Page 44 of She's My Kind Of Rain

Sawyer looks uncomfortable at her comment and my heart drops just the slightest in my chest. For the first time ever, I feel like there is something I don’t know about him.

He lets out a huff. “So, uh, Sage got to see my first ever performance—if we could even call it that—” He rubs the back of his neck and I know he’s nervous. “So, this is actually my third ever performance, and as Rhett likes to say, I’mone lucky shit.” He musters up his best Rhett impression and all three of us laugh. “Anyways, to put it lightly, she performed before me. I went on stage and choked. Didn’t even spit out a single word.”

I feel more than one emotion at the confession. Shock that he ever had a moment like that, relief that she isn’t an ex, and elated that I have found him before someone else—in more than one way, to be honest.

I do my best to keep a professional front, when all I want to do is give him a kiss and tell him how proud I am of him, all while knowing I shouldn’t.

“Well, then consider me just as lucky because anyone could have heard you sing for the first time and scooped you up before we did.”

A smirk comes to his face, and I hope he knows my reasoning for keeping this as professional as possible without me having to say it out loud.

I look to Sage, extending my hand. “Nice to officially meet you in person. I have no doubt your time on that stage is coming,but I do know your time in our office will be even sooner. So, I hope that helps lift a bit of the weight.”

She’s ecstatic by my statement, smiling ear to ear. “Thank you, Miss Holloway, truly! And congratulations again on another successful set, Sawyer.” She high fives him, and if I had been any more nervous about their connection that alone would have settled it.

“It was great seeing you.” I shake her hand. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have some business to discuss with Mr. Mason.” I hold up the envelope, and she wishes us well before returning to her job helping backstage.

“Hey,” Sawyer says in a soft husky tone, winking at me before looking around the room, then back to me. “Want to have that talk elsewhere, Miss Daisy?”

“Happily, Mr. Mason. Lead the way.” I wish he could take my hand or whisk me off my feet, but, to save face, I know it’s best that he doesn’t.

I follow him through the crowd of other entertainers, smiling and nodding as I pass by any that make eye contact with me. We reach the back door that leads to a little alleyway, the same that we had escaped to the first time we kissed. The memory of it brings me joy.

Besides people occasionally walking through to get to their cars, the alley is quiet and the mostalonewe can get here in such a popular location in Nashville. The moment the door closes, Sawyer takes me in his arms and kisses me like it’ll be the last time. Both of his hands slip around me and grasp my ass, pulling me closer to him and making me want him, just as I always do. I kiss back, and then the feeling of the envelope being crushed between us brings me back to the purpose of our professional conversation that we’re wildly failing at having. I pull away from him, looking into his eyes. I kiss him once more just for goodmeasure, and then hold the envelope out to him as I take a step back.

I hear someone clear their throat from behind and up walks Victoria with a smug look on her face. She bumps my shoulder as she passes by me, giving Sawyer a sultry look and gliding her hand across his shoulder.

“Nice set, Mr. Mason. Give me a call.” She hands him her card and walks toward the side door. Both our gazes follow her as she reaches up and knocks once before showing her rep badge and being let in.

Sawyer gives me a puzzled look, then glances down at the card. “Victoria Eden of Jordan Entertainment?” He lets out a laugh tossing the card onto the ground. “If it didn’t say some stupid quote about making music dreams come true I would have thought she was offering a different service.”

I laugh, then tease “I think they are supposed to be nice to their clients, but I’m not sure any amount of money would make her nice. Pretty sure Rhett’s rubbing off on you.”

“Don’t you tell him that.” He chuckles. “You know her?”

“Yeah, she works for our competitors, but she applied for my job. I think she just doesn’t like people in general, but me getting the job definitely doesn’t help.” I control my urge to roll my eyes. She clearly has some sort of issue with me, whether warranted or not. But she isn’t here now, so I’m not going to bother thinking about her any further. “So, anyways, since when could you write songs? How come you never told me?”

“You never asked,” he chuckles. “But really, this one just came to me. I’ve dabbled a little here and there, but nothing ever felt like it was good enough to perform.”

“Yeah, well I’m gonna need to see the rest of the songs.” I present the best fake stern voice I can muster.

“I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours.” He winks, bringing a smile back to my face.

“No, really, Sawyer, it was beautiful.”

“That’s because it’s written about someone beautiful.” His eyes beam just as bright as the neon signs we stand under, and I can feel my cheeks flush at the compliment.

He points toward the envelope. “What’s this?”

I raise it toward him again, and he grabs it from my hand, sliding the papers partly out of the top. I watch in anticipation for him to see his dreams literally in the palm of his hand.

His expression reads rather neutral before he begins to speak. “Holy shit, I thought the guy on stage had made a mistake somehow when he announced that I was with Telluride. Does this make it official? Like, if I sign it?”

“Yeah, it would definitely do that.” The weight of what it means if he signs resides on my chest, and I can’t decide if I should say something about it or let him live in this moment. Either way, I think it will send everything crashing down for the both of us and I’m not ready for the fall.

31

DAISY - JULY 24, 2004

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