“You ready to enjoy the rest of your Valentine’s Day with me?”
“Are you ready to enjoy the rest of your birthday with me?”
“Damn fucking skippy!”
“Then why am I still blindfolded?” He snorted as I felt his body press against my back and his hands came to the front of my face to lift the material that had been keeping me in darkness. My eyes fluttered, adjusting to the light of the descending sun, and I gasped when they were able to fully focus on what was in front of me.
I was standing feet away from an enormous white yacht. It was elegantly beautiful with the orange and pink painted sky as its backdrop with lights twinkling off the water it floated in. My head whipped around to Trevelin who was still standing behind me, watching my reaction.
“Is...is that yours?” I stumbled over the words.
Shaking his head with blond hair flopping loosely in the wind, a charming smile instantly blessed his face. “No, it’s not mine. I don’t have time to own something like this, but for tonight...it’s ours.” The setting sun glimmered in his eyes, and I got that rash of chills all over again as he retook my hand and walked us down the dock.
I held my breath while stepping onto the yacht. It looked so expensively perfect that I was almost afraid to breathe, scared I would break something. I couldn’t come close to affording to replace a missing bolt on the vessel, no less its extravagant decor. I knew Trevelin had money, given who he was and the condo he and the guys stayed in, however I’d never thought to the extent of his wealth. Heck, I still hadn’t seen his house.
Trevelin introduced me to the captain, Benny, who proceeded to show us around the lovely boat, telling us all the safety protocols and showing us where the life vests were located. I had another gaping moment of awe when we were escorted into the dining area where the table was outfitted with a huge arrangement of brightly colored red roses. It was set for two, and I grinned happily at the red napkins folded in the shape of hearts while Timothy Schmit of the Eagles sang Love Will Keep Us Alive through the hidden sound system.
Meeting Trevelin’s eyes that sparkled with the color of the water we were floating on, I asked, “Did you do all of this?”
“I picked out the roses and the song.” He pointed to the flowers with a cute smile. “They smell like you and the song reminds me of how I feel for you. Tucker helped with the rest. Kinda hard doing this all on my own while finishing a tour.”
“So you planned this—”
“The other night,” he interjected. “When you called trying to tell me something. I couldn’t hear for the life of me, and then I had to let you go because of the meet-and-greet. I felt like shit and wanted to make it up to you. I had planned on telling you how I felt about you last night but...you know.”
I swallowed the swelling river in my mouth. He didn’t ignore me, and he had all this planned the whole time. I may now love him even more. I was totally wrong when I said he probably didn’t have a romantic bone in his body. Boy was I wrong! “What I said to you that night on the phone was that I love you.”
His face morphed into a disgruntled expression as he combed his hand through his hair. “You told me that night and I didn’t hear you?” He sounded slightly cross, not with me, but I believed with himself.
“There was a lot of shouting and screaming of your name and I heard Bryson holler for you...I thought you were just ignoring what I had admitted.”
“Never!” He pulled at me, causing me to fall into his arms. “I’m sorry, Country. Trust me; hearing you tell me that you love me is something I wouldn’t have ignored for the world. I’m pissed with myself that I wasn’t listening.” A hard kiss was pressed to the top of my head as he squeezed me a little tighter.
“It’s all over now, so let’s put it behind us.”
“Agreed.”
“So back to this.” I twirled my finger around the room. “I think you have some mad romantic skills up your sleeves, you playboy you,” I accused, turning in his arms so I could see his beautiful model-perfect face.
“Do I? I haven’t noticed,” he brushed off cheekily. “And I’m your playboy, to do with as you wish.”
I raised my brows intrigued. “Is that so?”
“Ha, I know what you’re thinking, you kinky freak...no electricity. Cow zappers are out!”
I laughed so hard tears swam in my eyes.
