Jesus, swimming was so far out of his scope right now. “Baby, we’ll decide later, in a little bit. Where’s Kelsey?”
“I’m right here.” The words were muffled, but it was her voice coming from the open bathroom door.
JD stood there and offered her the courtesy of letting her finish brushing her teeth. His heart slowed its racing as he saw the smile in her eyes. But then he gave her the what for. “Which part of ‘you don’t dare leave this bed without notifying me’ did you have trouble with?”
“You looked so sweet and yummy all worn out, so I decided to let you sleep in.”
He shook his head at her, monitoring what he said because three small pairs of eyes and ears were on the two of them. “And I woke up, alone in my bed, again.”
“Did you have a slumber party, too?” Allie’s eyes lit up.
God bless her for giving him something he could work with. He got down to Allie’s level. “Yes, we did.” He couldn’t help the way his eyes lit at the thought, or that they automatically went to Kelsey, who was chewing her lip and making him think things that shouldn’t be in his brain with children in the room.
Daniel said he was hungry then, and JD ushered them all off to the living room. “Daniel, why don’t you find a cartoon to watch and Kelsey and I will decide what we’re doing today.”
The kids shuffled off, and JD waited for a moment until he heard the voices coming from the screen. Kelsey must have been waiting for it, too, because she chose that moment to launch herself into his arms, and kiss him senseless. She tasted of mint and rightness.
He pressed her against the wall in the bathroom while the kids watched TV just out of sight. No, she wouldn’t have to worry about him keeping up with her. He would more likely have to worry about being presentable in public.
Knowing it wasn’t the right time for this, he pried himself away from her and started talking anyway. “I had this idea for what to do our last day out.”
“Yeah?” She picked up her hairbrush and started working it through her hair. She made a face; he’d tangled it something fierce last night. He made a face, too, but his was one of arrogance.
“Let me do that.” He reached out for the brush, and stood behind her, both of them facing the bathroom mirror in the tiny space. “So I was thinking we might ditch the cabin tonight, and head back to Vegas early.”
“There’s nothing really for the kids to do there.”
He worked through another tangle, starting at the bottom. “They can go shopping with us.”
She bit. “What are we shopping for?”
“Depends.” He gently pulled through another tangle. “How long do I have you for, Kelse?”
Her eyes met his in the mirror. “As long as you want me.”
“Then we’re going engagement ring shopping.”
Her eyes widened to take up her whole head. “Are you serious?”
“All you have to do is say yes.” Trying to look like his heart wasn’t racing, he casually pulled the brush through her hair again.
She leaned into it. “You’re trying to sway me by asking while you brush my hair. You know I love this. But it isn’t going to work.”
Shit. “Whenever you want.”
Her eyes, which had fallen closed again, opened and locked on his. “Yes. We can go today, if you want.”
He grinned, and kissed her neck. “Women seem to think men are all commitmentphobes. But that just isn’t so. You just need the right woman. For example, I’ll marry you in Vegas tonight if you want.”
This time she turned to face him. “You’re serious.”
He held his breath, not knowing why he’d pushed it, she’d already said ‘yes.’ JD nodded. She didn’t say anything, and his stupid mouth rambled to fill the space. “Again, whenever you want. But I was thinking that we have a best man and a maid of honor and a flower girl sitting in the living room. We could have a big reception later, invite everyone, but I really want this to just be about us.”
He stopped. ‘This’ wasn’t written in stone yet. He was pushing her. And pushing a woman was a bad idea most of the time. He didn’t know why he’d started it—
Her mouth sealed over his. She pressed herself to him. But there wasn’t any passion to it. Just that calm feeling that the world was right. That he was safe where he was. That she loved him. Him. Not some image or idea she had of him.
“That sounds like a really good idea.” Her eyes were over-bright.
She stepped past him, and into the living room. The TV was on a commercial and Kelsey just quietly flipped it off getting the kids attention. “All right guys. Here’s the plan for today: We’re going to go to Vegas and get married.”
From the breathy quality to her voice, she was still adjusting to the idea.
“Who’s getting married?” Andie looked at them.
“All of us.” JD crouched down in front of the couch where the three kids sat. “We’re all going to be one family.” He hugged Andie, then Daniel and Allie joined in as well.
Only Allie looked disappointed.
JD tilted his head to catch her frown. “What’s wrong, baby?”
She sniffed. “I want to go swimming.”
Daniel looked him in the eye, too mature for his age. Kelsey was right, something had to be done about that. “Can we do both?”
“That sounds like a plan.” Kelsey grinned at JD. “Half an hour of swimming then we pack up and go get married.”
Allie jumped up, and JD couldn’t stifle the laugh. What a weird day it was turning out to be. “Last one in their suit is a rotten egg.”
The kids scattered screaming, and he stole one quick kiss from a still-stunned Kelsey before he went to change.
