by Taylor Hart
Shay beamed with pride, gesturing to his siblings. “All these guys, aren’t they so talented?”
Of course she nodded, but she was blown away by the sound of his voice. How pure it was. How beautiful. He sang with heart.
After everyone messed around with different songs for a bit, Leah turned to Jaycee. “So let’s hear the princess.”
“Hey,” Shay said, tensing up. Leah was not repentant at all.
Liam shook his head, hunched over the production board next to Leah. “She’s been in a bad mood since the day she was born,” he told Jaycee. “We think it’s because she came out second.”
Leah glared at him. The others laughed.
Jaycee smiled weakly. Leah’s comment hadn’t really bothered her, but the attitude did.
Shay turned, blocking her from all of them. “Sorry,” he said, whispering. “After the initial accident, I was calling you that. I shouldn’t have.”
She grinned at him, reaching up and touching his face. “It’s okay, tow truck boy.” She couldn’t be upset around this sexy man. Right now, he was wearing that wonderful cool mint cologne, and his hair hung into his eyes. His stubble was coarse from three days of not shaving, and all she wanted to do was pull him in and kiss him. After he’d left last night she’d dreamed of him. She looked at his lips.
As if sensing what she was feeling, he swiped a kiss. “More of that later.” He put his hand on her waist and tugged her closer, pushing his face into her hair.
There was no jeering from his siblings, and she was amazed at how easy all of this felt—first having dinner with his family, and now being in the studio.
A song came on, and Shay pulled back. “Come on, let’s show them your pipes.”
Her heart thudded in anticipation as she followed him out to microphones in the sound studio.
Noah was instantly on the keyboard. Shar sat down at the drums, and Shay picked up a guitar. Jaycee watched awkwardly. She felt a bit like an outsider, but music was a huge part of her life, so it wasn’t that big of a leap.
When they started playing, the tune sounded so familiar. She wondered where she’d heard it before.
A screen lit up, displaying the words. Suddenly, she understood.
Shay laughed. “Tragic, kinda like the man I see standing in front of me. Making me feel like he just might see me.” He nudged Jaycee.
Startled, she joined in. “Tragic, furious … the kind I didn’t know I needed.”
He took over. “Furious … can’t even tell the story. Furious … doesn’t even make it right. Holding to the light I couldn’t see. Furious, and I found it in her eyes.”
She laughed, but then sang. “My life was perfect, just the way it was. My life was perfect, through the shadows of it all. And then I met him … and he saw me through the mask. I met him … and I could stop and ask why he was furious, tragic, caught up in the past. Furious, tragic … his eyes were hard as glass.”
Everyone added vocals and harmonized with them. “Furious, tragic … the kind you cannot ask. Furious. Furious.”
A downbeat took over, and Noah did a cool piano chord solo before singing his own part. “I never thought I’d meet my match. I never thought … she’d come and ask.”
“To take my hand and see her past,” everyone sang. “To take my hand and become my match. Furious, tragic, caught up in the past. Furious, tragic, no hope to last. You reached your hand and pulled me up. Furious, tragic, caught up in the past. Furious, tragic, in love that just might last.”
Jaycee’s heart thumped in her ears. The beautiful song ended and she stared at Shay, who was looking at her like he’d won the lottery.
Kira jumped out of her spot next to Leah at the production board. With a squeal, she ran over to hug Jaycee. “You’re so, so, so good.”
“Dude,” said James, giving her a fist bump. “So good.”
The rest of his siblings either hugged her or offered her fist bumps. The room exploded as they all began to jam out with different variations.
Liam shouted out. “Leah, take it up on the third measure and do a dong dong ooh ooh!”
Jaycee laughed, standing and still smiling at Shay, who was singing too. He offered her his hand, and she took it. This was amazing.
Leah appeared, throwing her arms around Jaycee. “Ohmygosh, you are good.”
Jaycee rocked back, shocked as she tried to steady herself.
“You’re here. You’re finally here, the one that completes the band.” Leah yanked back, her hands still on Jaycee’s shoulders, and stared her in the eyes. “Do you even know how long we’ve been waiting for you?”
Chapter 13
Shay spent the next week doing chores at the ranch in the morning, working at the body shop in the afternoons, and keeping Jaycee company during the evenings. Usually, he’d pick her up after work and bring her over to his place, and they’d record songs and hang out with his siblings and eat dinner. It amazed him how easy this all felt, how Jaycee had become part of his life so quickly.
By Sunday, her housekeeper, cook, and all-around babysitter—at least from what Shay had gathered—had insisted that they have Sunday dinner at the manor. Of course, Shay had agreed to it. There had been so many nights with his family that he wanted to get to know more about her.
Duke hadn’t shown up, and Millie had been kind, but quiet over dinner. Afterward, they walked down to the lake and skipped rocks. Jaycee’s mind seemed to be elsewhere.
After throwing rocks for half an hour, he took her hand. “Are you okay?” He wrapped his arms around her.
She was quiet for a while. “Do you believe me, that I see … things?”
