The Price of Love (Rockin' Country Book 2) (7 page)

As with everything else, he was right there with her. “I got you,” he rasped against her shoulder. He’d somehow pulled her T-shirt down, exposing a part of her shoulder and chest to him. His large hands sat at her hips. Bending his knees, he lifted, wrapping her legs around his waist, using the wall for leverage. “I got you, always got you” he said again, going back to the skin he had exposed.

Her mind was swirling from the feelings he evoked in her. She dug her fingers into his hair, tugging tightly, not wanting him to let her go, not wanting him to move his lips from her body. But she wanted a turn too. Maneuvering so that she could get to him, she allowed herself to play. Under the cover of the dark hallway, with people not too far away, she sucked his earlobe into her mouth, feeling the coolness of the earring he wore there. She felt his fingers grip her harder, grinding himself against her.

She wasn’t sure how long they stood there, making out like a couple of high school kids, but eventually Garrett pulled away, burying his head in her neck. His breath tickled against the skin there, but she panted just as hard as he did.

“I can’t.” He shook his head. “If we keep going, I’ll have to go home and change my pants,” he said darkly, next to her ear.

Hannah couldn’t hold back the giggle that erupted, and she was glad for the darkness of the hallway—it hid her blush. It was fun to play with him. She bit her lip, thrusting herself against him.

“Shit, woman.” His head dropped against her shoulder and his fingers tightened at her hips. “I’m trying to get myself under control here.”

“Maybe I like you out of control,” she whispered, speaking for the first time.

He laughed, using his teeth to nip at the skin he had exposed earlier. “You just like to tease me.”

“I do, but I also like the follow-through.” She lifted his chin so that she could see his face. “There’s that face I missed.”

He breathed deeply before adjusting his stance again and slowly lowering her down so that her feet touched the floor. “What are you doing here? I didn’t even know you were coming.”

She continued to hold his hand as they talked, not wanting to lose that connection with him. For some reason she wanted to touch him, didn’t want to break it. “I got done recording, and the other things I have planned, I can do here.” She shrugged. “I’m here for a little over a week, as long as you want me.”

“I think I’ve proven that I want you forever, babe.” He reached down, moving her hair back from her face. “We still have another hour here. You wanna come in or do you want to take my car home?”

“Come in.” She gripped his hand tightly in excitement. “I’ve never seen you in the studio before. It’s a new experience for me.”

He loved that she got so excited over the little things. It helped keep him grounded in the world that sometimes got to be way too serious. He appreciated it, and it always reminded him that he had made the best decision of his life when he got her to marry him. A thought occurred to him out of nowhere. “Is Shell with you, or is she coming tomorrow?”

“I don’t know what Shell’s doing. I think she’s staying home.”

The way she said the words caused him to closely study her face. “Everything okay with her?”

“Yes and no. She’s having a hard time not being my only best friend anymore. She and I are having some growing pains, but we’ll get through it. I told her she needs to figure out where she wants to be in my life.”

Garrett could understand that. As he had gotten older, many of his friendships had changed and evolved. It just happened. “Are you okay with that?”

“I am.” She nodded. There was no reason for her to go into the real reason they’d had an argument. She was sick to death of dealing with the duet that was never going to be.

“If you’re good, then I’m good. C’mon, let’s go finish this real quick. That way we can get home.”

She loved every time that he called it home. Wherever he was, it was home for her, and she hoped it was the same way for him.

They walked down the hallway, and he pushed open the door that she had attempted to go in a few minutes before. “Look who’s here.”

Hannah was greeted by all of them enthusiastically. It made her happy that they made the effort to do that because she knew that Garrett being married was a new thing for all of them too. “Thanks,” she told them, accepting a hug from Brad.

“You’re in luck,” the sound engineer told her. “Garrett’s about to go lay down some tracks. You’ll get to hear him fuck up a million times.”

Everyone in the room laughed, calling out insults to their front man while he held up two middle fingers.

She giggled. “So mean!”

“I know, right?” Garrett put his hand over his heart. “It’s a good thing you’re here. I’ll need you to stroke my ego the way these guys like to shoot it down.”

“Or something else,” another person called out causing more laughs.

This was a group of total guys, and she could already tell that they were raunchy and perverted. She had been around roadies for a long time; no matter how she goodie two-shoes she acted, hardly anything fazed her. “That’ll be a little later,” she grinned. Turning, she had a seat next to Jared and clapped him on the thigh. “I’m just gonna have a seat next to your BFF here and enjoy the show.”

The twinkle in her eye made him wonder exactly she had in mind.

*  *  *

H
annah checked the time on her cell phone and had to smirk. This was different. It was almost one in the afternoon and she and Garrett were cooking breakfast. She hadn’t even been aware that he knew his way around the kitchen. With anyone else, this would have felt weird. He wore no shirt and a pair of boxers; she wore only a shirt that barely covered her behind. With him, though, she felt comfortable. It had been a very long time coming.

“In all the times we’ve been together, you’ve never cooked!” she accused him, looking behind her as she cut up strawberries and apples.

He shrugged as he flipped the omelet over in the skillet. “I have to be in the mood, and I was fucking starving when I woke up.”

