Chapter 3 #3
He loved the sleepy, sexy sound of her voice in the morning. He loved being the first person she spoke to every day. He loved being the last one she touched each night. Tracing the outline of her precious face, he said, “Me, too. Best face in the whole wide world.”
“I was afraid you wouldn’t be happy to see me here.”
“What? Why would you think that for one second?”
“Because this is your world, not mine. I felt like I might be intruding.”
“Grace… My world is you and me together in our little place on the island. This,” he said, gesturing to the fancy suite Buddy had arranged for him, “is not my world.”
“It could be,” she said tentatively. “People are talking. You’ve got a huge hit with the song, and I read online that you’re the next big thing. The Grand Ole Opry even wants you!”
“So what?”
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “So what? Are you insane? This is what you’ve worked for your whole life! And you don’t care?”
“I don’t care.”
“It’s the Grand. Ole. Opry. Evan.”
“The Opry ain’t got nothing on you, babe.”
“What does that mean?”
How to explain what he didn’t understand himself? “I love the music. You know I do. It’s in my DNA, the same way my family is. It’s who I am.”
“It’s what you need to be happy.”
He shook his head. “Not anymore, Gracie. You’re what I need to be happy, and I can’t bear to be away from you for weeks at a time. These last few weeks were excruciating.”
“They were for me, too, but we got through it, didn’t we?”
“This time. If I stay on this path, I’ll be gone more than I’ll be home. That’s not how I want to live. I don’t want to live without you by my side every day, with weeks at a time apart. I can’t handle it.”
“I’ve been thinking.” She pursed her lips the way she did when she had something on her mind. It was one of many adorable things he loved about her.
“What’ve you been thinking about?”
“I could sell the pharmacy.”
He was shaking his head from the word sell. “No way. That’s your dream, and it matters every bit as much as my dreams do.”
“Hear me out before you say no.”
Only because she had something she needed to get off her chest did he sigh and relax into the pillows, prepared to listen and then say no again.
“It’s the only pharmacy on the island, which makes it extremely valuable. Someone will buy it. We’d make money on the sale, even after I pay off what I still owe the Golds.”
“And what will you do with yourself while I’m on the road?”
“I’ll be with you. That’s more important to me than anything else, even the pharmacy.”
He reached up to caress her sweet face, staring at her because he could, because he’d missed her so damned much while he’d been away from her.
“Evan. You’re staring. Say something.”
“I love you so much. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine anything like this for myself, and I’ve had some pretty wild dreams.”
Her face softened into a smile that made her eyes sparkle.
“I feel the exact same way about you. I don’t want to spend weeks away from you, but I also don’t want you to wake up someday and wish you’d taken the next step to find out what happened after you finally had a hit record.
We’re young, unencumbered—except for the pharmacy—and free to do whatever we want for a few years until we have kids that we’ll want to raise at home with our family.
I could even hire a pharmacist to run the place for me for a few years, and you could pay Josh to run the studio.
We’d have jobs to come home to when we’re ready. ”
“You’re serious about this.”
“I’m so serious. You can’t not do this, Ev. You have to go for it. Our song is on the charts. Don’t you want to know what happens next?”
“Sort of.” He’d never admit how often he’d had that very thought, but knowing it wasn’t an option for them, he hadn’t allowed it to flourish. Until now.
“Will you think about it?”
“Yeah, I will, since you make it all sound so easy.”
“I don’t think it’ll be easy, but it is doable.
I spent a lot of time thinking about it while you were gone, and at some point, it occurred to me that we’re both self-employed.
There’s no reason we can’t make some changes that’ll allow us to take this ride together rather than apart. I don’t want to be apart from you.”
“I don’t want that either. It’s hell.”
“If I’m with you, then you can relax and enjoy it and come home to me every night rather than an empty hotel room.”
“I’m very, very tempted, my amazing Grace.”
“Let’s do it, Evan. Let’s just do it.”
He shifted so he was on top of her and gathered her into his arms as he entered her slowly and carefully, knowing she had to be sore after the voracious night they’d spent together. But no matter when he reached for her, she was ready for him, which was another thing he adored about her.
Sighing with pleasure, she raised her hips in encouragement. “You took me quite literally.”
Chuckling, he kissed her neck and nibbled at her skin. “Oh, so you didn’t mean this when you said we should do it?”
Smiling up at him, Grace wrapped her arms around him as he lost himself in her. She’d given him a lot to think about, but right now, all he could think about was her and how amazing it felt to make love to her.