He sucked in a large breath and then let it out slowly. “I do believe,” he said. It wasn’t something that they’d discussed in detail. “But I want you to explain more.”
She hesitated. “I sound like a fool.”
“Shh, it’s okay.” Shay paused, hating that her heart was beating too fast as she leaned back against him. “Tell me.”
“My mom …” Jaycee stared up into his eyes. “I told you my mother would complain of dreams or visions. She said that they would come true. My father would tell her not to talk about it, that she sounded crazy.” She blinked furiously. “At the end, it was like she couldn’t keep a coherent thought. That’s why she had to be in the facility.”
He nodded. The news made Shay’s heart drop. He wished he could do something for her.
“We would come here in the summers, and when I was young, it was so much fun, but … then my mother would stay in bed. I would sit with her. We would read, sing. When I would ask her what was wrong, she would tell me that they were adult problems.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
Even though Shay had only really met her father when he’d come to drop the car off, he couldn’t imagine the guy ever being that warm. He kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry.”
“I told you, I have the dreams, too.”
He nodded, but didn’t know what to do for her. “Do you think it’s … residual from your mom, like your own way of processing it all?”
She hesitated. “I don’t know.” She nodded, pulling away from him. “I shouldn’t talk like this. I can see the way you look at me—you think I’m crazy, too.”
Shay didn’t know what to do, but it didn’t feel right to have her out of his arms. He took her hands in his. “Jaycee, know this. I don’t know what’s happening to you, I don’t know what these dreams or visions mean, but I will be by your side while you figure it out—know that.”
She let out a relieved breath. “Thank you.”
He held her again.
She pulled back. “Are…we real?” she asked softly.
“The most real thing I’ve ever had.”
“Do you believe in love? Like, believe that … we might be in love?”
He laced his fingers through hers and kissed the top of her head. “I didn’t until I met you.”
She stood on tiptoes and kissed him again. “Me neither.�
�
Chapter 14
Jaycee studied the details of Shay’s face. His dimple, when he smiled. His five-o’clock shadow. His blue eyes. She couldn’t believe how she felt about him. “I wonder if my own mother felt this way about my father.”
He stroked her hair, and she relished his touch. The more they were in contact, the more she craved it. He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
She was quiet for a moment. “Your father and mother seem so in love.”
The edge of his lip turned up. “I remember watching my parents even as a kid and thinking how much my father dug her, ya know? They would spend hours walking together, sitting on that chair in front of our home, watching us play as kids, laughing, smiling, holding hands …” He looked down at their joined hands. “They’re so happy, and I think they love each other a lot. They had nine kids together—that’s no small feat.”
“Right. You have an older brother.”
“Jack.” He thought how it’d been a long time since he’d seen him. “He’s a Navy SEAL and … mom and dad weren’t happy he was leaving the family for the military. Not that they’re not proud of him, they are. They just … worry.”
She nodded. “I think I would worry if my son chose to go in the military.”
Thoughts of unrest filled him. “Jack had other problems, too. He … he had demons he was running from, too. A broken heart. A girl he loved that left him.”
She was confused.
He waved a hand in dismissal. “I don’t want to talk about Jack.” He gave her a soft grin. “Another time.”
Of course, the fact Shay didn’t want to talk about something made her want to talk about it even more, but she let it go. “I guess we’ll have our whole lives to find out each other’s secrets.”
Gently, he leaned in and kissed her.
She held to his shoulders, pulling him closer.
He deepened the kiss.
Once again, all she wanted was him. Was everything with him.
They kissed for a long time, then he pulled back, laughing.
“Wait, kiss me some more,” she insisted, trying to kiss him again.
He laughed and kissed her, again she found herself feeling so lost in this man. Finally, she pulled back, her heart racing. “I didn’t think I believed in love after everything with my mom and dad.”
A serious expression washed over his face, he kept his hands on her hips. “Maybe believing in love is a choice.”
“Maybe.”
They stared in each other’s eyes for so long.
“What if more than I believe in love, I just I find myself believing in you, Shay Summerville.”
He squeezed her hand and then half hummed, half sang.“When you love someone, you believe them. When you love someone, you want them above any other. When you love someone, it may not be easy, but … you fight for it.” The lyrics were husky and sweet when sung in his voice.
“Everything’s a song?”
He shrugged. “Everything with you is a song.”
The moment felt serious. Her heart thrummed in her chest. “Are you fighting for my love?”
At first, he seemed stunned by the question, but then he let out a laugh.
“What?”
He pulled her hand in and kissed the back of it. “Jaycee McCade, if I didn’t believe in love, I definitely wouldn’t be standing here, fighting for you.”
“You’re fighting for me?” she asked and blinked coquettishly at him. “I don’t think you have to do any fighting.”
He grunted, brushing a tendril of hair out of her face. “Your brother, I’m sure, at some point, your father…but I’ll fight for you.”
She liked the sound of that. “Okay, then I’ll let you fight for me.”
He hesitated, then quietly sang, “Furious, tragic … it started that way.”
She grinned. “I love it when you sing.”
“Furious, tragic … it was never that way.”
