Love in Tune (Brew Ha Ha # 2.5)

by Caitie Quinn

  He looked at me like I was crazy. “You ain’t dying, are you, Mel?”

  “Nope. Not dying. Alive and kicking. Just wanted to let you know that.”

  “Well, thanks. People never thank the drivers. I really appreciate that.”

  I gave him a real smile and headed back to bus four. I quietly grabbed my gear and dragged it off the bus while everyone else mulled around.

  Luckily no one cared.

  Sad statement, but true.

  I circled around the bus and sat in a dark corner of the lot on a beat up picnic table afraid that if I tried to get out past security they’d ask again where their rock star was.

  The chaos began about thirty minutes later when people realized there was still no rock star. Lenny started making calls and shouting into phones.

  I wish I’d brought popcorn.

  After another fifteen minutes, the Jag pulled into the lot and His Majesty managed to swagger across the lot as if close to one hundred heart attacks weren’t relying on him.

  Kyle tossed the keys to the roadie who raced up to load the car on its trailer, pushed His Majesty onto his bus, and gave Lenny the high sign. And with that, the busses started up and headed out the gate.

  I took a sigh of relief as I watched the taillights of the last one turn the corner and head for the highway.

  “Hey.”

  I closed my eyes wishing, I didn’t know who had sneaked up on me from the other direction.

  “You missed your ride.” I nodded my head toward the gate as Kyle stepped into view.

  “Yeah. Well, I thought maybe you and I could take a rental.”

  “I think you missed the part where I quit.”

  “Is that what that was?” He grinned, cock-sure of himself. “I thought you were just tired of holding your stuff. Don’t worry. It’s in my bag.”

  He looked…cute. Just so darn cute. But, I wasn’t letting him suck me in again.

  “Kyle, what are you doing?”

  For the first time since I’d met him, he looked unsure.

  “Listen, about tonight. I get it. I totally do. More often than not Dalton can be an ass. But, he’s my best friend and he makes the money that pays all of us. I get to write music and tour and not have to be on a stage every night. That’s pretty much my dream. And so, dealing with the temperamental snotty side of him comes with the gig way too often.”

  “Yeah, because you totally have to deal with it.”

  “Last summer in a private session with management he told them that I couldn’t carry a tune. This was after they’d watched me sit in as the session musician, play three instruments, and sing backup vocals. Not to mention, I had writing credits and sometimes solo credits on every song we put down that day.”

  Wow.

  Not wow that Dalton pulled that crap. Wow, that I had no idea Kyle was so talented.

  “So, I get it.” He stepped in toward me, crowding me and forcing me to look up at him. “I really do get it. But you’re good at what you do. You know that. They know that too. Dalton actually is more chilled out with you than the guy we had last summer. Not only did they make each other crazy, but the other guy couldn’t handle the logistics when the personality clashes started. I feel like my life is a balance of listening to what needs to be done from you and Lenny and convincing Dalton it’s his idea to do it. Do you know how many times I’ve had to pretend his stupid idea was mine so he’d get back on a bus?”

  That couldn’t mean what I thought it did.

  “You called me a tight-ass.” I know it sounded like whining. But, it pretty much summed up the whole darn thing.

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “The day we met.”

  Kyle’s smile went wide. “The day we met, I definitely noticed just about everything about you. If anything, I told you you had a tight ass.”

  I stood there, trying so hard to believe him. Wanting it more than I wanted back on the tour. “It doesn’t matter. I’m—”

  Kyle must have been done with the conversation because his mouth came down on me, stopping my words and basically knocking every thought out of my head so I wouldn’t have known what I was going to say anyway. And I, shameless hussy that I am, wrapped my arms up and around his neck, letting it be my fingers running through his hair this time, pulling him closer and letting myself fall into him. I let this be true no matter what my brain said.

  Who was I kidding? My brain wasn’t doing any work at the moment.

