Chapter 12 #2
“It would be easier to tell you where I didn’t go. I started out at Rhode Island College, moved to UMass for a year, took a year off that turned into six when I decided college wasn’t for me. I finally got a business degree from the University of Tennessee a couple of years ago.”
“That’s quite a résumé.”
“Well, just so you don’t think I’m a total dolt, I never would’ve gone to college at all if it hadn’t been so important to my parents.
I didn’t want to be the one to spoil their perfect record where college was concerned.
They were four for five, and I was the lone holdout.
I always knew exactly what I wanted to do—play music, write songs, record, tour.
I can’t ever see myself doing anything else. ”
“So you write, too? I thought Grant was the writer in the family.”
“He’s the more successful writer, but I’ve sold a few of my songs.”
“Any I might’ve heard?”
“Well, you heard one of them that night at the Tiki Bar.”
“You wrote that? It was amazing. I had no idea.”
Seeming pleased by her praise, he said, “Do you listen to country music at all?”
“Not so much.”
“Then you probably haven’t heard the others, but I could play them for you sometime.”
The thought of getting a private show from Evan McCarthy sent a new shower of tingles down her spine. “I’d love to hear them. How did you get into country?”
“I’m not into country, per se. I’m more of what they call a crossover artist. I got into a band while I was at UT, and one thing led to another.
Next thing I knew, I was playing country and bluegrass and all kinds of stuff I’d never been exposed to before.
That’s when I started writing my own songs, and apparently they appeal to country artists.
I think of myself as a musical mongrel. I do it all. ”
“And you love it.”
“I really do. This last year has been a dream come true. I was signed by a small label, recorded an album that’s due out before Christmas, followed by a tour opening for Buddy Longstreet and Taylor Jones. They’re—”
“The king and queen of country. Even I’ve heard of them.”
Evan smiled. “You should’ve seen my reaction when they asked me to open for them on their tour next summer.” He grimaced, which only made him more handsome. How was that possible? “I was rather undignified.”
“That I’d like to see,” Grace said, sharing a laugh with him.
The moment was so charged with desire and awareness that Grace wondered if the whole restaurant could tell they were dying to rip each other’s clothes off.
Since she’d never had the urge to strip a man naked while in public, she had no idea how one was supposed to behave while having such an urge.
The direction of her thoughts threatened to send her into a new fit of giggles, so she took a small sip of wine.
Their waiter returned with their salads, and Grace managed to get through the encounter with nary a snicker.
“He’s totally terrified of you,” Evan said.
“I feel awful. It’s so rude to laugh at someone when they’re just trying to do their job.”
“You do not feel bad, and he was way overdoing his job with the balsamic reductions and the bastardized French.”
“You aren’t supposed to say those words,” Grace reminded him as she cut her salad into tiny bites.
“What words? Balsamic reduction?”
“Stop! I’ve already made enough of a scene.”
“What are some of your other trigger words?”
“Do you honestly think I’m going to give you that kind of ammunition?”
“Please? I promise not to use them against you in church.”
Grace rolled her eyes at him. “As if you ever step foot in church.”
“I’ve been known to step foot in church.”
“Only when Linda holds a gun to your head.”
“That may be true, but I might be persuaded to go to church with you, just to see if I can make you laugh.”
“Trust me, you could. It doesn’t take much at all.”
“I may have to take that dare.”
His tone was so dirty-sounding that Grace wondered if they were still talking about church.
When their food arrived, he insisted on sharing some of his fish with her. She was careful not to overdo and refused dessert when he offered. He paid the bill and suggested a stroll on the beach in front of the restaurant.
Grace, who would’ve followed him into traffic at that moment, willingly agreed.
After they kicked off their shoes, Evan slipped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her in snug against him.
With the sand coarse against her feet, the breeze light against her face, the moon rising in the sky and his scent surrounding her, Grace knew she’d never forget this.
No matter what happened between them, this night would go down in history as the benchmark against which all other dates would be measured.
“What’s your favorite color?” he asked, clearly taking her comment about not knowing each other very well seriously.
Amused, she said, “Purple. Yours?”
“Depends on my mood. Some days I’m a red guy, and other days I favor blue. Siblings?”
“Two brothers, both younger. One is in high school and the other in college.”
“Are you close?”
“Not really. Not like you are with yours. I was like a second mother to them when they were little.”
“My brothers are my best friends, and my sister, who was a royal pain when we were growing up, turned out okay. It didn’t hurt that she married a guy we all love.”
“That was good of her.”
“We thought so, too.”
Evan stopped walking all of a sudden and turned to her. Keeping one hand on her shoulder, he brought his other hand to her face.
As she waited to see what he would do, Grace couldn’t seem to get air to her lungs.
And then he leaned in and kissed her so softly, so sweetly that she barely had time to react before it was over.
“I couldn’t wait another minute to do that,” he said, running his thumb over her bottom lip.
“Is there more where that came from?” Grace shocked herself with her own audacity. It was hardly like her to ask for what she wanted, especially from a man.
His eyes heated with desire that she still couldn’t believe was directed at her. “Plenty more. Do we know each other better now than we did earlier?”
Grace wanted him desperately. “Much better.”
As he took a step closer, his hands moved from her shoulders to her hips, bringing her in tight against him.
She finally ran her fingers through his dark hair and found it to be as silky and soft as it looked.
That seemed to make him a little wild, and he leaned in to take her mouth in a devouring kiss that required her full attention just to keep up with him. His tongue coaxed its way past her lips, exploring and enticing her into cooperating, not that she required much enticing.
Years of reading romance novels and dreaming about this very moment had Grace well prepared to hide her inexperience. Like the heroines in her books, she brazenly sucked on his tongue, which drew a groan from deep inside him. Pleased with her efforts, she did it again.
He tore his lips free and turned his attention to her neck.
“God, Grace, you’re making me so hot.” He cupped her ass and pressed his substantial erection against her belly.
Remembering the width and length of him from her earlier explorations, she was suddenly desperate to see and feel him without clothes in the way.
“Can we go back to the hotel now?” Old Grace would’ve worried about that question making her sound cheap or easy.
New Grace didn’t care how it made her sound.
She wanted him. While she was under no illusions about what might happen between them tomorrow, she was determined to end this perfect night perfectly.
“Are you sure, Grace?” His lips were warm and soft against her ear, sending goose bumps and tingles down her spine.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, I’m sure.”