♪♫♪♫♪♫
Dinner was fabulous. The food was mouthwateringly delicious and the wine was even better. Trevelin had a beer with his meal, like always when he ate, and the part that made it so special was that Trevelin did all of it just for me. I found it touching when he moved his chair that was positioned across the table from mine to directly beside me. He said being across from me was too far away. I couldn’t disagree. I felt the same way.
After we were served dessert and he finished feeding me the scrumptious, chocolatey cake, he picked me up and carried me to our suite at the back of the yacht where I got my second serving of something sweet by getting to kiss Mr. Happy. As promised. Trevelin didn’t seem the least bit jealous. Actually, he seemed to enjoy it quite well before he divested me of my clothes and covered my body in blistering kisses from head to toe.
“Condom...we need a condom. Do you have one?” I asked as he positioned himself between my legs.
“Yeah,” he breathed heavily, looking down at me with a slight frown.
“We ne-need it,” I stammered, heart racing with desire while studying his face.
“We didn’t use one last night or this morning. Hell, baby, we haven’t used one any other time,” he reminded me.
I’d become utterly stupid. I blamed the loss of control Trevelin had bestowed upon me solely on how he caused my body to react. Apparently there were times when the heat of the moment got so wrapped up in the intensity of our desire it deprived me of all rational thought, throwing me into a momentarily lapse of being utterly brain dead.
Consequences turned into tiny particles floating about in the wind in those moments. Nothing mattered besides becoming connected with the person that was driving my hormones crazy. And boy, was Trevelin good at that.
Very good in fact.
He had a way of making me lose all train of thought. When he was near, nonetheless touching me, my body would quiver with jolts of sensual want. To the point if I waited any longer the opportunity would simply vanish along with him. I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but my sex-fueled brain argued differently when all it could think about was Trevelin naked, doing a slew of unthinkable things to me.
“But I like feeling you, baby.”
“I know. I do too, but no protection equals pregnancy.”
“Is that a bad thing? I think we would make sexy babies, and your Nana would love me even more.” He grinned, and the look he gave me was sincere. It made my expression fall faster than a fat man leaping off a bridge. It was wiped clean off my face.
Is that a bad thing?
Uh...duh!
Did he seriously just ask me that?
“Of course it’s a bad thing, Trevelin. We’re young, and your career is skyrocketing and mine is just starting. Not to mention our relationship is extremely new. Like yesterday new,” I told him.
“You’re right, but I want you to know that I love you enough to openly say that I picture us being together forever and having a family one day. I’ve never had one, Country, and like I have said before, you’re it for me. I want it all with you, till the end.”
Things like that were what I was talking about—consequences—poof!
Freaking gone.
I knew he longed for a family, and hearing him wistfully speak of our future gave me great hope that we could indeed make our relationship withstand anything. I fervently clasped his face in my hands and brought it to mine. We’d already done it several times without protection, what was one more time going to hurt?
In an instant Trevelin was filling me with every glorious inch of Mr. Happy. I moaned pleasurably, throwing
back my head as his lips skimmed across the throbbing veins in my neck. I couldn’t take them not being on mine, so I took his face and brought his lips flush against my own. He kissed me with a deep, probing kiss that caused my body to quiver, sending awareness to all my sensitive areas.
I scratched at his back with fervid need. His low, hushed growling was the opposite of the sounds he usually made, but the soft grunts still set a burn coursing throughout my core. My heart felt so heavy with passion and love for him that I was afraid the organ would break from its secure barrier between my ribs and burst out my back.
His eyes rarely left mine. The only time they did was when he captured me in a breath-stealing kiss. Every move he made pushed me into the realm of over-sated sensation. He invoked pure euphoric intoxication, all the while I maneuvered with him, gliding my hips purposefully along with his until we both fell apart.
Hot and heavy together.
Silence careened around us, all but our heavy breaths echoing through the spacious cabin. That was the quietest Trevelin had ever been during sex. Normally he was shouting and whispering dirty things to me that caused my ears to sizzle with embarrassment, but this time he studied me intently, staring into my eyes with such force it was close to soul-shattering. I searched him right back, getting lost in the enormity of love that filled and darkened his uniquely colored eyes.
