“Beau…”
He shook his head. “It’s going to be fine.”
She wrung her hands. “I’m so sorry.”
Was she apologizing for Tabitha or because she couldn’t step up and help? Didn’t matter. It wasn’t her responsibility. It was his, and he’d make this work. “Not your fault.” He tried the same grin on her that he’d used with the band, but he could tell it didn’t work when she looked away and began gnawing her lip. “I’m going to do my job, Hailey.” He took her shoulders and turned her toward the entrance to the stage. “Now you go do yours and introduce me.”
Her smile had far less wattage than it had at the table earlier, but then again so did his.
The volume of the audience went from loud to deafening as soon as Hailey passed through the curtain. He let it wash over him, infuse him, and give him the courage and energy to do what needed to be done.
He would make this work, or die trying.
If you looked up the word schmuck in the dictionary, Hailey’s picture would be next to the definition. She had the power to help Beau, and her feet were rooted to the spot where she stood.
“Thank you, folks,” Beau’s voice only intensified her guilt. His normal flirty tone was gone. The rigid, stiff, dipped-in-starch quality of his voice cut hard edges into his words. She didn’t want to consider why she was so in tune with him that she could tell the subtle nuances of his voice. She had enough to handle with her conscience beating the hell out of her.
The side door to the green room swung open, and Jack, Luanne, and Gavin barreled into the space.
“Where’s Tabitha?” Jack asked.
It took Hailey a moment to make her own vocal cords work. “She’s not coming. She has nodules on her vocal cords.”
“What?” Luanne’s hand went to her mouth. “Oh, poor Beau.”
“He says he’s fine.” She didn’t know who she was trying to convince, them or her. Either way, it wasn’t working.
Jack’s fists went to his hips. “Are you kidding me?”
Hailey shook her head, afraid that if she spoke, the truth about being able to help him if she weren’t such a coward would spill from her mouth.
“Damn it to hell. Shayla and Xavier are out there.” He pointed beyond the curtained-off stage door.
“I know.” Luanne took his hand. “He’ll be fine. Maybe he won’t be as amazing as we know he can be. But I still think he can pull it off.”
Jack glanced at Gavin, who leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. The rock star shrugged. “He’s a pro, so he’ll make it work, but it’ll be tough for him to get the sound he wants.”
Jack closed his eyes and shook his head.
“Let’s get back out there. We’re not doing Beau any good in here.” Luanne pulled Jack toward the door, and Gavin followed.
They left Hailey with her self-condemning thoughts in the small dingy room. Beau sang through the speakers. He sounded good, but she’d been listening to the man rehearse for months, and she didn’t need to see him to know he wasn’t as relaxed and playful as he usually was.
The second song started. Hailey instantly recognized the melody of his next single. Without the harmonies, it would only be a good song. But she knew it could be more. She’d nearly cried the first time she’d heard Beau and Tabitha sing it. The slow, soulful ballad had transformed Boon’s from a dirty old honky-tonk into a reverent, magical cathedral. She couldn’t stand by and let him fall flat.
The emotional cocktail pumping through her body soured her stomach. Her extremities turned to blocks of ice, and she’d lost feeling in her hands.
This was it. Somehow, she knew everything would change if she walked onto the stage. For better or worse? She wasn’t sure. But she knew she had to do this. For him? For her? For Lottie? It didn’t matter. All that mattered was getting on that stage.
Her shortened breaths and stampeding heart kept time with her quick steps.
One.
Two.
Three.
She was on stage.
Four.
Five.
Six.
She stepped up to the mic.
Her eyelids blinked rapidly against the glaring spotlight. She resisted the urge to block the blinding beam with her hand. Thankfully, the only people she could see were her friends. If she hadn’t been about to pee her pants from abject terror, she would’ve laughed at the stunned looks on their faces. She couldn’t blame them. Nobody was more surprised than her.
Beau kept singing. He hadn’t noticed her, since she was standing to his right and behind him. It was better that way. If he looked at her, she might lose her nerve.
She glanced at Rusty, who was standing to the side of the stage at the sound board, and pointed to the microphone. He gave her the thumbs-up, letting her know it was on, just as Beau got to the chorus.
Don’t think, Hailey. Just sing.
Like a jump from a cliff, she closed her eyes and leaped. But instead of plunging to her death, the song caught her. She found purchase with each note, until her voice and instinct took over, and she began to soar.
The second he heard her, Beau snapped his head in her direction. His expression matched their friends’, but only for a second. The smile that bunched his cheeks and caused the little lines next to his eyes to wrinkle was just for her. And she wanted to bathe in everything it communicated.
You did it.
You’re amazing.
I’m so freakin’ proud of you.
She made a turnaround motion with her finger to remind him of his audience, but couldn’t keep the glow of happiness off her face.
He played.
They sang.
And something magical happened over the next forty-five minutes. It was like there’d been a Hailey-shaped spot on that stage made just for her. For the span of time she blended her voice with his, the leash that tethered her to this small-minded town unraveled, and she was free.