She laughed, then took over for the next bit. “A small-town boy who had a dream, a girl who needed him …”
He grinned and sang, “Furious, tragic … and then the dream was them.”
Her heart skipped a beat. Was he telling the truth? Was his dream becoming them? “Do you love me?” she blurted.
His face turned serious. “I do. What are you going to do about that?”
Maybe it was because he was challenging her, or maybe it was from his confession itself, but the question made Jaycee feel wild and fun and crazy. She lifted her eyebrows and took off down the rocky turf toward the bottom of the lake. A cove lay secluded there, and no one going by would see.
“Hey,” he called, following her. He sounded disappointed. “Where are you going?”
She flashed him her best wicked smile and easily slid off her sundress, revealing her swimsuit underneath. “I’m celebrating that I love you, too, so I’m going swimming. You coming?”
Chapter 15
Shay took off running after Jaycee. Was he coming? It wasn’t even a question anymore. After watching Jaycee take off her flowery sundress and seeing the bright pink halter top and black swim shorts she had on. There would be no resisting jumping in with her. He stripped to his boxer shorts and ran in.
She half yelped, half laughed as she jumped into the cold river.
Even though the water was cold and shocked his senses, just being with her, splashing her, having her hold on to his neck and lock her legs around his back—it made him forget all about the cold. To him, there was only heat. Those stark green eyes stared at him like she knew everything he was thinking, everything he would ever think.
He kissed her. It was the kind of kiss that lasts too long, that rouses deep emotions inside and leaves a man wanting more than just lips. He buried his hands in her long, red hair and smelled strawberry.
She yanked back and burst out laughing, gazing into his eyes like he should get the joke, too.
He laughed with her, because it felt so good to hold her and feel her joy.
Her eyes widened as she threw her head back to soak her head in the water for a second; when she straightened up, her arms remained around his neck and she came in for another kiss. She lifted an eyebrow. “Can I ask where you plan to go at the end of the summer?”
“That’s being debated.”
“By whom.”
Dread filled him and he hated thinking about the end of the summer. “The truth, is that I was supposed to sign up for community college courses, but I never did.”
“Really?” She lifted her brows. “What do you want to go to school for?”
He hated this topic. He pulled her hands away from him and nodded to the shore. “We should go in.”
“Wait.”
He kept walking, getting to shore and picking up his t-shirt.
“Maybe you could just marry me or something,” she blurted out.
He froze, the water dripping off his hair and his t-shirt in his hands.
The moment grew serious and he thought of so many ways this wouldn’t work with her and he hated it.
“You come to Boston and work on your music while I finish my last year,” she spoke quickly.
Irritation pulsed through him. “I’d just be in your way.” He pulled on his shirt, then his jeans.
“What?” she asked, picking up her clothes and putting her dress back on. “That’s silly, you could just sing gigs. You’re siblings could stay.” She laughed. “It’d be a party.”
He stared at this beautiful, modelesque red head. This smart, rich woman. His heart raced. “You shouldn’t be with me, Jaycee.”
“Or we could just elope and I could quit school and I’ll go on the road with all of you.” She giggled and seemed not to have heard him. “We’ll buy a big van or something and we’ll all sing gigs.”
Anger surged through him, just thinking of how many ways that wasn’t realistic. “You have one more year at Harvard, you’re finishing Harvard,” he said the last part with a bit of hardness to his tone. Maybe she di
dn’t realize what a privilege it was to be at Harvard. Not that he’d ever wanted to be there, but still.
She reached out, putting her hand on his chest. “Yes, dad,” she said, rolling her eyes.”
He looked at her hand, so much anger inside of him.
“What?” Her face went sober. “What, Shay?”
He sighed, every part of him wanted to kiss her again. He thought of how willing she was to just be with him. How uncomplicated she made it sound. “Jaycee.” He picked up her hand. “Let’s talk about the end of the summer, at the end of the summer, okay?” His mind was still spinning. Had she really said they should elope?
Wow.
The truth was that all he’d been able to think about since the night they’d jumped off the cliffs together was how much he wanted … to be married to her. Including ALL that that would entail.
She narrowed her eyes, looking a bit hurt. “Don’t you want me, too?”
How did he explain.
“Shay?” she questioned.
He squeezed her hand. “Of course I want you, Jaycee.” He couldn’t believe he was talking with her this way. “I want you more than I’ve wanted anything—including being famous.” He grunted. “Did you know that I haven’t even called Texas Waters in like…a couple of days because I’m so distracted by you.”
A quizzical look washed over her face. “That’s how you measure how much you like me?”
He laughed and impulsively pulled her into him. Her strawberry smell filling him. The wetness of her hair on his shoulder. “If I were a smart man, I would just run off and marry you, but … I don’t want to have what I just want, I want what’s best for you.” He drew back, searching those green eyes.
She blinked, seeming on the verge of crying.
He leaned down and softly kissed her lips. “I love you, Jaycee, and I’ll make you a promise, I’ll find a way to be with you, to marry you…I just…” he trailed.
“What?”
“I just have to figure out a way to be good enough for you, that’s all.” There, he’d said it.