Chapter 40
They’d changed their flights and gotten back into Nashville later than they planned. The one-night honeymoon was hardly enough, and hardly a honeymoon. The kids had slept in the other bedroom in the suite, and were so keyed up that they hadn’t wanted to sleep until Kelsey took a magazine in and lorded over them, making sure they stayed quiet. Once they calmed down they went right to sleep, and Kelsey emerged with her magazine tucked under her arm.
JD took it away. She didn’t need This month’s man without his shirt.
They did manage to put the whirlpool tub to good use. And later the bed. They didn’t get much sleep, that was for certain. And JD had begun to wonder when he ever would rest again. He’d gotten far more sleep as a single parent than he was getting with Kelsey in his bed. Still, he had no complaints.
He let himself into the studio knowing that he was late. “Sorry guys, our flight was delayed.”
They had a long practice set this morning, because the guys had all scattered for the last eight days, and they had two shows in the coming week. The others all looked up from various tunings and warm-up exercises.
TJ looked him up and down, and JD waited for it. But it didn’t come the way he expected. His face got a better inspection than his hand. They hadn’t noticed.
TJ let loose a wicked grin. “You look like you haven’t slept, but you look darn happy. You got our present.”
“Yes.” JD still didn’t know what to make of all that.
“How many did you use?”
JD pasted a pained expression on his face. “Not a single one.”
“No way!” Craig joined in the conversation vehemently. And JD thought his friend deserved whatever he got for that “We’ll ALL feel better” comment.
“Then why do you look happy?” TJ unfurled a microphone cord but didn’t take his eyes off his brother.
“We worked something out. It’s settled.”
“That’s it? Settled? Dude, she’s head over heels in love with you.”
“Oh.” JD turned back to his baby brother and laid it on thick. “And that’s why I found you wrapped around her in the kitchen that night?”
JD almost laughed as he turned away. Craig and Alex went after TJ like vultures. “You scoped your brother’s woman?” and “If y
ou go near Bridget I will kill you.”
TJ shot him a burning look, and JD fought for a straight face. “I did not go after her. She was upset, and she couldn’t turn to you. I was just a stand in.”
JD conceded. “Well, we found a truce. Let’s just play.”
They started up with the guys still shaking their heads and JD fighting not to laugh. They went through the play-list for the next several shows. They had different amounts of time on stage each night, and they adjusted accordingly. I am got played in both sets, but didn’t twist any knives in him now.
Kelsey showed up with lunch. She brought stacks of deli sandwiches, and barrels of sodas. She had one of those drink holders with two cokes, a diet coke, a root beer and a lemonade. It was stupid, but he liked that she paid attention to what each of them preferred. She didn’t lean in to kiss him, just said ‘hi’.
He’d told her he was going to let the guys figure it out for themselves, and when they still hadn’t assaulted her about the rock she wore on her left hand after a few minutes she leaned over to JD. “Are they blind?”
“Apparently.” Out loud he told her that Brenda had left her some photo information on Straight Up in the office, figuring that he could deliver it to her.
“Oh!” She hopped up and followed him into the office, anxious to see what Brenda had left.
JD just locked the door and kissed her. “You wore that skirt. I can’t help myself when you’re showing that much leg. Can I?”
“MmmmmHmmmm.” She growled at him. Kissed him, bit him, then yelped. “No!”
“What!?”
“I forgot my pill this morning. With getting the kids back to school and being so worn out . . . I just . . .”
“I don’t care.” He started kissing her again.
Again, she stopped him. “Are you just in the moment or do you really want to try and have a baby?”
“I’ve got three kids, and I never had a baby. I have lost all phobias about fatherhood. I want your baby. If you do.”
She didn’t answer him, just launched herself at him in that way she had that told him yes, yes, yes. He didn’t think he’d ever get enough of that.
He turned her around and placed her hands flat on the wall. He used that short skirt to his advantage and made her bite her lip to keep from screaming out. When they finished, he stood over her breathing heavily, never having thought that the possibility of getting her pregnant would be such an aphrodisiac.
His hands covered hers, and for a moment he just liked the look of those two solid gold bands, side by side, hers stacked with the rock he had spent too much money on. He still didn’t care about that though.
He helped her put herself back together, and enjoyed the half shy, half sly smile on her face. And he caught her looking at her ring again.
“Yeah, I like mine, too.”
“Most men think it’s a shackle.”
“Nah.” He kissed her ear as he said it. “I like that when I wake up and you’re not there, or when I’m here and I think it all isn’t quite real yet, I can see I didn’t hallucinate the whole thing. You shouldn’t have left me on that bus. You gave me a complex.”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s my fault. I could have made it all go differently.”
Her head tilted, shy and sweet, she was hardly the vixen of a few moments ago. “I married you because it all went wrong.”
“You’re going to have to explain that one.”