  But, my heart was melting, melting all the beliefs it had before this night right out of its way. Even knowing it was happening and that I was going to let myself fall, I didn’t panic. His arms around me were holding me up and I was going to let them. For now.

  I have no idea how long he kissed me, but when he stopped, I knew the world was about to come crashing back in.

  “Mel, this can’t be how you end things.”

  It took me a moment to get my head back on straight and realize he was talking about work, not us.

  SIX

  “I CAN END IT anyway I want.” I backed off, feeling manipulated again.

  “No. Nope. Not doing this again.” Kyle’s arm came around me like a stretched band pulled too tight and snapped me back into him. “This is two separate issues. We obviously need to deal with one at a time.”

  “Melissa Foehner, the first time I saw you and your little clipboard, I wanted to sweep you out of the room and kiss you senseless. Of course, I couldn’t do that because it would get us both fired. Plus, you turned frosty on me almost immediately. But, as I got to know you, I knew you were more than just a hook-up girl and so I was willing to hold tight and wait you out. Only, you didn’t thaw. You stayed chill and I wondered everything you can wonder. Did you have a boyfriend, were you interested in Dalton, did I smell like rotting fish to you…”

  He faded out, giving me a look that could only mean, Well?

  “Are you really asking? This isn’t just to get me back on the tour?”

  “I am really asking. This has nothing to do with the tour and if I go to New York without you, that doesn’t mean I’m leaving a chance at us behind.”

  I took a deep breath, afraid that I was going out on a limb that couldn’t hold my weight. “You…you always undermine me and make things so hard. I can only assume that you feel like what Dalton said in that stupid song.”

  “That song is not stupid.” Kyle turned and paced away. Then paced back. Then did it again while I tried not to get pissy about the song. “I wrote it for you.”

  “You wrote that?”

  “Yes.” He stared me down. “And, I know it said that having feelings for you was hard, but it also said you were worth it. And, when he pulled me up on stage and made me sing it, in front of you—” He made an awkward motion with his hand and glanced away.

  For the second time that night, my knees nearly gave out. “You mean, the song you did tonight with H—Dalton?”

  “Yes. What did you mean?” He stepped forward, out of the streetlight’s ring he’d been under. “Wait. You thought?” He pushed his hand through his hair before giving it a nervous jerk. “I…I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t do that even if that’s how I felt. That was all Dalton being an ass.”

  “Oh.”

  “Right. Oh.” He took another step into the dark corner I’d hidden in. “I’m going to kiss you again, and you’re going to let me. We’ll figure out how we’ll make this work as we go, because I wasn’t kidding. I’ll leave here without you because I have a job to do, but I won’t leave here without us.”

  “Oh.”

  “Oh.” This time he smiled as he said it. “And, when I’m done kissing you, we’ll deal with the job part.”

  “Oh.” Well, now I was just sounding stupid to my own ears too.

  But then, Kyle and his mind-numbing kiss wiped that all away. After kissing me for what had to be seven years, he sat me down, then pulled out a phone, signaling for me to be quiet.

  “Hey, man. Yeah. I know. Totally missed th
e bus…Yeah. No worries. New York is less than four hours away. I’ll be there. What?...Oh, yeah. See there’s the thing, I was trying to get Melissa back on board.” He glanced my way and winked. “She quit. Totally. Stormed out after you made up that song about her. Totally humiliated her.”

  I glared at him. Humiliated was embarrassing. I would have rather gone with the more kick-ass pissed off.

  “Well, the girl works her ass off to make your life smooth as glass and you basically make hers as big a minefield as possible. I told you this was coming.”

  My jaw nearly dropped. I mouthed, You did? And was shocked when Kyle nodded, an embarrassed smile playing about his lips.

