Page 45 of Training the Heart

When we’ve gone to every single touristy place we can, staying for the longest time at Studio B while Ivy tells me how much her father loved Elvis and a handful of stories about him, stories I actually find I want to hear because somehow when she tells them I’m interested, we finally get back to the Omni. Only Ivy doesn’t seem quite ready to go upstairs either, and it’s only nine-thirty. We decide to sit in front of the massive fireplace in the lobby, and she tells me I need to buy her a drink, which turns into three more for her to my one. We listen to live piano music and talk, and I laugh at her dancing in her seat to an ultra-slow piano rendition of “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.” The way she exaggerates her moves is ridiculous and incredible all at once.

I can’t shake the feeling throughout the night that every time we look at each other, it’s like we’re asking which one of uswill cave first. It’s never going to be safe to go upstairs together, but we have to at some point or we’ll be waking up in the lobby.

By midnight, Ivy is fairly drunk. Funny as all hell, but drunk nonetheless. I’m learning drunk Ivy has no filter between her brain and her mouth, one more side to her I never thought I’d see, but like now that I do.

“Seventy-eight dollars! For just a few drinks?” she says as she eyes the bill when the server drops it on the table.

“You’re not in Laurel Creek anymore,” I tell her as I lift my glass and finish the rest of mine finally.

Ivy narrows her eyes. “You know what I think?” she asks.

“What?” I play along.

“I think I like this Wade Ashby, outside of Laurel Creek.”

“Oh yeah?” I ask.

“Yeah, you’re carefree, no one’s placing their burdens on you … I mean, I’ve seen you smile at least three times.” She says it so exaggeratedly that I realize I really have a fucking reputation.

I lean toward her across the table.

“I’ll tell you a secret. I don’t think my smiling today has anything to do with what city I’m in, Trouble.”

Ivy averts her eyes and drains her glass, then looks down to the receipt on the table. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was almost nervous, and fuck, Ilikethat I make her that way.

That little bit of fear I see in her eyes ignites me. She should be afraid—if I ever got my hands on her I’d never let her go.

“Well, that’s rather expensive, even for Nashville.” Her eyes light up. “Oh I know!” she says like she’s just thought of the best idea. “Maybe you could just make those convincingfuck meeyes you gave me at this server, and she’ll give you a break. She likes you.” Ivy slings the strap of her purse over her shoulder and leans in. “They all like you, you should use that hotness to your advantage.”

“Fuck meeyes?” I ask, enjoying her theatrics.

“That’s right, don’t act like you don’t know.” She guffaws and waves a hand at me. I see just how free she is right now, how open. The thought of her like this is downright fucking dangerous for me.

“Those dark, smoldering eyes you gave me right before you kissed me? You could’ve made me do anything you wanted in that moment,” she says with the softest rasp to her voice.

My jaw falls slack for a brief moment before I get it together as she giggles at my reaction.

“Okay, time for bed,” I tell her as I drop a hundred-dollar bill on the table and help her stand.

“Yes, time for bed.” Ivy grins. “One bed.”

“I’m sleeping on the sofa, the bed’s all yours, Trouble,” I tell her as we wander the hall to the elevator.

She laughs, and reminds me the sofa is half my size, which it is. I watch her curvy form in front of me as she walks, then move in beside her and hit the button for our floor. She flips from nervous to brazen in one second flat.Alcohol.

Standing right in front of me, she uses her thumb and forefinger to tweak my chin.

“You think I couldn’t resist you in my bed with me? Just because your face is perfect?

She thinks it’s her I’m worried about?

I just chuckle because seeing her blunt and honest like this is even fucking adorable.

“Even this stubble here,” she says as she skims her finger down my jaw. A simple touch I almost have to close my eyes just to withstand. “Everything is just so … symmetrical, like you aren’t real. It’s extremely satisfying and kind of infuriating,” she says as her hand stays resting on my face just long enough for my body to register her touch.

I place her hand back down at her side.

My cock is going to disown me soon with all the fucking torture I’m putting it through.

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