Page 71 of Nashville Cowboy
“Never mind.” She shook her head.
“But what didyouthink about it?” He met her eyes.
“What I was thinking…I don’t know. Can we just pick up where we left off?”
“Not quite, but we can turn the page.”
“Start a new chapter?”
“Excuse me, but may I cut in?”
This was from one of the Truehart brothers. Jimmy? Jamie? Eve couldn’t recall. He was young, maybe in his early twenties. Handsome. Puffed up like a peacock with can-do attitude.
“No, you can’t,” Jackson said, and spun her away.
“Jackson.” Eve laughed. “This is a wedding. We can’t just dance with each other all night long.”
“We’ll see about that. I’m not letting you go. Not a second time.” With that, he spun them.
“Lincoln and Sadie are off to their honeymoon tomorrow.” Eve looked up, meeting his eyes. “We’re all going to have to get back to our lives. I’m going to have to go back to work. I’ve already taken too much time off and Annabeth must hate me about now.”
“I’ll be helping my dad during the day and writing songs at night.”
“I’m sure Hank is happy about that. And Lincoln ought to be relieved.”
“Maybe ranchingisin my blood. Hank is right. Once a cowboy, always a cowboy.”
“Don’t let Hank’s influence do this to you. He might not respect what you do for a living but that’s no reason to change who you are.”
Jackson could never again be the same man he’d been when he left Stone Ridge. And that was okay. She wasn’t the same, either. It’s just that she wasn’t who she wanted to be while Jackson at least seemed settled.
He lowered his lips to meet hers and kissed her tenderly. For a moment, Eve’s breath hitched. A ripple of self-consciousness pulsed through her. Noweveryonewould know. Jackson and Eve, round two. Would she run again? Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen. It wasn’t her imagination when she received a wry look from Beulah Hayes, dancing nearby with her husband.
She was aware some didn’t think she deserved Jackson in the first place, much less his forgiveness for leaving him at the altar. She might have believed so at one time, too, but Jackson had her convinced she deserved this moment. This precious time with him.
“You too,” he said after he broke the kiss.
“Me too? What do you mean?”
“You also need to remember who you are.”
That struck her as funny coming from someone who lived in the bright lights of Nashville. From a man who had completely reinvented himself.
“Iknowwho I am.”
“Then what happened to the girl I used to know? She was fearless. You dared me to skinny dip in the creek and joined me when I did.”
“I was seventeen years old. I’m older now.”
“Nope. Not buyin’ it. People don’t change who they are at their core.”
He’d hit a nerve. It wasn’t just intimacy with her. There were still times when she found herself afraid to speak up. She’d wanted to scold Mr. Mansfield for not calling her sooner about Holly’s colic. And even though she knew better, she’d backed down without even mentioning it to him. She hadn’t let Jolette Marie know what she really thought of her making a pass at Jackson.
It happened too much. Still, she didn’t like the knowledge that Jacksonwasright. It would be nice to find her fighting spirit back with others and not just with Jackson. Somehow it was easier with him. He’d been, in some ways, her safety net.
“Do you think I’m holding back from you?” She shook her head, realizing all she’d kept from him until someone else had told him. “I mean, anymore?”
“Honestly? Yeah, I do.” His voice lowered. “I understand why you might be reluctant to give us another chance. I hurt you.”
