head on the wall and lean in until I’m close enough to breathe in her spicy scent. “Me and you are not a mistake. Never a mistake.”
She studies my face. “You’re serious. You want this to be real.”
“It is real.”
“Why the change? You were dead set on not entering into a relationship before.”
I scowl. I don’t want to explain my boring past to her but I have to give her something if I’m going to convince her I want something real with her. “Let’s just say, love hasn’t treated me well before.”
She snorts. “And it has me? My ex cheated on me and then stole the business I’d built up.”
I cringe. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”
“In lieu of sympathy, I’ll accept an explanation.”
“I walked right into that, didn’t I?”
“I did leave the door wide open for you.”
I grin. This woman is amazing. I’m having one of the most serious conversations of my life and she makes me smile. No wonder I’m falling for her. She’s perfect for me.
I kiss her forehead before stepping back and starting to pace the room. “I’m trusting you here.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and leans back against the wall. “If you don’t think you can trust me, there’s no chance we can build a relationship.”
Damn. She’s right. “I do trust you.”
She raises her eyebrows.
“I do,” I insist and I realize with a start my words are true. Mercy would never sell my story to the tabloids. Hell, she still doesn’t know the extent of my fame because she prefers country music and refuses to google me. That’s a problem for another day.
I blow out a breath. “But I’ve never told anyone about this before.”
The fight bleeds out of her eyes. “If you’re not ready to tell me, I’ll understand.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Be perfect.”
She smirks. “I can’t help it. I was born this way.”
I make my way across the room to her and frame her face with my hands. I kiss her nose before closing my eyes and blurting out, “My parents sued me for all my money after Cash the Sinners got famous.”
She gasps. “Are you kidding me?”
I open my eyes to find hers are filled with righteous anger. “I wish I were kidding you.”
“Where do they live? Do they own cars? I’m a mechanic. I know how to cut brake lines and no one will ever figure it out.”
“Are you offering to kill my parents?”
She places a finger over my lips. “Shush. I never said the word kill. You assumed it.”
I kiss her finger. “Now you know why I don’t do relationships.”
“My mom’s an alcoholic. I never met my dad. And I only met my uncle because Mom found out he’s rich and sent me here to put him in a nursing home. And you know about my asshole ex cheating and stealing from me.”
“What are you saying?”
She shrugs. “My life resembles a country music song.”
“At least you realize how cliché country music is.”
“Nope.” She throws daggers out of her eyes at me. “It resembles life.”
She places a hand on my cheek. “As does your story. It’s shitty what happened to you but you can’t let it stop you from living your life.”
I place my forehead against hers. “That’s exactly what I’m trying to do. I’m trying to live my life. With you. What do you say? You want to make this fake relationship into something real?”
She bites her lip. Those bright red lips are tempting. I have at least a thousand ideas of what I want to do with them, to them. But I stay my path. I’m not using sex to convince her.
“I need to think about it.”
I frown and she taps my nose. “I’m not saying no. I’m saying my life is moving faster than Uncle Mercury’s Dodge Charger and I need a moment to catch up.”
I kiss her forehead before stepping away. “I understand.”
“You do?”
I do. Am I happy she didn’t jump at the chance to date me? Hell no. But I can understand her needing time. I spent two days contemplating what to do after I realized I’m falling for her. I can give her the same courtesy.