Authors: Erin Nicholas
“She’s the one to beat tonight,” Brian, the drummer, confirmed. “She’s number two. Barely. Behind Sabrina after last night.”
Sabrina tried to ignore the hitch in her breathing when he said that. She was in first place. For now, anyway. It was still hard to believe. But as the guys said, the woman on stage, Kristine Simons, was fantastic. She’d been on Sabrina’s heels throughout the competition.
Still, she was having a great time. They’d been tied going in last night until she’d sung “Falling Hard”—the song she’d finished in Justice. It had been met with huge praise and she was now in the number one spot.
But it was close.
“What are you doin’ tonight?” Derek asked. “You need another big performance.”
Obviously. It was the finale. The winner would be decided tonight.
“How about Martina McBride?” Brian suggested. “You’ve got the pipes for it.”
It was a good suggestion. She could rock Martina McBride. She also had another original she could pull out. “Coming Back” was perfect for her voice and had gotten the band in Seattle some attention and play on a local radio station.
But it wasn’t enough.
She watched the woman on stage. She would win if Sabrina did Martina or even “Coming Back”. Sabrina knew it. She would have a solid second, some cash, some attention. The competition was huge and radio and recording execs were in the audience tonight. The winner was guaranteed a deal, but that didn’t mean the rest wouldn’t get anything at all.
And she could be okay with second place.
She missed Marc. And Justice. And The Camelot, The Locals. All of it. But mostly Marc.
Being away had helped her see and feel things for what they really were.
She didn’t believe that he’d done it all just to keep Luke away. Especially after seeing him at the courthouse. The look in his eyes, the insistence that she come to Nashville, it had been more than that. She couldn’t say how she knew exactly, but she did.
She was ready to go home.
And that morning she’d felt the baby move. It was more of a flutter, more like nervous butterflies getting out of hand, but it was there and she’d known exactly what it was.
Everything had completely changed with that. Until then, the baby had been real in the sense that her life had changed completely and someone was depending on her in a way no one ever had before. But now it was
real
in the sense that when he or she moved it physically affected her.
And emotionally affected her. When she performed she wanted and needed physical release. With this, she needed an emotional one.
She wanted someone to talk to, someone to hug, someone who would be as amazed as she was. This was only the beginning too. It only got more amazing from here. Not just the pregnancy but the whole parenthood adventure.
She wanted to share that—have that emotional release—with someone.
With Marc.
Luke would have been there, Kat would be excited as a pseudo-aunt. Her dad might even step up as a grandfather. But she wanted Marc for so much more. Because she had a feeling he wanted it too. Vacations and lazy Sunday mornings, New Year’s Eve, sickness, health, richer, poorer, better or worse.
She had to win this competition so she could convince him that she
chose
him.
“I have a new song for tonight,” she announced to the guys.
“How new?” Derek asked.
“Wrote it on the plane on the way down here.” About Marc.
His eyes widened and he gave her a grin. “What’s it called?”
“‘Anything You Want’.”
“Is it a winner?”
“You bet your ass it is.”
Marc Sterling was madly in love with Sabrina Cassidy. That was the only explanation as to why he was standing in the parking lot of the Tennessee Theater in Nashville at one o’clock in the morning.
He’d seen her last performance and had been blown away. Of course he was only one of the many who had been. She’d done an original, with just her and her guitar.
He hadn’t expected to hear
their
story in the song, however.
He had expected her to win the whole damned thing. Which she did.
It seemed that all of Nashville filed past him before he finally saw her emerge from a side door with three other performers.
She drew nearer, engrossed in conversation with the tall blonde on her right, oblivious to Marc’s presence. When she was close enough to hear him he said, “Hey, Seattle.”
She whipped her head in his direction, freezing mid-stride. She looked beautiful and stunned.
“Marc?”
“I missed you.”
She said something to the other singers that Marc couldn’t hear. Then she turned to Marc as the rest headed in the opposite direction.
The parking area was well lit with neon and tall streetlights, and he could see her expression clearly. She still looked shocked, but happy to see him and he relaxed.
“I wanted to—” he started, but she rose on tiptoe and pulled his head down to kiss him. And she
really
kissed him.
He sank his fingers into her hair and angled his head to taste her fully. God, he’d missed her. He brought her hips to his and she pressed against him, clearly as eager as he was to be as close as they could get. She walked him back until he was against the side of the closest firm surface—the huge RV behind him. Then she looped her arms around his neck and boosted herself up until her legs were around his waist and she was against the hard erection only she could produce so quickly. He was more than willing to help keep her there and he put both hands under her butt to hold her up.
When they finally needed air, he blinked at her. “Post-performance horniness?”
“I’ve-been-without-you-for-three-days horniness.” She gave him a sexy smile. “I missed you too.”
“You’re not mad I stuffed you into that cab?”
“I’ve forgiven you.”
“Because I was right to make you come to Nashville?” He knew he was and he did want her to believe that, but it would also be admitting that leaving Justice was right for her. He had mixed feelings about that, but he always would. Thank God he knew that being together and being together in Justice were two different things.
“Because you did it because you care about me.” She looked at him for a few seconds. “Right?”
“That’s a hell of an understatement, Seattle.”
The smile she gave him could only be described as dazzling and he knew that he’d do almost anything to see it again and again.
“I think we might have a problem,” he said then.
“Hmm?” Her lips were against his neck. “Too many clothes?”
He laughed and squeezed her ass. “I’m serious.”
She lifted her head and took a breath. “What problem?”
“I can’t be without you like this again.”
Her eyes widened. She pressed her lips together. “I felt the baby move,” she finally said softly. There was a glow in her eyes he hadn’t seen before.
