Page 41 of Country Music Cowboy
“Glad you napped.” Hank frowned as the kitchen erupted in protests over him using his voice. He held his hands up, crossed her arms over his chest, and sighed.
“Guess I needed it.” Margot turned, taking in the puddles of melted ice cream and ice cream scoops on the kitchen island. “An ice cream massacre?”
“Want some?” Travis was up.
“I’d love some plain ol’ vanilla, if you have some?” Margot said, her gaze shifting to Loretta. “Can I borrow you for a sec?”
Loretta slipped from her chair and followed her manager from the kitchen. Standing beneath the opulent chandelier on CiCi King’s sparkled-infused floor, Loretta asked, “Is everything okay?”
“The label contacted me.” Margot shrugged, but the tension around her eyes told her she wasn’t as relaxed as she pretended. “They wondered if you had any questions for them. Or if you’d thought about your answer. Basically, what do you want to do, Lori-girl?”
Loretta stared up at the chandelier. “I don’t want my career linked to someone unpredictable. Again. And you know how much I loved Johnny.” She swallowed against the anger and sadness tightening her throat. “Even if I wanted to, how would this even work? I hate going into this without any sense of certainty.”
Margot gave her a long look before she spoke. “If there’s one thing I know with absolute certainty, it’s that there is nothing certain about life.” She took Loretta’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “Johnny. Cancer. A deadbeat dad. A damn car crash—whatever. Whatever you decide, don’t let things be based on all the ways it could go wrong.” She gave it another squeeze. “Don’t let fear guide your life choices, Lori-girl. If you do that, you won’t do much living. Nothing worth remembering, anyway. You’re too young for that. But I’ll stand by you, no matter what you decide. And this is entirely your choice.” She gave her hand a final squeeze and let go. “If you don’t know what you want—”
“I think I do.” She blew out a long, slow breath.
“Oh?” Margot was wide-eyed with excitement. “Do tell.”
“I think… No, I know I want to do this.” There, she’d said it. Admitted it. And it was scary as hell.
Margot hugged her close. “That’s my girl.” She gave Loretta a pat on the back. “But I’ll leave you to tell who you want, when you want. Now, I’m headed back to the kitchen for my ice cream and some one-on-one with Hank King. That man has me all in a tither.” She was hurrying back to the kitchen before Loretta could say a word.
“It was melting.” Travis’s voice.
“Aren’t you the sweetest,” Margot answered, all high-pitched and breathless. “I’ll take it. And, in case you’re looking, Loretta is just around the corner.”
For a minute, Loretta contemplated making a run for her room.Stop it.Now that she’d told Margot she would take the deal with Wheelhouse, she couldn’t run away and hide every time Travis King showed up and sent her heart rate skyrocketing.
She stood her ground, pretending to find the chandelier riveting, as the echo of his footsteps drew closer. If she did a mental review of all the things she found…distracting, maybe she wouldn’t be overwhelmed when he showed up in person.
The model-perfect hair. Mediterranean-blue eyes. If that wasn’t a color, it should be because that was exactly the color of Travis King’s eyes. Then there were all the different and equally devastating array of smiles. Plus…the body. The rock-hard, unyielding body she’d been pressed against for far too short a time in the hallway of the MGM Grand Garden Arena. And even though his ass fell under the body category, it was certainly worthy of appreciating on its own. All of those things—together—sort of…Has me all in a tither.
But now that she’d dismantled all the things that derailed her, she was prepared. Now that his boots had stopped and he was right beside her, she was perfectly capable of not getting doe-eyed and flustered by him simply…being.
“I don’t get it either.” He wasrightnext to her. “Why does a chandelier need chain mail?”
Chain mail? He surprised her so much that she laughed. “Is that what it is?”
“I have no idea.” There was a smile in his voice.
She looked up at him now, one hundred percent prepared…Nope. Not at all.It hadn’t worked. Not in the least. Especially not now that he was staring down at her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, his smile fading.
“Why is something wrong?”Other than the fact that I just snapped at you, of course.
“Oh, I don’t know.” His brows rose. “The scowl. The tone. The general fuck-off attitude.”
“I told Margot yes—to the Wheelhouse deal.” She swallowed, watching him closely.
“You did?” Why did he have to sound so happy about it? Now he was smiling. A smile that lit up his whole face. It gave him a dimple. Crinkled the corners of his eyes. And ignited a throb low down and deep inside of her. “But…you’re not at all happy about it.”
“I am.”Stop yelling at him.“I’m very happy.”
He laughed. “I see that.”
“I do have concerns.” She cleared her throat. “And, since we’re going to be working together, I think we need to be up front with each other, from the get-go.”