“As bad as it was, you didn’t walk away. You never let me down, no matter how hurt either of us was. You could have easily disappeared and never spoken to me again. But you picked up the phone and called me and kept coming back and working to fix it.”
As usual, she gave him too much credit. “TJ shoved the phone in my face and made me call you.”
“Every day?”
“The first two.”
She nodded. “Yeah, TJ wasn’t there for most of it. It was you.”
JD breathed her in and kissed her hair. “I love you. But we’d better get out there before we get missed.” He pulled the photos off the desk and put them in her hands before she left empty handed.
TJ looked up the second the door was opened. “You two were gone quite a little while there, and she’s got a serious flush going. I figured it out.”
Kelsey blushed an even deeper shade at TJ’s proclamation, but JD wanted to hear this. “So?”
TJ looked proud. “You didn’t like the brand or something and bought your own. That’s how you didn’t use any. Because you sure look like you fixed your problems the good way.”
Alex looked at JD but spoke to his brother. “TJ, you’ve missed the most important thing. Look at her hand.”
“You’re engaged!” TJ shreiked that.
And gave JD the ultimate joy of saying “Nope, wrong again.”
“But she’s wearing that rock.”
JD waited, but none of them got it. Finally, it was Kelsey who heaved a sigh and solved all the puzzled looks. She held up his hand and showed off his wedding band.
Epilogue
Christmas
* * *
Kelsey covered her eyes like JD had told her. She was surprised when he slipped her jacket around her shoulders. It was still too big, but not for long. She was getting bigger every day. They had all gotten dressed to see her new present, and she had no idea what it was. All she knew now was that it was outside.
There was a chattering in a little row behind her, “What is it, Daddy?”
Allie had started calling him Daddy even while she’d hopped down the hallways in Vegas, skipping and telling everyone that she’d just gotten married. Everyone had smiled at the little girl because she’d been trailing JD in his tux carrying Kelsey in her white gown.
Daniel still said ‘JD’ when he addressed his step-father. But he more than accepted JD as his father. Even now, he was getting a little pushy, “What is it? Why didn’t you tell me? You know I can keep a secret.”
“So can I.” JD told her son behind her back. She still had her eyes closed, and the kids insisted that she actually cover them.
JD took her arm and led her outside, the cold turning her cheeks a sharp red, she was sure. That was one of those side effects of the pregnancy. But he was a good husband and told her he thought it was cute. He whispered in her ear, “In a little while it’s not going to fit, but after the baby it will.”
That made her think it was clothes, but she couldn’t fathom why he’d bring her outside to give her clothes. She heard little shoes on the porch steps behind her, and thought of one more set of little feet running around.
For a moment she breathed in the harshly cold air, and was content. She wasn’t scared. She hadn’t felt alone in what felt like forever. Her photography business was doing better and better. She still had all three kids to herself when Wilder went out on tour. But those tours were paying all the bills, and there was nothing like hearing them on the radio.
Brenda had released I am just prior to Christmas, thinking that women would want it and men would want to give it. Kelsey knew it was hers. She didn’t care if she ever opened her eyes, it was all good already.
But the kids were getting fussy, and JD was shushing them, and it was cold.
“Can I look?”
“Go ahead, baby.”
She blinked in the bright light, not believing that the antique Mustang convertible was sitting in the driveway. She blinked again, taking in the fresh teal paint job that had been buffed to a waxy shine.
JD was nervous. He started talking a mile a minute. “I got this bonus when the album went platinum, and I didn’t tell you. I just knew what I wanted to spend it on. And it was finally ready last week, so it was perfect. I had it delivered last night.”
She put her hand on his arm, and smiled at him, knowing it would calm him down to know that she was okay with it. But still she blinked. “I can’t believe you remembered. I . . . I didn’t know you were pay
ing attention.”
He gave her a wicked grin that stopped her breath. “Baby, I was always paying attention.”
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Thank you for reading Our Song.
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If you liked Our Song, you’ll love HeartStrings. Shay is holding her life together with hope and duct tape. Can she and Craig heal each other’s broken pasts?
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Afterword
Dear Reader,
I hope Kelsey and JD moved you as much as they did me. This was one of the first romance novels I wrote, and when I started, this book was a stand-alone novel. Their story spoke to me: an epic boy-next-door classic about finding real love when you’d given up. While I writing their romance, I realized all the guys in Wilder needed their stories told. I want to say to them what JD says to Kelsey: I was always paying attention.
If you loved Our Song, I’d be honored if you’d leave a review!
Click to review Our Song HERE
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Preview of HeartStrings (Wilder - Book 2)
Every wedding had that point. The pictures were taken, the reception was over, even the bride and groom were gone. A bridesmaid's job was done. She'd had just enough fun and just enough champagne to find herself standing in the low surf and having big thoughts as the tide rolled in.
Our Song Page 33