The bar, Derek, her dad, the town’s opinions of her, all her cares fell away, and she found her home.
Chapter 21
Hailey hated the closing duties she had to do every night at Boon’s. It wasn’t that it was so much, but it was hard keeping everything straight at two a.m. It was the job, though, the part she hated. Her guilty conscience wagged a long-crooked finger at her. She should be ashamed of herself. This had been her mother’s life for more than thirty years, and she never complained.
A smile snuck onto her face. Her mom would’ve loved seeing Boon’s packed to the rafters like it had been tonight. It’d been a sight to see. And it was all because of The Heartbreaker.
Beau hadn’t disappointed. He’d played with and teased the crowd, seducing them with his voice and songs until he owned the room. Her job had been easy, with one hundred percent of the attention on him.
Yeah, which job is that, Hailey? Your make-believe job as a singer or your real job running this bar?
Reality smacked her in the face. She wasn’t a singer. She was a bar owner, plain and simple.
It’d been thrilling, though. Singing with Beau and the band was like nothing she’d ever experienced. She’d been sure she’d collapse on the spot, but as soon as the notes began to flow from her mouth, all of her nerves vanished.
The playfulness between her and Beau on stage hadn’t sucked either. Well, at the time it hadn’t sucked, but now that the night was over, and she was there alone, it all kind of sucked.
After the show, Shayla and Xavier wanted to talk with Beau, so they’d gone to the twenty-four-hour diner on the interstate. All her friends left too, needing to get home to their respective babysitters.
And she’d gone back to work.
The thrill and excitement of being on stage quickly disappeared, as most make-believe things did. She’d gone back to being plain old Hailey Odom, schlepping drinks behind the bar.
She tucked the receipts into the safe. The spreadsheets would have to wait until the morning when she wasn’t dead o
n her feet. The money would go with her so she could make a morning bank deposit. A twist of the handle and the safe was secured. She turned around and almost had a heart attack. “Oh, my gosh! You scared me.”
Beau leaned against the door frame. Good Lord, but the man sucked the air from the room. His arms and legs were crossed, but his features weren’t near as relaxed as his posture suggested. “You got on stage for me.”
The kick of her heart thundering through her chest made every step back to her desk unsteady. She moved the money bag and straightened a stack of folders. For some reason, it was imperative that all the edges line up correctly. “It’s not that big a deal.”
“It is to me.” He pushed away from the door. Four long strides brought him to her, and he wrapped his fingers around her upper arms. His sincere gaze locked with hers. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” His hands on her skin turned her vocal cords to mush, making her reply nothing more than a whisper.
“You were amazing, Hailey.”
“Thanks.” She couldn’t tear her eyes from him. A world of emotions played across his intense face, each coming too fast for her to understand. Her expression probably mirrored his because there was a boatload of confusing thoughts careening through her mind.
His tongue slid across his bottom lip as he stared at her mouth.
Her eyes followed the movement like life’s secrets were held in that one small motion.
He stepped toward her.
She stepped toward him.
They stood inches apart with his palms burning a brand against her arms. Her body begged for him and bargained with her to do something, anything to relieve the pent-up sexual tension between them. But they were caught behind some self-imposed line that neither was willing to cross.
Finger by finger, he broke the contact between them. As soon as his hands fell away, all the oxygen rushed back into the room. She filled her lungs like she’d been about to suffocate.
He took one of her stray curls between his fingers then slipped his hands into his front pockets. “Hailey…”
She hooked the stray hair behind her ear and dipped her head. “I know.”
“It’s not that I’m not…but we…”
“Decided it was a bad idea.” She tried like hell to keep the sadness from her voice. There was no excuse for the sorrow, but it was there nonetheless. Needing distance between them, she moved to the other side of the desk. “It’s all good, Beau. We’re on the same page.”
He nodded and glanced around the office. “So are you about to head out?”
She pretended there weren’t pheromones still dancing between them, around them, and all over her sensitive skin. “I am.”
“I’ll walk you out.”
“Thanks. Let me grab my purse.” She slid the bottom drawer open, retrieved the tan bag, and looped the strap onto her shoulder. “Ready?”
“Ready.” He bowed and swept his hand toward the door. “After you.”
“You’re so weird.” She laughed and made her way to the door, grateful they seemed to be back in friend territory. “Oh, crap. The money.” She whirled around to head back to her desk and ran straight into Beau’s hard chest.
His arms went around her.
Hers went around him.
And it was all over but the crying.
Beau knew about the Big Bang…this was bigger. The powder keg that was their self-control ignited and blew sky high the second their bodies collided. Their mouths crashed together in a kiss so wild and obscene that he could’ve died right then and known he’d never had a sexual experience as good as this one kiss.
Hailey pulled back but kept her lips against his. “This is a…a…bad idea.”
He placed his hands under her butt and lifted. “The worst.” Her legs went around his waist, and the sensation of her core against his hard-on was an infusion of fuel on the inferno blazing between them. “Should I stop?”
“I’ll murder you if you do.”
