Page 102 of Major Love

“Hasn’t stopped me before.”

I narrow my eyes and rear back, resisting the urge to slap him for that, and then I storm angrily into the back office, shivering as his warm body follows right behind me.

He leaves the door ajar but when I turn to face him, he’s all that I see, his broad shoulders eclipsing the corridor as he looms over me.

“You took off without telling me.”

My jaw almost drops. “So did you.”

“You know what my job is.”

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it!”

Jason’s impenetrable gaze searches mine, my chest pumping faster as he closes the distance between us.

“Is that what this is about? You don’t like my job, so you’re leaving me again?”

The hoarseness in his deep voice makes my heart squeeze painfully.

“I didn’t leave you the first time,” I rasp. “You leftme, remember?”

His irises flare in disbelief. “Becauseyoutold me to.”

I can see exactly what he’s seeing. The night of our prom, so filled with hope, until I received the news about Cash… the night that we both knew that we wouldn’t be able to be together.

“I was seventeen, Jason!” I exclaim, my shaky voice rasping. “Do you really think that I could have lived with myself if – one year, two years, ten years down the line – you’d listened to whatIwanted and realised that it had all been a huge mistake? People resent people who make their choices for them, so I’mnevergoing to regret not standing in the way of your dreams. I never want you to feel that way about me.”

“I don’t and I never will, but we did our time apart, Sunday. You lived your life in Nashville. I did my time on the road. But you sold your bar and I left the Army, so what the hell is keeping you away from me any longer?”

“You’re still putting yourself in danger!” I explode. “I’m still at risk of losing you, every freaking weekend!”

He stares steadily down at me, his striking irises unreadable.

“You’re the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever seen, Sunday. Guys in every state will be lining up to win your heart.”

This time, I do shove him in the chest, because hejust doesn’t get it.

My palms meet his hot rigid muscles and he grunts roughly, his eyes on fire.

“You’re irreplaceable!” I rasp, yanking my hands back before he can grab them. “And I thought that I’d moved past my fear but, you know what? I guess I haven’t.”

I’m always going to be afraid of losing you.

“Why did you leave Nashville?” he asks suddenly, and I blink up at him in shock. Because I thought that this conversation was going to be about him, not the other way around.

“I sold the bar,” I rasp slowly. Unconvincingly, judging by the sharp look in Jason’s eyes. “And… I wanted to be back for when Casey gets home. And… I’m on vacation.”

Jason stares down at me. Then he steps closer.

“Don’t lie to me,” he says. “Just because you sold the bar doesn’t mean that you’d leave Nashville. And you’re still shit-scared of this thing between us, so I know thatthisisn’t why you came home. At least…” He searches my eyes. “At least, it’s not the whole reason. And now that you’re doing up Casey’s bar,you’re working every damn second that I see you, so don’t give me the ‘vacation’ line when I know that isn’t true. You came here for a reason, Sunday, and I want to know why.”

“Fine,” I rasp, my resolve snapping like a crack of thunder. “You want to know why I left Nashville? I left because I’ve spent the past decade and a half building a legacy for my family, and then with one insane headline” – I click my fingers – “someone tried to burn it down. And when one publication comes after you? It makes everyone else think that they have free rein, too. Because, in case the story’s a dud, they weren’tactuallythe ones who started it – but they’re happy to capitalise in the meantime, even if it meansseven million country music fansare out for your blood.”

I gather that without the full context Jason won’t really know what I’m alluding to but, from the way that his eyes harden, I think he understands just fine.

His deep voice is like gravel when he finally asks, “Are you kidding me?”

And the way that he towers over me makes my heart pound as my breathing turns shallow.

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