How I’d ever doubted the nobility he strongly owned was beyond me. It left me immensely thankful that I was unable to fight the pull that now had us linked together as one. And there, pressed against the man I knew I’d walk through fire for, tangled in the silky white sheets, physically high off of our love making, I fell asleep braced in his beautiful ink-covered arms.
I woke some time later to an empty bed with Trevelin nowhere in sight. Wondering where he was, I pulled on some yoga shorts from my bag he had packed and his Forever Country shirt that was still lying on the floor from where it had landed earlier.
As I neared the deck of the boat, I could hear the noise of Trevelin playing a sweet melody on his guitar. Following the sweet notes, I found him sitting in a chair, back facing me as he strummed his guitar, looking out across the water. I stood behind him, silently watching and listening to the beautiful notes strumming from under his fingertips.
It wasn’t the usual crescendo that normally sung from his guitar, but I loved it the same. I hadn’t even known he’d brought it, but I was now glad he had. I admired the way he played so effortlessly. Like the instrument was a part of him—like it was second nature—as easy as taking a breath or blinking his eyes.
Deciding to make my presence known, I rounded his chair and sat in the one beside him. He didn’t stop playing, but his eyes that were focused on the ocean were now fixated on me, taking me in as if I was the most fascinating thing to look at. If his thoughts were anywhere close to mine, then that was probably exactly what he was thinking.
When the heartwarming tune came to an end, I smiled brightly and asked, “What song was that?”
“Something new I’ve been working on.”
“Will you sing it to me?”
He placed the guitar on the deck next to him, and I ogled the way his muscular frame moved, the snake on his side in plain view with its forked tongue sticking out at me, stretched with his movement. “It’s not finished yet, but I will when it’s done. Did I wake you?” He focused back on me with an apologetic expression.
“No, but even if you had it would’ve been a lovely way to wake up,” I expressed softly. “Whatever it is, it sounds beautiful so far.”
“There was beautiful inspiration that helped give it life.” He gave me a lopsided grin as he tugged my chair closer to his.
“I love it. I love most of your stuff though,” I admitted. “I bet your mom is very proud of what all you have accomplished.”
The glimmer in his eyes faded and so did the loving smile that was on his lips. Did I say something wrong?
Breaking our steely gaze, he turned back toward the open water. “I don’t remember much of her,” he offered sadly. “She was a teenager when she had me...seventeen, I think. I remember her always singing. That’s how I always fell asleep at night. She had a beautiful voice. A lot like yours.” He glanced back at me and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he continued telling me about his mother.
“That’s pretty much all of the good that came from what memories I have. All the others are of her being so fucked up she couldn’t even walk. I only saw my dad a handful of times, and he was just as fucked up as she was.” He huffed out a laugh like it was the darnedest thing. “I woke up one morning and found her passed out on the floor of our living room—if that’s what you want to call it. It was more like a damn dump with shit everywhere that you could hardly walk through. I sat for what felt like hours waiting for her to wake up...” His voice got softer until it faded, and he peered back out at the water.
“She never did,” he started again, palpable desolation husky in his voice. “I remember being scared shitless, not knowing what to do, when one of our neighbors came by and found me trying to wake her. Paramedics came and took her away on a gurney, and the next thing I knew...I was being placed in some stranger’s house, being told I wouldn’t ever see her again. Old man Grimes...I liked him,” he said, deep in thought. “He’s the one who got me my first guitar and taught me how to play. I guess I got my voice from my mom, but my musical talent was taught to me by him.”
He was speaking freely and I didn’t want to interrupt, but his story was killing me. Devastating was what it was, that he, as a six year old boy, found his mother dead.
Tears leaked down my face as I looked at him and asked, “Have you ever visited her grave?”