That was all the permission he needed. He backed her against the wall and feasted on her mouth. The wild inelegance of it all ratcheted up the heat between them. No finesse, no coordination, just a frantic craving driving them to one destination. The place he’d wanted to go with her since the moment he met her.
With one hand firmly under her ass, he grabbed a handful of her hair and angled her head to give him access to her neck. The cry of pleasure that shot from her throat cut the brakes of his self-control. He sucked hard on the tendon below her ear, bit, then licked and sucked again. She’d have a hickey, and a part of him was appalled. He hadn’t given a woman a hickey since tenth grade, but as with most things with Hailey Odom, he couldn’t seem to help himself.
Somewhere in the back recesses of his mind, practicality screamed to consider the consequences of doing this with her. He kicked that door shut and threw away the key. This wasn’t the time for thinking, only for feeling, experiencing, for living. And he’d never been more alive.
When she glided her hand between them and cupped his erection, he nearly lost his grip on her. He dropped his head back and the groan that roared up his throat came from some place that’d never been touched before. The warmth of her palm, even through the denim, had the ability to embarrass the hell out of him like he was some horny teenager. “You keep that up, and I’m going to lose it right here.”
She unwrapped her legs and slid down his body. “We can’t have that.” Her fingers went to the top fastening of his pearl snap shirt. With a jerk, it flew open, and her hands were on his skin. Waves of gooseflesh moved over his body when she skimmed her nails over his chest and nipples. The wet heat of the open-mouth kiss she placed over his heart was an injection of adrenaline straight into his bloodstream.
He had to have this woman.
Now.
With a yank, her shirt was over her head. Her black bra barely registered as he unhooked it and pulled it from her body. The only thing that mattered was getting her skin against his.
Her fingers fumbled with his belt. He moved her hand. “I’ll do it.”
“Thank God.” She kicked off one shoe and unfastened her pants.
Once he’d unbuttoned his jeans, he shoved them down his legs to mid-thigh. She only had one leg out of her jeans and her panties—good enough. He picked her up, and his lips latched onto her pretty amber nipple. He sucked and tasted until she was writhing against him.
Her long deep moan mixed with the panting between them. “Now, Beau. Do it now.”
A quick thrust and he was inside her. His brain short-circuited, not one single coherent thought registering.
Tongues danced together.
Fingers tangled in hair.
Flesh slid against flesh.
It was sensation, movement, groans, and frantic grappling.
Hailey stayed right with him. “Harder, faster, deeper,” fell from her lips in a filthy song that quickly became his new favorite with every repetition.
Like he could do anything else. Especially with her heels digging into his butt and the blissed-out look on her face as she rolled her head side to side against the wall.
“Ooooh.” Blunt nails pierced the skin of his shoulders. “Right there. Don’t stop. Please, don’t stop.”
Nothing could’ve stopped him. He dipped his head and took her nipple between his teeth. Her cry rang through the room. She shattered in his arms on a string of obscenities that fell from her beautiful lips.
He would’ve laughed if his orgasm hadn’t been roaring down his spine and stealing his sanity. Two more fast, deep thrusts and he came and came and came like never before in his life.
Good God.
His head dropped to the wall next to Hailey’s. Their ragged breaths and the buzz of the ceiling fan above her desk were the only sounds in the room. The scent of floral air freshener, sex, and something that smelled a lot like what-the-fuck hung around them as they came back to themselves and reality hit them square in the face.
Shortest. Afterg
low. Ever.
Hailey’s long legs immediately unwound from his hips, and she dropped awkwardly to the ground. He stepped back to give them room to right their clothes but neither moved to the task. They both just stared at the floor, huffing and puffing like they were only working with one lung between them.
The cold of the air conditioner blew across his junk. It seemed cooler than it should have. A quick glance confirmed his greatest fear. “Shit. I didn’t use a condom.”
She waved off his panic. “I have an IUD.” But then her head shot up. “What about…”
“Jack made me get tested, and everything was fine.”
It seemed to take all her energy to nod her head. She was a mess. Her jeans and underwear hung from one leg, while the other leg and foot were bare. Her dark hair fell in snarled tangles around her shell-shocked face, and the hickey on her neck flashed like a neon sign.
He didn’t look much better: condomless, hair hanging in his eyes, scratches on his shoulders, and his pants still around his thighs. All that was missing was a circle with a big red line through it that read, Don’t let this happen to you.
His brain, which had been blissfully blank only a few moments before, was now a superhighway of thoughts that refused to align into coherent words. He literally could think of nothing to say.
Are you alright? Seemed condescending.
You were great. Seemed redundant.
What the hell just happened? Seemed to send the wrong message.
So he kept his mouth shut. Hailey didn’t utter a word either. The heavy silence was like an armored tank parked between them.
Slowly, methodically, they dressed like they could keep reality at bay if they didn’t make any sudden movements.
Once they were clothed, Hailey pointed to the desk. “I’m just gonna…”
“Oh, sure.” He stepped to his left to get out of her way.
She stepped to her right. “Sorry.”
“My bad.” He stepped to his right.
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