Page 57 of Nashville Lights

Silence.

“Nate?”

“There were a lot of nights I thought about showing up. Just knocking on your hotel door in whatever random city you were in and seeing your face when you opened it.” He’s quiet for a few seconds. “A lot of nights. But never morethan the night she and I had dinner. It wasthatnight I decided I’d track you down and tell you how I felt. Because I was so fed up with feeling so empty when I was supposed to feel…something.Anything.And I just didn’t. I just never fucking did.”

“You…didn’t?”

“No.”

“Why didn’tyou come find me?”

“Your next three shows were going to be at Red Rocks. I was going to come to Red Rocks.”

“Nate. Why didn’t you?”

“That’s what I was doing when I got the call. I was booking the ticket.”

“What call?”

“That was the night the accident happened.”

The accident.

Jed and Laney’s accident.

At the realization, my hand flutters to cover my mouth.

“Things got real complicated after that. I don’t think I’ve come up for air since. Not until you walked into the kitchen the other night. Then there was suddenly more air than I knew how to breathe.”

“I’m sorry.”

He pulls the truck up to the house and turns off the engine. His eyes are dark in the moonlight. “Don’t be sorry, darlin’. Just don’t go accusing me of loving anyone else. Because it’s just never going to be true.”

I feel almost stricken with love for him. Here I was,walking along my whole life, minding my own business and secretly pining for a lost boy I once loved, only to be swept away by a tidal wave of everything I never thought to even wish for.

“We good, then?”

“I think we’re more than good, Boone.”

A slow grin flashes. “Come on. Let’s get the exhausted little princess into bed. Then I’ve got some plans for you.”

Nate carefully lifts Daisy out of the truck. I follow him up to her room with her bag. We take off her shoes and her little glittery pink jacket and tuck her into bed. Nate kisses her head and makes sure all three of her nightlights are on.

Then he takes me by the hand and leads me back to his room.

He locks the door and switches on the baby monitor that’s next to the bed. “So I can hear her if she wakes up.”

He comes over to me in the low light. We’re quiet and it’s a relief, after all the raucous activity of the day. His room is a luxurious haven.

Nate slides his warm hand around the nape of my neck. His dark head bends and he eases his mouth over mine. His mouth shifts, catching at my top lip, then the lower one, opening me. His tenderness, with the dark, heavy lust simmering just behind it, makes me go shamelessly wet.

“You had quite an ace up your sleeve tonight, Boone.” I look up into his whiskey-fire eyes and see everything I’ve ever wanted. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what? That I sing every now and then?”

“‘Sing every now and then’? Nate, you’re a major talent. I want you to let me take you on.”

“You can take me on any time you want, darlin’. Starting right now.”

---