Not turning to look at me, rather holding his lost gaze straight ahead on the water, he replied, “No. I don’t even know where it is. No one ever told me anything, besides I wasn’t wanted and that I was a bastard child. Not by Mr. Grimes though, all the other fosters after him...which are far too many to count.”
My heart crumbled for him. How could anyone be so heartless to a child? How could anyone not fall in love with that child? I didn’t know him as a boy, but I could only assume that he had been just as beautiful, driven and determined as he was today.
For him to have been abandoned at such a young age and basically raised by himself and to turn out to be the caring, tender man that he’d become was nothing short of a miracle. All the people who discouraged him and treated him as if he were dirt beneath their feet needed their asses kicked, and I would gladly volunteer to be first in line to do so.
“Well, shows what they knew. Look at you now. You’re wanted by millions.” I reached forward, brushing back the strands of hair that had fallen over his brows.
Turning, illuminated turquoise eyes racked over my face like plush velvet before locking me in a dead stare. Behind that tranquil teal color was unyielding hurt and pain. Sided by the hell he had to walk through as a kid. A life no child should ever have to endure. He blinked, dispersing my reading. His bottom lip got pulled into his mouth as he grazed it with his teeth.
I watched the sexy act until my attention was broken by him pulling me into his lap, wrapping me tightly in his arms.
“Country...” he murmured against my neck. My nickname, like magical music of its own, spoken in his voice. Looking up at him, he pinned me with such a force that I couldn’t think to blink. “You’re the only one who counts. As long as you want me, nothing else matters. I swear I don’t deserve you.” His words were tight with concern, his jaw flexed rhythmically, watching me.
I watched back, loving the view. “Or maybe I don’t deserve you. Then again, maybe we were both meant to need and want one another. I can’t help but think fate made that bus break down on the side of the road.” I caressed the rough angle of his jaw, falling deeper into that love-filled canyon he’d created in my soul as my heart broke for him when he was a child, although it was swooning over all his adult glory.
�
��I love you, Country. You have filled that void that has been present since I was six. I don’t think I could return to life without you. Forever country.”
Chapter Twenty Two
Trevelin
Life couldn’t get any closer to perfect if I wanted it to. I got my girl sitting a few feet away, looking adorable as hell while she concentrated on the iPad in her hand, my wrinkly dog chewing on something he was probably not supposed to as Heather, our hair stylist, did my hair for our last show on the Fuck ‘em All tour.
I loved what I did. I loved my fans and the music I played, but I’d have to say, I couldn’t wait until this tour was over so I could spend all of my free time with Country. I couldn’t get enough of her, and I wanted to take her some place where I had her all to myself. My selfish tendencies were in full swing. The guys and I had been rehearsing all day for tonight’s show, making it where I’d been away from her most of the day, missing her like fuck.
Last night on the yacht wasn’t enough. I couldn’t see how either of us was functioning considering we spent most of the night entwined between the sheets. Best. Birthday. Of my entire life.
She and Addie finally showed up half an hour ago, and I’d been sitting here in this stupid chair, staring at her with a content smile while my hair was continually being yanked on.
“Here is your ensemble for tonight, your Knightliness. It’s not what you’ve been wearing during the previous shows because some idiot misplaced that delish getup. But this is just as wowing nonetheless,” Ross, our wardrobe manager, said as he busted through the door. His face lit up when he caught sight of Country sitting on the couch in the corner, nose deep in my iPad. “Isabel, you sexy goddess, it’s been too long. Come give me some love.” He hung my outfit for tonight on a hook then held his arms open for her.
Smiling her beautiful smile that flipped my stomach in every adoring way, she leapt up, embracing him in a hug. If I didn’t know he was as gay as they come I would be knocking his face in right now, but Ross loved his boyfriend, and he was also the over-affectionate type to everyone. So I watched through the mirror as he pushed her back, looking her up and down.
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