It took him a second to process but a slow warmth spread through him. The baby was good, the baby was moving, growing, communicating with Sabrina. And she was excited about it. “Wow.” His eyes dropped to her stomach. When he looked back into her eyes she was teary. “I want to feel that.”
One tear slid off her lower lashes. “If you marry me you can feel it every day. And so much more.”
Surprise and pleasure in equal parts shot through him. “I was going to ask you.”
She grinned. “I should probably be single for a while so I don’t seem like one of those women who thinks she always needs a man around, but I’m seriously in love with you.”
Another shot of adrenaline pulsed through him. “You’re not going to be single. Ever again.”
She wiggled against him. “Yay,” she said quietly.
“Inside. Now.” There were other things that couldn’t wait either.
He set her on her feet and reached for the door to the RV behind him.
“Inside?” she repeated as he nudged her forward.
“I bought you—us—an RV. Like five hours ago.”
She stepped through the door like Alice into Wonderland. “You did
what?”
“I wanted you to really understand that I’m in this with you, wherever you are. This way when you’re on the road performing, we can be together. I made sure the bed is big.” He nudged her forward again.
She turned suddenly and put her hands flat on his chest. “
What
are you talking about?”
“If you’re going all over performing, I’m going to be there.”
She frowned up at him. “How are you going to make a living?”
“Luke and I agreed I would keep my share of The Camelot and we’d hire a new chef. If there are down times with your travel I’ll work, but I don’t have to be there to own it. I’m also going to scout new places for a potential second Camelot and if you’re in Nashville a lot, maybe there’s a small town down the road that—”
She covered his mouth with her hand. “I’m not traveling all over the country performing, Marc.”
He moved her hand. “You won.”
She shook her head, still frowning in confusion. “I won. But I’m not traveling.”
“You are not going to give this up, Seattle. I’m here with you, wherever you go. We’re together. You can have it all.”
“All I want is in Justice,” she said solemnly. “Honestly. Performing the last few nights has given me a good taste for what it would be like if I made it. I don’t want this, Marc. I love singing for Justice, a crowd I know. It’s a whole different level of appreciation. And I love The Locals. They are talented but they keep it in perspective. These guys down here are already talking about T-shirts and a logo and it exhausts me. I want to be home at night. Yes, in bed with you—” She ran her hand over his chest. “But also on our couch watching TV and having breakfast in our kitchen and sitting on our porch and then serving and entertaining our customers at our restaurant. I want to have birthday and anniversary parties there with people who care…” She trailed off, her voice thick.
Marc wanted to stop her, assure her that wherever they were together was home, but he knew she wanted to finish.
She took a deep breath. “You were right, Marc. I’ve never been settled. But it’s because I’ve never been
home
. That place where you’re loved exactly as you are even when you’re not your best. That place where you want to be your best—and where that’s actually possible. I was looking for a
place,
then a career, but it’s
you
. It’s the life we can make together. It’s all the things that means—extended family and special occasions and jobs and babies and the every day stuff too. It’s you and me together.” Tears filled her eyes.
“It’s ironic that I found my home on my way home. That Justice is where all of that was all along. But I think that everything over the past four years had to happen for me to recognize you when the time was right.”
He loved this moment. This was
the
moment of his life. But he had to say…
“So no more proposals to or from Luke.”
She smiled. “Promise.”
He was completely confident in her answer when he asked, “So I’m it, huh? What you want? Forever?”
She slipped her arms around his waist and gave him the smile he would be seeing—and loving—for the rest of his life. “I thought you’d have learned by now that I’m tough to get rid of.”
“That you are. Thank God,” he said before bending to kiss her.
They were mostly undressed when it occurred to him to ask, “But what happens with the win?”
She unhooked her bra and he nearly lost the entire train of thought.
“I got first place and an offer to travel with Brandon Long, an up and coming country star.”
Her hands went to his underwear. He sucked in a quick breath but managed to ask, “And you turned it down?”
She ran her hand up and down his length. “I told the big shots that I had a whole bunch of songs that would be great for Brandon.”
He closed his eyes as her hand circled him and stroked. “That’s enough for you? Really?”
“Definitely. I get to write whatever I want. Brandon said he’ll listen to anything I send him and right now he’s looking for a lot of material for a new album. I could sell him five or six songs. I’ll get credits on his albums. Others will hear the songs and possibly come to me.”
“Awesome.” The music deal
and
her touch. Before she could kneel and take him in her mouth he picked her up and tossed her on the bed.
“We better not get this dirty,” she teased. “Since we’re not keeping it.”
He climbed onto the bed beside her and stripped her panties off. “Who says we’re not keeping it? I’m going to want to check Brandon Long out when he tours with this new album and this thing is made for family vacations to Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. Abigail definitely needs to see the Grand Canyon.”
Her eyes filled again even as she smiled at him. “So does Patrick.”
He felt a little sting behind his eyelids too. “Right.”
“I like the way you think,” she said.
“Oh, you’re gonna like the way I do a lot of things.”
And he set about showing her one right then and there.
About the Author
Erin Nicholas has been reading and writing romantic fiction since her mother gave her a romance novel in high school and she discovered happily-ever-after suddenly went a little beyond glass slippers and fairy godmothers! She lives in the Midwest with her husband who only wants to read the sex scenes in her books, her kids who will
never
read the sex scenes in her books, and family and friends who say they’re shocked by the sex scenes in her books (yeah, right!).
For more information about Erin and her books, visit:
www.ErinNicholas.com (including Twitter and Facebook links!)
http://ninenaughtynovelists.blogspot.com/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ErinNicholas/
Look for these titles by Erin Nicholas
Now Available:
No Matter What
The Bradfords
Just Right
Just Like That
Just My Type
Secretly wanting her—no problem. Her not-so-secretly wanting him—big trouble.
Just My Type
© 2010 Erin Nicholas