  “Well, you know, she said she was done with the crap and she could go run a nice, chilled out country tour and make three times the money you pay her…Yeah, she probably could. This tour’s not paying much…No. I don’t think she left because of just the money. I mean, dude, you’re a pain in the ass…” Kyle held the phone away from his ear and rolled his eyes. When the blathering ended, he picked it back up. “Right…Yup…Right. Also, did you know she rides the fourth bus with the crew?”

  Kyle stood and started pacing back and forth under the light. How did he know all this? I wouldn’t have thought he’d been paying that much attention to me.

  “Really?” he kept going. “Well, when were you going to fix that? I wouldn’t ride with them and I’m not sure I even have a sense of smell left after living with you…Okay…I don’t know. She already left.”

  I waited for him to keep going, but there seemed to be silence on both ends. Kyle paced the length of the bench back and forth as I watched. After a long pause, Kyle took a sigh as if he was exhausted and went on. “I’m going to rent a car. I’ll be down there by mid-morning. We’ll figure out what to do then. Hopefully Lenny can get the IT guys to hack her iPad. It should have the hotel info and the gig times and the appearances and your notes on your hosts. If not, I’m sure Lenny can just—you know—wing it.”

  The noise from the other end of the phone was so loud I could almost work out the words.

  “Dalton, dude. She’s gone. I’m not sure I could get her back even if I could find her.” He turned and looked me right in the eye. “Right. Well, there’s a hotel within walking distance, if she’s there I’ll tell her all that and see what’s what…Right. See you tomorrow.”

  He turned the phone off then silenced it.

  “So, here’s the deal.” Kyle squatted in front of me and stared straight on. “Are we dating or what?”

  “What?”

  “Are we dating? Are you and I official? Is this enough of the crap we had to cut through to get to a good thing?”

  “Seriously? My livelihood is on the line and that’s what you want to know?”

  “I want to know that whatever you do for a job doesn’t matter to our relationship. I want to know if I quit the tour or you quit the tour or I became a chocolatier in France or you became a school teacher in Des Moines, that we’d still be an us.”

  “Why do you get to live in Paris and I’m in Des Moines?”

  “Because this is my what-if. You can do the next one.”

  “What if I said yes and it doesn’t work?”

  “What if you said yes and it does?”

  I pictured a life of music and joy and laughter, all with Kyle, and I knew the answer. “Yes,” came out as a low whisper, as afraid to leave my body as I was to let it out.

  “Yes?” He reached out, taking my hand.

  “Aw, what the hell. I was looking for an adventure anyway.”

  And that’s how I got one. And a huge raise and a private bunk on bus two.

  Life was pretty darn good.

  ~~*~~

  Thanks so much for reading LOVE IN TUNE. This story is a complete stands alone, but if you want to learn more about Abby, John, Sarah, and the Brew Ha Ha ridiculousness, check out The Last Single Girl, where Mr. Right may not be the one with the shiniest online profile.

  Go back to where it all starts with THE LAST SINGLE GIRL.

  Or, check out the next book in the Brew Ha Ha series, WORTH THE FALL.

  Want to know what’s going on, but get enough emails OR want more fun like cover reveals, advance screening of excerpts, limited giveaways? Join the Reading & Romancing group on Facebook to join the fun.

  You can get the New Release updates for both The Brew Ha Ha books and my Bria Quinlan series by signing up for the New Release Newsletter.

  ~~*~~

  Caitie Quinn writes sweet and sassy rom coms because if you can’t laugh in love…when can you? Check out her non-story ramblings HERE.

  The Last Single Girl – Sarah needs a date by the big night or have the honor of being the last single girl of her group. Elove.com may not find her the man of her dreams, but it’s certainly keeping her…um, entertained.

  DATING TRUTH #2: No man will ever understand and love you like your best friend does.

  DATING TRUTH #4: There’s always another fish in the sea…it’s just that we keep dumping toxic waste in the water so who knows what you’ll catch next.

  DATING TRUTH #7: Wine. Lots of Wine.

  DATING TRUTH #10: Not every Happily Ever After looks the same.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6