Chapter 10 #2
“The weather looks like it will be perfect this weekend,” Nicola Sullivan said to Ashley and Drew with a cheerful smile.
“Just as we discussed earlier, we’re planning to set up the chairs for the ceremony over there.
” She pointed to a large section of manicured green lawn and rosebushes between the tasting room and the vines.
“We’ll set up everything for the reception just around the corner. ”
Taylor was having a hard time not being star struck as Nicola led them around to the other side of the building.
She knew all of Nicola’s songs—which had been written and released under her stage name, Nico—by heart.
Sure, Drew was also a massive music star, but Taylor had known him before he hit it big, so he felt like a brother to her.
Whereas Nicola was even more sparkling and beautiful and captivating in person than she was in concert and in her videos.
Taylor had met Nicola and her husband, Marcus, a little more than five years ago when Drew and Nicola had done a combined acoustic tour together, but it was still hard to act completely normal around her.
“That’s quite a girl crush you’ve got,” Justin teased her in a low voice, obviously having noted her mute adoration, broken up by only a couple of awkward giggles when Nicola had tried to talk with her.
“Shhh.” She felt her cheeks flush, mortified that Nicola might have heard him. But then she had to whisper back, “She’s just so amazing.”
“You’re not the only one who thinks so.” He nodded toward Marcus Sullivan, who was laughing at something his wife had said, a look of all-consuming love on his handsome face.
“They are definitely giving Ashley and Drew some serious competition for the Most Perfect Couple in the World Award,” she said with a little sigh.
“So could we.” His statement stopped her in her tracks, just the way she was certain he’d intended.
The others were continuing around the corner of the building, leaving them alone as he said, “Let me love you, Taylor. And let yourself love me back. I know things aren’t easy right now, but that’s what love is, isn’t it?
Sticking together in good times and bad. In sickness and in health.”
Her heart clenched as he all but made his vows to her right then and there. He’d always been her best friend, but he was right in saying he’d make an even better boyfriend. She wanted to be with him so badly—wanted it more than anything she’d ever wanted before.
But wouldn’t it be selfish to fall into his arms when she was such a mess? She had to be realistic, even if she hated what reality held for her. For them.
“I can’t stand the thought of putting you through the sick watch again. You read my charts, so you know that dating me would be like dating a ticking time bomb.”
“Be with me, Taylor.” Determination radiated from him.
“Have you heard anything I’ve said? Do you understand at all where I’m coming from, that I only want to protect you?”
“I heard every word. But it doesn’t change a thing. I love you. I’ve always loved you and I always will. You don’t need to protect me. I promise you that I’m strong enough to take whatever comes. Strong enough to be there for you. Strong enough to help you with anything you need help with.”
How could she possibly resist him when he opened his arms to her? No one could have, unless they were made of ice.
“I know exactly how strong you are.” For a moment, she let herself lean into his strength as she rested her cheek on his chest and wrapped her arms around him.
But she knew what caring for, worrying about, and researching cures for his mother, all while putting on a brave face, had done to him.
How it had almost turned him into a shell of himself.
That was precisely why she hadn’t thought she could ask him to be strong for her too.
Still trying to be strong, trying to do what she’d been so convinced was the right thing for him, she forced herself to pull back a couple of inches.
“But I won’t ever be able to forgive myself if I end up hurting you. ”
“You’re not going to hurt me.”
He sounded so certain that she almost believed he could make it so. And when he lowered his mouth to hers, she felt as though the passion and the emotion in their kiss just might be the magic ingredients she needed to make her wishes come true.
“Will you let me love you, Taylor?” He held her face in his hands, holding her heart just as tightly, as he gazed into her eyes with deep emotion. “Will you let yourself love me back? No matter what hurdles we have to face, now or in the future?”
She had tried to keep him safe, but she knew deep in her heart that in the end, she would never be able to keep in, or hold back, her love for him.
Not now that it had finally spilled forth last night in the most beautiful way possible.
She couldn’t promise anything when it came to her health, but she could promise him this: “I will let you love me. And I will let myself love you too. I want to be with you, Justin. It’s what I’ve always wanted. ”
They were kissing when Ashley and Drew came back around the building. Justin’s arms tightened around her when he saw them, but he needn’t have worried that she was going to pull away again.
Giving him up was the very last thing she wanted.
Guilt at the thought that she shouldn’t have been so quick to fall into his arms—that she should have tried harder to protect him from future pain—pulled at her as Ashley and Drew beamed at them.
“Aha!” Drew said with a wide grin as he wagged his finger between them. “I knew something was going on in the kitchen this morning.” His eyebrows moved up and down in an exaggerated manner. “You two are finally getting it on, aren’t you?”
Taylor felt her face go up in flames as Ashley smacked her fiancé’s shoulder. “Drew!”
But Drew looked positively gleeful. “We’ve all been waiting forever for the two of you to see the light. To do the horizontal tango. To bump fuzzies. To make a bedspring symphony.”
Ashley clamped her hand over Drew’s mouth, giving Taylor and Justin an apologetic look even as the corners of her own mouth were twitching with a smile she was barely holding back. “Sorry that my husband-to-be has no manners.”
He nipped at her hand, before saying, “Good thing you love that about me.” Then he gave her a seriously hot kiss.
“What I came to ask before Drew went out of his way to get a rise out of both of you,” Ashley continued in a slightly breathless voice when he let her go, “is, would you mind coming to look at the guest house with me, Taylor? It’s where I’ll be getting ready on the morning of the wedding, and my brain is so overfull with details already that I’m afraid I might miss something I’ll need. ”
“I’d be happy to come take a look with you.”
And she was even happier to be able to give Justin a kiss, rather than silently long for one the way she used to.
Their kiss was soft and sweet and set dozens of butterflies loose inside of her.
If only the shadow of guilt—and the weight of her worries about the future—would give up their grip on her, everything would be perfect.
But even though perfect wasn’t in the cards for her, that didn’t mean she couldn’t appreciate every wonderful moment she and Justin had together now. If anything, she appreciated them even more.
“Finally,” Drew said as he threw an arm around Justin’s shoulders, “you’ve got the girl of your dreams.”
A server came out of the tasting room with a tray of champagne flutes. “Here are several vintages that Marcus and Nicola suggest you taste so that you can make your final selections for this weekend.”
“Perfect timing,” Drew declared. “My brother and I have plenty to celebrate.”
They were sitting on outdoor chairs in the shade of a large oak when Drew picked up a glass and held it out to Justin in a toast. “To both of us snaring the women we were meant to be with.”