Chapter 42
GRACE
THOSE EYES
Tommy’s arms wrap around my waist, holding me in his lap. I fiddle with my nearly empty beer and lean back into him, soaking up his warmth.
He lets out a long grunt. His grip on my waist tightens and his lips tease the skin just under my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “If you’re not careful, I’m going to take you into that bathroom and remind you that you’re mine.”
Peeking back over my shoulder, I see the look in his eyes and I know he’s not kidding. “You make it sound like that’s a punishment.” I take the last sip of my beer, letting my parted lips linger on the bottle.
“Fuck me,” he says, pressing a kiss to my neck. “I told you I’m the lucky one.”
At the bar, I see Josie struggling to flag down a bartender. I tilt my head toward her. “I’m going to go give her a hand.”
He nods. “Grab an extra beer while you’re up there. I know you’re going to end up stealing mine again.”
I shrug innocently and hop out of his lap, pecking a quick kiss to his stubbled cheek. I start to turn to head to the bar, but he grabs my wrist, bringing my eyes back to his.
“Love you, Rainbow.” His eyes pierce right through me, making my breath hitch.
“Love you too,” I say, struggling to form words under the intensity of his gaze before his eyes soften.
“Just wanted to make sure you knew.” He gives my ass a playful slap and tilts his head toward the bar and smirks. “Now, go have fun with your friends. That’s why we’re here.”
I walk over to where Josie’s leaning on the bar, with an extra bounce in each step. I try not to overthink how I got here, with someone that pours his love out to me like his life depends on it.
“Good. I need your tall ass to flag down a bartender,” Josie huffs when I lean against the bar next to her. The band on stage finishes their song, sending a wave of dancers around us to get drinks. “Maybe someone will see you.”
“Josie. Have you looked in a mirror lately? You’re hard to miss, babe.” She glares at me, ignoring the fact that her very flattering tube top, denim mini skirt, and knee high black leather boots have the attention of practically every man in this bar.
As if on cue though, a bartender comes up to take our order before she can say another word. After he leaves to grab our beers, she raises her brows at me. “See? Came right over when you showed up. People notice you.”
I scoff and wave her off. “Whatever.”
What I actually mean is that I couldn’t care less who is looking at me. Right now, there’s only one man’s eyes that I care about. Just thinking about Tommy’s smoldering gaze roaming over my body has my skin heated and a flush creeping up my neck.
The bartender comes back with a bucket of beers and Josie starts going on about the plan for skiing tomorrow. I lift a beer to my lips, but stop before I take a sip when I hear it.
A distorted, soulful string of notes cuts through the musty air of the old bar, making the hair on the back of my neck stand. Their beautifully raw sound makes my heart race even though it feels like time stops.
No. It can’t be.
You plunged into my life
And I never had a chance
That voice. That deep, smooth caressing voice that lives in my mind, when I close my eyes, fills my ears. And those notes. They might sound different with an electric guitar, but I know them. They’re the ones I’ve heard him writing and playing in his studio.
You told me, you told me, you told me
You know what you want
When I turn around to face the stage, Tommy is front and center with an electric guitar in his hands.
The drummer and bass player from the local band are behind him but they might as well not exist in this moment.
They’re keeping a steady, neutral beat to go with his masterful guitar playing.
I barely notice because I can’t look away from the man I love.
Apparently, no one else can look away from him either.
A small crowd has formed around the stage and a few people have their phones out recording and streaming him. I can’t imagine that any of them ever expected to see Tommy Jacob here tonight, not just playing, but performing a new song for the first time in years.
You asked me, you asked me, you asked me
Do I want it too?
Baby, I need you
Oh I know that it’s true
Do I want it too? I see the question in his eyes, but he doesn’t have to ask me.
Neither of us have to ask anymore. Want isn’t even a strong enough word.
Need isn’t strong enough. It feels like somehow we were always part of each other’s very being, we just needed to be ready to accept when the universe told us it was time.
Now I know what I am
The man that knows what he wants
So stop with the taunts
It’s too late to say no, Rainbow
I suck in a breath, hearing my nickname — my favorite name.
That first weekend in Bend, I thought he was being stupid and trying to irritate me.
Thinking back now though, I don’t know how I never saw it.
His need for me has been there, I just had to look deeper into those eyes and I would have seen it.
Right now, those eyes make it feel like the room narrowed to a tunnel between us.
I watch him strum the borrowed guitar, pouring his mind and body into it.
Those tousled locks of hair hang over his eyes, beading sweat down and over his stubbled, flushed cheeks.
His forearms strain and tick with each flick of his wrist, reminding me of how they looked between my legs in the gym mirror.
His eyes though, they stay fixed on me. Even in this crowded room with people cheering in the audience, this feels intimate and personal.
So baby, baby tell me
Do you need me too?
I still don’t know how he thinks he needs to ask me that.
What started weeks ago as me being clearly into him, but also curious to explore that connection has turned into so much more.
Right now, that string of tension between us tightens and tugs on my heart and nothing else in the room exists anymore.
Just us. Just that bond we’ve never been able to ignore even if we tried to pretend we could. Ever since that morning on the river in Bend, it’s just inevitable — like it was meant to be.
On stage, he drags out one final distorted note.
He finally drops his head, swiping his hair away from his eyes.
I see his shoulders rise and fall with labored breaths from exerting himself on stage.
He turns back to the members of the band, fist bumping each of them before handing the guitar back to its owner.
I watch in awe, seeing a smile plastered on his face, one so electric and full of energy it makes my stomach flip and butterflies fill my chest. He looks so happy, so at ease, so alive that it’s hard to picture him giving this up for so many years.
I know it may only be an impromptu one song performance at a tiny bar in a ski town, but it looks like this was the world to him.
He hops off the stage in one smooth leap, striding past the people that had gathered in front of the small stage.
His eyes meet mine and he wastes no time in navigating through the tables and crowd until he’s right in front of me.
His hands find my waist, holding me in that possessive way that makes my body mold to his without a second thought.
I hold the beers in both hands against my chest, staring back into his hungry eyes for what feels like forever.
Josie’s hand finds my shoulder and she gives it a squeeze, snapping me out of that trance. “I’m going to leave you two alone I think.”
She tosses me a playful wink before finding our friends out in the now crowded, boisterous bar.
“Thank you.” His voice is low and rough, still strained from singing his heart and soul out to me.
“For what?”
He raises a hand to my neck, his thumb tracing lazy circles over my hammering pulse point. I lean into the touch and whimper. The corner of his mouth tugs up into a smile, revealing that delicious dimple that I’m half-tempted to lick.
“Reminding me that music can just be for me. That it can be mine.” He leans forward, kissing me in a way that’s both long and far too short.
My eyes shut, savoring every second. When he pulls away, my lips follow his, wishing it would go on forever, like everything with him.
“And for making me feel something again. Feel something so strongly that it brought me back to the only other thing I’ve loved. Writing and playing music.”
I set my beer down and drape my arms around his neck. The way he rolls his neck into my arms, craving my touch the way I do his, brings a smile to my lips. He gives me the same focused, lingering gaze he gave me while he spilled his soul — our story — out on stage.
“I do.” I nod, playing with the ends of his hair in my fingers. “The answer is yes, Tommy. It’ll always be, yes.”
He lets out one long, relived sigh. “Good.”
He looks back at the center of the room in front of the stage where Josie has found our friends. They seem to be paying no attention to us at this point, as the local band starts to play a new song. “Do you want to get out of here?”
I can hardly contain my smile. “Yes. I know just the place.”