She couldn’t hide the smile on her face, and he smiled widely back at her. Both of them thinking about the early morning they’d had together. Her stomach picked that moment to growl, and he laughed.

“Sounds like you’re fucking starving too.”

“Possibly.” Her answer was coy as she turned back around.

Out of the blue, his hand connected with the bare skin that her underwear didn’t cover.

“Ouch! Garrett!”

His face turned serious for a moment. “That’s for not telling me about those pictures of you and Bryson.”

She was subdued for a moment. “It was nothing,” she told him as she turned around, putting the plate of fruit on the table and having a seat.

“If I didn’t trust and know you, they wouldn’t look like nothing,” he told her carefully as he took a large bite of the food that sat in front of him.

Hannah also took a bite, chewing slowly. She wasn’t sure how to approach this because she still hadn’t seen the pictures that everyone was talking about. “I haven’t seen them.”

Green eyes cut over to her and Garrett’s face was stormy as he pulled his iPad over to where he sat and tapped a few buttons. She was not going to feel guilty about this. She had done nothing wrong, and just because people had gotten pictures and they looked bad, it didn’t mean anything. When he pushed the iPad over, she grabbed it with both hands and had a look.

“This totally isn’t what it looks like,” she whispered. He had been right, they did look awful. In one, Bryson had hold of her hand and was inspecting her engagement ring, and she was glancing up at him. From the angle the pictures were taken at, it almost appeared to be an adoring look.

“I know.” He cleared his throat as the sound came out rough. “I know,” he said again, this time more sure. “But it doesn’t feel good to know you’ve been arguing with your wife and the subject of that argument is taking pictures like that with her. To know that he’s there and you’re not. There’s a part of it that not only hurts, but makes you angry too. I had to go through the stages, but I’m good now.”

“He was talking about how different my engagement ring is. If they would have waited a few seconds, they would have seen me jerk my hand away from his.” She stabbed a strawberry and crammed it into her mouth. “See, this is why I want my break. This is what makes me question the career path I’ve chosen.”

Garrett sighed. “I don’t want you giving something up for me. Both of us know that it’s just a knee-jerk reaction right now.”

She wasn’t so sure. In every thought she had in her head, it came back to her wanting to be a wife and eventually a mother. The ache to be with him all the time gnawed at her belly. “I’m going to fulfill what I told them I would, but after this small tour, I
am
taking some time off. The only way I’m gonna know whether it’s a knee-jerk reaction is if I give it the proper amount of time. If I’m bored in a few weeks, then I know it was knee-jerk, but if I’m having a good time, then I’ll know it’s what I needed. I’ve got to try it out.”

He nodded, taking a drink of the water he had sitting beside his plate. “I don’t want you to regret this.” He held up his left hand, indicating the ring he was wearing.

“Seriously?” She almost laughed. “I’m not ever gonna regret that. That’s the best thing I’ve ever done.”

“I just think that you’re young, ya know?” He trailed off.

“I am young, but I know what I want. I wouldn’t have gone through with it if it wasn’t what I wanted. I’m sorry that those pictures made you question that.”

They were quiet as they ate their breakfast. This had been exactly what Hannah had wanted to avoid, why she wanted this off time to be normal. If they were any other married couple, no one would think a thing about those pictures. The last thing she wanted was for Garrett to question her. When there were questions, the relationship suffered.

“I’m not mad, I trust you,” he told her.

“I’m glad. If I had known that would happen, I wouldn’t have run out of the studio. They made me so angry, continually asking me to do that duet with him. I just needed some breathing room, and then you and I got into an argument, and there he was asking me what was wrong. It was a horrible series of events.”

He nodded, taking the last bite of the omelet on his plate. “We have a few hours before we have to hit the studio, what do you say we go take Havock out to the beach?”

The dog, having heard his name, got up, whining as he walked over to the table. Hannah grinned, leaning down to pet him. “I think that’s a great idea.”

*     *     *

“Are you wearing that because the last time we were here, that picture started all kinds of ruckus with us?” Garrett asked as they strolled along the beach, hand in hand. Havock ran in front of them, picking up a ball that Garrett had thrown and bringing it back to them.

Hannah glanced down at her outfit, cut-off jean shorts and a tank top, and laughed. “I honestly didn’t even think about it, but maybe. It’s funny, and I haven’t even talked to you about this, but I’ve started wearing tighter clothes, just so the paparazzi can see I’m either not pregnant, or still the same weight that I was when they took that unflattering shot.”

He grimaced. “Yeah, that whole pregnancy thing was kind of annoying.”

For the first two months of their marriage, there had been two stories running—that Hannah was pregnant and that’s why they’d gotten married so quickly and then that she’d had a miscarriage, which was why a baby bump was never seen.

“I agree, it really hurts my feelings that they can play around with the words miscarriage and pregnant like that, but it is what it is.”

“I like that you say that now. You don’t get all uptight and freaked out so much anymore.”

She shrugged, stopping a moment to bend down and get the ball that Havock had dropped at their feet. “It’s like when you put a ring on my finger, I felt at peace. I can’t explain it.”

“It happened like that for me too.”

The smile on her face was bright as she reached back and threw the ball for the dog, laughing as it didn’t go very far at all. Havock looked back at her and took off at a much slower run than he had when Garrett had thrown it.